//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: A Jar Full of Mystery (Pt. 3) // Story: Worth Less Than a Fly // by nightshade745 //------------------------------// Crash and Bee were exchanging idle chatter. They were having the kind of conversation you’d have if everything were normal. Butter couldn’t join in. She just couldn’t get her mind off the helpless changeling in that tiny jar. She didn’t want to believe he was bad or that he had some maniacal plot to overthrow them. She wanted to believe he was just the hurt and lost little creature she saw whenever she looked at him. “Hey Crash?” Butter finally piped up. “What is it Butter?” He slowed down and let Bee lead for a while. “I don’t want to do this.” Crash looked at her like she’d grown a second head, “what are you talking about?” “I really don’t think he’s done anything to deserve this,” Butter tried to explain to him. Bee turned her head so she could listen as Crash began to reason with her, “let me explain a little thing about changelings. You see, they have an undying loyalty to their queen, their mother. If she told them to jump off a cliff, they’d do it!” “But changelings have wings,” Butter mentioned confused. “That’s not the point! A changeling will throw away its life if it makes the queen happy. So, say you’re right. Say this little changeling is harmless and even friendly. But, when we let him go and he gets back to the queen, if she asks him to come back here and spy on us, he’ll do it!” “But what if he doesn’t want to?” “But he does want to Butter. It only cares what the queen is feeling. Whether she’s happy or not, that’s all that matters to changelings.” Bee didn’t think Crash had done a very good job and knew Butter could do something rash. “What are you so worried about? The Princess is a great judge of character!” “Hmm?“ Butter didn’t get it. “Listen to me Butter,” Bee stopped and Butter had to slam the brakes to keep from colliding. “If he really is innocent, she’ll see that and let him go. Do you honestly believe that Celestia will punish somepony without a reason?” “Of course not!” “Then you don’t have to worry about him,” Bee smiled confidently at her. Butter returned a weak smile, “I guess you’re right. But I’m still worried.” “That’s understandable. Now let’s hurry!” Just as her two friends started moving towards the castle again, Butter felt the tiniest of shocks. It didn’t hurt, but it made her fur stand on end. Butter looked around. None of the ponies in the streets of Canterlot had taken notice of her or had obviously pulled a prank on her. She didn’t feel threatened, but she did feel like somepony was watching her. Butter felt uneasy until Crash yelled for her. She shook those feelings and galloped after him, Canterlot Castle was just ahead. ***** Nash was lying on the slick glass surface in the dark. Massive objects bounced around and tapped the glass as he swayed gently from side-to-side with every step the pegasus took. After a while, his fears had dissolved into boredom. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t worried about what was going to happen to him, but he sure wished it would happen a little faster. He’d had enough waiting in prison. Nash soon resorted to thinking aloud to pass the time. “I think the worst thing about knowing something bad is about to happen to you, is when you have to wait for it.” His voice bounced off the jar’s walls right back to him. “My name is Nash Adary Worms, wrongfully convicted mass murder.” Nash had settled on what he should talk about. “I was put on trial and found guilty for the murders of over 100 people! With 23 eyewitnesses and several pieces of circumstantial evidence, I didn’t have a chance.” A large pair of goggles smacked the jar, making him jump. “I am deceased; yet, I live on in this bizarre world.” Nash paused in his self-monologue. “God must hate me…is this his way of having fun? He just decides to hate someone and then tortures them. My body and mind are just his playthings, to throw-out when he’s done!” Nash had worked himself into anger. He was grinding his teeth. “You think this is funny?!” Nash jumped to his hooves. “I’m not your plaything to have your fun with!” Nash could just see his reflection in the glass in the dim light. “And I’m not going to let you have your way. I’m not about to just give up!” Nash charged the glass and rammed it. His head bounced off and left him with a headache. Over and over he rammed, kicked, and punched at the glass. At his size, the glass was an inch thick at least. There was just no way he was getting through at his size. After a few minutes, Nash was in tears as he continued to beat against the glass. His head was pounding and he still hadn’t even put a crack in it. “Why,” he choked out through his sobs. “Why me?!” he cried out. “What did I ever do to deserve all this? I’ve been executed already, I felt what it’s like to die! Shouldn’t that be payment enough for whatever it is I did?” Nash lowered his head to cry for a minute. When Nash lifted his head again, he continued. “I’ve been turned into a bug, had my wings ripped off, lost my only friend, been taken prisoner, and I was even attacked by a crow!” Nash remembered the battle. Suddenly, Nash tensed and snapped his head up. He saw a faint reflection of his horn in the glass. A smile started to pull his lips up. “I am not done yet!” Nash began the long and tedious process of scratching at the glass with his sharp horn. It made a horrible screeching noise almost as bad as nails on a chalk board, but it was his only option. Nash had made a small crack in the wall and his smile had not faltered, untill the pegasus made a sudden stop. He was flung forward and his horn passed through the glass! Nash got excited for a moment until he realized that he was stuck. He panicked as he desperately tried to pry his horn back through the crack. He pressed all four hooves against the wall and pushed. He couldn’t get out. “God, you really do have a sick sense of humor…” Nash felt a jolt of energy spike through him that caused his whole body to vibrate. “What was that?!” Nash was still stuck, but he tried to look around for the source. It was hopeless in the confined dark space, but he still tried. ***** Two ponies cloaked in the shadows of an alley watched the three friends stop to talk in the street. One of the shadow ponies was a pegasus with blue eyes, the other was a unicorn with old wise golden eyes. Their forms were hidden from the sunlight, and the rest of their features could not be made out. The young blue eyed pegasus began, “you sense it? That energy?” “Of course I do,” the older unicorn huffed. “Is it the pegasus?” he was referring to Butter. “Feels like it, but…also, not like her.” “I know what you mean,” the blue eyed pegasus nodded. “Want to give her a pulse?” “Hmm, is anypony looking?” The younger one looked around before answering, “No, better make it quick though.” The unicorn closed his eyes as his horn glowed a dull yellow color. The three friends began to leave just as he ripped his eyes open and let an invisible wave of magic loose, it hit the yellow pegasus and bounced back. The pegasus felt the hit and began looking around. The aged unicorn tilted his head after a second, looking confused. “What’s the diagnosis?” the young pegasus asked eagerly. “I have no idea…” “What do you mean?” “She isn’t responsible for the energy, but something in her saddlebag is.” He still looked confused. The young pegasus copied his confused look, “you want to follow them? Figure out how that’s possible?” “Into the castle, are you stupid? Let’s report to the boss, he’ll want to know about this.” The two of them disappeared down the alley and vanished into the shadows. ***** “Your highness. Three ponies: Crash, Bee, and Butter, request an audience with you. And they wish to bring something into the court room. Will you see them?” “I would love to see them.” Celestia wasn’t sure why they had to ask her every time, she never said no. She sometimes had a problem with what ponies would bring in with them to see her, but that could be dealt with easily. She would have preferred they were simply announced and then let in immediately. But, the rest of the royal family had decided on this system and thought it a better idea. The three ponies were allowed entry into the throne room. Celestia smiled warmly at them to show she was always happy to hear their troubles or their ideas. The earth pony was trying to keep a smug grin hidden; he was proud and walked with confidence. The red unicorn was hyperactive and had a bounce to her step. She had no problem letting some of her excitement out in front Celestia. The last one had a far different posture then the others. The pegasus had apprehension and fear plastered all over her face. Her walk was slow and timed, like, if her hooves weren’t thoroughly planted before she went to take another step, she’d fall head over hooves. Celestia assumed it was just the intimidation factor of being in her presence. Many ponies were intimidated and expected a ruler of strict authority and power. Celestia never liked this idea, a ruler should be caring and understanding. Her subjects should be able to approach her almost like an old friend. Maybe not sharing stories over breakfast after they give each other a hug and a hoof shake, but a little more personal than how it was now. The earth pony and unicorn reached her thrown, leaving the pegasus a few steps behind, and quickly bowed. They stayed low to the ground till the pegasus had caught up and copied them. Celestia eyed the heavy saddlebags on her back. Did they really have to bring that in here with them? They couldn’t have left that at home or outside? Celestia wasn’t about to roll her eyes in front of them. It was time to get down to business. “You may rise,” Celestia’s voice was strong and inviting, she had had a good day so far. Crash began, “your majesty, we have found something we believe is of the utmost importance. We believed that if it wasn't brought to your attention, then all Canterlot could be at risk!” Bee wanted to punch him for how stupid he sounded. She didn’t dare do it yet though. “You have my attention,” Celestia and her guards periodically got ponies who thought they should use audiences with the princess as “show and tell”, and they'd often justify it with stupid exagerated reasons. So none of them saw this as very strange. Butter tensed as Bee opened the saddlebag and took a second to grab the jar with her magic. The guards by Celestia’s great thrown tensed and readied to put up shields or counter spells, you could never be too cautious with some ponies. Bee paused before she lifted the jar up for them to see. She seemed to get angry for just a second before she brought the jar out for everypony to see. ***** Nash was still imbedded in the wall and he still couldn’t get out. He could feel his ride stop repeatedly and the angle of his prison would adjust slightly. He could also tell that the surface they were walking on had changed. The pegasus’s hoof falls were louder and clicked more when they fell, like she was walking on a rock or a hard tiled floor. The jar tilted forward again and stayed there for just a moment before rising as his ride stopped one last time. Nash continued to desperately try prying his horn from the glass as things were spoken with increased volume outside. Nash tried to turn his head at different angles to help loosen it, but it just wasn’t budging. He needed to get his horn free if he was going to keep grinding away at the crack to get free of the jar. “Come. Out. You. Stupid. HORN!” Light flooded into the jar from above. Nash’s eyes went huge. “Uh oh...” Like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Nash was terrified of the repercussions of his captors catching him in this position. Nothing happened for a second after a shadow came over him. He held his breath as the jar was surrounded in a red glow that he knew meant they were about to levitate it. The jar went into the air and Nash’s heart was blasting away as he again frantically tried to pull his horn from the glass. His head was tilted down, so he couldn’t tell what was going on around him. Nash could tell very well how far he was off the ground though; the glass floor beneath his hooves made sure of that. He tried not to think about that as everything went silent outside. “Damn it. What’s going on out there?” he whispered to himself unnecessarily as he tried to look around. But his peripheral vision was blurring everything too much to be identified. ***** Crash stared with horror as Bee lifted the jar into the air. The changeling had tried to escape! He had scratched at the glass enough that he had actually made a hole just big enough for his horn. Luckily, he had gotten too eager and his horn was stuck as a result. Bee seemed aggravated by his attempt to escape, but was hiding it. Butter was saddened by his failed attempt to get away. He was so helpless that even fate seemed to cheat him. But, even if he had gotten out of the jar, where would he have gone? He had no wings, he was only two inches tall, and everypony in Equestria wouldn’t hesitate to catch him or just kill him. Celestia and all the guards leaned forward to try and see the container’s inhabitant. Silently, Celestia rose from her thrown, immediately drawing everypony’s attention. Bee looked at the jar quickly, the changeling was still trying to get his horn free. Butter cringed, the changeling was doomed. Crash wanted to grin, this was what he’d been waiting for. Celestia took slow timed steps down from her thrown where she took the jar in her own magic. Bee let go quickly when she felt Celestia’s magic start to envelope it. Bee stepped back with a slight bow as Celestia raised the jar slightly so it was eye level with her. Crash could see Celestia’s shock and curiosity, she wasn’t even trying to contain it. ***** Nash felt the jar lifting and saw a pair of long white legs with golden shoes come into view below. He was facing this new creature, but could barely even see its legs because of his angle. He tried one last time to get his horn free, but it just wouldn’t come out. Nash let himself collapse as he gave in. One of the long white legs began to lift into the air and come towards him. Nash watched it as much as possible. Once it was clear it was coming towards his head, particularly his horn jutting out of the jar, Nash cringed. This could be it. The hoof slowly applied pressure to the tip of his horn till it slid back into the jar! Nash stumbled back a few steps and fell into a sitting position. He hadn’t seen that coming. His head tingled slightly from his horn being pressed in, so he rubbed his forehead for a second before looking up at the creature that had pushed him. Nash choked, he hadn’t believed in gods or goddesses before he met Shadaico. And now here he was, clearly in the presence of one… ***** Celestia watched the small creature try with all its might to pull its horn back through the glass. When its final attempt failed, it let itself collapse. Slow and gently, she raised a hoof and helped it. After stumbling back, it looked into her face with awe. Celestia moved the jar to the side slightly and looked down at the three ponies that had brought this creature to her. Celestia demanded one thing, “Tell me everything...” Author’s Note: I was going to have Butter do something crazy, like run away, but then I remembered one of the themes of this story. Letting fears and doubts stop us from acting. Butter was in the perfect position to fulfill that theme, so I took it. As for the robed figure heading for Soul-Shatter prison [mentioned in ch. 6] and the ponies in the alley…well I’ve got a few really wacky ideas cooking. As for Shadaico…let’s just say insanity is on the horizon…