2018 Preview #1: CSP Chapter 12 (Patreon)

I'm going to have almost all of January open for writing, so I'm going to make a push to get things done. I have several projects I could work on (including the current pony project and two other MLP fics), but I'm going to leave it up to you, the people who are putting snack money in my pocket.

So, first off, here's a preview of the next Changeling Space Program chapter...

 

Changeling Space Program
by Kris Overstreet
Chapter 13: Mission 21 – Somewhat Worse Than Average Accidents

“Keep pushing, Cadence.”

“I’m trying! But I still really think it’d be easier to just leave her like this!”

“A promise is a promise! A little harder! Luna, ten percent less!”

“This was so much easier with that stupid staff… there!!”

Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, blinked her eyes for the first time in over a month.

Under  the bedsheets (wait, what was she doing in a bed?) she could feel  little bits of obsidian flaking off her body as her limbs gradually  relaxed from a stiff pose she hadn’t known she was holding. Her body  gradually warmed as concentrated harmony magic poured through it. She  glanced around her to see four alicorns- count ‘em, one two three four-  carefully sending their magic into her, clearing away… something.

At  first it felt warm and cozy, but after several seconds Chrysalis began  to squirm as the spell wriggled its insidious way into places of her  soul she hadn’t ever intended anything, let alone a pony, to  investigate. When the four princesses ceased the spell simultaneously,  each gasping a bit from the effort of the sustained spell, Chrysalis  gasped her own sigh of relief and relaxed even more limply into what she  assumed was a hospital bed.

“That should do it,” Twilight Sparkle said, being the first of the alicorns to recover. “Chrysalis, how are you feeling?”

“A  little confused.” Was that her own voice? Since when was she so soft?  She cleared her throat and forced herself to speak up, “Why exactly am I  in a hospital bed? And which hospital bed, exactly?”

“You’re in  the infirmary at your own space center,” a more familiar voice spoke up.  The four princesses parted to let Cherry Berry, who sported a fetching  blue jumpsuit over her pink fur. Behind her, standing or hovering near  the wall, were Goddard the Griffon, Warner von Brawn, Occupant and Lucky  Cricket. “Lucky and his recovery team kept you safe during the  invasion, and after the yetis withdrew they brought you here.”

“We  had a kingdom to put to rights,” Celestia said gently. “The restoration  of our magic undid the damage of the Storm King’s tornado, but there  was still all the damage his fleet did-“

“Wait, wait, wait,” Chrysalis said, holding up one perforated hoof. “Back up a bit. What invasion? What Storm King?”

Twilight Sparkle raised her eyebrows. “What do you remember, exactly, before waking up here?”

Chrysalis  dropped her hoof, leaned back into her pillow, and looked up at the  ceiling. “Well,” she said slowly, “the pony took her balloon off to  Canterlot for your friendship festival… Goddard and von Brawn were all  in Appleoosa tinkering with some new rocket design or something… I was  only sticking around to oversee delivery of replacement rocket parts  after Mission Twenty, and I’d intended to go back to the hive for a few  days once they were stored in the VAB…”

“And they’re still there, nice and safe!” Occupant chimed in before Cherry Berry raised a hoof to shush him.

“Yes,  my changelings were carrying the newest capsule off the last barge when  I saw this big, ugly airship coming up along the southern coast.”  Chrysalis raised a hoof and made a slow swooping gesture, demonstrating  how it had flown. “And right behind it was a second one just like it,  both trailing huge clouds of smoke and lightning. Both of them black and  beautiful, almost as if I’d designed them myself.” She smirked a bit as  she added, “Of course I knew we were under attack as soon as I saw  them.”

“Really,” Cadence drawled. “Because they couldn’t possibly be rich ponies with a taste for gothic fashion?”

“A  single airship like that, possibly,” Chrysalis said. “But anybody who  deliberately makes two of those things and then sends both of them  somewhere is engaging in psychological warfare.” She snorted. “On the  plus side, if the enemy has weak discipline, it can make them easy to  break. On the minus side, a disciplined force will know exactly what to  attack on sight.” She smirked a self-satisfied smile as she added,  “Whoever it was chose the wrong tactic. I knew my changelings could  easily repulse two airships, no matter how large.”

“Er, my queen?” Occupant looked a little embarrassed. “I, um, it turned out it wasn’t two airships.”

“It was five,” Lucky Cricket added.

“Five?” Chrysalis said, leaning her head up. “I only remember two.”

“Well,  you remember how you led us into battle against the first airship?”  Lucky continued. “We forced that one down into the bay. It was a  brilliant victory!”

“Yes, I remember that part,” Chrysalis nodded.  “I saw the blimp going down, and I was shouting at you to form up for a  second attack…” Her face screwed up in concentration. “Something hit me  between the shoulders, just here-“ she leaned up and waved a hoof at  her spine just below the neck- “and I thought it was some really heavy  piece of debris. I tried to shake it off…” Her voice trailed into  silence.

“It was a piece of misfortune malachite,” Twilight  Sparkle said. “An extremely potent petrification spell. And you were  hundreds of meters over the water when it took effect.”

“It came  from the third airship,” Lucky Cricket said. “They were hiding in the  smoke cloud from the first two ships. We saw you falling and managed to  catch you before you hit the water. We carried you to the fire swamps to  hide, and we didn’t look back.”

“The defense kinda broke up after that,” Occupant said. “I tried to rally some guards to hold the space center, but…”

“They didn’t take you prisoner, did they?” Chrysalis asked.

Occupant’s  eyes widened. “No!” he shouted indignantly. “When their troops  surrounded mission control, we knocked a couple of them out and copied  them. In about ten minutes we’d replaced fifteen of them- me, Carapace,  Plastron, some of the other old hooves.”

“Fifteen?” Chrysalis asked. “Out of close to three hundred?”

“The  rest either followed us or fled back to the hive,” Lucky Cricket said  softly. “And to be honest I was surprised even fifteen stayed. Without  you leading us, we were no match for those airships.”

Chrysalis  flopped back onto her pillow. On the one hoof, that was sort of a  compliment to her leadership and tactical skills, she supposed. On the  other hoof, a dozen changelings should have been enough per airship,  with any kind of leadership.

And on the bucking hoof, she was  frankly amazed that fourteen of her changelings had voluntarily followed  Occupant’s leadership anywhere other than to the mess hall.

“And this was all over a month ago?” she asked. “So spring is half over now?”

“That’s  right,” Twilight Sparkle said. “And for us it’s been a very busy month.  But I’m sure you’ll hear all about it from the others.”

“Yes, we  do have to be going,” Celestia agreed. “We have some hard flying ahead  if we’re to be in Manehattan for Dragonfly’s big parade.”

Chrysalis  stiffened in her bed. A quick glance around revealed that yes,  Dragonfly was not in the room. “Parade? Parade for what?”

“For her  brilliant rescue of those stranded astronauts,” Celestia continued.  “You must get Cherry to tell you about it. It was a marvelous  achievement.”

“Dragonlord Ember’s going to personally escort her  to the Dragonlands after this for their own celebration,” Luna added.  “The yaks already held their own ceremony.”

“Dragons? Yaks?”

“Well,  get plenty of rest,” Twilight Sparkle said, easing towards the door.  “By tomorrow your post-petrification fatigue should be gone, and you’ll  be back to normal!”

The alicorns walked out, followed by Goddard,  von Brawn and the two drones. Cherry Berry was about to follow when  Chrysalis reached out with her magic and grabbed the earth pony’s tail.  “Not so fast, pony,” she hissed, dragging her chief pilot back  rump-first to the side of her bed. “You’re not going anywhere until I  get an explanation.”

“Um, well,” Cherry Berry flustered, “I was in  Canterlot for the invasion and got captured with all the other ponies  there, so I don’t-“

“Don’t try to deceive a deceiver,” Chrysalis  warned, green fire flickering in her eyes. “You must have been here for  whatever Dragonfly did, right?”

“Well…” Most ponies were terrible  liars, and Cherry Berry worse than most. Chrysalis could read on the  pink pony’s face three blatant fibs considered and rejected in the  course of about five seconds before she gave up and settled for the  truth. “Yes, I was. I was in charge of the whole flight.”

“Flight,  is it?” Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed. “I think you had better tell me  everything. Start at the part where you got back to the space center and  go from there.”

“Don’t you think this should wait until you’ve rested?”

“Talk,” Chrysalis barked.

Cherry Berry talked.