//------------------------------//
// Chapter 38 - The legend of the shell 
// Story: Celestia Trigger 
// by Thadius0 
//------------------------------//

	Queen Carapace sat on her throne, contemplating the situation of the changelings.  Perhaps another appeal to Equestria would help?  The last one had been poorly timed, all things considered.  It certainly couldn't hurt their position to petition the ruler of the land of ponies for more help...

Then something started to happen.  There was a rumbling sensation in the ceiling above her.  Bits and pieces of it started to fall down and crash into the floor.  She had been about to call for a guard when one of them hit her in the head and knocked her right out.





I added what magic I could to the demolition of the hive where the Rainbow Shell was said to be held.  Yeah, we could have gone in through the boring, normal way, but that way was likely to be guarded.  This one, not so much.  After all, we were in the middle of making it.

Once we burst through, I winced as I saw no small amount of changelings waiting for us, hissing and baring their fangs.  I turned to the others and shook my head.  "Non-lethal only," I told my friends.  "We're trying to avoid causing undue harm during the retrieval of this object."

They nodded, and in the case of Sombra, grumbled, but even he complied with my request as we dropped into the changeling hive and began knocking out each and every 'ling.  Occasionally, one got close to one of us, but with all seven of us working as a team to non-permanently incapacitate them, they really didn't stand a chance.  Especially when their only tactic was 'swarm' and we had magic on our side.

It wasn't long before we were the only ones awake in a room full of knocked-out 'lings.  All of us sheathed our weapons and began looking around for another way out.  There were multiple avenues, but I had a good feeling about the one that led downwards.  We did have to fend off the occasional other changeling that came at us, but it was a simple matter of blasting them out of the way.

After what felt like nearly a mile of tunnels, we came across a large chamber.  Sitting in the center of the room, gleaming thanks to the few magical lights scattered around, was a changeling shell that glowed all the colors of the rainbow.

I hadn't been expecting it to be quite this shape, but it made sense now that I thought about it.  I moved closer to the thing and tried to lift it, only to find that it was incredibly heavy.

"Okay," I huffed.  "I can't move it."

Justice beeped and came over, lifting it for a moment before putting it back down.  "The weight of the object exceeds my safe operating limits," he said.  "I cannot move it."

"Perhaps if we worked together?" Sombra asked.  "Me and the automaton."

"Go for it," I said.  The crimson glow of Sombra's magic surrounded the shell, and together, he and Justice managed, barely, to carry the thing.

"We'll have to defend them on the way out," I mused.  "But I think we can take it now."

"Barely," Justice said.  "But yes, it is possible."

The walk out was fraught with changelings trying to stop us from taking the shell from them, but with a judicious amount of magic and punching from those of us who were free to do so, there wasn't a challenge left, really.  Once we found the tunnel out, it was only a short walk around to where we'd parked the Wings of Time before assaulting the hive.

"Okay," I said as we walked up the ramp and the two carrying the shell dropped it near the back.  "I'm wary of time-traveling with that thing on board.  I don't know what properties it has, but I think I know where it can be stored until we can make use of it."

"Where?" Gregory asked.

"Simply put, High Aerie," I said.  "We're on good terms with Griffenheim.  I'm sure if we asked the king nicely to store this shell until the day came when it was needed, he'd oblige."

"Doesn't hurt that it's shiny as well," Copper pointed out.

"True," I said, strapping myself into the pilot's seat.  The others buckled up as well, and then we were off to the kingdom of griffons.





A quick time-hop after entrusting the Rainbow Shell to the king of Griffenheim later, we parked the time-machine an hour's walk outside of High Aerie and proceeded to walk closer to the capital.  Hopefully, they'd remembered about the Shell...

After securing a quick meeting with the current ruler of Griffenheim, I cashed in a favor from saving Gilda from her kidnapper, and the king nodded.  "It has been an heirloom of the royal family for generations," he said.  "It was said there would come a day when it would be needed to help a band of heroes."

"And so we need it now," I replied.  "A mighty smith lives in your city, and perhaps with such a material as this, he will be able to make something truly worthy of legends being sung about it."

"And you would put this item or items he makes to the best use?" the king questioned as two of his loyal servants pulled the cart that was carrying all the pieces of the Rainbow Carapace into the room.

"Our mission is no less than the continued well-being of the entire world," I answered him.

"A fine answer," the king said with a nod.  "Just do take care.  We have had more than one fiend try to infiltrate the palace in recent years for this shell."

Justice hooked himself up to the cart and we all fell into a guarding formation around him as we slowly left the palace, in search of Anima's forge.  We still had the SunStone as well.  With both those things in hand, Anima would be able to make truly wonderful things.

The crystal smith was doubly surprised when we showed up and knocked at his door.  "Crono?  And Umb-"

"I don't go by that name anymore," Sombra said as he saw who we were talking to.  "I haven't for a long time, Anima, Guru of Life."

"And I haven't done that job for a while either," Anima said, before looking past us at what we were hauling around.  "My word.  The Rainbow Shell.  I'd heard rumors about such a fine material existing, of course, but I never dreamed I would get to work with it."

"Two stipulations," I said, holding up two fingers.  "I want a better sword, and we'll need some better armor for the fight to come.  Preferably helmets."

"The armor I can do, but I would need a better forge to make a sword out of that," Anima said.  "Some sort of high-powered fuel source."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the SunStone, once again stunning the smith.  "Will this do?" I asked him.

"Where do you keep getting these things?" he questioned me, before shaking his head.  "It doesn't matter.  Yes, that'll do.  Leave them here.  I'll have your things ready tomorrow."

Justice unhooked himself from the cart, and the seven of us went to find an inn that could house us for an entire day.

"The final battle approaches," Sombra said later that night.  "I can feel it.  Hear it.  We draw closer and closer to the time when all things shall be resolved."

"Yes, but you have a bit of business to attend to first," I said to him.  "Back in the era of Discord, you have an entire empire to apologize to."

He looked a little put out by my statement, before he sighed and nodded.  "That is but fair.  We cannot leave the ponies of that era thinking I was a true monster.  I did what I did to try and have enough power to summon and best Lavos."

"And I'm sure if you are truthful, they will no longer hate and fear you," I told him.

"I rather doubt that, but if you all agree to stand by me, I can make the attempt," the grey unicorn said.





The next day brought a wonderful, beautiful thing into the world.  At around noon, we all returned to Anima's forge.  After I knocked on the door, we waited for a few minutes, before the crystal stallion opened it and ushered us all into his place of work and business.

Sitting on a bench were half a dozen prismatic helms, glimmering in the light and giving off a faint sheen of colors.  Also lying on that same bench was a pair of glasses, giving off a similar sheen.  But it was the glowing sword on the anvil that drew my attention.  Anima walked over to it and gave it a half-dozen more strikes with a hammer, before thrusting it into a trough of water to quench the heated sword.  He withdrew it and passed it over to me, and I unstrapped my sword with the core of crystal before swapping the two.

The moment I gripped the sword that Anima had freshly made, I could feel the power in it.  It was somehow so light as well, despite the material it had come from.  Either he'd worked some magic into the making of this blade and made it feel lighter, or I'd just grown used to swinging around heavy swords on this journey.  Or it could have been a combination of the two.

"It wasn't hard, working with that stuff," the smith mused.  "At least, not with the SunStone powering my forge.  Speaking of," he said, before handing the glowing stone back to me.  "Here, it's yours.  Keep it."

"Thank you," I said, pocketing the sphere again, before looking over at the helmets.  "Okay, somebody's going without one," I said aloud.

"It would only get in the way of my horn," Sombra said.  "You all may take one if you wish."  The others grabbed a helmet each, and I took the helmet and the spectacles.

"And these are?" I asked Anima.

"Enchanted glasses," he said.  "They should help you see where a foe's weak point lies and help you end a combat quicker.  I use something similar in my line of work to help me determine where a sword or piece of armor needed improving.  I made you a better set with the materials you brought me."

I slipped them on and saw quite clearly all my allies with slight glowing red spots on them.  Anima had some as well.  Even the building had some structural weaknesses to it.  I slipped them off and pondered the situation, before slipping them around Justice's eyes.

"Affirmative," the robot beeped.  "I shall provide more instantaneous support to the group with these magical glasses."

I smiled before turning to Sombra and nodding once.  He nodded back, and I took it to mean he knew where we were going next and accepted it.

It was time to bring the would-have-been tyrant back to his kingdom, so he could repair what nearly broke.