//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 "Love?" // Story: Equestria Noir Case 10 "Pinkie Party" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 6 “Love?" The Tardis formed itself into existence in a deep underground cavern. It made a strange noise as I stepped out of the machine with the Doctor behind me. “What is that noise anyways?” “What noise?” The Doctor said looking around at the cavern “You know the…whiir, whiir whriiirrr or whatever the Tardis makes when she appears” “I don’t really know” The Doctor said shrugging “I think it has something to do with the brakes or something” He looked around the cavern and held up his Sonic Screwdriver, it gave off a green glow like a flashlight. My own horn glowed with a pale grey light “Alright, we should be able to find the nest. Swarm is probably there” I pulled out Blackbird and the Doctor glared at me. “What?” “I don’t approve of that” He said gesturing at my gun “I would really appreciate it if you didn’t have to use it” “You don’t like my gun?” I said giving him an odd look “I don’t approve of Firearms no” He said keeping his gaze on me “We can stop Chrysalis without having to resort to using violent means” I slowly put Blackbird away “Alright, but if the situation calls for it I’m pulling her out” He moved his device along the walls “Well let’s hope it doesn’t come to that” The Sonic Screwdriver made a beeping noise and he smiled “The nest is this way!” I followed the Doctor as we ventured deeper into the caverns. There was a strange stench in the air. I looked up and my eyes grew wide. Hanging from the ceiling were hundreds of cocoons of a strange green substance. “Doctor…I think these are victims…” The Doctor ran his screwdriver over one of the lower hanging cocoons “No sign of any vitals…these haven’t been used in a long time. But Ponies would be put in here before they were…drained” “No wonder Swarm wanted to find an alternate means” I said looking at one of the empty cocoons “This is sick…” “They don’t know any other way Private” The Doctor said firmly “But let’s hope Swarm can bring about some changes around here” _______________________________________________________ We found the nest; it was a large and spacious room. Possibly thousands of changelings covered the walls and ceiling looking down at the center. There, lying on the ground was Swarm, his limbs stuck to the ground with some sticky webbing. He looked up as Chrysalis advanced on him. She grinned darkly as she looked down on the drone. Swarm was in his true form now, his blue sectioned eyes betraying his fear “Now my children!” The Queen said as she looked at the crowd of changelings “See what happens when one decides to defy me!” Swarm tried to speak firmly “We did not mean to cause harm to the hive! We only wished to understand!” Chrysalis slapped Swarm across the face “You will speak only when your queen wishes it drone!” She buzzed her wings in annoyance “You will all see! Love is food for a good reason! It clouds minds and destroys the order of our existence!” The Changelings growled and buzzed in agreement. Swarm was truly alone on the stage. He held his head “We…we only wanted to understand…” “There is but one thing you need understand drone!” Chrysalis said slapping the drone again “Is that your place is at the bottom! You’re nothing more than an ant!” Chrysalis raised her hoof “Now I shall squash you like an ant!” A bullet fired and almost made a new hole in the Queen’s leg. I shouted “That was a warning shot!” The Doctor glared at me “First of all you missed and second of all I thought I told you I didn’t approve!” “Shut up and help me rescue the love sick changeling!” I retorted Chrysalis laughed maniacally “Oh this is too perfect. I’ll kill not only this insolent drone but the murderer of Zazz as well!” The Doctor and I leaped into the crowd of changelings. They lowered and hissed aggressively. I charged the first one I saw and fired a magic bolt at another. One changeling came up to the doctor and transformed into him. He laughed “Well I must admit I am a handsome devil in this body” The Changeling looked confused and growled again before trying to pounce on him. The Doctor dodged him and his screwdriver fired at the changeling. Suddenly the changeling was back in his normal form gripping his ears in pain. “Sonic Screwdriver” He said smiling at his device “What did I do before I met you?” I dodged and weaved my way through the horde of changelings. I know the Doctor didn’t approve of me using Blackbird, but right now seemed good cause to use it. I pulled her out and hit a changeling in the wing. He fell down and crashed into his brothers. The Doctor kept firing his screwdriver at the Changelings. Those that got hit apparently got stunned by the Sonics that emitted from the device. The first one he hit noticed I was struggling with two changelings. He leaped up and bit my on the shoulder and drew blood. I let out a gasp of pain before two more changelings bit me. I yelled in pain as I was pinned on the ground by the insects. The Doctor looked over at me and his blue eyes became wide. “Private!” Chrysalis laughed and walked to me “I would suggest you put away your stick Doctor…” “Don’t listen to her!” I shouted as I struggled against the growing pile of Changelings on me “Get Swarm and get out of here!” The Doctor looked at me. His eyes were somewhere else… _________________________________________________________ Doctor! The Tardis is crashing! We have to get out of here!! Run get out of here!! I’m not leaving you behind! This isn’t the time to argue!! Doctor… Go! I’ll handle it from here!! Goodbye Doctor… I don’t want to go… _____________________________________________________ The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver on the ground. He kicked it away and looked at Chrysalis firmly “Let him go…now” Chrysalis laughed “How rich! All that bravado and smugness falls away when you’re faced with the prospect of losing your friend!” She smacked me across the face. The Doctor noticeably bristled “You ponies truly are a sentimental and weak race…” “No…” “What?” The Queen said looking at the Doctor “They are not weak; Private knew the risks coming here. He knew what he might have to face, yet he came anyway. You can’t face a man like him or I in a one on one fight. You’re nothing more than a cowardly playground bully hiding behind her thugs!” “Do you even know what you are speaking of?” The Queen said hissing “You have never witnessed a being such as I!” “There are always beings like you…” The Doctor said his voice showing a fury I haven’t seen before “You aren’t anything special Chrysalis; it’s no wonder why Swarm decided to rebel…” Chrysalis bristled and turned back to Swarm. Where there was cowardice and fear was now replaced by defiance and determination. The Queen laughed “You plan to defy me drone!” Swarm growled “You will harm us! They are not a part of this! We are the culprit! We performed the wrong! If you face anypony! Face us!” The Queen laughed and walked to Swarm. The Changeling was struggling against the webbing. She smirked “You are merely a pawn…an ant…waiting to be squashed by me…” “We may be an ant!” Swarm hissed defiantly “But we are an ant that can bite you! Make you see pain!” “You are nothing more than a worthless drone….” “HIS NAME IS SWARMY!!!!” I looked up and saw that a huge canon ball came out of nowhere. It exploded in the Queen’s face and she flew back. She glared as Pinkie Pie leaped into the center of the room with her trademark Party Cannon. Her Blue eyes showed defiance as well as she fired another cannon shot at the Queen. She dodged the attack but several changelings got caught in the explosion. The Doctor used this moment to grab his sonic screwdriver and aim it at the changelings on my back. I covered my ears to protect them from the Sonics. The Changelings on me weren’t so smart, they all fell off me and the Doctor helped me up. We made our way to the center of the room and I used whatever magic I had left to cut Swarm free. Swarm looked at Pinkie Pie “You…saved us…” She smiled and hugged Swarm tightly “I couldn’t leave you Swarmy…you are my friend” “Even if we are a changeling…” Swarm said somberly “Are you kidding me?” Pinkie said smiling wide at the changeling “You made me laugh so much when you changed into my friends like that. I always like a pony that can make me laugh” Swarm smiled and before our very eyes he transformed into Rainbow Dash “Can you say best rescue ever?!” He changed into Rarity “Oh we do hope we look festive enough!” Now Twilight “I should read up on this for later” Fluttershy “We mean…thank you so much Pinkie for all you’ve done…” Pinkie was laughing out loud at this “Oh Swarmy!” Swarm transformed back into his regular unicorn form. His red mane was long and cascaded down to his green eyes. They looked at Pinkie Pie with pure joy “We have never felt this before…it feels…grand…” Pinkie smiled and wrapped her hooves around Swarm “Don’t leave me again Swarm…I want to get to know you…” “Truly?” “You are my very very very very special somepony after all…” She said with a shy smile “Even if you aren’t a pony…” Swarm blinked his green eyes and turned his head. Pinkie met his lips and the two kissed rather sweetly. That’s when…the chanting came back… My horn glowed brightly as I slowly rose from the ground. The Chanting grew louder as a cord of light connected Swarm and Pinkie Pie. The two rose in front of me and a necklace with a blue jewel appeared around her neck. The Element of Laughter? Just like the element of magic from the school with Twilight. The element appeared around Swarm’s neck as both kept their kiss. The Chanting reached its highest point as I raised my hooves to the sky. A large heart appeared and Pinkie and Swarm outlined it. The power of love had showed itself with these two. Chrysalis laughed “Love again!? You think you can defeat me with that?! My army at Canterlot was merely a small portion of the whole! You think to defeat an entire hive of changelings?!” The Doctor smiled “Not defeat Chrysalis!” His screwdriver glowed as he held it to the heart “But free!!” He fired it and the Sonics hit the heart and a shockwave of pink spread out over the whole hive. The Changelings were not harmed in the blast. Rather the pink power was absorbed into them. Suddenly Changelings started experiencing emotions for the first time. Some laughed, others cried, some even lashed out in anger. All experienced the emotions they fed on for so long. When it was over I landed on the ground with Pinkie and Swarm finally breaking their kiss. Swarm smiled at Pinkie Pie “We-“He was cut off when he was hit by a blast of green magic from a very pissed Chrysalis. Chrysalis glared at a nearby changeling “You! Kill him!” The changeling looked for a moment at the queen. He blinked his blue eyes and then spoke…”Why should we?” Her green eyes grew wide as Swarm stood his ground to face her “You have no power anymore!” “NO!” She fired another blast of magic at the changeling “I will not be denied!” Swarm’s own horn glowed bright green and he fired his own magic at the queen. The two blasts met each other, the Doctor and I held back Pinkie from joining the fray. This was Swarm’s fight. “You cannot defeat me!” Chrysalis shouted “You are but a drone! A pathetic worthless drone! You cannot hope to defeat me!!” Swarm stood his ground and kept firing the magical beam. His green eyes opened and he met the Queen’s eyes “I…am…SWARM!!!!” The Magic suddenly multiplied and the beam overtook the queen’s and she got hit by the full force of Swarm’s magic. She flew back and crashed into the cave wall. She fell to the ground and into unconsciousness. The Changeling drones then pounced on her wrapping her in the strange green webbing. Swarm collapsed onto the floor from the effort. Pinkie went and started kissing Swarm all over “Swarmy that was so amazing! You were all like I AM SWARM and then she went zoom and-“She was cut off when Swarm put a hoof on her mouth. “I…I love you Pinkie Pie…” He said slowly I looked at the Doctor “He said I…” The time lord simply smiled “I love it when they say that…” Swarm got up after Pinkie Pie kissed him for the twelfth time. Dang that girl was excitable even in romance. Swarm looked around at his fellow changelings “My brothers and sisters, for too long Chrysalis has told us we are nothing. That emotions are only something for us to feed upon. But the truth is we grow stronger by experiencing these emotions ourselves! We mustn’t hide from the ponies and feed on them. We need to share the love…for it is a process of give and be given. We give love…we shall gain it in return…” The Changelings cheered and some cried and broke down from the sheer amount of emotion in the air. They had a few years before they could figure out all that they were feeling. But with Swarm’s help I think they’ll be alright… Swarm looked over at The Doctor and me “I cannot thank you two enough for all you’ve done for me and my people” “All in a day’s work Swarm” The Doctor said smiling “You take good care of Pinkie Pie now” Swarm smiled as Pinkie nuzzled him on the neck “I think she will be taking care of me more so…” Pinkie hopped on Swarm’s back “Come on Swarmy! I got to introduce you to everypony!” The couple walked out. I followed just laughing at the sheer craziness of it all. _______________________________________________________ We left Swarm and Pinkie to meet everypony at the party and explain what happened. Well we left out the part about Time Turner being a Time lord and all that. I met the Doctor in the woods by the Tardis. He smiled at me “Well I’d better be off Private that was quite an amazing bit of magic you performed there” I shook my head “I don’t even know what happened. Just that chanting started playing and suddenly I felt I…connected them somehow?” “Well whatever you did it saved a race from dictatorship” He slapped me on the back “I call that a win Private!” I laughed a little as the Doctor unlocked the Tardis “Where are you going?” He shrugged “Since I’m stuck on this planet for a while I think I’m going to explore it a little. Maybe learn its history” I smiled “Well if you run into my future self say hi to him for me will you?” He laughed and then reached into his pockets and pulled out a small box “I almost forgot your present; it is your birthday after all” “You didn’t have to get me a present Doctor” I said He shook his head and put the small box in my hooves “I’ve had more birthdays then I can count. It’s always nice to get presents from anybody on them” I simply smiled and unwrapped the present. I looked at the contents with a raised eyebrow “Bow ties?” “Yeah” He smiled and lifted his scarf to reveal he had a green bow tie and collar on “Bow Ties are cool you know” I just laughed; this guy was certainly an interesting fellow. A madpony in a box traveling around trying to make ponies lives better...I wonder if that would ever catch on as a TV show?