My Little Forumites are Magic

by Mx Story Anomalax

Out of Time

Twilight was fast working, completely ignoring Mana's body. She went to the cage and used her telekinesis to move the lock's tumblers. She wasn't that good at such a thing, having never done it before, but she had enough background on old locks that she'd get it open eventually. The girl in the cage was wearing sylph of light clothing and she had candy-corn horns on the top of her head. She looked back at Twilight and smiled. She seemed starved among other things. "You should just leave me here. I'm going to die sooner or later. I'm doomed." This made Twilight angry as she fiddled with the lock, telling her they weren't leaving anyone behind. She was also extremely skeptical of the idea that this woman was doomed. And even if she did die sooner or later, she was going to get her out and help get her back into tip top shape before she died.

Vark was staying with Pinkie's body, still missing her leg, and tried to cuddle with her, taking on a motherly role and trying to make sure she was comfortable.

Machine Whisperer had asked for Phynicxs, Fluttershy, and Smeareyes to come with him. They were headed for Chrysalis and had every intention on stopping by the chamber with the weapon before leaving.

When they got there, Chrysalis looked somewhat smaller than she had before, and a lot more frail. Smeareyes wasn't worried, unafraid and understanding of the changelings. "Hold on! We'll get you out of there." Chrysalis looked back and smiled, her pride gone and replaced by despair. She looked so sad, but the the idea of freedom perked her up.

"But... What about the witch?" Smeareyes smiled and told her she was taken care of. This made Chrysalis smile, almost deviously, but it was the only smile she knew. Machine grabbed Chrysalis' attention as Smeareyes fiddled with the lock using one of his tools.

"My queen, this one is here to rescue you from your bondage. This one could not follow the witch any longer. This one had a change of heart." Chrysalis was surprised, and then deeply disturbed. She looked away and muttered that he didn't belong here anymore. The changeling was taken aback, but understanding. He looked down, playing with his hooves. "This one is sorry, my queen. This one had expected this, as disappointing as it is, but this one would like to ask of you two favors for this one's new friends."

Chrysalis was taken aback again and stared at the worker with wide eyes. "You're a worker, right?" Machine nodded, brows hanging low, and told her he had a name now, and that he'd probably be sticking with the others who had saved them from a potentially fatal future. "What are the favors?" Chrysalis was in no mood to argue. At least right now. She could bargain effectively. Besides, she was in the hands/hooves of this group of heroes.

"This one has been thinking deeply about the issue, but we would like it if you released the ones who are kept in captivity." This surprised Chrysalis and she was about to disagree even if it meant her life, but at the same time she realized that they wouldn't survive without a good leader. She looked down, stuck between a rock and a hard place. Fluttershy took this opportunity to step forward.

"I've been talking with Machine Whisperer and we think we may have a solution to your problem." Whisper stepped forward as Fluttershy twisted her head to watch him.

"Up until this point, my queen, we have been abducting ponies and others in order to feed. But this one has figured another way. This one thinks that if we send some changelings to different towns and cities and try to fit in as ourselves, maybe... Maybe a lot of us would find some love. This one thinks that it may be possible and that it'd be a nice little experiment." Chrysalis was taken aback at the idea that the worker was considering this an experiment, but then realized the piece of individuality that all changelings had within them. "We may not be able to feel love, or anything like that. But this one thinks that we could act a certain way, and they'd never know the difference. And this way the others out in the world would not have to scavenge for love by impersonating others."

Chrysalis thought about this. "I'll think about it, worker. Please leave."

Machine was getting more and more depressed, not wanting to lose his... Family? Is that what he considered them? He felt so sad and looked at the ground as he talked. Fluttershy put a hoof over his shoulder and nuzzled him comfortingly. Machine looked up and felt his strength renewed by his new bonds. Machine wondered if maybe this was like another family. He understood bonds and family. "This one would like to ask one more favor."

Chrysalis was surprised again, by how much gall this changeling worker had, but respected it. She wondered if he'd make a good leader. "What... Is it?" Chrysalis sighed. The lock was almost finished. This lock was very new.

"This one requests that you let us have the weapon that has been stored here since ancient times." Chrysalis, once more, was taken aback at all of this, but nodded.

"We have no use for it. Take it and use it well." This made Machine swell up with happiness. Being able to help his family. It made him feel so good. A power inside of him that he'd never felt before. Out of appreciation and... Love? No. It wasn't love. It was appreciation, respect, and relief. He pushed his hoof through the bars to hoof bump his queen. He was getting bolder with his new friends at his side. His new, extended family.

Chrysalis smiled, and returned the gesture. "Please Machine, leave. And live for your new family." Chryaslis shook her head once, throwing the blue, transparent hair behind her.

Smeareyes finished the lock and let Chrysalis out. Machine was quick to follow his queen's last order, and wanted to go check on the rest of his friends.

Chrysalis smiled again for the second time in about a month. "I'll lead you to the chamber. Please take care of my worker. You can release the ponies in captivity, but please hurry before I doubt this idea and change my mind." Phynicxs told Smeareyes to go with her and get the weapon. He was going to start releasing the ponies. He zipped away on blood skates. Smeareyes smiled at Chrysalis and; although her eyes looked sad, she returned it genuinely.

---

Jordan had helped immensely in getting through the doom infected forest, and was slowly healing the damage, having gotten the idea to try and absorb the power into Letum Coupant before surging life into the plants. His powers had kept the party safe from hazards and dangers, Typo helping occasionally by cutting the plants.

As they got closer, a fog started to seep into the area. A deep fog that took away most vision. And that's when Typo noticed it.

"Two players coming from 12 o' clock!" Jordan was startled and he brought the sword up as Ying got ready too. Typo brought his pinwheel close to him and reached out with his mind powers, sensing the unconscious thoughts. "One's a time player and the other's a light player." Knowing how dangerous time could be, they took a step back and tried to keep behind the trees. Their choice to leave the ponies behind for this one was a good choice.

A figure in heir of time clothing appeared before them with a warp of light. He charged forward. Jordan's first reaction was to try and disable his legs and keep him from getting any closer, but all the life that touched him withered and died within a second. And everywhere the heir of time stepped seemed to trigger the transformation. The trio jumped into the trees, getting scared as the heir of time jumped into the air, flying right at Jordan, whose surprise was plainly evident. The heir of time had crimson hair dreadlocks and a dark face.

Jordan brought his sword forward and tried to slash at the heir of time, but he disappeared in a flash and appeared right behind him. The warrior pressed his hand against Jordan's back, aging him by thousands of years per second, the immortality of godtier being put to the limits. Jordan felt every year pass by like he had to live it, and it drove him insane. He was on the verge of raving, but felt like he was being electrocuted, unable to get away. And that's when Typo tackled Jordan away, throwing the pinwheel back at the player.

"You can't defeat one who walks with doom." The kid smirked, his voice unusually deep.

Ying was fast, and as the kid disappeared he sensed where he was going to reappear, throwing his eraser sword at the kid. He hadn't been prepared for it and it went right through, partially going into a tree. The kid laughed and pulled it out, wielding it himself now. Ying tried to pull it back with his space powers but it wasn't working. The kid's hand glowed as he held the sword, and warped again. Jordan started to get up, feeling like he had aged to 40 years old, and knew that if that happened again he probably wouldn't be so lucky. And that's when talons came out of the fog and dug into his gut. He cried out and headbutted whatever was getting close to him. But when he did, he just fell forward off the branch, landing on his hands and arms, which gave out under him. Jordan grunted and looked up at the blue wind that had gone through him, and held his stomach, knowing who exactly it was.

Ying looked through his captchalogue deck and pulled out a different sword, which looked like a bright frozen flame. It had a gear on the bottom of it, and parried the blow of the heir of time's attack, which chipped his ex-sword, surprising Ying.

Typo brought his pinwheel around and threw it at Gilda, not used to the mind powers but making it look like there were two of the pinwheels coming from either side. They went right through. And then Gilda's body changed back into a solid, brandishing the anklet on her front left leg. She blew him a raspberry and started flying toward him.

---

The chamber was immense and had a bunch of metal and glowing lights - most of which were charged gems. Smeareyes was deeply aware that Rarity would have a field day with this. "Do you mind if I take some of these gems, Queen Chrysalis?" She sighed and told him no, but then thought for a moment and told him just take one and pointed him over to one of the solitary machines. Chrysalis told him that wasn't connected to anything else, especially because the weapons would be brought out. Smeareyes took out one of his earliest weapons. A small, unassuming card with his favorite suit on it. It felt like metal and he placed it close to the bright gem, carving it out as the card vibrated dangerously. He examined the gem as it glowed, and realized it might have more power in it. He captchalogued it and the card, and hurried over to the fancy mechanical pedestal that had once housed different graphs, measures, and displays of the weapons buried into the pedestal halfway.

They were chakrams.

Smeareyes whistled, examining them as Chrysalis stood by and waited. This was a nice pair of chakrams. They were red with silver lining and looked like they had wires criss-crossing all over the weapons with green energy. He grasped them tightly and tried to pull them up and out. Failing this, he noticed Chrysalis was laughing and asked her what was so funny. She told him to pull from an angle. He furrowed his brows and did as he was told, and they came out smoothly. He could feel the immense power contained within and examined them with respect and an open mouth. Chrysalis mentioned they seemed to suit him and that he should keep them. Smeareyes said he'd talk it over with Phynicxs. Smeareyes asked what the power in them was for and she told him.

"The ponies here were advanced - extremely advanced. In this underground area they studied time and space, as well as extra dimensions. There was another weapon they kept here, but someone stole it before we took over the place." She began to tell him how the space weapon was supposed to open slits in different dimensions that you could walk through. She told him that a lot of mathematics had to be performed in order to get the space properties correct. She explained to him how the chakrams were meant to cut through small pieces of time. They were meant to cut through timelines. It was an extremely powerful weapon. Then she told him about how she'd had some of her best and most knowledgeable underlings study the weapons and to try and make it so they didn't have to be charged anymore. And they succeeded after years of laborious study. She said at one point she had wanted to use them to take over the world, but for the sake of keeping the world intact, she had chosen to leave them. She said that she figured Smeareyes would be able to wield them responsibly, especially the more she saw of how much he cared for others even if he didn't always show it. Smeareyes was stunned and captchalogued them, the cards glowing with the same green energy as the chakrams rested inside. It was amazing how much power they held. He thought about destroying them, but decided that it'd be good to keep with him even if he decided to never use it. Lest it fall into the wrong hands. Chrysalis pointed over to the far wall and a one-way elevator, mentioning that it had been built so they could get out, but so it would be close to impossible for anyone to get in, especially considering all the materials used to keep the elevator contained. Smeareyes nodded toward her, thanked her, and quickly "got out of her hair."
-
Machine Whisperer was quick. He had gotten one more idea, thinking it to be a good one, and snuck into some of the other, smaller chambers, and took quite a few computers with him, using his specially designed captchalogue cards. Although that's not what he called them. He had made them using small notes that had been left behind in various areas. It had taken a few years, but he'd perfected it and made them better, but he wasn't very aware that the players used something similar to him for inventory management. He was quick to get out.
-
Phynicxs was amazed with the telepathy Chrysalis held with her changelings, especially because Mana had been able to copy it. He was still extremely tired, but he felt something surging within him. He still felt empty inside, like something was dearly missing - a large part of who he was, but something had filled that space. It felt like responsibility, like the feeling inside him was sentient in some strange way. That or his subconscious had latched onto whatever it was and understood it more than he did. He had gotten the ponies out quickly, going from room to room, building to building, thankful that he was able to relax before zooming around like this. The changelings offered up little resistance, but a lot of worry and anxiety. He tried to comfort them, as much as he could. The ponies were in no condition to travel far, but he decided the best bet was to get them to all get out of the city at the very least, and he'd think of something later, possibly involving Thunderhead. Damn, Phynicxs was tired.
-
Vark listened to the conversation going on at the other side of the throne room, staying close to Pinkie. Fluttershy had gotten back about the time Twilight finally picked the lock. The troll girl had told them that her name was Aranea, and that she'd been expelled from her session. She looked left and right, unsure about something, but Twilight caught onto it and motioned for her to tell them. She agreed, reluctantly, looking resigned, and told them how she was the product of a doomed timeline that had to be fixed. She wasn't certain what had happened to her friends, but she had been travelling for awhile, very confused as to how she had lived so long. Twilight suggested that maybe she wasn't really doomed at all. Aranea had doubts about this and explained in short what doomed timelines were. Twilight nodded and suggested an alternative, one that explained how maybe she was still alive because it wasn't a completely doomed timeline and she had something she still had to do before she died. Aranea nodded and agreed this might be the case, as it would explain a lot. The amount of years she had been travelling exhausted her just by thinking about it. She sighed and asked if they could get out of here - she wanted to feel fresh air again. Twilight and Fluttershy agreed. Twilight looked over at Vark and Pinkie and wrapped them up in her telekinesis, trying to be as gentle as possible as they made their way out, and would later meet up with Machine Whisperer.