“Anytime now!”
I grabbed Skipper’s neck as if I was hanging for dear life. Literally, I am hanging for dear life over a very long drop. I need to reassess how it got to this point once I’m safely on solid ground.
“Just let go, Support!” Captain Armor yelled, “I’ve already created a field to catch you with!”
I looked down and saw a purple glow beneath me.
I scoffed, “There is nothing there.”
“Sure there is!” Captain Armor exclaimed, “Jump and you’ll see!”
Does he take me for an idiot?
“I will not use an untested and invisible contraption just to show your superior magic trick skills.”
“I give up,” Captain Armor sighed and went inside again.
“Support!” Skipper yelled, her breath at its end.
“Can you at least send one of those winged Equines instead? They seem pretty reliable,” Better have one of those than something I’m unfamiliar with. I heard a giggled from inside.
“I’ll get them,” Princes Cadenza said, taking a step to the window.
“WHERE IS HE!!?”
Stillness reigned over everyone as the voice reverberated through the air. Princess Cadenza had a particularly shocked expression on her face.
“Is that the prosecutor?” I asked.
“I AM GOING TO *slam* KILL HIM!!”
That can’t be good.
“Can you hang in there for just a moment?” Princess Cadenza said with the most nervous smile I have seen on any pony till now, “I’m going to see how not to get you killed.”
Great, and now she leaves with everyone following behind her. This is the worst escape plan turned rescue attempt I have ever seen. Suddenly I felt myself falling.
“Skipper, are you alright?”
“Can’t hold… Too Heavy!”
That can’t be good.
“Try to get me toward the window!” I yelled.
With all her might, Skipper buzzed toward the window. But just as she started to move, I felt my hooves slipping from around her neck.
“Skipper! Please hurry!” I told her with urgency.
“I’m trying!” She said.
Halfway toward the window, my hooves finally lost their grip. I looked up and saw my hooves flailing as Skipper dived towards me while I fell. The world seemed to stop around me. Skipper attempts to reach me from above slowed to a crawl. I looked down and the ground was waiting to greet me fast. I felt my heart pace slow to a halt. This is surreal.
Am I going to die without knowing anything?
Something caught my eye below. Glass exploded into the air and something black came out at blinding speed. I felt something catch me by my chest and the ground stopped coming toward me.
Am I going to live?
“Snap out of it!”
I felt shaking. I looked to my side and saw a changeling.
“You saved me?” I said in a mesmerized voice.
“SUPPORT!!” Skipper was yelling from above.
The changeling looked up toward her. “Follow me!” he ordered, then went toward the same window that he came out of.
The next thing I knew, I was in Doctor Love Heart’s office. The changeling went to rummage through some of the Doctor’s stuff before he found his stethoscope. He then took measuring of my heart rate, then just like the morning when I woke up, took the spatula and opened my mouth.
He tsked. “So many injuries, so little time.”
This seemed familiar somehow.
“Support, I’m sorry!” Skipper came from the window, ragged, out of breath, and crying.
“You!” The changeling pointed his hoof at her, “Please, sit in the corner and wait your turn.”
Skipper stared at him for a moment. “Okay,” she said as she obediently sat at the corner he pointed at.
What was that? In the short time I met Skipper, she never was that obedient.
“You know, changelings have a veteran system where the older you are, the more control you have on others. However I don’t need to tell a changeling from my hive that I am older and thus must obey. But they do so instinctively,” The changeling noted, “though, I doubt you would know much about changelings, considering that you are in fact, a human.”
I stared hard at the changeling. he does appear exactly like Skipper in almost every aspect, but there are few key differences. For one, his carapace showed significant signs of aging. He also tastes like honeyed tea. What bugged me the most about him though is that he has Slit pupils in his eyes. For some reason he oozes familiarity.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“WHERE IS HE?!?” The prosecutor’s voice suddenly boomed close by.
The changeling looked up toward the door. “I guess I have to take care of the princess first.”
Lightning his horn, green flames engulfed him. I stared with anticipation as to what form he would come out as.
I blinked. I didn’t expect it to be him at all.
“You two need to hide,” Doctor Loveheart said before grabbing me and shoving me into one of the closets.
“You, get in,” He ordered Skipper, who obeyed without questioning.
“Now please, be quiet!” He finally commanded before closing the door.
A moment of silence passed inside the dark closet.
“This place is cramped,” I remarked only to get shushed by Skipper. I heard a knock on the clinic’s door, then there was a sound of door opening.
“Doctor Loveheart, I bid you well!” The prosecutor’s voluminous voice filled the room.
“Princess Luna! What a surprise,” The doctor answered, “What brings you to my humble clinic?”
“We are here to apprehend a very dangerous criminal that blatantly made us miss raising the moon and lowering the sun,” her voice carried an unusual level of accusation to it, “We are here to check the premise in case he is hiding here.”
A tingling feeling started spreading through my back hoof. “Skipper get off my hoof,” I whispered.
“Sorry,” she whispered back.
“Ah, well, you can’t,” The doctor scrambled.
“And why is that?” The princess asked, with an interrogating tone.
Suddenly, I felt my back hoof fall asleep. “It’s getting numb!” I said with a slightly higher tone.
“Because I found two teens fornicating and didn’t want to disturb them,” The doctor had a cheer to his voice.
“Truly?!” the princess hailed, “Oh glorious day! And here I thought this generation was so conservative that they forgot how to have foals of their own.”
“You don’t fit in here,” Skipper pointed at the small space she was occupying in that closet.
“Here,” I squeezed myself in the corner, “Better?”
Skipper fidgeted in place, “A bit!”
“Would it be alright if I cheered them on?” the princess asked, “I mean, he does seem to be having a bit of trouble!”
I felt something hit my face, “Get your hoof out of there!” I tried to wrestle myself for further space.
“That won’t be necessary my princess,” The doctor hurried, “You know, foals and their privacy these days.”
But something under me slipped causing me to fall over Skipper.
“You’re too big!” She exclaimed while kicking the wall of the closet, forgoing all forms of subtility in trying to hide.
“I… better check on them… to make sure they are okay,” I heard a slam of the front door. A few steps later and the door of the closet opened. Doctor Loveheart stared at us in disbelief.
“For a moment there I truly thought you were mating with each other.”
“Apparently we didn’t fit well inside,” I said upside down.
“Well, you were in luck. Princess Luna didn’t recognize your muffled moans,” he jested, “By the way, how big are you to, you know, not fit in?”
I rolled my nonexistent pupils at him as I stepped outside the closet, “Apparently big enough for her to make a hissy fit over it,” I joked in return while pointing at Skipper.
She didn’t take it too kindly, “Hey, it’s not my fault you kept hogging all the space in there!”
“I think that is supposed to happen, don’t you?” He gave me a wink.
I laughed. I think that was the first time ever I gave a sincere laugh. Not understanding what’s going on, Skipper scowled.
“Come on Skipper, don’t pout,” I hoisted her from the cabinet, “You did amiably considering the situation,” I patted her head, and she beamed her Skipper smile at me, “Though, this is the last time I will let you fly me anywhere.”
She wore a saddened expression, “Sorry.”
“Come, let’s get your hoof checked out,” the doctor patted my shoulder, “I think that level of adventure made a big mess of it.”
“So,” I asked while walking toward the bed, “Should I call you Doctor Loveheart or what?”
“Loveheart is fine,” The doctor said, “I didn’t really take another’s place, so I decided to come and work under my changeling name instead. It was quite refreshing to hear ponies call me by my real name instead of my surrogate one; I enjoyed it.”
“And I’m guessing you want something from me?” I asked as the doctor started to crack the cask on my hoof.
“Yes, and no,” He answered as he pulled a pair of thick looking scissors and started cutting, “I will heal you as much as I can if you will listen to my offer. You are a free kin after all, and you can do whatever you wish afterwards.”
“But I am not a kin,” I remarked, “You know that, right?”
“I became painfully aware of that in the courtroom, yes,” He said while palpating my arm to my hoof, I winced when he reached a dark spot, “I honestly thought you would go toward the fifth article like Lovecraft did, instead of… you know.”
“Putting everyone to sleep with a ridiculously long speech?”
“Yes.” He stood up, went to one of the cabinets, pulled a cream, then came and spread it all over my hoof.
“It was a fascinating speech, but I fell asleep when you started talking about quantum mechanics,” He paused, “I have to warn you though, no matter how impressive your otherworldly knowledge may be, you need to feed off of emotions if you want to survive here.”
I thought for a moment. “I don’t know how though.” Loveheart gave me a shocked expression.
“What?” I asked.
“I thought you would put up more of a fight over the idea,” He said.
“I think letting a pony walk into my own mind changed a few concepts, opened a few horizons, if you wish,” I sighed, “Everything I knew has failed me and I don’t think I have a right to be stubborn about things anymore.”
He smiled at me, “Don’t beat yourself up over it. What you did back there, It might advance our own scientific endeavors years forward instead of relying entirely on the inherent magic of things.”
“You think so?”
Why do I feel like I just drank some warm soup all of a sudden?
“Don’t know; ponies aren’t well known for accepting things outside their cultural belief system,” He let out a chuckle, “And nymph did you do a number on that.”
“… Thanks,” I deadpanned.
After a swift motion, Loveheart gave me another shoulder pat, “You’re done. It wasn’t as bad as I thought; three more days and you should be able to use it just fine.”
I nodded, “Thank you.”
“Skipper,” he ordered and Skipper immediately stood up, “Your turn.”
Within a heartbeat, Skipper was sitting where I was, ready and waiting. Loveheart took his stethoscope and started his examination.
I sat on the chair next to his office. “You said you would have me listen to your offer, once you’re done. What is it that you want from me?”
“I want you to help me bring the changeling race together,” He answered me.
“That is a tall order for me to help a race I know next to nothing about.”
“Then you are in luck,” He took a spatula and looked at Skipper’s mouth, “I’m free the entire afternoon, I’ll answer every question you have.”
Finally, someone to tell me what’s going on. “What happened during the invasion?”
“Fifty thousand changeling blitzed the city. The initial plan worked perfectly, the insiders took out most of the defenses, Queen Chrysalis infiltrated as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, gave the hive all the intel they needed to avoid the guards and make a clean sweep over the city. Within the first hour, they controlled every nook of the city with our losses numbering below ten. And the subjugation of the populace began.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t pretty.”
“No, it wasn’t,” That sounded ominous, ““Rape, torture, murder; you name it.” He sighed, disgust written all over his face, “The hive wanted to extract as much love as possible, so they used every sadistic method available to them.”
I choked under my breath.
He just shook his head, “Made me ashamed to call them my hive anymore.”
He stopped his examination, then looked at Skipper as if trying to collect his thoughts, “The number of victims was near the thousand in total, with nearly five hundred dead from the guards alone. I hated every waking minute of it.”
“And where were you when it happened?”
“Manehatten,” he answered, the atmosphere no longer cheerful, “I was at a medical conference, and the Queen used my absence to instigate the invasion.”
“Are you that high up the ladder that you can halt the decision of a queen?”
“You can say that,” He answered while searching for something in his medical cabinet.
“He’s old,” Skipper said out of the bloom, “At least a few hundreds of years.”
“And you can tell how?”
“By his taste,” Her casual reply was laced with hidden seriousness to it, “It’s thick and overwhelming, kind of like yours, only stronger.”
Huh, I have a taste? Better leave that for another time, “Looks like the changeling had everything under control. How come they were defeated so easily?”
The doctor returned again with a bottle of pills in his mouth, “That is a simple answer: it’s because of a love spell.”
That… doesn’t make much sense, but I’ll go with it for now. I need to be less of a skeptic and more of a critical thinker if I am to survive.
“Here, take two pills now and one pill before you sleep,” the doctor handed the pills to Skipper, “They should remove the stress of awakening and restore your energy by tomorrow.”
He then turned toward me. “The spell that expelled the hive out of the city came shortly after three hours since the shield was broken. The statistics that came yesterday were dire.”
“How dire?”
“From the original number, only twenty thousand survived.”
Wow, that’s more than half were dead on the spot!
“Of those twenty thousand," Loveheart continued, "Almost half were captured by Equestria’s military. The twenty that died in the trials were but a fraction of what the royalty have. Of course, most of those were too injured to put on a fight so capturing them was like 'picking up the trash' if you wish to put it in the words of the royal guards that is.”
“So… only ten thousand remain with chrysalis?” I asked, almost not wanting the answer.
“Nope,” He replied taking his seat in his office in front of me, “She had nine thousand deserters since last night.”
Holy crap...
“The Love hive is down to one thousand, give or take. The deserters went into what we call ‘sleeper cell’ mode, and that is something very dangerous. These guys will remain hidden for years by monopolizing the lowlife; everything from stealing to trafficking to prostitution will become their domain, which will cause crime rate to soar into unbearable rates, especially in big Equestrian cities.”
“Oh!” Now I got it, “You want me to help you return the deserters to the hive?”
Loveheart chuckled. “I wish it was that easy,” he said with an all knowing smile on his face, “The only way to bring those idiots back without having to kill them all is to have a powerful queen accepting them into her hive.”
That makes even less sense, “But queen Chrysalis lost, I doubt that any of them will accept to return back to her.”
“True,” The doctor affirmed, “But I never said that her hive is the only changeling hive in Equestria.”
For some reason, that last sentence gave me shivers.
“So what do you think?” Loveheart said after he finished my camouflage.
“I look like a mummy with a hoodie,” I deadpanned.
Of all the costumes that I could have went as, being strapped from head to plot in sterilized linen dressing while wearing a hoodie isn’t one of them.
“Are you sure this will fool them?” I asked.
Loveheart waved my worries away with his hoof. “It’s not about the costume my friend, it’s about the acting,” He said poetically, “Now try not to speak too much, lest someone might recognize your voice.”
I turned toward Skipper, “What do you think?”
Skipper was fidgeting in place. The moment I addressed her, she jumped while biting her lips. “You look hot,” She said while turning bright red.
“Ignore her, the aphrodisiac must be kicking in,” Loveheart commented with a doctor like tone, “She’ll be frisky all afternoon.”
“Remind me again, why did you give her an aphrodisiac?” Seriously, what type of medicine is this?
“An aphrodisiac is like an energy drink for us changelings, the problem is that its side effects are like an alcoholic beverage to a pony,” Loveheart explained.
“So she’s drunk?” Did not see that coming.
“If being drunk means being exceptionally horny, then yes she is,” He stated.
A loud knock on the clinic door made us jump. The doctor donned his disguise then turned toward Skipper, “You. Put on a disguise.”
With a nervous salute, green flames erupted from Skipper’s horn. The resulting disguise made my blood go cold.
“Skipper!” I scolded, “That is the same disguise you used when we were being attacked by Toes and Breath!”
Skipper puckered her lips, then placed one hoof over her mouth and the other between her legs, trying to look appealing. “But I thought you liked this form,” she faked a saddened tone.
“You’ll think of something right Loveheart?” I turned to the doctor.
He winked at me then opened the door, “Gentlecolts, how can I be of service?”
“We just need to confirm the presence of those who broke in your office, as well as give you the documents you requested,” A stoic armored pony said.
“Of course,” Doctor Loveheart said in a cheery way, “Just let me sign the necessary papers first.”
As the doctor went on signing a few papers, a pen struck the back of my head. “Skipper!” I turned angrily, but what I saw left my face with a deep burning sensation.
Skipper was sitting on her back on the doctor’s desk, her hind-hooves spread so far apart that everything is displayed.
“Come on, Take me now!” She said with a deeply passionate voice.
Stupid Equine hormones! Now’s not the time to think of that!
“I, um…”
Someone’s voice came from behind, I turned around and saw the guard turning bright red.
“Is everything… um, okay?” He managed with his growing discomfort. Doctor Loveheart had his head in his hoof shaking it while muttering to himself.
“Everything is fine,” I answered, trying my best to make my voice a lot sharper than what it already was, “She took the wrong medicine from the clinic earlier today, and that made her… Uhm…” I carefully pushed one of her hind-hooves together, making sure to close the display, “Receptive?” I finished my sentence by giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh, I’ll receive you any day. Love,” Skipper flirted after licking my ear, “And you too if you’re into that,” She said to the guard who went redder than it is possible.
Crap.
I’m hard now.
“Lieutenant Apple Trap,” Doctor Loveheart interjected, “Meet my cousins, Book Smart and Passion Jewel. As you can see, they are deeply in love with each other.”
“Ooo-ay,” Apple Trap nodded very slowly. “I’ll be leaving now,” he said in an automated voice, “Have a great day.”
Doctor Loveheart waved the soldier off. The moment Apple Trap was out of the door, he slammed it.
“That was unexpected,” Loveheart said, “I’m surprised it worked.”
“Loveheart, please,” I begged, “Can you do something about Skipper before I lose control?”
I am about to lose my virginity to a bug pony who is camouflaged as a small pony and is nibbling gracefully at my ear.
I have hit a new low.
Loveheart chuckled as he went to get a syringe. “Wasn’t expecting her to have this low tolerance,” he said while injecting her with the medicine, “Sorry about that.”
The injection immediately took effect and Skipper immediately fell asleep on the desk.
“Thanks,” I stated while putting her on the ground.
Loveheart went back to his desk then fell into his seat, “Ah, such a long day.” He then threw a folder on the table.
I eyed the folder a little. He noticed, “It’s what you wrote in that court room.”
“And why do you have it?” I asked.
“I am part of Equestria Science Society,” He replied, “I have a few privileges in that regard.”
I nodded in response. He slid the folder to me, “You can take a look if you want.”
I smiled before opening the folder. “Thanks, I wanted to review my work in there if I had a chance.”
He nodded in silence. I opened the folder and removed the photos. I shuffled through the equations that I wrote, and it started to sink in; I wrote a lot. I can easily understand how I might have surpassed an eight hour lecture if I was explaining everything. Could they be truly right though? Could the judge and the prosecutor truly be able to move celestial bodies with their mind? I’d shiver at the thought of meeting a deity like that in flesh.
“You still didn’t give me an answer to my offer,” Loveheart broke my concentration, “Will you help me in my endeavor to reunite the four hives of Equestria?”
I sighed without removing my eyes from the pictures, “I’ll join you, though I don’t know how useful I can be.”
“You’ll do great, don’t worry about it. I’ll be doing the bulk of the work, you just need to be the smooth talker you have been to broker the deal between the sisters.”
I chuckled. Smooth talker or not, I don’t think I have any other alternatives. I could return back to princess Cadenza and Captain Armor, but that would be too suicidal even for me. I guess it could always be worse than it already…
“Uh oh.”
“What is it?” Loveheart asked.
I took the picture in question and placed it in front of him. “I made a mistake,” I pointed at the part of the equation that is a mistake, “In the previous line this symbol was a minus, I accidentally turned it into a plus in this line here.”
“Yeah so?”
“Well, this is abstract mathematics. If it continued to be minus I may have proven that it is possible to feed on love if only half of the physics principles from my world were proven wrong.”
Which is unlikely to happen. Physics don’t change overnight.
Loveheart took the picture and scrutinized it. “This is written on the courtroom door, correct?”
I scratched my head trying to piece things together, “I think so.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about, no one could have possibly been awake till the end to remember or even understand what you were writing,” Loveheart waved with a dismissal hoof, “They’ll mark this as unsolved and move on with their lives.”
“Actually, there was someone awake till the end.”
Loveheart raised his brow. “Oh? And who might that be?”
“I didn’t memorize her name, but she was a purple unicorn.”
Loveheart’s original surprise turned into shock, “And what’s her cutie mark?” He asked urgently.
“Her what now?” I really need a dictionary to memorize this world’s terminologies.
“Her butt mark,” Loveheart insisted, “What was her butt mark?”
“A six pointed star surrounded by five smaller ones,” There was no way I could forget the shape on that perfectly shaped plot.
“This is problematic,” Loveheart said gravely, “You just described the notorious Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and the one responsible for the failure of our invasion.”
I gave Loveheart a questioning look, “Is that supposed to mean something?” Beside the fact that I now know the name of my heart’s desire? I can see nothing wrong here.
Loveheart gave me the most serious expression I have seen on a creature’s face. “It means Support,” He said gravely, “That you are doomed!!!”