6 - Pone-tal Recall
Carla Arvil - 4/26/2018
Royal Palace Dungeon - Canterlot, Equestria
When one pictures a dungeon they almost inevitably picture a damp dark hole in the ground filled with the stench of bodily waste, decay, and mold. The mind conjures images of crude holes chipped into stone walls. A maze of bars, cages, instruments of torture, and misery.
Some people also envision those imprisoned within the cells. Others add whips, chains, and attractive people in revealing leather outfits to the mix. Then there are those whose minds add in an evil wizard, 3d6 gangs of orcs, and treasures lost to the ages. You can tell quite a bit about people through those small additions.
You can tell far more about them by the dungeons they build.
The dungeons beneath the Palace of the Sun and Moon were cold, sterile, white places which demanded the mind believe it was standing in a hospital which just so happened to have an indoor pool. A strong chlorine smell permeated the air, hanging almost uncomfortably thick over the spotless tile floors.
Guards stood across the hallway from one another at regular intervals, ready to close and lock thick metal doors in the event of an escape, but also ready to assist anyone, prisoner or not, who called for help. The cells they guarded were spacious, furnished with a bed, a desk, a chair, and a bookcase.
Rather than bars each cell had thick slabs of clear crystal for the front wall, with some even having curtains for privacy. A fact which made Carla more than a little paranoid.
Carla glanced sidelong at yet another closed off cell, noting the faint traces of light shining between the gap in the curtains. “I don’t like not being able to see into these cells…”
The corners of Princess Celestia’s mouth turned upwards only slightly. Her dignified mask never slipped while at work. “It’s quite alright. The curtains offer them the illusion of privacy. A dignity everyone deserves. In actuality the wizards employed here are fully aware of everything every prisoner does at any time and can pacify any given individual within moments of them attempting any form of tampering or escape.”
Carla raised an eyebrow. “Then why have guards stationed here?”
“Dignity. There are guards here so prisoners see other people and can have conversations. This is a maximum security facility, the prisoners are never allowed out of their cells. If we had no guards, they wouldn’t ever see another living soul for the duration of their sentence. I believe you can agree that is a form of torture.”
Carla hummed. “Your justice system focused on reformation rather than punishment?”
Celestia frowned slightly. “Earth does the opposite, I take it?”
“Most of it, yes. We’re slowly changing over to something more like your system.”
Celestia turned to the left, leading Carla towards the last leg of their journey. “What do you think of that change?”
Carla bit her lip. “This is one of those topics you don’t discuss with people. It ends friendships. Let’s say I think some people deserve a second chance while others deserve a thirty-two caliber hole in the head.”
Celestia hummed and turned her head to look at the soon to be princess. “Given the nature of our relationship, I think I should know where that line lies for you.”
Carla took a deep breath, her ears laying back. “Here we go… Normal people sometimes to bad things. They should get a chance to turn things around. Even the guy who murders his wife when he catches her cheating. But there are others… Mmm, I think it’s really just if they feel sorry or not and if they did significant harm to others.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, I would say the guy who isn’t sorry he stole a TV should get another shot. Just like the guy who is sorry he stole a TV. But the guy who stole a TV to watch cooking shows on while substituting baby flesh for beef should be shot.”
Celestia nodded. “Then you believe in the concept of evil. Fair enough, many do.”
Carla blinked, frowned and looked over to Celestia. “That’s it?”
The Princess nodded once. “Yes.”
Carla raised an eyebrow. Celestia smiled. “My sister is of the same mind. I do not believe in evil. I believe in darkness. That is why I would seek to find help for whatever mental illness plagued our infanticidal cannibal and provide it to them.”
Carla shrugged her wings. “Sure, you could do that. Maybe it works for that guy. If so, great! But what if it doesn't? What if no amount of therapy, medication, or magic can help that monster? What then? Lock them up forever? I can’t justify that. It’s cruel, evil even. Better to be merciful and kill them then stuff them in a box for decades.”
Celestia shook her head slowly. “Mi Amora—”
Carla’s eyes shrank to pinpricks as she gave Celestia her patented death-glare. “None of that! Shame on you!”
An amused light danced behind Celestia’s eyes. “Sorry, Princess Mi Amore—”
Carla’s glare deepened. “I’m already pink. I refuse to be called ‘the rhythm of my love.’ I will be addressed as Carla or Cadence, and nothing else. Or this deal is off.”
Celestia’s eyes twinkled even more, almost as if they were saying ‘challenge accepted’. “As I was saying, Princess Rhythm of my Love—”
Carla’s left eye began to twitch.
“— I’m not saying one should never kill, nor that killing is even wrong in and of itself. It is merely a tool I prefer not to use without other options being available. I have used it before, and I will use it again. I do not condone killing off of a battlefield, and even on one I would prefer neither side suffer many casualties.
“I find mind control to be more ethical than murder. Both those things are abhorrent, naturally. Though there is of course a time when one must do something abhorrent to prevent greater harm befalling one’s people. If I encounter someone who can't be helped by friendship, medication, or a potion, well, having a mage alter who they are to a small extent seems preferable to me.”
Carla’s cheeks pulled back as she bared her teeth. “You know… You probably shouldn’t have told me that. I get that you have magic and humans don't. Our history and culture would be very different if we had magic. But we value freedom. We value autonomy. Mindcontrol is possibly the worst thing you could do to someone.”
Celestia looked into Carla’s eyes. “You need not worry. I apply that tool only as the second to last resort. I too respect the value of freedom. You also need not utilize it yourself. Your kingdom will be yours to run as you see fit. I was merely sharing my own policies and views on the matter. Especially since without my sister present for the last thousand years, Equestrian culture share’s my values… Or overindulges.”
Carla raised an eyebrow. “Let me tell you a little story. A story about a project called MK Ultra—”
Celestia sighed. “I know of that story. We looked into your intelligence community’s history. It’s a shame you didn’t find a means to make the project work. Again, because it can be a potent tool for good.”
“We did,” Carla corrected. “We found a drug that allowed you to alter a person’s behavior permanently via hypnosis while they were drugged. MK Ultra was a success.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “The official story says you failed.”
Carla’s lips parted in a thin smile. “Of course it does. My father was an agent before me. It’s how I was able to get into the agency myself. I’ve heard the true story from him before. He made me promise to do what he did. MK Ultra wasn’t known to the whole agency. Only the personnel assigned to the project knew what it was. The rest of the agency didn’t ask what they were doing. We’re used to being compartmentalized. You don't ask about another division’s work. It’s a security issue.
“Despite that policy, the rest of the CIA found out what MK Ultra had been doing for years and killed them all. The formula was burned. My father and his compatriots ignored orders to cease and desist, going as far as to assassinate and replace the director. The sole reason we were not imprisoned is the President decided to cover it all up. It was the first mutiny in CIA history. Why? Because testing mind control drugs on your own citizens implies their purpose is to control your citizens, not fight our enemies.”
Celestia’s eye grew cold. “Is that a threat?”
“It is,” Carla nodded. “Once we are done here, I want you to show me a case you would use mind control on. If you can’t justify it, I am out. You will have to find yourself another hero.”
Celestia shook as she laughed slowly. “Oh you silly…” Celestia stopped walking and turned to look Carla in the eyes. “I have never once had to use mind control to reform a normal citizen. Not once. They are most always redeemed by kindness, medication will do for the rest. The last person who was altered with mind control was a sorceress as old and powerful as I am. One who at the time was possessed by a dark power unfathomable to a creature as young as yourself.
“This sorceress had imprisoned me, took my throne, and used her magic to plunge the world into eternal night. That is the kind of person whom I would order to be altered, Carla. A clear and present danger to the entire kingdom, or even the world, who will not be overcome by force of arms. What’s more, all I would take from them is their desire to harm others. In the case of that particular sorceress, my apprentice is the one who performed the operation, and instructed the spell to “make her a nice person.” Which is far more than I would have done.
“Do you understand now?”
Carla’s ears stood up, having gone flat at the words ‘a dark power unfathomable’. “I didn’t know we were talking about using it on Cthulhu. I thought we were talking like, your neighbor down the street.”
Celestia shook her head and smiled once more. “There will be many things in this world which offend your human sensibilities. Do understand we have a reason for all of them. In this case, that reason is ‘sometimes there is no other way’.”
Carla sighed, her wings flicking outwards for a moment. “As long as you understand I’ve got my own cultural values, we’ll be fine.”
“I do, Equestria is but one nation among many on Equus,” Celestia said as she pointed to a cell at the end of the hall. “That is our destination. Let us put on a more… United front.”
Carla nodded. “Of course. Quick question. Why did we teleport to the dungeon entrance instead of say, here?”
“So you know where the entrance is. You’re not a prisoner here, and may leave at any time you want. If I teleported us to the cell itself you would be lost in a prison.”:
“Good point.”
The pair stopped talking and approached the cell. The cell’s curtains were drawn, putting a light blue barrier between them and the prisoner. When they reached the crystal window, Celestia raised her hoof and knocked on the window three times before reaching past the window with her telekinetic grip to gently pull the curtains open.
Carla’s eyes widened as the cell’s occupant was revealed. It looked like a pony, at least, an Equestrian pony. Small body with a fairly large head, enormous eyes, and rather thick legs. It also had blue eyes which glittered like cut gemstones, a glossy black exoskeleton, deep blue elytra resting on its back despite its gossamer wings being visible, and a series of holes randomly punched through the ends of its legs.
The holes made Carla’s stomach turn. Carla had seen many terrible things done to extract information in her career. To her mind the holes couldn’t be natural, the randomly placed and sized holes had to have been made by a cutting tool, most likely a drill.
Carla turned to look Celestia in her eyes. “Did you capture it with those injuries?”
Celestia nodded, but the insectoid pony spoke before the Princess could. “Aww, you’re worried about me in this body too! Now I feel bad.”
Carla blinked, her stomach fluttering as she processed exactly what the Changeling had said. She turned back and looked through the glass. The prisoner had moved from sitting on its bed to standing next to the window. Its eyes looked a little damp and it seemed to be frowning, but Carla had no idea how to read its expressions.
“You… Know me?” Carla asked slowly. “How do you recognize me in this body?”
Celestia looked at her captive critically. “We’ve determined they possess a psychic sense which allows them to feel others emotions. They seem to eat residual energies you create when you experience an emotion.”
The bug-pony nod-nodded. “Mhm! You’re base emotional state tastes like Nacho-Cheese Doritos and steak-sauce, Carter. Very distinct and tasty!”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Why are you this talkative today?”
Carla hummed. “He knows me. Says I care about him. I thought you said they infiltrated my work. I didn’t like any of my coworkers.”
The Changeling’s cheeks began to glow a pale green, the effect being quite identical to a firefly. “Oh, um… Most of the drones shapeshift into people, animals, or plants. Living things. Some of us do minerals, compounds, non-living things. We’re not as useful to our Queen… But we do make for good bugs! Hehehe, bugs.”
Carla couldn’t help but laugh at the pun. A second of laughter escaped her mouth before she stuffed a hoof in it.
Celestia sighed. “I thought you were a CIA operative.”
“I was. They don’t train you to keep your cool when a magic bug-pony makes a pun about itself,” Carla said as she looked at her hooves in embarrassment.
Spending a second to regain her composure Carla took a deep breath and focused her gaze on the Changeling. “Don’t think for a minute that I will go easy on you because you made me laugh. We want information, and we’ll get it.”
The Changeling nodded eagerly. “Sure! You can have it. It won't make a difference now. You’re here and our Queen isn’t. I don’t know the back up plan but I can tell you anything else you'd like to know. I’d be happy to! I owe you for fixing me… It hurts when you’re shapechanged and part of you breaks. Besides, I’d really like to rejoin the rest of me and if I tell you everything I know I’m useless to you.”
Carla tilted her head and leaned closer to the glass. “What makes you think we’ll let you go?”
“Well I did hear Princess Celestia say she won't kill unless she has too,” The changeling said with a wink.
Carla frowned as she took note of how good Changeling hearing was.
Celestia smiled. “True, but we could keep you here as a prisoner of war.”
The Changeling’s ears drooped down, forcing both mares to contain themselves as the insect somehow managed to look more sad-adorable than a pony could ever hope too. “But this isn’t even all of me! You’ve taken no one out of combat and being this far from the rest of me hurts!”
Carla stood up straight, her lips pulling down “Rest of you? What do you mean?”
The Changeling pointed to itself with a hoof. “This is one eighth of me. I am a drone. We are hive minds formed by her highness to manage the many bodies she hatches. She can’t make enough minds for each one, so we all get a hooffull. And it hurts if we’re too far apart. Not bad, but um, have you ever stubbed your hoof on a door? It’s like that, behind your eyes. All the time.”
Celestia hummed and focused her magic, summoning her quill and notepad to her side. The quill and pad floated in her magical grip as she added to her knowledge of changelings. “Drones… hive minds… separation induced headaches…”
Carla looked the drone over from snout to tail. She took careful note of the short, greasy, ragged mane and tail and tattered wings. “Is that why your body is so damaged? They are disposable to you, so you don't care if you trash one?”
The drone shook its head rapidly. “No, no, no, no, no! We only get however many she gives us when we’re hatched. I only have six bodies. And if one dies part of me dies with it. I’ll lose memories, and skills, and intelligence, everything! I— I’ve already lost two parts of myself. That’s why I kept breaking down and jamming all the time… Sorry…”
Carla took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the question which had been echoing in the back of her mind demanding to be asked. “Okay, what the hell were you? How do you know me, and what did I “fix” for you.”
The Changeling smiled. “I was the third floor copy-machine!”
Carla’s pupils dilated. Her wings opened up. Her tail flicked back and forth. Celestia smirked and looked over to Carla while continuing to write. “Something suddenly make more sense?”
“I always swore that thing had a mind of its own!” Carla exclaimed.
“I do!” The Changeling agreed with a nod.
Carla’s left eye twitched as years of minor annoyances came flooding back to her. “That’s why it would always mess up anything more complex than copy this document this many times! Resize margins? Everything is printed out of order. Double sided? Half the pages come out in landscape. You were the WORST copy machine!” Carla gasped, her eyes widening as everything fell into place.
Carla pointed a hoof directly at the Changeling’s nose. “You’re alive! You’re an intelligent— YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!”
The changeling’s ears feel again. Its head tipped down beneath a surprising amount of shame. “N— No… I’m just not very smart… Do you know how complicated a copy-machine is? I had to use four of my bodies to make different parts. We have complexity limits and… Well, I um… I also just kinda suck… I’m sorry…”
Celestia’s brow furrowed with intrigue. “How complex of an object can you become?”
The changeling kicked one hoof against the floor. “Not very… It took four of us to replicate a simple copier. If more than one Mind could work together like that we could be anything! But… We’re not very… I don’t understand really. An animal is infinitely more complex in terms of moving parts. So many trillions of cells, and they can make each body become a different person! But the best mechamorph in our hive can barely be a motorcycle with all eight of him working together…”
Carla waited for Celestia to finish writing then looked back to the Changeling. “Why are you being so cooperative? Is it entirely out of the hope we will let you return to Earth?”
“No. I don’t really think you’ll let me go. That’s why I didn’t tell Celestia much. Also, I kinda hate her? Sorry, no offense. Our Queen hates you and we’re all made from bits of her so I can’t not hate you too. At least a little. But you! Carter! You fixed me. You remember the paper jams too, don’t you?”
Carla felt her blood pressure spike. “Yes. Every. Other. Day…”
“Those really hurt. Bad. Like when you have to poop but the poop has decided to just stay in your lower intestine and stab you. But most important of all was that time you got me more toner! That was super nice. Our Queen wouldn’t let me get more because of how much it cost but every paper I copied needed to be marked and uh, well, bits of me had to be made into toner, you know?” The changeling wiggled its rear left leg to draw attention to the limb. “I used this body for that. Thanks for the leg back!”
Carla and Celestia shared a horrified look for several long moments. Then Celestia sighed. “So much for looking strong for an interrogation.
The Changeling cleared its throat. “It’s okay, you did super good last time! Besides, I know what you’re both feeling inside. You can’t be cold with me unless you’re cold inside too.”
Carla snorted and shook her head. “Fair point. How do you stonewall the empath? You don’t…” Carla trailed off and leaned in close to look the changeling in the eye. “You use the fact that they know exactly how angry you are against them.”
The Changeling whimpered. “I’m sorry! I really can’t do anything right! I was trying my best. Promise!”
Carla nodded once. “Right, well… That doesn't change how aggravating dealing with you was. What else was really one of you?”
“Oh lots of things!” The Changeling exclaimed. “Wall clocks, your intercom, the time-clock, the break room microwave. At least one appliance in any part of the building you frequented.”
Carla hummed. “What else were you? You said you’ve got six bodies and the copier used four. What were the other two?”
“Breakroom microwave and the—”
Carla’s eyes narrowed. “The coffee machine! The one that always made half-brewed coffee water or burnt the fuck out of your grounds!”
The Changeling sat down, eats sagging. “I— I told you I suck…”
Carla closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead with a hoof for a moment. “That explains why it kept getting back on the counter after I would throw it out.”
The Changeling smiled. “Hehe… I’d change back to normal at night, crawl up the wall, open a window, go inside and then change back after climbing on the counter. It was nice! I got to see outside.”
Carla sighed, a long, slow, weary sigh which took with it her last shred of hope for having any kind of normal life. “You got a name?”
The Changeling nodded. “Four of Eight, Tertiary Mechamorph of Subhive Three.”
Carla shook her head. “Copy Machine. Got it.”
Copy Machine tilted its head to one side. “But that’s not my name?”
Carla gave the bug a glare. “It’s your name, Copy.”
“But it’s not?”
“Copy, stop joking around. No one is going to call you by a whole fucking sentence,” Carla said with an eye roll, banking on the fact Copy knew exactly how she felt about his name. “So… The plan. What was your plan?”
Copy shrank back looking remarkably like a hurt puppy. “But… But that’s not my name!”
Celestia saw Carla’s eye twitch and cut off the explosion. “Is there any reason you object to a nickname?”
“Yes! This body is one part of six, formerly eight. Copy Machine does not designate which of me you’re talking too! I don’t know which mouth to use to reply.”
Carla pursed her lips as she stared at Copy through narrowed eyes. “But—- But context! I’m here, looking at this one of you, and I am addressing you. ALL of you. Not just this part.”
Copy blinked. “Uh, but… I have six mouths. And twelve ears. All in different places. It can be very hard to keep track of where I am and who I am doing.”
Carla felt her cheeks burn as she held in a laugh.
Copy coughed as it realized its mistake. “What I am doing.”
“Well, I’m not used to talking to someone with more than one body. I don't think anyone else is either. I am talking to a MIND not a BODY. Therefore, you are Copy Machine. Unless you can provide me with a different nickname. GOT it?”
Copy nodded and sighed. “If I was all here right now you’d understand why numbers are important…”
“Perhaps we would. But you were going to tell us about your Queen’s plan,” Celestia reminded with a polite tip of her head.
Copy shook its head and looked at Celestia. “No. I was going to tell Carter the plan. Not you. I’m not allowed to tell you. She made me promise, and I’m not able to break promises to our Queen.”
Carla’s ears flicked in irritation. She opened her mouth to protest her male name being used, and Copy smiled.
“See? See what it’s like to be called by a name you dislike?”
Carla nodded. “Copy Four. Is that fine?”
Copy nodded. “Mhm! What name do you like? Mister Avril?”
Carla shook her head. “No. I’m Carla. Carter was… He wasn’t me. I wasn’t ever a man inside.”
Copy smiled and clapped his hooves together. “YAY! Primary Organomorph of Subhive One owes me Pringles dust! I knew you were trans! Everyone else insisted you didn’t taste like a woman, but I always called them crazy. Well, everyone except for Primary Mechamorph of Subhive Three. But he knew you better than anyone.”
Carla raised an eyebrow. “Uh, you do remember I hated everyone one of those socially overbearing weird—” Carla trailed off, her eyes slowly widening. “Oh my god! That’s why they all seemed so weird. Especially when talking to each other!”
Copy coughed awkwardly. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to hold a conversation with myself. That looks so hard. Uh, but yeah! I’m happy cuz I was right and I can tell Primary Sub One to give me one of those empty Pringles cans now!”
Celestia’s eyes widened, her ears lay back, and her tail flicked upwards. “You’re still linked to your hive right now?”
Copy nodded. “Mhm! Our Queen’s portal is open. She’s upset. Very upset. Oh, uh, I can be with the rest of me mentally when the portal’s open.”
Carla narrowed her eyes. “Chrysalis knows you’re talking to us, and that we know she’s coming.”
Copy nodded. “Yep! But that changes nothing. She knew you knew about her ever since you were allowed to capture me.”
Celestia frowned. “We lost four agents to get you.”
Copy’s ears drooped again. “I’m sorry they got hurt… No one likes to lose bodies.”
Carla bent down and looked Copy in the eye. “We. Only. Have. One.”
The Changeling’s sapphire-eyes widened. “I— But she said— Oh no! Uh—”
Copy’s wings buzzed anxiously, managing to lift him off the ground a good foot before he dropped back down. “You’re all Queens… We can’t hurt you! There’s just one of you! I’ll tell everyling and then they’ll—”
Copy twisted as if he had been punched, yelping in pain. Celestia and Carla jumped back from the glass as the Changeling reached up to rub its left cheek. “Ow… You didn’t need it hit me… Calling me stupid was more than enough… Uh, so, they know. I guess it was just me? Oh no. Some others didn’t know. She hit me for letting everyling else know— Oh, yeah, I can’t talk about that. I promised. Sorry...”
Celestia blinked and cocked her head. “Did you just react to pain with the wrong body?”
Copy’s cheeks glowed light green yet again. “I— It’s harder than— Yes…”
Carla hummed, taking careful note of that gold nugget. “Can do that intentionally?”
Copy shook its head. “We don’t have time for this! I didn’t know Carla would be killed! That’s not okay! You’re nice and fixed me every time. They were just going to leave me like that. Do you know what happens if I shape shift back to normal with a paper jam inside one of me? That’s why there’s only six of me now!
“Our Queen was going to replace you and live as you for as long as needed to get access to the Crystal Empire. She knows that all of us together could crush Sombra, but—” Copy groaned and rubbed a temple with a hoof. “Aaagh, I can’t tell you I promised! Uh, since you got away she’ll be trying to replace you here. Our Queen is smart, she’ll get rid of you subtly, and she already knows everything about you. No one will know you’ve been switched out once it happens. You’ll have to fight her off when she comes, and see her coming too. But I think you can do it, you normally won when she would play with you at the office.”
Carla hummed. “I’ve met her? Who was she?”
Copy shrank back from the glass, taking several steps, his ears drooping down. “I want to say, but I can’t… She’s listening now. Uh, damn you, and such!”
Copy continued to shrink back from the glass until he bumped into the back of his cell. The two ponies shared a skeptical glance for a few moments after which Celestia nodded to Carla and turned around. “I believe we're done here. Shall we go?”
Carla nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Scotty, two to beam up.”
A slight wrinkle appeared in the corner of Celestia’s eyes before she focused her mind on the colossal pool of magic within the heart of the sun. The mares vanished amid a flash of golden light, reappearing in the palace’s main throne room a kilometer above where they had been before.
The Solar Throne was one of two throne rooms within the palace. The Lunar Throne had fallen into disuse over the last millennium, leaving the Solar Throne as the sole representation of Equestria to other nations. Opulence had therefore been applied in near-excess to everything within.
The room’s walls were crafted from hoof-hewn marble slabs, and had been built with such precision one couldn’t tell where one slab began and the other ended. Not by feel, not by sight, nor by comparing the grain and patterns within the stone. The only interruptions to the stoneworks beauty were alcoves in which large gothic windows had been cut, each holding a stained glass portrait of a moment from Equestrian history, or one of its heroes.
The floor was fashioned from a single slab of obsidian, polished so smooth it acted like a mirror, reflecting the bright white ceiling light to make both the floor and ceiling appear as a glowing pool of magical radiance.
The throne itself sat upon a tall solid-gold dais with several steps leading up to it. A thick, plush, red velvet carpet ran down the steps and across the floor to the grand double doors. The carpet’s path was lined with gold pillars, each one elaborately carved with decorative fluting and vinework.
Carla couldn’t help but wonder why the throne’s design differed from the other chairs she had seen so far in her stay. The chairs and couches in Celestia’s home had looked just like a normal chair. The kind one could buy in any furniture store on Earth, if they sold fancy expensive furniture. The throne on the other hand was clearly designed for a quadruped.
It’s seat was low, permitting a pony to sit upon it like a cat or dog might. It’s back was high and round, meant more for decoration than leaning against. As with everything not made from stone within the Solar Throne, it was fashioned from gold and red velvet.
Carla’s eyes fell upon the chair. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why is that chair shaped like a dog chair, but your personal chairs shaped like human chairs?”
Celestia blinked twice before her mouth pulled back into an amused grin. “Hardly what I expected you to say upon entering my throne room.”
Carla rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen fancy rooms a hundred times. This one is pretty impressive, but it’s nothing compared to what I’ve seen some African warlords set up for themselves. Ever see a guy sitting on a throne made entirely from black rhino ivory? Sure that’s pretty evil, but that chair is definitely worth more than gold, carries a much more imposing and grand presence being made of the bones of powerful animals, and also really made me worry about how much power the guy had. He did secure over a thousand horns from one of the rarest most heavily guarded animals on the planet.”
Celestia’s ears drooped slightly. “Well. I suppose I could make a new throne out of solar fire.”
Carla’s eyes lit up. “Ooo! You can do that? Why haven’t you done that? I don’t think you could out awesome that without making a black hole into your chair.”
Celestia chuckled. “I can, and I have not because this throne is very old. My family captured it in battle six generations before I was born. It’s a historic relic and may have belonged to this world very first king. I have no idea why their chair designs are so different from our own. Fortunately it’s quite comfortable.”
Celestia trotted over to her throne with Carla hot on her hooves. “See, that’s pretty impressive. I remember a Syrian general who had Charlemagne's sword as part of his dress uniform. The real one. The one they had in the Louvre was a fake. It’s such a shame he wasn’t as talented at war as Charlemagne. Maybe have a sign mentioning it’s a historical relic?”
“There’s one in the hall,” Celestia said as she pressed a hidden switch on her throne with a hoof.
The Throne hissed and slid upwards from the dais, revealing a hidden staircase. Celestia nodded to Carla and the two trotted down the short stairwell as the throne slid back into place behind them. The stairway ended at a large steel door, which Celestia opened with a quick flash of arcane light. The thick steel door opened into a large vault.
A large vault filled with the treasures of a hundred civilizations from across the ages.
Bookshelves held hundreds of ancient tomes of arcane and scientific knowledge, secrets believed lost to time as well as those too dangerous to allow into the wrong hooves. The books alone would allow any mage or engineer to purge the world of all life, and make it anew. Several relics within the vault held similar power.
Others did things far more bizarre than merely reboot the planet.
Shining Armor stood stock still in front of the rows of benches and display cases upon which the hoard of arcane treasures were stored. His mane was frazzled, his eyes wide, and his chest heaved rapidly. Before Celestia could ask what he did the Stallion yelped. “I’M SORRY I SNEEZED AND BUMPED A THING!”
Princess Celestia frowned. “You’re not dead, the world is normal… What did you touch?”
“I bumped it! Accidentally, I told you this would happen! We should have warmed up the Identity Matrix after the interrogation, not before, because—”
Celestia stepped over to Shining and gently grasped his shoulders with her forehooves. “What. Did. You. Touch?”
Carla blinked, her fur standing on end. “Did you say “the world is normal”? Why is he even authorized to be in here?!”
“He’s the only pony I trust aside from you and I with shapechangers on the loose. Someone had to ready the artifact. It takes hours to warm up,” Celestia said with barely contained panic. “Shining. What. Did. You. Touch?”
Shining gulped and pointed with one hoof to a small amulet. The left half was gold, and the right half was silver. A large swirled blue and red gemstone sat within its center, and two decorative swirling arrows ran around the medallions' perimeter.
Celestia sighed in relief, closing her eyes for a moment. “Thank goodness. Everything’s fine. Shining, given that you are still here and are yourself, this relic no longer functions.”
Shining bit his lip and nodded twice. “Oh. Good… Is— Uh, what would it have done?”
Celestia bend down and read the words carved into the wood upon which the medallion sat. “This is the Amulet of Rebirth. It would have sent your mind back in time, so you lived out your life again, in a slightly different body, with no memory of having used the amulet.”
Shining nodded slowly. “Okay… Nothing else? No turning everything into sulfur and durians?”
Celestia shook her head. “No. If this had worked, only you would have been changed,” Celestia turned to look at Carla. “This vault is designed to store dangerous items such as this until their magical charge runs dry and they can be safely destroyed. Before you protest Shining being in here, he has full safety training in magical relic handling… Though nothing this dangerous is going to be found in the wild. I’ve made certain of that.”
Carla cleared her throat. “My reason for questioning why he is in here is why would anyone but you ever be in here? Or know this exists. Why can’t you take that identity thing out and we use it in another room?”
“Every item in this vault and the vault itself has been cursed. Once by me, and once by my sister. If anyone, including us, were to attempt to dispel the curses or remove an item from this vault, we would be disintegrated. Keeping the Identity Matrix in here keeps it from being used for anything less than an emergency, as those who it is used upon know about my vault. Do you understand now?”
Carla nodded slowly, wincing as she looked back up. “Yeah… Can someone hold my wings down, or something? Also, … Why are we debriefing in here? Is there any other secure room?”
Celestia shook her head. “No. Nothing else in the palace or even my estate is this clear of all possible magical detection. We could talk in my estate previously, but I believe Chrysalis is on the move now. If she is in Equestria she has the means to scry my location. This vault cannot be seen into remotely.”
Shining shuffled nervously. “Um, yeah… It’s definitely secure. I can feel my magic slightly diminished while standing in here.”
Celestia carefully maneuvered into a position where she could face Carla without touching anything. “This vault is also designed to cut off everything inside from the world’s ambient arcane energies. It’s how these devices are slowly depleted. Do you feel different?”
Carla closed her eyes and did her best to feel her magic. The alien power within her mind felt no different than she remembered it feeling. “Um, no?”
Celestia sighed and sat down. “That’s not good. I had hoped you would attune to your magic enough to learn to fight by now.”
“And with the enemy on the way, fighting is important…” Carla looked off into the distance, weighing her options. “Can I get some kind of ring of protection and a magic sword?”
Shining snorted and rolled his eyes. “Forget the sword. Princess, we brought many of Carla’s personal effects to your palace. Why not enchant them with a variety of battle magic? That way she can use them in a manner akin to wands and will understand the basic idea of what each will do.”
Celestia hummed and tapped her chin with her hoof. “Humm… Yes, I can most certainly do that. It will be crude, but we need a crutch for you to use, Carla. Do not get used to them. We will train you properly as well.”
Carla nodded and did her best to look as serious as a pink pony can. “I understand, but I don’t think you understand just how much I’ll need that crutch. I doubt we will have enough time to train me to fight magically better than someone who has had decades. I will need at least one firearm, preferably two, along with some body armor. I need to use what I know for something a mere three weeks from now.”
Celestia nodded twice. “You’ll have it. Equipment won't make up the entire difference. That’s all I have to say on this matter. Now, what is your assessment of our surprisingly forthcoming prisoner?”
Carla smirked and shook her head slowly. “He’s terrible at being a bullshit artist.”
Shining frowned and tilted his head. “What happened?”
Carla carefully sat down, doing her best to hold her wings tightly against her sides. “We showed up, he spun a sob story about being mistreated and how I was the only one who cared. An obvious ploy to get me to sympathize with his plight and make me believe he thought I was a person he trusted more than anyone else. Clearly that’s not true, if it had been he would have simply told me their plans in detail without me asking. Nor gone on about a dozen bunny tails.”
Celestia smiled proudly. “Good job. I knew someone with intelligence training was the correct choice.”
“There’s more,” Carla continued. “We can assume a few things he said are true. Because again he’s a bad bullshit artist. We can operate under the assumption that Changelings do have more than one body. Intentionally letting an operative be captured with no way of returning intel to base or confirming the operation was a success is not something anyone would be dumb enough to do. It would serve no purpose.
“I believe Copy was telling the truth when he said working as one mind can be confusing. I also believe him when he said some of them can do machines instead of people. That information explains the odd behavior from dozens of appliances at home and at work, especially since when I checked them out they were not broken or damaged, and I know enough to do basic electronic repairs.”
Celestia hummed and looked up for a moment. “A fair assessment. I also believe he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know we only have one body each. His reaction to learning that was much more robust. I believe he was acting until that moment.
“It’s also possible Chrysalis has less control over her hive than she’d like too. It seems Copy wasn’t the only one told we’re also multi-bodied single-minded creatures.”
Carla frowned, and shrugged her shoulders. “I thought that too, but it’s much weaker. I wouldn’t assume that,” Carla took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “What I would assume is that he didn’t mean to mention the fact that their best mechanical shifter could become a bike. Did you bring my motorcycle over?”
Celestia looked over to Shining. “Was that an item you tagged?”
Shining nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”
Celestia’s gaze returned to Carla. “Then it is in my estate. Do you think they replaced your motorcycle?”
Carla nodded. “Yes. They were observing me, and knew Shining was my friend. If they only observed my behavior at work they wouldn’t pass muster as me. My bike is what I rode around when I wasn’t trapped being Carter. It went everywhere with me. If they could replace it, they would…”
Carla’s eyes grew dark. “They will pay for that. We need to take my bike and put it in a room by itself. Nothing else. Have someone watch it at all times remotely. If it’s a Changeling Drone at some point it will need to revert to its normal form to find food. Right?”
Celestia sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. “That’s the problem, we don’t know. This species is entirely new to us. If there is any information out there it would be obscure and dismissed as conspiracy theories. I don’t have the ability to hunt it down and confirm fact from fiction in a mere three weeks.”
Shining’s eyes lit up. “Twily could! Can we bring her in on—” Shining stopped mid-sentence. “No. No that’s a bad idea. She cracks under pressure too easily.”
Celestia nodded in agreement. “I thought about that already. We all remember how much of a panic she got into when I simply forgot to tell her that “friendship letters” were in fact not mandatory weekly homework and she missed one.”
Carla raised a hoof. “I don’t.”
Shining coughed. “Oh, yeah… Uhhh, you will after we give you an Identity. I took the liberty of making it look like you and i met when i was in Highschool. To make us being a couple seem less bizarre. You’ll have memories of my family thanks to that.”
Carla shook her head slowly. “It still weirds me out that you can implant memories like this.”
Celestia nodded. “I can see how it would. Don’t worry, you won't lose yourself to this story. You’ll always remain aware of what is true and what is an act. The spell merely gives you a script.”
“I’m more worried about other people,” Carla muttered. “But I get it. We need people to accept that I exist, and so on. We’ve been over this. Since Copy was kind enough to confirm to use that Chrysalis has her own portal and is still after me since she let you capture part of a Drone to give me that little threat, well, we know she’s on her way. If not here now.”
Celestia stood back up, almost stretching out her wings under the force of habit, and bailey restraining them at the last minute. “Then we have no time to waste. Let’s finish bringing Cadence into this world.”
Carla turned her head to look at Shining and gave him a critical look. “Before we do… You better not have scripted in some over the top anime-like love story with a rival in those school day memories.”
Shining reached up to rub the back of his head with a hoof. “Uh… It doesn't work like that? Your mind will create the details. I can just direct things… If you do remember that, it’s your fault. Not mine.”
Carla turned to look at Celestia. “He’ll remember it all too, right?”
“Yes, but only those within this room will know these memories are fake. That said, they can feel very real, and may influence your behavior slightly even when you’re not focusing on the cover identity. Nothing’s perfect after all.”
Carla’s ears flicked back. “You didn’t mention that before… But I’m hardly at a place to back out now. How do we do this?”
Celesta looked into Carla’s eyes as she put on an understanding face. “It’s okay. By “slightly” the worst will be calling your first date your second date because you think you’ve had more than one for a split second. It’s not the magic, it’s you keeping two sets of memories in your head.”
Carla nodded slowly. “Okay. That makes me feel a little better. Let’s do this. Time’s wasting.”
Celestia nodded in agreement and walked over to a small brass plate on the floor. The plate was just big enough for a pony to stand on, and its surface was covered with thousands of tiny tiles meant to be moved. Each tile bore a different inscription, and glowed either pink, purple, or gold.
“Stand on that platform.”
Carla’s ears perked as she frowned. “That’s all?”
Celestia nodded. “That’s all.”
Carla took a deep breath and carefully stepped over to the enchanted plate. She took another deep breath as she reached it, then reached out and touched the plate with her hoof. A bright violet light shot up from the plate along with a wall of wind which sent the dust of ages sailing from atop relics into the air.
Carla vanished for a moment behind a curtain of light, appearing an instant later with her feathers ruffled out of place, her mane a mess, and otherwise looking as if she had stepped out into a hurricane.
Princess Cadence blinked twice to clear the dust from her eyes. She frowned, realizing she now associated herself with the name Cadence rather than Carla. “Why do I—”
A torrent of memories flooded Cadence’s mind. She knew they were just stories, but they still felt very much real, as if they belonged to real people who had really lived, and had also happened to have been a version of herself. She’d gone to school as Cadence, for years and years that was all people had called her. Of course she felt more comfortable using that name.
Just like how she remembered going to highschool prom and taking part in an irritatingly cliched highschool love story fresh out of an anime. Cadence’s eyes narrowed. “Oh god dammit! Something in this universe needs to just turn out to be the most metal thing imaginable to balance out all of the super-feminine—”
Cadence stopped mid-sentence as her new memories informed her that Shining was mind blowingly amazing in bed. Also under the hoofball bleachers after a big game. And in the hot tub. And in sixteen other places which sprang to mind in vivid detail.
Her eyes shrank to pinpricks. “Ohhhhh…. No… Uh, are we all remembering what I’m remembering or, is this private?”
Celestia shook herself, blinking under the effects of the spell on herself. “No. All our memories of you and what you did are unique to those present in your memory.”
Cadence tapped her hooves together nervously. “Then you don’t remember what happened to me on the Fifteenth of Midsummer, at about nine twenty-three P.M., at Canterlot High?”
Celestia shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I remember you being present at public functions, personal dinners. You were a member of my family. My niece. I do remember you attended that school, however.”
Shining coughed politely and raised his hoof. “I remember what happened then, sweetie.”
Cadence blushed and flicked her tail back and forth. “Good! All is as it should be then. Too bad this spell can’t have also taught me what going to school here would have.”
Celestia gave Cadence an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but every form of magic has its limits. A spell can only do what it was designed for. We do need to work on your general knowledge, but that will come after you acclimate to your new memories.”
Celestia’s magic reached into a bag hidden in her mane and retrieved a small silver talisman on a leather cord. She placed the charm around Cadence’s neck and nodded towards it. “Touch that charm with a hoof and it will transport you and anyone you’re touching to your bedroom at our home. It only has six charges. I want you to relax and sort out your new memories. Tomorrow we will begin building up our public image around the wedding, and teach you what you’ll need to know to stop Chrysalis.”
Cadence nodded once. “Sure thing, Auntie—” Her eyes went wide. “EEP! I uh, mean, Princess!”
Celestia slowly began to grin from ear to ear. “See? That’s the sort of little thing the spell will make you do. Now go, relax, sort out your new life.”
Cadence nodded and reached out to Shining with one of her wings. “He’s coming with me.”
Celestia nodded in approval, and Cadence tapped her charmed necklace with a hoof. She and shining vanished in a flash of blue light, reappearing an instant later in Eventide Hall. The simulacrum of Carla’s bedroom felt familiar and like home to Cadence, after all she now remembered living in it for years and years.
Of course, the quality of those memories had to be verified…
Cadence reached out to her teleportation charm with her own magic and slipped it off, setting it on her nightstand.
Shining trotted over to her and gave her a tight hug. “I’m sorry sweetie, this has to be a very stressful day… I know that I’ve got a bit of a headache from the spell. I can’t imagine how much worse it is for you.”
“It’s kinda bad,” Cadence agreed with a slow nod. “I want to confirm that these memories are accurate to how things really are. Will you help me?”
Shining nodded eagerly and beamed Cadence a loving smile. “Of course! I love you, you silly pony. You don’t have to ask me if I’ll help you.”
Cadence blushed brightly and shuffled her forehooves on the floor. “Well, there’s something I remember us doing together which we could try for real. If it’s as good as I remember it being, then these memories accurate to how things would have been. I'll worry about mistakes less.”
Shining nodded twice. “I see where this is going,” he said with a happy grin before leaning over to Cadence and planting a kiss on her lips. “There you go! How was it?”
Cadence leaned down and nuzzled Shining’s shoulder. “Very nice. Just how I remember… But I meant sex.”
Shining’s eyes widened, his tail stood on end. “Uh, OH! Um— Well— Yeah… Kind of a random time to bring that up! But, I mean— like—”
Cadence rolled her eyes and laughed. “That is NOT how I would have expected any guy to react to a girl saying she wants to screw him,” she shook her head slowly.
Shining blushed and flicked his tail. "Well, even human guys aren't on literally all of the time. And that came out of left field while I wasn't looking!"
“Look, Shiny, I remember you being AMAZING at it. I call bullshit. I think my brain is making me remember that because that’s what I would want it to be like. If you're not good in bed, then these memories can lie. If they can lie, then the cover identity is compromised. We need to check."
"That's the most transparent bullshit excuse I've heard!" Shining paused, his eyes lighting up hopefully. "Wait, do you actually want to--"
Cadence rolled her eyes and sighed. "I never thought it would be this hard to get a guy to have some fun! Yes. I do. I'm currently flooded with over a decade of memories of you know, us. Including the sexy bits. There's a LOT of them! A lot a lot! I think we screwed at least once a day after going out for six months. I know it's all fake but, well, you're cute, I like you, and we're actually dating so-- Ugh! It's hard to think about anything else right now! If you would please just get in--"
Cadence stopped talking as she realized Shining had climbed into her bed four sentences ago.
The white-furred stallion gently patted the bed beside him and gave Cadence a wink. “You make a good point. Besides, if imaginary me is better than real me I need to beat him up!”
Six hours, thirteen bottles of Neightoraid, three sets of sheets, and one very upset maid later, the results were in. Cadence’s memories were entirely accurate.
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If only it were so easy...
I feel bad for the maid
Send help. I is ded
9001472
I'd request a raise, especially if they do it weekly.
TMI, but at least they upset the maid. :D
The drone interview was also interesting.
Funny as well, since I once posited a similar idea on Cordial Nova's blog on "thingservants." Well, more accurately, they had already had the idea. I just invented a horribly OP use for it. I do wonder if it's possible...
It also makes me wonder what the hell a splanch is supposed to be, but that's less important.
9001472 9001553 9001513 9001556 , If it wouldn't shoot the story's pacing to hell, I would totally do a scene of a poor super vanilla prudish maid in the estate's bar, downing shot after shot of cider.
No Fungeon, then? Well, that would be more of a Pinkie thing. Interesting choice on Celestia's part.
Huh, convenient changeling ally. Didn't expect that. Office hell due to interdimensional metamorphs is a new one, though
Not so much of an ally then. Cliche adverted.
The multiple bodies things is rather interesting and refreshing.
There's just no way something dangerous like that would be open enough to be brushed when sneezing. What game is Trollestia playing there?
Naughty Cadence is naughty. I wonder what will be the metal thing in her life?
This story is more immersive than most I've read. I can really feel like Shining is from a very different culture, that Celestia really has been keeping the world safe from miscellaneous magical horrors for centuries, etc. Celestia remarking that she had Twilight straight-up edit Luna was great. No two ways about it being any less mind control just because the pony left behind was grateful for it. This world feels both fanciful and consistently gritty at the same time, oddly enough. I really enjoy the worldbuilding.
9001565
You could always make a set of side stories. Personally I’d like to see one of the office coming to life as Cadance/Carla/Carter leaves for the day.
I want to see how fare the ex-CIA handle this kind of situation. I heard CIA isn't as tough as KGB, but still secret agent no less.
9001852 You can argue that, and you might even be correct when it comes to agent vs agent. That being said... The KGB isn't around anymore (It was disbanded December 3rd 1991), the CIA is still in operation ;)
9001777 Thank you very much. I don't believe I've ever been given higher praise. Finding the right balance between the fantastical and the realistic is hard. I only wish I had found the way to do it three years ago. My older stories would have been so much better.
9001792 That is a wonderful idea, and I'll pitch it to Canary as a possible flashback for later on. That said, I have another story I am writing alongside this one so my time is quite limited :c
9001553
Wasn't it daily? I mean if they enjoy it in the same way as in ther "memories" why should they do it less times?
...I have reali nothing to do if i argue about something like that.
Can you imagine changeling repair service?
Hello valued customer! Your computer has a bad case of indigestion and can't handle any input, i am here as a replacement.
Personally i believe in Perspectives.
What one person views as evil, another will view as good.
Then there are those that view those same things as varying degrees of good or evil.
Knowledge will also change how an individual views things, but no two individuals will have the exact same perspective.
So you had your own sister mentally altered
..... yeah, i'm gonna have a hard time trusting anyone in this story if mind control/altering is something ponies do
Soone of them was Carla's motorcycle
Since he was the motorcycle
And it makes me extremely suspicious about almost everything, too much mind affecting magic
Now don't get me wrong, i like this story and will definetly continue to read it
9001892
I'd like to have Copy go rogue over being lied to about ponies having multiple bodies.
I don't think he would be of much help directly, but it would be nice thematically.
9002129 Nononono, You really have nothing to do if you write character's debating that.
/me goes to write characters debating that.
9002192 "In the event your computer is some bugs, it is operating as intended."
"Don't you mean "experiences some bugs"?"
"I know what I said."
9002226
Not much I can do here... I mean, she does exactly that in the canon. One zap from the Elements of Harmoney and POOF! Total inversion of personal goals, ethics, and values. Every time. It's clearly overt mindcontroll. I was asked to keep close to cannon with the Elements and such so, Tia has to be someone willing to use mind control. At least in extreme circumstances.
In my personal work, I have Luna as having been possessed, and the Elements dont do mind control, they go Inheritance Cycle on your ass. Meaning it's possible for somone to feel all of the pain they have caused others, and laugh it off. IE they dont work on pure evil... It's a magic "appeal to empathy" device.
Shhh >.> The Oblivious people are in for a supprise
There is more going on than meets the eye, that I can assure you. And it just might be that certain people have done some pritty terrible things in the past. That being said, Carla isn't under any influence other than her own.
I figured you were still okay with reading it since you left a comment that wasn't just screaming at me :P
9002242 Spoilers... There may be one or more Changelings working with Carla soon.
9002295
I know I know it was just a littel side joke.
9002295
Celestia did mention something about being "possessed by a dark power unfathomable to a creature as young as yourself", so do they work like that in this story too or do they work differently in this one ?
9002295
I thought this was an important character-establishing moment. Celestia is shown sitting on a pile of dangerous artifacts, some of them world-ending, that she's accumulated over the centuries. The role she inhabits is one of protecting the world, first. She tries her best to find even better outcomes for everypony, and usually succeeds, to the extent that she can afford to be nice, most of the time.
But when she went to recruit Carla, she was in a hurry, so she wasn't as gentle as she could have been. And when her only sister became a threat to the whole world, she had Twilight edit her only sister. There was no chance for goodbyes or apologies beforehand, and afterward, Luna wasn't quite the same pony. The edits were unquestionably beneficial, in allowing some part of Luna to continue on, but they were forced on her, and they were substantial.
And Celestia will live with that. She will probably try to connect with this new Luna, more or less successfully. And she will continue to raise the sun, and safeguard dangerous artifacts, and defeat any threats to the world, in spite of her regrets, and those regrets do not consume her.
Nightmare Moon being the result of some sort of possession, and Luna being a victim who is freed from the possession, would give Celestia an easy way out, and I feel that it works better that there was no chance for a perfectly happy ending, and that Celestia prioritized the world over her own sister, while still trying to secure the best outcome for her own sister within the scope of that decision.
Well, she did have to take her new body out for a thorough test drive.
Meep, great job on this story so far. Can't wait to see more!
Um, what does it mean if I add all of this?
Looks like this should be "lock".
Is this supposed to be Celestia or Carla? Cause it seems that Celestia is telling Carla about MK Ultra.
"even"
"your"
How long were the Equestrians following Carter? Cause I didn't think it was more than 2 years.
Queue Office Space but with Carla beating the shit out of a changeling instead of a printer.
So it turned a plastic part back into its own body? That makes for a very quick way to heal.
Was Canterlot built around the time of the Two Pony Sisters? Cause there is a castle for them in the forest. I thought Canterlot was the new one after NMM.
Yippee ki-yay motherfucker.
It took me a full 24 hours of being hit on and then flat out told.
And then Shiny's dick fell off, the end.
9002442
9002484
It is. Just because I don't personally like mind control dosn't mean I wont write a character who would use it, or one who would enjoy it. Nor will I portray something with real genuine good uses as being purely evil.
If you want a story to be good, you need to work outside of your own values and ethics on occasion. For me, this is one of those occasions.
9002931Thanks for the corrections :3 Glad to see you're enjoying things!
This will be clarified later, but to prevent uncertainty... The uncommon Changelings who can do inorganic shapes will incorporate anything added to them as machines into their own bodies. Modifying or damaging them in that state can kill them, just like how putting a bullet through a normal changeling's head will kill it while it's shifted.
Howeaver, if you remove a part from one, and replace that part with an identicle one, the changeling will be fine. Just how if a normal changeling was having heart problems while impersonating a unicorn, you could preform a heart transplant, and that changeling would be fine.
But, if the part is NOT the same as what the changeling copied... It might kill them, it might lead to poor health, or if that bug is very lucky and the part is something that would normally go onto what they were (an upgrade, sidegrade, or downgraded part) then that part will be incorporated into their natural form. Example, a mechanomorph is being a lamp. You change the coil bulb for an led bulb. Changeling shapechanges back and now has an LED bulb for an eye. If they are unlucky, that makes them blind in that eye. If they are very unlucky, they die. If they are lucky, their shape changing magic kicks in as much as it can and that LED bulb functions as an eye. (Note: If they are lucky once, it generally means they will be fine every other time they are "upgraded")
I've always figured Celestia would have built one for Luna too, hoping she would come back one day.
Love it so far, not a writer myself so i can't really criticize or anything but, keep it up!
And I never comment on anything so that's pretty much the best praise i could give =)
Oh but it did work, it's why the timeline changed juuuuuust a bit. You just don't realize it.
That poor maid.
and then the ponies went clippidy cloppidy clippidy cloppidy all night long, and into some of the next day, then again the next night.....
9004702 Thank you for saying hello ^.^ Nice to meet you.
actually the changeling is wrong. He was a male, jsut with a mental disorder thinking he should be female.
Either that's an improbable coincidence, or both
CarterCarlaCadence andJessicaChrysalis are Star Trek fans. That has a lot of comedy potential.Wait, Carter Avril owned a replica phaser rifle, but Cadence got the name 'changeling' from folklore and not Deep Space 9?
9025425 Cadence blinked as she read the comment and turned to Shining. "Deep Space 9?"
"Yeah, you know, the Trek series that ran between TNG and Voyager."
Cadence's ears lay flat against her head. Her eyes shimmered as they brimmed with tears. "I-- I missed one?"
Shining winced. "Ooo, yeah that's right. You were doing global ops for most of its run."
"It didn't end with Voyager! There was more! I need to see this!"
"Uh, you mean it didn't end with Discovery?"
Cadence turned her head, slowly glaring at Shining. "I want a divorce... Just kidding hon. I love you."
But yeah, both of them are Trek fans. There will be lawls.
9015104 You do know that there are entire species of insect that are all female, right? And that among social insect species, the kinds that live in hives like ants, bees, and wasps, the kinds with males are exceptionally rare, right? (Also that I totally ignore the modern BS canon versions of changebuggies, right?)
9025488
In composing a response to this, I've realized the timeline doesn't match up.
You've told us that Carter Avril was 'born August 21, 1969', that he's 'a forty-year-old retired Agent', and that it's April 2018. Those dates mean he's 49, almost 50.
If you keep the 1969 birth date, then DS9 airs (1993–1999) in his 20s when the CIA would have him running around. But he's a decade older than he's supposed to be. Also, Cadence would remember Enterprise (2001–2005). Probably not fondly, but she'd remember it.
If you make him 40 in 2018 (birthday 1978), Carter would have been in high school when DS9 started and would have seen at least some of it. But he'd have missed Enterprise.
Or you could back the clock up and have it be 2009/2010, which avoids opening the 'does the cartoon exist?' can of worms. But that ruins the Disco joke.
…can you tell why I chose this username?
9025808 I can, but to be fair this is something of an actual continuity problem. I think I have a solution though.
1. Most people who are older than 30 dont like to be reminded they are old and will round down to the nearest decade.
2. It's possible that Carter lacked a TV for some reason or another during their early 20s, never saw DS9 live, and didn't think much about seeing it. (Heck, I haven't seen TOS myself... Not all Trekkies watch EVERYTHING.)
3. That comment is a silly omake to hide the fact the author forgot that there are in fact Changelings in DS9 and a Trekkie should have known that.
4. It's posible that simply didn't come to Carla's mind at the time too. Hell, how many times have you realsied you could have made the prefect reference to something 4 hours later?
9025849
As someone who resembles point #1, I'm going to disagree with that. Rounding 9.5 years is a bit too much for most people. I suppose you could just change it to "forty-something".
But #4 is a great option for resolving the "should know about Odo" problem.
"I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings!"
"Huh. I came up with the same name for you bugs. Irish mythology, right?"
"Uh…no. I got it from…Star Trek."
"Star Trek? Where were there changelings in Star Trek?"
"Deep Space Nine. The best series."
"Oh, right. How did I forget that?"
"There was also that episode of The Original Series titled 'The Changeling'."
"But it didn't have anything to do with shapeshifters, it was about a killer robot or something."
"Which Kirk talked to death, just like you're trying to do to me! Now get in that cave and let me steal your destiny."
9025973
Later on, Chrysalis has somehow outfoxed Cadence and is now winning the battle.
Cadence raises a hoof to the sky "Kaaaahhhhhhnnnn!"
Shining frowned. "But that's not her name?"
Chrysalis in the extreme distance. "No, but Chrrrryyys! dosnt sound right."
Cadence nods solemnly.
9025990
Oh, and I totally understand a different Earth is a different Earth, but you do know that Irish Changelings weren't horses, right? They were faeries.
https://www.yourirish.com/folklore/changelings-in-ireland
9052874 I do, but Cadence dosn't. Changelings actually have a ton in common with Pookas. If the Pooka were aggressive and territorial, I'd say they borrowed my favorite folklore monsters.
Dungeons?
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Zappa+the+Torture+Never+Stops&&view=detail&mid=88B1816E054298754D1E88B1816E054298754D1E&&FORM=VRDGAR
Rumor said that this was inspired by Idi Amen (Uganda)
You often use “too“ when you should use “to“
too = “also“ or “very much“ (an adverb)
otherwise, you probably mean “to“
9151637
I know the difference. The issue is I dont have an editor for this and run it through a bot.
9001777
one problem with this Luna's redemption story. even at her worst, Nightmare Moon was never truly evil. name one innocent being (Celestia doesn't count) that Nightmare Moon harmed intentionally that didn't attempt to harm her first. you can't. even at her worst she was still guardian and protector of ponykind (especially the foals). all she ever wanted was for someone to love and appreciate her hard work and in turn love and appreciate her. so brainwashing her to be a nicer pony wouldn't work as she was and is the kindest being you will ever meet (besides Fluttershy of course).
9172279
Eh. I would have thought the trying to kill all life there worth that
Also Celestia never really talked about her sister here. Who is to say that the elements are not on her radar right now?
Look at me. Being a Celestia apologist.
9172279
In this story's universe, Nightmare Moon was always a sorcerer, never Celestia's sister. Celestia never had a sister, not until she did that mind rewrite to "Luna". This was pretty clean in how Celestia described her: "A wicked sorceress that kidnapped her, staged a literal coup, and plunged the world into eternal darkness." Luna was never Celestia's sister until the memories of NMM was rewritten, and Celestia made her to be her sister because it was quite easy to spin some thousand years locked sister bullcrap since she's old enough to remember things regular ponies don't anyways.
10825580 I'm glad someone picked that up :3
9177927
When did she try to kill all life? In the alternative Nightmare Moon timeline, things were the most peaceful out of all of the alternative time lines
I can't stop thinking of Seven of Nine