Equestrian Landings

by qwefg

Canterlot travels

Valkyrie

You know it’s bad when you start counting the seconds someone’s gone. I know that Lockheart is doing… something else. Personally I hope it’s finding something to eat, but when you’re left all alone in a room with a person who could be counted as having a split personality. Well you tend to get nervous.

You start trying to find topics that won’t trigger gender identity, lost past, or the new pony bodies. Of course just trying not to think about it is kind of like asking someone not to picture an elephant holding a tea cup. Because it’s been said you start thinking about it.

“So…” I needed something. Anything to cut the tension “What do you think of him?”

Stardust shot me a look telling me I stepped on a landmine.

Way to go moron.

Stardust sighed as she replied “An Alicorn build? No idea what to expect. Does that make him… a ruler or one of those heroes in a comic book?”

I opened my mouth ready to tell her how stupid that would be until I realized we were talking magical ponies in a television cartoon that suddenly come to life. Logic kind of went out the window when we went from biped to quadruped. Still I highly doubt he was going to be the hero of this story… though the fact he doesn’t suffer from mind wipes helps his case.

I rubbed my aching head “I meant as a person. He just… seems kind of off.”

Stardust chuckled as she covered her mouth with a hoof “Everyone just got changed into magical furry animals overnight. Without taking into account of memory problems, body adjustments, and being thrown into a new foreign land it would be strange for anyone not to be a little bit off.”

I couldn’t help but flinch at the last comment as it reminded me about his/her situation. What Stardust said made sense. Looking at it from that angle it isn’t that strange to be… well strange, but… there was just something off about him.

It was hard to explain, but it was his eyes. He didn’t just watch us… he stared. It was like watching a cat stare at a mouse or a cat toy. Even then if you throw in the green eyes and his… teeth. I mean he didn’t seem that bothered by the smell of the cooked fish while I was gagging to death on the stench!

Was I just grasping at straws here? I mean sure teeth plus green eyes, horns, and wings spelled changeling, but they weren’t a race you could pick from. Then again neither were alicorn… and it seemed like he ready to jump ship any moment.

Stardust put a hoof on my shoulder “Are you asking because you think there is a problem… or because he’s the closest thing you can place blame on.” I shook my head because that was crazy talk “Trust me when I say I know plenty about having built up rage and no one to actually blame in sight.”

The train shook for a moment before somebody screamed. I looked back down where Lockheart had left the train cart ready for guards or something to start come bursting out of the train cart. Instead a large section of our train cart was ripped off revealing something from Princess Mononoke or by Studio Ghibli.

The creature before me was a giant ball of bugs. Each one crawling over each other forming the monster as limbs sprouted out of its body letting it grab onto the train. My entire body seemed to freeze up just staring at it as I knew it didn’t belong.

This thing wasn’t from Equestria. It didn’t even look like it belonged in the same reality as us!

The bug monster raised one of its hands above us before balling it up into a fist. Stardust dragged me from my seat before the bug fist destroyed them in its attack. For some reason the creature screamed as I covered my ears. It felt like a banshee wail as the force of the screech shattered the windows. Before it shuffled around back to the cart Lockheart went in as the remains of the bug fist started to fall about into a horde of small chittering insects.

The bugs started to spread out covering the floor only for a glass bottle to strike the ground and explode setting the entire swarm on fire. I felt a hoof to my face as I was knocked to the floor before Stardust picked me up.

She was glaring at me not in hatred… but she was serious “Wake up! Grab a cloud and fight!”

She tossed me out of the train cart as I took flight racing towards the sky. I saw fear in her face, but it wasn’t fear for herself. It was fear for her friends. It was fear of losing someone. She didn’t toss me out because she thought I could help. She tossed me out so I could escape.

Tears ran across my face as I muttered “Come on. Be Steel Wings. They don’t need you to choke up. They need someone to act!”

I grabbed a cloud as I was angry at my own weakness. Racing back down to the train I saw the fight continue thanks to my new pesagi sight. Stardust was jumping about breaking pieces of the wooden future before lighting them on fire in the ever growing flames that threatened to consume the cart. She kept throwing them at the monster while trying to avoid its attacks while the monster focused on Lockheart. He had another illusion of him dancing about trying to avoid the attacks as some sort of green magic was kept on the monster as it tried to kill him.

Lockheart attacked the thing when it went after out cart. Stardust pulled me out before it attacked. Both of them were directly in the monster’s path while I was safe in the skies… still too frightened to do anything as my legs shivered on the cloud. I was safely out of its reach and I was just sitting here watching the battle play out like a spectator.

I wasn’t Steel Wings who could throw down a storm of lightening… I was… me. A coward who was too weak to help her friends.

The menu popped open as two new skill points appeared. They would enhance my combat skills at the cost of my memories. They would let me help my friends by cutting away who I was leaving… hopefully more of Steel Wings in my place.

“They need my help.” I whispered to myself as I clicked on the button

I enhanced my combat reflexes to increase my hit and doge changes in combat. Then I gave myself a boost in aerial combat to further enhance my close combat and weather manipulation attack skills.

My fur and feathers shook as I felt the magic flow into me. I closed my eyes as I felt it rip away the memories of what my parents looked like. I could still feel the emotion and remember them… but their details were torn from my mind. More details about my college life began to blur with images of some sort of flight camp.

My body felt more natural as the rush air went past my face filling me with confidence instead of fear. My wings stretched out happily embracing the sky instead of being strangers that kept me afloat. I looked down at the bug beast not in fear seeing it as some unnatural monster that Seem to defy reality. I saw it as a horde of evil bugs bound together by dark magic, but more importantly it made the stupid mistake of attack my allies!

I slammed my hooves down onto the cloud as the searing bolts of lightning tore into its flesh. It screamed as I took aim again blasting its limbs so that my allies could get away from its attacks.

My name is Valkyrie and it will regret attack my friends!

******

Lockheart

Shit! Shit! Shit!

My horn kept trying to drain it dry as I had no idea how to actually fucking turn it off! My body felt like throwing up yet the surge of magic kept my changeling side from actually doing. Throwing up another illusion of myself I kept dancing about without feeling any of magic as it kept trying to rip me limb from limb.

The eldritch abomination hissed ripping out a chunk of the train. Two of its hand gripped it like a like a baseball bat ready to swing at me only for a bolt of lightning to incinerate the limbs before it could swing. I just kept my up with my deadly game of tag knowing that if it hit me I was screwed.

I had no idea what emotion I was feeding off of… but it was powerful. It’s not love or compassion. Those tiny bites felt refreshing like drinking ice cold water on a hot day. This felt like someone just shoved a bottle of hot sauce down your throat, but instead of a nice and spicy feeling it felt like your mouth was on fire. Still it filled up my stomach and hurt the eldritch abomination.

The train cart lurched for a moment as I felt the track jerk again. Unlike video games stray shot did affect the train and this thing was already a piece of junk before this brawl started. The platforms we were on weren’t going to last much longer.

I glanced at the only cloud racing after the train and screamed “Overkill! Grab Stardust now!”

The cloud rushed down behind the eldritch monster as the flames grew higher. I took a deep breath and swarmed fatty’s train cart with copies of me as the strain of making so many copies really started to hurt as my head screamed in pain. The monster tore through a large chunk of the illusions as the force of the seemed to knock the air out of me as I continued hiding.

My drain magic was still kicking as it refilled my reserves and clearing the screaming headache I was having forcing me to focus on a magic blast. My own horn started glowing as I focused on the feeling I felt whenever I shouted “pew pew”.

With Overkill flying back into the sky with Stardust in her grip I felt another chunk of my illusions be torn apart as the eldritch beast stared at me. It was now the size of an absurdly large bear. A lot smaller than before, but easily big enough to murder me with ease.

It gazed at me in hatred as a shit load of hands formed around its body ready to rip me limb from limb. I smirked not because I had any real plan… but because the monster didn’t need to know I was completely terrified of it. The train hit another pot hole as it dislodged the back of the train cart forcing the creature to grab onto my cart to keep the platform it was on steady.

Then the attack of what would hopefully cause many lawyers to start screaming about copy write laws I shouted “Buck off!”

My horn fired as it struck the floor in front of me. It wasn’t the super magic DBZ doomsday beam attack that would level entire islands with ease, but just a regular tiny magic missile. A tiny burn mark was left on the floor that didn’t separate me from Shooggoth junior as it now found the real me.

I hate Equestria.

All of the monster’s hands came rushing towards me as I did one the thing it didn’t expect. I jumped out of the gapping open hole in the wall right next to me and hit the ground rolling.

I was able to see the eldritch monster turn towards me only for another bump in the tracks to hit the train. It was both horrifying and beautiful to see as the burning section of the train broke. The cart finally broke as the flaming wreck took the eldritch beast with it rolling across the ground turning both the cart and the monster into one large rolling fireball moving away from me.
I pushed myself up hearing the beast’s pain filled screeched before dozens of pesagi filled the sky bringing clouds with them. Soon the creature stopped rolling across the ground and tried to get up as its entire body was on fire. It howled one last time before the spot was covered in lightning bolts as the pesagi kept firing until only a blackened scorch mark rested on the ground with a creepy black chest.

I sighed as Overkill and Stardust came over to me as I said “And here I thought hot air balloons where the only dangerous thing to ride in Equestria.”

Overkill groaned as Stardust chuckled.

I brushed the dirt off my jacket and looked into the distance seeing Canterlot. “Well let’s finish this stupid hike before something else tries to attack us.”

Both of them nodded as the train was well out of sight by now. Two pegasi landed near us as I felt like face palming. They looked like the royal guard from the TV show, but I kind of just tempted fate so anything could happen at this point.

One of the pegasi glance at us and said “Need a lift?”

“Are you sure it wouldn’t be an inconvenience?” Stardust asked calmly as I refused to believe what was happening.

The one of the right chuckled “Seeing as you helped us do our job it wouldn’t be that much of an inconvenience to give you a lift to Canterlot.”

Stardust bowed as she softly replied “Thank you.”

The one of the left blushed as he said “Just give us a few moments to get a sky cart ready.”

Once the blushed pegasi took to the skies we waited for them to come back. Not wanting to tempt fate to screw us over again I looked at my skill menu to see if anything had changed. Three new points to further enhance my skills. I dumped another point into illusions, a second one to craft disguise, leaving the final one to be dumped into mind magic.

I felt my body shiver as the new power flowed into my body. By the time my level up was done the pegasi was back with one of those cloud carts ready to give us a ride to Canterlot as I filled away the creepy bug thing and the black treasure chest for another day to think about.

******

Canterlot was big. You see it in the TV show and in artwork… but Canterlot was kind of like New York City or Washington DC. You see it. You hear of it and know about it, but actually being there was something else.

Sort of like the grand canyon in a sense. It’s so mundane it’s almost boring, but when you stand at the edge you just can’t help but stare. How the hell a city hanging off a mountain didn’t put everyone into a state of panic I had no idea!

Say what you want about skyscrapers and stuff, but those are solid. The very fact this place looks like it came out from the middle ages didn’t make me feel any better as I walked away from the edge of the city and back into the main hub.

I sighed in relief and said “So… an old era… style.”

We walked away from the sky cart that brought us up here. First thing we realized was that… this wasn’t current era. No Ponyville and most of all trains were just in the testing stage, but not really given a lot of thought. Trains the object that would become the number one mode of transportation in Equestria was a gimmick.

I can see how technology tended to be a bit skewed in certain areas now.

Right now it was viewed more as a gimmick for the rich. It was noticed… but viewed as impractical since horse/pony drawn carriages or sky carts did the same work with half the problems and our fight on it properly didn’t do any wonders for its reputation.

Stardust focused on the city in front of us “Alright. Let’s find a hotel room and spend the night. Tomorrow we’ll need to focus on getting to the day court.”

Everyone nodded as we looked for the first hotel we could find which was called Red Hoof Inn. I kept my illusion spell up to hide Overkill’s… blank side until we could find a better way of covering it up.

******

Last night didn’t go to well as we all had to share a room due to budget constraints… and the fact they only had one room left.

Overkill got the bed. Stardust took the couch while I took a blanket on the floor.

Even then we spent what little of our budget on a cheap meal and supplies for Stardust to tinker about with. It’s important for the team medic/alchemist to stock up on supplies just in case things went badly.

No one really spoke much when night came revealing the Moon with Luna’s banishment mark on it making it final that we were in pre-canon territory. So when I woke up early I decided to test out my skills and get a small snack at the same time.

I rubbed my aching head trying to get a hang on the illusion and more importantly the feeding ability. A group of children ran past me laughing. My horn glowed for a moment before shutting back down. A couple smiled as they shared a milkshake with two straws. My horn glowed for a moment before turning back off. Each moment of joy or love caused me to sneak a bite out of it wither I wanted to or not.

Each small bite pushed back the hunger I felt and refueled my energy as I walked down the streets. In front of me was a simple illusion spell of a book called Hidden in Plain Sight as my current disguise was of a purple stallion unicorn with blue hair and square glasses as his cutie mark was an open book. The actual book in front of me of course was… a children’s book for the basic understanding and learning of magic.

Not exactly Grade A text book material as most of it was… gibberish. It talked about “How to do magic” with lots of vagueness. I guess it was supposed to help a foal figure it out on their own without giving them a direct answer. Only problem was that I wasn’t a foal and time wasn’t on my side.

All I’ve managed to learn on my own was how to levitate the freaking book! Oh it sounds great saying… you’ve only been at it for two days, but seeing the foals dance about as you just learned how to levitate an object. That just sucks as I haven’t even master page turning.

I needed better control of my magic and if I couldn’t master my illusion spells than I would have to shift more into the changeling section of magic. So far my spells worked… just not how I expected it to work. My illusion book was supposed to be The History Of Equestria and yet it didn’t come out like that. My distraction spells worked… but not fully. The reason they looked would be different and what they would “see” would also be random or possibly some inside joke or pun like my illusion on the book.

My current theory was that I needed more practice… which meant more use of getting a “feeling” of magic. So lots of magic would help narrow the field and walking through this sugar coated street helped keep my reserves up… even more so when I kept changing disguise in a dark alleyway every few blocks. Either I would figure out how to finally hide my wings or it would help ease my sense of paranoia.

My mind still raced on my new form and skills as I tried to figure out myself. Does feeding directly on a pony enhance my ability or does it keep my “constant drain” effect down on a minim or simply turn it off?

Most of all why was I still stuck in Alicorn form! I could throw up a couple of illusions to hide a few details. Summon illusion clothing, make a small dragon fly through the air, but I had yet to run into an invisibility spell or some way to remove my horn or wings from my transformations. Essentially the only thing hiding my features was a jacket.

I took a deep breath as I tried to focus on my current problem.

The million dollar question… How I would deal with Celestia?

Did she know about changelings? If she did how could I keep myself hidden? If she didn’t how could I prevent myself from blundering? The castle would be more through in their defenses especially in detecting unknown magic or did it just have a walk in policy for villains?

Chrysalis had a life time to prefect her tricks. I had just a few hours and my current plan was either find a pony to feed on or constantly use illusions to “explain” my active magic if the castle had some sort of magic wards to detect my magic.

Yes it all sounded a bit paranoid, but when you’re going to be meeting face to face with someone who could incinerate you because you were an emotional vampire… it paid to be prepared.

Now I just had to find a pony to feed on without any of the others finding out… or finding a good excuse for my illusions… and keep enough energy in reserve to not revert back into changeling from in front of the entire royal guard. High Early Risk vs Late Game Risk. Either way I needed a way to keep a lid on things until I make the meeting or find a way to check on Discord.

I rubbed my aching head. Constant magic use caused slight migraines. Constantly casting the spell given to you helped you get a better grasp... in much the same way running every day and night made you go faster. The magic recharges helped me recover faster, but it didn’t take away the mental strain.

Trying to get my mind off it I glanced down the street and spotted a pesagi kicking her hooves on a park bench in much the same way a human would when they were annoyed. Beside her were a set of flowers that were bright, but seemed to be limp. It wasn’t even a full set, but just a few plucked together as someone didn’t want to buy a full bundle.

I glanced across the street seeing a brown stallion with another mare. He was laughing as the second mare smiled. I could feel the warmth rolling off her… but not him. I could practically taste the sadness and loathing from the benched mare. I could feel my mouth starting to water as I could somehow feel how despite for love she was. How much her heart ached for a gentle soul to help give her a shoulder to cry on? How much she wanted to release her burst of emotion… the sorrow, the sadness… and the pent up love she held for the stallion before she could move on.

My skin seemed to shift as my stomach growled. My magic was still strong… but a hunger grew. I walked into an alleyway staring at myself. Without so much as a thought my form shifted as the green flames danced across my skin. My wings shifted comfortably underneath my coat no longer giving a bulge. My mane seemed a bit more… wavy as I fit the “tall dark and handsome” bit with a charcoal black coat and light gray hair. For a cutie mark of all things… I had a heart. One simple pink heart with two white wings on it’s side.

I walked back out into the street with my former disguise gone and my new one intact as I sat near the pegasi. She sniffed as she glanced at me for a moment.

I shrugged “Let me guess. The stallion is the one you’re angry at?”

“Why does it matter to you?” She muttered with a hint of annoyance.

I simply shook my head “Because the earth pony was my special pony until a few months ago.” She flinched “I mean… I thought we had something. We talked… laughed. Dated a bit and… next thing I know he comes along. Says he just wants to talk. She asks me for a couple of small favors…. Now I’m lost a bunch of bits and a marefriend.”

My head hung low as I sighed “Personally I hope they fall off the side of Canterlot.”

She glanced at me as she sniffed “No… His ego would protect them from the fall. In fact they could build a second Canterlot of the side of it.”

I chuckled “Then obviously the next move must be bucking them straight to the MOON!” I thrust my hoof up dramatically in the air only to lose my balance and fall flat on my back.

That only made her chuckle even more. I smiled as she continued to chuckle. My horn didn’t glow, but I felt stronger. Not… better like cheering her up…. More like… my energy was filling back up… and growing. It felt a lot better than the small bites on the road or the awful run on the train.

I pushed myself up and said “How about we just take a walk? Cry out hearts out. Wish for a few curses on them and then try to move on.” I stood up and grinned at her “Besides Misery loves company.”

She nodded as she got up and followed me. I had no idea why those cheesy lines came so readily in my mouth. I never took an acting class, but it felt more like I was preforming on stage after memorizing every line.

She drew close to my body with a small smile on her face. She left the flowers and a card I hadn’t noticed before in the trashcan nearby. My body switched to auto pilot as we both walked down the street. It didn’t take long for me to spot an empty clearing looking over the edge of Canterlot. No ponies were nearby. No one would see anything if I did something.

Of course this only brought back my earlier question. Do I feed or do I not? Do I risk directly feeding on her with my lack of knowledge or do I risk not doing anything to her and taking a chance on running out of energy in front of all those royal guards?

I lead her to the spot as we talked as I soon begin to regret it. She wasn’t human… but that didn’t make me think she wasn’t a living human being in my mind. It also didn’t help that I never had much experience with these types of things… and feeling her emotions… her pain, joy and sorrow… that wasn’t helping either.

The only question was… what would I do next?

Break—

Celestia

Another day to raise the sun and the more oppressive task of dealing with the nobles. I remember as a filly how I thought raising the sun would be the most difficult task I would ever face. During those endless adventures to untie all of Equestria and keeping it falling apart from the schemes and never once did I think my greatest foe would be… paperwork.

The evil monster that never stopped and currently consuming my desk grew during the last few seconds I glanced at it. It was impossible of course considering I spent over an hour trying to get rid of it all… but it still grew.

“Princess Celestia.” Quick Note spoke softly as she glanced behind the mountain of paper work “The morning court is about to begin.”

I smiled ready to be done with the demon in front of me as hopefully the ponies in my place could bring it down to a manageable size. Without a word I took one step out towards the window to see the rest of the kingdom before me… and know all my hard efforts have been worth it.

“PIG!” screamed a voice scaring the birds and making most of the royal guards turned towards the noise watching the skies as if a Dragon was about to suddenly attack.

Quick Note shivered for a moment as the word seemed to echo across Canterlot “Today apparently is going to be a busy day.”

I glanced back at Discord prison as he was still trapped in the same form all those years ago… yet something seemed different. It felt as if Discord was actually laughing at somepony’s misfortune right now.

“It properly will be.” I replied back.

Dozens of missing reports along with strange incidents happening near Bansewoods. Then there was the sudden attack against the train by an unknown monster. Nothing was inside the chest only because she had its contents moved the last second, but it was still worrying how close it had been. Something was happening in Equestria. Something that needs to be found out before it broke lose.

******

Valkyrie

It was hard trying to find Lockheart at first. Take it for an alicorn who specializes in illusions to make things difficult. Stardust was setting everything up for the morning court meeting and it was my job to haul his ass back there.

So here I was trying not to think about all the happy go lucky ponies that made my inner little girl squeal in delight as I kept my saddle bags over my bare rear. Sure I got a few odd looks, but those passed away quickly after they saw the armor which properly frightened them off.

Still it was better than going bare and having them all gawk at me like some sort of freak. A part of me felt like skipping for joy as I was getting to see Canterlot for real instead of watching it on TV. The rest of me just felt… nervous.

Just when I was willing to call it quits something hit the ground. I turned to see what was going on and saw Lockheart was standing near some café… not nearby, but sitting in a chair like a human… grinning.

The brown stallion quickly tried to pick back up his belongings as he didn’t notice the green aura adding a card to his fallen belongs. The brown stallion turned around and smiled as he pulled out the card handing it to the mare across from him with his magic. She smiled grabbing it with her hooves… and then the smile died.

“You’re the only mare for me… Clear Skies?” She hissed in anger.

Lover boy’s eyes widened as he dug through his saddle bag “Of course not! Just a little…” the green aura flickered again for a moment “Mistake!”

He floated out another card. This one when opened up dropped a small hand drawn picture of another mare in a… rather…. Artistic form. The bronies on the +18 forms thought they were good? This picture put all of theirs to shame as it made me blush.

Not a furry.

“Another mare?” She smiled gently like a serial killer reading her axe. “What were you thinking dear?”

Every male in a relationship nearby gulped as they knew the real message from how she said that one word.

Lover boy smiled nervously as a flicker of green went off as he replied confidently “Making out with three mares of course!”

The cup fell to the ground shattering along with all hopes of his luck in salving the situation. His eyes widened as large of dinner plates realizing the mistake as the mare’s eyes shrunk into two tiny dots not fully understanding what he actually said just a few seconds ago.

“PIG!” She screamed socking him in the mouth with her hoof and sent him flying across the street.

The entire city seemed to shake from the outburst of rage as I was surprised at the amount of air time the unicorn got before crashing into a wall. Super mare huffed in annoyance and walked away leaving the two timing jerk in a painful mess as everypony tried to look away as a few whistled pretending to be minding their own business.

Lockheart left his seat and walked over to me with a smile apparently having enjoyed his mischief and chaos for the day. I on the other hoof felt anger that he would toy with a pony’s life as I knew the guy would never say those words out loud. The fact that he was a two timing jerk helped dull the rage out a little.

Lockheart sighed as he could apparently ready my thoughts as he said “Took a walk… found out he was a two timing jerk and broke a lot of mare’s hearts… and I just figured he needed a lesson.”

I held back my anger for a moment “What proof did you have?”

Lockheart rubbed the back of his head as he uneasily replied “Talked to his ex. The Ex he set up with a dinner date when she came early only to see… that.” He lowered his head “She… talked. Mostly broken up. Sad… Never seen that before… and… I just let her vent. Then I just thought he should get a nice shot of karmic retribution.”

I glanced at his face. It didn’t look like he was lying… just conflicted. He didn’t seem bothered at running the stallion’s love life or waking up half the city. Instead he seemed more… awkward about having to been talking to a mare and having a small moment with her.

For some reason that just made me a bit annoyed. Here I was having a perfectly good reason to be angry at him and he just…

“So why did you come all the way out here?” I spoke with a hint of frustration “I mean we aren’t trying to cause any incidents.”

Lockheart nodded “Practice.” I blinked not understanding what he meant. “Take a look at the window… at my MP.”

I glanced up and had to focus to see the health bar and mana bar as it was nearly full “I don’t understand?”

He glanced back at the crowd “Spent some points for a new skill. Emotional magic. Mostly went for a griefer build. Worse things get stronger my magic becomes.”

I had no idea what that meant “Short version.” And I was kind of annoyed that he got to spend them freely.

“Focusing on emotions around me… I can use it to cast my spells, regain my magic, or empower some of them.” He slowly replied as he checked to make sure nobody was listening in on the conversation

“So a walk down a busy street with lots of emotions and a few small… tests to get a feel for it. Unlike you guys I didn’t come with an instant knowledge package so I need to experiment and test things out in order to get them to work even with skill points being used on them.”

I glanced back at the unicorn “And him?”

Lockheart smirked obviously happy “Sorrow and despair for the chair. A quick shot of distraction magic to hide the card. One shot of illusions to rename the card to hide the earth pony’s card making sure he wouldn’t accidently give her the right card. Then a shot of confusion with a distraction spell… which gave great results.”

I tried to repress the shiver down my spine “You messed with his mind?”

The one guy in the group I was nervous around and he was experimenting with mind control. I don’t’ care how many times it’s done on TV or what labels they give it. It still creeps the living hell out of me. It also screamed evil changeling magic in my mind.

Lockheart seemed to deflate as he frowned “More like… nudged. I can’t do any direct stuff, but just a small push here or there. Honestly the whole “Threesome bit” was a surprise to me though I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the results and full MP to boot… well mostly full.”

“And the mare who you helped?” I couldn’t help but ask in annoyance.

Lockheart flinched as he slowly replied “Resting on a bench… hopefully feeling better and got to see the smug jerk getting clocked. Nothing happened if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Good.” I slowly replied uneasily “We need to get to the castle for the whole… morning court issue.”

I took a deep breath and had him follow me. All I needed to do was get past the creepy feeling he gave me and remember he’s human just like me. Besides we were about to see Celestia as I felt like squealing in delight seeing an actual alicorn princess in real life!

******

Five hours… five hours of waiting in line after line. I felt my will to live leaving from my body as I stared at my party members. The only clock in the room ticked as if was laughing at each second we stood there waiting for Celestia’s arrival.

Lockheart was just sitting messing around with illusions. I’ll have to admit that illusions are kind of nice to have in the party mix up… but mostly he spent the rest of the time going over books on magic as he wants to make sure he has a “proper grasp” on it.

I’d rather him keep messing with beginners books on magic and playful illusions that try any more mind magic tricks. Yet it felt… odd watching him having to read a book to figure out how to make it work. I could fly and Stardust… I think she can do her earth pony trick and yet he couldn’t turn a page with his levitation spell. Just mostly hold up the book.

Stardust on the other hand… she’s different. Yesterday he was a guy. Today she is a girl. I can’t tell exactly what’s going on with her… but she been playing about with her menu and keeping a few nervous glances at me.

Well I think she’s playing with the menu. When I access I get a floating menu that only I can see… which kind of makes it hard to judge if someone else is using the menu without you knowing… since only they can see it.

Since her knowledge of Equestria seemed to jump up… I’m betting she forgot about our little chat about skill points. Stardust is just a bundle of confusion. Half of her seems to want to stick close to me and jab a knife straight into Lockheart… and the other half seems to be frightened of me and looks at Lockheart in a… not really sure what to make of it look.

Then again Stardust is dealing with two sets of memories with conflicting emotions as he/she and previously stated. Dear lord oh mighty we are going to need to hire a team of quacks just to fix Stardust’s problems.

“How much longer?” I muttered

Stardust rolled her eyes “As long as it takes. If we took the normal morning court it would be a short meeting. That’s get in. Ask question. Get statement. Then kicked out.”

Male Stardust started to kick in “So unless you want to sum up our problem in a sentence I suggest we…”

His face blushed as he coughed “stupid profanity filter.”

“Will we even get a meeting?” Lockheart asked as he pulled out a few sandwiches. “I mean… it’s been a while.”

He handed one to each of us as Miss Stardust kicked back in “That’s part of the reason for the wait. To simply wait.”

I glanced back at the other ponies that were starting to leave to grab some lunch “If we don’t bother waiting then obviously our problem isn’t that important.”

Stardust smiled “Most likely half will return in the one short meeting tomorrow. This also helps cut down on nobles who wish to waste hours of the Princess’s time about stupid requests and tasks like “Sir so and so spilt wine of my suit! He must be forced to face me in a duel or give me his western estate.” Or the more common "But this is why we need to invest heavily in my new project that will surely work this time." as it properly gets annoying after the hundredth time.”

I nodded as I took a bite out of the sandwich. It made sense in a boring kind of way. Not everybody would get time with the princess and it would be easy to see how many complaints would be filled in during that short amount of time available. I glanced at the sun outside and looked at my menu after finally finding the clock function just to be safe.

Five hours and twenty two minutes. Long enough for morning court on short favors/questions leaving just a small amount of time for the longer questions. Some of the other ponies had started pulling out boxed lunches from their saddlebags. One fancy pants noble had a dinning cart brought out to him. Apparently some ponies had learned from the last time they were here.

I glanced back at my menu’s clock trying to figure out just how much time would be left for us? Stardust didn’t know how long these things could take… but time wasn’t exactly on our side.

A twisted thought enter my mind as I grinned “Hey Lock?” he turned to face me “Think you could… I don’t know. Whip up an illusion of the princess?”

He face palmed… or hoofed as he replied “Anything that won’t get us kicked out?”

Stardust rubbed her chin “Well… maybe thinning the herd a little… but I wouldn’t exactly call it… safe.”

“Come on.” I replied eagerly to help cull the herd “We have some tidbits and they don’t exactly have state of the art defense.”

I could see the two sides of Stardust struggling. Pony side trying to find a peaceful way and Mr. human thinking up the crazy RPG tactics that would have most DMs pulling their hair out.

Then the twisted smile broke through letting me know Mr Stardust was in charge as he replied “Just a few things… A few items cobbled together.”

He went into his saddlebags pulling out various objects and a few cleaning supplies. I stood in front of him using my body to block his mad science from being view by the general public. Lockheart looked as if he was ready to bang his head against the wall.

“Come on Lock.” I whispered trying to ease him into his next disaster. “We just need a smokescreen. Something to help… improve our odds. Besides not everybody has to be present during the round of questioning.”

Lockheart groaned “And what is your “story” going to be? I mean we can’t just flat out say… everything. I might be able to pass a little if she checks me for… differences. Still that’s not exactly an area I want to delve into.”

I actually forgot about the alicorn card we had in reserve. Then again a card we couldn’t use wasn’t a card we could really play. At least not yet.

I smiled “I was thinking… Crazy Princess Cadence.” His eyes widened. “Look illusions won’t cut it. We might be fooled… but they have palace trained unicorns to dispel most illusions.”

He seemed to squirm at that comment. Not that I could blame him. I felt my side being even more exposed if possible. The fake illusion of the steel axe glimmered over the bare spot… but non-cutie mark adult tends to leave lots of notice. I tugged my new saddlebags over the spot just thinking about it.

I took a deep breath “But horn and wings draws attention.” It was going to be the hard part of the sell “And while they might notice illusions… You can’t fake horns and wings.”

“Impersonating a member of royalty.” He muttered underneath his breath “I wonder if Canterlot employ jail cells or petrification spells for that level of crime?”

Stardust chipped in her two bits “Better question is if they can find you in a large cloud of smoke before you shift into a new disguise.”

He paused trying to think over his options. Fleeing from the royal guard wasn’t a mess I would want to be in. Trying so soon after reaching Canterlot seemed crazy… but less face it. We didn’t have unlimited bits and only a fuzzy understanding of this world. Besides worst came to worse we could explain our situation to the Princess if the worst did happen.

I started trying to think up a Plan B when Lockheart to my surprise said “I’ll do it.”

Honestly I didn’t think he would go for it, but I tried not to show it. Personally I would have tried something else… like knocking out the other ponies when they went to use the restroom or something. Or buy some expired food and hide it in every other pony’s lunch tomorrow to help thin out the herd.

Stardust pulled out a rusted can that seemed to be smoking slightly as he replied “Pull the pin. Cover your mouth and try not to let it get in your eyes.” Lockheart nodded as he stuffed it in his jacket. “As for the other one… Try not to use it since I don’t know how effective a chemical fire well be here.”

Both my and Lockheart’s eyes widened at the news of this fact. Personally I wasn’t planning on setting anything of fire… but fire tends to be a descent distraction as Lockheart’s jail comment made me start to wonder. Impersonating a princess was bad… but setting fire to the royal gardens? I shivered at the thought.

Lockheart flinched as he didn’t open his eyes replying “You owe me Big.”

He left the room as we both held our breath. We waited for a couple of minutes trying to act normal… just waiting for the disaster. It was like waiting for a bomb to explode. You knew it was going to happen… you just didn’t know when it would happen or more importantly if you were going to be far enough away to be safe from the explosion.

******

Celestia

“and now for the nobles.” Swift Note finished as the last pony left the hallway.

I didn’t do anything as I tried to keep myself from showing emotion. The worst part of the day. Not the simple requests like from before where a simple answer or dismissal would solve everything.

No it would be listening to some noble rant about some old blood feud that their grandparents had. Sometimes there was a gem or two in the mess… but the hair on the back of my neck told me otherwise. I could feel the growing tension in the air as if a storm was about to break out.

If anything it was going to be a long day…

“Love! Everypony love me!” screamed a crazed female voice.

The guards rushed forth as I tried not to face hoof. Some pony must have snapped from the long wait.

Swift Note shook her head “Hopefully everything will be taken…” a burst of wind flew past us.

Swift Note held his mouth open in shock. I was a little bit stunned myself as I saw the crazed pink pony before me. Her long pink hair was a mess as she had a crazy look in her eyes, but she was dogging most of the guards racing down the hallway with her wings out. Most of all she had a horn as she casted an illusion leaving three crazy pink alicorns flying about laughing.

All three alicorns stopped right in front of me starting at me in fear. It was just for a brief moment, but I could see it before she shot straight through a window and out into the open air.

The guards chased after her as Light Wing bowed “Sorry Princess!”

Another explosion rang out as a sky outside just gained a new cloud as I could smell the various burning chemicals from inside. Light Wing raced outside to catch the intruder.

Quick Note shook her head “What just happened?”

I didn’t bother going outside to check for the intruder. A quick teleport was all they needed to do to escape if they could cast a spell that allowed flight without setting off the castle’s wards… Besides there was something about her stare that bothered me.

I hadn’t seen that look of fear in quite some time as my gut told me there was something else going on. As much as I hated to I walked towards the second half of the morning court as my suspicions seemed correct.

The waiting room was a mess. Most of the ponies had fled in panic or were hiding. Only a few ponies stood in the room waiting their turn. One pony wearing a particular wearing a suit of armor that certainly wasn’t a member of the royal guard just stood there. Most of all I could smell the faint whiff of chemicals near them.

Swift Note noticed me staring as she whispered “Should I send them in next?”

“Yes.” I replied softly.

It was going to be a long day.

******

Valkyrie

Everything was going according to plan or that’s what I kept telling myself. We were meeting Celestia and getting ready to explain our story. We just found out a few important details like… None of them knowing Princess Cadence.

I wasn’t putting a few random words from two pegasi tell me I was in Pre-cannon territory. Even if the mare in the moon was shown there still was a chance we were close to the first episode of the series, but the confused looks and whispers of confusion asking who that mare was meant pre-Cadence transformation at the very least.

Stardust wasn’t nervous until we were lead into a room. No throne room or fancy throne. Just a room with a table… a few guards outside and Celestia with some pony inside the room on the opposite side of the table.

My thoughts raced to the scene before. Lockheart played the crazy princess part well. Every pony was first in shock at seeing another alicorn. Then freaking out when newly appointed alicorn was screaming “love me” as she crashed into every stallion in the room before bolting when the guards rushed in.

Honestly it made me wish I had a camera to take pictures of the moment. Of course I stared wishing for a hammer when Mr Stardust added a few grenades into the mix. Nothing big, but the smell of chemical cleaners and those dam exploding cans hurt my ears.

His excuse was to make sure everyone was drenched in the scent in case they brought guard dogs or something to check for the scent. Considering every living soul in the room now smelled like cleaner and smoke it would be hard to tell that Lockheart had some assistance in his havoc in the room.

Celestia smiled making me sweat. Of course hard was also trying to raise the sun, lower the moon, and banish a living embodiment of chaos itself. Celestia could do hard tasks easily… and I just hoped she didn’t know about our stupid crazy plan.

“Now what is it that you wanted to ask me?” She replied with ease.

Ease as in she wasn’t freaked out about our little disaster or Ease as in she knew we were responsible. I glanced at the cup of tea in front of me. No idea how it got there or where it came from. Right now I wasn’t sure I had enough control to pick it up or pick it up without shaking most of its contents on myself.

Stardust spoke up first “We ran into a problem.”

“It’s nice to know I can tell your parents you’re all right Stardust.” Celestia spoke with ease.

That was when Stardust’s cup fell onto the ground. I could feel myself growing even more nervous… Stardust? I… He’s one of us... Human… how does she?

Ms. Stardust… pony….Mr. Stardust… Human. Two sets of memories. Shit.

Stardust didn’t speak. If anything it looked like she was in-between panic and shock. Half of Stardust frightened beyond belief and the other half shocked at the knowledge of what had just been said. The only question was… which half was out and which emotion did it belong to?

“How long?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Celestia glanced at me “Over a month.”

I shook my head “That’s impossible we all just…” I bit my tongue trying not to say anymore.

That was a slip up. More importantly did she know me? Did I just replace somepony or was Stardust just a special case? Or were we the special cases? I only talked to two other humans and mostly because we were the only ones left around after everyone had finished freaking out or getting lost in the woods.

Celestia stared at me as I felt myself crack “We were only together for just a few days… about two days in the forest. One in Canterlot.”

“And before?” She asked calmly.

I was wishing Lockheart was here. He didn’t mind playing the fool or doing the crazy stunt. Heck he lied his pants off about the Midgard story… but we came here for help. We weren’t planning on lying to her face… or at least I wasn’t.

“Boston.” I felt myself reply “It’s… far from here. We… I…”

I didn’t know what to say. Oh we aren’t from here? Your missing pony is currently being taken over by a guy I hardly know? I’m from a race that eats meat? We’re from a different reality?

“We came for help with… our situation.” Stardust forced out as she was shaking in fear.

I could only imagine how Stardust must be struggling. Two sides mixed together. Properly with this fact mixed in it was breaking her apart. Mr Stardust was in control because he said he was him. The pony was just a fake… a story that he made up. Now he doesn’t exist as the freaking ruler of Equestria knew Stardust because her parents asked for help finding her.

I could already tell this was going to cause trouble for the group in the future if it already hasn’t. Celestia nodded as she was waiting for us to answer. It felt like trying to explain to your mother what happened to that caused the damage on her car or why you screwed up on something.

“I don’t know the full story.” I admitted out loud “All I know… We know… is that three days ago we all home before we suddenly woke up in a forest with… memory issues.”

Stardust shivered after hearing those words said out loud. Memory issues. We would forget things if we used the point system. Stardust having a good chunk of his memories and then getting a pony version of them making him… or her… question who Stardust was. That left leaving Lockheart trying to learn pony skills with experimentation and no memory loss.

That lucky bastard.

Sure he was still struggling to get the hang of levitation… but he seemed just as nervous as we were expect he seemed to think that the world was out to get him if he didn’t keep his disguise on just right.

Celestia seemed to increase the intensity of her stare as she softly said “And this forest?”

“Bansewoods.” Stardust replied “But… a month? My… parents… Three days.”

She held her head as tears ran down her eyes. The pony beside Celestia looked at her in pity. Properly thinking the shock of finding out she went messing for a month finally came crashing down… But me? I saw her mind breaking down. Smashing against itself trying to figure out which was which.

“And your other friend?” Celestia said softly “The one impersonating an Alicorn.”

My body went rigged. Stardust didn’t seem to hear as the other pony in the room was starting to help escort her out of the room… leaving me alone with Celestia. The solar goddess who we just committed an act of treason just to get a little face time with her.

I smiled nervously as I knew there was no chance in hell anybody would buy it “What do you mean?”

Celestia rolled her eyes… Was she allowed to do that? I mean sure she had a less regal side, but… seriously? Eye rolling?

“The moment he saw me he panicked.” Celestia said with ease “While it was enough to impress most ponies with his disguise he forgot a minor detail.”

“I don’t understand?” as I honestly had no idea what went wrong.

She smiled “Gender. I had a good look when he stopped in midair.”

My face went red. Did Lockheart flash freaking Princess Celestia?

She chuckled as she shook her head “Not that kind. He just had a few details wrong.”

I banged my head against the table. Here I was trying to get her help and convince her that I was a decent person and I was just caught with my head in the gutter! I mean… It’s ponies! They don’t wear clothing and honestly… How does that all work? I mean the tail might cover some bits… and the armored barding helps cover a lot more even if it leaves the side of my flank bare
.
My face grew redder and I just realized that this was not the time to be thinking about it… especially as a pony in front of an essentially naked queen.

“Lord oh mighty smite me down and end this misery right now.” I muttered underneath my breath.

Celestia smiled either enjoying my torment or knowing just being a nice pony in general considering it was obvious just how stressed and confused all of us were.

“How about you start from the beginning?” She said with ease as I tried to get my mind out of places no mortal should ever tread least it sends them to the place of madness.

I sighed in defeat and started my story “Well for me at least… Right before I landed in that forest I was getting together with my friends to play a RPG.”

And of course admit a few details. Like saying your just a cartoon from where I’m from or things that might end with me in jail. Like stealing money from an NPC.

Comments

[Seeking Dusk]

Yep... I have no idea what to base theories on why/who has memory issues... Maybe it's a flaw for the 'Friendship' side, as something to draw them together, where as the 'Individual' side has full memories, but has to learn the tricks themselves?

Hmm...

Celestia seems fun though. Still not sure what Steelwing/Overkill/Valkyrie is concerned about whether Lock is a changeling or not. Wouldn't change his position as another victim.

[ferret]

second Canterlot of the side of it.”

off

Cry out hearts out.

our

admit a few details.

omit

[erictheblue]

The guards rushed forth as I tried not to face hoof. Some pony must have snapped from the long wait.

yeah, she's certainly right about that!
oh, add it just occurred to me...what would happen if Lockheart met another changeling?
THAT could REALLY cause problems!