Jade - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - AfternoonJade - 4th of Solarus ‘15 EoH - Afternoon
Hug! Crushing! Thorax integrity… failing! Halp!
“Shit! I fucking knew it!” David growled.
Something slammed into my rump hard enough to knock me and the two mares forward a full foot! Shining jumped forwards, aura blazing as he whipped a spear from somewhere with a surprised yelp! A lavender glow filled one corner of the tent as somepony charged a spell!
“Please can we just calm, the buck, down!” Someone snapped, a burst of blue energy pushing everyone apart and holding them in place.
The pink alicorn trotted forwards and pointed a hoof at David, “You! Your marefriend was being bear hugged, not murdered… Nice knife by the way. Any reason you’re holding it with a hoof?”
“Uh, I suck with magic?” David replied.
She nodded spun and pointed a hoof at Shining, “He thought his lover was being murdered by a well prepared trap. You’d have done the same thing.”
She then turned to the lavender Alicorn, “Twilight, I appreciate the reaction, but I’m pretty sure that spell would incinerate the whole camp in that direction… Can you discharge that?”
“Oh… Sorry Cadence… Heh…” Twilight said with an embarrassed blush, the glow around her horn fading.
“Alright, is everypony calm?” The mare, Cadence presumably, asked.
“Sill... being... crushed.” I gasped.
“Aside from her?” Cadence asked, still looking around.
“I’m fine.” David grunted, “Sorry everyone.”
“You’re right, I’d have reacted the same way.” Shining said apologetically.
Cadence nodded letting out a short breath, the glow holding everyone vanished. That was well and good, but I was still being squished by these two madmares!
“Gurk!” I managed to gasp.
“Celestia, Luna… I think you’re actually hurting her.” Twilight said in a gentle tone. “How about you let go and explain who this is and how you know her?”
“Oh. Sorry.” The taller white alicorn said as she let go of me, followed a second later by the dark blue one.
“Ahem… Yes, sorry.” the second apologized.
I gasped for air instantly, I could feel sparks of green magic racing down my sides as my regeneration kicked in. I also felt part of my exoskeleton pop back into place.
Sun’s Light! They really HAD been hurting me!
“Ow!” I groaned, “By the sun’s light! Were you trying to kill me?” I demanded, “Why the hay would you hug someone like that!?”
“I’m sorry!” The white mare apologized. “It’s only been over three thousand years since the last time we saw you, Clover. I’m sure you can understand-”
“We thought you had died! Now here you are, after we had long since assumed we would never see you again and you question why you receive a proper hug?” The dark blue one asked.
I gave them both a look of ‘Ooohhh-kaaayyy’ and took a half step back, “I uh, think you’ve confused me for somepony else. I don’t even know who you a-”
A sudden burst of information forced me to stop in mid speech, an instant headache forming right behind my eyes. It was like when Three gave me her knowledge of shapeshifting, only way more intense!
Again, an alien thought came to my mind. That’s Celestia and Luna Solarus, the twin daughters of King Nebula. I taught them magic. “The hay?” I demanded of myself, “I did no such thing!”
Except I could remember doing that now… Vaguely. Like watching something with cheesecloth over your eyes. What? How? Why?
I nervously swished my tail as I tried to make sense of what in ever the buck was going on in my head.
“Uh, excuse me,” Twilight asked giving Celestia a concerned look, “But do you mean to imply that she’s Clover the Clever? Because Clover was a unicorn.”
Oh! That explained it, Clover founded my hive so I guess I just looked a lot like her.
Luna cleared her throat, “Um, well, yes. Though officially Clover was a unicorn. That’s not exactly true… We were in the midst of the First Changeling Crusade in those days, if anypony had learned Clover was a defector from the First Swarm well, she would have been in danger.”
Celestia nodded quickly adding, “Even with… Well, most changelings peaceful after the death of High Queen Phyla, anti-Changeling sentiments remained high for hundreds of years. As Clover was still alive, to keep her safe we simply convinced everypony she was an immortal mage-” Celestia stopped midsentence and turned back to face me, “Did you actually become an immortal mage? That would be hilarious!”
“Uh, I’m really not who you think I am.” I said sheepishly, “I probably just look alot like Clover because she founded my Hive. My name’s Jade.”
Celestia frowned and tapped the gem in the large necklace she was wearing with a hoof. Then again, and again. “Come on you! Work properly…”
Luna’s ears drooped sadly, “That would be far more plausible. The energy she was exposed to in that rift certainly is nothing a healer could have cured…”
“Excuse me please.” Twilight asked in a voice that was cracking with a whole heap of emotions in it. “Can I please get an accurate version of history and a proper reason for why its not correct to begin with!?”
“Uh oh…” Luna muttered turning around, “Twilight, it’s okay. Sometimes, the recorded works of history need to exclude certain things, for the sake of peace and harmony. While we could easily tell everypony the truth about Clover now, we could not then, for her own safety. The three of us lived through the writing of many historical texts. After the first one was penned, convincing scholars of the truth would have been hard, even if it was safe for her. As for modern texts, do you have any idea how difficult is is to make a culture accept something different than the dictates of tradition?
“The accurate version of events is Clover was uniquely unaffected by the creature which originally united all Changeling’s mind control and left the Swarm to help ponykind out of spite. Aside from her species, the rest of the story is accurate. At least, as far as I know.”
“Okay.” Twilight sighed. “What else is wrong in the books?”
“We can go over that later, Twilight.” Celestia said, stopping fiddling with her necklace. “For now… Jade, would you object to being scanned magically?”
“Uh, no?” I ask-stated.
“Twilight, could you please scan her with any identity finding spell? Something about her is messing with my enchantments.” Celestia asked with a concerned frown.
“Oh, uh, of course.” Twilight replied, turning to look at me horn flashing briefly.
I felt a wave of magic wash over me nose to tail, than tail to nose.
“Huh…” Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof, “You’re not shifted. Is your whole hive covered in fluff?”
“No,” I answered, “I pupated into a Queen and just came out like this.” Sun’s Light… This really WAS that annoying! A new sympathy for lily blossomed in my chest.
“Oh!” Luna smiled, “That’s how they are supposed to look. Modern changelings didn’t look as they do now until after the end of the Second Changeling Crusade.”
Celestia nodded, “I scattered them across the world via the Elements. The new queens were unable to eat enough to transform fully, and the Elements seemed to increase how much food a changeling needed… I never intended that, but well, you know how the Element’s tend to have minds of their own. Now, about Jade…”
“Nothing major.” Twilight answered. “She’s a young changeling Queen. Pretty powerful. Has had two memory transfers, but only information exchanges, no personality alterations. She’s not possessed or mind controlled… Well, actually, she should be immune to that. Would you mind if I studied you some time Jade? I’d like to learn how exactly you resist that.”
“Uh, sure?” I offered. “But what do you mean memory transfers?” That seemed like something important to ask.
“Uh, exactly what those words mean. You’ve been given someone else's memories. Twice. You have to be aware of that sort of thing.” Twilight said giving me an odd look.
“I can remember one, over a month ago. A changeling showed me how to shift properly. But I’ve never had a second one.” I protested.
“Uh, yeah you have. Less than two days ago.” Twilight replied flatly. “The memories are still settling. How can you not-”
My eyes widened in realization, “Sun’s light! When I looked into the rift! Oh that makes so much sense! I thought I was going crazy!”
“Wait, rift?” Celestia asked in a serious tone, “What rift?”
David shrugged, “I don’t know… I don’t remember any rift.”
“It was when we were teleported. You passed out with everypony else.” I explained. “I was awake the whole time. We fell through a black void full of stars, with a whole bunch of rifts opened to different places in them. I noticed that Clover’s spellbook was glowing and had some energy moving off of it to one particular rift so I touched it and-”
“Well, that explains that. Who the hay teleported you without wards though? I mean exposure to the Etherismos is really dangerous! You can easily pick up stray memories or thoughts or lose your own. Even a novice Wizard knows that! I mean, it’s even more likely you will if you’re exposed to an object that’s been into the Ether before and absorbed part of someone’s essence as a concequ-” Twilight stopped mid sentence eyes widening to dinnerplate proportions, “Excuse me, but did you say Clover’s spellbook?”
I nodded, “Yes! Lily has it.” I blushed lightly, I’d completely forgotten about giving it to someone in charge of Equestria…
“Who is Lily?” Twilight asked, eyes continuing to widen.
Oh dear… This wouldn’t be good…
“Uh, h-hi!” Lily exclaimed shyly.
Lily trotted forwards and took the ancient book out of her bag and carefully moved it over to Twilight. Twilight took the ancient book in her hooves, gently nuzzled the cover with a little happy squee, and teleported away in a flash of white light!
“Great…” Luna muttered, “There goes our best chance at victory.”
“Is one person seriously that important to the war effort?” Dave demanded incredulously. “How powerful is she?”
“All the powerful.” Shining muttered bitterly.
“On her own Princess Twilight is easily Equestria's most powerful Wizardess.” Celestia said moving over to get a better look at David, “But Twilight is more than that, she is one of the six ponies needed to use our nations greatest weapon. Without her, we’ll have to do things the hard way. Though, as I have used the Elements on Chrysalis before, she may not be vulnerable to a second attempt. Especially since she remained evil unlike the rest of the changelings I hit with them during the Second Crusade…”
Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister, “You never mentioned that to me before.”
“I saw her go down with her mother.” Celestia replied. “I didn’t know she survived unaffected until the wedding, and then we were far too busy trying to prevent a witch hunt that would have destroyed the Rubies for me to think much on it.”
“Then you should have told me now!” Luna protested angrily, “My entire battle plan hinges on using the Elements as an opening volley!”
“We will be fine,” Celestia protested, “It slipped my mind until this morning! Besides, the Elements will affect her changelings normally. If we strip away her army, Chrysalis's can easily be defeated by force.”
Luna growled irritably, going as far to angrily stamp a hoof, “This is why I’m in charge of the military Tia! You need to tell me these things!”
I looked over to David and Lily. They looked back at me. We silently agreed to just stay out of this one. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Shining and Cadence sharing a similar look.
“I’m sorry,” Celestia apologized, “Luna you know I wouldn’t intentionally-”
“Colgate!” Luna looked around the interior of the tent irritably, “... Cole? Ah ponyfeathers, she went to get lunch or some-”
“Uh, I’m right here.” A mare’s voice said from just to my left.
Everpony jumped a whole foot into the air in shock! Cadence, Shining, Celestia, Me, everyone but Luna. Luna just facehooved.
“Cole… I know it’s only been a week, but for the love of Equestria, you need to learn how to stay visible!” Luna groaned.
“I’m not visible? Faust damn it…” Suddenly a bright blue unicorn mare faded into existence right next to where I had been, “Sorry! It’s really hard… At least I’ve gotten being solid down.”
“Uh… What the hay are you?” Lily asked in a half shocked half terrified tone of voice.
“I second that emotion!” David exclaimed, ears flat.
“Er… There's kind of a pretty big racial stigma.” The mare admitted shyly. “I sort of evolved into a magic-based life form. Like, last week… It’s still pretty hard to do some things.”
“She’s half Windigo.” Luna explained, “All of the abilities, but none of the evil. If you treat her poorly for it, I’ll send you to the moon.”
“You can send people to the moon?” I asked, eyes widening in wonder, “That would be awesome!”
“Trust me, it gets old quickly.” Luna deadpanned. “Well… except for the Sea of Tranquility.”
“Yeah, I hear Eagles like it there.” David quipped.
Everypony gave him a blank look for a few seconds. Then Luna turned back to the half-creature I’d never even heard of but was now really interested in because invisibility would be cool to have and maybe she could teach me how to do it. Right! Windigo, that was it! I’d have to find a book on them or something later.
“Anyways, Cole, get everypony else ready to charge the north quadrant when we lower the shield. Since the Elements apparently may not work we will have to be ready to charge in and stem the tide. I’ll join you six myself as soon as I am done here.” Luna promised.
“Was… Er, if it takes six ponies to use these Elements, do you have multiple sets or, can anypony use them?” Lily asked curiously.
“No, each Element has a unique bearer.” Celestia answered.
Luna nodded. “I happen to have six elite knights, it’s a coincidence. Now, Tia, is there anything else of critical importance to the mission you might have forgotten to tell-”
A bright white flash of light exploded into the room as Twilight returned. “Alright! Book in vault back home. Perfectly safe. Armchair moved into vault, ready for reading later.”
“Oh good! I thought you would be lost in that book for a week.” Luna sighed in relief.
“Oh I will, but if I don’t help here first someling is going to interrupt my reading time.” Twilight joked.
“You know,” Shining mused, “That might be a great way to make up for the likelihood of the Elements failing. Twilight, you should start reading something!”
“Shiny,” Twilight giggled, “I don’t get, that, upset when somepony inter- What was that about the elements not working?”
“Apparently Chrysalis survived being hit with them a few thousand years ago, and Tia never thought to tell me.” Luna deadpanned irritably.
Twilight facehooved, “Great! This is going to be a real pain in-”
Alarm bells began to ring in the east! Everypony instantly flinched. Seconds later a short Earth pony stallion sprinted into the tent, the silver runes in his uniform glowing brightly, projecting energy fields that looked like individual armored plates over him.
“Princesses! The Swarm is moving faster than we thought, we will have contact in five minutes!” He warned.
“What direction are they coming from?” Luna demanded, a wave of magic blazing over her, leaving behind an elaborate set of jet black plate armor.
Every other princess equipped themselves in a similar fashion. Celestia had a golden set, Cadence had a simple chainmail cloak and arm guards, Twilight…
Twilight shrank to about half her size as she summoned a dark purple breastplate and boots.
What?
“Oops!” Twilight said, blushing deeply, “I should have known safety wards would cancel that buff if I tried to put on armor too small for me with it up…”
“Size isn’t everything.” Luna snapped, “What direction is the enemy coming from?”
“Flanking south by southeast, over the cliff. We have at best five minutes until contact.” The soldier reported.
Cadence nodded, and took a scroll from her cloak with her magic, and quickly opened it. “Okay, it’s not going to be possible to evacuate anypony. David, was it? You look like a soldier, I can use this to create weapons you are familiar with. You’re going to have to bunker down and protect your friends.”
“Wait,” I asked panic starting to creep into my voice, “where should we go?”
Luna looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded, “Tia, take them with you. They should be safe enough near the shield generators and ward mages.”
“Understood.” Celestia answered, turning to Cadence, “Get this werewolf a weapon.”
What? Why did she even think he was a werewolf? I looked at Celestia with a confused expression. So did everypony else, including David.
“I’m not a werewolf…” David objected.
“Ja! he’s just a really nice Diamond Dog I turned into a pony so nopony would be racist towards… oops…” Lily kicked the ground nervously.
“Oh, that explains why my naming spell lists ‘canine’ as kind.” Celestia commented.
“Yeah! Also I have a weapon I got my knife and…” He paused as he patted his flank hip and frowned, “Fuck! I didn’t grab Boomstick from my cart before we fled!”
“You didn’t grab it!?” I yelped in fear, “Why the buck not?”
“We were under fire and being crushed by a giant slab of metal!” David growled, “It was a bit hard to focus!”
Twilight shook her head and looked over at Lily, “After this battle, you and I are going to talk about transformation spells, because you are clearly very good at them, and I could use a peer. Good luck!”
She turned and sprinted out of the tent at full speed. I felt a wave of squee flood Lily’s mind and push some of the fear out of it.
Luna nodded towards us, “Good luck from me as well. I’ll do my best to keep them outside the shields. If they break through, the Emerald Hive is directly west, flee there, it’s our rendezvous point.”
She turned and sprinted out of the tent, moving surprisingly quickly for somepony in a gap-free suit of armor.
Cadence sighed, “I’m sorry you lost a weapon. I can’t imagine how it would feel to lose Kindness…”
David’s lips split in a reflexive grin, “You named your sword Kindness?”
“No, I named my bec de corbin Kindness, my sword’s named Mercy.” Cadence said, “Don’t worry, these scrolls conjure quality gear. Whatever it makes for you will be something you know how to use, also it comes enchanted with the Equestrian basics. Bows make their own arrows, swords don't dull, if you’re lucky it might get an energy type too. I don't know which one this is I carry them for weapon losing emergencies, got a whole stack.”
“Uh, I don't exactly know how to shoot a bow.” David warned.
“No worries, It makes whatever you personally know how to use best.” Cadence said with a dismissive hoof wave. “Or at least a weapon you know how to use, I made sure I could get a different weapon, because sometimes you need an axe, others a polearm.”
Her horn glowed blue and the scroll began to glow white and gold. Suddenly it burst into flames, evaporated, and a sort of shaped wooden club-like thing with some metal bits attached to it was left floating in Cadence’s magic.
“Huh…” She said scratching her head curiously, “Either you’re amazing with a club or I didn’t direct the magic towards you well enough. Let me try ag-”
“NO! MINE!” David shouted snatched the weapon from her aura in a blur. He gently stroked a hoof along the long straight section of wood with a creepy sort of fondness, “Yessss! Ammo! I’ll need ammo! Do those make ammo?” He asked, looked way to excited over a weapon.
“That’s a ranged weapon?” Cadence asked curiously, “How's it work?”
“This,” David announced, “Is a motherfucking M1E9 Garand rifle. It is the goddamn king of ranged weapons.”
“Oh! A musket. Neet… Let’s hope the round pack enough energy to penetrate shield spells.” Cadence said in an interested but sympathetic tone.
“Oh, it will. But, ammo. Kinda need that.” David said in the tone of a nymph with a new toy that was locked in a trunk.
“Uh, standard enchantments. It should make it’s own ammunition. The fact that it’s a, no offense, sporting tool, shouldn’t matter.” Cadence said with an eyeroll. “You sure you don’t want me to make you something else?”
“I-it has infinite ammo?” David asked, an overwhelming amount of glee rippling out from him, followed by a wall of shame. “... I shouldn’t be looking forward to fighting…”
“I’ma make you something else.” Cadence decided retrieving a second scroll.
“There’s no time!” Celestia warned, “You need to get into position! Whatever nation he’s from it’s clear he knows how to use those things at least as effectively as a bow. I’m sure he has some means of compensating for the slow rate of fire.”
David literally erupted into laughter! “Hahaha! Oh my god, you have no idea!” He turned to Lily and giggled, “I thought you said that Equestria was more advanced.”
“Well ja,” Lily objected, “it is. Most ponies can just learn to shoot a spellbolt, und a gut crossbow with a reloading enchantment is enough for anypony else… My father shoots matchlocks as a hobby. Firearms are toys for us.”
David just kept grinning, “Well, you’re about to see what happens when a species who doesn't have magic needs a good ranged weapon. Though uh… Wish it was under better circumstances.”
A second set of alarm bells began to ring, loudly echoing across the dunes. I heard a loud crackling sound from all directions.
“Ponyfeathers!” Cadence cursed, “That’s the shields going up! Come on Shining, we need to get to the western line. Good luck fighting with that thing! If you survive, you’ll need to show me how it works!”
Cadence and Shining quickly sprinted out of the tent, leaving us alone with Celestia.
The tall alicorn paused for a few moments before turning to us with a sympathetic look in her eyes, “I had hoped we would have time to get you to safety… But with the shields spells up and the Swarm so close… Teleporting away is quite impossible. Please, remain close to me. I’ll do my best to protect you, and if the shields are breached I’ll send you safely somewhere else. Unfortunately, even I can’t teleport something through a shield spell.”
“That’s alright.” I said with a slightly too frightened voice for someone who lived through everything I had.
“Ja,” Lily sighed, “Magic works with physics after all.”
“Wait, shields block teleports?” David asked curiously.
“Yes, any dense energy field will.” Celestia signed, “Even radio towers, or power plants back when we still used electricity. But don't worry, if you breach a shield it shatters quickly. I’ll be able to get you to safety immediately. Just remember to stay close!”
Celestia started to walk out of the tent. I turned to follow her. The loud roaring buzz of a billion changelings slowly faded in over the sound of the alarms. I stepped through the tent flap into the open air. The entire sky behind the pinkish shield was nothing but crisscrossing, chaotic lines of changelings.
This was it. This was where the nightmare ended, or where I died.