• Published 10th Jun 2016
  • 9,156 Views, 614 Comments

In Sheep's Clothing - Kydois



An unfortunate decision by Nymph plants her in the role of an infiltrator, dealing with the worst terror of all. Ponies.

  • ...
13
 614
 9,156

PreviousChapters Next
Chapter 32 — Overwatch

Nymph

I had really come to enjoy the Canterlot mornings. For most of the days I had to work, I had to wake up while it was still dark, letting me witness plenty of sunrises. While they weren’t as spectacular as the one I had seen at the Summer Sun Celebration, each one of them was still awe-inspiring in their own rights.

It had only been a few days since I had ventured into the Crystal Caves. I think Princess Celestia had been pulling some strings to give me a brief break from my duties as a Royal Guard, especially since she wasn’t going to reveal why I needed such a break. I wasn’t sure anypony else really knew about what I had been doing these last several days anyway, which was fine by me. I had never been one to enjoy the spotlight.

I had moved back into my condo a day or so ago, after Princess Celestia cleared up a few things about my continued residence in Canterlot. It was going to be a work-in-progress, but she said she would contact me or Chrysalis about anything she needed. I suspected that Chrysalis was taking care of a lot more behind the scenes, though that suited me fine. I was a bit disappointed that Lily hadn’t come back with me, but she also had some things she needed to do at the castle.

It was still dark when I arrived at the train station. My saddlebags were a bit on the heavy side, but nothing I couldn’t handle. My train’s departure time was a little more than half an hour away, so I looked around for somewhere to wait.

It was with some surprise that I saw Lily seated there with Philomena perched on her head. She had a decently large set of saddlebags with her, though only half-full at best, and wore a simple necklace, a golden chain upon which hung an uncut, polished shard of a red gemstone. Her hoof shot up and she waved at me eagerly as soon as she spotted me, and with a faint smile, I trotted over to her.

“Hey Lily! Hey Philomena! Didn’t expect to see you two here!” I said, shrugging off my saddlebags as I took a seat beside her. “Are you headed somewhere?”

“Yep!” she said simply.

I blinked, waiting for her to continue. “Sooo… where are you going?”

“No idea!” she said with a self-assured nod. “I got tickets though!”

“Oh, for Celestia’s sake.” I brought a hoof to my forehead and took a deep breath. “I didn’t know you were leaving Canterlot though.”

Her eyes widened. “You didn’t? Thought Crystal would’ve told you by now. Hmm…” She brought a hoof to her chin, swaying back and forth in thought. “Or maybe I just forgot to tell ‘er to tell you…”

Philomena squawked and pecked the merpony on the head.

I shook my head with a small chuckle. “Well, in any case, I’m still surprised to hear you’re leaving. There are probably plenty of rich ponies here willing to help you get into the music industry in Equestria. You could get plenty of bits and fame and live a pretty comfortable life if you wanted to,” I said, looking down and fiddling with my hooves. “A lot of us are going to miss you, you know.”

“‘Ey, that just means you gotta sing at Karaoke Nights for me! You’re bound to a little merpony magic now! Gotta let it out every so often, y’know? Give ‘em a big show and really get ‘em movin’!” Lily said with a cheerful giggle. “And don’t worry, I won’t be gone forever, luv. I just gotta get out there. I left my home and came to the surface to explore. Y’know, see the sights and ‘ave an adventure or somethin’.”

“Oh, really? Is that uhh…” I said, rubbing at the back of my neck. “Is that why you’ve been helping me so much? It’s just, I never really asked before and I feel a bit bad about dragging you into danger after danger without really thinking of why you would want to be there with me.”

“Don’t worry about that too much, luv. I ‘ad plenty of fun ‘elping you out whenever I could.” She gave me a brief side embrace before leaning back in her chair. “And, for the most part, I wanted to stick with Crystal. I still ‘ad ‘ope that I’d one day get me an ‘eart Gem, and now that I have it,” she said, bringing a hoof up to play with the red beryl around her neck, “I just wanna… I don’t know, just see the world? Maybe I’ll ‘ead south. Or maybe… well, I ‘eard there was somethin’ called ‘eavy metal that’s been gaining a lot of popularity recently. Might take me a look into that.” Lily giggled. “That’s such a funny name for music though, ain’t it?”

I giggled with her. “Just a little,” I said, looking down as I continued to play with my hooves. “Are you going to be alright out there on your own?”

“Pfftt, course I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. I even got Philomena ‘ere to steer me right,” she said with a confident grin. “And besides, you’re even younger than I am. If you can live on your own, I can travel the world just fine!”

“Yeah, but I also have a job and a house… condo… thing!” I said with a huff. “What about money?”

“The Lightbringer ‘erself said she’d ‘elp pay for some of my travel expenses,” she said, sticking her tongue out. Her ears perked up, and she stood up out of her seat, grabbing her saddlebags. “Ahh shoot, it looks like my train’s just arrived.”

“Oh. Well, uhh…” I pouted. “Well, good luck then.”

“Ahh, don’t worry about me, luv. I’ll be fine. And ‘ey, if you ever need me, just shoot me a message, eh?” she said, dangling her necklace out in front of her. “Crystal says I can still ‘ear things if you want to talk to me. I’m still workin’ on being able to talk back, but I’ll get it someday!”

I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“No worries, luv.” She leaned in for a tight hug before releasing me and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Alright, I’ll see you later! Don’t forget about Karaoke Night!”

She hopped off out of the station, giving me a quick wave that I returned before she disappeared onto the train car.

“Ahh, looks like I arrived just a little too late to see her off.”

I turned to my left to see Lotus Veil, Chrysalis’s new disguise of choice, trotting towards me. She had on a necklace just like Lily’s, though some of the facets on the gemstone were different. “A shame, but I came here more to catch you before you leave,” she said, raising an eyebrow and smirking at me. “Your face is awfully red there, by the way.”

“Is-is it now.” I cleared my throat, though I imagined my face only turned redder. “S-so what did you want to find me for?”

“I just wanted to bring you a little something before you go,” she said, levitating out a third necklace. “You might have noticed that I have already provided Lily with one of these. I broke off a few fragments from the red beryl we are tied to. Thanks to the binding ritual, these shards should allow us to tap into the strength of the full crystal, albeit with a little falloff due to distance. These will let us keep our connection close as well as provide a powerful source of magic should we ever need it. I kept the remainder of the beryl in a safe location.”

“I… well…” I said hesitantly. “Do I need it to keep in contact?”

Chrysalis tilted her head back and forth in thought. “Hmm… strictly speaking, no. I believe the binding ritual should be enough to let you communicate with either me or Lily no matter where you are, though it will be a bit harder without it. Lily is the only one who needs it to talk back. The shard is just to allow each of us to draw upon its power without having to lug around a rock wherever we go.”

“Ahh, well, in that case,” I said, waving away the necklace offered. “You keep mine. I don’t need it.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? You never know when you might need a healthy dose of overwhelming power.”

I shrugged. “I uhh… I don’t want to accidentally use too much and brain someone. I can find other solutions anyways. I doubt I’ll be fighting another queen any time soon.”

She hummed contemplatively. “Alright then. I’ll keep it just in case you want to carry it around sometime. I have a few ideas I want to try with this thing anyways, and this way, you get to be the guinea pig instead,” she said with an unsettlingly wide grin before stowing the necklace away again.

“Hehe… Yeah. Sure,” I said, very quickly regretting my decision. “Just uhh… tell me before you do anything too big, alright?”

“Of course. I am no savage. You will be informed, and then testing will occur,” she said, her grin not lessening in the slightest. “Moving on, there was one other thing I wanted to discuss with you.” She took a seat next to me, though she still kept her proud posture, imperial even in disguise. “How are you feeling, having just defeated a queen? Those are the kinds of feats that get you written into myths, you know.”

My eyes widened. Something about her tone sent dread rushing through my gut. “Please don’t.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. It will be great. Everyling will be hearing the tale of Nymph, the uhh…” She tapped a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… Ahh, the tale of Nymph, the Soulstealer.”

I put my head in my hooves. “Sweet Celestia, that sounds horrible. It doesn’t even make sense.”

“It makes perfect sense. Nymph, a spectre of the night, stealing the identity of others, changing both inside and out to become nigh indistinguishable from the original. Perhaps adding another word would help. Or maybe something to do with all those dark clouds…”

I let out a prolonged groan.

She huffed. “Well, I do not hear you giving any ideas, and besides, I always have the option of simply waiting until you cannot argue against me, Miss Soulstealer.”

I shot her a quick glare. “Hey, aren’t you a better fit for that since you literally snatched someone else’s body?”

Chrysalis just shrugged. “Someone already did it before me, and tis a bit of a game of musical chairs at the moment—changelings are, after all, inherently more magically based and were never really tied to their bodies all that well—but I still plan on taking back my own throne one day, once the music stops,” she said, taking a deep breath. “But this is a bit of a tangent. How are you feeling?”

I slumped back into my chair, looking up at the ceiling. “Mmm… Not much. I just… I don’t know. Tired? I just want to relax a bit. Life’s been exhausting.”

She chuckled. “That is just adult life. How has it been for you so far?”

I sighed mournfully. “To be honest, I wish I had a few more years to be young.”

“You and everypony else. Your early years are just… a trial period, where you can get to experience a bit of what life is like without having to think about how to pay for it all or how in Equestria you are going to find time to do everything,” she said with a small wistful smile. “Welcome to the real world. You have transitioned into it fairly well, all things considered. There are many who fail to ever grow out of their dependent stages, always believing truth will bend to their will and the world will give them what they want if they do nothing but whine loud enough.”

I snorted in amusement, letting a smile edge across my lips. “But life isn’t what you get out of it, is it? It’s what you make of it. What you do with what you’re given, right?”

“Indeed. We cannot control what life gives us, only our own actions within it,” she said with a low chuckle. “But enough philosophy. If you need any assistance, you can always come to me or Celestia.”

I raised my brow at her. “You want me to go to the Princess of Equestria for my personal problems?”

“Oh? So you balk at interrupting her precious time, but pay no second thought to having to disturb me, your regal, divine queen? I should be quite offended that you hold her in higher regard than you hold me,” she said, raising her nose in mock disdain. “But in any case, she is the one offering. You did quite a big favor for her in rescuing all of those podded ponies, but if you still feel uncomfortable talking to the big mares, there is always that cute filly over at the bar you could talk to. Miss Tango, was it?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll think about it.”

Another train pulled into the station, and I took a quick look at the clock on the wall. “Oh, I think this one’s mine,” I said as I hopped up out of my seat and put my saddlebags on again, feeling the heavy weight within one of the bags.

Chrysalis stood up out of her seat after me. “I bid you well then,” she said. “I will be meeting Celestia later today. Do you have anything you want me to tell her?”

I shook my head. “No, no. She’s done quite enough for me.”

“Alright then,” she said with a slight nod of her head. “Good luck with whatever you need to do.”

I gave her a small bow. “Thanks,” I said, before exiting the station and boarding the train.

Next stop: Ponyville.

Chrysalis

I made my way to the entrance of the Royal Gardens, where Celestia waited patiently for me.

“Ahh, Princess Celestia, how are you doing today?” I said with a bow of my head. “I hope I have not kept you waiting for too long.”

She returned the bow. “No, not at all, Miss…” She frowned. “I forget, did you wish to be called Lotus or Crystal?”

“Lotus for now,” I said as we made our way inside, following a path under a thick treeline.

“Just ‘for now’?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Will I ever get to refer to you by your real name?”

I chuckled. “In time, Celestia. I would rather not reveal my true name just yet. There are still a few… rogue elements to take care of. The less information out there about who I really am, the better.”

She let out a disappointed sigh. “I really do wish you would trust me more. You still have not told me the proper name of your race yet. I have had to change my diction several times to avoid having to refer to them as the ‘imposter race.’ It is not very flattering.”

“You will be fine, Celestia. I doubt you will have to refer to our race very often,” I said, somewhat amused. “And I do trust you. I just don’t trust the other prying ears just yet. Perhaps once relations between our races open up a little more. By the way, I do thank you for allowing those individuals who had been replacing Royal Guards to continue being guards, even after the original ponies came back to work.”

She waved it off. “The streets were a little short-staffed anyways. The guardhouses were too relieved by the influx of spare hooves and able bodies to question my explanation that they had been brought in from around Equestria. I did have to bribe some of the kidnapped guards with paid leave to keep quiet, but I believe we can trust them. As for the nobles, I simply told them that if they breathed a word of what had happened, I would personally audit their tax returns. That should be enough.”

I snorted. “Well, I will be keeping an eye on them regardless to make sure that stays the case.”

She rolled her eyes. “We have to talk about your trust issues one of these days.”

“You asked me to help counteract the threat from others of my race should they present themselves, partially because I am the only one in the right position willing to help you thus far, but regardless, healthy skepticism is part of the job description.”

“You could at least open up a little to me,” she said with a resigned breath. “Is there anything more I can do to help relations between our races?”

“Well, a couple diplomatic visits from Princess Cadence would do wonders,” I said, enjoying the little jump of surprise from Celestia as I dropped her niece’s name and title so casually. “Give her to us every three—no, every two days, and we should be good. I promise she will return in the same condition she came to us in.”

She raised an unamused eyebrow at me. “You are going to have to iron those details out with Cadence herself. You break it, you buy it,” she said, to which I rolled my eyes. “But seriously, how can I help?”

I hummed. “There is not much you could do at the moment other than convince Cadence to visit every so often. Most of my concerns right now are related to solidifying my position now that I have taken over as their leader, but even that is going along as well as it could. They are getting used to me, and now that I have identified myself and laid out my vision and the stakes involved, they are more-or-less willing to cooperate. There are still a few dissidents, but for the most part, they do value maintaining unity with their leader, even if their leadership has changed rather unexpectedly. I have been led to believe their former head had been getting quite paranoid and it has been the cause of no few grievances.”

“Good to hear,” Celestia said with a nod. “I hope you will keep me updated on affairs at home.”

“As you wish, Celestia,” I replied, taking a deep breath of the fresh outside air. Many of the animals here were a bit shy, but the flowers were in full bloom, creating a wonderful fragrance. “Ahh, one other thing on my mind. What are your plans for Miss Overwatch?”

“Oh, her?” she said, tilting her head back and forth. “There are a few things going on with her right now. One was the whole debate on whether we should mark Overwatch as dead and make this new Overwatch into another citizen entirely or just have her carry on pretending to be the original pony.”

She paused for a moment. “I had… asked her what she wanted to do, and she said that she just wanted to carry on as if nothing had happened to the pony. It would fit in with her disguise better if anypony were to investigate, and it would be less paperwork for us. Cadence told me her age, and if she were registered as a new pony, she would also have to be classified as a minor and that’s a headache on its own.”

Celestia breathed out another forlorn sigh. “I worry about her being thrust into adulthood so quickly, but I can tell she wants to be independent. It reminds me of Lily’s wishes to go out into the world herself.”

I nodded in agreement. “They are capable of making their own choices, and in any case, I will be keeping tabs on both of them. They are still quite useful assets, and I wish to make sure they are doing well,” I said, before another thought came to mind. “By the way, I heard Miss Overwatch will have to start reporting to me soon?”

Celestia seemed surprised that I knew, but she nodded anyways. “Indeed she will be. Recent events have shown that we are rather ineffective at countering any potential threats that your race may pose, so as part of our efforts to rectify that, I was hoping to officially move her under your command. Her rank will be changing to specialist as part of this arrangement, though the real reason for that change will have to remain quiet as long as we are keeping details on your race quiet.”

She gave me a pointed look, which I responded to with a smug smile before she continued. “Luckily, there’s a simple explanation for it. She is still a trained sharpshooter and accomplished arcane sniper. I trust you have no problems with continuing to work with her during your efforts?”

“Of course not. She is invaluable,” I said sincerely, before shifting my tone to a more playful one. “Though to have Royal Guards reporting to me, you would think I was part of the government.”

She raised an eyebrow at me.

I raised one back. “Do I have to submit my budget?”

“We will only have this sort of relationship until circumstances no longer force us to,” she said before she let a genuine smile cross her features, “but I’m glad to hear that you two will continue to work together. She will have quite a surprise when she gets back from her break. I do hope she has been using the time off well. Do you know what she has been doing?”

“I do,” I said with a sly smile. “She is merely… taking care of a few personal things.”

Nymph

I took a deep breath, wiping off the sweat from my brow as I looked upon the results of my handiwork.

I had just finished filling in the pit, and while it wasn’t the most professional job, I would say it was at least neatly done, an almost perfect rectangle of bare soil. I looked up into the sky at the falling sun from my place in the open field, surrounded on all sides by the trees of the Everfree. It was almost nostalgic, being back here.

I looked back down at the bare ground before me. It just needed one last thing.

I took my shovel to the dirt again, this time a little bit above the head of the rectangle. Compared to the rest of the job, this one went by much faster, and I managed to dig out a hole about the size of a large jewelry box before I even realized it. I levitated my saddlebags over, and I reached into one of the bags to pull out a small heavy stone marker and place it into the hole. I filled in the space around it, packing the soil tightly and letting the marker peek out over the surface of the soil.

I picked up my shovel again and went to the other side of the rectangle to take a seat and catch my breath. I glimpsed over at the marker, my eyes tracing over the detail in the engraved words facing me.

Sweet Spot, it said.

I’ve spent hours staring at it ever since I first held it in my hooves. If I closed my eyes, I could even recall every feature of the grave marker by memory. Perhaps I was just being a romantic. I certainly didn’t need to come back to bury Overwatch’s body. There wasn’t even a guarantee it would still be here when I returned, but at least in that regard, I lucked out. It turned out that the body was hidden well enough that while it wasn’t exactly the freshest of corpses, it hadn’t been taken away by any scavengers or predators.

I took a deep breath, bringing a hoof up to rub at the scar on my neck left there by the manticore just a month ago. Maybe I was just insane. With my hallucinations over the past several days, it wouldn’t exactly be a big surprise. Still, I felt as if a big burden had finally been lifted off my shoulders now that I had finally put myself to rest and laid down my resting marker.

I giggled. Even if it wasn’t a metaphorical weight, at least I wouldn’t have to lug a tombstone all the way back out of the Everfree.

I laid back on the grass, looking up into the clear skies painted with rich purples and fiery oranges, the colors of sunset, and enjoying the peace and fresh air.

It was ironic that, in the place most likely to have manticores, I felt like I was finally free from their watching eyes.

Still, it would probably be for the best that I got back to Ponyville before it got too dark.

I made short work of packing up. There wasn’t much to stuff back in my saddlebags. There were the few remains of my lunch and the shovel, but the heaviest thing I brought was something I was not going to be taking back.

I slung the saddlebags over my back and turned once more to the grave I had dug. One last look.

I bowed my head, closing my eyes as I offered her a few words.

“I’ll see you in Elysium, sister.”

And then I left it all behind.

It was time to get back to my own life, after all.

PreviousChapters Next