//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Slow Introductions // Story: Worth Less Than a Fly // by nightshade745 //------------------------------// *As always, if you spot an error/typo, let me know. I appreciate anyone who wants to help… Celestia walked into the dark bedroom. Luna hadn’t turned on the lights and she was still in bed covered by her blankets! Celestia contemplated complaining, but she was about to ask her a favor and thought better of it. “I hope you don’t mind, but I need to ask you to do something for me?” *Yawn* “Anything sister.” Luna was obviously tired if her voice was any indication. It was only midday after all. “I need to keep this in your room until I lower the sun, would that be alright?” As she asked, she lifted the jar so it was just above her head. “Yeah, yeah sure thing sis.” Luna’s blurry vision could only make out the jar’s outline as Celestia placed it on her desk. Luna’s tired mind saw no problem with keeping some random object in her room and it saw no reason to question her sister’s motives. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Celestia was a little worried that Luna might be too tired to grasp what she was agreeing to. “How could I say no to my big sis?” Luna smiled, but Celestia couldn’t see it in the dark. “Okay…as long as you’re sure. I’m only going to ask you to keep him safe today, maybe longer if things don’t work out. Are those acceptable terms?” Celestia hadn’t realized that Luna never saw what it was she was agreeing to keep in her room. “Why would I have a problem with it?” “Good night Luna, sleep tight,” before Celestia could finish she heard Luna collapsed down on her pillow. Celestia rolled her eyes. Before leaving the room, she cast a spell on the jar the changeling was in. He jumped away from her when she did it, but he was unharmed. Celestia leaned down to the jar and addressed him sternly. “You cannot escape. Tonight, if you answer all my questions, we’ll give you back to Chrysalis. Keep the noise down in here, my sister needs her rest.” The changeling only stared at her. Celestia could tell he was frozen stiff from fear and assumed he got the message. If not, he’d quickly find out that he wouldn’t be able to scratch his way out of the jar again, thanks to her spell. Celestia left the room and thoroughly closed the door. After giving it a second tug to make sure, she made her way back to court. She couldn’t keep the ponies waiting forever. ***** Nash was shaking as the goddess entered the darkness with him in tow. From the black abyss ahead, he could hear movement. Soon, the great white creature was speaking with another. Nash soon found himself placed on a desk of some sort. The lack of light made it impossible to see who or what the goddess was speaking with. After the exchange of a few more words, the winged unicorn cast a spell on the jar. Nash had been trying with all his might to see the other creature in the room when the jar suddenly exploded into color! Nash flew back as a gold energy washed over the jar like a wave and faded away. Nothing appeared to have changed as Nash looked around. Next thing he knew, the white winged unicorn leaned down and began to threaten him. He assumed it was a threat at least, based on her tone. It was probably something like, “try to escape and we’ll kill you.” For some reason, being threatened by a goddess that towers over you can be a scary experience. Nash couldn’t move as she stared at him, he didn’t know if she wanted a response. When she snorted and made for the door, Nash let out a huge breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. When she closed the door, some of that fear suddenly came right back to him. He was left in utter darkness and he knew there was something else in here with him. Before he could have a panic attack, a tiny light from overhead caught his attention. Nash tilted his head skyward. The ceiling of the room was covered in small twinkling dots, like stars! The sight made Nash feel at ease, as though there was nothing to worry about. “Why is everything in this place have to be so ironic?!” Tranquil moments were everywhere just to mock him it seemed. Strangely, Nash was able to sit back and enjoy the sight. After a time, he was laying on the floor of the jar staring up at the ceiling in peace. “What is wrong with me?” Nash thought he had to have gone insane. He was in a jar being held hostage by talking ponies for crying out loud. Nash must have realized that nothing was going to happen for a while, because nothing had happened for a while already. It allowed him time to think. How would he get out of this? Would Shadaico be an option? “Wait….Shadaico, of course!!” Nash face hoofed. How stupid could he get? He was friends with the most powerful man in the world. All he had to do was wait for his nightly call and tell him he needed help. Nash’s excitement died quickly when he remembered that Shadaico still had those four giant magic sealing screws in his back and that neither of them knew how far away from each other they were. Shadaico could very well be on the opposite side of the planet! Nash lowered his head as he realized he still had no hope. Nash felt trapped again, like he had when he first arrived in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He looked up again. He had been sitting in the dark for a while and his big white orb-eyes had adjusted. If the large balcony and its glass doors were the front of the room, he was sitting on a desk on the left side of the room. The door into the room was farther back, behind him. Nash figured the other two doors on the back wall were a closet and a bathroom. There was a large four post bed on the right side of the room that was close to the balcony. Next to the bed was a small nightstand. Also on the right side of the room, there was a large vanity dresser. The mirror was surrounded with the elegant designs of golden flowers and vines while each drawer had a diamond knob. Noticing the elegance of the dresser, Nash took a double take of the whole room. He suddenly found everything was of exquisite taste and expensive craftsmanship. The doors were made of a dark pine with various random images carved into their faces. The door handles looked like gnarled branches of gold. The floor was made of marble tiles and the bed sat atop a small purple rug. The glass doors that led to the balcony were a dark tinted color that prevented light from coming in during the day. On the nightstand there was only a small boring vase style lamp, and an old fashion ticking clock. The clock had a dial face and two bells on the top with a hammer that would rapidly strike them. “Wow. Whoever owns this room has some crazy tastes and the money to afford them,” Nash commented. Finally, Nash noticed the massive lump under the dark blue sheets of the bed. The lump was curled up near the head of the bed, leaving most of the sheets undisturbed. The form was also crunched up near the nightstand where it would be easy to reach over and smack the clock when the alarm went off. Nash thought that was a bad place to sleep. In his experience, it was better to have your alarm clock on the opposite side of the room from where you are sleeping. Because, in your sleepy state it’s very easy to just reach over and smack the snooze, then go right back to sleep. If you have somewhere important to be in the morning, you should have your clock on the opposite side of the room so you have to get up to smack it, which makes sure you’re up and awake. Nash reeled his head back as he mentally smacked himself for worrying about something so stupid at the moment. But, Nash was suddenly aware of how tired he was. Switching between being terrified and being bored took its toll on his energy it seemed. Nash tucked his legs under his form as he lay his head down. He was not comfortable, but he was tired enough. Nash eventually fell asleep in the unfamiliar room with an unfamiliar creature. When it woke up, he wondered what its reaction to him would be. ***** Celestia was getting restless as the day neared its end. She was secretly grateful that she had left Luna in the dark about many of the events that had taken place during the changeling attack on Canterlot, figuring that Luna didn’t need to carry that burden. It seemed that her decision was going to pay off more than she originally thought. Because Luna didn’t have any personal vendettas against them, it was highly unlikely she’d hurt the small changeling she now had in her room. Luna only knew that the changelings had attacked, captured Celestia, almost ruined the wedding, and then Shining Armor and Cadence had combined their powers to save Canterlot. The specific details were lost on her and Celestia aimed to keep it that way. She didn’t want her younger sister to know that she had been hurt or that the Elements of Harmony had been useless. Celestia had been baffled that Luna was able to sleep through the entire attack. After things had calmed down, she had asked her younger sister if she’d heard anything, to which she simply replied she had slept like a baby! The changelings in the castle had apparently decided not to purposefully disturb her. Since her first Nightmare Night, Luna had developed a few quirks. First, she was a heavy sleeper, if the events during the wedding were anything to go on. Second, she had a bit of split personality. She could be serious, threatening, and quite intimidating when she needed to be. Or, she could be quite friendly, even playful. Luna didn’t have a lot to do during the night and had gotten into having fun on a regular basis. Not that Celestia had a problem with that or anything, she was just glad her sister had readjusted to life in only two years. Celestia was snapped from her thoughts when a guard gave her nudge informing her it was time to close court and prepare to lower the sun. Celestia smiled with anticipation of the coming interrogation. She was eager to learn of Chrysalis’s latest plans, if she had any. She also wanted something to eat. Maybe the chefs could throw together a quick chocolate cake before it was time for the changeling to answer her questions. ***** Nash felt like his head would split apart if the bells on the clock were not shut off soon. The clock was ringing away and it was like a jackhammer to his skull as he waited for the creature who owned the room to shut it off. Lazily, and with many moans and groans, it began to reach out for the clock. After several hard slaps against the nightstand, its hoof finally found the clock. Nash expected the hoof to stop the bells from ringing as the creature sat up, but something a little more interesting happened. The creature quickly sat up with the clock stuck to its right hoof. Next thing he knew, it--now he could tell was a she--threw the clock across the room at the wall! The clock exploded into pieces to Nash’s left and plummeted to the floor. “Well that’s one way to stop the bells of hell I guess,” Nash acknowledged. He returned his attention to the creature still in her bed…her eyes were closed as she sat there. She wasn’t as tall as the white winged unicorn, but she was pretty close. She was a dark ebony color with a lazy blue mane drooping down from her head. Her wings were massive and not tucked against her sides; instead, they hung loose. Nash waited expectantly for something dramatic to happen, but she continued to do nothing but sit there with her eyes closed. “We going somewhere or what?” Nash asked no one in particular. For a while, he suspected she had fallen asleep again. Finally, she began to stir when she pushed the sheets off her body and stood up. Again, she stood there for a second. “Man, she is a slow starter.” Nash noticed the depiction of the moon on her flank and wondered what that was about. Slowly, she snapped the lamp light on and Nash had to shield his eyes from the glare. She put her legs to good use and walked to the back of the room and went into the door farthest from Nash. After closing the door, there was a short wait before Nash heard a flush. “That’s the bathroom, so the other door is the closet.” The dark pony reemerged and approached her vanity dresser. There, she sat on her haunches like a dog and stared at her reflection with tired eyes. “You got to be kidding. I’m going to have to sit through your whole morning ritual!?” Nash complained. As he suspected, she took out various things of makeup and brushes and went to work. She seemed absolutely determined to make him wait as long as possible while she did her mane, face, and hooves. Nash approached the edge of the jar so he could see a little better. After plopping down, he continued to wait for her. It was boring. It took some time, but she started to put the brushes and makeup away. “You just had to go through your entire coat with a brush didn’t you? Your fur was kind of fuzzy before, but still.” The last thing she did before standing really got Nash’s attention though. Her horn began to glow and her mane and tail followed. Next thing he knew, they were just like the white goddess’s he seen before, shimmering and waving in a breeze that wasn’t there! The only difference was hers resembled the night sky rather than a rainbow. A quick nod later and she was coming towards him! Nash was suddenly aware of the approaching dark goddess and backed away from her as much as he could. She looked down past his prison though. She didn’t seem to even notice him as she lazily brought out something from below the desk. Nash realized that her shoes had been underneath him and then noticed the giant dark necklace and tiara that sat beside him on the table. She wasn’t coming for him, but her royal attire. She greedily snapped them up into the air with her magic and put them on with practiced skill and precision. The whole time, she seemed to be in some kind of daze. It was as though she was on auto-pilot or something, which explained why she hadn’t noticed him at all. It was as though he didn’t exist. She turned and walked over to her balcony and opened the door. The tinted glass now out of the way, Nash could tell it was sunset. “Who wakes up at this hour?” He immediately remembered her moon tattoo. “Weirdo,” he commented. She walked out onto her balcony and looked out at the sunset. Nash lost interest in whatever it was she was doing and felt content to stare at the now lit room. It was as he had originally observed, just brighter. The sun suddenly vanished below the mountains outside. The pony came back in and stood just inside the room for a second as her daze seemed to finally end. After letting out a long yawn and shaking her head a little, she looked fully awake and ready to attack the day--well--night. She casually looked around her room. Her eyes finally found the jar and left her looking confused. Nash let his ears drop as he realized she had finally taken notice of his presence. With narrow eyes, she approached Nash again. He backed up against the jar wall so he could be as far away as possible again. She dropped her head so it was eye level with him. Her eyes lit up when she realized what she was looking at. Nash felt very awkward having a 140 foot pony stare at him for a couple seconds. She slowly lifted her head back up and began to think. ***** Luna’s morning had started off as it always had. She broke her clock, went to the bathroom, put her makeup on, did her hair, and raised the moon. It had become so routine and boring to her though. She wanted something different to happen each morning to mix it up, but it never did. Just after raising the moon, Luna sighed. It was time for another routine day. Night court would be devoid of any activity again and she’d close it early so she could run off and do something exciting. Luna reentered her room and yawned. Finally allowing herself to wake up fully. She just had to get up the motivation to go to breakfast, or dinner as most ponies would call it. Looking around her familiar room idly, she spotted something foreign on the edge of her writing desk. Suspicion rising, she approached the jar. Once she was closer, she could tell there was something inside. Luna had to lean down so she could see clearly what it was. Inside the jar, cowering as far from her as it could get, was the strangest creature she had ever seen. She only knew of one kind of being with this appearance, but it was off somehow. The changeling had black fur and short tattered ears, but the rest of his features were wrong. Changelings were supposed to be indistinguishable from each other, with their eyes and wings the same color as every other changeling. This one’s eyes, mane, tail, and wings (what was left of them) were a pale white color. The stubs that were left of his wings didn’t immediately register in her mind when she realized two other key features; he was only two inches tall and he didn’t have holes in his legs. What are you, where did you come from? Luna mentally asked herself for a while. Luna straightened up and began to recall what her sister had asked her earlier. She had been tired and just agreed to having something put in her room. Luna suddenly connected the dots. Her sister had asked her to keep this changeling in her room! Luna looked down at the jar’s inhabitant again with wonder. Again she mentally asked herself where he came from, but this time she wasn’t referring to how he got into her room; rather, she was asking where he actually came from. Luna suspected her sister would come for him after she ate. Luna debated leaving him here and going to get some breakfast. Her sister had asked her to guard him after all. Curiosity was overflowing her mind so she decided on the safest course of action, she asked the guards in the hall to bring her breakfast to her room. While it was on its way up, she sat in front of the jar and thought hard. The first question on her mind was what this thing was. The next question was what it was doing in the castle. Her sister, or her guards, must have captured it. So it must have been a spy or it was just passing through and got caught. So why did Celestia want her to guard it? Was it because she thought it would escape, that it would use its small size to slip out of the dungeons unnoticed? Or was it because she didn’t want any of the guards to get any ideas about getting revenge on the changelings? Luna recalled the rumors and the story her sister had told her about the attack. A lot of the guards had family that would bear scars, both physically and mentally, from the attack for the rest of their lives. It was possible that they would see this small defenseless changeling and be tempted to try and get some payback. Add in the fact that its wings were gone and how fragile he must be and it was unlikely he’d be able to survive their wrath. So her sister must have wanted her to protect it. ***** After a short time, the dark pony’s breakfast arrived and she was content to eat it on her bed. Nash watched her intently as she lay on her sheets enjoying her meal. Nash had been here for three days and he still didn’t feel hungry despite the fact that he had yet to eat so much as a crumb; he could use a drink though. The dark animal wasn’t making his thirst go away either, especially when she was drinking a tall glass of water right in front of him. Nash watched the way water condensed out of the air onto the glass and ran down its sides in great drops. How the water spun and twirled and danced as the glass was tipped. He licked his lips at just the sight of the water pouring down her throat. Nash smacked his head against the wall, “I’m going to go insane before this is over!” “I thought you were already insane,” Shadaico’s voice announced in his head. “HOLLY SPIT! SHADAICO!” Nash took a second to relax before returning to the mental conversation. “Can you give a guy a warning?” “Hehe, sorry.” “This isn’t the time for jokes either!” “Relax would you? I can see the castle and I’m on my way. You’ll be out of that tree soon.” “That’s great,” Nash celebrated sarcastically. “Only one problem with that now though.” “What’s that?” Shadaico didn’t sound like he cared. “I’m inside the castle now, as a prisoner!” “What…?” “They’re holding me hostage, they’ve stuffed me in a jar!” “…You’re going to have to explain that last statement to me Nash. They stuffed you in a jar? How’d they pull that off?” “I never told you what I was reincarnated as?” “You told me you had wings,” Shadaico offered. “I don’t know what kind of bug I’ve been turned into, but it’s not fun. I’m no bigger than an acorn Shadaico! Everything is huge to me.” “It’s good to know someone else isn’t happy with their new body.” “What did you get turned into?” Nash asked harshly. “Well, I shouldn’t complain really. But, I’m a…well…it’s embarrassing. I’ve never had to hunt like this before. It seems…lowly.” “What are you?” Nash asked again. “…Nash, we’ve been hacked…” Shadaico announced spontaneously. “What does that mean?” Nash had no clue what he was talking about. “Someone’s listening to our conversation right now! You said you were captured right?” “Yeah.” “Is it the ponies who got yah?” “Yeah! How’d you know?” “I’m near one of their villages, they seem to be the dominate species here. From what I have observed, some of them have magical capabilities, but these creatures speak a different language then you and me. This hacker isn’t something to worry about. They probably think the signals encrypted, when really it’s just our language.” “How do you know someone’s listening to us?” Nash asked after relaxing a bit. “Cause it suddenly got easier to maintain this conversation. Whoever they are, they’re not very smart. Their magic is helping me support the connection, heck, their practically doing the connecting for me!” “Anyway, you’re going to save me right?” “You’re inside a castle Nash…” “They’re going to kill me in here!” Nash was begging. “I barely have any magic. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sneak in. I’m not exactly the most inconspicuous creature around anymore.” “What are you going to do?” “I’ll be there tomorrow night. I’ll try to sneak into the castle and get you out, but Nash, I haven’t done any sneaking around in years! I always preferred the rush in and blow stuff up approach. With my limited magic, that won’t work anymore.” “As long as you get me out of here, I don’t care. Just answer me one question would you?” “Shoot, we’ve got plenty of time.” “What were you turned into?” “I’m………a wolf…” “That doesn’t sound so bad,” Nash assured him. “Nash. Shut. Up.” Author's Note: SO! Shadaico is a wolf! But, he doesn't like wolves...wonder why... (Shadaico is going to be a real big black wolf, not a timberwolf) Next few Chapters are going to be really mixed up. There's going to be investigations, interrogations, infiltration, and a fight!