Ms. Glimmer and the Do-Nothing Prince

by scifipony

47 — The End is Neigh IV: Crimes of Selfishness

Author's Note:

I accidentally posted the contents of chapter 49 instead of 47. If you've noticed the text changed all of a sudden, I am very sorry about that. No doubt it left you confused. I've fixed it, including changing the chapter name and blurb. It is all correct, now.

The words were too much for Blueblood: he coughed and hacked. Was that blood on his lips?

"You're deluded," Singe/Firefall/Facet said. "Why Chrysalis didn't cull you boggles my mind. There are no other colonies, Thorax. None. Nopony needs a drone. Delusions of being a queen's prince have no place in a modern world where we fight everycreature to stave off starvation."

"Starlight Glimmer is my queen."

My fuzzed brain, multitasking to keep Mirror Shield up, if for no other reason than for the threat it might represent, left me frowning at their words.

"Thorax! Redeem yourself. Kill her. Prove why Chrysalis chose you when she culled the others."

I looked down, met his blue eyes, seeing reflected in them exactly what I felt.

Love.

"How can you misread him so badly?" I asked, looking up, meeting Firefall's magenta eyes. "I have medicine in my messenger bag. Let me dress his wounds."

The creature harrumphed, waving a hoof dismissively. "Thorax is a useless sensora drone. Do as you please." She tensed, though, hoping I'd distract myself.

I reached up a bloody hoof, flicking the snap holding my messenger bag on. It flopped down; I guided it by lifting my neck, letting it spill its contents. The book, which had weight to overcome friction against the painted fabric, slid out first with a thump. The tub of silver salve rolled out as I'd hoped. No hair ties or quills came out, but something relatively heavy, because it was half-steel half-ivory, woofed into the dirt, not revealing itself.

I transformed my spell to Levitate. As I lifted the tub slowly—to stifle it wanting to jerk spasmodically, signaling my vulnerability—I watched for Facet to flinch, or to transform back to the insect.

I tried desperately to get Shield up. Though they impersonated unicorns, they hadn't studied this unicorn or learned about prizefighters. Was that the reason I realized that Firefall, when she visited after I left the townhouse, wasn't behaving as before? They hadn't had time to study her better?

Which meant.

What?

Had they killed her upstairs as Blueblood, now laying below my hooves, convinced me not to gallop to save her?

I shook my head vigorously but stopped when Firefall's impostor tensed. I denied the thought. If I let it in, it might crush my world.

I fumbled with the salve, using my hoof after dumping the goo. The sensora planned what they planned. I kept pressure where I could best stop the worst bleeding on his neck. I spread the pale pink paste over his chest, lightly, learning where bones lay broken from his groans. He coughed and hacked again, and wheezed. A punctured lung, doubtless. The first rib felt snapped, pushed in. Way too close to his heart.

He had to live! He had to.

Mudflats said, "Do we need to do this? I can't, Facet. I feel it. Radiating from the pony princess. Queen Chrysalis, I think—"

"That's where you've gone wrong, Ocelli! Thinking!" she said, so furious that spittle sprayed out. "Workers. Don't. Think. Being around ponies, made soft by luxuries and an easy life, is corrupting you. You're Sensora. Only the queen is born; only the queen thinks!"

"I think Chrysalis is wrong," he stated in a whisper.

Blueblood coughed, but got out. "Chrysalis is wrong. Ocelli is right. Starlight radiates it. We don't have to steal love, nor hoard it. They share it, their love. They fill you up beyond capacity if you let it in their way. It heals you."

Mudflats said, "What's spilling from Thorax fills me up, too. I—I can't do this. H—h—hurt them. I won't. I won't do it!"

"Fills you up?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder and catching Mudflats' suddenly soulful dark brown pony eyes. Under that impersonation, he was a black enameled insect pony, but he looked like a stallion now—very much in existential emotional distress.

"Yes," he murmured, sounding in awe of having made eye contact—with me.

What had I said to Blueblood in the bathroom when he'd babbled about this very thing?

Right...

"Then give me back all I’ve given you! Let it go."

"Can I? Should I?"

"Absolutely," I said, keeping my eyes fixedly on those of Firefall. This is when she would, should act. I shouted, commanded with all the bluster I could scavenge, "Share it! Share it all!"

"Oh!" Mudflats exclaimed, sitting up by the clatter of his hooves. "Oh... What's that?"

Blinding light flashed into existence.

Sun-bright light bloomed behind me, to my right, where Mudflats sat. It grew pinkish in hue, reflected in Firefall's widening eyes. Her mouth slowly drew open as she shielded her sight. A whirring sound increased. The same magical pressure I'd felt in the tub with Blueblood sitting there pushed at my backside now. The scent of honey grew thick...