22 Friendship
Jade - 18th of Plantation '15 EoH - Afternoon
I don’t know what I expected from a name like ‘Crookshank’. I had guessed it was a town or maybe a small city with a port, but that’s about it. I certainly hadn’t thought it was an island.
To be perfectly honest, I sort of didn’t know that islands were, well, a thing that existed. Sure it made sense after you saw one, like ‘Oh yeah, of course the ocean can’t just go one forever. There has to be more land somewhere.’ But well, I guess that my teachers in the Hive were perhaps just a bit too isolated.
Then again, it’s not like out hive ever did anything involving the sea. If everything hadn’t changed, I would be in some town like Applewood right now, doing my biology given job. For the first time since I left home, I wasn’t upset about that.
It was like the sea was being pierced from below by a giant knife made of stone. A huge towering jagged peek shot up from the ocean, twisted and jagged. Like a crooked shank.
I guess that’s why it’s named Crookshank.
There wasn’t much of a beach, or anything like that. The mountain formed a solid wall all the way around for about a hundred feet upwards, atop which was a few isolated pockets of trees and other green things. Birds flew around the mountain’s middle, and clouds obscured it’s top. The ocean below reflected the mountain like a mirror one side, while being darkened by the mountain’s shadow on the other side.
Before she had joined David and the Captain’s shore party, Lightstride had told me that Crookshank’s shadow could be used as a compass. At sunrise, the mountain’s shadow always pointed at a bearing of exactly two-hundred and sixty degrees. The interesting thing is if you sailed straight in that direction you would arrive at the Zebrican city of Eefu.
I suppose that didn’t really mean anything important. I just didn’t have much to do. I offered to go with everypony who was going to retrieve water from one of the mountain’s lakes, but apparently small groups were better.
I didn’t like not being near David.
I can’t fault the Captain’s logic, take the healer with the shore party is a good idea. But even a whole hour after watching them climb up a hidden stone stair up to the treeline from the ship… I was still nervous.
The last time I was on my own I died.
I remembered it now. Not anything while I was dead, but well, how would I do that exactly? I did however remember blackness, nothingness, then waking up to David’s chatter with a hole in my chest. He saved my life, and didn’t care that helping me would be dangerous, he just helped because he was bucking awesome like that.
He wasn’t here now, and we still hadn’t found the saboteur.
I couldn't shake the feeling that it was the Swarm. It had to be. They wanted me dead, they wanted the book Lilly had, and they managed to find us with no idea where we were going. Of course they had someling on the ship.
I could feel it. Also smell it. There were at least two other changelings aboard, but I couldn’t smell them clearly enough to see if I knew their hive. Not that it mattered. I’d bet my wings that the Swarm has a ling of every color in it.
I had told Captain Sudi that I smelled other changelings. He had been surprised that I said at least two. He did admit that he had one changeling crewmember, but he hadn’t noticed anymore. Most importantly given his helmet, he would have noticed.
I’d asked who the changeling he knew of was, just so if I sniffed someling out I would know if they were okay or not, but he had said it wasn’t an issue. I’d argued that yes it was an issue. I’m very glad that didn’t upset him.
Instead he’d sat me down and given me a simple talk. He didn’t have to do that, he could have just told me that the ling had Krrit’s Syndrome.
It’s a simple but scary mental illness, one just about everyling knows about from hearsay. A changeling with it will believe they are not a changeling, but some other race, usually a pony. From hatchday until death, the poor things refuse to accept that they are changelings, and typically assume the form of whatever race they feel like and never shift again. Some even would stop eating and eventually starve to death, trying to live on just solid food.
Apparently the whole crew knew, and took care to be extra nice to her to make sure she got enough to eat. I didn’t need the talk about Krrit’s, I’m not cruel enough to remind someone they are insane when they are harmless. Especially when they’re happy and from what I was told perfectly healthy.
I also didn’t need to know that they had marooned the last person to tell whomever she was that she wasn’t a pegasus. By chance, that had also been their transmuter. Who then tried to kill her for whatever reason. Since she hadn’t fought back even when in danger, they were not a threat at all.
But still, the other one, or ones. That was a problem. A problem I had tried to fix by taking a new shape every few hours. I had spent ten days posing as doppelgangers of forty different crewmembers (with their permission naturally). There was no way that anyling could track me on the ship with me doing that!
It was ironic that a member of the Swarm gave me the ability to shift properly. I was able to keep them from knowing who exactly I was, all because of one of their own.
That said, they did know that I was somewhere on this ship. Which was mostly wood. Which could burn. Or they could just kill everyone aboard… Sun’s Light I missed David.
Get your plot back here you magnificent bastard! I need you!
I took one last look at Crookshank, wishing the small sailboat would start coming back, before turning back to the ship’s deck with a sad sigh. I had duties to do. At least I did if I wanted to keep up my disguise.
At the moment I was in the shape of one of the Night Jewel’s armorers. A position which contrary to the name actually looks after the hoof-held weapons aboard the ship. Ship names are weird.
The particular Zebra I was impersonating was pretty distinctive. Short, only a few stripes leaving a mostly white coat, mane shaved down to fur-length, gray-green eyes, pronounced ears, the sort of zebra which stands out. I felt like someone who looked that unique wouldn’t be suspected of being an impostor, it would take too much effort to disguise yourself to look like someone that stands out in a crowd.
Well, unless you’re a changeling. Which I am. Which they know I am. Maybe I should find a place to-
“Excuse me. You’re in charge of the armory, aren't you?” a yellowish-white and black zebra mare asked as she stepped directly in front of me.
Her orange-yellow eyes half smiled, half glared at me. On top of that they were the kind of eyes that seemed to stab you in the soul. Piercing, judging, hateful eyes.
“Uh yeah.” I said, taking a half step back from her honestly creepy looking face. “Do you need something?”
“Oh nothing, just, since you’re on deck, the armory is locked, right?” she asked.
My danger sense started to tingle. I had a bad feeling about this. But, just in case, “Yes. Do you need to check something out? We can go get it-”
“No, no, nothing like that. Just wanted to know if everything was locked up.” she answered, turning away and trotting off as she started to hum a short haunting tune.
She’d made it about twenty feet, and had just vanished from my sight into the stacks of cargo crates when a short zebra stallion came rushing up from the opposite direction, “Zakia!”
Crap, I didn’t speak zeb- Oh wait that was ‘my’ name! “What?”
“Get me the goddamn key!” the zebra shouted sliding to a stop in front of me, “Now!”
No… Not good… I felt my ears droop fearfully, “Er- Wh-”
“The saboteur, its Cantata! We need to arm everyone now!” He insisted, stamping a hoof in emphasis.
I suddenly noticed the large gash on the right side of his head, and the trail of blood going the way he had come from.
“That’s a great idea!” I said with a shaky grin.
I fumbled with a hoof for the key hidden in the sash around my barrel, to get it ready for-
A blinding flash of red light lit the cargo crates like hot coals, the crackling of arcane energy sizzled through the air, and that creepy mare’s voice seemed to come from everyplace around me at once as she sung in that same odd-creepy-happy tune.
“Eighty years to the day. // The Captain his ship has left. // Still as death, in my arms she lay. // Of his ship I will leave him bereft.”
The hay? All that flashy light and magic crackle and all that happened is a song?
“Buck! Too late!” The Zebra spat angrily, “For the love of Celestia don’t pay att-”
“The hay is going on?” I asked, entering a state of scared and confused.
“Oh bucking hell… You’re the changeling aren't you?” The Zebra sighed while facehoofing
“Foolish morsels think they can resist, // yet their will is mine to make. // By my song your help I enlist, // your vile captain I wish to break!” the voice continued.
“Don’t… liste-” the Zebra muttered, starting to stare off towards the crates. “Siren… get…”
A white film quickly formed over his eyes. I screamed, shrilly, in my own voice, and bolted for the stairs to get the bucking hay away from whatever the buck was bucking going on!
My hooves pounded against the deck, my heart felt like it was going to explode as I put everything I had into the full sprint.
“Zebra’s need more hearts! Zebra’s need more hearts!” I screamed in a panic, the stairwell way to far away for my liking.
That’s when I saw her. Five times the size of a pony, scales the color of fresh blood, long fang filled muzzle, tattered spiny fish-like fin on her back, towering over the stacked cargo on a sea-serpent’s tail, with the hungry eyes of a predator.
The monster saw me, grinned, and smashed a stack of crates with her tail, throwing them into a pile atop the stairwell, blocking it almost perfectly.
“Oh my, what is this?” it sang tauntingly, “What are you that can resist? // Has your escape gone amiss? // Your will too I will twist!”
“AHHHHH!” Stairs-blocked-what-do?!
I turned hard to the right, hooves skidding, legs twisting, basically not falling as I shot away towards the garden. The Pyramid! There was a way down in the pyramid!
“Come to me my tasty slaves, // bring this thing back to me, // then I send you to your graves. // Silly thing, you can not flee.”
Why did the music have to come from everywhere!?
Every motherbucking door, hatch, and entrance immediately filled with white-eyed ponies and zebras who surged forwards like a rock slide. I put every ounce of speed this body could into sprinting for the pyramid, realizing as the stairs began to swarm with the monster’s puppets that the entire ship was under this thing’s control!
I was going to die.
The monster laughed, or licked it’s lips, I couldn’t tell. “Yes! I taste your despair. // Are you hoping for escape? // Morsel, you don’t have a prayer! // Come to me, my maw’s agape!”
The crew was only a few feet from me. All around! Nowhere to run! No escape!
Wait a minute...
I closed my eyes, concentrated, felt the burning tingle of my magic ripple over me. Fur melted, merged, hardened, chitin taking it’s place. The zombie-crew rushed forward, I jumped, buzzed my wings, shot upwards, felt a hoof scrape against my rear left leg, yanked my legs close to my stomach and headed straight up.
“Ah, and now I see,” the monster sang, “This explains the mystery. // The little Diamond may be immune to me, // but she will so be history.”
“That verse was terrible!” I reflexively shouted in a panicked, yet angry tone.
A me-sized blinding red beam of energy scythed past me, tinting the whole world red even as it turned it black! The world stayed black for a few moments, fading back in just as a burning pain shot through my left flank. Wait, my flank was falling to the deck, it couldn’t possibly be-
Oh dear...
A pair of hooves grabbed me just below my wings, jerking me to a stop. I feel like an anvil, smashing into the pegasus who had grabbed me with a wet thud.
My entire left side felt like it was on fire. I could feel hemolymph leaking out of the gaping slice. I was going to die.
Something hit my back like a runaway cart, slapping me head over hooves across the deck until my back hit something else with a loud crack of wood and chitin. One eye went black, and stayed black. My ears rang loud enough to mute whatever taunting verse the monster sang as it loomed over, me, tail coiling back beneath it.
It grabbed me by my remaining hind leg with a hoof, slowly pulling me up towards it. I hung limply, stunned, ears ringing, body not wanting to move. This was it, this was the end. I shouldn’t have taunted the sea monster.
The shattered spokes of one of the front wheel’s of David’s cart came into view as I was lifted up towards the thing’s maw, revealing what I had hit.
Oh man, David was going to be pissed that I broke that wheel. He loved that cart. The old dog would probably shoot me with- Wait! That weapon!
A glint of polished metal caught my eye. There poking out of a sack a little bit. David’s gun.
Maybe it was from bleeding out, but a wave of calm washed over me. I reached for the gun with my magic, the green aura rippling into existence around the dawn-hewed barrels as I pulled it free from the bag. The thing held me up in front of it’s my-head sized mouth, grinned, and opened wide.
“... eat me.” I grunted, forgetting to say ‘you’re not gonna’ first.
I jammed the weapon into it’s throat.
I pulled on the trigger with all my remaining will.
There was a flash of white light.
Thunder exploded in my face.
My good eye went black, I hit something hard, the smell of burnt rotting fish assaulted my nostrils with a whole army of awfulness.
Vision faded in slowly. There was a flash of blue. Lightstride stepped onto the deck, panicked expression on her face, ears standing up in alarm.
“Hey…” I moaned. At least, I think I moaned ‘hey’. It may have been a gurgle, because something really heavy was on me.
Lightstride blinked to my side in a flash of light, “Holy bucking shit you’re alive! Quick! Shift, you idiot!”
“Nyerh?” I asked in dull confusion.
“You’re bleeding out and not regenerating, shift to something not injured!” Light demanded.
We could do that? I closed my eye to concentrate. Wait, no I didn’t. My eyes apparently didn’t want to close. That didn’t seem good.
I felt something smack against my face, I think it should have hurt a little.
“Pegasus!” Light screamed, “Do you hear me? Go pegasus!”
Oh yeah. Flappy pones were cute and fun to be. I should totally do that.
My magic sort of kinda was leaking away from me. I reached for it, vision dimming till the only thing I could feel was the tiniest spark.
Come back here spark! I want to do the pony thing.
The spark stopped, I grabbed it, warmth tingled all over, I felt five different sharp pains, and my eyes slowly peeled open.
“Ahhh-ha-ha-how!” I groaned, my everything hurting more than I thought possible.
“Thank Celestia!” Light exclaimed, quickly giving me a hug. “I’ve never seen anyling take minutes to change before.”
I hugged her back. Moving hurt. A lot. “Ow.”
Light frowned, “Oh yeah… You’re totally out of love now aren't you?”
She let go and turn around, shouting, “Everypony! Bug down! Bring hugs!”
“How… are you even… here?” I asked as a bunch of crew rushed over, prompting a mini heart attack until I noticed their eyes weren't all white anymore.
“When a big ass death-beam shoots off overhead from where your ship came, you go check on it.” Light said rolling her eyes. “The hay happened here?”
“Evil fish… pony… thing…” I answered. “Killed it.”
Suddenly the entire motherbucking crew glomp tackled me as a singular cheering mass! It was almost as scary as being smashed by that sea monster thing.
“I need to report this to the Captain, but I'll be right back. I’ll make sure you get all patched up!” Light shouted over the cheers of the crew.
“Wait!” I gasped, “Tell David… he’s not allowed to go anywhere… again… ever!”
Light giggled, smiled, and gave me a kiss on the nose, “Meh, you handled yourself okay on your own there.”
Then she vanished in a flash of blue light, the crew hoisted me up onto their backs, and I drifted out of consciousness.
Jade - 18th of Plantation '15 EoH - Evening
I awoke feeling unbelievably comfortable. The sort of comfortable where you just go ‘Buck it, eyes staying shut, back to bed.’ SO I curled up a bit and snuggled into the-
Sun’s Light! I was almost bucking dead a minute ago!
My eyes shot open. I seemed to be in the middle of a silver inlaid gold bar! No, wait, it was just a really really fancy room.
A room which based on the book shelves, big mahogany desk, large map table, and the comfier-than-should-be-possible looking chair in the corner was probably the Captains. I moved to sit up a little and noticed the bed I was on was huge, round, and covered in a deep wine red silken comforter.
Yep. Captain’s room.
“Oh thank god!” David said from behind me, making me turn around as he sat up and opened the door, almost knocking Light over as he moved, “She’s awake now!” He called.
A half second later the Captain burst through the door. It was a little scary. I swear the doorway was too small for him to fit…
He walked over to the bed and sat down to get his head onto the same level as mine, which nearly prevented me from seeing Lilly trot in after him.
“Miss Jade, can you understand me?” Captain Sudi asked in a less booming than usual tone.
“Yes.” I answered, giving him a small nod.
His eyes held a steely hardness to them, half seriousness, half gratitude. “Excellent.” He continued. “I had feared even with your shift you may have still been somewhat injured. I will not beat around the bush. You have saved my ship, my crew, and due to me being ashore on an island, you have also saved me.
“Furthermore, thanks to you, a very old nemesis of mine is rotting on the seafloor. I owe you a great deal, and will not be persuaded to give you less than a fair reward. As you have saved everything I hold close to my chest, there is only one fair reward.”
Sudikahmen paused for a moment, just long enough for me to start wondering what he-
“When you arrive in Equestria, I will divert as much of my resources as necessary to establish a secure hive at a location of your choosing, which will be complete with all the modern amenities, including a Gaian bed, because as you are presently lying in one, you are now ruined for all other mattresses.” He said firmly.
I blinked three times, “All other mattresses?”
“Yes. All of them, you can trust me on that completely.” The captain said sagely.
I blinked again, “Wait, you’re going to build an entire hive for me?”
“Yes. Not personally, but I have the zebra and pony power to do so, as well as the wealth. You will not persuade me to do otherwise. Lastly, Miss Lightstride will accompany you to Equestria as a permanent liaison between my fleet and I and yourself, that way I know when and where to send supplies and personnel to repay my debt. As well as for the times thereafter that you ever require assistance with anything pertaining to the sea.”
As Sudikahmen finished speaking he stood up and turned to Lilly, David, and Light. “I know you three wish to speak with her, but I require a minute of privacy with her. There is sensitive information I need to convey.”
David frowned, opened his mouth to object, then thought better of it and nodded. “Alright. But please be quick.”
Lily nodded in agreement, “Yeah… I mean, if she has to shift back I may need to reattach her leg. Oh uh, Jade, I have your leg.”
“Thanks.” I said, flinching at the memory.
“Pff, she’ll be fine, the whole crew loves her. Plenty of power to regenerate the second she changes back.” Light said as she gave me a happy smile and trotted out of the room.
David and Lily followed her a second later, and the Captain shut the doors.
Turning back around he gave me a nod, “I’ll keep this brief, I don’t want to keep you from your friends. It’s important that you know that Lightstride is the mare I informed you of earlier.”
“Er,” I wracked my brain for what he might be talking about, "sorry I don’t quite-”
“She’s the crewmember of mine with Krrit’s Syndrome.” He explained.
“Oh!” The conversation suddenly rushed back to me. “I uh, guess that’s good to know.”
“I’m only mentioning this due to the fact that she will be accompanying you.” Sudi explained, ”Since changelings can detect one another by scent, you would naturally find out sooner or later, and have confronted her, which as we both know would be bad for her health.”
I nodded, I didn’t want to accidentally make the poor mare have a complete collapse of her sense of self… “I won’t mention anything. Er, but what stage of Krrit’s is she in?”
“The final one… Or well, beyond it actually.” Sudi commented, stroking his chin, “She’s been living as she is now for around twelve years, which seems to have been long enough for her to have earned a real cutiemark, hence why her’s actually works.”
“Wait, what?” I raised an eyebrow, “Is she a scout?”
“No. She was a Soldier, but well, she’s been alone for years now and is well loved by the crew so…” He waved a hoof for me to fill in the blank.
“Oh. So she’s a Queen. Huh…” I wondered if that even meant anything to someling with Krrit's.
“I know what you’re thinking, and it doesn't matter at all. She is for all intents and purposes a pegasus. Aside from the danger sense a Soldier born queen has, I’ve never seen her use a single changeling ability aside from a single shift when exposed to a changeling revealing potion.... Perhaps that’s why her cutiemark works, she believes she is a pony so firmly that the magic accepts her.” The Captain mused.
“Maybe… I don’t know how that works.” I said, wondering how that worked myself.
“Regardless, it matters not. But what does matter is… Well, please understand that she’s harmless.” Sudi said giving me a concerned look.
A look of such concern that it could only mean one thing.
“She’s a Sapphire isn’t she?” I asked carefully.
“Yes… and no." the Captain's face scrunched as he searched for the right words to use, "Are you aware of Chrysalis's invasion of Canterlot? Lightstride is a survivor of that assault. Her link was broken in it. As far as my helmet has shown me she doesn't remember much before waking up in her present form, still hurt, in an Equestrian hospital. You can trust me, her mind is free, and she likes you. She won’t betray you. In part because of those reasons, in part because she knows if she did, I would find her.” He finished, tone turning dark.
I bit my lip and concentrated for a few minutes. Could I trust his word? Yes. Yes I could. Besides, a member of the Swarm would have killed me as I was stuck under the big sea monster thing.
“Alright. I trust you.” I replied. “She can come with me. But why did you choose her?”
“I didn’t. She volunteered. She likes you.” Captain Sudi informed with a smile as he turned around and opened the doors, “By the way, you will be staying in my cabin for the remainder of the trip. I will sleep in my guest cabin.”
The second he was through the door, everybody rushed into the room, almost tripping over each other in the doorway. David got to the bed first and gently set a hand on my shoulder, “So… Do you remember how you killed that thing?”
I nodded, “Yeah, it’s kinda fuzzy, but I got most of it.”
“Perfect!” David broke into a grin, “So, it was eight ponies tall right?”
“Uh, no, more like five.” I said ears drooping in confusion.
Light facehooved, “No! That’s not how you tell a story this awesome! It was eight ponies tall, and breathed acid. Right?”
“This isn’t some kind of fish story! I almost died!” I protested.
Lily gave me a grin. “It isn’t?” she asked.
I facehooved, “Sun’s Light… It is a fish story!”
“Yep,” David said with a nod, “and the crew can’t remember much because they were hypnotized and want to hear the story of how you saved the ship… And well, its going to be a fish story told to pirates. Now, we’ve established that it was eight ponies tall and breathed acid. How sharp were it’s fangs?”
That’s when I understood. They were trying to help me feel better by making it into a story, just a legend about something may have or may not have happened. I liked that, it seemed like a good idea.
“As sharp as a biting wind?” I asked.
“There you go!” David chuckled, cracking a grin. “Now, let’s get the rest of this all hashed out.”
I nodded, smiling not because I was alive, but because I had my friends. As long as I had them, I was going to be alright. Good friends can make everything better.
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HA!
I really like mr sudikamen, a real swanky sea capt'n
gotta love a karma weapon,
flash boom mofo
Very interesting about Lightshade beign a changeling that mentally doesn't process it.
I'm glad it finally came to fruition, and it was amazing!
ha Well done Jade! It may have been half circumstance and luck, but that's what the most epic victories are made of. And now you have the friendship of one of the most powerful organizations on Equis, the loose nation of the oceans.
Would not have thought that Lightstride was a soldier, I'd have thought she was a scout like Jade with the supreme mobility talent. And a queen-morphed soldier. Even if she considers herself a pegasus, Sudi did mention she's still got the normal soldier danger sense working. And based on that changeling physiology doc you put in a blog several months back, being queen-morphed means she's likely got that whole 30 seconds of combat precognition...unless that has to be deliberately activated? Still, that's a potent ally to have at your back, even if she does have Kritts' Syndrom...which is probably for the best since it means she didn't try to link back up with the Demon Queen.
So a metamorphosed siren was the saboteur. That's both better and worse, since it drives home to Jade that anyone she meets will have their own bogeymen who can show up, so it won't always been something as predictable as the Swarm hunting for her.
Armorer. Manager of armory, place where weapons and armor are stored. Armory is the weird word, not armorer.
My favorite line here was. "Get your magnificent flank back here, I need you"
Second favorite: "Oh uh, I have your leg"
Now lets see here, Jade has the following assets (and we are not even back on land yet):
David and Lilly (the Vet and the healer)
Dusk/Death (cuz having death on your side is always a good thing)
Lightstride (the Pegasus with FTL skills)
Mr 'King of the pirates' (who just gave you a verbal contract to build a hive)
And the whole Nightjewel crew (Because blowing things up like a bad ass will do that)
I can't wait to see what/who they pick up as friends/allies once they make it to land and Equestria.
)
(And now I'm mad I can only up vote once
6697082 I thought it would be too. FOr once my random 3 AM sleepy thought was good.
6697125 God damn that was like, two months ago wasnt it?
6697390 I know that, but Jade wouldn't. So I had her be confused over it.
6697716 I'm glad you're enjoying this ride :3 It's been fun too write so far.
6697805 Before you faceplant on the keyboard anyway. Bt i do worry what might happen if hurt that her actual nature is revealed.
6697814 Good! Because you know, setting up dramatic tension and stuff is part of my job here.
6697236
To be fair, just about any win you have in a situation like that will be luck. I don't care how damn good you are, suddenly mind controlling sea monster is NOT something anyone has trained for.
It's a realy weird Syndrome. Medically I mean. Over time it will slowly overwrite a lot of base instincts as well as behaviors. Krrit's can best be thought of as "When shifting goes so far it gets into the mind too." You can see that Light is brash, and obviously enjoys adrenaline rushes, and that's about all that's left of the original her. The Pegasus shape she took on instinct is a rather agile one, and well, that's factored into her new persona.
No, it's more like the Spidy seance. You have no conscious control over it, it just alerts you of immediate direct physical harm. Also like the spidy seance it can be fooled if a spell or attack si somehow tailored to be undetectable. As far as Light's concerned, she's a Pegasus who just kinda knows that in a half minute that jerk is going to throw a punch at her. She's lost the rest of the ability set, so she can't also auto-counter the incoming punch via instinctive maneuvers.
She didn't try because A she can't remember exactly what her life was like, it's like trying to watch a degraded video tape, she assumes a changling hive raised her, or she grew up in one, and has created a narrative for herself based on that. B due to Kriit's she docent think she is a changeling and thus, even if she did want to return she would assume she couldn't link up.
Yep, an important lesson. There is danger everywhere, so learn to protect the things you love.
6697839
Of course not. But it's victories like this that typically are both the most memorable and make the greatest stories to tell afterwards.
Yeah, Kritts' sounds like a hell of a nasty mental defect. And from what Jade was saying, it sounds like actually trying to mention the truth to the affected is highly destabilizing for them.
6697807 Just over a month but yes. I don't forget things, remember?
6704465
Actually, the date never happened. She panicked just before entering the Hayburger.
So... what happens if you trick someling with Kritts' Syndrome into thinking you've changed them into a changeling? Like, "Oh hay you were dying and this was totes how we saved you..."
6707200 That may ligitimently work as a cure... /me appluds you logic.
That Krrit’s Syndrome is an interesting idea. But in my opinion the captain is really making a mistake in not identifying this particular changeling to Jade and swearing her to secrecy or something, especially since she just informed him that there were at least two changelings on board one of which he was apparently surprised about. Now Jade is going to be in the position of, if she finds a changeling, not knowing if this is the Krrit’s Syndrome one or an imposter and as such not knowing how to react. Deadly saboteur? Happily confused innocent changeling? Could be a problem.
A Siren? Crap. I suppose that means that the saboteur was probably just a member (or members) of the crew itself.
Oooo, David's gun. This could be explosive.
Aww yeah, big bad goes boom.
Niiice.
So, Lightstride is the Krrit’s Syndrome changeling, and she's being sent with as the captain's captains representative, and she's a former member of the Sapphire hive. That upcoming final confrontation with Chrysalis outside of Equestria could go really badly for her.
Exactly what I was thinking at the beginning of the chapter!
Longshot speculation, I wonder if Chrysalis' hive is going to need a new queen once she's (hopefully) been safely disposed of? It occurs to me that we did just pick up a spare Sapphire Queen. Not that the Krrit’s wouldn't cause some problems for that, but the hive kind may not care if it latches onto Light as the next in line for leadership.
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Thanks! Sometimes my 3 am shower time thoughts are realy good... But not most of the time.
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Heh, yeah :) Good thinking with that line of thought! But well, the more successful you are, the more arrogant you become.
You're speculation is interesting. However might I suggest a reread of chapter 15?
I'm not surprised.
I love this story, and as usual can not pass up the sound bites you get in my head.
Took a few chapters but there are the itsy bitsy bloody bits I was expecting.
Also, I hope the Pirates have some good fishing tackle because they now have a ton of chum for bait.
A thought occurs. The party now seems to consist of a cleric, a spy, a wizard and a rogue. David is a bit more on the physical/tanky side of a cleric but it still holds. I don't see Lilly or Light changing classes anytime soon (or at all really). Jade though? I get the feeling she just need some more experience.
Holy throne that was suspenseful!