11. I Should've Run
Smolder's eyes fluttered. “That's not a changeling,” she said, “or...is it? Is it...like, stuck halfway?”
Ocellus shook her head slowly. “Wh-when a changeling is unconscious, we revert to our true forms. Veteran infiltrators were taught a spell to lock their form to get around that, but...but I don't think that happened here. This is its true form.”
Smolder inched forward, poking the...thing...in the frog of one hoof. Its leg twitched, but it otherwise remained knocked out. Smolder got a little closer and lay a hand down upon the creature's barrel, and pressed slightly. The carapace gave, not quite like flesh and muscle would but also with a lot less resistance than a true carapace would - than Ocellus' own did. “Carapace feels thinner and softer than yours,” she told Ocellus, then lifted one of the creature's legs, looking at the elbow joint. On Ocellus, the two sections of carapace fit closely together, with mottled, accordion-like sections that gave her limbs the ability to rotate and bend. On this creature, instead, the carapace simply didn't cover the joint, exposing the skin underneath. “And it covers less. More gaps.”
“I noticed,” Ocellus said, and despite the nature of her eyes it was clear to Smolder that every single one of Ocellus' eye segments were locked onto the holes. Ocellus swallowed. “I think...I think it's some kind of hybrid. Half-changeling, half-pony.”
“Is that even...” Smolder began, but then remembered Nonchalant yesterday. “Nevermind. Nonchalant seemed really sure that with the right magic we could breed, so I guess a pony and changeling could.”
Ocellus sputtered even as she began blushing, turning to look directly at Smolder with her elytra and wings spread wide in shock. “Wh-why were you asking Nonchalant about...?!”
Smolder felt heat going through her face an her own wings flaring at that herself, as she realized what she'd accidentally implied. “No no no! Not like that! She was love poisoned and treating me like I was her daughter, she kept talking about wanting grandkids! I didn't ask her!”
“Oh! Oh...”
“Right!”
“R-right.”
Ocellus and Smolder stared at each other a moment more, before Ocellus broke eye contact first, rubbing one leg with the other again as she turned her face completely away. That cute thing she did when nervous, only this time Smolder was pretty sure it wasn't her trying to get under her scales intentionally. Didn't stop it from being cute. “U-um...” Ocellus murmured, “F...for the record...there's been new changeling grubs since the Reformation and they're already Reformed from hatching. S...so if we did, um...use magic...the, um, result, wouldn't have holes in its legs. Probably.”
Smolder was nearly certain an egg could have been fried on her cheek from the blushing she was doing. Her tail slapped the ground a few times in an effort to distract her from the subject. It failed. “Good to know.” She decided.
There was another bout of protracted silence between the two teenagers, before they heard a sound coming from the store - whimpering and muffled crying. Smolder's eyes widened when she realized what it was. “The clerk!” she and Ocellus exclaimed at the same time, then got up and ran back into the store proper. The clerk was right where he had been left, struggling to try and get up, but the creature had used ooze to pin two of his hooves to the floor, while the ooze around his head had stuck to the floor as well and solidified, creating an irregularly-shaped bubble that was semi-transparent, allowing the two to see wide, tear-filled eyes.
“It's full of tiny pores, he can breathe, but it's difficult,” Ocellus explained quickly as she and Smolder ran up to the clerk's side. He panicked and flailed at first until he saw that neither of them was Nonchalant.
Smolder placed a hand on the clerk's withers to try and hold him still, though she imagined the touch probably felt comforting as well. Something-something Professor Fluttershy's kindness classes, Smolder remembered something about that. “Okay, uh...” she said, looking him over. “I can probably melt the ooze on his legs without hurting him too much, but his head...”
“I can vomit out a fluid that will dissolve it,” Ocellus said. Smolder tried not to wince at the thought of Ocellus standing over the pony and puking her guts out. The clerk himself also looked less than enthused, whimpering more. Ocellus didn't pay him any attention, however, as she looked to Smolder. “B-but...but there's backup on the way, remember? C-could be here any minute, and dissolving it will take a few minutes, plus as it turns to sludge I'll have to make sure to keep it clear of his airways. A-and we can't just call for help, not when Catrina is controlling the police somehow...”
Smolder's tail slapped the floor again, this time in annoyance and more than a little panic. She looked down at the clerk, weighed just grabbing Ocellus and leaving. But if she did that, Ocellus would never forgive her - would probably fight back against her - and plus it was just wrong. Or at least that's what every single one of her professors would have said, and the fact that the primitive, selfish wyrm within her didn't agree was a pretty good sign that they were right. But what would her professors do...darn it, why didn't she pay more attention in classes besides Professor Dash's...
“Oh, come on,” Smolder groaned when a particular obsession of the rainbow-haired pegasus’ came to mind, a book series of all things following a character named Daring Do. It was full of inane plot contrivances that nevertheless seemed to always work out and which gave Smolder an idea. She ran a hand across her face, but couldn't come up with anything else. “Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna melt the ooze on the back door and then hide that creature...I dunno where. Ocellus, get to work on freeing the clerk...and also, earlier, you made your magic look green. Could you make it look pink, like the creature's?”
Ocellus' face screwed up in confusion for a few seconds, then her eyes grew wide. “Oh no,” she objected, “No, no, no, I'm not - j-just because I was being trained to be an infiltrator doesn't mean...don't know enough about the creature...I know I impersonated Professor Rarity once but that was just for a few seconds and I was caught up in having made new friends and - ”
Smolder put her hands on Ocellus' withers, staring into her eyes. “You have any better ideas?” She asked, getting straight to the point. Ocellus shook her head, though she'd bunched up on herself, and was actually shivering. Smolder nodded. “You'll do fine,” Smolder assured her.
Ocellus stared back at the dragon for a few seconds, then threw herself forward, wrapping Smolder in a hug. Smolder returned it, squeezing Ocellus tightly. She felt a very tiny pull across her body, beneath her scales and reaching into her heart, and guessed that Ocellus was going for a quick pick-me-up of positive emotions. She needed it. Smolder glanced down at the clerk, who was looking at the two with terror and fear and a complete lack of understanding. As Ocellus released her, Smolder patted the clerk on the withers. “Just play along and we'll all get out of this,” Smolder assured him.
Smolder was “unconscious” on the floor of the store, hands and feet bound together by...well, frankly, she'd rather not think about how the ooze had gotten there. Ocellus had made the ooze weak, though, such that she would be able to easily free herself if she wanted. Ocellus herself was in the guise of Nonchalant, one hoof occasionally scooping away sludge from the store clerk's muzzle so he could keep breathing - her standing over him and vomiting up a slick, oily, slightly pink-tinged fluid had been one of the less pleasant things that Smolder had ever seen in her life. The ooze on the back door had been melted, and the creature had been thrown into a dumpster out back.
Smolder had to keep her eyes closed, of course, so she only knew that something was up when she heard Ocellus' hooves on the tiled floor of the convenience store, and the opening of the door. “Hurry up!” Ocellus-as-Nonchalant's voice demanded as hooves piled into the store; Smolder guessed three or four sets - not good odds. “Don't need a pedestrian seeing this, I only just managed to block the windows...”
“Why are they even here?” A new voice demanded. It was masculine. “You stuck the clerk to the floor in front of the door?”
“I didn't have a choice,” Ocellus objected. “The teenagers saw through my disguise, they were going to run, I had to act. I got the dragon, didn't I?”
“What about the changeling?”
“Got away, out the back door - spat dissolving fluid on the clerk first, though. The dragon covered her escape.”
There was a hiss from the masculine voice. “Fine. Gitta's gang is watching the Nook so they'll get her. The clerk...”
“N-no sense in wasting food, right?” Ocellus asked - with perhaps a little too much concern in her voice that Smolder hoped the...whatever they were...didn't pick up on. Smolder did her best not to tense. If the creatures here threatened the clerk's life then the two had to act, no matter the odds. They'd agreed on that.
But thankfully, she heard a groan of frustration instead. “Think with something other than your stomach for once, Bubblegum - ” The creature's name was Bubblegum? Smolder tried not to snigger, “ - we can't have missing creatures, this whole thing doesn't work if the ponies get too hostile. Catrina should be able to whip up a memory potion for the past few hours. Put the clerk back in here with an open bottle of whatever, let him lose his job.”
The clerk whimpered more. A new, feminine voice spoke up. “Don't know what you're crying about, kid, we basically just said you get to live. Speaking of, breathe in this...c'mon, you can't hold your breath forever...there. Out like a light.”
“There is good news,” the masculine voice said. “We just heard from the Chill Spot. We got her.”
“Well, there's that,” Ocellus said, keeping concern from her voice. Her could only refer to the real Nonchalant, Smolder figured...whatever these creatures were, they'd abducted the older changeling already. Ocellus was doing a good job acting the part as far as Smolder could tell, though she was more worried about these creatures' ability to sense emotions. Ocellus had said they had the ability to just project a single emotion, ironclad and unchanging, like a wall so that nothing else could be detected. The two could only hope that they didn't do that when around each other.
Smolder herself was struggling to keep her emotions in check. Ocellus had told her to just think greedy thoughts, that's what a dragon at rest tended to do. Smolder focused on that, imagined herself back at the school, counting her coins and, running her hands across her dresses, licking and tasting her gemstones...and because it would help she imagined Ocellus with her, helping her get into a dress or counting her coins with her, snuggled up with Smolder's arms wrapped around her most prized possession and she wouldn't let any shame through right now, because if she did then it would put Ocellus at risk...
“Alright,” the feminine voice spoke up, and Smolder heard a slight sucking and popping sound as the clerk was pulled from the floor, the ooze around him apparently finally loose enough. “I got him, Bubblegum, you grab the dragon.”
“Grow some wings, go out the back, then head straight to the Chill Spot. Got it?” A moment of silence, then Smolder felt herself being lifted and set across a pony's back - though the hoof that grabbed her squeezed her for just a moment. It was Ocellus. She heard the sparkle of changeling magic and felt a pair of feathery wings come up from underneath her. “Comet Shine, you stay here and cover for the clerk for now. We'll be back in an hour.”
With that, Ocellus and, presumably, the other creatures were off. Smolder chanced to open her eyes just a bit, and saw Ocellus-as-Nonchalant, now with wings and lacking a horn, beneath her; a beige pegasus mare carrying the now-unconscious but also now-free-of-ooze store clerk; and two more pegasi, these one stallions. Of course, probably none of them were actually pegasi, but instead more of those strange creatures...Smolder shut her eyes and thought greedy thoughts as they all headed outside, then took to the air.
Smolder risked another glance and saw that they weren't flying particularly close together, and her own head was relatively near to Ocellus'. With distance and the sound of wind and beating wings, Smolder decided to risk some noise. “Clerk's gonna be fine, we should run,” she murmured, hoping it was loud enough.
Ocellus shifted Smolder on her back. “Nonchalant,” she said back. “We have to help her.”
Smolder disagreed, or at least disagreed with the timing - now they had a clear enemy who had actually attacked them, and knew where that enemy was based, and also knew that Catrina wasn't acting alone. Nonchalant's earlier plan of an army of changelings swarming the place was actually looking to be a pretty good one in hindsight, a fact that Smolder was sure she and Ocellus would be lectured about at great length by the older changeling. Nonchalant could be rescued as part of the swarming. But Ocellus wouldn't agree - and there was nothing Smolder could do to change her mind. She was certain of that, too.
They came in for a landing in an alley behind the Chill Spot, a building done up to look like a giant ice cream sundae - but entering through the back revealed a place that looked more like a day spa. A Sundae spa, Smolder supposed. Ponies were weird. Ocellus and her entourage encountered no actual customers as they quickly made their way through the halls, though, Smolder only briefly peeking through heavily lidded eyes. It wasn't long before they'd entered a sauna, though the steam that would normally occupy it was absent and the heat had faded. The quartet and their prisoners made their way over to a stone bench, with two of the creatures that looked like ponies being enveloped in pink fire for a moment and transforming into earth ponies. They then pushed the bench aside, revealing a steep set of stairs going down.
Oh, I don't like this...Smolder thought alongside her greedy thoughts of her hoard and her Ocellus. “Bubblegum” had no choice but to descend down the steps, though there was good news in that one of the creatures had to stay behind to close the door over again.
There was the sound of more changeling magic, including from beneath Smolder, and she found herself lain on the back of something with short fuzz and a soft carapace - Ocellus had taken on Bubblegum's true form. She suddenly stopped in her trot, however, freezing in place.
“What?” Some new male voice demanded.
“N-nothing,” Bubblegum's voice said. She felt Ocellus tense beneath her. “Just wasn't expecting to see your ugly mug.”
There was a hiss...but not really a changeling one. It was more sibilant and deeper and...draconic? Smolder wanted to chance a look, but if whatever Ocellus had seen had made her stop cold and then need to cover for herself, Smolder guessed she'd find it surprising too - and then she'd be exposed, and expose Ocellus too, probably.
There was a presence in front of Smolder and Ocellus, claws scraping at the floor. “I wouldn't be saying that when you failed at the task I gave you.”
Uh-oh. Whoever Ocellus was talking to was apparently in charge. Smolder thought even greedier thoughts, trying to keep her worry down.
“It's not my fault,” Ocellus said in her defense, now affecting a meek tone. “They saw through me somehow! Must have known Nonchalant better than we thought. But the changeling doesn't know anything, I didn't drop my disguise, so she'll just think that some other changeling attacked her and Smolder - we're not exposed. Maybe if I had more backup, though - ”
“There aren't enough of us, and they're a couple of teenagers.” Smolder felt a hand - a hand, not a hoof - close around one of her horns and lift her head, presumably so the hand's owner could look at her. A thick, heavy tail hit the ground in annoyance. What was this creature? “You got one of them. As long as Gitta gets the changeling, fine, it's enough - you can just go without your fix for the day. If Gitta comes back empty-clawed...three days.”
From beside Ocellus and Smolder, one of the other creatures let out a low hiss. “That's cold, Rep. Bubblegum did get one of them - ”
“It's a learning experience.” The male - apparently named Rep - thunked his tail against the ground again. “Who is this pony, why did you bring me a - no, you know what, doesn't matter. Take 'em both to the holding cells.”
“Is the other changeling there?” Ocellus asked first.
Rep snorted - again, a draconic sound, not a changeling one. Why was a dragon working with...? “'The other changeling'.” Rep said mockingly. “No, we cocooned her and Catrina brought her downstairs to the mirror. Once she wakes up, the Princess will make her offer. After that...it's up to the Princess.”
With that, the sound of Rep's footfalls indicated that he was walking off, and so Ocellus got moving herself. Smolder again tried to amp up her greedy feelings to shield her whirling mind. Okay, so these creatures, whatever they were, definitely had Nonchalant. But what was that about a mirror? What kind of mirror? Like, some kind of magical mirror that let you talk to creatures? That's definitely what it sounded like. They'd also learned that there apparently weren't a whole lot of these creatures, whatever they were, which was good news...Smolder risked opening her eyes again. She'd expected to see some kind of dark and dank cave, an underground lair, but instead this just looked like what the basement to the Chill Spot should probably look like: doors marked as containing various supplies or machinery, tubes in the ceiling that looked well-maintained for carrying water. It was even fairly well-lit. The creatures had only repurposed the place, it seemed, not created a whole new lair. That was good.
Also apparently Catrina was styling herself as a princess? That was a level of arrogance Smolder's inner wyrm could almost appreciate.
The 'holding cells' were actually cages in a large side-room that looked like it might have once been a massage parlor. Smolder was placed in one, and the genuinely unconscious clerk in another. Once they were locked, one of creatures that had accompanied them spoke up. “ You can stay and guard them.”
“Wh...but...oh, come on!” Ocellus-as-Bubblegum objected. “I make one mistake...”
“Pretty sure calling Rep ugly counts as another. If anything keeping you here might be doing you a favor.” With that, the other creatures left, closing the door to the room behind them.
Smolder opened her eyes and stood up in the cage once the door was closed. She began melting off the ooze covering her hands and feet with her fire immediately. Ocellus' own reaction was just as rapid, turning back to her true form and falling onto her haunches, both forehooves at her heart and breathing heavily. “I - can't - believe - you - talked - me - into - this!” she exclaimed, hooves going to her mouth now as she tried to stifle her own breathing.
“Hey, I wanted to fly away once we were sure he'd be fine!” Smolder objected from within her cage, pointing at the clerk now that she was free of ooze bindings. She then poked at the lock to her cage. “Uh, by the way...?”
Ocellus needed a few moments more of hyperventilation, which probably wasn't good, but there was little Smolder could do without breaking the lock. The key to it had been left behind, and eventually Ocellus had calmed down enough to seize it in blue, stuttering telekinesis. She missed the lock a few times, and Smolder finally grabbed the key from the air and did it herself. She immediately came over to Ocellus, wrapping her in as tight a hug as she'd ever given her, rubbing the carapace along the base of her gossamer frill where it was thinnest. Ocellus returned the hug with surprising strength of her own for her natural form.
“B-b-by the way...” Ocellus finally stuttered out, “The...the c-creature in charge, Rep...he's l-l-like a dragon version of these creatures. A dragon-changeling. Holes in his arms and legs and tail and wings. And...and I saw a griffon-changeling too, instead of feathers it had all these little tiny gossamer scales, plus I think Gitta is a griffon name...”
Smolder pulled away from Ocellus, looking at her. “You, uh...wanna tell me anything about what changelings get up to on their off-time? Why are there so many hybrids running around? Together?”
Ocellus shook her head, apparently still too frightened to be embarassed. “I d-don't know! I didn't even know hybrids were possible - you knew more about hybrids than me!”
“Only because of Nonchalant!” Smolder countered. She growled. “Speaking of, what's this about “Princess” Catrina making her an offer, you think? And a mirror?”
“I h-have no idea. Wh-what are we gonna do? I...we need to help Nonchalant, I'm sorry, Smolder, I didn't give you a choice but we can't just let these hybrids do...whatever they're gonna do to Nonchalant! Rep talked about a fix, what if...what if they want to get her addicted to something, control her? What if that's how Catrina's controlling all these hybrids? They still need love, they're not Reformed, but we know Catrina can make false love and...and...”
“It's okay,” Smolder said, “it's okay, we'll...think of something.” She glanced over at the store clerk. “Whatever we do, we'll have to leave him here. They're not going to hurt him, we know that, so he should be fine.”
Ocellus shivered in Smolder's grasp. “Y...you'll have to stay behind too,” she said. “I can shapeshift...I can sneak around easily, turn into a r-rat or something. But you...you can't.”
Smolder's grip on Ocellus tightened. A million objections came to mind, each harsher than the last. “What am I supposed to do, just sit here?” She growled. “And I promised I'd stay beside you the entire time we were in Tiatarta - ”
Ocellus shook her head. “We're going to be breaking our curfew anyway, there's no way we'll make it back to the Nook in time at this rate. And...” Ocellus shifted. “We'll be safest...safest if I'm on my own. I'll be safer on my own, at least right now. I know you want to protect me, but that's how you can do it.”
“Or we can just try and escape. Leave Nonchalant for now, go back to the Nook, get the changelings there, swarm this place. Nopony will blame us, nopony will blame the Nook when there's all this working against it. It won't put anything that the Nook is trying to do at risk - ”
“There isn't time!” Ocellus insisted. She hugged Smolder tightly. “Please, Smolder, please, Nonchalant is in danger. And I know, I sound just like I did on the beach, but please...”
Smolder felt the changeling's fuzz acutely, felt the surprising warmth beneath her carapace...and also wetness on her chest. Ocellus had tears in her eyes. Ocellus wasn't intentionally trying to emotionally manipulate her this time, though - use her for her own ends. Saving Nonchalant really was this important to her...and she was right, Ocellus had all the skills and abilities needed to help right now, to go out into the Chill Spot's basement and find Nonchalant without any creature knowing what was going on. Smolder...she was a dragon. She could bite and rip and tear and burn if need be, but that was it. She wasn't sneaky under the best of circumstances.
Smolder pulled away from Ocellus slightly, looking down into her gem-like, multifaceted eyes. “You're more important than Nonchalant, okay?” Smolder said. “If you find her, great. If you can help her without risking yourself, okay. But don't put yourself in danger. Run straight back here if you're spotted or found out or whatever. Please.”
It may have been the first time in her life that she'd ever actually said that word. Ocellus nodded, licking her lips - Smolder could only imagine the cacophony of emotions coming off of her that Ocellus was smelling and tasting. “I will, I promise,” the changeling swore. Smolder let her go, and suddenly felt incredibly empty as she did. But she backed away and got back into the cage, Ocellus closing the door over and maneuvering the lock on it so it looked like it was closed, without actually locking it.
The two teenagers stared at each other a moment. “Good luck,” Smolder wished at length.
Ocellus smiled weakly, then went over to the door to the room. She spared a final glance at Smolder, then ducked out. And Smolder was alone.
The average dragon lifespan, barring injury or illness (though dragons almost never got sick), was measured in centuries, and even living a couple millennium wasn’t unheard of. They also were solitary creatures by nature, at least once they reached their wyrm stage of growth, preferring to keep their own company more often than not. The mind and psyche of a dragon was naturally adapted to this. For all the fire that blazed within them, dragons were by nature patient. They didn't grow bored easily and were normally adept at sitting still and doing and even thinking nothing, a sort of inner peace and quiet normally attainable by other creatures only after years of ascetic living.
And yet Smolder was finding it impossible to enter such a state right now. Physically, she was lying on her side, apparently unconscious to any outside observer. She had her eyes open but could close them quickly enough if anyone entered the room. Mentally, however, her mind was roiling with emotion an thoughts.
The wyrm within Smolder, the titanic orange dragon that she would one day grow into, was demanding to know what she was doing, how she wasn't tearing through this place with tooth and claw and flame to find her Ocellus, place her at the center of her hoard like she was supposed to be doing with anything she truly valued.
And the tiny teenaged Smolder was glaring up at the wyrm and trying to explain why. How Ocellus wasn't a thing, she was a person with her own desires, how saving Nonchalant was so important to Ocellus. How she was outnumbered and Ocellus was genuinely right now safer on her own, without Smolder. And how if Ocellus really was her greatest treasure, her best and closest friend, then Smolder wouldn't put that at risk by denying Ocellus what she wanted, needed, to do.
None of that was literal, of course. There wasn't really some ancient dragon lurking inside Smolder trying to tell her what to do; that would be ridiculous. She wasn't crazy. But between the ebbs and flows of Smolder's desire to go out and seize Ocellus verses the knowledge that doing so would be a bad idea, it sure felt that way.
She tried to distract herself by remembering the day she’d had with Ocellus, the hours they’d spent in the Luna Bay, chasing each other, wrestling, floating, exploring. Smolder hadn’t really gained anything from it other than memories...but memories were like the best kind of hoard. They could be held on to forever, were completely unique, and were never at any risk of being lost. And every one of those memories was of Ocellus...
She’d almost managed to sink into something like draconic absence of thought when there was a noise at the door. Smolder closed her eyes just as it opened, though she risked waiting long enough to see what entered. It was one of those hybrids, a pony-changeling one with deep red fur and chitin and a dark golden mane.
Smolder heard nothing for a few moments as she focused on her greed, her want. “Bubblegum?” The hybrid finally asked. “For the Princess’ sake...” The door closed, but Smolder heard shuffling - the hybrid was still in the room, moving up to the cage. Smolder heard a sharp intake of breath, then heard changeling magic. After several more seconds, a hoof prodded Smolder’s tail, the part of her that was closest to the cage. Smolder tried not to react, but after a few moments the hybrid placed Smolder’s tail under his hoof and pressed down, hard.
“Ow!” Smolder exclaimed, reacting quite naturally as she flailed her tail, getting it out from under the hoof, then spun around on all fours, wings flared wide and glaring at what looked like a regular, unreformed changeling drone. Smolder did her best to look confused. “What’s going on? Who are you?” She demanded.
“Where’s Bubblegum?” The hybrid asked instead of answering. “The one that brought you here?”
Smolder snorted fire, and the hybrid backed away from the cage. “How should I know?” She demanded, shaking her head as though she was clearing it. She glared at the hybrid. “Why aren’t you Reformed?” She’d probably ask that question if she thought she was looking at a real changeling. Smolder focused on her very real anger.
The hybrid’s eyes narrowed. “Not every bug abandoned Chrysalis.”
Smolder wondered if that was true in general, even if she knew it was a lie in this case. “What kind of a changeling name is Bubblegum?” She asked.
“It isn’t.” The hybrid looked around the room - looking for signs of a struggle, maybe - but of course found none. He looked back to Smolder, then stepped back away from the cage, over to the door. “Well, I guess I’ll be keeping you company then, dragon, at least until Bubblegum gets back.”
Smolder shifted. “What are you doing?” She asked. “What are changelings doing in Tiatarta? Is Chrysalis here, is she starting some kind of new Hive? What’s it got to do with Catrina and love-poisoning the Nook’s changelings?” Smolder knew the Chrysalis part wasn’t true, but the hybrid didn’t know she knew.
The hybrid smiled maliciously. “Well, since you’re going to be silenced anyway, I might as well tell you.”
Smolder didn’t need to be a changeling to smell the sarcasm coming off of the hybrid. She snorted, crossing her arms and falling back into a sitting position. “If you were gonna kill me you’d have done it already. And I go to Twilight Sparkle’s School of Friendship. I saved the world a few months ago. You think you can just make me disappear, or replace me with a changeling? You think my friends won’t notice?”
The hybrid didn’t falter in the slightest, which worried Smolder. In truth, she was pretty sure about what was going to happen: Catrina was going to brew up some kind of mind-control potion or memory-wiping one. That Rep hybrid had said that there weren’t many of them, but the real Bubblegum had said that there didn’t need to be. If Catrina could really just brew up anything she wanted with the right ingredients in the proper proportions...
Of course, Smolder could flash-boil any liquid that got near her, and didn’t need to breathe and so couldn’t be forced to swallow if she didn’t want to. She’d honestly love to see Catrina try to drug her. It would not end well for the Abyssinian, nor any of the hybrids.
“You know this isn’t going to end well for you,” Smolder said. “You didn’t get Ocellus. She’s probably back at the Nook, rallying the bugs there. They’ll come to Tiatarta and find me, and find you. I’ll bet she watched you bring me to...wherever this is. She was training to be an infiltrator, you know.”
The hybrid scoffed. “The Nook isn’t going to be a problem for much longer, not now that we have...” he trailed off, and grinned wider, “...no, I’ll keep that as a surprise. Let’s just say that soon the Nook will have a new leader.”
“Chrysalis?” Smolder made a show of guessing, as long as the hybrid wanted to keep looking like an unreformed changeling.
“Huh, got it in one. Chrysalis is downstairs with the Princess. She’ll probably agree to help us.”
Smolder had started to laugh, but froze. “Wait, what?!” She demanded before she could think better of it. “Chrysalis is really here?”
The hybrid’s eyes narrowed, tongue flicking out. After a moment, he flashed pink, returning to his true form. “That shouldn’t surprise you...and this form should! I knew it. What did you do with Bubblegum - ”
Smolder acted quickly, diving forward and shoving the cage door open, throwing the not-really-locked door wide as she exhaled fire at the room’s door before the hybrid could go for it. He hissed as he stumbled away from the fire, but unfortunately for him that only brought him closer to Smolder. She was on him in a moment, throwing herself across his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, squeezing. Just like Bubblegum had, he tried to give himself strong pegasus wings to get Smolder off of him, but she was ready this time and just adjusted herself so that her knees pinned those wings to his barrel.
Gradually, his flailing became weaker as his brain was denied oxygen. He soon collapsed to the ground, and after a few more seconds his eyes fluttered closed. Smolder released him immediately, checked to make sure he was still breathing, and then got off of him. She stared at the hybrid in confusion. “Why didn’t you turn into something else?” She asked. “A snake or something...or a dragon...that’s what Ocellus would have done...”
Smolder shook her head, getting up and lugging the hybrid into her former cage, closing the door and actually locking it. “You guys are only half-changelings. Maybe you’re bad at it? Whatever.”
Smolder turned around, looking at the room’s door, flexing and unflexing her claws and beating her wings. Okay, she was pretty sure that the hybrid hadn’t been lying about Chrysilis being here, and that was officially a Bad Thing. It sounded like Chrysalis wasn’t directly involved with the hybrids, not if she was downstairs and would “probably agree to help” them...
...wait. The hybrid had said Chrysalis was downstairs with “the Princess.” With Catrina, as Smolder understood it. And Rep had mentioned that Nonchalant was going to get an offer from Catrina. She was probably “downstairs” too. But Nonchalant was just some changeling, maybe a skilled infiltrator, but why would Catrina care to reach out to her? Why would Catrina even bother to try? Especially if she could cut a deal with Chrysalis instead?
Unless...Nonchalant was defensive of Chrysalis, her rule, how she’d acted. She seemed to pine for the old days of the Hive. Knew things about changelings that no other changeling seemed to know. Knew things that only the Queen of the Changelings could really know.
Because she was the Queen of the Changelings. Nonchalant wasn’t real. It was Chrysalis, had been Chrysalis the entire time...and Ocellus was looking for her. She was out there right now, looking for Nonchalant, not understanding that there was no Nonchalant, that there never had been. She was running towards Chrysalis.
Smolder roared - or she started to. But even as she opened her mouth and felt the greatest conflagration and the loudest roar she’d ever exhaled ready itself in her belly, there was an explosion from somewhere else in the Chill Spot.
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BOOM.
Not much else to add at the moment.
That should be Smolder, not Ocellus.
Well well well, things are coming together quite a bit, though we're still missing a few of the central puzzle pieces.
Did the Map understand and take into account ALL these threads? I've never really been clear on just how much the Map "knows".
Ya dang tease.
Well, Smolder's figured it out, but of course she hasn't thought about the implications beyond 'ocellus in danger'. Hopefully that explosion has more to do with Ocellus finding out than the situation managing to get even worse, besides the gang of half-changeling cronenbergs and the battle alchemist controlling them.
EEEEEE, Cliffhanger! Dangit!!!
SO AWESOME! I can't wait to see everything come to a head!
Have to wonder why Chrysalis being there was supposed to not be a surprise. It seems unlikely that someone would assume that Chrysi was sharing who she was.
Ooooh! This is interesting...
Smolder, you've got a lot more than fighty power as a dragon. Between your fire magic and greed magic you'll be set! Of course, you don't actually know those magics, but that's beside the point!
And now he's figured out the truth. Lets see what happens now...and who just arrived to complicate the situation.
With Chrissi, I do remember a bit from a different show with a master shapeshifter. "If I wanted to kill you I wouldn't turn into a silly little bear. I'd turn into an aircraft carrier and crush this whole base."
Ahhhh, these dang cliffhangers! You're torturing us with marvelous content. This is the work of a true villain. Obviously, you're bringing the climax of the stories conflict about with increasing threat, action, and suspense. So, well done on the pacing. Also, excellent depiction of Ocellus doing her best to make it through as an infiltrator. I'd say they would have figured her out better given the slip ups and knowing she's a changeling, but I think they probably underestimated her due to her age and assumed inexperience.
Can't wait to see what this mirror is after waiting a few chapters to see what the deal is.
9963779
E V E R Y T H I N G
I especially like, despite Smolder's repeated comments throughout the story how "dumb" she is and how everyone else is better at school than her, that she's shown to be quick thinking and far smarter than she gives herself credit for, like figuring out the Chrysalis/Nonchalant thing.
I need moar!
Excellent work!
Awesome! Can't wait for the next chapter!
Hopefully Chryssie will appear again soon, she has some Catrina ass to kick most viciously.
'They could be held on to forever, we’re completely unique,' - were
Very interesting chapter. Think it could've used some more...comparative anatomy of whatever types of Changelings these are when Ocellus took their form though. Feeling out a bit of what they're like more since she is it right now. Other then that really nicely moved along the characters and got us more forward in story terms. Hope the next chapter is soon. Can't take constant cliff hangers.
Argh! So many questions...
Damn, great reasoning at the end there, Smolder. Hell, I liked the plan overall. Quite clever of the two. Also, Rep's here. And not quite the voice of reason he was in G1.
I spotted two typos.
Should be 'sundae'.
Should be 'breathe'
9963869
More that the entire idea of replacing a changeling with a changeling is so completely insane that nobody bothers to protect against it.
Okay, so we learned quite a lot. So time for some theories! Spoilered, just in case I'm right.
1: It looks like Catrina has some kind of drug that can turn creatures partially into changelings... or maybe the more doses you get the more of a changeling you become. Could this be what happens to a creature that is exposed to the artificial love, with it's being both addicting and transformative?
2: Chrysalis did destroy all the witchweed, Catrina's supply is coming through a magic mirror. It's been established in the comics (you mileage may very on how canon that makes it) that there are a number of mirrors and other worlds. Including at least one flipped universe, with evil princesses and good King Sombra.
3: The princess is probably one of the evil princesses, helping Catrina get a foothold in order so they could take over (or to just rub salt in the wound the good version of Chrysalis from that universe who Catrina has tricked). My guess is evil princesses as I doubt even good Chrysalis would give up the witchweed.
4: If 2 & 3 are correct, do not destroy that mirror, Celestia is REALLY going to want it!
9964499
i'll up vote this. Even if I think it is completely insane to not think that the changelings the changelings are picking on would not just sit still and take. Even though that is exactly what they have been doing all this time. It is almost like the changelings don't think the Reformed are capable of shapeshifting anymore. They really need Chrysalis back. Some backbone needs to be inserted into the changelings.
9964660 Or, the hybrids are coming from the mirror in a universe where the horrid cherngelerngs won and have used up all the creatures capable of producing love. They tried to survive by hybridizing, but all it did was make fuzzy love-hungry bug monsters. So now the survivors are invading this Equestria to get more food-slaves, with Catrina's help.
And the Princess is one of the alicorns who in the other world is a cherngelerng, probably Cadance.
At that's what I'm getting from the clues and Chekov's Guns lying around.
And we’re now at the part of the story where the heroes realize who “Nonchalant” truly is. I wonder how they will react to her new form?
Smolder: “ Hold on! I was hugged and fawned over by Chrysalis!
Eeeeeeeew!
9964925
It's been repeatedly pointed out that there was no crown for Chrysalis, no version of the Season 2 finale where she came out on top. Actually seeing the world where the invasion was "successful" and completely failed to solve her stated problem would be a nice extra kick in the nonexistent pants for "Nonchalant"...
9965798 Analytically, Chrysalis' open invasion was suicide, no matter what. Her entire changeling race numbered in the few thousands, and they clearly don't reproduce that quickly.
So, they'd take over Canterlot… and then what? The entire world would quickly be alerted to their existence. Suspicion would be everywhere, about everyone. One of the races would eventually come up with an easy test to discover them ("The Thing" blood test comes to mind!), and every ling found would be immediately killed. There's only one Chrysalis, and she can only protect a small area at one time. So she'd be reigning with supreme power in one place, while everywhere else bugs would be getting squished and the entire planet's worth of enemies would be seeking the means to destroy her.
Not to mention, she'd STILL have to face Tirek, who was free from Tartarus and would have drained her magic in a flash.
So, there was no way for her to win with that idiotic invasion plan. And the less said about the off-screen 'victory' at the end of Season 6, the better. That was just lazy damned writing to set up the plot with zero explanation. Even had to hand her a McGuffin (anti-magic throne, which somehow doesn't affect changeling magic... because?) to keep Discord (or even Starlight Sue) from curb-stomping her instantly.
If, on the other hand, an alt-universe version of her was cunning and coy, she could infiltrate every civilized species little by little and build up her numbers until they could overwhelm the rest. If they could hybridize as well, so much the better. Their population of pure and hybrid lings would increase exponentially. Victory would then be only a matter of patience and timing.
Interesting , really interesting . While I have nothing special to say other than some parts of this chapter were oddly funny , it definitely was great , I take back my comment about you not keeping suspense , I have no idea what is going to happen next , Kudos for that.
I finally found the perfect love song for Smolder and Ocellus!
Right, so Saturday was...interesting, let’s say, and Sunday I had gotten so little sleep the previous night that there was no way for me to focus on anything. Still, response time! And then I should have a new chapter for everyone later today, or sometime tomorrow at the latest.
9966252
Not bad! I do like Annie Lennox. That being said I think Smolder would probably prefer something more active.
9966236
Well, as a minor spoiler, we will be returning to our regularly scheduled Chrysalis.
9965922 9965798 9964925 9964660
I take the numbers of anything we see on the show loosely, personally, otherwise the entire pony population would number, what, like a couple thousand max? Generally I presume it’s just the limits of the medium. That being said these are otherwise very good analyses of the situation Chrysalis faced and the information available to everyone right now.
And hey - one of you pretty much nailed it.
9965074
Probably with hindsight, but I think her immediate reaction is “MINE!”
9964777
Ecdysis wants to build a Hive that is in every way a total rejection of Chrysalis. The problem is that simply as a matter of course Chrysalis must have, while running the Hive for a thousand years, made generally good decisions.
9964499
Kind of funny, when you think about it. Reminds me of a comment from one of the Star Wars RPGs thst exists out there. Races with natural telepathic abilities should make excellent spies...and as a result they actually make terrible spies, because everyone knows that they’re telepathic and so expects them to be spies.
9964474
Nah, I took some liberties with Rep, much as the show changed the nature of the Smooze and Somnambula and Scorpan and Tirek and the like. That being said, just as with Catrina, this is Rep, not three raccoons in a trenchcoat.
9964452
The next chapter should have answers.
9964444
I think I’ve been reading too much Starscribe.
9964383
Read the “most viciously” bit in a Keanu Reeves voice, which only makes me want to write my set-during-Season-8 The Young Six and Cozy Glow’s Most Excellent Human Adventure story more.
9963984 9963862
I like characters with layers. Smolder sees herself as a typical dragon, even though she’s anything but.
9963930 9963779
Yeah, the Map is powered by the Plot. Normally I don’t like such Doylist explanations for anything in a story, but that’s literally the only possible way to explain it. It just works. Or at least it currently works. Whether or not that will continue to be the case by the time Pharynx gets through with it...
9963869
I’m going to be honest...the mirror and everything around it is probably going to be the weakest or most controversial or disliked part of this story, or at least it has the potential to be. But, much of the plot of this was cribbed from an RPG I wanted to run, and I felt that the players would need a suitable final climactic challenge and threat if they actually made it this far. That being said as well, this story isn’t really about the mirror or whatever’s connected to it.
Personally I like what I’m going to do with it and I think it’ll be a lot of fun, and that it’ll fit the story. But some might not. We’ll see.
9963855
The hybrid was in the form of a changeling at the time, and was under the impression that Smolder thought that he was just a normal changeling. She’d also already suspected out loud (as part of her pretending to not know about hybrids) that Chrysalis was involved in this somehow.
So when the hybrid mentioned Chrysalis was downstairs and Smolder reacted with genuine shock and surprise that she was actually here, it was off - if she didn’t know what was going on, or if she already knew that Nonchalant was really Chrysalis, then Chrysalis being nearby shouldn’t have been a surprise, or at least not that much of one. Her non-reaction to the hybrid assuming his true form cinched it.
9963793
Things can always escalate.
9964291 9964017 9963754
Thanks for the comments!
9970326
Yes, and I am very glad it's actually Rep and not like the shit they pulled in the finale with Grogar.
9970326
Can't wait.
9970326
Ah well, back to the drawing board then...
Hope things get a little more sane for you, can't wait for the new chapters.
9970357 9970342
Sanity was restored Saturday night (or really, Sunday morning). I’m guessing you probably missed the Kaleidoscope incident? Consider yourself lucky.
9970326 I take the changeling population as what we saw in the show. Chrysalis and her brood are now utterly confirmed as the SOLE changeling hive, meaning what we saw was all there was.
They had enough to invade Canterlot, which isn't even the biggest city in Equestria (looks like Manehattan is)… and go back to the episodes which showed off a wider view of that city. It's quite large. It must have hundreds of thousands of ponies (if not more). Changelings were outnumbered in the hundreds-to-one just by Manehattan alone.
And the map of Equestria shows half a dozen more major cities.
No, outside of fanfics with a zillion changeling hives everywhere, the canon is quite cemented now that Chrysalis made a titanic tactical error with her tiny population.
9970364
Oh, I’m not disputing that the changelings are outnumbered by ponies by a significant margin (the prey always outnumber the predators), and yes, all changelings were under Chrysalis’ control, there were definitely no other hives (Chrysalis wouldn’t tolerate their existence). I’m just not using the specific count of changelings we’ve seen as being the actual, in-universe number. Within the context of this story there’s probably tens of thousands of changelings - but tens of millions of ponies, with Canterlot being a relatively small Equestrian city due to its construction but still a city.
If I had to put together Chrysalis’ overall plan...having seized Canterlot the idea was probably to replace and imitate the population and governance and slowly spread out from there, with ideally nopony realizing what was going on. Having seized the beating heart of pony civilization, they could use missives from the “Princesses” to keep any response off-balance.
Just a guess at the logic behind it. I’m not saying it would work...but Chrysalis probably viewed her other options as:
A) Cull the Hive down to a more manageable population;
B) Create nucs, offshoot Hives; or
C) Expose the changelings and beg for aid
None of these would appeal to her. Additionally, we’ve seen in the comics that Chrysalis seemed to target and consume independent city-states. It’s possible that with the rise of fast travel and communication and the subsequent rise of large, connected nation-states instead of smaller realms with single power centers, she was just trying to adopt a strategy that had always worked in the past to changing times.
My point being that I can see how Chrysalis could rationally reach the decision she did without it necessarily being because of “stupidity”, but rather a mix of arrogance, desperation, and a desire to not appear weak.
Some parallels to the Japanese decision to attack America actually come to mind...
9970363
I missed it completely. I've only just bumped into a few comments about the whole thing, and it looks like a thought experiment gone wrong. Somehow Nazis are involved, too?
What does stick out to me is Aquaman spamming you with a weird song in the stories you commented on.
9970416
To explain myself: what the Quills & Sofas group did looked like a spam attack at a glance. When I checked the actual stories and saw they were all different, and by authors I recognized and not false flag accounts or the like, though, it became obvious that it was not technically a spam attack by site rules - but by posting seventeen stories with identical images, titles, and short descriptions over the course of two hours then it certainly looked like the intent was to skirt/subvert site rules. It was a stunt that was annoying as Hell to watch unfold, particularly when I put myself in the shoes of some author just trying to publish a new story and seeing it get drowned by this okay-it’s-not-spam-but-is-it-really-that-much-better stunt.
It was inconsiderate as all Hell, contemptuous of the feelings of others. I don’t think that the group was trying to deliberately troll or maliciously attack anyone, I just think that none of them stepped back to think. If they had, they would have realized how badly this was going to backfire and how negatively it would be received.
So in the first published story I wrote up an explanation of why this was a bad idea, that if anyone had stopped to think they should have realized this, that how things that seem like a good idea among a group of friends don’t necessarily hold up when touched by the outside world. I used a Magic: the Gathering analogy, it was polite, it was negative but it was by no means me ranting or raving. Then my intent was to go into each subsequent Kaleidoscope story (by this point there were like eight posted) and put in a comment that was distinct, yet still conveyed the same idea, and linked back to that original comment.
So in other words, I was responding to their technically-not-spam with technically-not-spam. Quid pro quo. To me it felt like a proportionate and fair response to the stunt, a valid way to criticize it. No, I was not reading or judging the individual stories, but the Q&S group had chosen not only to be storytellers, but stuntmen, and so I was leveling criticism towards the stunt.
Now here’s where things get bad for me. First, I am actually skating on relatively thin ice concerning spam on this site already due to the whole Third Wheel series stuff from months ago. That’s why I went out of my way to make sure that what I was doing would not technically be spam either. But also...
1) The Quills & Sofas writing group is run by GaPJaxie.
2) They also have a Discord.
3) Wanderer D had become aware of the Kaleidoscope thing, investigated it, and blessed it (by both confirming it was allowed by the rules, and by saying that he was going to find amusing what he anticipated would be a flood of reports from frustrated users).
To stress something: my response to this stunt had nothing to do with Jaxie. There’s been a number of previous contest stories that I’ve read, liked, commented positively upon, and favorited; for example, Da Doo Ron Ron was great and I said as much to the author. I know full well that Jaxie runs the group but I don’t believe in guilt by association.
Anyway. So, the first reaction of the group to my not-spam response to their not-spam stories, in their Discord, was vitriol. Mostly based on who I was rather than what I was saying, with Jaxie linking back to Another Road and then the group basically deciding that what I was doing was a malicious attack aimed at Jaxie rather than a response to the stunt, and so coordinating/encouraging a spam response, viz., what Aquaman did (which I’m fine with - don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk). Additionally Wanderer D - still in the group’s Discord - took a moment to comment that I wander from place to place complaining nonstop about anything I don’t like.
He’s entitled to his opinion (though if that were remotely true then I’d have long ago made an ass of myself in every Fall of Equestria fic rather than, y’know, never having interacted in any way with any of them). But that comment plus his earlier blessing seemed to basically convince the group that he was on “their side”.
So Syke Jr. took the time to show and flaunt that Wanderer D was on their side (which is how I leaned about their Discord, found the public link, and went there incognito to see what was going on and thus learned about all of the above) in his own story to me, and Jaxie took a moment to say to me “I win”. Presumably, the idea being that since the group thought what I was doing was a malicious spam attack and since I was already on thin ice about spam, Jaxie thought Wanderer D was going to ban me.
Also there’s at least one user, Fluttershy Whisperwing, who thinks that the only reason why any of the Kaleidoscope stories got any kind of downvotes or flak from any users was because I somehow orchestrated a mass negative response to it. It’s...kind of neat to be at the center of a conspiracy theory, I guess? Seems like it’d be easier to accept that this stunt was just a stupid idea.
But anyway, since Wanderer D had expressed a fairly negative opinion of me and since he did appear to be favoring the group I basically spent all of Saturday night/early Sunday morning expecting to be banned for what, to me, would have been ludicrous reasons.
Fortunately me and Wanderer D and a few other users more-or-less all met up in a blog post by the user Iisaw (since deleted) and hashed things out, so I’m fine. Wanderer D just acknowledged that no, what I did wasn’t spam, but also asked that I don’t do that again. He also recognized that he could have responded to this better by not preemptively brushing aside the concerns of frustrated users.
But yeah, that was my weekend. The main things I learned aside from “maybe skirting spamming rules isn’t a good idea even if it’s a response to the skirting of spamming rules”, was:
1) Jaxie seems to think I’m a lot more obsessed with him than I actually am, and also encourages others to think that way;
2) The Quills & Sofas writing group as a whole (if not any individual member) really needs to think about the rest of the site and not just themselves (I can count on one hand the number of members who have actually said “this was a mistake” rather than try to justify or excuse it or say they don’t care about what the plebs think); and
3) I may be at the center of a vast conspiracy designed to throw shade at Jaxie. Which would be news to me.
9970397 Well, we also need to look at other details. Chrysalis clearly hadn't accounted for large number of ponies OUTSIDE Canterlot who'd be able to see the swarm of black flying things blatantly attacking the city, breaking down the shield, rather obviously invading...
I think my point is that Chrysalis' rationale for the invasion plan was anything but logical. Hell, as I've pointed out often, she was shocked she'd become powerful enough to face Celestia head on. Meaning she HAD NOT planned for that. But her plan had been to invade during the wedding... so she'd have had to face Celestia (and the plot-conveniently absent Luna) for it to succeed... so what on earth was even her plan?! She made no mention of using captives as a bargaining chip, so that's out.
Frankly, this outline appears to have been her entire plan: (read this in The Critical Drinker's inebriated tones from YouTube)
1. Enter Canterlot by posing as Princess of Pinkness. Huh... you know, I could sneak a ton of my bugs in there the same way. Nah, it'll be fine!
2. Shield... why? Whatever! Have Shiny keep it going for reasons.
3. Beat down the shield with my bugs. Wait, doesn't Shiny have something I could have him do about that? Eh, screw it.
4. Defeat the super-powerful Alicorn Princesses somehow... I'll come up with something on the fly, I guess. Whatever, fuq everything!
5. Profit!
It was literally that bad of a plan.
9970547
Well, for one thing, her facing Celestia head-on probably wasn’t part of the plan. It only happened because the real Cadance had shown up and spoiled everything. Presumably Plan A was that Celestia would be overwhelmed by the Swarm when it arrived, or else Chrysalis would backstab her at a convenient moment. Or a combination of both.
I think Shining Armor kept the shield going of his own volition; as big as Chrysalis’ control of him was, it wasn’t total, she couldn’t make him to drop the shield. What she could do was drain his stamina so that the shield would be easier to break.
9970574
I always just figured the invasion invasion was plan B the whole time. Plan A was just be Cadence, kiss babies, eat love, infiltrate thoroughly.
Keep the princess of food alive because food.
Bring in the drones if it looks like the queen is in danger, otherwise wait for the heat to die down and replace more subtly. She strikes me as the kind to stack the odds when it comes to personal protection.
She's surprised she beat Sunbutt because that was kind of a longshot, but then she's riding high on gloating; that's a pretty nice trophy to hang on the wall.
I figure Luna got lured off with a fake emergency elsewhere, and the shield was an unintended side effect of Equestria reacting to that.
It's been ages since I've seen the episode, and I've read literally dozens of headcanon takes, though, so I could just be blowing smoke.
9970599
I think Faust said that Luna actually was in Canterlot, but slept through the invasion. Which is silly, but, this is a kid’s show, so I can accept it as the canon explanation even if for a more serious fanfic I’d rather invent some other reason.
Luna sleeping through it did result in one of my favorite pieces of fanart.
wallpaperup.com/uploads/wallpapers/2013/07/26/124334/278ff24e168edfe29566f437caf07e80-700.jpg
9970615
I mean, that's a whole untold story in itself.
"Okay, our adopted niece is getting married, which means the whole rigamarole and runaround of a royal wedding, all the bells and whis-"
"NOPETH, GOTTA SLEEP!"
"Lulu, it would mean a lot if you could at least put in an appearance-"
"SLEEP TIME STARTING NOW."
"Okay, the Gala I can understand, but this is a lot less obnoxious-"
Loud, fake snoring
Celestia_scrunchy_face.gif
9970518
Oof. That's quite the mess.
And a little disappointing, if they'd really engaged in what looks like (to an outsider) a fair bit of cronyism.
9971016
By no means should you take what I typed up there as the gospel truth. If you feel up to it I encourage you to ask around if you're curious or want a second opinion on any of it.
Well, this sent me off on a trip down memory lane, at the end of which I accidentally got my mind blown.
See, I was watching clips with Rep, when I happened to try to look up his voice actor. I was getting frustrated because it kept pulling up a songwriter by the same name, Paul H. Williams. Turns out, there's a reason for that.
Rep, apparently, wrote the Three Dog Night songs Out In the Country and An Old Fashioned Love Song, the Carpenters songs We've Only Just Begun and Rainy Days and Mondays, and Rainbow Connection. Motherfucking Rainbow Connection.
The hell was this guy doing as a kid's cartoon villain?
10003035
Because Paul Williams is a giant (err...metaphorically--he's 5'2") troll. He played the Faustian villain in the classic Phantom of the Paradise, and did the voice of the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series.
But he also wrote all the songs to Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, so I can't stay mad at him.
Or as a dragon would put it, hatch an egg.
While looks like the secret is mostly out the bag,and thing's are about to go wild.
That moment of dawning horror and realization at the end there came across really well.
Took you long enough to figure it out! Chrysalis was being screamingly obvious.
A very exciting chapter, with an exciting cliffhanger! Found a couple of typos.
Millennia is the plural of millennium.
"and"
9963862
What is that a quote from?