//------------------------------// // 29 Medic 2: The Medicing // Story: The Queen is Dead // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Jade - 3rd of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Morning I saw Dusk wave a hoof at me. The sand beneath me opened up into a pool of darkness. Darkness beyond blackness. Darkness devoid of even that darkest of color. A darkness which engulfed me instantly, pulling me down into a starry void. This felt wrong. School had prepared me for the effects of portals and teleportation. Nothing they had said mentioned anything like this. Something had gone horribly wrong. Chrysalis's deathblow must have damaged Dusk’s spell. I had no training in magic, but this was something I was certain anyone could tell should not have happened. The void was alien. It was not the place we called home. There were parts of it which existed beyond sight and sound. Parts of this place exclusively owned and ruled by the mind. A place of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. It was horrific. It was soothing. I could see the others around me. Bits of green magic arcing across their bodies. The remains of Chrysalis's spell as they bled off into this place of nothing and everything. I could feel Dusk’s spell pulling me along, ever deeper into this sea of stars and blackness. Somehow I knew that it would take us out of the void, eventually. Despite the terror and joy flooding into me, I was safe. As I gazed out into the void an area of crescent of light sliced into existence, blossoming into a full moon like an opening eye. The moon’s pale glow illuminated a series of cracks, and fissures running along the void, as if we were inside a massive cube of broken glass. On the other sides of these ghostly boundaries I could see places, some recognizable, many not. Far beneath us I could see yellow sands lit by a warm sun. We were moving towards this opening in the void, but it did not strike my interest, nor raise any fear. It felt like I was meant to fall through it, the spell was pulling me there. Instead my eyes were drawn to a silvery shimmering line of energy which seemed to flow from the corner of clover’s spellbook that was peeking out of Lily’s saddlebag. The line rippled through the void, linking the book to a single rift far above me, but not out of sight. Through it I saw another changeling, one who looked a lot like me, only far older, and a brighter shade of jade. We shared the same fluffy fuzz, and our eyes were the same. She was very old, but looked dignified. Her silvery blue mane and tail were neatly tied back. Her horns’ magic flickered and sparked with age. All traits my mother’s had. You can feel it when someone is a part of your family. You notice the things you share like they glowed. I was somehow related to this changeling. The desk she was hunched over and the quill with which she wrote looked old fashioned even by Stalliongrad standards. Whoever that Queen was, she could only be one of my ancestors. So I looked into the ghostly rip in the void, curiously wondering who she was. I needed to now! I had to know! She looked like me! She had to know what differences between myself and a normal Queen would be. Maybe I could ask! Or perhaps. I reached out with a hoof and touched the thread. A torrent of thoughts began to blast into my mind as if I stuck my head under a waterfall! It was like my brain shut off, new sights and sounds didn't’ matter, only this impossible amount of thoughts rushing through my brain could be even barely understood! In desperation I picked one thread of the information and clung to it for dear life, my entire mind blanked out aside from what words the changeling was writing right now. I realized as it fell into the fissure that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. Not even the space between universes can surmount the protections I foolishly layered upon it. It continued falling into that starry expanse of which I had only a fleeting glimpse, certain to reemerge into my own world after some time. I have tried to speculate where it might have landed, but I must admit, however— such conjecture is futile. Still, the question of whose hooves might someday hold my spellbook are unsettling to me. I swore never to form a hive of my own, but must now break that oath I made to myself. If I do not, when the book returns it will not have a place to be hidden away, nor people to retrieve it. Starswirl, as a last request I beg you to search for a place my spellbook can be destroyed. Assuming of course one such place exists. You know full well the dangers posed by even the least of my spells, let alone the true power hidden within those pages. While they have served ponykind well, with my passing there will be none who can resist the temptation of ultimate power. With the decline my kind faces, none of my descendants will ever inherit my incorruptible nature. If I could not bestow it upon Celestia when I transformed her and her sister, then I doubt any of my descendants will share my uniquity. As such, the temptation for someling to learn my spells will mount over the years. You know the consequences of the work hidden within my spells, falling into the grasp of the wicked. I trust you will accomplish that which I could not, as you have in many other ways. If we had only found a way the Nexus, my passing would be a trivial matter. Perhaps some future generation will succeed where we have failed. Though sadly they will have to do so without our work to use as a foundation, lest that foundation be used to create a cataclysm. I know that my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps, the ending has not yet been written. I fell from the void, passing up through the ground to land lightly upon the sand. If I hit the ground hard, I couldn’t feel it. My brain was still locked up, flooded with random information. Sun’s Light, why had I tried to touch the thread? Then the pain hit me. It hit me like a lump of molten iron. My everything burned. My everything felt like it was being crushed. I couldn’t scream. I didn’t have the energy. It felt like I’d just ran fifty leagues through magma. I fearfully glanced down at my body to see if I was on fire. Fortunately I looked not quite okay, but at least I wasn't on fire. Unfortunately the burning feeling refused to go away despite my seemingly being not on fire. That was confusing and concerning. Confucerning. If you will. I took a deep breath and lifted my head to look for the others. Even though everything hurt, I needed to know they were okay. If I were the only one awake, I’d have to try to help them. David was close by, I could see him laying in a heap close enough to touch. Every few heartbeats his chest would move slightly. He was breathing, slowly, but steadily. I found Lily a bit further away, she’d slid down the sand dune a ways and was laying on her back, whimpering every few seconds like a dog having a nightmare. Unfortunately she was too far away to do anything about just yet. There was no way I could move that far right now. Then I found Light. She was behind me, a short ways up the dune. Convulsing like she had been hit by a pegasus’s lightning. Despite the horror watching her jerk in a seizure I couldn't help but notice that her cutiemark was still on her flank even in her changeling form. Also it surprised me that she was a Soldier, the bulky, extra strong exoskeleton, and pony-and-a-half sized body didn’t fit her at all. Her mane and tail were the usual ragged, rotting sort of look you associate with a Sapphire, but her shell and exoskeleton were mostly free of holes, and had a nice gloss to them, implying she'd been eating okay, but not enough. That meant she probably didn’t have the love in reserve to regenerate from whatever Chrysalis had done to her... I tried to call out to her, but my mouth wouldn’t work. It felt like my exoskeleton was fused around my jaw. In desperation I reached out for her with my telepathy, and to my shock instantly linked with her. It was a normal telepathic link. This was more than just a line to send thoughts, feelings, and pictures. This was a miniature world, a huge empty room, dimly lit, with Light curled up in a ball in the middle, rocking back and forth. This light was not the one outside of her head right now. This was the cosmic latte pegasus mare I recognized. “Not a changeling…” Light whimpered. “Not a changeling… Not a changeling…” I was surprised that I interpreted her thoughts as sound. Was this how a Queen’s telepathy worked? I decided to remind myself to ask someling from another hive how exactly I worked, and to provide a book of ‘normal ling stuff’ to everyling in my hive. I spent a few minutes watching Light’s subconscious self quake in the fetal position before I had to try something. Unused to this form of telepathy I decided the best thing to do would be to treat it like reality. I walked over to Light, knelt down and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay Light. We know.” “Not… changeling?” Light asked, twisting to look up at me through tear stained eyes. There was no way for me to force her to change like Chrysalis had. If I pulled her back into reality somehow, she’d see herself again and well… With how bad she was convulsing now, she might die. I refused to let that happen. “No, you’re not.” I soothed. “You’re a pegasus. No matter what you happen to be out there, you’re a pegasus.” “Then… I am a changeling… No… Celestia no… Why?” She started to pull herself into a tighter ball. “Light, did you know that you have a cutiemark? Even in your current body?” I asked, hoping that might cheer her up. “I… I do?” She asked looking back up, a skeptical look in her eyes. “Yeah! Same one too. If ancient magic says you’re a pony, I don’t think many people will argue.” That seemed logical to me, I just hoped that Light bought- “But… I’m a changeling.” Light whispered. “Out there… She used me like a puppet… But my hooves still did those things… I’ve done horrible things… I-I ca- I can’t be that thing! I can’t I won't! I’m not!” She screamed, pushing me away from herself. “Go away!” “Light!” I snapped, “You’re not that ‘thing’! The whole bucking crew knows about you being like this. They don’t care! You are their friend, and they are happy to call you a pegasus, because you are one! You just happen to have been born a changeling. Which is a good thing, because that means you can just be a pegasus. You literally have the power to choose to be what you want, Light. “Please. Wake up, change back to your real self, and then never shift again if you don’t want to. You have friends here who need help. I can’t move, Lily’s hurt bad, and David’s unconscious. We need you!” Light froze, then suddenly our link dissolved into a normal one. My vision snapped back to the real world, which was painfully bright by comparison to that dim place. Light said over the link before a grumbling sort of irritation trickled through from her. “Ugh… Jade…” Light muttered audibly. “Please don’t order me to do something telepathically again… How did you even do that… I’m not… I’m not part of your hive.” I apologize, still unable to open my mouth. “Luna’s mane I’m so stiff…” Light moaned. She shifted slightly, flinching as she saw her own body, genuine pain on her face. “It’s not… as horrifying anymore… but still hurts bad… Hey, I do have my cutiemark!” I said wishing I could give her a smile. Light squirmed for a few seconds, then shook her head, flinching instantly. “Ow! No… Sudden movement bad… Feels like a Rainboom in my brain.” I sighed. “I can’t shift…” Light said, a hint of distress creeping into her voice. I said, hoping she could latch onto that concept. “Heh… Yeah. No.” Light muttered dejectedly. I thought for a few seconds then tried. “Oh! That make perfect sense!” Light exclaimed, instantly cheerful. It was like I pulled a lever and opened a floodgate. So, that’s mental illness… By the Sun’s Light, keep it from ever growing within my mind! I decided to try to see if she would move now. “... ha! Eat ...ust burnt ...ge!” A voice crackled faintly from the radio thing David had built. “I’m ...ly letting you win ...it to sh... primitive ... pile of junk...” A second crackled. “Primitive? T… aby is top …he line!” The first retorted, a bit more clear than before. “Sure, for a ...thing made… you guys.” The second voice, clearly a male’s chuckled. “...ence, primitive.” “Oy!” “Please tell me that thing transmits!” Light begged. I admitted in embarrassment. Light groaned in irritation. “Well there’s somepony in range, we need help, so we need to signal them some ho-” My eyes widened in realization. Mustering all of my energy I reached for my magic and fired a flickering, crackling spellbolt into the air. It soared up about fifty feet the burst in a small flash of light. “Hope they noticed that.” Light sighed. “I mean that was barely even-” “Wait,” the male voice asked, now sounding quite clear, “did you see that?” “Yeah. That’s how your scout’s do distress signals right?” The first asked. As it came through clearly, I could tell it was female, but for some reason sounded far more distorted than the other voice. “No. But it’s how an injured one would.” The second confirmed. Light sighed in relief, “Thank Celestia!” I asked curiously. With help on the way I felt like I could take the opportunity to ask a question that had been bugging me. A pair of long, rectangular, metallic blurs shot overhead with a sound like a high-pitched blast furnace made of um… lightning. It was a unique sort of sound with no reference in my mind. The sound alone was super distracting. “Ahh!” Light squeaked as the things shot overhead, “The buck was that? A chainsaw made of techno?” I asked. “Right… Stalliongrad.” Light muttered. “I think we overshot.” the female voice commented from the radio. “Yeah, no shit.” The male snarked. “I’ll take a rain check on that race, let’s turn back around and start a grid search.” I reached for my magic again, there wasn’t too much left, but I threw the last of it into the sky where it popped like the first bolt. “Ah ha! Saw it clearly that time!” The male exclaimed proudly. “Well, yeah. Kinda hard to miss one dune ahead of you.” The female teased. “Hey, Kevin, what’s more important; Helping whoever this is, or being snarky?” The male said, this time voice coming from the radio and from the dune top. “Pretty sure you call them equally important, Stratosphere Firing Mechanism.” The female replied, voice oddly distorted even from the dune top’s direction. “Stop calling me that!” The male, who I presumed was not named Stratosphere Firing Mechanism grunted. “Stop calling me Kevin.” His companion returned. “Get a name that friends can make a proper short- Uh… wow…” The male said sounding stunned. “Anyone alive down there?” The female called. “Yeah.” Light answered, feebly waving a hoof. “Holy crap!” The female exclaimed in shock, “You’re a blue one and you talk!” “Not… changeling… pegasus.” Light growled through clenched teeth. “This is a curse!” I widened my telepathy to try and speak to our two rescuers. “Oh sorry. I get a bit confused after a race sometimes.” The male said quickly, but smoothly. “Huh?” The female asked in a confused tone. “Telepathy,” he grunted. “She’s a pegasus. End of story.” “Stupid thing I can’t hear… Which of you is telepathic? My species can't use that stuff. Can you talk?” she called. I replied, hoping maybe I could push through anyways. I’d never heard of something not able to hear telepathy before. “So, are we just going to ignore the fact that one of these four is a fuzzy changeling Queen for now?” The male asked. “That’s a changeling?” She asked, sounding surprised. Sun’s Light I wished they were in my field of view! Or that my head would swivel “Well duh! I mean the fuzz is new, but horn shape, wings, pony appearance, Luna sized. Changeling Queen. Obviously.” The male grunted. “Not to be rude, but we just survived a trainwreck, the Swarm and uh… however we got here.” Light commented. “Can we get some medical help?” “Oh! Yes! Right!” The female exclaimed in embarrassment. “I’ve got a few untyped stims on my bike. Be right back.” “Y-you didn’t take the med kit with you while walking over here?” The stallion whose name I really should ask for, asked in surprise. “I figured it’d be an Emerald, and I got a stim typed for them on my belt. I didn’t expect a whole slew of different genomes.” She muttered, the sound of scratching sand accompanying what I assumed was her walking off. I asked curiously. “No, I’m a Pegasus. I just live with lings is all. The name’s Sky Trigger, that was Kev. How come you’re all fuzzy?” Sky asked. “She saved the lives of a whole ship crew a few days before pupating into a Queen. We think that they’re supposed to look like that but noling’s ever gotten enough love to fully change.” Light explained. “Well, that’s definitely possible… There are more holes in the Emerald’s genome than the defects we know of can account for.” Sky mused. “So, my turn for a question. Kev, what exactly is… he? She?” Light asked slowly. “Meh, either or, she doesn't care about pronouns.” Sky commented, “Hold still a minute, I’m going to scan you.” “Uh, okay, but she’s a what, exactly? As in species.” Light pressed. I heard something beep. Then Sky yelped and a ton of scrabbling sounds indicated he took off into the air. “Kev! Grab some Neumune too! These guys are incredibly irradiated! Right, so uh, Light was it? I’m going to hover up here, because I don’t want a Gamma shower. It’s not that you smell or anything… Oh uh, try to keep talking. You too… uh… Quartz Queen?” I said, “Skipping the physics for now, it’s a form of energy, and you shouldn’t get it in you, but you did.” Sky explained. I asked hoping it wasn’t too bad. “Yes. But we can fix it.” “The hay were you doing? Licking an atomic pile?” Sky asked sarcastically. I almost told him that the god of Death teleported us, but I realized how insane that would sound to someone else, so instead I simplified. I explained. “Ah.” Sky said, sounding like he nodded, “Yeah, teleported without the safety wards and at a less than instant speed due to a botched spell. That will do it.” “I still want to know what your friend is.” Light muttered irritably. “I’m a Gaian.” Kev replied. “I take it you guys are not from Equestria? We’ve been around for about eight years now.” “Oh, so that’s what you guys look like!” Light exclaimed. I telepathically muttered. “Oh uh,” Light paused for moment, “Sky’s a burnt orange stallion, blue mane, kinda messy, same for the tail, little skinny, looks a bit tall. Cutiemark of a light bulb with a circuit pattern and some crossed tools.” I took a minute to picture that clearly and nodded to myself. “Uhh… I don’t know. She’s in armor and some loose robes. Oh, she’s a biped!” Light said sounding a bit embarrassed. “What’s with the armor? Are you a guard or something?” “Your planet’s atmosphere is deadly to my species.” Kev quipped. “This suit lets me not die.” There were another two words I didn’t know… I mentally added ‘planet’ and ‘atmosphere’ to my list of things to ask David about. Maybe I should find another school and go for a year or two. On the other hoof it sounded horrible to have to wear something to not die! Hopefully it wasn’t itchy. “You’re not missing much anyways,” Sky added, “she looks way cooler in the suit. Also she was cooler with the feline features.” “Meh, I felt like honoring my mother’s heritage a bit. Besides, not that much difference in pony ears and felines ones. Also hooves beat paws, hooves down.” Kev mentioned, “Alright I got this typed to you… Stay still, it’s hard to get a needle into you guys.” “Wait, why are you going near my,” Light began only to yelp and shriek, “Plot!” “Sorry, but with the exoskeleton and how your hemolymph circulates there are like, two spots I can inject this. The other spot is an eye. Be happy though, you’re not going to die for at least twelve hours, plenty of time to get you to a proper medic.” Kev explained. “Ow.” Light whimpered. “Oh grow up, this stuff is half painkiller.” Kev chided, “You’re next fuzzy queen! Did she say her name?” “It’s Jade.” Sky answered. “Nice to meet you Jade. Sorry, but I just can’t hear you. I lack the proper brain structures, and were not allowed to edit our brains. If you have questions, you can relay through burnt-orange there.” She said as she stepped into my view. Kev was a biped, about as tall as David in his normal Diamond dog body, but super skinny. Even with the black, sort of baggy, open front robe you could tell she was skinny. Arms, legs, everything was thin. Not grotesquely thin, but obviously thin. Beneath the black robe was a suit of armor made from black plates of metal with silver inlaid decoration. It wasn’t like the plate armor I was familiar with, it was more like my exoskeleton, form fitting, and made of small plates joined together with an underlying material. The entire thing didn’t appear to have any seams or gaps. To my relief, it didn’t look very itchy. The boots looked like standard pony plate boots, built for hooves, but the joints were a bit different. Her legs were very pony-like, but the joints were in different places, I guess to make walking on two legs easier. What interested me most was her hands, they had the same five fingered structure as David’s did. Perhaps they were related to Diamond Dogs in some way. I did find it odd that it was her hands which interested me the most. But then again I couldn’t lift my head up enough to see above her chest. I asked curiously. Kev took a needle attached to a small black cylinder from her belt as Sky repeated my question. “Yes. Tail, ears, fur, hooves, Cutiemark. Mark doesn't actually do anything it’s just cosmetic. You know how you can change your species at will? We can do that with a machine and about a month of time. I jokingly, slash respectfully refer to the mare who helped me acclimate to your world as my ‘mom’, and I haven’t had any pony attributes before. Figured I would try them out. Most of my species have our natural feline tails, ears, and so on, but pony parts are getting to be a fashion statement. It also helps for diplomats like me to resemble a native species. Especially since we look like a predatory species and most sapient lifeforms here are prey species.” Kev rambled, “Alright… Interesting Genome you have here. The stim’s ready, eye or plot?” I asked. “She says, ‘Why they hay would I say eye?’” Sky echoed. “That’s why I didn’t give your friend the option. Excuse me, a minute.” Kev muttered. I felt a sharp prick on the right side of my plot. It barely even hurt. Then whatever potion was in that needle hit me and that stung like I’d just licked caffeine! “Ha! Told you. It goes away in a minute… But then everything gets floaty.” Light giggled. “Well yeah, it’s a wad of painkillers, healing potions, and stem cells.” Sky chuckled, “It’s going to screw with you a bit. Don’t worry, she’s matching them to your DNA, they won’t make you ill or anything. Unless you’re allergic of course, but we’re five minutes from a proper medical facility anyway.” “Okay. This is a normal unicorn, I got one premade for unicorns… That white one, there’ something special about white ones, I mean genetically, right?” Kev asked. “Yeah, she’s definitely a Germane. So her genome is all bucked up.” Sky replied. “Good to know.” Kev said as she calmly stuck a blue needle into David’s neck. “Hey! How come he gets it in the neck?” Light demanded. “Different anatomy, different zones for optimal drug distribution.” Sky and Kev chorused. I started to feel a bit sleepy. Seeing as I had no clue what was wrong with me or how I would react to that particular healing potion, I felt compelled to ask, “Oh, yeah that’s a pretty normal reaction.” Sky answered in an honest tone. “They always make me sleepy too. Feel free to sleep it you want to.” “Moving on to to the other stallion.” Kev called, walking out of view. “That’s a mare Kev.” Sky said in a tone that meant he had to have rolled his eyes. “Uh, no he’s not. That’s clearly a stallion.” Kev stated bluntly. I said, quite impressed. “Hold it, there is no way that’s a colt!” Sky objected. I heard the sound of wing flaps and saw the corner of a dull orange hoof pass through my vision as Sky moved. Then, “Oh, no yeah, that’s a colt. Wow, he’s really girly looking, but from this angle you can totally see it.” “That’s because you’re looking at the rear end.” Kev pointed out. “Shut up and render first aid.” Sky muttered as began to drift off to sleep. “Yeah yeah. Hold your horses!” Kev snickered. “That wasn’t funny the first time…” Sky sighed. “Your wife thought it was hilarious. So did T- what? Uh Sky, do you have any relatives outside of the hive?” Kev asked, sounding surprised. “No. Why?” Sky asked apprehensively. The waking world began to fade. “Because this guy shares your mitochondria. You’re related. Somehow.” “The hay I am! Show me the scan-” “Here.” “Wait, what?! How?” The waking world vanished into the comforting warmth of sleep.