Retcon

by Beige

Chapter Nineteen - Incident

Mbuuf. Aol ylhs Joptl Ilss dvbsku'a ohcl mvynvaalu oly vdu ipyaokhf.

Trailing behind a fretful Lemony and a surprisingly-worried Sky, not that it showed in the white unicorn’s expression, Retcon stepped out into the large open room. Sensing the apparent seriousness of the situation, she had kept her head low and her mouth shut since they had left.

The room was abuzz with strong emotions drowning out any nuance she might’ve read, but it seemed along the lines of what she was getting from the two mares she had been following. The sensation was cacophonous, and it made her skin crawl and head hurt.

Already seated at the huge round table was Shower, glaring intently into the distance. Beside her was a fuchsia-coloured unicorn with a two-tone purple mane, as well as Misty Fly, who glanced up as the three of them walked in. Gurney has been pacing near the table, but had stopped as they approached, his binocular gaze fixed on Retcon with what might have been no small degree of apprehension.

The fuchsia unicorn raised her head, frowning at Retcon. “Who’re you?”

Retcon blinked. Whatever was going on must have been serious to stir up such strong emotions amongst the ponies, so she kept her response short, bypassing pleasantries. “I’m a changeling.”

The newcomer ogled her for a few seconds, before turning to Sky. “Oh right. Should it be here for this?”

Sky took a cushion. “Lemony, your call,” she stated curtly.

Lemony glanced over at Retcon with a surprised expression, but Gurney beat her to the response. “If it’s the same to you, I think she should stay.”

Lemony nodded in assent, appearing distracted. Feeling very self-conscious, Retcon gingerly took a seat next to Gurney, with Sky, Misty Fly and several empty seats between her and Lemony.

What’s this got to do with me?

“Alright,” announced Sky when everyone was seated, “we have a major problem. A lavastone has been brought into downtown Canterlot and activated.”

Retcon reflexively grimaced, her ears flattening, as she felt a cold spike of dread. On a hunch, she glanced over at Lemony, who was staring wide-eyed at Sky. Misty Fly seemed to notice Retcon’s reaction, but said nothing.

Sky nodded at the fuchsia unicorn. “Sparkler, all yours.”

Sparkler cleared her throat. “It’s in a residential building, Pineview Avenue. Somehow the idiot managed to get it all the way home before it got set off. The house has been locked down by the Canterlot Guard and neighbouring building evacuated, whole street is cordoned. It was damn lucky I was in the area before the Guards started bumbling in.”

“How did they get a lavastone all the way into the middle of Canterlot?” Lemony asked in a quiet voice.

“No idea. The one who brought it isn’t in a state to talk.”

“What did you tell the Guard?” asked Shower, a flinty look in her eyes, though undirected.

“That the buildings next door needed to be cleared, and that under no circumstances was anybody to go within fifty feet of the building. They took me seriously after I said I was with the R.I.I.”

Shower nodded. “Did they ask why?”

“No, I think they got the picture. Smelled it too. I came here after they set up the cordon.”

“How many casualties?”

“Only one known so far. Rusty Nails, earth pony, male, owner of the building. Apparently lived alone, thank Celestia.”

“Um,” Retcon piped up, “what’s a lavastone?”

Shower’s expression softened slightly. “I’ll explain later.”

“It’s a particularly nasty cursed artefact,” Gurney explained. “When it’s activated-“

“We don’t have time,” Shower snapped. “It’ll take too long and lead to follow-up questions. We should be talking about how we’re going to contain it.”

“She needs to know,” rebutted Gurney.

“I’m with Shower,” said Misty Fly. “Sorry Retcon, but there’s a time and a place, and this is important.”

“Just humour me,” he insisted.

Shower scowled, turning away from Gurney. “Tch. Be quick.”

Gurney nodded curtly, and turned to face Retcon. “A lavastone is an artefact with a curse bound by runes carved into it. When activated, it will set ablaze the fur or hair of any living thing within range.”

Retcon blanched. “Like… on fire?”

“Exactly. If it has hair follicles, it goes up in flames.”

“Wha- Why?” she floundered.

“See, follow-up questions,” muttered Shower.

Gurney ignored her. “Why they exist can wait. Lavastones are, thankfully, extremely rare. Lemony-?” he prompted.

Lemony jumped in her seat, having been staring off into the distance. “Oh, um, yeah. Runesculpting is an ancient craft of magic. It was first developed by the griffons, and was outlawed in Equestria around… twelve-hundred years ago. Never saw wide-spread use, but misuse could be… pretty bad. You’re forcing magic energy through a spellform, and that energy is going to flow even if your spell is malformed.” She grimaced. “We’ve found them before, sometimes around certain ruins, usually inactive. Never in a city…”

“This is the first time,” muttered Sky, seemingly to herself.

“Alright, so what do we do?” asked Shower. “It’s in a built-up area, and it’s live. Usual containment won’t work. Sparks, how long had-“

While the conversation continued, Gurney leaned closer to Retcon and spoke softly, “Dormant lavastones are activated by contact with a pony, specifically. After that, its range is around 20, 30 feet to begin with. Ponies, griffons, anything with hair or fur, if it gets too close, it’s toast. Unicorns have it worst; a lavastone will summon fire at the unicorn’s location if their magic aura enters the radius, even if they themselves are far enough away. That makes them particularly rough to deal with.” He paused, glancing up to listen to what Sparkler was saying, before continuing. “Usually, we wait out an active lavastone. Lock the immediate area down, set up surveillance, dump some nullite on it to drain its magic faster. They’re usually safe by a year, year-and-a-half, whenever the runes stop glowing. After that, we can get close enough to seal it.”

Retcon nodded slowly, feeling queasy. I thought the Grav Destab sounded bad. Turning back to the ongoing conversation as Gurney leaned back, she noticed Sky watching the two of them, her expression inscrutable.

“…could maintain a water morphic spell around someone, give them a snorkel, and walk them in. We’ll just have to seal it while it’s active,” suggested Sparkler.

Misty Fly raised an eyebrow. “You can maintain a spell that big for long enough?”

Sparkler blanched. “Maybe… not by myself. With two or three of us, we might be able to hold it….”

“What about the Princesses?” asked Lemony. “They could hold the spell-”

“We’re not putting the Princesses anywhere near a lavastone,” stated Sky. “This idea is unfeasible, the morphic spell would necessarily get too close to the stone. Anypony holding the spell would be dead, and the spell would drop.” Sparkler scowled, cursing under her breath. Sky turned her glare on Gurney. “You have a thought?”

Gurney frowned down at the table. “The spell ends as soon as you leave the radius, right?” He shot Retcon an apologetic look, then turned to Sky with a serious expression. “Why don’t we send in Retcon?”

A chill went down Retcon’s spine. The emotions in the room twisted suddenly, making her feel dizzy.

A dangerous edge entered Sky’s glare. “Explain.”

“Well…” he gestured lamely in her direction with a wing. “Changelings don’t have fur.”

After a stunned pause, Shower piped up, “Wait, what about the…” she patted her mane, “… and the tail?”

“Both are membranous constructs. Changelings drones are completely hairless, not even so much as an eyelash. It’s something I was looking into to trace their phylogeny. Only the Queens have the capacity for hair, having both a mane and tail, though whether it's made of the same material is another matter. Drones…” he glanced at Retcon.

Sky was looking off into the distance, seemingly somewhat stunned. Everypony else was staring right at her. The emotions in the room were still too loud pick out specifics.

Retcon raised a forelimb into the air. “Um, I have fur.”

Gurney winced. “Ah, yeah, I mean your…” he rotated his wrist, “… native form.”

The dead-eyed creature with the huge teeth.

“No no, I’m not becoming that thing,” she said, shaking her head.

Dead silence, as they kept staring.

Then-

“That could work,” muttered Sky.

“Hey, woah, I’m not doing it!” she insisted.

Sparkler shot a glance at her colleagues before speaking up, “Wait, why not?”

“Because I’m not doing transforming!” Retcon flared her wings. “I’m staying like this.”

“So you’ve nev-… But you’re a changeling.” The fuchsia unicorn frowned. “That’s what you do!”

Was the room getting smaller?

“Retcon, look at me,” said Shower calmly. “I get it. I get why you don’t want to change, and we’re not going to force you to choose-”

“Good.”

“-but there are lives on the line,” she emphasised. “There’s a cursed artefact in the middle of the capitol city. It’s killed one pony, and we need to contain it before it kills again.”

“…I- ... I can’t! You don’t understand, I don’t want to lose this,” she gestured at herself. “I don’t know how to change, what if I can’t change back!?” I’m not gonna be that bug thing. I might not think like me anymore.

“Hey, of course you can change back,” said Gurney soothingly.

“But what if I can’t!”

“You can. I’ve got all the notes, remember? Changelings don’t need a template or anything to transform, though that helps. You could invent a form out of whole cloth if you wanted.”

“It’s true,” Shower interjected, “that face wasn’t somepony else’s, you made it up. Once you learn, you can change back.”

The griffon smiled disarmingly. “If you do this, I’ll help you with learning transformation so you can get back to normal as soon as. Deal?”

...

Her mouth was open awaiting words to respond, she glanced from face to face, all looking right at her.

...It’s not that simple, is it? Could I really just turn back? ...I don’t know how hard it is though, what if I can’t get it right?

...Just 'what if's...

I don’t want people to get hurt...

...but I don’t want to lose myself.

The walls were definitely closer than they should be.

This is all I am.

“Retcon, look at me,” said Sky. She turned to face the unicorn. “Take yourself out to the courtyard.” Her tone wasn’t unkind but brooked no argument.

“Huh-, why?”

“You need to think, and you won’t do it in here. Go.”

Shower nodded at her encouragingly.

…Yeah, okay. She got unsteadily to her hooves and, uncomfortably conscious of all the silent attention on her, turned and cantered down the hallway.

---

Retcon took a deep breath as she burst through the large doors to the outside world. She closed her eyes as she slowed, feeling the cool late-afternoon breeze through her mane and wings.

What do I do, what do I do…

For the past two days, she had pushed any thought or notion of attempting to shapeshift. It wasn’t a welcome revelation; she had had great difficulty trusting the world around her after she had first awoke with no memory, and her only rock throughout that had been, by necessity, herself. She knew she could trust herself, because her own mind was the only thing she truly knew.

When she had discovered it was all a lie, she had rejected as much as she could of the creature she used to be. Food was a concern because of the ever-worrying creep of hunger, but the blank-eyed, fanged beast… it was something she refused to associate with herself. It was something from her past, erased with her memories. Something she should forget about.

What she may have been before that point, didn’t matter. If she didn’t remember it, it wasn’t real. She was an olive pegasus, with a forest-green mane. When she looked in a mirror with her golden eyes, it was her face she saw.

She saw herself.

It was why she pushed away the very thought of shifting; it was something alien, something she shouldn't have. Maybe she would be able to turn back again, but… what if she couldn’t? Did she have to picture every detail exactly? What if she couldn’t do it, what if she could only find new forms but never return to old ones? What if she could only mimic other ponies, and the shape was borrowed? She could never get it back. Those had been her rationalisations; it was too great a risk, that it wasn’t even worth thinking about.

She would never change. That had been her decision. If the chance existed that she could lose her whole identity, then she would excise it from her mind.

She blinked hotly, grimacing as her vision started to blur.

The problem of course was that she knew exactly what the right decision was. She just wasn’t sure she was brave enough to take it.

The rustling amongst the tree branches increased as a strong breeze blew through. It always felt… so alive out in the open.

…

…Maybe she should do it anyway. This body of hers… it may be how she viewed herself, but it wasn’t what she was. Maybe she should be honest with herself? If she wanted to learn about who and what she was, maybe it was the only way?

And Gurney said he’d help teach me… She lifted a forelimb, inspecting the olive fur. I might be able to get back to this after, maybe. I don’t think he was lying, but could be mistaken. How could I know?

She huffed, lowering the forelimb. Would I even want to change back to this? For all I know, the way I think changes as well. Help changelings fit in better if acting like a pony isn’t an act.

…

…Somepony died. I could… stop the same thing happening again. She smiled sadly, choking back a sob as her eyes watered. I could go to Canterlot… do something to make up for that stupid Invasion. Wouldn’t that be cool…

Shutting her eyes again, she took a long, shaky breath through her nostrils, holding it for a brief second even though her chest threatened to convulse.

…Was I there…?

…Maybe that’s what I was running from.

“Retcon-?”

“Ack!”

Retcon jumped in the air, wings reeling, as she wheeled around. Standing behind her, a look of shock on her face, was Lemony. “Yeesh… You made me jump.”

“Uh, sorry,” said Lemony, looking at the ground. “Listen, I just came to say we need you to decide soon.”

Retcon nodded, and turned away, watching the wind play through the leaves of the trees. “…What happens… if I don’t?”

An acrid emotion played at her senses, filling her with guilt at the question.

“Misty’s gone out looking, but… dragons aren’t all that common among ponies. Like, at all. If she can find one soon, and if they can be convinced,” Lemony’s tone didn’t indicate confidence, “then we’re in the clear. Problem is, they’re not really known for it, but dragons can and sometimes do grow hair, and… well, they are dragons, but with magic fire, we’d need to run some safety tests first.” After a pause, Retcon heard a light sigh. “With a lavastone that’s just been activated, it’s going to be at least ten months before it’s even worth checking in on it, and the whole time, the nearest houses would need to remain empty, and the airspace directly above strictly monitored. If anyone gets too close to the house in that time… It’s doable, but in that time it could so easily go wrong.”

She liked watching the trees.

“No one outside of us even knows what a lavastone is anymore. Not even the Royal Guards. Runecrafting… it’s something that should stay forgotten.”

The leaves were such a nice shade of green.

“…Retcon?”

Sniffing, she turned to face the pink unicorn. “Hm?”

Lemony looked at her, worried.

“Just… can I have a minute?” asked Retcon. “…Just a minute…”

Lemony seemed about to say something for a moment, but instead just nodded shortly. “’Course.”

Retcon tried to smile.

“Pecorino.”

She blinked. “…Huh?”

Lemony was frowning to herself. “Next time you do carbonara… maybe try pecorino for the cheese.” Lemony looked her in the eye, emotions whirling. “It was very nice of you though. Thanks.”

Retcon’s smile became less false. “Yeah.”

With that, Lemony turned and trotted back inside the facility.

Retcon watched the trees in the wind.

Comments

[Generico]

Mbuuf. Aol ylhs Joptl Ilss dvbsku'a ohcl mvynvaalu oly vdu ipyaokhf.

says

Funny. The real Chime Bell wouldn't have forgotten her own birthday.

when put through a Caeser Cipher.

[DIRKWITHAGUN]

if they make her do it (which they already basically are), i'm going to be very upset D::::

[RoboRed]

Mbuuf. Aol ylhs Joptl Ilss dvbsku'a ohcl mvynvaalu oly vdu ipyaokhf.
Funny. The real Chime Bell wouldn't have forgotten her own birthday.

Welp, there it is. I called that one way or another she was going to need to tap into her transformation ability in this story and now the situation has presented itself.

That is, if she wants to go through with it. Also I wonder if that decoded message is at all related to a future situation where she does go through with it.

[Beige]

10696967
There's a link which connects the encoded messages. There was a breadcrumb a few chapters back if you looked at the message the right way which, going by the comments, I'm not sure if anyone spotted

[Balloon Adrift]

Intriguing question. Wonder if she was really there in Canterlot for the invasion.

This is a pretty good bit of body horror, and not having a true grasp on your body and being derived from some gross creature that you don't want to be. Good stuff.

[RoboRed]

10696988
I guess I'll have to go investigate it later.