CH 63 (Pre-Duel Chats)
Patchwork
~Duel of Atonement~
~Issued by His Highness Spirit Truehorn~
~Due to the fact that the former leader of changelings, one ‘Husk’, is either dethroned, killed, or otherwise removed from power, and owing to the circumstances that the ‘new’ queen, one Chrysalis, spent an inordinate amount of time ‘incarcerated’, the duty of the challenge/duel will be placed upon the next available ruler/leader accepted by the populace.~
~As the ruler of one of the injured parties, I hereby issue a duel (non-refusable) to one Patchwork, the Prince of Changelings, in the name of Minotaurs.~
~The duel will be held based on the laws of Minos, with the rules explained before the duel itself clearly and understandably the day after the summons has been issued, at noon (twenty-fifth of Root, nine-hundred and sixty-four A.E.).~
~The reasons for the summons are, as follows:
· Repeated unauthorized entry within the borders and the cities of Minos.
· Repeated attacks upon the populace of Minos.
· Repeated attempts at calfnapping, thievery, ‘impersonation’, abduction, and numerous petty crimes within the borders of Minos.
· Repeated…~
Five more points of ‘Repeated’ later and I reached the small number of minotaurs that, I'm guessing, are currently in pods. Even with their names written down, it would not matter as I found no forms of identification on them that I could recognise and I was told a while ago that the infiltrator would keep any such proof of identity in the first place. Hopefully, Spirit has more than just a list of their names.
Going over the scroll one more time to make sure that everything was properly memorised I placed it on the table.
I… really couldn’t challenge any of the points listed in the summons. I could challenge calfnapping, given that changelings, in general, did not take young of any species. The unfocused and youthful emotions of children do not provide nearly enough, so… hooray for efficiency?
Rerolling the Spirit’s scroll I put it back on the low table and rummaging through the chest at the foot of my bed I found an empty scroll. Making a small reminder for myself to check if all the infiltrators had been notified of the rule change, I folded the parchment and placed it on the nightstand next to the bed.
‘I won’t challenge any of the points.’ I shrugged internally while staring at the floor, ‘Spirit at least went through the effort of being reasonable with his… well… demand.’ Even if I did challenge the reasons for the duel, the fact of the matter is: changelings did those things… led by Husk. And she is somewhere in Celestia’s vault now, and given Chrysalis’s improving mental state is still, well, improving, I’m not surprised that he chose me as a scapegoat. It didn’t mean that I was happy with it, but I at least took some solace in the fact that it wasn’t a duel to the death. Not much, but it didn’t send me into a depressing spiral.
Shaking my head to dislodge the stray thoughts, I decided, since I would be put under quite a bit of stress tomorrow, that I wanted to spend some time with my girlfriend. Maybe even Celestia and Shield. Tartarus, I’d like to chat with Night Light as well; I’m certain that he would enjoy a small tour.
Tossing the rest of my thoughts out the proverbial window, I opened the door of my room, ready to leave.
…
I barely even left the hallway where my room was located when Velvet's voice reached me.
“Thank you again for taking me to see him, Captain Spine.”
“Hrm,” The grunt sounded like an agreement to my ears, and I sat down waiting for them. I did not have to wait long.
It took barely five seconds before the two of them turned the corner and came into view.
Seeing Velvet’s beautiful face made me almost forget about the duel tomorrow and the smile she sent me when I was spotted made even my core hum from joy. I didn’t even see when Spine left, all I was concerned with was the mare in front of me.
Pulling her in for a kiss the moment she hopped into my arms I savoured the kiss like a man dying of thirst that was given a tall glass of water. The happy hum she let out only made my heart soar higher.
“Mh…” She jerked her head back, as if she only just remembered something, “Before I forget, Princess Celestia wants to talk to you at some point today.”
Tilting my head to the side I gave her a quick peck on the nose with my lips before she could react, “Sure thing, love. You want me to go now, or?”
Raising her forelegs, she gently grabbed my head and pulled it closer to her for a long and loving nuzzle, “Nah. She said it wasn’t urgent, and-“ she looked at me with half-lidded eyes, “-I kind of want to see that room of yours.”
Though I had a good idea of what she wanted (and her emotions easily confirmed it) and how eagerly she wanted it, I started sweating bullets.
If my experience with women told me anything, it’s that nothing bothers them more than an empty room… or at least an undecorated one. And while Velvet in my eyes is perfect, there is no way that she would approve of the state of it in some way, shape or form.
Admittedly, I would like to personalise the room to some degree, but that was not a discussion that I would like to have now. Simple is more than enough.
My expression must have told her everything because she just rolled her eyes and ‘tsk-ed’.
“Come on, it cannot be THAT bad,” pulling herself out of my embrace she walked right past me as I tried to come up with a decent enough excuse. “Knowing you, love,” she continued while walking towards the door, “it’s probably just empty.”
“’s not ‘mpty,” I muttered sullenly but followed after her.
The guards at the door did nothing to stop her from entering (jokes aside, if they did… oh boy), and with a quick flash of her horn, the door was wide open.
The moment she entered I heard a hum, “I kind of expected it to be bigger.” I saw her head left and by the time I entered the room and closed the door I heard a ‘squeak’, followed by a ‘hop’.
“So, how are you liking the bed?” I asked igniting my horn and moving the table, the pillows, the glasses, and the fruit bowl together over to the separating wall. The scroll I kept with me as I made my way past the separation, placing it in the chest without looking as I kept my eyes on Velvet.
Languidly stretching while keeping her back turned to me she let out a low groan and wiggled her hips allowing me a clear view of her, near hourglass figure; something that still surprised me. Ponies and horses in my world, while still fascinating creatures looked nothing like ponies here.
“Enjoying the show, love?” The sly, over-the-shoulder look she gave me snapped me out of my thoughts in less than a second.
“Yup,” I gave her a jerky nod, still transfixed by her figure. It did not stop me from jumping onto the bed, “I thought your heat ended a while ago?” She turned on her back and I was pulled into her embrace the moment I got close to her, with her lips finding mine not a second later.
“Yeah… it won’t stop me from enjoying the leftover heat now will it,” I didn’t even get to reply to her before she kissed me again.
…
That eager little distraction dealt with; I left Velvet happily snoozing on the bed while I found the nearest rain cloud to clean myself. I did leave a message letting her know where I would be, namely Celestia’s room. She did ask me to come at some point during the day.
Even though finding a cloud was a hassle (had to leave the castle to find one), using magic to fill it up with enough moisture took less than a minute.
A quick ‘shower’ later, I was back in the castle and making my way over to the area where we placed the rooms of our visitors. Enough rooms to house the representatives and their entourage, and with enough space and beds to make sure none of them slept on the floor unless they wanted to.
Given the fact that I still didn’t know how to open holes in the castle, it took me several minutes to reach their section.
Each of the leader rooms had one changeling guard and one guard of their own (in order); a pony guard for equestrians, a huge, heavily armoured minotaur for their king, an Abyssinian wearing a purple, full-body cloak stood at the door of the twins and the changeling guard… was sound asleep?
“What the fuck?” I frowned, tilting my head to the side in confusion.
The other guards in the room didn’t even acknowledge it, so I’m assuming that this is something that has been going on for a while now. Still…
Still keeping my frown I straightened myself up and started approaching the Abyssinian and the sleeping ling.
Each step closer to my targets changed the emotions in the room from something approaching boredom (dull emotions with a sort of emptiness that came and went in flashes), into alertness, with the minotaur showing the least and the pony the most reaction. His eyes followed me as I passed him by and based on his emotions I could tell that he had an inner battle of sorts.
My eyes quickly flicked to the griffon standing in front of the door of the NP representative. Much like the griffoness Greta, I couldn’t read his emotions at all making me both curious and worried. My old human instincts however were telling me that he was watching me, which actually made me uncomfortable.
Unlike Greta though, the griffon wore armour, with strange silvery plates peeking through well-crafted, dark-brown leather (‘Yep that’s leather, no doubt about it… I think.’) vest, with two straps barely visible under his tan wings. He certainly wasn’t taller than a standard pony, but with the added bulk from the armour, he certainly looked large.
Regardless, I was getting close enough to hear the light snores of the curled-up changeling when I heard the door to the equestrian room open. When I got near the Abyssinian, I opened my mouth to talk to him, but a shout from behind made me stop.
“Oi, bug-colt!”
A wave of drowsiness hit me like a hammer and I forced myself to pull back before my legs gave out.
“Fua-… the fuck?” Shaking my head it became quickly obvious that whatever got to me went away the moment I got some distance. And the questions I had now multiplied before I even had any idea what happened.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Aussar. Bug-colt doesn’t know,” I heard Shield Strike on my left, and by the time I glanced at her the cat was bowing deeply (similar to what I saw Chinese people do, with arms held stiffly to the side) in front of me, moving almost between blinks.
“No apology necessary, Captain,” the cat spoke in a light, male voice (but with a heavy Indian accent). “it is I, who should apologise.” He raised from the bow but did not remove the heavy hood on his head. I could barely make out a very dark brown fur from the hood's shadow, “My people, your Highness… our guards, we… tend to keep to ourselves…”
The cat’s emotions moved in strange ‘waves’ making the emotions of ponies seem almost overwhelming by comparison. Agitation gave way to worry, worry to fear, fear to resignation and then acceptance, all going through as if a ball was rolling down a corridor in a steady rhythm… ‘Artificial’ came to mind.
“Tha’ twins can clear it up for ya later, Patch, ah’ promise,” Shield piped up from the side and I frowned while going through the situation in my head.
I also just barely noticed that the sleeping ling started to slowly stir, so whatever the guard did wasn’t permanent on others either and it was an ability that can be turned off at will… at least that’s what I was guessing.
“How about this, sir… Aussar?” A quick visible nod of his head prompted me to continue, “I will check up with you after I visit with equestrians and we will get a better understanding of the situation. Is that acceptable?”
It took him less than a second to answer, “It is, your Highness. You indeed are as patient as I have heard. I shall speak with Lady Sahara and Lord Ifferit and they will make things clear.”
I raised an eye-ridge at his wording, but nodded, nonetheless. I was confused by his compliment, and at his… decision to involve his leaders. But I guess I simply don’t know enough about their ways.
A feeling of Shield’s tail gently hitting my left hindleg sent me enough of a message to know that the conversation was done, and I had just enough time to turn around and take a step when a brief feeling of a magic field being deployed washed over my back, but I’m assuming it needs to hit my brain or my core to work properly.
I glanced back one more time at the sleeping ling and I walked with Shield Strike past the door to the pony room.
…
Celestia was pacing.
Not the usual pacing I’ve come to associate with her, the one where she was thinking, or planning.
No, no.
This was the kind of pacing that one would do when they have done something stupid and are trying to fix it. I would know, I’ve done it plenty before.
“Oi, Sunshine, ‘e’s here!” The door didn’t even close properly before Shield announced our arrival, making Celestia first flinch, then almost jump when the words registered in her head.
She whirled around to look at us, as her pacing had her look to the left of the door, and the pined ears and even a slightly tucked-in tail told me enough of her state of mind that I didn’t even need to dip into her emotions; anxiety, deep worry and shame?
“Patch…” The quick strides she took to reach me barely even gave me enough time to look around the room and I was swiftly snatched into a hug and a nuzzle. I saw Shield roll her eyes and head towards the resin bed that was set along the furthest wall to the right.
“What’s going on?” I asked no one in particular, but Celestia answered as the large earth pony leapt on the bed with all the grace of a rock. Turning around on the bed in the same way dogs would, Shield curled up, looking at us.
“I am so sorry about this whole situation with Spirit. If I had known…”
“What happened with Spirit?” I pulled back from the hug just enough to look her in the eyes while I ignored her turbulent, anxiety-riddled emotions, “Did you do something?” I asked, letting confusion tint my voice.
Slowly letting go of the hug, but giving me one more parting nuzzle, she began pacing again in front of me while I sat down, my arms still in a half-hug position. She must be really distressed if she is flitting around like that.
“I convinced Spirit to duel with you because I thought that Chrysalis was still in a horrible state. I thought… Velvet never…” Tripping over the words, she stopped, took a deep breath to recentre herself, and then continued, “I assumed, obviously incorrectly, that Chrysalis would be too weak or unable to fight someone like Truehorn, so I managed to convince him that if he duelled you…”
“Oh…” Was I managed to get out. There was a slight sense of betrayal that I quickly squashed down without a second thought. But the new situation I found myself in certainly sent my brain into thinking about how I could get out of this situation. But even then, even then…
“It doesn’t change a thing,” I saw Shield raise an eyebrow but otherwise not saying anything. Celestia though, nodded her head grimly.
“I figured as much,” taking in a deep, heavy breath, she let it out. Her exhale left slowly and deliberately, just as a new set of emotions set in… one I could only describe as disgust, aimed at herself, “which only makes me feel worse about the situation I put you in. I never wanted you to fight one such as him.”
The way she phrased that made me question what little I knew about the situation of my duel, “I get that he might be strong-,” a snort came from Shield as a frown creased her brow, “but he cannot be that bad.”
“My son,” I could feel my breath hitch for a moment, and a feeling of love rise from my chest, “he will never be as powerful as, say, myself, my sister, or possibly, Chrysalis. But he comes very close, and, unlike us, his power isn’t tempered with time. He will come at you with the power of a demi-god and the temper of a mortal warrior. He will be fierce, quick, and he will fight you with the intent to make YOU suffer for the folly of another.”
“So… what… Do I just, stand there and take it?” I shrugged.
“Buck no!” Shield jumped to her hooves and Celestia violently shook her head in clear denial.
“Absolutely not. You have done nothing to incur such wrath, and even your changelings… well, what choice did they have in this whole situation?” Her fur rippled for a brief moment from power and she ruffled her feathers to compose herself. “No, my dear, you will challenge him, head-on, but I will not let you do this unprepared. Not that I was going to anyway,” that last part was stated so matter-of-factly that I if there was any doubt in my heart that she would just shove into a battle I wasn’t ready for she has completely dispelled it.
“Okay then… what do I do and how do I do it?”
…
I managed to run into Night Light on the way back to my room after about an hour of probing Celestia for information. I think probing, but it's more like, she told me exactly how to fight a minotaur… and I shuddered again after remembering the details in the information she provided.
‘Vital points… joints… how to move… not everything will be useful… but how the fuck does one get that kind of detail from?’ Her quiet muttering of ‘Luna would know better’ at the end made what little hairs I had stand on end.
‘I keep forgetting that this woman probably saw more wars and battles than almost anything else on this planet,’ Shaking my head I carried on.
My chat with Light didn’t take long. He spent most of the day being guided through the castle by Keratin who, according to Night, volunteered. The exhausted unicorn wanted to go over the things he wrote down, but was looking forward to chatting with me tomorrow… If I feel like talking after the beatdown.
I was hoping that the Abyssinian twins would talk to me before I left, but the sister, Sahara, assured me that we would have our talk after tomorrow, but (for now) she assured me, as the future ruler of her kind no less, that her stay is more than acceptable, and that the snoozing ling is not an issue I should concern myself with. Should they need anything, the changeling would be woken up. Supposedly (and this was added almost like an afterthought), the changeling Captain agreed to it. I will talk with Spine about with, should I see him on the way to my quarters. But, for now, I’ll see the matter as settled.
I also considered talking to Lady Greta, but decided against it, because I have spent over an hour with Celestia and Shield, and the evening was slowly encroaching. I passed a group of lings, ones designated as cooks and waiters passing me by on the corridors and heading towards the visitors' area but otherwise, my trip was unobstructed. That is until I ran into Chrysalis.
She sat in front of an opening in the castle wall, one I assumed she made herself, showing the little town of changelings buzzing around. The light breeze pulled lightly on her blue-green hair (with the flashes of light showing that hers is more green than blue), and her eyes were wide open, looking around, darting here and there as she kept an eye on her people.
Sitting next to her (after she wiggled to the side without losing focus, making a bit more space for me), I buzzed my wings for a moment just as a bit of stretch.
Taking a short breath I was about to speak, but her deep inhale interrupted me.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine something like this.”
“A place for changelings?” I tilted my left ear towards her so I didn’t miss a thing.
“A peaceful place for changelings,” she corrected me before continuing, but only after a brief pause, “one that would allow even me for a moment of peace. You have done a fantastic job getting us here.”
Her praise made me clear my throat in slight discomfort, “It never felt like I did much in the first place. I was floundering about most of the time.”
“Nonsense. You should have been there to see MY failures,” she shook her head with a rueful expression. She closed the hole in front of us with a flash of her horn too swift for me to register even properly, “And even now, you will be taking the punishment instead of me.”
“You can always fight instead of me, ya know?” I shrugged sitting up just enough to turn towards her.
“I can’t,” She lowered her head, and, since I couldn’t read her emotions, all I could was read her body language; and it spoke of shame… much like Celestia. Looking at me from the corner of her eyes, she elaborated, “ I already tried to speak to the minotaur king before he came to you. His mind is set and the document is written. I think, at this point, that he wants to fight you on a principle, rather than anything else.”
“Ah well,” I shrugged again, “guess I’ll have to beat him into submission then.”
“You shouldn’t be doing any of it! I should have been me!” She raised her voice and stood up turning to face me, and I spotted two changeling guards entering the corridor we were in. Their faces and the slow retreat told me just how much they wanted to avoid the current situation. Whether out of fear or respect, I wasn’t sure though, some of the old issues still cropped up. Back to Chrysalis though, I didn’t miss the bitterness in her voice.
“Maybe,” I countered, “I would have done it, nonetheless. But even if the situation was reversed, I would have offered myself.”
“Why?” The questioning whisper made my ears twitch.
I took almost a full minute to consider what I wanted to say. To protect her, the changelings… to be a bit selfish, I’d like to be seen as a sort of hero by them, but most of all… because they all went through enough. She can call it stupidity if she so wishes.
“Why not?” I smiled, and the answer I decided on visibly stunned her with its silliness and, just as an added cherry on top, I stuck my tongue out at her. I sat there for just long enough to see her jaw drop, after that, I stood up myself, gave her a quick tender nuzzle and made my way back.
She doesn’t need to know everything. There is plenty of time for that. And I get to test myself one last time until at least Nightmare Moon comes back.
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Knowing the technical details of an opponant is one thing, finding out in combat that those delicate and sensitive pressure points actually need the equivalent of a fully swing heavy claw hammer to even reach is totally another.
Generally, Ive found that if you are going into a situation totally untrained, you need a ten fold advantage, to have at best an even chance of surviving.
nice chapter! I hope you're having a good time with your relatives
Great lore, some confusion caused by uncertainty and I am watching forward towards the duel
Interesting, the cats are seemingly extremely potentially dangerous to lings. Having an aura effect that can disable an unsuspecting target passively is a powerful thing to have, possibly even moreso than the Gryphon's mental shielding.
Training with them will be critical.
Should pay theOwtcast a visit. He lives in Croatia
one Chrysalis, spent an inordinate amount of time ‘incarcerated’,
Wait until he hears about the other princess.
I get to test myself one last time until at least Nightmare Moon comes back.
Dude you have like 15 year's to wait. You will have many interesting challenges awaiting you
Good chapter
Co cats are like Zhodani psionics from Traveller
The Abyssinians telling the prince not to concern himself with the security situation that his assigned security detail can’t remain vigilant is absolutely absurd. It’s completely his business of concern, and telling him not to be in his own country is beyond audacious. And not taking his request to speak is also quite insulting. What if he has to recover for an extended period after the duel? The purpose of this whole thing is to open diplomatic dialogue. Isn’t it?
Night Light didn’t really give much of an answer for his presence.
Velvet was on the end of estrus… maybe that’ll be Shining Armor?
11777508
On the topic of the sleeping 'ling, I agree. This is something the Prince should be concerned with. The purpose of a security detail to foreign delegates in a foreign country serves -at least- two goals:
Protection for the delegation, a show that the host nation takes their safety seriously.
And the duality, Protection from the delegation.
Considering the average distrusting stance amongst the other nation leaders, having one of them with the ability to knock out your security IS cause for concern, it is a security risk not just for the Changelings but for the other nation leaders safety as well.
Now, considering everyone's past with the Changelings, I don't fault them for having an anti-changeling device/magic. But knocking out a guard of the nation hosting as you as-you-please does not leave a good impression, and in the extreme can be seen as an attack.
I have to imagine none of the visitors are happy about the lack of running water. He needed a raincloud for a simple shower, but most other creatures will not have that luxury.
Assuming nothing else goes wrong, that is.
63 chapters down, one to go. Here we goooo!