Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

Summer: The Burning of Morals

Violet's mind went where it always went when she ran. Away. It dissipated, and vanished from the planet. The only thing in her head was the sound of her breathing and hooves hitting pavement. Her lungs burned and her spirits lifted with the rush of endorphins and adrenaline. She didn't think, she couldn't think. Her skull was empty, and it was brilliant.

"Alright, Violet." She heard a voice, but she couldn't recognize who was speaking to her. She kept her eyes forward, dazed and attempting to focus on what she deemed her goal: a marker on the other side of the gym. "You're two minutes down from yesterday." The voice continued. "One more lap and we'll call it a night." There was a click and she was off. Her body was warm with hot blood and determination. Her athletic wear clung to her body. Inside the material of her shirt were wires monitoring her heart rate and oxygen levels. Her hooves skidded on the waxed ground as she turned around the marker, her tight ponytail swinging and almost smacking an unsuspecting mare in the face. Sweat beaded and trailed down her spine and to the base of her tail, were they flew like tiny clear stones into the hot air of the underground gymnasium. Her hooves, though the pressure of them hitting the ground caused her head to pulse, were silent and carried her to the other side of the finish line. She continued to run after that, a few more meters than necessary. Her silent stride almost made her seem as though she was flying to any passerby.

"Great finish, Violet." Her coach, Magnolia Breeze, smiled a warm smile. Violet's legs were still twitching, her heart still pounding, and her urges still pulling her to run back towards the marker and on and on. But she had to stop. It wasn't good for her to keep going. "You're doing very well with your physical analysis and such. Makes me proud to be your personal coach."

Violet simply grunted, unable to get a word out through her heavy breathing. Magnolia Breeze was once a mother, and supported her children through her job as a professional personal trainer. Her children, however, "mysteriously disappeared" one night. That was how she ended up here. She hides the horror in her eyes well, with her maternal demeanor and comforting crows feet. But Violet knew that this mother had seen things that no mother should ever see.

She was assigned as Violet's personal coach after Luna spoke with Grim about her predicament. Her training and talent, already forcing her to be in peak physical health. However, a few days into training, it was soon realized that things were different then how they were before her transformation. Violet, from an athletic standpoint, was perfectly capable of holding her own. In fact, she was better than anypony else in her group. Her body, now grown and adult, could keep the muscle and the metabolism without breaking a sweat. Her timeline-separation no longer keeping her body in limbo between her young, weak, and her grown, athletic self.

"Do you wanna hear your numbers for today, sweetie?" Magnolia asked. Violet nodded and she went down the list on her clip board. Everything was better, faster, and swifter than what they were yesterday. Some changed by minutes, others by milliseconds. But she was getting better and that's what mattered. She didn't need to worry about training for the sake of shifting anymore. Now she just needed to stay on top for the sake of her job.

"That's great, Violet." Her coach tucked her pencil behind her ear. "I'm proud of you. Enjoy your rest tomorrow. You need it."

"I need it." Violet echoed, earning a nod from Magnolia in approval. She couldn't push herself off the ledge again, not when she was only a month away from being located for her first official mission. She wouldn't do it.

"Try to get as much sleep as possible, drink as much water as you can, and don't forget your stretches." Her coach went down the list like she did ever other weekday. It was like her personal life-mission was to make sure Violet stayed healthy. "Are you still getting dizzy?" Violet shook her head. "Good. I figured you weren't getting enough carbs in your diet. I'm glad that settled itself quickly and it wasn't something serious." She patted Violet on the shoulder, her hoof soft and warm. "See you on Thursday."

"See... ya." Violet swallowed, her throat parched. She watched her coach leave the gym, and fought all of her instincts to run in secret. Instead, she picked up her water bottle and decided it was time for a nice shower. As she walked, she swished her water around with her magic, watching the water droplets churn and splash in their clear container. Take it slow, calm yourself down, and walk.

---

Cloudy let out a squeal. "What are the odds that we would get Manehatten as our first ever mission?!" She clapped her hoof together. "I'm so excited!"

"It's just a city, Cloudy." Violet tried to calm her sister down in the middle of the square. A group of Lunar guard were beginning to stare.

"Just a city?" Cloudy quoted. "Just a city?!" Cloudy gasped. "Manehatten is only the biggest, loudest, trendiest, most fashion oriented, metropolis in all of Equestria!"

"Except Prance." Midnight corrected.

"Now is not the time for your blatant favoritism, Midny." The barista serving their drinks chuckled at Cloudy's clear hypocrisy. Violet shot her a shrug, which she responded with a subtle eye roll. Straws was a great mare, but didn't talk much. Not that anypony really wanted to make time for talking. They all wanted to stuff her sandwiches into their mouths instead.

"What's wrong with Prance?" Midnight defended. "I mean, sure- it's a tourist destination. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be cool!"

"Manehatten has some of the greatest stores on the planet." Cloudy argued.

"Prance is covered in beautiful architecture and rich history."

"Neigh York is known for it's wonderful food and culture."

"Do you think they know that, with their arguments, they're pretty much talking about two identical places?" Violet asked Straws. She shook her head and gave Violet an extra strawberry smoothie on the house (it was her specialty).

"Prance is full of pretty ponies with pretty clothes!"

"Manehatten is full of fancy ponies with fancy clothes!"

"You know, I wanna go to Venice." Violet added.

"That's nice, Violet" Midnight said over her shoulder.

"Yeah, really cool." But neither one of them stopped. They just kept going on and on, comparing one place against the other. Violet knew that it wasn't out of anger, desperation to prove themselves to be right. But instead the excitement that came with the realization of their traveling opportunities with their new job. Something wiggled around in her brain, telling her that as soon as their first mission was over and they get a new assignment, that that city was going to be Cloudy's new favorite of the bunch. Midnight, still being Violet's personal guard due to orders of Princess Luna, got to travel along with them and had their eyes focused on more luxurious places.

But Violet really wanted to go to Venice.

She didn't know why, but she really did. Of course, she had enough sense not to really bring this up. They were already pushing her limits.

A month had passed, and she was finally getting used to everything. The guard roaming around, the massiveness of her room, her work out schedule, the classes, the nocturnal way of life. Everything was finally settling and working it's way to make itself comfortable. Tonight was a perfect example. She had just gotten back from her work out, and it was time for dinner. The moon sat above her, watching her eat, and she saw every petal on her daisy sandwich with little strain. Nopony even brought up how tired they were, or how they missed the sun. It was kind of nice.

The new Lunar guard took some getting used to, at least to the population of Canterlot. Those who worked in the castle, especially those who worked for Luna, grew fond of them rather quickly. But the unsuspecting citizens who watched the castle walls from the outside shrunk back at the sight of them. A little part of Violet was angry. Wasn't that a form of discrimination? Was Canterlot really willing to go that that level of judgement, to the point where they would treat somepony differently for no reason more than an odd set of wings? After bringing this up to Midnight, she was met with a laugh. Midnight had explained to her that there weren't many ponies like her, and with the associations that came with being a bat-pony were what caused all of the fear. She told Violet to calm down, relax, and let the ponies that were willing to see the truth, see the truth.

"Oh boy, I'm completely stuffed." Cloudy groaned. "I think I'm gonna call it a night."

"Already?" Violet asked, shaken from her thoughts. "It's so early."

"My exam is tomorrow, remember?" Cloudy stuck out her tongue. "I have to take it if I want to go to Manehatten."

"That's what you get for not studying in your other courses." A voice spoke from behind them. None of them jumped. They were too used to Satin's quiet behavior to really be frightened by the tiny white unicorn anymore.

"Not all of us an be geniuses, Satin." Cloudy rolled her eyes and started to walk back towards headquarters, where her little room and her soft cot lay waiting for her. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Later." Violet waved back. She sent her a sisterly wish of good luck. Cloudy had been studying hard to pass her extra classes. She had to take them in order to remain in the C rank of the espionage force of the Lunar Brigade.

"She'll do okay." Midnight saw Violet's face and wrapped a comforting wing around her shoulders. "She's Cloudy."

"Violet, I need to speak with you." Satin threw formal greetings out the window. "Do you mind if we head of to your room and then to headquarters?"

"Uh... I guess... not?" Normally Satin would go about a lengthy explanation as to why. To see her act blunt, but seemingly without purpose, was very much unlike her and was a tad bit unsettling.

"You told me about your uniforms, given to you by the time traveling pony, and I need to look at one of them." Satin explained briskly as they speed walked to the castle's doors. "They could help us with a project we're working on."

"In the testing room?" Violet was puzzled. She didn't go into that part of headquarters often, but she remembered the large room being white and a tad bit intimidating. Strange stones that nopony could explain decorated the walls and all around the doorways. They didn't even figure that it was meant to be a laboratory of sorts until they found the tools resting in the drawers of the tables that were built into the floor. Storage compartments were also found, hidden in the walls with even more stones embedded in the walls. Satin had called the place home for the past month, testing the Black Diamond's magic and what could possibly be used to counteract it. She found the job exciting, and a wonderful fit for herself given the fact that she had studied unicorn magic since fillyhood.

"What's a coat got to do with neutralizing dark magic?" Midnight asked. Her wings flapped silently as she flew above them.

"Not the coat, the dress." Satin corrected. "And I'll show you once we get there."

The walk to Violet's room was done in silence, as was the picking up of the dress, and the long walk through the recently restored gardens to headquarters. As the seconds ticked by, and the silence threatened to clog her throat, Violet grew more and more anxious. She remembered when she wore her athletic wear to her first day of defense training. Magnolia was confused, never seeing the outfit before in her life. Upon examination, they both found wires that were monitoring metabolism and Violet's breathing. They were perfect in a horrific way. It was a few days later when Magnolia told her that she talked with Grim and Luna, and made it official that that would be the new gym uniform for the other espionage students.

Violet supposed that it was happening again. Clock Mage providing her with another perfect solution to a problem that nopony knew existed. But what could the dress do? It was pretty, sure, but it didn't seem all that useful from a scientific standpoint.

"What's going on?" Violet finally asked, out of breath and more than confused. "Why do you want my evening dress?"

"Because it's not an evening dress at all." Satin said. She laid the dress out on a white table and pinned it down using clasps, pulling the fabric taut and stretching it enough to make Violet wince. "Violet, what pattern do you suppose that is on the dress?"

"Scales...?" Violet answered, still confused. What else could it be other than an evening dress?

"Exactly. Dragon scales to be exact." Satin pulled open a drawer and placed a clear container holding what looked to be a scrap of fabric from the exact same dress. "In fact, if you wanted to be difficult, you would call it synthetic dragon hide."

"What in the world would make you say that?" Violet asked, now more confused than ever. She was supposed to be resting, casually scribbling in her notebook and not getting worked up. She certainly wasn't meant to be dragged around through headquarters discussing dress patterns and dealing with the horrific fluorescent lighting that seemed to dry out her skin and ruin her mane by the second.

"Look." Satin moved closer, the fabric scrap in her hoof. Both Midnight and Violet eyed the fabric. "Look familiar."

"It's the exact same!" Midnight whispered in awe. "How did you do that?"

"I told you, it's synthetic dragon hide." She placed the fabric back in the box. "I developed it this morning, and I quickly put two and two together." She rubbed the dress with her hoof, stretching it more. "This must be the finished product. Now that I've developed the actual material, it can be duplicated. I just needed to make sure that I knew what I was thinking about- and more importantly, that I was right about what I developed."

"What did you develop?" Violet asked, seeing the dress in a new light.

"Did you know that some dragons are immune to certain types of magic?" Satin asked. Violet shook her head. "It was something that I found out long ago, but I never had a use for it- until now." She smiled one of her rare smiles. "It won't work against most types of magic, but once you're out in the field, this dress might save your life."

"It's just a dress." Midnight argued.

"No. No it's not." Satin cleared her throat. "Do you know how the servants are created?"

"Innocent bystanders looking for a little wealth or fortune get captured and are put under spells to serve those of the cult." Violet answered, reciting her lessons.

"Correct. But what type of spell would that be?"

"Hypnotism, most likely." Midnight responded without missing a beat.

"Exactly!" Satin pulled out a lens and looked at the dress closely. "Thought it's more complicated than a tradition hypnotism spell, it's still most likely that at it's basic foundation. This dress, with the use of the synthetic dragon hide, would supposedly have the ability to repel it."

"How would it be more complicated?"

"With the evidence provided- the pictures, reports and documents from the police force, as well as several eyewitness acounts- we've come to the conclusion that magical crystals are hung around their necks and are charged with a highly condensed amount of magic in the form of a hypnotism spell. The crystals most likely keep everything running, and don't need consistent attention in order for it all to run smoothly."

"So, what can the dress do?" Violet asked.

"That's what we're going to find out." She released the dress from it's silver clutches. "Put it on."

"What?!" Violet shrieked. Midnight's shoulders clanked with her armor, a sign of her rigid defense stance. "Are you insane?!"

"I'm not going to hang a crystal around your neck." Satin rolled her eyes. She waved and a unicorn with a bright green coat and pretty blue eyes walked in. Violet recognized her, but couldn't remember her name. All she could put together was that she was extremely gifted in magic. "A simple hypnotism spell won't hurt you. You'll just... jump up and down a little bit."

"That doesn't make it okay!" Violet cowered a little behind Midnight, who was standing as solid as a rock.

"It's in the name of science." Satin consoled. She rested her tiny hooves on the green unicorn's shoulders. "Lucky Vine is one of the most talented and precise unicorns in the Lunar Brigade. I've chosen her specifically to make sure you're safe." She shook her head. "I know it doesn't seem like it sometimes, but I care about you, Violet. I would never want anything bad to happen to you."

Violet's chest felt a pang with the expertly planned hit of pity. The unicorn smiled. Violet felt herself relent, but that didn't change the fact that the thought of her not having any control over her body scared her more than anything had in a long time. Over the past month, she had gained confidence in things that she never had before. She was proud of her athletic ability, spoke confidently in class, and at last grasped the fact that she was arguably in the safest place in all of Equestria from the Black Diamonds. But the "catch up" incident that happened a month before had scarred her, and left her shrinking back in fear at the thought of losing control.

To the point where she hadn't used her talent in weeks, the last time being a desperate attempt to pass her initiation. Even then, she was desperate to stop. The temperature in the room dropped so much that Violet convulsed in the testing room for a few brief seconds, and the shift itself seemed to be smothered by willpower alone. She didn't talk about it though, and since nopony bothered to bring it up, she didn't have any reason to. She could only hope that she could fix her problem before anypony noticed. Her lack of continuing to write her stories, however, had attracted some attention from her sister. To that Violet, swallowing down the truth, said that she was simply too busy memorizing the Black Diamond characteristics and history to find any time. Cloudy, being caught up in her own studies herself, didn't have any reason to think that she was lying.

It was really a very big mess that Violet wanted clean.

"Jumping up and down." Violet swallowed down and hoped nopony noticed how tight her jaw was clenched. "That's it, nothing else."

Satin nodded. "Of course." She handed the dress to Violet and requested her to swiftly put it on.

"Have you ever worn that thing before?" Midnight asked as the purple pony stepped into the fabric.

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't tried it on while everypony was asleep." Violet mumbled. When she met Midnight's smug face, her cheeks and neck grew hot. "Just to see if it would fit."

"Right."

"Alright, Violet. So first we're going to-" As soon as Violet placed the last strap on her shoulders, something that nopony expected happened. At first it started as a low hum, but it gradually grew louder as the seconds ticked by. At the end, it turned into that weird sound that wasn't loud but could always be heard. Like the sound that your brain makes when it's been in the quiet too long. A piercing, slightly numbing sound that makes your inner ears itch and tickle.

"It's the stones." Midnight winced a little. Violet saw her sensitive tufted ears twitch and move around uncontrollably. She was clearly very uncomfortable. "The sounds coming from those rocks in the wall."

"Satin, what are those things for?" Violet asked. She grabbed some dry cotton balls off one of the tables and gave them to her guard. She gladly shoved them in her ears, and her shoulders relaxed soon after.

"I-I don't know." Satin shook her head. "We were planning on looking at them after we made a break through with the dragon hide. We haven't gotten around to it yet."

"Are they hurting us?" Lucky Vine asked, speaking for the first time since her arrival. "Are they releasing some sort of radiation or something?"

"We haven't examined them thoroughly, but we know they're normal stones." Satin shrugged. "Gemstones, but still normal stones."

After a few more moments, everpony seemed to calm down. The sound became almost indistinct, and faded into the scenery.

"Is it gone?" Violet asked.

"No." Midnight answered, ears still twitching. "It's still there. We're just getting used to it."

"What does it mean?" Lucky Vine asked.

"With everything that happened, it looked to be triggered by the dress." Satin whispered. She stared at Violet- or, more precisely, the fabric that covered her. "Look. It's reacting."

"W-what?" Violet looked down. Sure enough, the parts of the dress that were pressed against her body were changing. Instead of the scales being green, they changed to a strange pale blue. She felt parts of the dress tighten and constrict.

"What is this stuff?" Midnight asked accusingly. "Dragons don't change color!"

"Hold on a moment." Satin grabbed her glasses and notepad. Scribbling on it with a nearly dull pencil, Violet could feel Satin's breath on her chest as she nearly brushed noses with her shoulder's fur. She watched with bright eyes as the fabric continued to enclose her body until it was no longer a dress- but instead some sort of body suit. "Absolutely amazing. The atoms look to be rearranging themselves, melding together to form a new shape. Metamorphic fabric."

"Are you mad?!" Midnight shouted. "When does it stop? Is it going to hurt her?"

"It doesn't look like it." Satin poked her pencil gently prodded where the fabric met her neck. She slipped the pencil inside and revealed that the dress didn't morph Violet along with it. It lifted away, as though it were a totally normal piece of fabric. "Does it hurt, Violet?"

"No..." Violet was shaking. She didn't move to take the dress off or tear it to pieces. She was paralyzed with shock. "No... I'm fine, I guess." She swallowed and blinked back the small tears that burned her eyes.

Eventually, loose fabric didn't exist. Every piece of the "dress" was pressed tightly against her. The scales now blue and the skirt now pressed tightly against her thighs in the form of shorts, the outfit had taken on a complete transformation.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Midnight asked.

"Imagine something that wasn't supposed to hug you, hugging you tightly in all over your body." Violet's voice shook. Midnight reared back, disgusted.

"We need to get this thing off her." She said the phrase like an order and everypony in the room shrunk.

"Let's not be too hasty..." Satin's voice was small. "Look: there's no zipper or clasp. That fabric is too tight for us to just take off."

"Why the hell is it even doing this?" Midnight asked. It was clear she was getting angry with the fur on her wings going ragged and prickly.

"Ease, most likely." Lucky Vine's voice cut through the tension. Her panicked, wide-eyed state was replaced by a calm, collected one. A face that she had most likely worn all of her life, studying spells and enchantments, creased the permanent lines on her young forehead and between her eyebrows.

"Ease?" Violet tried her hardest to steady her tone. "W-what do you mean?"

"How long did it take you to put it on?" Lucky Vine asked.

"I-I don't k-know... Fifteen seconds?" Violet answered.

Lucky Vined hummed. "That would be more than impossible now." She attempted to grab at the suit to pull it away from Violet's skin, only to slip and just end up with a jaw full of air. She tried her magic and ended up with the same result. "That thing's not coming off, it fits you almost too perfectly. Perhaps that's the point."

"What are you saying?" Satin asked, scribbling in her notebook again.

"I'm not saying anything." Lucky Vine defended. "I'm just saying, maybe the entire point of it transforming is simply for the sake of it fitting. There are spells for that sort of thing."

"Do you think that this is just that?" Midnight asked, her fur beginning to lay flat. "Just a fitting spell?"

"On a massive and powerful scale. Yes." The green unicorn nodded.

"Interesting... I think we should alert Luna. She might be able to help her get out of this situation, or maybe Clock Mage gave her some knowledge."

"What? Why?" Midnight questioned. "Why can't you just get her out of it?"

"Like Lucky Vine said, this is a level that is very rare-"

"Normally, with a spell like this, there would be things like seam lines and parts where the fabric has melded together- like changes in the flow of the stitching or places where the texture is off. But this appears to be so powerful, so controlled, that it actually was able to mold the fabric into something entirely new.

"Like... turned it into a liquid or something?" Violet asked, finally finding her voice.

"I suppose that's a way to think about it." Satin nodded. "Yes. Temporarily, of course."

"So you can't get it off her?" Midnight's brow furrowed in mild irritation.

"Not without destroying the suit, no..." Lucky Vine's ears lowered. "Sorry."

"Perfect!" Midnight's wings fluffed up considerably, almost doubling in size. "Why did we come here again?"

"Midnight, calm down. I'm sure there's a solution. Clock Mage wouldn't have given it to me if it didn't help in the long run."

"That doesn't change the fact that you are stuck in a wrap of dragon hide!"

"It's synthetic."

"You are on your last thread and you're rubbing it against scissor blades, Scarf."

"Enough." Violet's voice echoed against the walls of the laboratory. "Let's just..." She sighed. "Get Luna. If there's anypony who is powerful, or can gather the magical strength needed to counteract the spell, it's her."

Satin nodded. "I'll send in the call." She made her way to her personal table. "Meanwhile, you should probably see if you wiggle out of it somehow."

"You got a bathroom nearby?" Violet tried in vain to sooth Midnight's better expression, but all attempts fell flat and the bat pony stood rigid with her jaw clenched.

"Out the door, down the hall. It's the third door on your right."

"Thanks." Violet muttered. She and Midnight began walking.

"Midnight... I know it's your job to protect me, but I feel as though you should light-"

"Considering the fact that you somehow managed to stumble into this situation, I have every reason to be cautious." Midnight's tone never dipped to cold- it wasn't possible with the pony's natural warmth. But that didn't stop her from making her voice burn at the touch. Violet flinched and didn't open her mouth again.

Midnight sighed. "I'm just... stressed. Don't worry about it."

Violet still didn't open her mouth.

"Let's call Luna down, and get this settled." Midnight opened the door for her, and Violet speed-walked out of the room. She was about to say something. An apology, an excuse...? It fell and dissipated before it could be spoken. For as soon as Violet's back hoof left the room, she felt the fabric that had once been pressed tightly against her skin go limp. She watched Midnight's face, not willing to look down, shift from horror, shock, then a strange mixture of relief and confusion.

"Satin!" Midnight shouted through the doorway. "You're going to want to see this!"

---

"And all of that happened last night?" Cloudy asked. Her messy bed-head caused curly locks of gold and orange mane to fall in front of her navy blue eyes. "Jeez, Vi! I thought that joining the Brigade would stop you from having all the fun!"

"It hasn't stopped you from being oblivious to the obvious..." Violet mumbled. She was cranky. The bags under her eyes weighed her down as though they were filled with sand. Though she no longer got tangled in her mane and tail anymore, the weight of all of it caused her neck and shoulders to be sore- desperate for relief in the shape of a pillow and more sleep.

"Oh, stop being such a cranky-doodle! You got out of the dress just fine, and we got to figure out what it's for!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you got called into my room two hours before anypony is supposed to wake up... and woke me up..."

"There are guards outside."

"They work for Celestia!"

"If you two are going to argue, I can just come back in a few minutes and have you settle the issue." Satin shouted at them through the doorway. Midnight followed. She looked just as tired as Violet, but her armor showed that she was prepared to work like any other morning.

"Satin!" Cloudy hopped from the couch she was sitting on. "What's going on?"

Satin raised her hoof, effectively silencing her. Her face looked tired- more tired than anypony's. Her eyes held a sort of sadness, and to Violet's surprise, a hint of fear.

"Please... everypony needs to sit down for what I'm about to say." She sighed, and her breath shuddered. "It's... There's a reason as to why Grim is the one who sent me to tell you guys specifically."

"Is it about the dress?" Midnight asked.

"Yes." Satin nodded. After testing it out a few more times, we can confirm that the stones are indeed the things causing the reaction."

"Didn't we know that before?" Violet questioned. She was met with the underside of Satin's hoof.

"The other scientists, as well as a large portion of our advanced magical force ran things by Luna. And... after a long night of talking... things have changed."

"How?" Cloudy asked, her eyes big and worried.

Satin swallowed. "Throughout the night, with the assistance of the other scientists and the princesses herself, we were able to figure out a few more key characteristics of the dress." She sat down on the couch opposite of them. There was a moment where she looked into everypony's eyes, but the entire room was completely encompassed by a silence so suffocating that nopony moved. It was like the air was concrete and held everypony's body in a prison of stone. "The first thing you should now is that we figured out what the stones were... Black diamonds."

"What?!" The name alone caused the temperature in the room to drop.

"Yeah... some of us, including the princess, have theorized that Clock Mage got them from a bad timeline, and somehow managed to bring them here." She grimaced. "They... can exist in this world, but not on such a massive scale. It's the only thing we could come up with, assuming that the Black Diamonds produce these to begin with- which can be implied given their ability." There was a long pause.

"They... are a form of spell holding gem. Not really diamonds, but instead a type of crystal. They hold powerful magic. In this case, the transmorphic spell that effects the dresses, along with a renewal spell that effects the gem next to it. That's why they're set up in the room like they are, so that one can constantly renew the other, over and over again."

"So it never stops..." Violet whispered.

Satin nodded. "Not until there's some sort of disturbance." She took in another breath, trying to settle herself. "That's why the gems are black. They're traditionally a dark green color, but because of all of the magic they store, it's changed the color of the outside surface." She licked her lips. "So, that information being given, the dress only works in that room. And it only fits you... Violet."

"Me?"

"We also managed to figure out how to duplicate the material, so don't go thinking that you're alone. It just appears that the dress imprinted onto you when you first tried it on in the room. It's just a theory, but as soon as we test it out, we'll know whether or not if it's true."

"How do you know?"

"We tried it on a few other ponies during the test, and they made it clear that it didn't fit them in places. Eventually, we got a mannequin from somewhere and used a few unicorns to transform it to fit, finding that it was exactly in your likeness after reviewing your examination and medical records."

"But why would Clock Mage want that? What purpose does a tool that only works in one room serve?" Violet asked.

Satin's skin grayed as the blood rushed out of her face. "Some of the other scientists are starting to believe that it was never meant to work outside of the room."

"Satin, that doesn't make any sense." Cloudy shook her head.

There was a long, deafening pause. The sheer tenseness that swirled around them, as well as the obvious exhaustion in Satin's face, along with what Violet now deduced as sadness and disgust, caused tears to burn the back of her eyes like poisonous barbs. There was a moment were the white unicorn in front of them had opened her mouth, then closed it again, only for it to fall open in a heartbreaking squeak. Her voice broke when she managed to choke the words out.

"Princess Luna, under no circumstances, approves of this- hence the reason she is to not be disturbed for the next few days as she thinks things over. But the arguments presented by the other scientists, as well as a few of the other higher-up in the Lunar Brigade, can't necessarily be denied...

She bowed her head low and summoned her strength.

"As of this moment, you mission has changed. That is what I've been sent here to tell you."

"What?!" The three of them shouted.

"Grim didn't want to tell you, because he figured that it would be easier coming from me."

"What... what's our mission?" Violet's voice, though she tried to be strong, cracked out of fear.

Satin looked at her then, her eyes as cold and dead as dry river stones. "You are to capture and detain a member of the Black Diamonds."

Nopony in the room spoke. The tension had broken, unable to take the pressure, leaving a horrific emptiness that caused Violet's ears to ring.

"... You can't mean that..." Midnight whispered.

"A servant was the specific request. You are to capture one, and bring them back to the lab where the dresses can be used."

"What possible arguments could be said about this?!" The three of them had completely different creations. Midnight stood, like the true guard she was, as solid as a rock- unmoving, rigid, and with a face so still that anypony could've sworn that she wasn't breathing. Violet had collapsed in on herself, her shoulders slumped forward and her head hanging. Cloudy, as confirmed by her shouting, puffed up like an angry bird and her blue eyes burned with fury.

"They stated that it would be the perfect environment for testing a cure for the hypnosis." Satin couldn't meet any of their eyes. "The storage rooms could be converted into holding cells, and we could observe them, try to figure out how to revert them back to who they were before, perform some tests-"

"Experiments, you mean!"

Satin flinched. "I'm not okay with this- not even a little bit. But not even you can deny that- if this works- how many lives can be saved. It's been estimated that roughly seventy-five percent of the Black Diamond population is simply hypnotized innocents. If we can bring them back, we break the back bone."

"I thought you said you weren't supporting this!"

"I'm not! That's just what they're saying! That's why there's a very real chance that Luna may approve of this change!" Satin defended.

"Bull shit!" Cloudy spat.

"... No." Violet coughed. "Luna's a princess, and she's willing to do what she needs to do to save lives."

"But that doesn't mean-"

"Just because it doesn't seem morally correct, doesn't mean that it's not something that has to happen." Violet's voice was dead. "This might be the only way for some to get their families back, lives even. If the Lunar Brigade denies the opportunity, we may very well be avoiding the one solution to most of our problems."

Author's Note:

Is there a pony-pun for Venice? Or Paris for that matter? ... Oh well.