Chapter 11: The Rescue
"A runaway train is bearing down on five people. You're standing on the platform next to an enormously fat man. Pushing him into the track would stop the train."
Teenk. Tunk.
Ocellus stares numbly at the grandmare clock. It had been silent. Dead silent. She'd been in the gallery before, sat before this very clock as her illusions fell apart and she realized the truth.
The grandmare clock had stared back at her, watching without a tick or a tock.
Teenk. Tunk.
A shiver tickles the flesh under her chitin.
The clock started ticking the moment she put Pride into her saddlebag. The instant she had taken possession of it safely. There was no question anymore; the clocks were reacting to her.
Are they an alarm? A warning?
A countdown?
The gallery fills with a cacophony of deterioration-- sounds reminding Ocellus of the grinding of rocks, the crumbling of dry leaves, the sloughing of a mudslide. The way out between the curtains bricks itself up, the ebony bricks spilling out to form a fireplace. At either end of the gallery, picture frames grow, devouring their neighbors as they become new archways, the paintings collapsing in streams like melting wax.
Teenk. Tunk.
The far archway leads into an empty sitting room decorated in ugly spider-print wallpaper. The near one reveals a guard room teaming with two full patrols. Several of them see her and shout to the others.
Ocellus dives for the painting at the end of the resin arrow, slamming her hoof on the moon button. The guardian drones have just started for the archway when the void wall washes down.
Ocellus turns to Yona. They need to get moving!
Teenk. Tunk.
The yak is a heap of hair and sorrow on the floor. The taste of Yona's love is gone. Her pride has collapsed, crashing down into self-pity. Ocellus feels a spike of panic. Sandbar and Yona have never talked about it, but their friends all know what happened at the Treehouse the night of the Amity Ball. Yona does not handle the feeling of failing her friends well.
Ocellus flies to her, nudging the yak gently with a hoof. "Yona. You need to get up now. Please, for me? We need to go."
Teenk. Tunk.
Yona's wet voice floats up from beneath the hooves hiding her face. "Ocellus deserves better friend than Yona."
Teenk. Tunk.
Ocellus closes her muzzle. There is no good response. Agreement -- not that she would ever agree -- would just reinforce Yona's self-hatred. In Yona's state, the nymph knows denial would likely be seen as Ocellus degrading herself. At best, that would just make Yona angry. Worse, it could come across patronizing. Neither would be productive.
Ocellus knows what will motivate her. And it kills the nymph to resort to it. She's already been so horrible to her friend, so manipulative, that sinking this low crosses every line that school has taught her.
"Yona," Ocellus pleads, "You have to come with me. If you don't, they'll capture you again."
Teenk. Tunk.
"Maybe that best." Yona's self-flagellation permeates every word.
Teenk. Tunk.
Ocellus puts on a cross expression. "Sandbar doesn't deserve that," she scolds. Every word feels like she is stabbing herself in the heart. "If you don't make it home, he will feel horrible! He'll miss you, and never have gotten to say goodbye. He might even wonder if you didn't follow me because he did something wrong. Don't do that to him."
Because the one thing guaranteed to get through to someone drowning in guilt is even more guilt. Ocellus empathizes with Yona's self-loathing. She's never been so ashamed to be herself.
Teenk. Tunk. The minute fork moves again.
Yona's hooves drop from her face. "Yona hurt too many friends," she says, getting up. "Won't hurt Sandbar too."
Ocellus leads Yona out, unable to look her friend in the eyes. The clock continues to tick.
"That was dirty trick," Yona finally says.
Ocellus watches the darkened hallways shift like a sliding puzzle, waiting for the side passage that will take them out of the ever-changing maze. At Yona's words, the nymph hangs her head.
"Yona understand why," the yak says after a long pause. "Thank you for not giving up on Yona."
Ocellus raises her head and looks back, giving her friend a weak smile. Her heart feels heavy, but the sound of Yona's voice sounding like her voice lifts the nymph's spirits a little.
Spider-print wallpaper peels from the walls with the sound of bandages being ripped off.
Ocellus tastes a nebulous whiff of emotion from her friend that she fights to analyze. She suspects concern. But it could just as easily be thankfulness, or half a dozen other things.
A hall bench splinters, collapsing in on itself.
Ocellus feels a flash of frustration. She can sense love in all its forms and variations, and she is adept at recognizing love-adjacent emotions -- anything that love plays a significant element in, really. But a step or two removed from that, and it was like looking at a shadow and trying to guess who it was.
The walls behind the wallpaper crack, collapsing in on themselves like an imploding fractal.
Ocellus smirks inwardly, considering how easy it would be to recognize Smolder's shadow as Smolder. Or Yona. Or Gallus. Not so easy with Sandbar. And as with most of her friends, some emotions were a lot easier to guess correctly than others, if generally by their context.
Whatever Yona is feeling is not so easy to determine. Especially when Ocellus cannot be sure if Pride has compromised the emotional framework of her friend. She cannot imagine how traumatic the experience has been. And unlike Smolder, Yona is not finding her own footing again so easily.
Carpets unfurl down into the gloom of the new passageway.
Tongues of dark adventurine seep up from the floor, wrapping about each other, twisting as they grow into standing torches. Their crowns bursting with azure flames, creating pools of cool light and darkened shadows.
The nymph peers down the new hallway, checking for any sign of drones. Or objects that might be drones. But the corridor is blanketed in darkness, the light of the torches like islands promising safety.
At the edge of one island of blue light, Ocellus spots a figure of black carapace -- a drone slumped against the wall. Asleep.
Ocellus nods her head, pointing towards the drone and lifting a hoof to her muzzle in the universal sign of being quiet. Yona nods back, the yak not needing the instruction, having fallen silent once again.
Ocellus walks forward slowly, her hooves sinking into the carpet. She doesn't want to fly. Even the beating of her wings might be loud in the tomb-like stillness.
The hallway is long and they move slowly, sliding from one pool of light to the next. Yona doesn't make a sound, and Ocellus finds herself looking back to make sure the yak is still with her. But she always is, her pained eyes reflecting the blue flames of the nearest torch.
Glumly, the nymph has to acknowledge the deeply painful likelihood that it may take weeks or even months for Yona to completely recover.
The still drone draws closer.
She wishes she could be there for Yona. The yak is going to need her friends like never before. But with a gut-wrenching sorrow, Ocellus knows she won't be. It would just mean letting Queen Elytra invade her world.
"Would you sacrifice yourself for a friend?"
Yes. In a heartbeat. The question seemed so much harder in the sunlight and safety of the Treehouse, alone with Smolder, her books and the floating motes.
Here in the cold and the dark, the question is so very easy. Her answer clear.
She stops as her ocelli catch a reflection in the dark just beyond the drone. A chasm forms in her stomach.
Yona bumps into her from behind, and Ocellus bites back a cry.
She looks back, seeing the yak's mouth open, an apology on her tongue. Ocellus waves her quiet, then motions for her to hold back.
Yona stops before she utters a sound. But continues to follow, seeming oblivious to the nymph's instruction. Together, they approach the slumped figure.
Ocellus feels her blood freeze.
The light of the torch glints off one of the empty moonsilver needles on the shadowed side of the corpse.
The walk back feels awkward and damaged.
Yona hasn't made a sound since the dark hallway. The large yak walks slowly, letting Ocellus set the pace. The cold and the sepulchral quiet only makes it easier for the nymph to lose herself in her own troubled thoughts.
On top of lingering pain from hearing her friend's use of "leeches" and "bugfriend", the direct threat to her hive by Queen Elytra, and all the horrible things she had to say to get Pride and get Yona to move, now Ocellus is haunted by the dead body of a drone.
There had been three empty needles. He had destroyed his own... eye.
"Ocellus?"
Ocellus only realizes that Yona has stopped walking altogether when her friend's voice calls to her from halfway down the hall. She turns in alarm, and is relieved to see only Yona. No attacking drones, no collapsing architecture, no royal jelly.
The nymph lifts off the carpet, flying back towards the yak, chiding herself for not paying better attention.
The yak looks up at her as she approaches. "Yona not think she better than her friends."
Ocellus immediately wants to say "I know that" -- to assure and comfort -- but the words catch in her throat.
Yona has a lot of pride: in herself, in her culture and in her people. None of that is bad. And it is a big part of who Yona is. But it is also why Yona and Pride worked so strongly together. How Pride was able to affect her so efficiently. Ocellus knows Yona is too smart not to realize these things herself. If Ocellus just tries to ignore that or blow it off, she may give her friend comfort now only to cause her more distress later. Putting all the blame on the anti-Element will fall apart under the light of Yona's introspection. And it will only cause her more pain if she believes Ocellus lied to her to spare her feelings.
Instead, Ocellus just nods.
She lands in front of Yona, reading the regret and nervousness in her friend's posture. Yona is staring back, searching for some sort of response. And that nervousness is mounting as Ocellus remains quiet. But the nymph is taking a moment to put her thoughts together. Like composing an essay for class; it is importing to say things right.
"Pride can be either good or bad, Yona," Ocellus says. "Your pride, usually, is a very good thing. But the magic rock grew that into something monstrous. That's not your fault. And I know that isn't how you really feel when you're not under the influence of an anti-Element."
Yona blinks. "Magic rock?" she asks. "But... Yona was like Cozy Glow said Yona is."
Ocellus immediately knows what her Yak friend is thinking about. Just before the Tree of Harmony tested them, Cozy Glow tried to undermine their friendships. Everypony know YAKS THINK YAKS ARE BEST! Making friends with any other creature must seem like a step down.
Even then, Ocellus could tell those words had hurt Yona. But Yona was the only one who didn't become quarrelsome or agitated with her friends because of Cozy's manipulations.
Ocellus also knows that Cozy Glow had been comically wrong in her attempts to manipulate Smolder -- she tried to play on the disdain she was so certain the dragon must have for cuteness and cute creatures, only to instead trigger Smolder's self-consciousness about liking cute things. Did Cozy Glow misfire with Yona as well? Ocellus now suspects that Yona had been worried that her friends might think she looked down on them.
Ocellus is quick to assure her otherwise. "You proved to all of us, and to the Tree of Harmony, that you aren't like that."
Yona's smile -- as well as the emotions that delight Ocellus' tongue like caramelized mushrooms in a garlic and brown sugar sauce -- tell Ocellus her guess would have at least gotten passing marks.
They begin to travel once more. The earthy taste of Yona's love becomes muted and muddied by other tangential emotions as the yak again falls silent.
After a few minutes, Ocellus turns to her friend and prods. "Yona?"
In response, Yona stares at the floor, looking despondent. The yak takes a deep breath, then lets it out shakily. "Friend Ocellus touch magic stone but not become like monster."
There is an aching pause. The yak lifts her head, her eyes wet. "Friend better than Yona?"
"NO!" Ocellus backs up in surprise and alarm. "Oh no no. I..."
She had touched Pride. Ocellus had resolved to grab the anti-Element and shove it in her saddlebag as fast as her body could move. Minimum contact, moving swiftly with intent to prevent Pride from sinking its darkness into her. That hadn't worked. The moment she took Pride in her teeth, she had felt... something. Something potent enough to make her stop, but foreign enough to keep her from losing her wits.
Ocellus sighs, hanging her own head as she lands. "No Yona. I think it didn't affect me the way it did you because I don't have enough of my own pride for it to corrupt. But that's not because I'm better than you," she insists, looking up into Yona's large, olive eyes. "The complete opposite of that. My lack of pride is unhealthy."
Yona stares at her, clearly mulling that answer over before asking, "Magic rock not make monster because Yona's friend sick?"
The nebulous taste from before was back again. It was definitely concern.
Ocellus feels relief as she flies into the final hall before the Throne Room and can hear Smolder and Gallus talking. Her own emotions are such an awful and muddy mix that she is looking forward to distracting herself with their banter.
Yona walks behind her as she flies, the yak having fallen silent yet again. This time, her quiet no longer seeps with despair, but Ocellus can tell she is a little reluctant to see her friends so soon after behaving the way she did.
Not only is she ashamed, but the nymph suspects Yona is worried about what she might tell them.
Ocellus intends on telling them nothing. Well, nothing about anything Yona said or did. Just that she has Pride now. And some of the things Queen Elytra said. But nothing personal. She has far too much of her own to keep her mouth shut about.
Smolder's voice echoes in the empty hallway, reaching them long before they are at the door. "I hate to be that dragon, but have you actually seen Luna?"
Ocellus slows, surprised. Her ears perk up.
"I've heard her," Gallus' voice follows, carrying well in the grave silence that fills the hall. "She talked to Ocellus through a broken mirror while we were escaping the fire'ling. Why?"
Yona smiles. "Yona hear friends." The sound of their voices has dispelled some of her gloom.
But instead of racing to the Throne Room doorway, Ocellus has slowed down.
A cheap clack. A soft squeaking sound.
"Drat," she hears Gallus say. "Your turn."
"Okay, good." Smolder's relief is audible.
Ocellus hears the griffon's signature snark. "You were worried she was only in Ocellus' head, weren't you?"
The changeling nymph stops. She lands, turning to better hear.
Smolder pointedly doesn't answer, instead asking, "So why has she never talked to us? I mean, I get not doing so when I was under the effects of Greed..."
Clack. Squeeakie.
"Score! ...I can't believe you made them squeak like that."
Yona has walked past Ocellus, but now she stops, looking back at the changeling questioningly. "Why friend stop?"
Gallus's voice greets their ears. "You know Pinkie will love it. As for Luna, I've got a theory on that. You're not going to like it."
Silence from Smolder.
Clack. Squeeakie.
"I think she thinks we're changelings."
Ocellus' mouth falls open. What? That... but...
Smolder manages to voice one of her "buts" better than Ocellus can think it.
"But isn't this place warded?"
"Yeah," Gallus replies. "Against enemies. Not against changelings. Otherwise, how could Ocellus get in? Your turn."
Yona walks back to Ocellus. She lowers her head and ask quietly, but with a hard tone, "Why we eavesdropping on friends?"
Smolder's voice carries. "Y-You don't think Ocellus thinks that, do you?"
No! Of course I don't! I know you're not!
Fortunately, Gallus speaks for her. "Ocellus can taste our love," he points out. "Luna can't."
But Luna knows I can, Ocellus thinks. She knows I wouldn't be fooled.
"Of course, I could be totally wrong here. I've been wrong a lot today. But if I'm right..."
Then Luna doesn't trust me.
Smolder sees Ocellus the moment she steps into the room, her eyes lighting up. The dragon had been watching the door. Without taking her eyes off the nymph, the orange dragon girl excitedly calls to Gallus. "Ocellus is back!"
Gallus turns from examining the oil painting, a grin spreading across his beak at the sight of her, safe and apparently sound.
Ocellus steps aside, Yona walking in around her.
"YONA!" Smolder and Gallus cry out her name.
Yona takes the slightest step back as her two friends rush to hug her.
"It's good to see you, you smelly yak!" Gallus laughs.
Yona stammers. "Yona... happy to see friends!"
Their friends let go of the yak, each flying back an arm's length. They look to each other, then to Yona, wearing expressions of confusion and concern.
"You don't sound happy," Smolder points out.
"Yona, are you okay?" Gallus asks.
Yona backs up another step, rubbing one foreleg with another and looking at the floor. In a tone of heavy shame, she admits, "...Yona found strange magic rock and became monster."
Gallus' and Smolder's eyes widen. Then Smolder replies dryly, "Tell me about it."
Gallus nods sympathetically, "Yeah, Smolder found one of those, then tried to devour me."
Smolder glares at Gallus.
Yona looks up at her two friends in surprise. She stares, words failing her. For a moment. "...okay, Yona not that bad."
Smolder humphs. "Gee, thanks a lot."
Yona smiles. It is a frail smile, but a genuine one. Ocellus opens her receptors and tastes the love flowing within the friendship between them. An orchestral symphony of flavors melding into a delicious overture of taste.
Yona's love abruptly vanishes from the symphony. Ocellus looks at her, feeling a prickle of alarm. The yak is frozen, her eyes wide. Ocellus immediately knows where those eyes are staring. She remembers doing the same.
As the yak trudges toward the ogee arched window, staring out at the wasteland beyond, Smolder flies over to Ocellus. The dragon stops short of hugging to take in her state. Smolder makes a pained hiss. Ocellus doesn't need to taste what is coming off Smolder to know she is worried.
"I'm all right," Ocellus says, waving off the concern. "I'll be okay."
Smolder doesn't buy it, and shoots her a scolding look for trying to sell it. "Yeah, because that look in your eyes belongs on a creature who is all right. You look like Professor Fluttershy would a week after a forest fire."
Ocellus flinches at the metaphor. She doesn't want to talk about any of what she is feeling. Especially not her personal epiphany in front of the (then silent) grandmare clock. At least not here. Not now.
But the dragon staring into her won't let her just hide. So Ocellus does what she did earlier at the treehouse. She finds a substitute problem to sacrifice in place of her real ones.
Ironic, now that she thinks about it, how her sacrifice then turned out to be intimately connected to the problem she was avoiding talking about.
"We found a dead body," Ocellus tells Smolder. The young dragon cringes back at the news. Ocellus can hear the ruffling of feathers as her words draw Gallus' attention too. "A drone. It looks like he... over-needled."
Gallus' eye twitches. "Oh, I did not need to hear that."
"Yikes." Smolder lands, taking Ocellus by a foreleg. "That's... no wonder you look beaten." She bites her lower lip, her eyes flicking briefly to the side before returning to stare into Ocellus' face. "I don't suppose there's anything we can do to help."
Ocellus shakes her head.
Gallus lands next to them. "Okay, I know you want to save them all, but please tell me you're not blaming yourself."
Ocellus shakes her head again. It is a fair worry to jump to. She feels a little better knowing there is at least one web she didn't fly into. She puts on a smile, knowing it must look as weak as Yona's, and changes the subject.
"I bring gifts."
She loves how Smolder can't help but perk up, a smile sneaking onto her muzzle. Gallus merely raises an eyebrow.
"For you," Ocellus says, giving the griffon the royal jelly sprayer. "Since you lost your last one."
"Joy," Gallus snarks, taking the gift despite his feigned disgust. "Another vomit cannon."
Smolder looks at him and the sprayer, finally having visual context for his comment back in the dungeon. "Ah." The orange dragon gives him a cheeky smirk. "It suits you."
Before Gallus can retort, Ocellus pours out the moonsilver needles. The griffon goes rigid. "Ocellus..." he says warningly.
Ocellus shoots him a cross look. After what she just told them, can he really believe she would be tempted?
"Break these down with the columns," she tells Smolder. "Use them to create whatever you wish. Go nuts with gemstones."
"Almost anything," Gallus corrects for Smolder's sake. "You're going to need one for them to use as an example. Unless you have schematics for gemstones in your backpack." Gallus stops talking with the look of someone who knows he gave the wrong answer in class.
Ocellus looks to Smolder and notices she is not wearing her backpack. None of her supplies are with her.
"Yeeeeah," Smolder drolls. "My stuff didn't survive what I became back there."
Gallus pulls off his saddlepack. "Here. You can use mine as a blueprint. It won't fit like your pack, but the straps are adjustable. I bet you could make it work."
The conversation is interrupted by a fifth voice.
"Ocellus!" Luna calls out, emerging within the blackness of the Grand Mirror. "It is good you and your friend are safe. I'm afraid there is not much time..."
Ocellus nods. She predicted as much. "By taking Pride," Ocellus reveals, "I took Queen Elytra's food source."
Ocellus expected things to escalate the moment the changeling queen realized that. She just hoped to have more time.
Beside her, Smolder and Gallus are staring at the mirror, actually seeing Luna for the first time.
"Whoa," Smolder breathes. Then her eyes narrow.
Luna steps up to the border of the mirror, looking at her from just behind the surface. "Just before you got back, I felt the changeling queen draw a massive amount of essence. I'm afraid she's planning something big. You have to get Wrath before she can bring whatever she is doing to bear."
Ocellus pulls out her map. Wrath is supposed to be in the farthest part of the palace, in the essence pool room just beyond the Conservatory.
"Okay," Ocellus nods. Then pauses. "But before we go, I have some questions first. Some things still aren't adding up for me."
Luna blinks. Then nods. "Of course. I'll answer your questions as best I can, but please hurry."
Gallus immediately jumps in. "Why didn't anybody check to make sure this place was safe before the field trip?"
Ocellus asks the question that has been burning in her mind since coming here. "Why are there changelings on the moon?"
Smolder demands, "Why do you only talk to Ocellus?"
Luna looks frozen. Her eyes dart around. Then, instead of answering any of their questions, she whispers, "Hold on. Something is happening..."
From behind them, Yona cries out, "Wait, YONA ON THE MOON!?"
Gallus gives Ocellus a look. "How is that not the first thing you told her?"
Luna's image vanishes from the mirror. The mirror remains black.
Smolder frowns. "This can't be good." Ocellus' heart echoes the dragon's nervousness.
Another figure emerges from the inky blackness of the mirror.
Princess Twilight Sparkle smiles brightly at the four, all prize students of the School of Friendship she built before ascending to the throne of all Equestria.
"Hey kids!" The purple alicorn beams brightly, then looks over each of them as best she can from the confines of the mirror. "Are you all okay? Have any of you been hurt? We're going to have you home in just a moment. All of you!"
Yona, Gallus and Smolder all cheer, while Ocellus blinks in surprise. "Princess Twilight?"
Gallus pumps a fist. "YES!"
Smolder calls out eagerly, "Yeah, get us out of here!"
"Yona want to go home!"
Ocellus hears Luna's voice. "Twilight?" To Ocellus' ears, the night alicorn does not sound relieved. She sounds pensive.
Twilight waves a hoof at the darkness, as if motioning for Luna's voice to be quiet. She looks to the four students, smiling once again. "Your friends, Sandbar and Silverstream, came and got me as soon as they could." She pauses, then asides, "Well, they ran to get Starlight, but I was visiting her at the school..."
Silverstream and Sandbar are okay! Ocellus feels sunlight bathe her heart at the news.
"But..." Luna's voice again.
A frown plays over Princess Twilight's face. She turns to face the source of the voice, invisible in the mirror. The Princess' tone is apologetic but stern. "Sorry, Luna. Sandbar and Silverstream heard you talking to Ocellus. And I do understand, but we're not stranding a student on the moon. We've got another plan."
Beside her, Gallus mutters, "Wait, what!?"
Smolder rounds on Ocellus, waving her arms, her voice rising in exasperation. "Was there something you forgot to tell us about!?!"
Ocellus cringes back, her ears flattening against her chitin.
Twilight continues, "The mirror portal's connection to the Throne Room is breaking down, but it is just stable enough to send one more creature through." The purple alicorn turns back to the students, her words cutting through their drama. "We're sending someone to make sure you all get home safely and to destroy the portal. Somebody who volunteered to be left on the moon."
Ocellus' gasp is just one in a chorus.
This is Princess Twilight's plan!?? To trap someone else here instead? This is the only thing Twilight Sparkle could come up with?
Twilight frowns, clearly grasping the dimensions of their surprise and alarm. "It wasn't the solution I wanted, but it wasn't my decision. It was theirs."
Luna's voice sounds again from the darkness. "No! Twilight..."
Princess Twilight turns to the source of the voice, spreading her wings. "Luna, these are the students of other nations. This was a diplomatic situation."
Even as she says this, Twilight disappears from the mirror...
...and is replaced by Thorax. "Ocellus! There you are! Are you okay?"
Ocellus feels the moon fall out from under her. The pit in her stomach grows into a great abyss, yawning infinitely beneath her.
"Thorax!?" Ocellus cries out. She feels her tears forming behind her eyes. "NO! Don't tell me you're sacrificing yourself! The hive needs you!"
Thorax blinks, looking confused. "Uh, no... We sent Pharynx. He should already be there."
The Throne Room falls into a shocked quiet.
After a moment, Smolder breaks it. "Yeaaaah, the mirror portal hasn't exactly been sending creatures where it's supposed to."
Beside her, Gallus ruffles his feathers nervously. "Uh, Ocellus?" he says softly. "Two questions. Who is Pharynx?..."
"He's Thorax' brother," she answers quickly, her voice dropping low to meet her friend's. "He was the last changeling in the hive to change. He's in charge of the security of the hive."
Gallus takes a moment to absorb that. "...and what relationship might he have with Wrath?"
Ocellus' eyes go wide and her heart drops into the chasm beneath her.
Gallus sees Ocellus' reaction and turns to the mirror. "Equestria, we have a problem."
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Oh lovely. Now we've got to go wrangle a berserk changeling. Thank you so very much Twilight.
Bright side: Pharynx is loyal to his Hive
Down side: He's most likely where ever Wrath is and has no idea what it does
The suspense is killing meeeeee!
oooh boy, Elytra's hive is in for it now.
Well....shit.
Well, this was certainly unexpected!
I'm not sure Twilight's getting involved was a good idea. While obviously I'm not for leaving Ocellus on the moon, I doubt that Twilight is familiar enough with all the ins-and-outs of the situation to get involved in a positive way ... and I think this Pharynx situation is about to bear that out. Honestly, given just how convenient it is for Sandbar and Silverstream to have somehow gotten away and to have apparently NOT spoken to Luna (isn't she still stuck in a cocoon? Why wouldn't Sandbar and Silverstream be? And even if they weren't, why wouldn't they have tried to free Luna?), I wouldn't be shocked if this was part of Elytra's plan.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm...guess who has Wrath, then?
On the upside, sending Pharynx actually does make a lot of sense. If there was anybody who could hold his own against a hive of enemy changelings, it's Pharynx, and as a changeling who's always been...not as reformed as others, he probably wouldn't have quite as many qualms about potentially losing that as some others would.
Not to say he'd be happy about it, of course--it's still a sacrifice, and everybody knows it. But, you know, Pharynx is also the sort who'd nobly volunteer for it anyway, regardless of the personal consequences.
Though somehow...I still have doubts this plan is still going to go as currently agreed, even once the matter of Wrath is resolved...
Of more importance to me currently though is those three big questions about this whole scenario that we still don't have clear answers on: Why didn't anybody check to make sure the palace was safe before the field trip? Why are there changelings on the moon? And why has Luna only focused on talking to Ocellus up to now? That last one might still have a very mundane answer to it, but it has struck me that the moment Gallus and the rest appeared on the scene, contact with Luna has been decidedly less frequent ever since, and I've been wondering if there's more to it than Luna's let on...more to everything than she's let on, in fact...
Frankly, there’s something about this situation that doesn’t sound quite right. I didn’t expect twilight to show up, and it really doesn’t feel right that it took this long. They’ve been in here for a long time now, how long does it take for 2 people to get from the treehouse to the school? Secondly, why is Luna still in the cocoon? That seems like something you’d be actively trying to fix. Also, pharynx with the element of wrath is going to be very bad. Like, bad for everyone. Gallus wasn’t even very affected by envy, smolder grew huge with greed, but she still held enough of herself to care a little bit about ocellus, and Yona still had enough of herself there to know she had friends who needed her. But pharynx took so long to change because he’s the most aggressive changeling in the hive. Hell, he probably is the closest to wrath of anybody in the whole show, at least on the “good” side. He’s gonna end up tearing the whole castle to the ground.
Oooooooh damn. This is certainly going to be an interesting situation. I agree with 10169174, Pharynx probably won't have any problem (physically or emotionally) taking down enemy changelings, but... then what? Does he actually realize what he's doing? If he ends up staying behind like he's anticipating, he'd be leaving the security of the entire hive to Thorax again, and we know how he feels about that. Combine that with the effects of wrath, if there are any residual after-effects after they take it from him like what happened with Yona... oh, it'll be baaaaad.
10169439
I think, for Pharynx, it was a case of simple threat assessment--what could do the more harm? The moonlings, or whatever threat might next square off against his hive back home? As it sounds like Equestria is back in peacetime currently and not expecting that changing anytime soon (not that one ever does, but still), the moonlings obviously present the greater concern by far.
Besides, assuming Twilight and whatever she's planning is genuine (and I'm not yet convinced that it is--her sudden appearance was entirely too convenient and abrupt), then it could be Pharynx expects to not be trapped there forever, and that those back home will eventually figure out another way to bring him safely back. He'd just have to hold out until then.
Honestly, though, I kinda have to think that Pharynx will probably prove to be the least of their problems.
10169484
Must not comment. Must not comment. Wait, does this count as a comment? Luna buck me, it does!
Uh, just ignore this! You saw nothing!
10169515
I already made that joke, but I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who caught that!
So Pharynx is going to stand in for Walter Dahl. So much for that rescue.
There is a much simpler solution: tell Discord what's going on and he can just snap every creature home; he can create portals to other dimensions, so going to the moon would be simple.
10169875
RIP castle...
Three plot coupons down, and three companions who can sit around in the throne room being safe. Including Best Companion! Because Yaks best! So, one Totem left to get, but going by the page count left, things won't be quite that easy. Also, some questions answered, but a lot more gained because someling hasn't learned that once you get the Big Bad monologuing, that's when you pump them for information about everything! She really needs to keep Gallus around.
As to the title..... The other two swoop in to save Ocellus and Yona? Or, go save the next friend from whatever they are dealing with?
Well, that's a new take on the Trolley problem. Been over that issue before but this one...... Yeah I question the physics at work here.
Okay.... that makes no sense. How could they notice that? What is triggering them? Granted, could be they are just reacting to the aura from the Totem being cut off by the lining of the bag it got stuck in. Still, Ocellus, stop just assuming based on fear or anxiety, and start looking at logic and reason!
Once again, how far from midnight is the time on the clock?
Useful, if highly convenient. But still quick thinking Ocellus.
Oh no........ time to do emotional triage and get her back on he hooves and moving ASAP. You need you tank functional. Besides she really didn't do anything wrong.
True.......
No! Yone still great Yakfriend!
Ocellus, time and a place. Right now, getting to safety is more important then nearly anything else, you say what needs to be said to get Yona moving and in stable enough condition to deal with the trauma better later. Like I said, emotional triage.
OW! Okay.. okay...... yeah, that one is a really low blow. I felt that one.....
But point still stands, triage can be messy and painful.
Damn.... okay yeah, that's just vicious.... but effective. Miiight ave been able to get the results needed a bit better, but I do get pressed for time and trying what she thinks would work fastest.
Yes, but see above.
Yaks best at understanding complex emotional situations!
Maybe not best at articulating the details about them. But best at understanding!
Why is everything falling apart? Or is it just more shifting?
Damn ponies all look so alike.....
Yeah, Dragons are at least used to dealing with Greed causing them to freak out a bit.
The most clever disguise of all!
Yaks best at sneaking!
Did you forget where you are Ocellus? Give it a week tops.
Did this one turn into darkness?
Huh, or, was it one that just died from the stabbing and injection of pure evil?
Ummmm, wow..... whiskey tango foxtrot? Also, see is 'eye' that hard to say story?
Of course not. And Ocellus knows it was Pride messing with your head. And even then, as far as Pride goes, that was one of the least horrible ways it could have come out, you still clearly cared for them and were trying to help, you just knew you were awesome. Reminds me a lot of Escanor, the Lion Sin of Pride from Seven Deadly Sins And given he's quite possibly my favorite of the group, that's a good thing.
That's a lot of anaylsis very quickly but it does more or less hold up. Yes, this wasn't ALL Pride, but at the same time, see above, you really didn't do anything wrong either. And when hopped up on Pride, you kind of were objectively stronger, tougher, and better at handling yourself in the fight then any of them. (See also the above Escanor, he really does earn his level of Pride in himself.)
Yeah, she was not as good at reading people as she thought. Skilled to be sure, but mostly when dealing with group mentalities, when dealing with ponies on a one on one basis, she tended to get a bit too general in her thinking rather then tailor things to the individual.
Yona, no offense, but.....
No, just have better Will save. But Yona have MUCH better Fort save!
And it's not about 'better' just, different.
Ain't that the truth......
Ohhhh boy is it......
Not 'sick' but, you have a general idea.
Wait, they were in the from the whole time, and Luna never showed up?
Yeah, there is something majorly wrong going on here. And I've got an idea about what that might be......
Yeah, that is odd, why that one time, and yet, why has she not said anything else to anyone? What is going on?
A very good question.
They are having a nerf fight, aren't they? Or nerf archery contest?
Huh....that is one I hadn't considered. Pretty sure they aren't given how they've acted being way to them for the moonlings to figure out that quickly. They are just too them for that to seem right.
But... how can it tel the difference and.....that raises SO many more questions.
And right to the worst case scenario as far as how others see her.
I really doubt that is the case, but something very weird is going on here.
You know.... he very well might have the most acute sense of smell of the group.
D'awwwwwww, it's great how much they care about each other.
Seriously, there's a whole club of 'got mind whammied by some magic rock/jewelry and went nuts' creatures. You'll fit right in Yona.
Pffft, see! Nothing to worry about!
No, no.... a week after thing would be starting to get back to normal. Maybe a day after.
Listen to the smart birb!
Between the flaming and nomming, I wouldn't suspect they did.
Okay, and now Luna again, with everyone here. BUT! Why does she ONLY show up when Ocellus is around? Especially when the story itself is calling this out, in a very subtlety manipulative way, making the issue seem more a lack of trust, or some other reason Luna has, then doing this to dispel those worries, but not actually addressing the curious part. Good attempt at deflecting questions about this, but doing so like this is only making me even more suspicious.
Oh fun. Fun fun fun. Why didn't you go get Wrath first?
But are they going to be the right questions?
Moon, how could something be wrong, Luna was going to be with you, and she already established the trip she wanted needed the Treehouse to work so couldn't have checked before coming there. That one at least I can understand. It's a hindsight is 20/20 thing where I can buy Luna not doing so for what were good reasons at the time and with the knowledge she had.
THIS! Is the big one!
Also this.
,,,,, how convenient....
Yes, Yona first Yak in space! A glorious day for Yakyakistan space program!
They kind of had other problems to deal with.
Ohhhh kay?
Okay, I can buy Luna having a connection to the mirrors but this.....
Yeah I'm not buying it. Not when this happens JUST in time to get Luna out of having to answer those questions.
And I really can't see her starting the conversation with 'hey kids'.
Yeah, this really, really does not seem like Twilight at all.........
What a happy coincidence.....
How? How were they around long enough to hear that..... why was Luna even talking out loud that they COULD hear? It took a while for Ocellus and Luna to talk, if the other two were free, why did they wait around that long before going to get help? How is Twilight keeping Luna out of the mirror? Why does she not sound at all like Twilight? Story, I know you are too good at nailing characterization for this to just be sloppy writing.
Ummm, kind of?
No, no it would not be. And now suddenly this? Yeah......... not buying it, at all.
And had time to gather all of them up, get them to Ponyville, while the students have been up there for only a few hours at most? You are just digging that hole even deeper. I know the story is too well written for this to be just happening for the sake of plot.
Which is something they should know. How would Twilight have been able to do this? Why would she be messing with this without freeing Luna and talking to her first. And again, JUST as Luna is pushed to have to answer some very important questions......
Not a good one. Ohhhh boy, well, this just got far more complicated...... and I'm still not buying things are even close to what they seem. First option, the 'Twilight' was Elytra taking over the connection with whatever that thing Luna felt her craft was, and this is all a trap. Other option, well...... we'll see.
10184469 I've been looking forward to this! And your comment was worth the waiting. Thank you!
I can't wait for your reactions to the next one.
....well, fuck.
oh man yona felt so bad for what she said back there dang 😢
That's a little harsh but it's the only way to get her to move so she doesn't get Left Behind
oh shut up cozy glow 😡 I knew there was something suspicious about you
Dang this is pretty heavy What's going on ocellus is really having so much mixed feelings about this and yona is still Feel ashamed for what she said and what is luna Trying to say and what is twilight is planning on and Pharynx is Sacrificing himself Just a blow up the portal but what's going on about this equestria is in trouble
.......WELL AIN'T THIS A PROBLEM.
The clocks might be reacting to her, or the anti-elements? If they were being suppressed by the anti-elements, then it stands to reason that they'd start going again once that element was gone.
Or maybe they were counting down to when the stars aligned and Nightmare Moon could be released, stopped once they hit zero, but now Ocellus' actions are turning back the clocks? (Did she check to see if they were moving forward or backward?)
I'm probably overthinking...
On the topic of Yona's self-doubt. She's surprisingly aware of the situation for someone who is so closed in on herself. I'd half expect Ocellus to tell her it's all a dream, and have it be believable. Does Yona even know she's on the moon yet?
I suppose there's plenty else she might have absorbed from Pride.
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With regards to a metaphor for smelling difficult to identify emotions. I feel like maybe smelling things works in its own right. When I was growing up, my sister would occasionally ask, "Hey, you smell that?"
Which would inevitably devolve into this back and forth of trying to figure out just what exactly it was I was trying to smell.
They say that smells are strongly linked to memories, but if you don't know it in the first place, it can be pretty tricky.
On the subject of coming across an unconscious changeling in the middle of the hallway. First I would probably expect it to be a trap somehow. But also, doesn't Ocellus have a sprayer on her back still? I'd be sorely tempted to have it at the ready in case anybuggy woke up suddenly.
... although, on closer inspection, I wonder just what they were using the moonsilver needles to do. We've seen them used in a fight, but it seems like they already had them before anyone else arrived on the moon. Seeing them being used for purposes other than attacking intruders makes me very curious what they are being used for that has nothing to do with Ocellus and friends.
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With regards to Yona and Ocellus talking on the walk back, I feel like this is maybe the first time when I really felt what Ocellus means about changing herself to fit others being a problem. Like, I don't think trying to meet people's expectations is necessarily a bad thing, or makes someone selfless, but I feel like in this case Yona maybe needed some firmness.
(To say nothing of how reductive the notion that there are simply "good people," and there are "bad people," is.)
On one hand, it's great if they can work out the problems as soon as possible, but on the other hand, I feel like if it's becoming a problem maybe someone ought to suggest compartmentalizing some things until they're out of mortal danger. Like, "Lets just assume for the sake of argument, that what happened back there was no big deal. Just entertain that fiction for a little bit longer." If only real feelings were so convenient... :P
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On the topic of wards and enemies. Kinda makes one wonder if one is helping out Nightmare Moon's schemes, when her palace treats you as an ally.
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I love Twilight's optimism. With her on the case, I wouldn't be surprised if she builds a second portal to the moon in a year or two that could rescue anyone she sent over.