//------------------------------// // Questions, Answers, And Upgrades // Story: Five Changelings In Equestria: The Five Paths // by Bucking Nonsense //------------------------------// "Why do you trust me?" Shining Armor's ears twitched as Orchid asked the question. He supposed that he would have had to answer that question in detail, sooner or later, but he wished, honestly, that he didn't have to answer it now... The two were walking down a hallway in the guard headquarters building. Something had just come in from Canterlot, something that should come in handy against the ever-present threat that King Sombra's vengeance posed to the Crystal Empire. He'd just made an off-hoofed comment about her being one of the few he could trust with this item, when she asked her question. Shiny sighed, then turned towards the changeling. Orchid was wearing the same pink and white look she had taken to for the last few days. Shining Armor had to admit, for somebuggy past forty years old, not to mention a changeling, she was surprisingly attractive. While he was a married stallion, he had to admit that if she were twenty years younger, or maybe just ten, and if he was still single, he wasn't too proud to admit that he might have asked her out. As it was, there were more than a few members of the guard who had made inquiries about whether or not she was single, and some of them were half her age... Considering the changeling's question, Shining Armor said, "There's a lot of reasons why I trust you. Tell you what: I'll tell you one of the reasons, if you'll answer a few questions I've wanted to ask you. Deal?" "Deal," Orchid said, a half-smile on her face. "What do you want know?" As they continued walking down the hallway, Shining Armor asked, "How did you defeat that construct? I know it wasn't 'just' the power of love: I saw the hoofmark on the top of that thing's body. Most ponies would have broken their hoof doing that, but you weren't even limping. In fact, you were barely even breathing hard." Chuckling, Orchid said, "I spent more than twenty-five years learning how to fight. The first five years of that was a solo tour of the southern kingdoms, spying on every dojo, salle d'arms, training hall, and boot camp I could find. I sat in on lessons being given by some of the famous, and sometimes notorious, warriors that those lands had to offer. I spent the better part of three years in a monastery, studying the techniques that the monks there used as a form of meditation. I could go on for days about everything I learned, but the end result is, I rarely have to hit something twice. As for exactly how I defeated the construct? I used a technique I picked up in Nippon: Hametsu. The word means 'Ruin'. It's something I only break out when I absolutely have to destroy something in one blow." Shining Armor nodded, and, as they began to descend a few steps, said, "Fair enough. The first reason why I trust you is because, when that thing first attacked, Lance told me that you grabbed hold of him, and pulled him out of the way. You also sent him to get help while you ran interference. You put the safety of a child you'd just met ahead of your own: It's a shame to say that not every pony would have done that, let alone a member of another species." Clearing his throat, he continued, asking, "Second question: Why did you come to the Crystal Empire? I know you were able to get in on a train, before the travel restrictions were enforced, but this place is pretty out of the way. What led you here?" Orchid's expression turned somber as she said, "I left the swarm a year before Canterlot. I was getting on in years, and I was getting fed up with how the new Queen was running things. I've seen many things, more of the world than most ponies could imagine exists. I've even had a couple of eggs, although who knows what may have become of them, since commoners don't get to raise their own kids. It was past time to retire, so one day, I just left. I wandered around, taking in the sights. When I heard that the fabled city had returned, I thought to myself, 'How wonderful would it be to spend to spend the rest of my days in a place that beautiful?' I jumped about the first train north and came here." Shiny chuckled, and said, "I thought so. The second reason I trust you is, just after the invasion of Canterlot, a changeling named Ling was found, looking for love. She's a wellspring of info about the hive, including notable figures like yourself. Ling had nothing but good things to say about you. I've come to learn just how great a judge of character that little lady can be." As the two finished descending the steps, they came to a steel door, practically a vault, with a ridiculous number of locks upon it. Shining Armor pulled out a keyring, and began the lengthy process of opening the door. The knight, as he worked, asked, "Alright, here's my last question for now: What are your plans for the future?" Orchid shrugged, then said, "I don't have any. I basically went into early retirement a year ago, and have just been going with the flow since then." At Shining Armor's startled look, Orchid said, "Don't worry: I'm not going pack up to leave you high and dry: I promised to help you take care of the constructs, and I've legally adopted Lance, to boot. I'm here for the long haul. In all honesty, I spent too long not doing anything: It feels good to be useful." Shining Armor nodded, and turned the last key in the lock. "Good to hear," he said, grinning. "The third reason I trust you is because you agreed to take in Lance. No one had to convince you to do it, or force you, or really even ask you. You just heard he had lost his parents, and you decided to take him in." As the door swung open, Shiny said, "You know about the Canterlot invasion. Given everything that's happened, I suppose anypony would forgive me for having a bad opinion when it comes to changelings. However, a long time ago, well before you or I were born, six ponies were trapped in a cave, and were only able to survive because they were able to look past their differences, bury their old grudges, and start building a new future together. That was how Equestria was born... and that is the only way that Equestria can continue to move forward." Orchid chuckled, then said, "Nice speech. If I'd heard someone give it about twenty years ago, I'd have packed up and moved here well before now." Clearing her throat, she nodded, and said, "Now, why don't you show me what's so important that you needed to drag me down here?" --------------------------- Inside of the vault, there were rows and rows of shelves on the walls. Some of those shelves had locked boxes. Some of them were practically safes. Others were just simple cardboard. In the middle of the vault, there was a table, upon which was a briefcase. It wasn't very impressive looking, but you know what they say about books and covers. "Before I show you this, let me ask you a question," Shining Armor said, a smile playing on his face. "What do you think of the armor that the average guard wears?" An odd question, but after a moment, Orchid answered, "Honestly, it's rather antiquated, from what I've seen. I could think of at least a dozen ways it could be improved, just off the top of my head. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was ceremonial, rather than practical." The knight chuckled, and said, "I asked another changeling that question, and he said something similar. He spotted eighteen possible improvements, including a chinstrap to keep the helmet from being removed. And you know what? It is ceremonial armor. It's the same armor that was worn one thousand years ago by the Equestrian Guard. There's a multitude of reasons why the armor formally worn by guards on duty hasn't changed, but the simplest one is this: if a suit of real, top of the line, fully-functional combat armor fell into the wrong hooves, it could be used to cause a lot of damage... which is why it is only deployed in a time of war, or in a case of national emergency. Such as now." Opening the briefcase, Shining Armor revealed what appeared to be a simple-looking locket. Nothing seemed special at first glance, but Orchid felt a tingle run down her spine. It might look normal, but there was magic in that thing. ...Very, very strong magic. "This," Shining Armor said, "Is the latest model of combat armor. As you've probably already guessed, it's magical in nature, and concealed inside of this locket when not in use. If you place it around your neck, and then activate it, you'll be covered head to hoof in a magical suit of armor in less than five seconds. Wearing this, you'll be able to shrug off damage that would floor ten ponies, and it will also give you a great deal more defense against energy blasts like the one you described during the previous battle." With a shrug, Shiny admitted, "The full version of this armor has capabilities that would also drastically increase your physical strength and speed, but I've been informed that a changeling is able to do that normally, as long as they have love energy to power that effect. Likewise, the offensive weaponry normally intended to go with this has also been disabled. This version is intended to give you protection, since you already have sufficient combat skill. Besides, the suite of weapons that this particular version normally comes with is a little... extreme. We need you to save the city without leveling it to the ground in the process." Orchid looked at the locket, and said, "So, you trust me, but not enough to give me access to weapons of mass destruction." Chuckling, she said, "Good call. I don't know if I'd trust myself with that level of firepower." Being able to level a city? Orchid suddenly realized why Equestria was so peaceful: would you want to mess with a nation that could field even just ten soldiers with that level of hardware? If this was mass-produced, there could be hundreds of these out there... The knight chuckled, and said, "Well, that's one way of putting it. Mind you, when we requested this little beauty, Celestia and Luna both thought that it might be better to give it to a pony, with the weapons and boosters equipped. However, it takes about six weeks of training before a pony would be considered competent to use this in battle, and we're uncertain of the effectiveness of conventional weapons against those things. It's possible that the full version of this armor would be just as ineffective as everything else has been. Meanwhile, we have you, already trained in hoof-to-hoof combat, and have already demonstrated the ability to take on one of those things without that kind of firepower. This should be more than enough to keep you safe, if and when another one of those things shows up." Orchid walked over to the locket, put it on, and asked, "Well, let's give it a quick test run, then. How do I turn it on?" Shining Armor said, "You place a hoof over it, and then say a codeword to turn it on. Right now, it's set to activate with the word, "Activate". You can change the codeword pretty easily once it's on. I recommend that, if you do, you use a word that you'll remember, but won't come up in normal conversation. An accidental activation could end up raising a lot of questions from the locals that we can't risk answering right now." The changeling nodded, then placed a hoof over the locket. "Activate." What followed next was... odd. She felt a tingle run across her body, starting with the locket, and flowing outwards. In less than five seconds, she felt as though her entire body was coated by something. A helmet had formed over her head, as well. The front seemed to be some sort of glass, allowing her to see out of it. Icons appeared on the glass, each one labeled. "Okay, now I need a mirror, I think. I need to see how this looks." Shining Armor chuckled, and said, "I'll have one brought in. Turn it off for now." After a second, seeing that the changeling hadn't moved, the unicorn chuckled, and said, "Right, sorry. You put your hoof on the locket and say 'deactivate'." Turning off the armor, Orchid Mantis was clearly grinning excitedly when the helmet came off. She had to admit, this did feel pretty cool. "And you might want to go ahead and get Lance. I'm almost certain that he'll want to see this." Shiny laughed aloud, and said, "Sure. School's letting out about now. I'll have a guard bring him over." ------------------------ Twenty minutes later, Orchid, now with Lance watching, activated the armor, and looked in the mirror that was brought it. "It's impressive," Orchid said, turning this way and that. A shell of dark gray metal covered her from head to hoof. It was scaled, with each individual plate less than an inch in size, and with almost no visible gap between. Clever: too thin to allow passage for any sort of blade, and if any of the scales were knocked off, there wouldn't be a large gap in her defenses. The helmet was a single piece, though, and the glass that was transparent on the inside was opaque on the outside: Nopony would be able to see her face through this, so she could go out and about in this without a disguise underneath. It had even been adapted to her wings, so she could fly without any problems. Lance exclaimed, "It's awesome!" Chuckling, Shiny said, "Yes, it definitely is." "The color scheme is a little dull," Orchid said, stretching a bit. This stuff felt practically like a second skin: whoever made this stuff definitely knew their business... "There are ways to change that," the unicorn said, grinning. "There should be an icon in the upper-right corner that says 'Customize'. You can use that to change the password, the color scheme, and about fifty other options. There's a switch in front of your mouth: use your tongue to move it around and fiddle with the controls." As she worked the controls, Orchid asked, between flicks of the switch, "You've used one of these before?" Shining Armor, his expression serious, admitted, "A couple of times, yes. Equestria is peaceful, for the most part, but we still have the occasional threat that calls for this level of firepower." Orchid adjusted the color to a pure white, with pink at the hooves and helmet, and said, "That's better. So, with this kind of equipment available, I have to wonder how there can still be dangerous monsters in Equestria." With an eloquent shrug, the unicorn said, "Well, it's not really my department, but what I've always been told was that, no matter how dangerous a monster is, as long as it doesn't make itself a menace to ponykind, it has as much of a right to live as any other creature. Most 'dangerous' monsters tend to keep to places that aren't habitable by ponies. If they start making trouble outside of their habitat, the first response is relocation, rather than destruction. Of course, that's for the types of creatures that aren't capable of rational thought. If a creature CAN think, and chooses to be a menace to others, then the guard steps in to deal with it." It made sense to Orchid, she supposed: You don't get to choose the way you're born, and while most living creatures out there are herbivores, or at least omnivores, there were obligate carnivores out there as well: A creature that had to eat meat, daily, and literally lacked the equipment to eat anything else. Orchid could relate to that kind of problem: it's no fun having to eat something that begs you not to, and while she only ate emotions, forced love draining wasn't a pleasant experience for most creatures. The changeling idly wondered how well ponies would fare if, whenever they bit into an apple, the fruit started screaming... Just then, there was a loud sound, of hoofsteps outside the vault, and a moment later, Cloud Cutter burst in. "Shining Armor, sir! There's been a sighting!" After a moment, the pony seemed to notice the young colt, as well as the armored changeling. ...Well, that was one way of letting him in on the secret. "Don't just stand there, soldier," Shining Armor said, his expression serious. "Report!" Cloud Cutter, brought back to the situation at hoof, said, "In the park, right where the last one was spotted. And there have been confirmed sightings of at least two of them, possibly more. So far, they seem to be examining the remains of the one that was destroyed last week, but we don't know how long they'll stay put." Shining Armor sighed, and said, "Great. And my wife is too busy with the preparations to meet Ms. Harshwhinny today, so we can't rely on her for this one." Turning to the changeling, the knight asked, "Alright, Orchid, are you up for a test drive?" With a laugh, Orchid said, "Sure. I could use a good workout." ---------------------- Meanwhile, at the park, one of the constructs was examining the remains of its fallen counterpart. After a moment, it reached down and pulled out a shard of crystal from the wreckage. The crystal was pitch black, but seemed to glow with a bright red light. The construct pushed the crystal into a spot on what would be considered the forehead portion of it's face. The object sank in with no resistance, as if the construct's body was liquid, instead of solid. After a moment, the construct spoke. "UPGRADE IN PROGRESS."