“Everyone snug as a bug in a rug?”
Chrysalis decided to not question the strange choice of words, figuring that the effort would be wasted. Trying hard not to scowl at her bare lower legs as she adjusted the almost comically small blue jacket that Nigel had forced upon her, she glanced over towards her nobles.
They all had brightly coloured jackets of their own, abet ones that actually fitted them, and it was difficult to spot any visible signs of dissatisfaction. The rocky ground they all stood upon was already cold and hard without snow that was surely to come, so Chrysalis had to admit that it wasn’t exactly the worst idea that Nigel had come up with.
“Are you sure we’ll be able to fly in these?” Buzz answered, looking behind him as he forced his wings out through two slits in his red jacket’s top. “They’re… noticeable.”
“We’ll be fine,” Nigel dismissed with a wave of his armoured hand. “I highly doubt that anyone will bother us considering the lands we’re going into. There seems to be nothing but snow, snow, and more snow.” He flicked a snowflake from his helmet visor and glanced back towards the small equestrian border town behind them, before looking towards Cupid. “Besides, you said that this town was the last one?”
Cupid stopped fiddling with her saddlebag straps and nodded. “Yes, the pony I bought the jackets off even said that I and my…” Cupid paused to glance over her fellows. “…’Snow research team’ must be mad-ponies for going out this time of year.” Gingerly lifting a hoof, she flicked it to get rid of a light dusting of snow. “I’m starting to think that maybe he had a point.”
“More than you know,” Chrysalis muttered under her breath. Unfortunately, one member of the party caught it.
“What was that, Chrissy?”
Frowning at her mistake, she looked up at Chalmers and prepared for an unwanted argument.
“This is not the best idea,” she answered, struggling to keep it civil. “I know you can’t feel it, but there’s something powerful where you want to go. I don’t know what it is, but it has an immense feeling of…”
“Hatred?” Reflection finished for her.
“You can sense it as well?”
Nodding, Reflection was quickly joined by the other nobles. “I’m pretty sure we all can, it’s quite strong after all.”
Chrysalis stared at her brood, one eye raised at them. “And yet you feel no fear?”
“Well…” Joy winced. “A little. But, and please don’t take this the wrong way, it’s not exactly like we’re not, um, used to it.” Chrysalis’ stare hardened into a glare, and Joy started to shrink down. “You’ve gotten a bit better lately and it’s been a very nice improvement and all, also… oh please don’t be mad.”
The last part was barely loud enough to be a whisper, and predictably it was Chalmers that rushed in to save the besieged changeling.
“That was a very nice compliment Joy, it’s good to see that you all are treating Chrissy with increased respect.” Moving through the group of Firstborn, he paused to pat Joy lightly on the head. Despite the situation she was in, the changeling in question stopped her shivers and recovered her composure with a small smile.
Nigel wasn’t finished however, and Chrysalis quickly found him at her side with the armour of his right hand withdrawn.
“There’s no need to worry, my dear,” he told her as he rubbed the back of her neck. “We both know that we’re more than capable of handling anything that comes our way, hmm?”
His warm hand on her cold neck was more pleasant than she had expected, and Chrysalis had to resist the urge to break out into a relaxed smile. “I very much doubt…” she paused and leaned over to the left as he hit a particularly good spot.
‘Are all members of his race this proficient with their fingers? It is almost maddening how easily he can distract me!’
“Chrissy?”
She opened her eyes and immediately straightened back up, not even bothering to admonish the Firstborn who were looking at her with smiles all around.
“Just… let’s not do anything stupid,” she gave in with a sigh. “I want this little excursion of yours to be over quickly and quietly, so we can actually return to our real goals.”
The hand on her neck moved to her head and gave her a brief (and frankly an amazing) scratch behind the ears, before it was removed and the sound of re-aligning armour could be heard.
“Pfft, come on Chrissy,” Nigel dismissed with a grin that she knew was under his helmet. “Really? When have we ever done anything remotely stupid?”
As he finished his sentence, the back of his armour shifted around and a warm blue glow lit up from a series of nozzles. Taking the cue, the Firstborn started to buzz their wings with Chrysalis reluctantly joining them.
‘No, of course not,’ she thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.
“Come on everyone, northwards we fly!”
Nigel rocketed up into the air with his back brightly glowing, the ten Firstborn giving him and his dangerous means of flight a wide berth before buzzing their own wings to join him in the air.
Chrysalis was the last to lift off from the rocky ground, her frown increasing as she felt another dangerous throb of dark negativity pulse out from their approximate destination.
‘Like we’d ever do something stupid. I’m completely and confidently sure that this entire exercise in futility will in no way go drastically and dangerously wrong.’
With a quiet snort to herself, she brought up the rear of the group and settled back into a nice cruising speed.
‘Ha, right! And earth ponies will fly I suppose…’
“Um… are you completely sure that you should be, well, drinking so much while sailing this… thing?”
Morning Sparkle paused her gulps and lowered the bottle of Zebrican rum, her head swivelling around to gaze upon her two apparent descendants.
It was the young mare that had asked the question, the nosy unicorn named Twilight thankfully going quiet under the steady stare. The older mare had thankfully been far more subdued and wise, a good thing considering.
‘Last thing I need is some haughty noble demanding special treatment or private quarters,’ she reasoned with herself. ‘Ponseidon knows, the one last time was bad enough. I’d better make sure to establish my dominance early.’ Her mind drifted back to the purple one. ‘I suppose that this will be a good way to start.’
Morning took great care to ensure that she was staring right into Twilight’s eyes before she took another drink. This time she didn’t pause, rough Zebrican liquor draining out of the bottle and down her gullet with every gulp. Within seconds the bottle’s bottom was pointing up towards the metal ceiling, the previously half-full container now drained to the last drop.
The bottle dropped from her hoof to the floor, the sturdy brown glass not even cracking slightly as it rolled to a stop beside her chair.
Both of her ‘guests’ watched it spin with wide eyes, Morning never taking her eyes off of them. Even as she wiped her mouth with the back of her foreleg, she still maintained a steady watch until they were both staring at her once more.
Her belch would have put the saltiest of seadogs to shame, the very bridge seeming to rock with the force of her outlet of gas.
“I drink as much as I want,” she answered afterwards. “From the sounds of it, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
Twilight gulped, but wisely didn’t question it further. “O-oh. Okay then… I suppose…”
‘Damn right.’
Nodding, Morning returned her attention to the visual monitor in front of her. The large and flat screen was filled with a map of their current location, a smooth white dot hovering just off Equestria’s east coast. Lines of information such as the current speed and condition were next to it, and a solid white line led from the dot up all the way towards the north landmass.
Most importantly, a bright blue dot was flashing just a little way away from the northern coast.
‘The fact that he is still alive and kicking after all these years is a complete fluke,’ Morning thought to herself as she reached down beside her and hit a button. There was a mechanical whir, before a full bottle of rum ascended from a hatch in the floor. Grasping the neck with a hoof and pulling it up, she levitated out the cork before taking a swig. ‘Especially since he was imprisoned in stone, talk about timing.’
A small beep drew her attention to a second screen to her right, a more focused map of the area lighting up with a red dot. Assessing the lines of information next to it, Morning snorted to herself with a smile.
‘Looks like ships have gotten smaller,’ she figured, the wooden vessel likely a small fishing ship from a nearby city. ‘Still, the time for any piracy is later, first I’ve got to find the Captain.’
Her hoof tightened on the neck of the bottle at the thought, her stare hardening all the while. Frowning, she took another swig of the soothing alcohol and tried to focus on something else.
Unfortunately, that something was the whispering of her prisoners.
Turning back around to glare at them, she caught them leaned in towards each other. Quickly pulling away as soon as they noticed the attention, they adverted their eyes and silenced their tongues.
“Oh no, do share,” Morning pressed, taking another swig. “I do enjoy me some scuttlebutt from time to time.” There was no initial reply, so she continued. “I mean it, I really do…” her hoof moved to hover dangerously over a red button that was built into her armrest. “Then again…”
Either her threat or her stare worked, Twilight’s eyes widening before she waved her hooves.
“Oh, no! We were just wondering what you were…” her hooves lowered and her eyes went towards the cutlass. “What you were going to do to us.” Shifting on her spot, the young unicorn elaborated. “I mean, we promise not to tell on you, and we are family after all.” Twilight attempted what she no doubt assumed was a friendly smile, but to Morning it was nothing but shady. “I mean, it’s not like we know the Princesses or anything important like that.”
As Twilight let out a small and nervous laugh, Morning noticed Velvet slowly turning her head to stare at her daughter.
“Because something like that would be so unfortunate for u- ah!”
Velvet’s foreleg smacked into Twilight’s side, a forehoof going to Velvet’s mouth as she leaned back.
“Oh my, Twilight! I’m so sorry! I just felt the ship roll and I lost my balance. Are you okay?”
“I… I think so mom. I’m fine.” She let out another laugh. “Ha, guess that’s what happens when you take ponies who aren’t used to boats out sailing the ocean.”
Morning was watching the whole exchange with tipsy disbelief. ‘Is this how far ponies have fallen? This is what passes for subterfuge and trickery these days?’ Taking another drink, she continued to stare at them.
This time it was Velvet who shifted on the spot, her words coming out calm despite the circumstances.
“So… Twilight does have an understandable concern, what do you exactly plan on doing with us? As she said, it’s not really to our benefit to report a member of our own family, no matter how distant. You obviously have some goal in mind concerning that human, and it is not exactly a creature that we particularly wish to deal with…” Velvet coughed into a hoof. “It would be far easier for you to just drop us off at the nearest port, and continue on your way without the need for any… rash actions.”
Morning followed Velvet’s eyes as they went to her cutlass, before she let out a snort as she took another swig and drained the rum bottle half-way.
“Ha! Don’t worry about me dumping you over the side to be fish food just yet,” she laughed, though without much humour. “Despite what you’ve probably heard about me, I never killed a creature that didn’t give me a reason.” Seeing them relax, she hardened her glare. “Still, you ain’t out of this yet. Despite your… sincere promises, I can’t just let you run off and ruin things.”
Taking another drink, she grinned at them.
“Besides, you did say that we’re family after all. What sort of Captain would I be If I didn’t show my descendants around the sea?”
Pressing a button on the arm of her chair, Morning and her two guests watched as the cabin flickered with light.
Twilight and Velvet nearly jumped out of their fur when the walls of the bridge seemed to fade away in a flash, the three of them finding themselves seemingly submerged under water on every side. Even Morning shuddered a little as she observed the technological trick.
‘Gah, that still gets me.’
The cold and dark ocean seemed within hoof-touching distance, but Morning knew that the armoured metal hull was still all around them. Indeed, the floor was still the dark grey metal that it normally was, and all of her monitors and screens seemed to hang in mid-air.
“How…?” Twilight, the first to recover, murmured while reaching out a hoof to find cold metal instead of ocean.
“The outside is covered with a lot of these tiny things the Captain called ‘cameras’, and the images they see can be projected on the walls somehow.” Outside, as Twilight and Velvet stared in wonder, a school of brightly-coloured fish swam past. “He said something about it being to do with war, and about how you don’t want to go putting windows everywhere instead of more armour.” The school of fish swung around the front of the boat, Morning watching them absentmindedly. “I don’t know about all of that, but it sure looks prettier than grey all the time.”
“So the stories were true,” Velvet wondered out loud. “You really can sail under the water. No wonder you were able to ambush all of those royal fleets.”
Morning ignored her two descendants and turned back around to the front, bottle in hoof. Sighing quietly, she left them both to their excitement of their new surrounds in the hopes that it would buy her a few hours of peace.
Glancing for a moment at the near-empty bottle in her lap, she shrugged silently to herself.
‘Why not?’
Slowly, she took another swig that firmly reinforced her already-high blood-alcohol levels.
‘I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, after all.’
“Brrr! I’d have, like, never guessed that I would miss the scorching wasteland.”
Chrysalis couldn’t help but silently agree with Keith’s assessment, thick snow coming off of her forehooves as she furiously rubbed them together. Huffing, she could see her own breath in front of her face as she glanced around the rocky hill they had made shelter behind.
Snow, snow, and more snow. The harsh landscape was broken up by the occasional boulder or mountain range, but other than that and their own mini-hill there wasn’t any features of note. Chrysalis couldn’t even see the dead forest that Nigel had flown off towards a while ago, and they had only passed it an hour before. It was starting to darken, and even the infamous Queen of the Changelings wasn’t too keen to face any nocturnal gribblies that called the snowy wastes home.
‘I hope he returns swiftly,’ she thought with a shiver. ‘And with some firewood. This cold is making my chitin harden.’ Shifting on the rough patch of snow-cleared ground that seemed to sap the heat from her body, Chrysalis glanced to her left when a weight settled against her side.
“If it’s this bad, imagine how c-cold it’s going to be at night?”
Normally, Chrysalis would have scolded Cupid for even daring to touch her at all, but at the current time even her least-liked Firstborn was spared any anger.
“Gah! Don’t even mention that,” Shade grimaced while he embraced Swissy to share warmth. “I’m pretty certain my wings will turn to ice if it gets any colder.” He glanced up towards the sun. “We’ve only got a few hours of light left, tops. This… thing that we’re going after-“
“Which we know nothing about save for the fact that it’s not happy,” added Chatter.
“…better be close by,” Shade finished with a gulp.
There was a moment of stark silence as their goal sunk in, a few of the changelings shivering from more than just the cold. No doubt about to regret her decision, Chrysalis cleared her throat.
“Everything… will be fine,” she struggled out, everyone looking up at her with surprise. “Nigel will soon be back with some firewood, we’ll have a fire for warmth, and we will take shelter for the night.”
“But what about this thing that he wants to fight?” Swissy asked with another shiver. “I mean, you’re just going to let him go after it?”
‘Like I have any control whatsoever over him.’
“I have known him for a long, long time,” Chrysalis reminded them while keeping her thoughts silent. “Once he has his sights set on something, it is not easy to persuade him otherwise.” She hesitated, the next part surprisingly difficult to say. “But… I believe that we have no reason to fear whatever he wishes to face. Despite his record, he is quite… adept isn’t really the right word, lucky when it comes to moments of danger.”
Buzz shuffled closer to her. “Oh… so you think he’ll be able to easily beat whatever it is?”
“Ha! No!” she snorted with some amusement mixed in with the mocking tone. “The damn fool will probably go off and get himself hurt or worse, knowing him. I still remember that time he flew head-first into the side of a castle, before setting himself and everything around him on fire.” Quickly supressing the small smile she had allowed herself, Chrysalis shook her head. “So no, it won’t be easy. Still, a word of advice for you all. When it starts to go bad, keep your distance from him. No matter what happens, Nigel will ensure that you are all safely out of harm’s way.”
There was another moment of quiet, although this one was far less awkward.
“Was that… was that a small compliment?” Reflection asked, immediately being answered by a dismissive snort.
“Don’t be so foolish, of course not.”
Even Chrysalis couldn’t convince herself that it was true, but thankfully none of the nobles questioned it further. They all returned to the much more important task of keeping warm, all of them huddling up closer towards her as the wind began to pick up.
Thankfully for them all, it was only another few more minutes until a light whine in the distance grew into a roar, and a black-armoured figure zoomed over to their camp before touching down.
Chrysalis’ eyes lit up at the solid armful of gnarled brown wood that Nigel held in his arms, the quantity seeming quite satisfactory for a simple campfire. The hefty chunk of rock that was strapped to his side with a rope was a bit of an oddity, but the thought of comforting warmth was more than enough to convince her to ignore its presence.
“Huzzah!” Chalmers’ announced proudly while dropping the wood at his feet. “I have returned triumphant! Many a dead tree shall rule this day, for I have taken a heavy toll-“
“Nigel,” Chrysalis interrupted with a blank stare. “Just light the fire.”
“Pfft, fine.”
She watched him bend down, half of the branches quickly being arranged in a crude pyramid. As soon as he was done and leaning back, she charged her horn up and let loose a spark into the dark timber. Despite the dampness of the wood, her magical fire took hold and quickly spread to engulf the sticks with green-tinged flames.
All of the nobles shuffled closer to the warmth, faces relaxing into smiles as they all crowded around with their ice-cold hooves held out towards it. Even Chrysalis herself was enjoying the newfound warmth, but the chill on her back still remained from the occasional gust of wind.
“A shame this accursed place is so barren,” Chrysalis murmured to herself quietly.
Someone sat down beside her. “What was that, Chrissy?” Turning her head, she gave Nigel a stare. He was too busy examining the boulder to notice however, the metal-speckled stone glinting in the firelight.
“I said that this rotten place lacks any kind of decent shelter from this damned cold. Why couldn’t you have chosen to fight something in a warmer spot?”
He paused and put the rock down, before he turned his helmeted head towards her. “Hey, you don’t think that I would have preferred a tropical beach? That’s the thing about monstrous foes, Chrissy, they don’t really tend to pick nice places to be their lairs.”
“I seem to recall that you had a rather nice costal village…”
"Ah!” Nigel replied with a finger in the air. “But I, my dear, am a Gentleman of the highest pedigree and as far from monstrous as one can get!”
Chrysalis wasn’t sure if it was the faux snooty accent he put on or the sheer lie that he had just spouted, but despite the cold she couldn’t help but crack a small smile at the retort. Despite his helmet she could tell that he was smiling as well, and at that moment the wind didn’t seem nearly as chilling as before.
Chalmers returned his attention to the rock he had brought with him, the sizable chunk soon lifted up in his armoured hands.
“I found this asteroid when I was getting the wood, and I think it will be just dandy for what we need.” He turned it over in his hands, the nobles looking over and tilting their heads at it.
“How so?” Shade asked.
“Well, you see this here?” Nigel pointed to one of the glimmering parts. “Space Iron, scientific name Spacious Ironicus Rockus. Hardly metal of the year, but it’s going to be more than suitable for our needs.”
Chrysalis nearly jolted in her spot when the armour on his left arm slid back, revealing a shiny looking nozzle that quickly extended towards the rock.
Even after all of the centuries, she still remembered the metal horrors that the little nozzle had created.
“Nigel…”
“Relax Chrissy,” he returned his attention to the rock with the nobles’ eyes locked on his arm. “Now, what we’re going to do is take this matter…”
All of a sudden, a series of blue lines of light shot out from the muzzle amongst a cold glow. As they danced across the surface of the rock, it seemed to grow smaller and smaller as chunks of it disappeared seeming into thin air. In moments it had vanished completely, and the blue lights shut down.
Nigel held his empty hand out towards the Firstborn, the changelings all oohing and ahhing over the almost magical display.
Chrysalis knew better, and she subtly leaned away from him before he continued on.
“That rock and iron has been broken down into all sorts of lovely atoms and molecules, ready to be reassembled into something else.” He seemed to pre-empt a question from Reflection, the noble’s foreleg not even half-way into the air before Nigel answered. “Don’t even bother, Reflection. I’m not really too big on the ‘science’ side of it.” There was a sly grin. “Chrysalis could probably answer those questions better.”
She smiled despite his jab at her, her mind recalling his original (attempted) ‘scientific’ explanation for his suit back when they had first met.
It had involved the term ‘Thingamigwhatsit’.
“Moving on,” Nigel continued after Reflection had lowered her hoof with a light chuckle. “We have a fire. We have, or rather had, a space rock. I also have a pretty-much magical go-go super-dooper buildy-suit, which may be a bit more of a help as well, but let’s continue.”
He stood up, rubbing his helmeted chin while he looked around their makeshift campsite.
“Now, space rock doesn’t really give us much to work with, and I’ve got nothing saved up… but then again we really don’t need much. Hmm, yes, just a simple shelter will do the trick…”
Chrysalis watched while Nigel walked around, making square shapes in front of him with his fingers as he did so.
‘I hope he doesn’t make another ‘Tower of Doom’ again,’ she thought to herself. ‘Although, admittedly it was quite fitting…’
“Wow, he sure can climb well in that armour of his.”
Her attention was pulled back to Nigel when Joy made the comment, her eyes searching the darkness until she spotted him halfway up the hill next to them. Grasping at the rocks and using his feet to propel himself up to high ledges, it was quite an unusual sight to see him moving like he was. It served as a stark reminder of just how different his physiology was compared to the majority quadruped population of the world.
“Okay,” he called down as he stood precariously on one rocky outcropping. “Everyone stay where you are, and don’t worry about the lasers.”
“L-lasers?”
Buzz’s question was answered by another glow of blue from Nigel, before another set of lines shot out from the device on Nigel’s arm. The six lines initially traced a square in the snow around the group of changelings, the nobles all nervously watching the lines as they began to move around.
Chrysalis understood and shared their concern, after all, they had all seen what the blue lines had done to the rock.
“Relax, I’ve done this before.”
The movement of the lines started to increase in pace as Nigel called out his reassurance, a slight hum emanating from both the makeshift square and the armoured human. Then it started happening, Chrysalis watching on silently while the nobles all gasped and murmured to themselves.
As the lines moved from side-to-side and up-and-down, a solid structure began to take shape in the snow. Wherever a line touched, a small bit of metal was left in its place. Such was the speed of the lines, the simple four-walled room seemed to materialise out of thin air as the faint outline solidified.
They all watched the entire time, wide eyes watching the shelter’s construction with no small amount of awe. Even Chrysalis followed the lines up as it formed a pyramid-shaped roof, the light eventually dying out with only a small hole in the top remaining.
She sat and waited with her Firstborn, the smoke from their fire drifting up to filter out through the hole in the roof. From outside there was no sound, until...
“Fuck!”
A loud series of clangs, shortly followed by a solid thump, broke the relative quiet and caused them all to jolt with surprise.
“Nigel?” Chrysalis called out after a brief hesitation.
“All good, all good!”
The sole exit, a crude door that was barely more than a flap of metal secured to the wall with a single hinge, pushed open to revel Chalmers. He ducked to enter the room, and when he took a seat next to her it wasn’t hard to notice the heavy coating of fresh snow on his back.
“Well then,” he said while removing his helmet. “What do you all think?”
“It’s incredible!” Reflection continued to look around the room as she spoke. “You just made this out of thin air!”
“Ah-ah, not thin air, space rock.”
Reflection seemed to ignore the correction, the noble reaching out a hoof to touch the wall as if to check that it was real.
“I mean it hardly took any time at all!”
“Totally radical,” Keith agreed. “I mean, like, whoa.”
“What else can you make?” added Holey, looking up at Nigel as she sat beside him. “If you had more than just that rock?”
Nigel grinned, and Chrysalis initially jolted when he put an armoured arm around her. However, she soon reconsidered upon feeling the surprising warmth that was emanating from the metal. Guessing that it must have been some sort of side-effect, she didn’t exactly complain as she wriggled closer to press against his side.
“Oh, tons of things, Holey. Generators, ships, towers, ect. Anything that’s loaded onto my suit’s computer, and also anything simple that I can think of,” he gestured around at the newly-built room. “I didn’t exactly use a top-tier military blueprint for this, after all. All of this shelter here originates from the good ol’ noggin’.”
Even though she was currently in a very pleasant cuddle with him, Chrysalis couldn’t help but snort and take a shot.
“My, that certainly explains a lot.”
“Ha, funny,” he retorted while giving her ear a flick with his free hand. “Feel free to take a shot at working with quantum dissident harmonic theory yourself then, your Highness.”
“You just made that up.”
“…No I didn’t.”
‘Liar.’
Still, it was all in good jest, and she was content to let the issue drop. A good thing too, as Chalmers was about to be buffeted by a barrage of curious nobles.
Forelegs were raised in the air from many of Firstborn, Nigel pointing out to Shade. “Yes?”
“You said that your… suit thing breaks stuff down into really tiny parts,” Shade asked while the other nobles listened intently. “Doesn’t that take a whole lot of magic, or I guess energy?”
Nigel nodded. “That it does. That’s why this entire thing is still experimental I suppose, not many officials would really appreciate a guy running around on the same planet as them with four anti-matter reactors strapped to himself.”
Shade tilted his head. “Why not?”
“Well, if they go critical, then they become incredibly volatile.”
Suddenly, Chrysalis didn’t feel as comfortable next to him as before.
“V-volatile?” Reflection repeated.
“Yup. If they go, I’m betting that we’d lose about a third.”
This time it was Buzz. “… A third of what?”
“Hmm? Oh, the planet,” Nigel answered, as if commenting about something simple like the rain. “Yeah, about a third… no wait, given the approximate size… no sorry, not a third.”
Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
“More like half of the planet. Not the largest of planetoids, you know?”
There was a moment of silence, an audible gulp briefly heard, before Shade coughed into a hoof.
“I… oh. Okay.”
“Nigel,” Chrysalis hissed, nudging him in the side.
“What? Oh, I see…” Clapping his hands together, Nigel let out a light chuckle. “No need to worry, all of you. I fully trust our research department, and there’s a huge amount of safety systems built in. The chance of me going full explody is incredibly low.”
Looking around at the nervously shifting nobles, it was obvious that his explanation hadn’t really helped to ease their fears. Nigel must have noticed it as well, as he made one final ditch effort to win them over.
“Besides, if I do happen to just explode and you’re all within half-a-planet of me, then our deaths will be pretty much instantaneous and completely painless.”
There was more silence.
“Idiotic moron,” Chrysalis insulted, as the fire in the centre of the shelter continued to crackle.
It was going to be an interesting night.
“Psst! Twilight.”
Twilight shook her head as she awoke, something lightly shaking her side. Blinking her eyes open to see what it was, she nearly had a heart attack when she saw nothing but dark and foreboding water.
“Twilight?”
Forcing herself to calm down, Twilight took a few gulps of air before she turned to find her mother staring at her.
“I… I’m fine,” she reassured Velvet with a small smile. “I just forgot where I was for a moment.”
“Good to hear, dear,” Velvet answered with her voice lowered. “But try to remain quiet, our captor appears to have fallen asleep.”
Twilight leaned around her mother to get eyes on the pirate, the menacing figure indeed slumped down in her chair. The three loose bottles of rum scattered around the base of the seat were a pretty good indication of how deep the mare’s slumber was, but she could understand her mother’s wish for caution.
Twilight did not want to find out how Morning Sparkle would react if she caught them plotting anything, especially since she could still feel the echo of the cutlass’ edge against her throat.
Getting to her hooves as quietly as she could, Twilight slowly moved towards the high-tech command chair. She could hear Velvet following behind, and together they crept closer and closer until they were in touching distance of their living ancestor.
Neither of them noticed the multitude of tiny cameras that were tracking their every move.
They both stood there for a few seconds in silence, before Twilight blinked.
“What now?”
“I don’t know,” Velvet whispered back. “Isn’t dealing with this sort of thing your area of expertise?”
“We usually just wait for them to start monologing, and then we hit them with the Elements.”
“Really?”
“Well, there’s usually some other steps in-between, but in the end it pretty much ends up the same.”
“Oh, I see.”
Both of them went quiet again for a while.
“So anyway, what do you think?” Twilight asked her mother.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not really confident when it comes to sailing an underwater ship with a talking machine in it.” Velvet glanced around at the seemingly see-through walls, a dark shape in the ocean passing by them to the left. “And a speedy escape isn’t exactly going to be too easy, considering.”
Twilight, busy with looking over the numerous controls and screens with a curious longing, gave a nod.
“Right,” she furrowed her brows in thought. “Even if we do escape, how would we get away since we don’t know where we are?” Biting her bottom lip, she suddenly looked up with a smile. “Ah ha. Hold on one second, I’ll just see if this works…”
Creeping back to where they had been sitting, Twilight looked back to double check that Morning was still sound asleep before she focused her magic.
A magenta glow of magic joined the artificial light from the control panels in illuminating the room. Twilight finding her relatively easy goal surprisingly difficult. Gritting her teeth, she redoubled her efforts while Velvet moved over towards her.
“Twilight?”
“I’m try to get through… to Princess Celestia,” she frowned, retrying once more. “It’s just a simple communication spell, I shouldn’t be having… gah!”
Cutting it off, she huffed for a few moments before continuing. “I just can’t get through!”
Velvet made a pointed glance towards the ocean outside. “Maybe it’s the water?”
“Mom, really, water shouldn’t prevent magic like this.”
“Are you sure? When was the last time a unicorn tried to cast a spell while under the ocean?”
Twilight raised a hoof, before pausing. “I… actually I’m not too sure.” Putting it back down, she puffed and glowered. “But I’m Princess Celestia’s personal student! What use is it if I can’t cast any magic?”
“Shh, don’t get so loud,” Velvet warned, both of them glancing back towards the slumbering pirate. “Twilight, we might just have to wait.”
“For what?” Twilight whispered. “You saw how she acted, we’re not exactly safe down here.”
“And we’ll be even less safe if we get caught trying anything.”
‘…Oh, she does have a point there.’
Twilight gritted her teeth, hating the fact that she couldn’t solve the problem presented. “So we have to sit here and do nothing, while this bloodthirsty pirate tries to find one of Equestria’s most dangerous enemies so they can no-doubt do evil things together?”
Her mother gave a sad nod in return.
“Unfortunately Twilight, there aren’t many options open to us now. As soon as we surface we can certainly try to send a warning if possible, but we must bide our time.”
Twilight sighed and nodded. “I guess you’re right. I just hate being trapped here and useless.”
“I know, dear,” Velvet said while taking a seat once more. “But we must make do.”
Sitting down beside her, Twilight resigned herself to inaction while she stared at the foreboding ocean.
Within a few more minutes, she had fallen asleep once more.
“Mhmm…”
Nigel turned his attention away from polishing his helmet visor and looked down beside him at Chrysalis. Her forelegs stretched out as she awoke, her head rising up from the jacket that was serving as her pillow while she yawned.
“Morning,” he greeted, wise enough to wait until she was ready to talk before saying anything else.
“Morning,” Chrysalis replied in turn, her eyes blinking the sleep away as she sat up. “You seem… quite cheerful.”
He gave her a smile. “You’re quite chipper yourself, honestly I wouldn’t have put you down as a morning person.”
“I had a very peaceful sleep, and it’s very nice and warm.” There were multiple cricking sounds as Chrysalis stretched her limbs and rolled her head, her ears flicking all the while. “How about you?”
‘Well, I’ll have to take her out camping more often if it cheers her up this much.’
“I didn’t,” Nigel replied, returning to his helmet while he talked. “I stayed up to keep a watch, while you and the others slept.”
They both glanced towards the other side of the fire at the nobles, the ten all huddled up against each other in continued slumber. Evidently, warmth had triumphed over their own rivalries and differences.
“They’re almost likeable when they’re all sleeping,” Chrysalis mutter to herself, prompting Nigel to raise an eyebrow.
“Oh come on, they’re not that bad. I admit that there have been a few bad apples, but overall I think everyone’s improving and beginning to get along better with each other.” He paused, turning his helmet over in his hands to admire his cleaning. “Sort of reminds me of this other bad apple that’s been steadily getting better and better.”
Chrysalis shot him a long, unwavering stare, a stare that was soundly ignored. Smiling before attaching his helmet to the magnetic clamp on his waist armour, Chalmers got to his feet and stretched his back. Hearing a relaxing pop, he gave Chrysalis a brief pat on the head to sooth her before he bent down and picked up her jacket. “Need some help putting it on?”
A green glow snatched the article of clothing from his hand, Chrysalis putting her snout in the air. “I am perfectly capable of dressing myself, I’m not a nymph.”
Shaking his head with a smile, he turned away and moved over towards the sleeping nobles.
“…Thank you for asking, though.”
“No problem, Chrissy.”
‘Heh, that must have been hard for her.’
Leaving Chrysalis to dress herself like the big girl that she was, Nigel knelt down and tapped the first noble on the shoulder. “Time to wake up, I’m afraid.” The changeling, Nigel recognising her as Holey, yawned as she rolled over onto her back.
“Do we have to get up? Just a little more?”
“No can do, sorry,” Nigel replied. He gave her a quick scratch behind an ear, Holey smiling despite the unwanted wake-up. “We’ve still got some ground to cover, and with any luck we’ll be able to make an even better shelter by the end of the day as well. Come on, do it for me?”
She rolled over onto her front, before she got to her hooves and gave him a sleepy smile.
“I’ll do it for some energising breakfast.”
“Learning already, I see. Okay then, come on.”
Holey jumped up onto her hind legs, giving him an embrace for a few moments. Patting her on the back while she did so, Nigel stood back up and let her drop back down onto all four hooves.
“There. Now, how about you help me get the rest of these snoozers up and moving. There’ll be another hug in it for you if we manage to get moving in under half-an-hour.”
Perking up, Holey nodded with a grin. “Sure thing!”
With that, she roughly prodded Buzz in the side with a forehoof, the heavyset changeling snapping wide awake with a yell that roused the rest of the sleepers.
“Ahh! What the- Holey!”
‘I knew that this trip would be a good idea,’ Nigel silently chuckled to himself as he watched the early-morning chaos unfold.
Princess Cadence was sitting on the edge of a large unmaid bed, a dishevelled white dressing gown over her withers while she rubbed her aching temples with her forehooves.
“Gah!”
She winced once again as, for what felt like the hundredth time that morning alone, the evil tyrant Sombra tried to batter his way through her shield spell.
She could have sworn that he was deliberately picking the worst times to try and break through, with the majority of the attempts seemingly happing in the early morning.
‘I wasn’t a morning pony to begin with,’ Cadence thought to herself with another grimace as her head throbbed once more. ‘The last thing I need is this evil ex-king being a complete c-‘
“Honey?”
Cadence looked over towards the bedroom door before she could finish her very unprincess-like mental insult, her frown abating somewhat at the sight of her Shining Armour. The steaming kettle and tea cups that he bore on a levitating silver tray also increased her mood, and she leaned in to meet his quick kiss as soon as he got close.
“He’s still not giving up,” she groaned after Shining had pulled back. “Day after day, night after night… why can’t he just take the hint that he’s not welcome anywhere near this city after what he did?”
“He’s evil, Cadence,” Shining stated while he poured them both a cup of tea.
‘No, really?’
Cadence frowned and suppressed the mocking retort.
“It’s just taking its toll on me,” she sighed, thankfully accepting the cup of steaming tea that he passed her. “If this keeps up for much longer…”
Shining sat down on the bed next to her, foreleg going around her back. “Hey, there’s no need to worry. Princess Celestia is going to send us some help, likely Twilight and her friends, and together we’ll send Sombra back into exile where he belongs. Until then…”
His horn lit up and touched hers, Cadence relaxing slightly as her aching head died down to a slight throb.
She knew that it would only be a few minutes of relief, but she welcomed it regardless.
“Thanks, Shiny,” she replied with a nuzzle. “I hope that you’re right.”
“It’ll be fine,” he answered with a nuzzle of his own. “No matter what lengths it takes, we’ll keep this city safe and sound.”
“… and so then, the Valarian picks this bomb up with his tentacles to bring it right up to his eye stalks for a good look…”
Chrysalis frowned while Nigel continued to woo the nobles with his stories, his lack of concern for the danger they were facing more than a tad irritating.
‘I know he can’t feel it, but still…’
She examined the snowy ground below them as they all flew ever northwards, her eyes peeled for any sign of danger.
The occasional boulder broke up the stark white landscape as the snowflakes continued to fall, but there was no sign of movement to accompany the foreboding miasma of negative energy that was swirling around them.
‘No sign… yet,’ she reminded herself, horn at the ready all the while. Chrysalis quickly glanced back at the group behind her, all ten nobles flying alongside Chalmers as he continued to obliviously talk to them. Even the Firstborn themselves seemed at ease despite the circumstances, a few even laughing as Nigel told some joke that was lost to the wind between them.
‘How he was in that statue for so long without changing just confounds me,’ she snorted. ‘Then again, it wasn’t as if he was the most stable creature to begin with.’
Cracking a smile at the thought, and the memories of old that it brought with it, Chrysalis felt a small amount of her anxiety flee at the fleeting comfort.
With less malice than before, she returned her focus to scanning the snow below.
Only to stop dead in the air when she spotted a towering spire just ahead of them.
“Hey Chrissy, what’s up? Did you find… oh, look at that.”
Nigel came to a stop beside her, the fire-pack on his back armour emitting only the smallest of glows as he hovered in mid-air. With the nobles moving up to hold their positions behind him, Chrysalis took the chance to scan the city for any hint of what was about to happen.
It looked like the snowy plains around it, dead and lacking all signs of life. The harsh north wind seemed to swirl around the large crystal spire that was in the centre of the city as if it was drawn to it, an eerie whistling traveling through the air as the gusts blew through the four arches that held the tower aloft.
The houses and buildings that surrounded the tower seemed pony-like in their construction, but lacked all of the bright and tacky adornments that Chrysalis expected from a pony settlement. Instead, it was all a dull grey, a perfect match for the overall atmosphere of desolate gloom.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Chrysalis muttered with a frown.
“It’s not the most welcoming place, is it?”
She glanced over towards Nigel when he spoke, the human’s face unreadable thanks to his helmet. Still, she’d bet her royalty that he was secretly grinning with excitement at the discovery.
“It doesn’t, well…” Shade began, moving up beside her with his eyes locked on the city. “It’s doesn’t look that creepy. Sure, it’s a little deserted, but that’s no need to-“
Shade had spoken too soon, the wind around the entire area suddenly kicking up into a strong gale. The freezing gusts buffeted them all with snow and tiny shards of ice, Chrysalis narrowly avoiding an eye injury as a particularly sharp chunk of frozen water bounced off the chitin between her right eye and her snout.
Something cold grabbed her around the foreleg, Chrysalis about to discharge her horn into whatever it was before she realised that it was an armoured hand.
“Everyone, down to the ground! Stay in a group!”
Chrysalis felt Chalmers tug her downwards as he shouted to be heard over the wind, her wings struggling to work under the sudden winter assault. The sky around them seemed to darken, and she managed to catch a final glimpse of the city before the snowstorm obscured it.
There was a brief flash of light as a previously-invisible dome, somewhat similar to the shield that she had encountered in her Canterlot invasion, cracked apart under the onslaught of a shadowy mass in the sky.
Despite the noise of the storm and the barked orders from Chalmers, she still could hear a voice that sent icy shivers down her spine.
“Finally… Mine!”
Her hooves hit the cold snow, the previously-snug jacket she was wearing now feeling as though it wasn’t even there. With her teeth chattering from more than just the snow, she managed to at least glance around to confirm that all ten nobles were present.
Thankfully they were, Buzz being the last one to touch down right behind her. Instantly the ten all huddled up around her, a few having to stumble through the snow to make it to the group. The hand holding her let go, and as she looked up there was a bright flash.
“Follow me and make for the city!” Nigel shouted at them over the storm, his voice amplified by whatever technology allowed him to speak despite his enclosed helm. A white circle that lit up on his right shoulder shined a strong beam of light out into the darkness, and as he turned around it was directed towards the ground in front of them.
With that done, he started to move forwards through the snow. Closing her eyes to ward off a fresh wave of ice shards, Chrysalis had to rely on the moving mass of nobles around her for guidance. Nigel helped with shielding them from the worst of it, being at the front didn’t seem to bother him as sharp ice pelted his armour plating.
Chrysalis supposed that his suit wasn’t just for show, and was built to take more punishment than the ice could dish out.
Gritting her teeth, all she could do was lower her ears against the storm’s howls and press onwards, her horn starting to freeze at the tip as the wind continued to carry the ghostly growls.
‘Crystals… Slaves… Mine once more…’
‘Nigel so owes me after this foolish adventure,’ she grimaced as she tried to divert her attention.
It didn’t help, minutes seemingly turning into hours as they trudged and tromped through the snow in their quest for safety. From time to time she felt cold metal fingers brush her muzzle, and despite her constant self-reminders of her previous objections to the trip, it was comforting to know that at least he was still there.
Then, after what seemed like days, her hooves left the soft snow and instead made contact with smooth and icy cobblestone. The wind and ice lessened as well, and cautiously she opened her eyes to see why.
Small and bleak houses lined either side of the snowy road they were all standing on, the dull crystal structures serving as shields from the worst of the weather. It was hardly the most important thing to dwell on though, as the swirling maelstrom above them could attest to.
Chrysalis took a brief moment to shake the snow off of her while staring at the evil smoke cloud, before questioning Chalmers through her chattering teeth.
“Well, what amazing plan do you have now?”
He looked over her and the shivering nobles, his finger pointing towards an abandoned tailor store across the street from them. “You lot hole up in there for the time being, I’ll conduct some recon and see what we’re dealing with.”
Chrysalis held back a retort regarding their exact reasons for even being in the city, and instead frowned at the wide-open door of the store.
“You’re going out there alone?”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll be quite safe all the way back here.”
‘That’s not what I meant…’
Glancing around at the shivering nobles surrounding her, and taking note of the fear she could sense coming from all of them, she ground her teeth a final time before letting out a defeated sigh.
“Fine, we’ll wait inside for you. Just…”
Chrysalis grimaced, Nigel waiting expectantly.
“Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“Ha, come on now,” he bent down, Chrysalis staring into his reflective helmet visor while he brushed the remaining snow from her mane. “You know that I never, ever do stupid things.” He stood back up, rubbing his armoured hands together. “Now go on, my suit’s not picking up any life signs in there. I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”
‘What does a sheep-’
“Promise.”
Her thought cut off, Chrysalis grumbled out a reply.
“Fine. But after this…” she made sure to stare him right in the visor. “We do something that I want to do for a change. No complaints, no side-tracking, no…chasing after giant monsters, nothing like that.”
He was silent for a few moments, before a loud hiss caused them both to look up towards the smoke-wreathed tower.
“Give me the Cryssstal…”
“Fine,” Nigel shrugged. “Deal.”
Nodding, Chrysalis started to trot towards the store in which they were to take shelter, the nobles following her closely without instruction. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him turn to stroll merrily off down the street without paying any mind to the evil smoke cloud above.
‘Fool.’
With that parting mental insult, she entered the shop and left him to his own devices.
“It is mine, not yoursss…”
Cadence continued to wheeze, her forehoof rubbing her chest as she tried to get her breathing under control. The sheer force that Sombra had used to break through her barrier had nearly killed her, and her heart continued to beat rapidly as the ethereal smoke circled the Crystal Palace relentlessly.
‘I don’t even know where the Heart is.’
“Cadence, are you okay!?”
She looked up from her spot on the bedroom floor, Shining standing out on the balcony with his eyes clenched shut and his horn glowing blue. A small dome of blue magic sealed the balcony and room off from Sombra, the shield crackling every time a smoky black tendril reached out from the main smoke cloud to lash at the last defence.
“You are mine…”
Spluttering, and wincing as her horn continued to burn as if it was on fire, Cadence struggled to get off of the floor and onto her hooves. “I… I’m okay.” Nearly falling back down, she stumbled over to where he was and leaned up against him for support.
“I can’t hold this for much longer!”
Almost as if he could sense their desperation, King Sombra laughed a deep and booming laugh. Two large red-pupiled eyes formed in the smoke before them, sickly strands of purple and green light wisping off from the corners as the crazed pupils narrowed and focused on them both.
Cadence stared right back at them with fierce determination, even as the insane tyrant let out another booming laugh.
“Sssurrender, they all sssurrender. They all will ssurrender. You. Will Sssurrender… to me.”
Cadence, despite her aches and pains, readied herself for one last act of mocking defiance.
“Ssssshut up and ssssstop talking you sssssimple-minded sssssssssssssssssimpleton.”
Sombra’s floating eyes narrowed further at her words, Shining glancing over at her even as he began to sink down to his knees under the strain of his spell.
“You just had to… nrrgh, taunt him as well, didn’t you?”
Cadence didn’t reply, and instead sighed as the last bit of Shining’s shield was battered away by the smoky king. Black tendrils reached for both her and Shining, the smoke coiling over and around as the Crystal Empire once again shook with the maniacal laughter of the feared tyrant.
“I’m sorry, Cadence,” Shining whispered to her as his horn fizzled out and he sank down next to her.
“We tried our best,” she reassured, even as closed her eyes and braced for whatever attack Sombra was about to dish out.
“Ah! Wait.. what the…?”
Cadence opened her eyes at Shining’s yell and following question, her mind briefly ignoring the smoke surrounding them as she focused on the rather unexpected sight. Shining was brushing snow off of his face with a hoof, Cadence not even getting a chance to ask what had happened before a second ball of snow soared straight up through the smoke form of Sombra and impacted against the tower wall behind them.
“Hey!”
The air around them both cleared somewhat as the Sombra-cloud pulled back at the interruption.
“What is thisss?”
The baleful eyes turned to stare down at something, Cadence and Shining leaning out to see who had come to their aid.
Cadence assumed from its shout that it was male, the best she could go off considering its appearance.
Standing atop the roof of a large house, the creature was closest to a minotaur in build. It was covered in what she assumed was black armour of some kind, but most disturbingly of all was its apparent lack of a face.
‘Hopefully it’s just a helmet,’ Cadence thought, right as the creature pulled back his arm and threw another snowball at Sombra.
“Who daressss!?” Sombra hissed at the creature, before something very strange happened.
Sombra actually appeared… shocked.
“Wait a tic… Sombra?”
‘…Huh?’
“Holy shit, I thought you were dead!” The biped gave Sombra a once over. “I have to say, you haven’t seemed to have aged well. Anyway, do you remember me, Chalmers?”
Cadence glanced from the strange new creature towards Sombra, the smoke monster’s eyes furrowed with befuddlement. “Chalmersss?” There was a moment’s pause, before Sombra’s eyes once again narrowed in furious anger. “Bassstard!”
“Huzzah!” ‘Chalmers’ shouted out with glee. “You do remember me!”
Cadence only had a single moment to process the confusing situation, before Sombra bellowed out an earth-shattering roar. A bright bolt of green and purple energy struck out from the smoke to strike the biped, sending him flying back to crash through a row of houses.
“You ssshould be dead!”
Sombra gave chase after his furious hiss, Cadence and Shining forgotten for the time being.
Watching it all unfold from the balcony, Shining coughed before asking her a question.
“Should… should we try to do something?”
Watching as the smoke cloud descended down to hover over the city streets, Cadence struggled to her hooves.
“We must. Our citizens are still down there, after all.” Helping Shining to his own hooves, she winced at the thought of the staircase they’d both have to descend to the ground floor. “Just what we’ll try however, I’m not exactly too sure.”
“Ah!”
Chrysalis dived for cover behind the pony couch with her nobles as the back wall of the shop exploded into shards of crystal. There was a loud thump and a crack as multiple shelves were broken, and something heavy landed barely a body-length away from where she’d been standing not a moment before.
“I’m okay!”
‘Nigel!?’
Chrysalis popped her head up to stare at the sight before her.
Nigel was on the floor, the right shoulder of his suit possessing a smoking dent but otherwise intact. He was quickly getting to his feet, hand going towards the gun attached to his waist armour.
“Nigel?” she questioned, this time out loud. “What happened?”
He finished brushing himself down, before he looked towards her.
“Oh, hi Chrissy,” he started nonchalantly. “Well, you remember Sombra?”
Her mind took a moment to fetch the memories, and when it did it left a sour taste in her mouth. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Well,” Chalmers continued with a nod. “He remembers me.”
She waited for him to finish, but no further information arrived.
“…And?”
“He remembers me.”
Chrysalis resisted the urge to hit him.
“Oh, wonderful,” she replied with a roll of her eyes. “Great, no really, great. Now, in addition to dragging me out here, you’ve now also managed to somehow bring back the ancient king of Equestria from the dead and then also irritated him for good measure. Splendid.”
“Hey,” Nigel huffed. “I didn’t bring anyone back from the dead. Firstly, that’s more Elijah’s shtick, and secondly he was already awake and pissed off when I threw the first snowball.” While she fumed over the reply, Nigel leaned over to look at the cowering nobles. “You guys all okay? Sorry for this, an old buddy of mine is kind of cranky at the moment and-“
“Nigel.”
Thankfully he had the wisdom to shut up and look straight at her. “Yes, Chrissy?”
“Stop talking to them,” she began, hoof rubbing her temple. Giving it a moment, she sighed. “What are you going to do about it?”
Looking up, she saw him glance at his weapon.
“Well, he’s really pissed.”
“Bassstard!”
She gave him a long, hard stare. “Clearly.”
“I suppose I might have to, you know…” he made a motion with his gun. “Bang bang.”
Something seemed off, Chrysalis frowning as she tried to think of what was bothering her. She didn’t have time to voice her concerns unfortunately, as Nigel seemed to decide that it was a good time to just exit via the human-shaped hole in the wall.
A series of rapid bangs cracked out through the air, before a muffled curse could be heard from outside.
“Well… Fuck.”
Crack.
A second hole in the wall was opened up next to the first as, once again, Nigel was flung through the structure and into the shop. He crashed down onto the floor, this time landing on his front, and it was another few seconds before he started to get up again.
“Yeah, so as it turns out-“
“Shooting at smoke isn’t exactly going to work,” she finished for him, ears flicking with irritation.
“Quite.” Turning to face her, she noticed the second smoking dent on his chest. “But I do have a plan…”
‘Here we go…’
“What now?”
He didn’t answer at first, and instead he walked over to her with his hands out.
“Chrissy, Chrissy, Chrissy.” An armoured hand patted her on the neck. “My number one chum, my favourite queen, love of my life.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.”
The hand started to rub. “My dear, my babe. My chitin-covered wicked woman.”
Gritting her teeth, she stared into his visor. “What do you want?”
The hand rubbing her neck paused, Nigel clearing his throat.
“A distraction?”
‘Why did I ever, in my right mind, agree to something as stupid as this?’
The roof of the jewellery store in front of her exploded into crystal shards as another purple and green bolt lanced down from the smoke-cloud above her. She scowled and took cover behind a house, her horn sparking off a green energy beam of her own.
‘It’s a good thing Sombra has the aim of a drunken pony foal.’
Her magic shot up to collide with the smoky outline of a rear leg, the shadow being up above letting out a low hiss of pain and anger. He returned fire soon after, Chrysalis racing back out into the street as the house explosively gained a new window.
“Annoying Insssect!”
Another blast followed her, a chunk of cobblestone flying up to strike her in the rump cheek.
“Ah!” she growled, turning her head to fire up another blast that seemed to only inconvenience the tyrant. Racing around a corner, her heart pounding, she was dimly aware of the growing shadow quickly catching up to her.
“Nigel, I swear that if you don’t actually do something useful!”
“Almost… ready!” Chalmers voice called out from further down the street. “Let him get a little closer!”
She glanced back over her shoulder, the King so low in the sky that he was practically on top of her.
“He’s already far too close!” She refocused on the street ahead, driving her legs to go as fast as they could. “Do something already you… you…” A particular word surfaced in her memory from centuries past, a word perfectly suited to the situation.
“You Wanker!”
“That’s not language suitable for a Queen!”
Despite his protest at the insult, she had obviously bought him enough time to enact his plan. Noticing a black shape moving out of an alley from the corner of her eye, Chrysalis skidded to a halt and turned around.
Striding out of the alley with what looked like a large grey cone in his hands, Nigel put himself in-between Sombra and her. Chrysalis barely had time to take note of the large white hose that snaked back into the hidden alley, before Nigel pointed the cone at the oncoming Sombra and pulled a small trigger.
A loud hum was quickly followed by an ear-assailing sound of immense suction, the cone-device immediately beginning to pull the surrounding air into its gaping maw.
Well, air, and something else.
Sombra’s floating eyes almost seemed… surprised, as he found himself slowly being sucked into Nigel’s device.
Chrysalis could only stare as the previously menacing monster rapidly disappeared from sight, the white hose kicking madly as it transported the former king to his unknown destination.
It was all over in a matter of seconds, Nigel switching the machine off as soon as the last bit of smoke was safely removed.
“Well,” he said, more to himself than to her. “That worked out better than expected.”
Then he promptly marched back into the alley way without even checking on her, dragging the hose along with him.
Glaring, and with her heart still rapidly beating from the encounter, Chrysalis stormed after him with an angry question already on the tip of her tongue.
“Hey!” she started as she rounded the corner. “Just what do…”
She couldn’t finish her sentence, her mind blanking as she came face-to-face with Nigel’s solution to Sombra.
The thick hose was delivering the last of the king into a large rectangular box, a box just large enough to fit a regular pony standing up. Through whatever transparent material made up the box, Chrysalis could see the Sombra-smoke swirl and condense. The pair of evil eyes, now far smaller than before, seemed to glance around the new prison with something approaching concern.
“And that’s the last of it.”
Chrysalis returned her focus to Nigel, the human flicking a switch on the top of the transparent box after the final bits of smoke were forced from the hose. There was a clunk, before he pulled the hose free from a cube of metal on one of the long sides.
“There you go, Chrissy,” he announced, walking over to stand by her. “I’ve gotten you a gift: One smoke-monster-slash-former-King.”
Her previous complaints were forgotten, her mouth dropping open before she regained enough composure to answer.
“To do what with, exactly?”
He tapped the top of the box, Sombra yelping as the bolt of energy he had tried to shoot Nigel with pinged off the inside of the prison to fly back into his smoky self.
“Decoration, or perhaps a coffee table? Imagine it’s value as an icebreaker the next time you have another royal over. ‘Oh yeah, that. Well, it’s actually this guy called Sombra. Used to be the King of Equestria, you know.’ Certainly beats a fish tank.”
Chrysalis looked from Sombra to Nigel, her brow furrowing. “I wish you’d stop acting like this was all one big joke. You’ve got Sombra, as in ‘the King we were fighting hundreds of years ago’ Sombra, and you’re just acting like it’s no big deal.”
Chalmers walked over to her, Chrysalis readying herself for what was likely to be more childish excuses.
“Well, to be fair, as soon as you distracted him it was pretty easy. He’s obviously not the brightest bulb around.” A hand placed itself on her back, Nigel chuckling. “Good job on that by the way, I knew that you’d have it handled.”
Chrysalis had a moment of surprise. ‘He knew that I could do it?’
Of course she was able to deal with anything Sombra could have pulled, she was Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings after all. Still, the genuine compliment wasn’t exactly something that was unwelcome, and she found her anger fading as the realisation that they really had actually pulled it off set in.
“Ouch… even if he did get you.”
Turning her head back, she noticed Chalmers’ eyes staring at her rear. Shifting on the spot as he bent down to examine it, Chrysalis murmured out an explanation.
“He didn’t actually hit me, I just think it’s a bit of ston- ah!”
She flinched when a sharp jolt of pain zipped across her right rump, but it was gone quickly after. Nigel returned his hand to view, the human letting out a low whistle as he examined the green-strained shard of stone that was almost as long as his finger.
“Sorry about that, Chrissy. We wouldn’t want you sitting down on this.” He tossed the shard away, before bending down to examine her wound some more.
“It’s fine, just a little warning next time would be appreciated.” She waited a few seconds for him to reply, before she snorted. “So, are you actually going to tell me how bad it is or are you just enjoying the view?”
“It doesn’t look that bad, we’ll pop a medical patch on it and you should be good.” He stood back up and took his helmet off to grin at her. “A shame, really.”
Meeting his eyes, Chrysalis tilted her head. “Oh?”
She nearly took a step back in surprise when both of his hands cupped the sides of her head, Nigel leaning in close to whisper in her ear.
“Well, seeing you dodge all of those attacks really gave me an appreciation for… your form and finesse, shall we say.”
Despite the timing, Chrysalis felt a little bit of blood flow to her cheeks.
“Oh…”
She had to admit, even as her heart was settling down from her exhausting battle with Sombra, there was still something there. A thrill that continued to pump through her veins, exhilaration that they had both overcome their adversary. Her tongue coiled around in her mouth, and she began to salivate at the thought of the delicious and satisfy energy fix that would result from the suggestion. Still, there were some minor concerns.
“You mean right here?” She questioned, glancing around the abandoned alleyway. “Right now? What about the nobles?”
A hand stroked her ear, Chrysalis nearly purring when two fingers massaged the tip between them.
“They’ll be fine for about half-an-hour longer, surely.”
Her rear gave a wiggle as her face continued to heat up at the thoughts racing through her head, but there was still one concern.
“What about Sombra, he’s still watching us.”
Both glanced towards the imprisoned King, the cloud of noxious smoke ramming against the insides of the prison in vain while the pair of eyes stared at them angrily.
“Let him watch,” Nigel muttered while stroking her back. “I’ve got half a mind to just lift you up onto the top of that container and absolutely ravage you.”
With lidded eyes, Chrysalis bit her bottom lip. “Oh my… if it gets you into the mood this much then I might let you take me tyrant-hunting more often…”
Neither of them noticed the way Sombra’s pupils widened in fear as he overheard them.
“I’ll keep that in mind…”
Stepping forwards into an embrace, Chrysalis put a foreleg around him before sighing.
“As tempting as the offer is…” The next part was surprisingly difficult for her to say. “There are more concerning matters that we have to deal with.” She frowned as another pang of pain throbbed out from her injury. “Starting with that ‘medical patch’ you were speaking of. Unfortunately, I doubt that my wounded rump will appreciate being slammed down upon that glass at this time.”
“It’s not glass,” he corrected while continuing to hold the embrace. “It’s a specially formulated plastiod, made by a company named Dues Ex… something or other.” He paused. “…I think the last part started with an M or something and-“
“Nigel,” she stopped him.
“Right, yes.” Letting her go, but with a pat on the head, he stood back up. “Okay, new plan. I patch you up, you head back to the nobles and make sure to tell them that we’re not dead, and while that’s happening I’ll take Ol’ Sombra over here and show him off to the people he was trying to attack before.”
Chrysalis twitched her ears. “People?”
“Yeah,” Nigel nodded. “In that tower in the centre. He was going on about making them slaves or something.” Chrysalis watched as Nigel turned around to wave a finger at the Sombra. “Someone’s been a very naughty pony, haven’t they? Bad pony, I thought we talked about the stance on slavery before.”
Turning back to her, he smiled. “I reckon they’d be pretty grateful for our assistance, we could probably extort some rooms and a good meal from them for our ‘hard work’.”
The thought of a nice room and a soft bed after their nights of camping cheered her up somewhat, and Chrysalis actually managed to smile.
“Now that sounds like a good plan. About time, too.”
“Hey,” he protested, Chrysalis grinning.
“Oh, you know that it’s true.” Starting to trot out of the alley, she looked back. “Now, I expect you to provide me with a room that is fitting of my stature as Queen. I won’t accept anything less.”
“Of course not,” he called back after her. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Leave it to me, I’m sure the owners of this place will be more than happy to provide us with some compensation.”
‘They better’ she thought to herself, before relaxing somewhat. ‘But I’m sure that Nigel’s right. After all, how could they refuse us after we captured Sombra for them?’