CH 42 (Confrontation, pt2 and... victory?)
Patchwork
I felt actually confident for the first time since I entered the Badlands, running through the hive trying to find either C - Husk or the throne room (even though at this point I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure where it was). A few leftover changelings tried to stop me, some even fired at me on sight but I either just jumped over them or took a different route. I’ll deal with them when the score is settled.
Luckily or unluckily, while springing through a familiar area of the castle, I ran into Husk.
She was hunched over, slowly draining another hatred crystal held in her magic, and it was becoming obvious that her body, even after centuries of being powered by hatred, was not able to handle the strain anymore. The holes spread even to her mane and tail, with clumps of her mane falling off, and a piece of her horn crumbling to dust. She seemed to pay no attention to it though.
Frowning I ran at her, tossing the bracelet to the side and transforming into a triceratops, piercing her elytra with my upper left horn, and carrying her trashing and screaming form through the hallway, the hatred crystal dropping with a ‘clink’.
Howling in pain, she started twisting and turning, hitting me with her flailing hooves in hopes to dislodge herself before she stopped and pointed an ignited horn at me. I panicked, transforming into myself, and turning my head to duck to the side, but all I got was a flash of VERY bright light. I grunted as sensory overload nearly fried my right eye and I had to slow down as my field of view was cut in half.
I stopped, rubbing gently with my claw at my teary right eye while using my left to find her. She was not far from me, shaking her head and turning to face me while blinking rapidly.
She was also fixing the hole I made in her wings, and the moment her eyes focused she fired several mana bullets at me. A portal opening to her left drove me to action and I almost forgot about my eye.
Dodging the bullets I dashed at her before she disappeared on me again and with two quick flashes I went from a cheetah to a xenomorph, closing the distance in a leap, making her eyes go wide.
Tackling her again, we tumbled through the portal and I tried to get a few swipes with my tail but with a twist, she rolled me around and I hit a wall with my back driving the air from my lungs.
With two quick strikes to my head with her forehooves, she got me dizzy enough to loosen my grip allowing her to wiggle away from me. She began lowering her head, her horn crackling menacingly, and I transformed into myself, drunkenly diving to the side.
Wheezing and panicking I shoved her without thinking breaking her concentration and causing her to discharge her spell into the wall launching us both into the air with the proximity of the explosion.
I didn’t travel far, bouncing of the opposite wall and landing in a heap with my ears ringing and my head pounding, but I was in a prime position to see her shakily stand up and leave the small hallway we ended up in. I had enough foresight to cover my eyes and ears with my claws to protect them from the shrapnel.
Opening my right eye once the world stopped spinning and finding out it wasn’t damaged, I cheered internally and stood up shaking off the ringing and the dizziness. A few shaky steps forward and I had to sit down as the world started spinning again. I felt a few cracks along my chitin that I had to fix while I tried to get my lungs to work properly again.
‘Breathe, in and out, settle down… and… go!’ I stood up and made my way out of the hallway only to deadpan when I found out that she is gone, again, and that I was lost… again!
“Okay, that’s it!” I muttered angrily to myself flashing into a Tyranid Tyrant Guard (no horns or anything extra on the carapace) and expanding my senses to the maximum.
The moment I located Husk a few rooms down I started running, quickly picking up speed and before I knew it I was smashing through the walls like a battering ram. An angry, out-of-patience battering ram.
When I reached the room she was in, I barely managed to register the second hatred crystal that she just tossed to the side before she tried to blast me with magic. Luckily, my carapace was thick enough that I was able to tank two blasts before I had to dodge but it gave me a chance to see where I was and that the crystal she tossed still had a good amount of hatred in it.
The room I was in wasn’t familiar but it was spacious and, based on the various weapons on the wall, I assumed it was the castle’s barracks... training grounds? Doesn’t matter. She didn’t waste time putting the weapons to use.
With her magic, she grabbed two large swords from the nearest rack and charged at me while also lifting any other weapons she passed by and throwing them in my direction along with a few magic blasts.
I had to flash into several smaller and agile forms (otter, cats, and some birds) to dodge all the incoming projectiles, especially magic ones, and I thanked whatever lucky stars that evasion was something that always came easy to me. But you cannot dodge forever and sometimes you had to take a few punches.
Continuing on the Tyranid line I flashed into the Hive Swarmlord, barely feeling the weapons bounce off my carapace, absolutely dwarfing Husk, and brandishing four swords fused to my four arms. I almost scraped the ceiling of the room with my back ridge but thankfully I still had plenty of room to move and I felt giddy when on a quick check I noticed that I still had a decent amount of hive resin in me.
I did feel a small amount of respect for Husk when she didn’t even slow her charge but her wide eyes did give away her surprise. She swung her swords and I did mine.
With a quick swipe of my upper arms, I smashed through the two swords, and with a downwards swing of my lower two, I tried to crush Husk.
She managed to dodge the swords by jumping to the side and casting a shield to protect herself from the flying debris. She did fire a quick blast of magic that managed to shove me back but I barely registered any pain.
Roaring, I regained my footing and charged at her readying my swords.
A crack of magical energy was all the warning I had before a powerful blast of her magic was aimed at my center mass but Husk could never realize just how nimble this form could be.
Pushing some magic into my upper left blade and sharpening it, I twisted my body to the right making the attack miss, and, taking a sideways step forward, I swung the sword in a wide arc. With my size and position, the blade made contact with the side wall but passed through it effortlessly, cutting into it without stopping or slowing down.
The spherical shield she swiftly summoned was so thick that I couldn’t see her inside it but that hardly mattered as my blade struck, severely cracking the shield, and launching her to the side and through the wall.
Shifting into myself I followed after her with a buzz of my wings only to growl angrily when I saw the portal close in the distance four rooms away. At this point, I could reasonably guess her plan, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to match up at some point with the hatred crystals recharging her as they did. But she couldn’t have many of them left. I landed in a long hallway she disappeared in and stomped my legs in frustration.
According to the guide Scurry sent to get me and Mantis here, she only had five of the hatred crystals left, and a quick count in my head left me with two intact ones remaining.
“Right, either take down the throne now or lose everything,” I mumbled taking a deep breath calming myself, and opening my senses. It took me almost a minute but I managed to find two strong sources of hatred and two smaller ones close to me. I had to strain myself to find them all in such a large castle, but I was able.
The two smaller sources were the crystals she never got to fully drain. Then there was one source far behind me, and another above that… moved!
I grinned buzzing my wings and launching myself down the first tunnel I saw keeping my senses open and climbing upwards as quickly as I managed.
…
‘The throne room again!?’ I took careful, measured steps forward swiveling my head left and right with my eyes trying to take as much of the room as possible. She wasn’t here, but I sensed her above me.
Frowning I decided that now or never was the moment to strike.
But before I could even move, a body wreathed in energy crashed down just in front of the throne cracking the ground around her and bringing down a shower of dust and rubble.
“You. WILL! DIE!” With a buzz of her wings, Husk revealed her shimmering carapace, fully charged if my senses were correct, and pissed beyond measure.
“Sweet merciful gods, just give me a break,” I sighed immediately jumping to the side with a yelp to dodge a beam of concentrated magic. ‘No more games, right…’
Husk screamed in fury as she fired blast after blast of magic, barely giving me a moment to even try and get closer. I shifted into various forms to try and give myself a chance for a counterattack but there was no end to the barrage. I was managing to advance ever so slowly.
While in the form of a raven I had to skid to stop mid-air nearly getting my head blown off by one of the aimed beams of magic and that was all the chance she needed to hit me.
I did manage to transform into the Pokémon Golem before I was hit, allowing me to absorb a decent amount of damage and smashing into the wall behind me. A quick fix of the crack in my shell where she struck me, and a shift into a Zergling I swiftly hopped away before I was stuck again.
“Stand, STILL!” She howled, enraged, swishing her head from side to side sending out a wide beam of magic that acted like a whip. She continued sweeping her head in wide arcs and I soon found myself at the receiving end of a net of magical rope that cut up everything in its path.
Xenomorph form was too big and too long so I used the only other option I had, a Genestealer. Using this more compact form and my magic to enhance my agility and reflexes to the maximum (giving myself a headache to boot), I started dodging and weaving through the net losing two claws in the process by rapidly closing the distance.
Just before I managed to get close enough to strike her, she lashed out, raising her head high and with a scream a wall of magic slammed into me, painfully shoving me into the air and back to my starting position.
I managed to stick the landing transforming into myself but her attack left her wide open. Taking aim I modified my throat to give me some extra protection and opened my mouth wide.
The first bolt of lightning that came out smashed into a flickering shield and immediately shattered it with an explosion, leaving Husk exposed, jaws open wide in shock. The second bolt made me wince in pain but it struck her dead center; It didn’t crack her carapace but the shimmer disappeared from it. The impact did launch her back however, making her hit the throne with a resounding crack.
I coughed shaking my head and massaging my throat and that gave her enough time to get up on shaky legs, with her right hind leg cracked and bleeding from the impact.
I took aim again, throwing caution to the wind and a plan on my mind when she took aim with her own horn and a snarl.
The bolt I fired was weaker than the first two, but it still caused my throat to burn painfully and cramp up.
It was faster than her attack though, exploding close enough to her that she stumbled back, closing her eyes when the debris started landing.
Taking my chance I sprinted forward as fast as I could at her, and at the throne.
At some point, she backed up and was nearly touching the thing and in the few moments it took for me to close the distance, I managed to realize two things: one, the throne had several long cracks on it that were clearly visible, and two I wasn’t fast enough to reach either her or the throne without retaliation, but my mind, still working faster thanks to the boost from my magic, came up with a quick and dirty solution.
Husk opened her eyes and aimed her horn at me and I jumped forward pulling my right arm back while my left was placed in front of me as a shield. There was a quick flash of fire and magic and my brain couldn’t handle the overload anymore making the adrenalin take over slowing things down.
My left arm grew thicker along with my entire carapace absorbing the blast of her spell, cracking at several places but staying whole. I managed to swing the injured arm to the side shoving her to my left just enough while my right arm, now looking like an ultralisk claw and strengthened to the maximum of my abilities, made a wide swing aimed at one of the cracks on the side of the throne.
I struck the throne, my eyes shut closed due to pain in my head and then everything exploded launching me through the air. Husk screamed loudly enough to be heard from the detonation and I felt something hit my back before I blacked out.
Silent Drop
I was bored out of my mind but on high alert. Two decades of guard training along with regular stealth missions assured me that I would be ready to move at the snap of a branch or the flutter of a leaf. It didn’t stave off the boredom of waiting though… or the frustration that followed.
I glanced around my area while I waited, pacing the length of the shallow cave I was in.
The cave was secured on the sides and the top by jutting rocks making it safe enough from prying eyes unless they knew where to look. The entrance was facing the road into the Badlands which meant that the hive was at my back.
Of course, the changelings could sense my emotions and find me that way, but I had a few alarms set up for just such an occasion. If needed I would be able to blast out of here with a good sprint and a few seconds away my magic would be back allowing me to fly again.
I was just under the anti-magic bubble of the hive with my saddlebags lying on my left propped up against its wall. On the ground on my right, written on a thin plate of green crystal that changelings use for long-range communication, was the hastily scribbled message from Mantis to wait for the bubble to drop and to contact Celestia immediately afterward.
The note also managed to roughly explain the ludicrous situation that ended up tossing the entire plan into the trash bin, causing me to panic for a solid minute before I was able to calm myself down.
‘One day, Patch! You couldn’t last one measly day!’ I snorted.
Although, after following Patchwork around, and keeping an eye on him for almost a year, I shouldn’t be surprised that he jumped in blindly the moment somepony was in danger. Even if it was a little thing such as somepony tripping he would be the first one to offer a hoof.
Shaking my head slowly and smirking I sat down looking out at what little sky I was able to see.
‘It’s been almost thirty minutes. What the buck are you doing Patch?’
I stood up and started pacing trying to get a feel for when my magic would return and I almost missed it. It was such a subtle change after spending thirty minutes here that it took me several precious seconds to realize what happened.
Without thinking I pounced on my saddlebag cursing at myself for not preparing sooner. There was a flash of green behind me and I turned to read the message before I tore the saddlebag open with my teeth.
<Patch hurt badly! Help!>
Scurry
I was leaning at the door of the house, the illusion I threw on myself making me seem like I was just a random curious ling, wondering at what the buzz is going on.
In actuality my head still felt light, my missing leg hurt like Tartarus (the medical resin helped but only a little), and the cracks in my carapace itched but it was far and away better than what my brother went through.
He was missing both of his hind legs from the hock down; half of his elytra was sheered off and one of his wings was gone. The other wing wasn’t any better. The spiderweb of cracks that covered his chitin was just the cherry on top. There were four lings in the house behind me closing his wounds with resin while enough love for a cocoon was gathered.
I was watching with a frown as the stream of the guards running out of the castle turned to a trickle and now most of them were just standing staring at it. Some flinched when a particularly powerful explosion sounded off and some of the braver ones ran back in for, whatever their reason was.
I saw Mantis at some point run out and fly away with a green communication plate in his hooves and I could string together a general idea of what he was up to.
Turning around and limping to the house I shouted through the door, “I’m heading out!”
“Are you crazy!?” One of my lings yelled at me angrily, running up to me and grabbing my shoulders before I made my move, “You should be resting as we told you!”
Looking around to make sure that none of the guards were paying attention I looked at the ling in front of me, Troch.
“Mantis just left the castle with the com gem, I need to find out what’s going on,” I pushed him off and left before he got a word in.
Opening my elytra and flinching at the pain from the cracks, I buzzed up and in the direction Mantis left.
I was lucky that I was above ground but even then the shockwave from the detonation shoved me unceremoniously forward and the sound wave that followed probably ruptured my ears.
I landed face first and tumbled, the pain and jostling knocking off my illusion and making my teeth grind in pain but someling helped me stop. Again, I was lucky that, other than the ringing in my ears, I was able to hear other lings around me shout.
I gave my savior a ‘thank you’ even if I didn’t recognize them and a gasp along with a hoof pointing up got me to look at the castle.
I was just barely able to spot a changeling-shaped blur flying out of the front upper wall and that’s all I focused on. It looked very much like Patchwork.
Barely taking enough time to glance at the massive layer of cracks spreading at the top of the castle and the smoke coming out of the back, I jumped to my three hooves with a hiss.
Before I knew it, I was flying through the air at the smoke rising from one of the nearby housed love reserves.
“Lucky buzzing idiot!”
Patchwork
“…lucky… idiot!”
Everything hurt.
“Mantis!”
Where… What…
“Move! MOVE!”
My eyes were open and everything was swimming…
“YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!”
That… got me to snap my eyes open, lucid, and alert. I wasn’t aware when I stood up as my body felt like it was floating, but I was well and fully conscious when I tipped forward and landed on my snout, the pain of the fall jolting my body awake.
The agonizing stabs got me to curl up, making me fully aware that my shell was in a catastrophic condition, the broken pieces grinding together making my teeth itch on top of it. Buzzing my wings only made a squelching sound which caused the pain to flare up even further and I decided that staying in one place, on the ground, was good enough. But not just quite.
Taking two deep breaths I counted to three and stood up as gingerly as possible.
The small action only made my world swim and I sat down lowering my head and wheezing at the pain. One… two… on the third dry heave I threw up removing the still wiggling hive resin which was oddly covered in… pink?
“Pink?” I mumbled as the world got back into focus.
I was covered in it, and a quick lick identified it as love. Diluted love, but love, nonetheless. While it did diddly in fixing the damage to my carapace my body did absorb it, and it was probably the only reason I was even awake and almost full of magic in the first place.
“Patchwork!” The shout got me to raise my head.
‘That is… so many changelings…’
They were everywhere, huddled in groups, on the walls and roof of the dome houses, on the ground, and in the air. Everywhere… There was a respectable distance between me and them but the sheer mass made me feel rather anxious. And all their eyes were pointed at me.
“Patch!” My ears perked at the squeak of fear.
“Mantis,” I turned to my left spotting Mantis slowly moving back, body shaking and his pony-like eyes wide as saucers.
“Run!” Came the shout from my right and I had barely enough time to put a large shield protecting all three of us.
Thanks to the love I absorbed and the fact that I never used too much magic in the battle against Husk… ‘HUSK!? Jesus Christ!’
Using my magic I cleared the dust that swirled around us and raised another shield.
“EVERYTHING!” The guttural scream shook the air around me. “Centuries of work! Centuries of this pretend game!” Another blast of magic came, this time shoving me and the shield back but I managed to hold without cracking. “Centuries of ruling these witless IDIOTS!” Someone yelled ‘scatter!’ and the mass of lings started running for the hills including Mantis who scrambled as away when Husk’s horn started blazing.
“EVERYTHING!” I grit my teeth and closed my eyes as the blast of magic hit my shield, cracking it but not braking. Digging my claws into the dirt road to anchor myself I waited until the attack stopped pouring more mana into the shield. I was a third of my mana down when her magic stopped.
Opening my eyes I was finally able to see her.
Husk was standing on the ruins of a crumbled home, her shell in complete shambles. Blood was dripping from the numerous holes and cracks that ravaged her body while in some areas whole chunks of her carapace were missing. Her exposed flesh was pulsing with every jerky move.
By some miracle, her elytra looked intact, and her wings whole, allowing her to buzz angrily with every step she made.
Her left eye was not so lucky, with a long shard of obsidian sticking out.
Beaten and bruised, but not yet defeated she stood in front of me, snarling and fuming, as her horn (still whole somehow) sparked. I had no idea anymore how deep her pool of mana was and I was too late to realize that I was shaking in fear.
But not enough fear to stop me… not yet!
“Witless!?” I shouted the question back at her, along with sending a weak magic beam made to distract her until I gathered enough strength in me to move.
“Yes, Witless!” She used her cracked hoof to slap my magic to the side, “Spineless!” She threw a magic blast my way that shook the shield I put up, “Useless! Foolish! Annoying! Stupid! FOOLS!”
Every shout was punctuated by a spell blast. Every spell was followed by a buzz of her wings and a step forward.
I tried shielding myself but it became obvious fairly soon that the enraged ‘queen’ wouldn’t just drop dead. At some point I got my body to cooperate and I started dodging and firing my own spells at her.
“They are none of those things!” I argued back, jumping to the side with a yelp when a beam of dense magic cut through the ground next to me, “They aren’t yours to be used and discarded…” I dove behind one of the houses when a spell beam nearly sheered my mane off, Husk in pursuit.
“They are mine to do as I see fit!” I heard her as she just bulldozed through the house, covered in a shimmering green shield. “These ungrateful vermin wouldn’t be able to feed themselves let alone protect one another if it wasn’t for me!”
Changelings were ducking and diving along with me. She wasn’t specifically trying to hit them, but she wasn’t overly concerned about their well-being either slinging her spells at me indiscriminately. I had to take a detour several times because her spellfire would put other changelings in danger otherwise and after a minute of ducking, diving, and dodging I had to face the facts; she wasn’t stopping for anyone or anything.
Throwing myself to the side to shove another changeling out of the firing range, we both smashed through a pile of crates just as another house was demolished by Husk.
Standing up on unsteady hooves I noticed that the ground was littered with wood and… fruit!
Grabbing as many foodstuffs as I could in my magic I started weaving between the houses, popping a piece of fruit whenever I had a chance. It didn’t matter if it was poisonous or not at this point, in it went without any pomp or fanfare.
“Where are y~ou?” I heard her singsong a fair distance away. I didn’t even dare to use any of my abilities out of fear of her noticing me. “Where are you!?” She shrieked and the ground shook from a detonation. Then she went quiet.
“You wanted to protect these ingrates, right?“ She suddenly taunted and I felt my gut freeze when I heard a yelp that wasn’t hers. “Well!?”
‘It’s a trap… it’s a trap… it’s a trap,’ I chanted in my head but it was no use. When a crack sounded off followed by a scream all I saw was red.
I still had plenty of magic left, and I had only a tiny amount of resin from the food I just ate, but if I could last another ten minutes I’ll have more.
I sent out a quick ping, making sure that she could find me, and I started climbing the houses trying to think of a plan that would hopefully work.
The moment I cleared the ‘roof’ a beam of magic struck it, exploding and sending me along with pieces of roof flying.
Twisting around in the air, still very much pissed and shaking from adrenaline I managed to land on my hooves atop another nearby roof skidding to a halt. Husk was flying in my direction at top speed covered in green fire.
“Bitch! What did you do to them?!” I opened my mouth and took careful aim, screw the consequences!
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she yelled back moving in zigzag making my aim difficult, but not impossible. I knew how fast my little trick is.
I fired my lightning bolt just as she released a spread of spellfire that curved around it, followed by her summoning a quick shield that didn’t last a millisecond before detonating in her face.
I was coughing up blood due to strain on my throat, but I still had enough fortitude to put up a shield around me, protecting myself from her attack but not the roof I was standing on.
No wings meant no flight, and I dropped along with the rubble, but thanks to the shield I held, I was able to avoid further damage to my delicate carapace. I did have enough resin for a quick fix.
Patching up the worst of the damage and using all the resin I had at the moment, I dropped the shield and dug myself out of the ruins.
I should have been better prepared though.
A powerful blast of magic detonated next to me, tossing me into the air and showering me in shrapnel with something sharp hitting my left arm.
My arm felt numb for a split second, and then it exploded in pain, which only got worse when I landed hard, tumbling down the street. I skidded to a stop next to a small group of nymphs along with two adults who immediately started herding them away from the battlefield, their panic making my own rise up.
“I missed,” I heard Husk tsk, the clack of her hooves becoming louder by the second.
Lifting my left arm as much as I could I found a long sharp piece of shrapnel that pierced through it, just below the elbow. I could feel new cracks that formed on my carapace, but other than that… it… I still couldn’t give up.
Standing up, on my three good legs I started nosing at the little nymphs that lagged behind not even thinking about Husk. I should have, but I was tired. Tired and bruised.
Absentmindedly I raised a thick shield to block a magic blast but offered no resistance other than that.
“Pathetic,” she spat, “all that power wasted on the likes of you.”
“Better on me… than a cunt like you,” I muttered out but with no bite to it.
Charging up a half-assed spell, I was going to fire it, but then I changed my mind and dug deeper as my horn started crackling, with my spell growing along with my determination.
Suddenly Husk’s eyes widened as she put up a triple-layered shield and a golden beam of magic struck it, shoving both her and the shield back several meters.
I could feel the magic in my horn fizzle out as I lost my concentration in shock. Celestia flew over my head throwing spell after spell in wild abandon and both relief and exhaustion caught up to me making me almost drop to the ground.
A small whimper coming from the right made me straighten my back and out of the corner of my eye, I could see the small group from before huddling in a corner.
Turning my head to actually look at them, I noticed that the two adults had several cracks on their carapace and that their elytra were damaged.
‘That’s why they didn’t run,’ I stood up and started limping toward them, but I froze when an explosion shook the ground near us. I dove at them on instinct forming a shield around us to protect everyone from the debris.
Once the explosions moved away I felt two taps on my shield and our little impromptu huddle perked our ears.
Turning to face whoever was tapping I saw four changeling guards, one of them with a few cracks on his shell.
I dropped the shield.
“Is everyling alright?” The ‘tapper’ asked and my group started disentangling from each other.
“They are all safe sir, please watch over them,” I bowed and then turned around to leave.
“And what in great, green fires are you going to do in your condition?” One of them asked incredulously as my group was swiftly led away to safety by two other lings leaving just the three of us. At least I hoped they will be safe.
“The same thing that I came here for in the first place, sir: to help.”
All three of us looked up as a bright explosion lit up the sky and something black started falling down.
I turned around and was about to make my way toward the danger, but I was grabbed by my tail.
“Sir, I must insist,” the ‘tapper’ held my tail in his teeth, “you cannot go in your condition.”
“Then patch me up if you can, but I am going there regardless,” I told both of them.
…
The joint areas were fixed, the spike from my left arm removed and the hole plugged up with what they called medicinal resin. No idea what constituted the medicinal part but the pain receded enough that I could, somewhat, run.
I weaved as fast as I could between the domed houses making my way toward the fight that was finally winding down. I did stop here and there when a call for help was given or if I spotted someone that needed it.
It took a few minutes but the spell fire stopped fully as I rounded the corner of the street reaching Celestia and Husk just as their fight concluded. There were supposed to be houses here… and lots of them, I passed through this area when I arrived in this ‘city’. Now it was only rubble and ruins.
Husk, finally beaten, and in even worse shape than before, dragged herself up from a crater to her cracked hooves, her wild and unfocused eyes looking every which way until she spotted me. Three hatred crystals floated behind her, held in her magic for a few more seconds before they dropped with a quiet ‘clink’. When she got them, I could only guess.
“You!” She hissed, spittle and blood flying everywhere.
Her horn started crackling only to sputter out a few sparks. She looked up to it, her eyes going cross-eyed before she tried to light it up again.
“Gah!” She stomped her left foreleg causing the already cracked chitin to splinter further, “I’ll use my own hooves if I have to!” She took a wobbly start, only to trip and fall, muttering obscenities all the way.
I lowered myself into a fighting stance just to be sure, and Celestia landed right next to me a moment later. I noticed that there was a piece of her peytral hanging loose.
We both watched for almost a minute as Husk tried to get up on her legs, screaming, swearing up a storm, cursing us and every other living thing that she saw in front of her. Which included the changelings, who managed to find the courage to come out of their safe spots and see what all the raging was about.
“Patchwork?” I was nosed on the side by Celestia. “Are you all right my dear?”
Tearing my eyes from an increasingly disturbing display I turned to Celestia. I did notice that a large number of changelings were starting to gather around, but if their faces were any indication, they weren’t happy. There were a few of those unhappy faces pointed at us as well.
“I’m… fine.” I tilted my head to the side with some confusion at Celestia’s concerned face, “I think I’m on some form of pain medication of sort otherwise I don’t think I would be standing.”
I didn’t even blink and I suddenly found myself in a tight hug by both hooves and wings, a tiny sniffle escaping her, “Thank the stars!” She pulled back just enough for me to see her teary eyes, “When I got the message from Drop I did my damnest to get here as fast as possible.”
“Just in the nick of time too,” I chuckled, which got me another tight hug. I did grunt, some pain passing through whatever was coursing my system but I was… happy, relieved, and happy that it was over. For now. I returned the hug with all the strength I could muster.
“Here, I brought something just in case,” Celestia pulled out a bright pink pill from inside her peytral as she was wiping her tears away with the side of her hoof. Tears aside, she was smiling though and I caught a few changelings looking at us in complete stunned silence.
“Thanks, I…” My ears perked up and I turned my head, along with many other lings and Celestia, towards Husk.
She was lying on her side, clutching her head in her hooves and her repeated mutterings were getting louder.
“…no-no-no-no-no-nO-NO-NO-NO… Not now! Not… Stop… stop-stop-stop-stop-stop…” She continued muttering. The force with which she was pushing on her head was actually starting to crack the chitin on her face.
I had… an idea of what was happening, and opening my senses only confirmed it, but right now, I was out of ideas. I know I told myself that I would save her, or try to, but I had no idea how.
Her muttering had gone quiet though, too quiet and I swore for a moment that could hear something else in the whisper.
I took a step towards her, only for a white wing to immediately snap open in front of me.
“Patch…” I moved the wing gently to the side and hobbled forward, only then noticing that I carried the love pill in my left claw. It could wait a moment.
Other than the light wind blowing there was almost no sound around the area. No buzzing of the wings, no movement, not even a pebble. Which only made the quiet whispers become easily audible when I got close enough.
“Don’t you dare – get out – no – mine – my body – parasite – you need me – worthless – get out…” on and on it went. Until I got close enough for her to see me. Then the screaming actually began.
Trashing and screaming, yowling, and hissing, two voices and a whole mess of confusion. If this continued she would severely hurt herself but when both voices shouted ‘LOVE’ in unison, one half of the face bearing nothing but pure fear and the other hope I jumped to it without thinking.
I pounced, Celestia screamed my name making a mad dash for me if the sound of hooves was any indication, Husk was hitting me with whatever she could and I lifted my claw carrying the love pill and violently shoved it in her mouth breaking several of her teeth and clamping her mouth shut with both my claws.
She struggled for about a minute, screaming through a closed mouth until Celestia used her magic to hold her down along with six other changelings that joined in when trashing really began.
I was panting, my body hurt again, I was scared and confused but I did not want to let go.
And then she just… froze.
…
…
“Celestia…” I spoke, my voice shaking.
“Yes?”
“I… I need a shower.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,001 users online
1,539,555 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This will be interesting considering looks like the parasite is being expelled by the owner of the body patch he doesn't want to rule he just did what he thought was necessary and right.
fantastic chapter
Gonna be interesting to see the aftermath. What will the changelings do regarding Patch and Equestria? What will happen between Chrysalis and the parasite Husk? What exactly was Husk?
*'thock* Noice!
Man that was a doozy. So much action and excitement. Hopefully Patch's action in the rubble and with the hurt lings he threw a shield up for, he will be given a chance.
Awesome chapter dude, keep up the good work!!!
Soooo why not a Zoanthrope from the Tyranids for the "shadow in the warp" effect to reduce the effectiveness of Husks magic? Not to mention making his own magical power likely far more effective?
"I seem to have soiled myself."
11328715
Husk was a Nightmare Entity.
11328792
Okay. That explains the feeding on hate. If hate is so poisonous to changelings, it's a wonder if didn't kill Chrysalis.
Awesome chapter!
Incredible as always and I cannot believe they really took her in still alive. Wonder if she gonna end up as a torn up eyepatch aunt or if they need more love exorcisms to kick off the nightmares influence.
Theory time. Nightmare Moon should still have access to everypony's dreams even if intervening is limited for her. If she looked into Patchwork's dreams, that would be a treasure trove of ideas and evil schemes she would use to ante up her influence even before she came back.
Well time for Changelings to become the 5th tribe a few decades early. I still can't wait to see the sequel featuring a uniling Twilight Sparkle.
Can the Parasite been burning itself out by damaging the connection between it and its host i wonder?
Patchwork needs a lot of things, a lot of love and medicine to adress wounds and infections. But a shower? I guess it will make for a good start.
What was that bloodborne boss kill overlay? "Nightmare slain"? I think it fits
This was a wonderful chapter!! Thank you for writing!!!!
wow that is a amazing battle,, this is awesome writing.
Well, he certainly earned his name this day! Fifty points to Gryphondor for sheer dumb accidental luck!
Everyling saw that, the rumors are flying as we speak. Let's see how much love Celestia still retains...
Celestia: Okay! plan to save Luna from the nightmare is going to need some revision for all that good old ultra-violence that's gonna be needed
NMM on the moon:... I think imma stay here for another 1000 years... yeah that's a good idea
11328783
Because Patch doesn't have access to psychic powers. Transformations require extensive medical knowledge of the form being copied. He can fudge it for things like muscle and bone from dragons for his ultralisk form but something like a razor leaf from a grass pokemon would be impossible to duplicate, there is no 'real life' example he could crib from.
He even thinks about after his first attempt at an ultralisk
So unless he can generate a AM field himelf a Zoanthrope is nothing more than a foating target for him to change into.
11328890
Covered in blood, dirt, and puke (resin) after fighting for 40 minutes none stop. You'd be surprised wow rejuvenated someone can get from a shower in this state but let's be honest it won't be much of a shower as it is just laying down with water falling on you at this point
11329192
Fair points on the psychic power.
In this case, with magic, he could have (in theory) modified himself so that a zoanthrope form gave him greatly enhanced magic power. I think he knows enough about magic that he could tweak a form to be a floating magical artillery piece. Actual psychic powers perhaps not, but I do think greatly enhanced magical prowess would have been within the realm of possibility.
11329679
Than at least like 8/10 get cleaned of. Definitely a improvement. Also the moment he relaxes he will probably fall asleep. His body is overtaxed and runs on adrenaline and similar stuff...
11329920
It's fine Patch can rest sort of mother's there and sort of spirit mothers seems fine if a bet...broken
11328799
From the running commentary during the fight, she (the 'Chrysalis the changeling' part) was dying or at least rotting away into something more like a ghoul or wight. The name, Husk, was rather spot-on as the temporary name.
You know for a second there, I thought Patch was about to enter Fragon Force. Or would that be Changling Force. I mean he did eat the poisonous blue crystal for a power up after all.
Awesome!
Yeah, that was cool.
Yay! Go Patch and Celestia!