Chapter 26

12-27-13, 5:35 A.M.

Jeremy was frantically looking around for his suit – where had he left it? He’d lost track of the darn thing lately, and now it was missing on the one day he needed it most. Finding nothing, he decided to head out, and to mention to Chrysalis that he’d lost it and would have to make another one.

Jeremy opened the office door, searching fruitlessly for his suit before blearily making his way over to the portal. Stepping through, he noticed that the room was suspiciously devoid of all objects; even Chrysalis’ cocoon was removed. He was about to contemplate this when he felt a weight land on him from behind. Whipping around, he spotted a changeling with a yellow shell, and this snapped him out of his sleepiness. Acting quickly, he punched the changeling right on the snout, and as it reeled back, he pounced back on it, using his superior weight as the advantage. Jeremy then began to simply punch it over and over again, aiming for the windpipe, the stomach, the face, and delivering the fastest flurry of blows he had ever given – he was pretty sure he was going to die if he didn’t.

After a few minutes of this, the changeling stopped struggling to escape and went limp. Jeremy picked it up distastefully, and holding it by the scruff of the neck, brought it outside of the room – to an observing Chrysalis. Jeremy was surprised by this, but the changeling he was holding suddenly decided to jerk its head up, and he immediately reacted by slamming it into the nearest wall. “Hey, knock it off, the test’s over!” Chrysalis protested. Jeremy stopped slamming the changeling into the wall, and gave it another look – its shell color had changed to Chrysalis’ blue-green.

“That was a test?” he asked, dropping the changeling, who hit the floor with a thud and groaned.

“Yes. Needless to say, you passed – the point was you could be ambushed at any moment,” Chrysalis explained. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“I knew that,” he replied irritatedly. “Now, have you seen my suit? I seem to have lost it.” Chrysalis laughed, and turned around, the crowd of spectating changelings parting for her and allowing Jeremy to follow.

They came to a hole in the wall Jeremy hadn’t noticed before – unlike all the other cavities in the cave, this one actually had a tunnel dug into it. Unfortunately, the tunnel was only a few feet high, and Chrysalis examined it. “Hmm. Might have to have it brought out to you, actually – forgot you weren’t changeling-sized.” Jeremy rolled his eyes, pushed her aside, and started crawling through the hole. It was fairly spacious, but a short while later it got much smaller – Jeremy thought even a changeling might have to crawl through this.

Flattening himself against the floor, he squeezed through, emerging into another large cavern on the other side – about twice the size of Chrysalis’ room. Here, relics from an age past could be seen: parts of gunships, machine guns, and even a few sniper rifles. Chrysalis herself easily crawled through the entrance, and Jeremy surveyed the room distastefully.

“You still have this?” he asked accusingly.

“Well, we weren’t exactly going to disassemble it,” Chrysalis commented.

It made sense, but Jeremy still didn’t like the idea of guns being a possible contender in future events – it didn’t fit with the show. Then again, he didn’t fit with the show.

In the middle, his suit was propped up on a tilted table, and a lamp was placed over it. Jeremy stared at the modifications. For one thing, the suit had been outfitted with what appeared to be plastic reinforcement. Jeremy surveyed this curiously - it now looked a bit like a Star Wars Stormtrooper outfit, but surely that couldn't have been what Chrysalis was going for.

"So... what's with the plastic?" he asked.

"It's ultra-high density polyethylene - Luna loaned me your computer for a short while, and I looked up the latest in bulletproofing developments. It's got the tensile strength of steel, give or take, but it's much, much lighter - an inch thick of this stuff will stop a .50-caliber bullet." Jeremy's eyes went wide. Turning to face Chrysalis, he swept her up into a hug, and she gasped in surprise before returning it uncertainly. Jeremy let her down after a moment, before casually slipping into the suit, noting how cool and still lightweight it was.

“So, I guess you’ll be wanting the list of upgrades, so here goes. By the way, this was a secret project between me and Luna – Happy Whatever-Your-Favorite-Holiday-Is.” Jeremy laughed, and she flashed him a smile before continuing. “Internal cooling or heating to adjust for temperature, external non-invasive vital sign sensors, a miniature synthesizer and microneedle for medication and anti-poison, not to mention repairing organs, bones, blood and tissue.  Really, you couldn’t die with this thing on even if you tried,” she remarked.

“What if some of this stuff breaks?” Jeremy asked, concerned – even bulletproofing only got you so far. Chrysalis looked at him with what appeared to be a hint of suspicion.

“Strangely enough, we found that we couldn’t damage the suit – it repaired itself. Since you can’t do magic, and your old suit was supposedly destroyed anyway by Nightmare Moon, who did this?” Jeremy knew exactly who, but he wasn’t going to say it.

“I know what happened, and it happened while I was dead, and that is all I can say on the matter,” he replied. Chrysalis looked at him.

“You know, someday you’re going to have to tell me – I can’t bear secrets.” Jeremy sighed and nodded – even though it really wasn’t up to him, nor was he sure he was even supposed to hide the existence of Solaris and Orion from any but their daughters in the first place.

Chrysalis pulled out a helmet, which of course was his old helmet with a few new modifications, such as what appeared to be a miniature gas filter on the breathing holes, which were now relegated to the front. “This hooks up with your suit, and we altered the infrared chip on your glasses to serve the same function in case you ever lose your helmet. Now, both can tell you when a changeling is disguised as something else – but we haven’t worked out a way to tell if changelings are disguised as other changelings, and that’s a problem because that’s most likely what you’ll be facing in the arena.” Jeremy stared at her.

“Really? Even you can’t tell?” Chrysalis shook her head. “Hmm… what if we used some kind of code message?” Jeremy wondered.

“No, because then any changeling who listened in or happened to overhear would know it,” Chrysalis countered. Jeremy made a short groan of frustration.

“Well, I can’t just go around attacking every changeling I see – I’m assuming your changelings will be on the field as well?” To his surprise, Chrysalis shook her head.

“Nope, just you out there – but occasionally one of us will come out to assist you if you should ever need help.” Jeremy waved her offer away.

“Either I win, or I die – I won’t need much help either way.”

Chrysalis looked at him, concerned. “You sure? Even for someone who’s died before, that’s a little cavalier,” she noted. Jeremy was indifferent.

“I’ll be fine – this suit is too overpowered for me to lose.” Chrysalis seemed to have her doubts, but apparently decided to not continue the conversation.

They crawled out of the secret room, Jeremy in the lead. As he slowly stood up, stretching after crouching for a while, the changelings surveyed his new armor. “Anyone got a crowbar?” Jeremy jokingly asked before putting on his helmet, and Chrysalis went around in front of him to talk to him. One drawback of the helmet, Jeremy noted, was that his peripheral vision was gone.

“Can you hear me?” she asked, and Jeremy nodded before realizing she couldn’t see it.

“Yes,” he replied, hoping his voice carried through the suit. Chrysalis smiled in response, and led him over to the crowd of changelings.

“Now, your training will start tomorrow – I want you to get used to the suit today. Wear it as long as possible, and try out some of the functions – but don’t poison yourself,” Chrysalis jokingly lectured.

Jeremy gave an amused chuckle, replying “No promises.” Chrysalis laughed for a second, before becoming businesslike once more.

“Right. So, what weapons will you be using?” she asked.

“Actually, been meaning to ask about that. Do I strictly have to murder all of the opponents, or is incapacitating them also okay?” Jeremy asked.

Chrysalis looked at him. “If you could incapacitate every single other opponent, I think they’d have to invent a new rule to deal with it.”

Jeremy grinned. “Sounds good to me. Been developing a vapor-based tranquilizer weapon – kind of like the love machine, but it puts anyone to sleep for a few days.” Chrysalis considered this, interested.

“Well, assuming they don’t get up for a long while… you might be able to get your wish - but couldn't you incapacitate them with regular guns, the way you did before?” she asked. Jeremy considered this for a moment.

"Really, the point I want to make is that all this violence and pain could so easily be avoided, they aren't even necessary," he explained.

Chrysalis looked at him. "Quite the pacifist you've become. Alright, if that weapon works, I'll allow it." Jeremy raised a fist in triumph, and Chrysalis theatrically rolled her eyes.

Chrysalis retreated into her room, and Jeremy followed. From there, she adopted an extremely seductive pose. “Now, I know I said to keep the suit on, but I don’t think anyone would mind if you took it off for just one moment,” she suggested. Jeremy looked down at her – was she…? Yes. Yes, she was. Oh boy.

“I uh… I’m actually kind of waiting on Celestia – I felt she kind of deserved next turn after what she’s been through,” he falteringly replied.

After looking at him for a moment, Chrysalis sighed and stood up. “Oh. Okay then,” she responded, before sitting down heavily.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” Jeremy pleaded.

“Yes, I know! It’s just… when do I get a turn?” she demanded. Jeremy took a moment to control his frustration – both at himself and at the world around him.

“Okay. Look. How about this. First thing after I get done with Celestia, I’ll go straight over to you, no hesitation or anything. We’ll do a song, because that seems to be a thing between me and everyone I love, and then I’ll be down for that,” Jeremy declared. “Fair?”

Chrysalis looked at him. “And you won’t beat around the bush?”

Jeremy shook his head. “If I do, you have rights to smack me upside the head.”

Chrysalis grinned. “It’s a deal.” Jeremy shook her hoof, and then exited the room.

He felt pretty bad about doing that, but Jeremy still felt like his reasoning was valid. Celestia’s own bitter disappointment had led her to insanity – he couldn’t do that to her again. Whereas Chrysalis understood all this, even if she wasn’t willing to admit it – in fact, Jeremy supposed she understood a great deal more than he did. She was well versed in pony romance – and changeling romance too, he thought as he sat down and continued to design the new weapon. He had a paper in his inbox – his old design had been rejected, with a comment asking how he himself would avoid the soporific vapors. Jeremy frustratedly groaned – that was just stupidity on his part. Well, wait. He had an idea that might solve the problem.

Jeremy scrolled through a list of solvents for the tranquilizers he had chosen, finding a particularly viscous one and making a note of it. Chrysalis had looked over his list of compounds, crossing out a few she claimed didn’t work too well on changelings. Next, he drew a rocket-launcher-esque barrel, adding a few notes at the back for a special launching mechanism rather akin to a squirt gun. Finally, he drew a synthesizer pointing out the top - rather like the one inside the love machine, but adapted to produce a few different compounds.

12-27-13, 9:40 A.M.

Jeremy sat back, rubbing his eyes – he had been staring at the drawing for quite a while, making sure everything was in place, worked, and everything else that constituted a successful weapon. Placing the paper in his Outbox tray and hoping that this one worked, he wandered off to get breakfast.

Finding that the castle breakfast was closed at this point, he visited a shop, buying a simple sandwich and a few sweets. Finding nothing else to do, and wondering if he should actually just go back to sleep for a while, he headed back to the office.

His paper was gone – presumably they had somehow visited while he was out to breakfast. Or maybe there was some teleportation going on? Intrigued but too lazy to test this, Jeremy settled for another round of gaming and drawing. He had to admit, this was clearly the best job – it was a bit like reverse play-testing his games, only without all the tedious glitch hunting. Plus, the sack of gold coins he got every week gave him no small thrill. It occurred to him that he should probably spend that on something, as right now it was just sort of sitting in his room and accumulating. The worst part was, it was solid gold – if he tried to spend it back home, he’d probably end up crashing the economy. However, he certainly could set some aside for a college fund – his parents’ accounts had been distributed to their various relatives, leaving him significantly more wealthy but not nearly enough to get him through college without debt.

The rest of the day went uneventfully – he got used to the new features and geometry of his suit only after bumping into just about everything – the problem with the new cover armor was that his chest was much thicker than it used to be. He did notice that the suit was heated and cooled so that he was always comfortable. The sheet metal didn’t weigh down on him too much, and he still had the extradimensional pocket for storing things – and it still held all of his guns. Speaking of which, Jeremy realized, it was about time he made another portal gun – the last one was currently only so many radioactive molecules drifting about in space.

Going to dinner, he found that Celestia was waiting outside the entrance to the gardens. “Ready for tomorrow?” she asked as they went inside.

“Sure am. You know the lyrics?” he inquired in return, and Celestia nodded.

As they ate, both slightly fidgeted, uncomfortable. “So… New suit, I see,” Celestia commented.

“Yeah. The changelings made this, apparently – it’s got a bunch of upgrades to it now.” Jeremy replied as he popped a fry in his mouth.

Celestia nodded appreciatively. “How’s the tranquilizer weapon coming?” she continued. Jeremy waved his hand in a so-so motion as he finished the last of his fries.

“First design got rejected, waiting on approval for the second,” he explained.

They continued to have small talk for the rest of the dinner, marking the first time where Jeremy had stuck around instead of eating and immediately leaving. And despite his asocial preferences, all in all the experience wasn’t that bad.

Next Chapter: Chapter 27* Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 12 Minutes