//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: The Stranger With a Big Iron on Her Hip // by Omega_code //------------------------------// Thanks to PiquoPie for proofreading, and for ed2481 for helping me finished this chapter. The changeling let out a small moan as he started to regain consciousness. He noticed his movement was strictly limited, for he could not open his wings or move a single leg. His head, however, had a full range of motion as he lifted it up to check his surroundings. He was tied to a chair that was standing in the middle of a basically empty room, with the exception of one thing. The changeling smiled and cocked his head to the side. “Well, well, if it isn’t Princess Celestia, the soon to be ex-ruler of Equestria. It’s an honor to meet you,” he said in mock flattery. The white alicorn got up from the corner she was patiently waiting in and stood in front of the insectoid, giving him an imposing glare. “You have some information that is important to me,” she said in a controled tone. “Oh do I? Please tell, I don’t know what information I have that’s so vastly important to you, expect how it’s useless to fight Master Cadbury,” the changeling replied with a devious chuckle. Celestia eyes narrowed on the changeling and her horn glowed as she lower her head, making it level with his. “You are going to tell me where you are holding Rarity and whatever else Cadbury is planning,” she said in a low and threatening voice. “Willfully I hope. If not... there are ways to acquire what I need.” The changeling blinked a couple of times before he smiled widely. “Oh... this should be good.” Scarlet stood against the wall, looking over at the five ponies standing over the still unconscious Twilight. Strongheart left to help the little filly, Hearsay, find her mother, and Alpha stayed behind... ‘guarding’ the woman as he stood a few feet away from her. They were all waiting for Celestia to finished her ‘talk’ with the changeling in a room currently sealed off from view, and warded to prevent sound from traveling through it. Scarlet let off a small peeved sigh for not being allowed to join in the integration, since it was something she was good at, but the way Celestia was acting made the woman feel the alicorn should have all the fun alone. After all, she know the ‘I will get what we need no matter what’ look, whether it from human or beast, and since it was Celestia’s land, it was her rules. Scarlet glanced at the stallion ‘guarding’ her as he watched emotionlessly. The woman blinked a couple of times before looking back out, yet she could feel the pony’s eyes upon her. “You know, I thank you for the little help in saving that young pony and what not, but I don’t need a guard dog,” the redhead said, glancing a bit back towards the pegasus direction. “You’re a key component for the final part of Cadbury’s plan, and after your defeat at the hands of Hard Iron, I am not letting you out of my sight,” Alpha stated bleakly. “Defeat? Last time I checked I’m the one who came out alive and the bull ended up with a hole where his heart should be,” Scarlet pointed out. “Yes, but that was of Celestia’s doing, not yours. You are not capable of defending yourself against Cadbury’s elite troops,” the pegasus continued. “I did with that Beta fellow,” Scarlet commented. “Granted he ruffled me a bit during the fight, but I was able to kill him.” “Then you just got lucky,” Alpha replied. “Beside Beta was not very powerful to begin with, like most griffons in Cadbury’s reserve.” “Luck?” Scarlet asked as she chuckled. “I don’t believe in luck, only skill, and I do have skills.” She held up a finger upon seeing Alpha was about to say something. “The fight with that minotaur doesn’t really count. I didn’t know I was going to fight someone with power armor like skin. If I’d known that I would have brought my rifle and blown his head off with either an armor piercing or explosive round.” “Then all the more for me to continue guarding you. For you do not know what you’re truly facing,” Alpha stated. “And I will continue on guarding you until Cadbury is defeated or we find a way to send you back to your world.” “Oh joy,” Scarlet said, rolling her eyes slightly. “But I guess you do have point, just don’t get in my way when I’m lining up a shot, ‘kay?” “I will try to keep that in mind,” the stallion replied. Scarlet glanced back over at the ponies, their coats and manes seeming to lose their shine after the battle and seeing the damage Twilight took from just the radiation alone. “They’re going to have nightmares tonight,” Scarlet muttered. “I am sure many of the citizens of Appleloosa will,” Alpha replied. “Princess Luna will have a hoof-ful tonight in trying to ward away as many of the nightmares as she can.” Scarlet frowned a bit as she looked at the light gray pegasus with a raised eyebrow. “Ward off nightmares? First she could move the moon and now she can suddenly ward away bad dreams?” she asked with a small disbelieving scoff. “Next you’re going to tell me she can make all your dreams come true,” she added sarcastically. “No, she cannot, but what I said was true,” Alpha said. “After she became a being known as Nightmare Moon she gained the ability to enter into people dreams. No one knows exactly why that is, though some say it is because she is the Princess of Night. However I do not think that is the cause.” Scarlet shook her head. “Whatever, she’d better not intrude into my mind tonight then. Last thing I want is someone to see... my dreams,” she said, dodging something at the end of her sentence. Alpha gave Scarlet a sideway glance, noticing her attempts to avoid to saying something. “I am sure she will leave you alone, what with being a foreigners mind and all.” Scarlet chuckled softly. “Yeah, that or nightmares really don’t phase me... not after... with everything that happen in the Sierra Madre,” she said, still dodging an unknowable topic. The stallion continued to glance towards the human for a while, sensing that wasn’t the full truth, but knowing it didn’t really matter for the true subject at hand. He didn’t push any further. “Also can you stop watching me like some sort of living statue?” Scarlet added. Suddenly the door to the room Celestia and the changeling were in open, and the white alicorn walked out from it before probably shutting it. The mare glanced up at the view of stares she was receiving from everyone. She glanced at Scarlet and Alpha. “I would like to speak to the two of you privately upstairs, please,” she asked before turning to head for the stairs without a reply from either of them. Scarlet raised an eyebrow, but followed anyways, the light grey stallion following not a few steps behind. Questioning looks were being exchanged between the mares and Braeburn as they watched the three head up stairs. Celestia’s horn flashed for a second time. “There, now no one should be able to interrupt us,” she said as she turned to the human and pony. “Alright, so what were you able to ‘yank’ from that bug?” Scarlet asked. “Things I wish weren’t true,” the mare replied with a small look of distraught. “The location of where Rarity and five other unicorns are being held, the conformation that you are indeed the main ‘key’ of his plan, and... a weapon that is almost ready for deployment.” Scarlet raised a questioning eyebrow while Alpha’s brow deepen as he let out a distraught sigh. “So, he is further along than I thought he was...” he said. “What wait? What does he mean by weapons?” Scarlet ask as she looked at the stallion. “When Cadbury viewed your world he was intrigued how it came to be to. When he learned about your ‘nukes’, he was inspiration to try and copy them to help him reform Equestria,” he replied. “And you thought to tell us about this now?” the woman asked crossly. “I thought it would be impossible for him to do so, since your technology is far more advanced than ours, but I guess I was wrong,” Alpha commented. “No shit Sherlock!” Scarlet deadpanned. “Scarlet, calm yourself,” Celestia said. “Why? Not only do you have a madman but a madman who has nukes!” the woman stated. “Because they’re not the same weapons as your world,” the alicorn replied. Both Alpha and Scarlet gave the mare a puzzled look. “They’re more radiation bombs, designed to unleash a high amount of radiation over a vast area in a short period of time. Still devastating nevertheless, but nothing like what a nuke could do.” The woman scoffed. “Alright, so we just let the info of how Cadbury has a nuke like weapon on his disposal pass by, after all, once he uses them he is just signing his own death warrant too.” “No, it would not. Cadbury can survive the ill touch of death from the radiation, unlike everypony else,” Alpha said. “Which is why he is driven to replicate his ability onto another pony, which is why we cannot let him get you.” Scarlet shook her head. “I still don’t see why that is, but I also don’t see how you know so much about this?” The woman glance at the stallion with an imposing questioning glare. “Care to explain?” Alpha glanced at the alicorn, who was also giving the stallion the same questioning star, just less imposing. He let out a small sigh. “The reason I know all of this is because I used to be a part of Cadbury’s forces... more importantly I was part of his elite troops.” “So you’re a defector?” Celestia asked. “In a way,” he replied. “And the reason you’re acting now on ‘warning’ us about Cadbury,” the mare asked further. “Because I was... busy, trying to keep a low profile,” Alpha answered. “I am not exactly a pony he wished to still be alive.” “Why?” Celestia inquired with a raised eyebrow. “Because of what I am... I am essentially him... or a modified copy of him,” Alpha informed them. Celestia raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what he meant by that; however, Scarlet seemed to know as an intrigue look crossed her face. “You’re a clone?” the woman inquired. “Something like that,” Alpha replied. “What’s a clone exactly?” Celestia asked. “A genetic copy of a being, or a duplicate,” Scarlet answered. “However, you don’t look anything like Cadbury, being a pegasus and the light grey fur,” she pointed out. “Like I said, I’m a modified copy of him, but still him essentially... especially what makes me truly alive,” the stallion clarified. “I hold half of his soul.” Both Scarlet and Celestia eyebrows rose for different reason. For the mare it was shock and for the woman it was disbelief. “Cadbury has the ability to weave with souls?” Celestia asked. “That sounds... hardly possible to even do,” Scarlet said shaking her head. “Yet I sometimes forget where exactly I am at the moment.” “It is possible and yes he can,” Alpha said as he closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh. “I’m proof as it is. One for sharing his abilities of using tainted magic, and two already having his knowledge of how to use it.” He opened his eyes and look at Scarlet. “One of reason why we can’t let him get a hold of you.” Scarlet gave the stallion a skeptical look. “Why? You keep saying that but I have yet to learn the reason behind the words?” “Because he needs a female version of himself,” Alpha answered. A dumbfounded look crossed the woman’s face. “Say what?” “He can create stallions that mimic his abilities, I am proof of that; however, we cannot breed with normal mares and trying to create a new nation with a race of ponies that cannot breed will lead to a downfall pretty fast. He has tried to replicate the event that turned him into what he is on mares... but so far none have survived. So he went into switch his genes around to create a mare version of himself, and in doing so he ran into another snag. He cannot create the reproductive organs without having some sort of example to copy form. And in order to do so he will need to study a race who can survived becoming tainted and can still breed. You humans are the closest he has found that meet that standard.” Scarlet blinked a couple of times as she went over the information. “So what you’re saying he wants to capture me in order for him to make me ‘tainted’, so he can study my uterus?” she said eerily calm. “That’s... creepy, pervert, and fucked up crazy,” the woman stated flatly. “Yet it is the truth,” Alpha said in a serious tone. “But wait, I thought you said every mare who Cadbury tries to taints ends up dead?” Celestia asked. “Also why do the griffins and minotaurs so easily attune to using tainted magic?” “Because they have very little magic,” the stallion replied. “Unlike all ponies who have some form of a huge amount of natural magic that follows through them, they do not, which allows an easy transfer to make then run on tainted magic. The same goes for Scarlet’s race, so she should easily survive the process of getting tainted.” “Wait, wait, wait. If the other races can be tainted, then he should have plenty of examples of how to make a fertile fetes. Why go through the hassle to bring me?” Scarlet asked. “He has tried that in the past... but once female counterparts are tainted they suddenly become infertile,” he replied. “Your race does not seem to have that problem once you reach the same state of being tainted over there, a ghoul as you call it.” Scarlet ponder for a while as she thought over what Alpha meant. “You mean ghoul born children?” Celestia looked at the woman with a puzzling look. “A what?” Scarlet waved her hand in a circle as she thought of a response. “I told you ghouls are humans who take huge amount of radiation yet do not die, but mutate into a different being.” Celestia nodded her head in affirmation. “Well, ghoul born are beings who are born as ghouls from ghouls parents. I’ve only heard rumors in the wasteland, never seen it but... I heard its pretty nasty stuff but it is supposed to be possible.” “And it is that possibility that Cadbury wants to copy,” Alpha stated. Scarlet shook her head. “Still creepy, prevent and downright fuck up crazy,” she said. “Still... if that is his goal... we need to stop him,” Celestia said. “Indeed... I fear he has everything set in motion to attack Equestria at a moment’s notice,” Alpha said with a frown. “So our time to act is now.” “Indeed,” Celestia agreed. “Well then what are we waiting for? We got an insane bastard’s skull to split open,” Scarlet said with a determine grin. She held up a finger at the stallion. “And don’t you try to stop me. The way I see it, it’s a win or lose situation. Either we kill Cadbury, or he kills y’all and get’s me. I’m not going to run or hide, it’d be pointless.” Alpha was still about to object, but Celestia cut him off. “She has a point, plus she will be helpful in our assault against Cadbury,” the mare pointed out. A vexed frown formed on his face as he bowed his head to Celestia. “So be it,” he said. “Now... I think I need to have a talk with the ponies before night falls... I need to tell them about evacuating Appleloosa,” the mare informed them as she got up and head towards the exit. “You two should start getting some rest... it’s going to be a long and rough day tomorrow.” “Right,” Scarlet said while Alpha just nodded his head slightly. Scarlet put her hands into her pockets and looked at the stallion. “Well, I guess things are about to heat up,” she said with a small smile. “You have no idea,” Alpha said with a grim frown.