Coarse Diamonds

by Darkonshadows

-69-

“So… you’re Sassy Saddles. I swear your name almost sounds Changeling in nature.” Chrysalis wanted to talk to the pony since she saw her floating in medical fluids and the jar with the chunk of metal in it was also neat.

“Yes, well, I’ve heard about you. So you are the queen of the Changelings and a complete nuisance to ponies with long hair.” Sassy was currently busy working with Vera on getting her ability to walk back in order, when the Changeling Queen came to bug them in the middle of it. “I suppose Rarity likes you enough that she let you be a part of the crew, though why a queen wants to be a part of this crew I’ll never know.”

“Hey, a girl's got to eat you know! Look at it this way, at least I’m not stealing love anymore and hair is a cheap and readily easy resource to acquire. Pony hair also grows back at stupidly fast rates, especially the ponies that have hair hanging down to the tips of their hooves. Plus I’m entirely environmentally friendly, mostly.” The real reason Chrysalis came here to the exercise room was to obviously exercise, but if she could do so while getting to know Sassy. Well that was a bonus, the mare could use some help in getting her hooves under her. “Maybe I could even help you get some exercise; I’m quite the submissive if you want me to be.”

“Yes, that’s also another thing I’ve heard that you have a penchant for.” Shaking her head Sassy turned back to Vera who was helping her stand up. “Now where were we Vera?”

“I think it’s your back left hoof that’s giving you some trouble, it’s a good thing I’m a physical therapist or else this recovery might've taken longer.” Vera had gotten used to being followed around by one of the drones under Opal’s control and for the most part she ignored its hovering visage constantly pointing at her. One would think Vera would have nightmares about having something like that pointing at her at all hours she was awake, but they’d be wrong. It made her feel kind of important and noticeable, that was all she was asking for and she was receiving it all the time now.

“Right, I’m just going to do my own thing over here then.” Walking away Chrysalis looked a bit lonely; she didn’t have a Changeling to boss around. She should have probably brought one of her retainers with her, but they were more sorely needed by Thorax. She stopped when she remembered something. “Hey, that’s right. We have a dragon on board, maybe I can get her to beat me up in a spar! Hey pony hive mind, can you get Ember to come up to the exercise room.”

“I’m not a hive mind Chrysalis, but fine I’ll see what I can do. Ember is a paying guest on board our ship and I can’t exactly order her around without her actually being a part of Rarity’s crew.” Opal did have some pull around here, but she was busy with interior decorations that Rarity wanted done to fix up the drabness of the ship and Opal agreed to get on that with what drones she could. “Please don’t get me started with Trapeze’s deal in relation to that, as she actually is a part of the crew.”

Opal was also making sure that they were on track and that they’d be at the asteroid field on schedule and hopefully nothing would go wrong. Of course it was an asteroid field they were going to and things tended to go horribly wrong inside of them when it came to big ships, with Rarity’s track record for danger she’d be more surprised if nothing happened.

“It wouldn’t hurt to ask would it? I mean I would like to be hurt by asking personally, but you can’t be hurt can you? Such a sad existence, to never know the pleasure of pain or of pleasure as it naturally occurs with strawberry syrup and whipped cream.” After a few moments to think on it Chrysalis realized something was horribly wrong, something she had forgotten. “Oh this is the worst thing ever, who’s going to play Twisty with me later? Lightning is out of it until her ribs get better!”

“Maybe you could get a game in with Babs and watch over her for a while. She really needs a lot of emotional support right now and is currently spending time with Coco at the moment.” At least Opal would suggest someone childlike for the Changeling to spend time with; she heard that Chrysalis was good with children and was one of the reasons Changelings couldn’t entirely despise her.

“You’d actually trust me around the filly?” The sardonic response came from Chrysalis almost immediately, she was already getting started with a few stretches and preparing for a light workout. “You do realize that I will corrupt her within an hour.”

“I’d completely trust that you wouldn’t do anything to harm or kill her, much less endanger her life.” It was interesting to Opal that Chrysalis had a soft spot for children. It made Chrysalis come off as more bizarre to Opal than ever before considering that she wasn’t likely to ever want to carry any children herself. “I heard you were good with nymphs and foals.”

“So I may indulge in foal sitting every once and a while, plus Changelings are communal caretakers even if we do have family units.” Changelings would always take care of one of their own in need; Chrysalis was no different in that respect. “I don’t understand why ponies can’t do the same; most nobles are assholes to orphanages. Let me tell you, hurting a child intentionally is one of the easiest ways to get on any Changelings bad side. If pony children don’t grow up to procreate we’d all be down a food source. Sure we might have kidnapped pony children in the past, but we would never do anything permanent to them and usually we stole the most abused fillies and colts we could find. You know, give them a good home and maybe somehow feed them. That part always happened to be the hard thing to do in the badlands.”

If Opal were right then Chrysalis would more than likely prefer to impregnate a lover and Changelings definitely had the ability to do so with any gender, it was just unlikely to happen given Chrysalis’s dating history. Meaning Chrysalis didn’t have much of one to speak of, even with all the passes she made at Celestia and Luna, the closest she ever got was marrying Cadence. Changelings were absolutely compatible with ponies and Chrysalis had been sniffing around Celestia and Luna for a long time. At least Chrysalis had the wherewithal to not take someone against their will and was saving herself purely for love, it was rather surprising that she’d wait so long for something that was quite unlikely to happen.

-

Ember stood back and smiled at herself, a job well done for setting up her own room on Shining Jewel, it only took a few hours. She looked to her old battered and clunky looking armor, her various weapons some of which were stolen off of mercenaries who got too big for their underwear and her collection of Rarity made clothing. Yeah she didn’t own much, but she was happy to have a room on the ship for her to go to.

She sat down on the pull out bed and pulled out a bottle of fruit juice, she wasn’t about to drink wine or anything alcoholic as that was just asking for trouble the next time she sneezed. A simple bit of dragon fruit juice was nice, sure it may be bland to some tongues but not hers and it was quite a healthy fruit to imbibe. She would have to refrigerate the bottle afterwards, she was sure that nobody would mind and she’d label the bottle clearly as being hers.

Why Mr. Spew was even getting into the spirit of things sitting in a cup of juice himself, he seemed to like the flavor of pitaya as much as Ember did.

“Hey Ember, Chrysalis is wondering if you’d be up to a hoof to claw spar.” Opal was delivering Chrysalis’s message, but she decided to add something to it. “Though what I believe is the truth behind this is that she just wants you to beat the ever loving crap out of her.”

“Sounds like fun, tell her I’m willing to get into a scrap if she’ll take it a little seriously.” For a moment Ember thought she wouldn’t have anyone to train with, a lot of her skill comes from actual fighting instead of any formal training. She would like to see how much formal training Chrysalis has and could stand to learn a thing or two from the Changeling Queen.

-

“Well father, I can say that I enjoy being here, but miss wearing the costume and fighting crime at night. I sometimes wake up and just want to throw the costume on.” Saffron had a hero’s heart and saving Antilur Station was making her feel she made a good decision to take Rarity up on her offer. She was still helping people and she could get all the adventures she wanted traveling with the fashion designer's people.

“Everything will be alright my dear daughter; your mother was the same way with never being able to settle down when we were dating. As long as you take adventure where you can get it, I’m sure a few sightings of Mare Do Well in space wouldn’t be that bad of a thing.” Coriander moved over to his daughter and brought her into a tight hug. “As long as you have a good heart you’ll always be my little hero, no matter what you do. Your mother would be very proud of you, though she would also be worried about you going into dangerous situations like what I heard about.”

“Little… dad I’m taller than you are!” Saffron rolled her eyes and chuckled, as she hugged him back.

“You will always by my spicy little curry, no matter how wonderful a mare you’ve grown into being.” Despite how much he worried about his daughter, Coriander knew that as long as he had a good place to cook and mouths to feed he’d be happy. Provided he could look out for his daughter while doing good business.

-

“That was a wonderful show you put on Trapeze. So do you need any supplies or for me to pick up anything? Will you be getting off at our next stop?” As the captain of the ship Rarity had to see to her crew about getting some time to relax after that last fiasco and getting the charity started up for the people of Antilur Station. The Pie Planetoid Plantations mining operations were a part of Streusel Station; while the Pie family was small they had a lot of pull in the asteroid field and owned the mining and asteroid growing company. It was also home to a famously known baking family known as the Cakes which had a long history on Equus for having the best desserts ever made. “I ask, because Gilda is interested in being on the away list considering she’s been to Streusel Station. So I’m doing my rounds before I get some sleep to see if you want off the ship for a while. Sassy and Babs are already on the list, the slots are going fast.”

“Rover would like to go to Streusel Station… this station doesn’t have big bad brain thing right?” Rover had a fearful grin on his face and Rarity just jotted him down.

“Then I guess me and Bernard will go too, maybe we could even do a small show.” Trapeze had her hair down and out of the three buns; she and her Troupe had been going over any ways to improve their show safely. They didn’t want to endanger anyone with any of their stunts; otherwise they were all relaxing together.

Bernard was playing solitaire on the floor nearby, he looked up from his cards and nodded to them and went back to what he was doing. He didn’t offer up much other than waving his top hat in Rarity’s direction, obviously liking the new chapeau made by Coco.

“Well alright then, everyone from the Trapeze Troupe, Gilda, me, Sassy and Babs… only enough room for one more then. Coriander, Saffron, Coco, Greta, Vera and obviously Lightning are going to stay behind, that leaves… asking Chrysalis.” It was up to Rarity to seek Chrysalis out. Ember could come and go at any time, but she’d have to use her own ship for it. Thinking on it, Ember didn’t seem to have any problems with being a guest nor had she asked if she got services from renting a room as a guest aside from the obvious that bathroom and water were free for everyone to use. Quite the opposite, Ember asked if there was anything she could do for Rarity and Rarity didn’t have any chore that Opal couldn’t already handle on her own. “Right then, Opal where is Chrysalis at the moment?”

“Currently holding her own against Ember, I’m actually amazed at how tough Chrysalis’s face is. They are in the designated exercise room, deck one.” Watching it in action was far better than telling someone about it and Opal figured Rarity wanted to see it for herself. Chrysalis wasn’t telling lies about knowing multiple fighting styles that her resume reported or being a living meat shield. “They should probably be using the training room on deck two though.”

Rarity wondered what her two… well Ember was a friend and Chrysalis was still an acquaintance as far as Rarity was concerned. Then again the Changeling Queen did fight for a good cause, even if she had completely selfish racial focused reasons for doing so, her heart had to be somewhat in the right place at least.

-

Upon walking through the door to the exercise room, Rarity became a witness to one of the most unusual sights ever. Chrysalis slammed Ember into the floor, only for Ember to roll backwards between Chrysalis’s hind legs and grabbed the Changeling around the waist. Ember rammed the side of Chrysalis’s head into the floor by lifting upwards and falling onto her back, the Changeling’s horn made her take the impact to the side of her skull.

“Okay you’re really good, that was quite bone jarring… I like it! At least you have some skill to go along with your brawling.” Only Chrysalis would enjoy head injuries or having her face beaten blue and yellow or the various welts lining her carapace. Ember didn’t look the slightest bit injured, but she was certainly winded judging by the shortness of breath. “So what do you girls think, should she keep going? Oh hello there captain, I was just entertaining our guest and she probably should tell you about the fact that…”

Before Rarity could say anything Ember caught Chrysalis with a harsh right hook that looked like she put her full weight into. The blow sent Chrysalis spinning until she was on her side; Sassy and Vera looked positively shocked. Chrysalis slowly got up rubbing at her jaw.

“Wow, nice right hook you have there.” Leaning in closely Chrysalis hissed. “Was it because I was going to blow the whistle on your hoard? I don’t mind being coveted, but I’d prefer if it included a date, bondage, a freshly cut ponytail and sex… not specifically in that order mind you.”

“How about I pop you across the face the other way?” Whispered Ember quietly, if she was going to eventually tell it to Rarity… and the crew… it would be on her own terms.

“Please do, I’ll keep quiet for a while just for the sensation of you setting my jaw back in place.” Chrysalis barely dodged the jab for her nose, but she didn’t dodge the left hook that sent her sprawling on her back. “Did anybody get the number of that donkey cart? You’re good really with hooks from either way, knocked my jaw entirely back into place and everything!”

“Dragging heavy bounties or weapons around will put some muscle on you.” Ember preened slightly and smiled, before she added to her statement. “Also I’m a dragon, getting close to one of my kind while sleeping is considered the height of stupidity. At least without a fire extinguisher and something that can actually puncture something as tough as my scales are.”

“Hey, you can’t say that I didn’t put up a good fight.” The dragon blushed at Chrysalis’s words; she had been tossing Ember all over the room whenever she got a good grip on her. Ember was definitely stronger than Chrysalis, meaning it was rather embarrassing for Ember to get tossed around as badly as she did by Chrysalis.

“You can say that again.” Sassy muttered having watched it in action and she was kind of curious about how Chrysalis redirected Ember’s momentum multiple times, obviously years of practice in close up combat. She could see Ember was not without skill of her own, clearly the dragon had brute force and knowing when to use it completely down. “Ember never over extended herself too much after a point, but I think it was her mostly testing your changing combat style at the drop of a hat.”

“Yes, Changelings are very good at changing… who would have guessed?” Chrysalis grinned when she got Sassy to laugh. “You sound knowledgeable; do you know a thing or two?”

“I know some kenpo just in case I lose my blade, which hasn’t happened yet.” Slowly taking a few steps forwards, Sassy had Vera with her every staggering step of the way. “I’m really good with a rapier, but I use a chokuto for purposes of not incidentally killing anyone.”

“How can you kill someone incidentally?” In answer to Chrysalis’s question Sassy just sloppily thrust her hoof at the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis was standing approximately five feet away and then she was twenty five feet away and sliding down the nearest wall. “Okay, this is a definitive ouch!”

“I’m technically gifted with a spear or anything that can be thrust forward, including my bare hooves.” Not even in her top form was Sassy proving to be viable in defending herself; she had trained so she could at least punch through solid wood even while drugged. “I’m really quite dangerous with a rapier. The last time I used one, I caused a hole the size of the rapier’s guard with each thrust. My special talent really translates well into combat as much as making clothes.”

“Compensating for something?” Chrysalis wearily stated from a position on the floor.

“As a matter of fact, yes, I was a medical bed victim.” Sassy saw a clear wince cross Chrysalis’s face. Whether it was from the pain of her sloppily thrown hoof thrust or that she was a victim of something so heinous, Sassy couldn’t tell exactly.

“I take it I should never appear in front of you as a male then.” There were horrible things done to people in medical beds and Chrysalis gave it some thought.

Chrysalis figured since Sassy didn’t look like she had parts of herself forcibly removed and replaced with machinery or cybernetics, then it was obviously the other way to victimize someone with a medical bed when it wasn’t horrific surgery and experimentation. There was a thing about making passes at a sexual victim being a bad idea for a Changeling to do, especially if the Changeling were to ever unintentionally take the form of the abuser and or make light of the abuse that happened. She really wanted to sympathize with Sassy, sex should be an act of pleasure with someone you cared about and it should be consensual. With Changelings consent needs to be given at least through a hive link and Chrysalis was wary of opening hers up after missing the glaring problem in having an open hive mind.

“Yes, if you must approach me in some fashion affectionately, then do so while you are yourself. You are a far sight more pleasant to be around than any male I will ever see.” As unintentionally attracting as the statement was, Sassy probably should not have said that around Chrysalis.

This was the first open invitation Chrysalis had in a while to seek a real relationship with someone and Sassy quite a few attractive qualities that Chrysalis liked. One Sassy’s fur color was blue. Two Sassy’s mane was long enough to fit Chrysalis’s taste and it looked to be a nice flavorful color hanging down to her chest. Three Sassy had a really nice accent going for her. Four and the real selling point to Chrysalis, Sassy had a really nice looking butt with a long glorious looking tail sticking out of it. For someone who had been on the mend for at least a month, it looked quite firm with a bit of squish to it and Chrysalis wanted to touch it.

Shaking her head Chrysalis was going to try and pursue this as slowly as possible and not just blurt out the first thing that came to mind, that would be entirely dumb and Chrysalis was anything but dumb as the Queen Changeling.

“So do you want to get some snacks together?” Okay asking for a get snacks wasn’t so bad; maybe Chrysalis for once wouldn’t go all out in trying to get attention. “Or you could make me the snack because I’m delicious!”

Chrysalis slapped her hooves over her mouth, for once in her long life, mortified at where it went and she didn’t want to scare Sassy away until at least halfway through their first date. Surprisingly Sassy didn’t look the least bit angry, but she did seem curious and her orange glowing eyes scrutinized Chrysalis a moment before she chuckled. Rarity and Vera were both staring at Chrysalis wondering why she looked flustered, when usually she was the one flustering others. Already having a look of understanding on her face, Ember took one solitary glance towards Sassy to see what her response to that would be.

“I wouldn’t mind getting some snacks, but you’d have to help me get there.” It was up to Sassy on how to take that comment Chrysalis belted out, she had taken it that Chrysalis obviously meant it to be more friendly than sexual. “I’m not sure I could really walk too far and I’d prefer the wheelchair to the crutches, so if you could help get me around when we reach… Streusel Station was it? I’d of course be happy to call you my friend; you’re already friends with Rarity-sama.”

“Sure… say, what’s the first thing you focus on when you look at a mare?” In one word for Chrysalis, it would be their butts, followed by mane and tail since it became more important to her, then eyes and the general fitness for a mate.

“Their personality of course, what is the mare like and how well does she get along with others? Outward appearances aren’t everything, though it doesn’t hurt to take pride in one’s own image and I no longer care as much about mine given what it led to.” Those were some interesting magic words from Sassy, it let Chrysalis knew she had a chance to go down this avenue and she would definitely do that. “What may look like the poorest pony, might actually be the wealthiest pony where it counts.”

“Ten bits says Chrysalis falls for her.” Surprisingly it came from Rarity, who thought that the moment between the two was rather cute… in its own unique way. If Chrysalis thought she could make it work between them, then Rarity wasn’t about to stop her from trying. She wasn’t going to get in the way of Sassy’s preferences and Chrysalis seemed alright… enough. She wouldn’t mind if they started dating, if Chrysalis could make Sassy happy.

“That would be a suckers bet Rarity, Chrysalis has a history of falling for various ponies of strength and fortitude only to never get anything out of a relationship other than friendship.” It would surprise Vera if Chrysalis managed to succeed in getting Sassy’s attention in a special romantic way, Sassy was afraid of romance after almost hurting Rarity and Coco. As such Sassy probably wouldn’t consider it and might accidentally lead Chrysalis on, Vera didn’t voice this however. “Which apparently changelings can feasibly survive on as it is a weak form of love, but Sassy still has that problem where she can’t exactly handle romance correctly.”

“Really, she seems stable and normal enough to me.” If Ember could see a problem coming, then it would definitely be on Chrysalis’s end as the Changeling Queen was a bit crazy. “If anything I’d think it was Chrysalis who would have the problem starting anything with anyone.”

“Oh listen to us, we’re already gossiping like a bunch of old nags. Just so long as it doesn’t cause trouble on my ships, then things will be alright.” At least Rarity was open to the idea of her friends being able to find romance, while she personally couldn’t find a good stallion if it killed her.

Ember wondered if keeping her hoard in order would be a bigger problem than she originally thought.

-

“My Pinkie senses are a tingling… I’m in a story! No wait, that one was a false positive… new people are about to come to the station along with someone who enjoyed my baked goods previously… yippee!” A pink happy pony danced on her hooves excitedly.

“Are you sure they’re friendly?” An angry mare stated as she walked up to the pink peppy pony carrying heavy weapons on her back.

“The writer of this story… well I’m not sure really.” The pink pony rubbed at her chin thoughtfully.

“Not that, the visitors you said we’d be getting!” The angry mare was in the pink ponies face.

“Oh…. well why didn’t you say so, I’m sure I’ll be best friends with the people of this new ship in no time!” The pink pony seemed rather manic in her glee.

“Please don’t tell me our sister is about to go overboard again, the station has recovered from the last time she threw a party at us.” The quiet mare came up to the angry and happy mares with a frown and was busy trying not to look anyone in the eyes. She didn’t want to accidentally upset anyone. “Who knew you could throw the physical representation of a whole party at people hard enough to cause injuries?”

“I sure didn’t and I was completely sorry about that.” The pink pony seemed to dial back the hyper active caffeine high that she seemed to be on. “Besides my senses tell me these are good people coming to visit. You all know what that means!”

“That they possibly have rocks for Boulder to commune with.” The calm mare of the group seemed to be emotionally flat when she finally spoke up, with very little going for her as far as expressions were concerned.

“That I get to use my plasma grenade launcher and can get started on immediately blowing everyone up!” The angry mare shouted in a still rather angry tone.

“That they won’t try to talk to me and will allow me to just sculpt something in quiet solitude?” The quiet mare seemed hopeful that this was the answer.

“No, you bunch of sillies. We’re going to throw them a welcoming party!” The pink mare bounced up and down while the other three just watched her, one with angry eyes, one with calm eyes and one with quiet eyes.

“What if they don’t want one of your parties?” The quiet one asked.

“Are you kidding me, who doesn’t enjoy a good party thrown by yours truly?” The pink mares smile could have cut her head in half.

“Boulder says you’re about to go overboard again.” The calm mare pointed out in a lazy sounding tone.

Author's Note:

Will fix it later, Pinkie Pie should be a German Shepard.

Comments

[Razzy]

Nice chapter.

I imagine blunt strikes and weapons would be quite effective against Ember, since her skin, while very hard to puncture, is flexible and thus transfers such hits to the underlying issues.

Oooooh, go Chryssie and Sassy!

I wonder if what changelings digest from hair is keratin. If so, then they could also much on nails, claws, stuff like that.

Can't remember, changelings in this story have both exo and endoskeletons?

... It'd be hilarious if Rarity ends up the last person with a partner, even after Mr Spew.

'Hey, a girls got to eat you know' - girl's

'else this recovery might take longer' - might've taken longer

'with the fashion designers people' - fashion designer's people

'asteroid field and own the mining' - owned

'the Cake’s' - the Cakes

'ever made.“I ask' - ever made. "I ask

'that bathroom and water are free for' - were

'Sassy was quite some attractive qualities' - had quite a few

[Darkonshadows]

8188492

True, blunt force would have an effect if it was strong enough or Ember was hit enough times in any particular spot with less force. I would like to note that a dragons innards are just as tough as their scales. Dragons can ingest lava and magma like it was water, as such their insides are like solid steel or tungsten given they can actively drink molten rock. Not all internal organs have to be weak and not all beings have internal organs to hit. Some science fiction beings I know of have redundant organs to survive what would otherwise be a critical existence failure in a human.

I'm thinking of leaving out a known classic dragon myth that dragons have a random weak spot somewhere on their body that's really easy to pierce and can seriously injure a dragon or at the very least make them bleed out. It really depends on the location of the fabled 'armor chink' as to whether or not it could be lethal to strike, it could be anywhere from the top of the head to the tip of the tail or even behind an ear.

The Hobbit told everyone where Smaug's chink was located. He had a really, really, really bad location for the chink in his armor. That being right above where his heart was and one normal well aimed arrow later... staked like a vampire. Jake The American Dragon has one behind his right ear or was it the left, can't remember which, but it was stated to be quite lethal to him if anyone were to hit him there. I'm not going to list every dragons with weak point locations, I'm just informing you that such a thing exists and there is quite a sliding scale of how lethal it gets. In example one such myth has it that if you stab a dragon in its weak point, then it's whole body becomes just as vulnerable to everything, meaning their scales stop protecting them entirely and their whole body becomes a weak point.

It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that it could be possible for Changelings to ingest nails, claws and stuff like that.

Yes, Changelings have both a fur covered carapace and a very light skeletal structure beneath that or else they wouldn't be able to fly with their wings. Their bones are probably as light as a Pegasus would have, but not any weaker for it. Furry bugs do exist.

Fixed the fact that the chapter title read 39, added some words and made other minor edits. As always, thanks for the help.