"I wish you were here with me... not the way you are now... the way you used to be."
Ocellus recalls thinking the love-starved hive's infesting Nightmare Moon's Palace. Now, she has found the core of the infestation.
The vast room is filled with changeling pods, each large enough to encase a bugbear and filled with royal jelly. Between them, sets of columns populate the enormous space, fan vaulting rising from their tops like the canopy of a jungle. Stairwells descend from balcony viewing rooms above. The lime lighting makes the room feel like the dark heart of a swamp.
The swamp is full of buzzing insects. Black, hole-ridden drones dart about, several carrying lanterns of blue flame. Ocellus feels a pang, realizing she has left her little friend with Gallus. Perhaps it is better she not see her sisters serving this hive.
Ocellus moves through the swamp. Keeping her head down, her ocelli open.
Gallus was surprised that Greed was in the dungeon, not the palace treasury. This is the treasury of Nightmare Moon's Palace. But any faux treasure Nightmare Moon created for herself has been broken down, the dark essence turned into weapons. Display tables that may once have held replicas of crowns and scepters are now covered in rows of royal jelly sprayers. Shelves hold glowing, putrescent orbs, lined up like they were books.
Unlike Queen Chrysalis, Elytra has no throne. Her weapons are her monument to herself. The treasury is an armory.
Ocellus stops before an octagonal display table. Two dozen moonsilver needles ring the surface, sharp ends pointed inwards, blue smoke roiling in the bulbs.
Ocellus pales internally at the idea of two dozen more abominations like the ones she and Gallus encountered. She looks about. Seeing no drone watching, she opens her saddlebag and scoops them into it with a swing of a foreleg.
Not that she has any intention of using them herself. She'll just break them down. Smolder can make herself gemstones.
Stop! Don't think of Smolder! Don't think of any of them. She cannot feel love. Not here.
Ocellus looks around again. Three sets of columns ahead, a drone is tending to a changeling pod. Another flies by in the next aisle, carrying a royal jelly sprayer. Neither are paying her any attention.
Between the pods, she spots another set of onyx columns. The third set she has seen in the treasury. But the first column is shattered at its base, only a few jagged black stones remaining.
No sign of Queen Elytra yet. Nor any sign of Pride. Ocellus hopes she finds the latter swiftly enough to avoid the former.
Ocellus dares not open her receptors in here. She can't handle another taste of the queen's love. A steady diet of that, and stabbing herself in the eye might seem reasonable.
Nothing is shifting in here. The treasury is stable. The cavernous room seems to swallow the drones buzzing within. The deeper she goes, the fewer she sees. Have they been ordered to keep only to the outer edges of the treasury?
A drone drifts by, paying her no attention. Ocellus notices a saddlepack similar to the one worn by the drone she hit with a vase. It might even be the same drone.
Okay, limited access to the armory makes sense. And since Queen Elytra's drones are always obedient, none of them question her presence. If she is here, she must be supposed to be here.
Ocellus nearly understands that level of submission. Queen Chrysalis demanded it. And Ocellus, like every other drone, had given it. Queen Chrysalis was their mother, their ruler. When Ocellus was young, she almost worshipped her.
Until Thorax and Starlight invaded the hive and Thorax proved there was a better way.
These changelings receive their only source of love from Queen Elytra. Obedience for life. The very thought of disobeying must be anathema, disobedience tantamount to suicide.
Ocellus feels her hopes of saving this hive fading.
She catches her love-starved reflection in a changeling pod as she passes close to it. Ocellus stops, staring at herself. Everything that horrifies her stares back into her ocelli. Feelings of remorse and revulsion swell from her gut. Empathy and hatred seep from her heart. They mix in the cauldron of her soul. Churning. Making her ill.
There is a shape in the pod.
Ocellus' breath catches. She assumed they were all full of royal jelly. Who, or what, would be imprisoned within? The only living things on the moon, aside from the changelings themselves, were moonsharks. And the creature trapped inside this pod, while large, was far too small even for a mega-eel hatchling.
Ocellus begins to circle the pod. As she reaches the far side, the slumbering form within becomes clear.
"Yona!" She breathes her friend's name, the whisper of a shout. Immediately, she spins, looking for any'ling who might have heard her.
This side of the pod faces a wide aisle beneath the canopy of fanning ribs. At one end is the largest pod yet, big enough for her gigantic insect form. At the other is another set of onyx pillars, again with the first pillar broken, the rubble cleaned away. More pods cling to the fan-ribbed ceiling in clusters. But Ocellus sees no other changelings. The aisle is completely devoid of drones.
Ocellus turns back. She knocks on the pod. "Yona? Yona!"
To her relief, she sees Yona's eyes flitter open. She cannot help the swell of love she feels at seeing her friend. Or the fear at finding her like this. In this place.
If I had stopped to look at myself in any other pod...
Ocellus shoves away that thought before anxieties over how she could have accidentally doomed Yona prevent her from saving her friend.
Yona is staring at her with revulsion.
Ocellus feels a wrenching in her heart. She knows why. Her friend is staring at Ocellus the Love-Starved Drone.
With a flash of turquoise, Ocellus reveals herself. "Yona!" She whispers. "It's me! Ohgosh, I'll have you right out of there!"
Yona smiles. It is not a good smile.
Oh no.
Ocellus feels her insides becoming numb, slewing away. This is a trap. It wasn't luck that she found the right pod. She briefly wonders what percentage are seeded with changelings like this, drones willingly becoming trapped and helpless to act as bait.
The hive knows she is here. But they still can't tell her apart from themselves, so they are using the forms of her friends to try to provoke a love response that will betray her.
Icy cold flows over her. But before it can paralyze her, the room is filled by a booming voice from the farthest cocoon...
"No! Badbug not fool bugfriend!"
...followed by a loud crash.
Ocellus turns to see another Yona in the far cocoon.
Paralysis shifts to hope. The only way they could mimic Yona is if they had encountered the real Yona!
Ocellus' eyes widen, staring at the extremely oversized pod and the form of her friend moving within it. Her mind is a library, and a yak-shaped calamity has knocked all the books from the shelves.
If that is her, the real Yona is doing a number of impossible things all at once. She's awake and moving inside her cocoon! And talking... understandably despite the fluid interior. And most unimaginably...
As Ocellus watches, Yona slams her head into the cocoon, creating a spiderweb of cracks!
...she's breaking out!
Ocellus dares peek open her receptors, gagging hard. Overcooked cabbage, slightly rotting spinach and bitter roots overwhelm her. But beneath the cloying, pungent taste of Queen Elytra's love, she can discern a thin emanation of mushroom soup, green tea and wet dirt. Yona's love -- strangely muted but still clearly Yona's.
Ocellus' jaw drops open. She squeaks, speechless.
Insanely, she thinks: yaks really are the best at not being paralyzed.
From above, another voice vocalizes Ocellus' confusion and disbelief. "What!?? How...? How are you even moving!?? That's impossible!"
Ocellus's gaze is ripped upwards as the changeling queen emerges from her hiding place within the pods on the ceiling above. She is struck by how much Queen Elytra looks like Chrysalis. Similar... but not the same. Elytra is younger and even more emaciated, with more holes in her limbs, and even one through the first bend of her horn. She has slightly warmer tones of green and blue in her carapace and irises. Her hair is shorter, pulled back into a ponytail.
Queen Elytra set this trap for Ocellus. She has her prize, but she is completely focused on the inconceivable event playing out before them.
Ocellus looks back in time to see a charging Yona -- not just moving but charging within her pod! -- ram into the shell. The small spiderweb of cracks in the pod grow to cover the whole face of it.
Yona backs up two steps, pushing against the resin that should be binding her. It ripples around the yak the way royal resin only does when its queen wills it. Her mind flashes to the memory of Queen Chrysalis confronting Thorax. The memory revisited in last night's dream.
Queen Chrysalis scoffs. "The only thing Thorax has found..." She announces as She marches up to the treasonous drone who abandoned them and helped outsiders invade the hive. "...is what happens to those who turn their back on the hive!"
The Queen lifts him with Her royal magic, pulling him from the royal resin as it turns to jelly at Her will, no longer binding him to the floor.
But this is clearly not the will of Queen Elytra.
Yona stares at the changeling queen defiantly, her eyes glowing a bright silvery-white. "Yona moving because YAKS BEST!"
Ocellus' disbelief freezes and shatters. Oh. Of course. "Hello, Pride."
Another slam, and Yona does what yaks do best. With a resounding SMASH! the changeling pod ruptures. Yona pours out in a flood of green, viscous liquid.
Ocellus flies to Yona's side, but the afflicted yak is already getting up. Ocellus ducks behind a column as the yak shakes herself, flinging liquefied resin everywhere.
This is so very, very bad. She needs a plan.
"Stupid, wicked bug-lady try to capture Yona! Try to steal Yona's special rock! Try to hurt Yona's bugfriend! Yona SMASH you and all you stupid bug-people!"
Ocellus doesn't need to be told what Yona's "special rock" is, and she aches for her friend.
Ocellus wonders: is she seeing what happens to somecreature under the normal influence of an anti-Element? If so, she has no idea what to expect, or how badly her Yona has been warped by it. Queen Elytra formed a parasitic relationship with Pride. Gallus was repulsed by Envy, and Smolder... well, what Smolder did with Greed was by no means normal.
Hidden behind the column, the nymph hears Yona venting angrily at Queen Elytra. "You nothing but leeches. Bug-leeches. Leeches get stomped!"
The words skewer Ocellus. Surely that's Pride. Surely Yona never thought of changelings that way. At least, not changelings like her. Right?
She peeks around the column. "uh... Yona?"
Yona stops, turning to see the timid form of her changeling friend. Her eyes widen, and Ocellus can see the yak become more self-aware of her words. But instead of the worry and apologetic hurt she would see in the eyes of their Yona, the yak's expression becomes defensive.
"Yona not prejudice," Yona says, pointing towards Ocellus. "Yona have bugfriend."
"Oh yeah, this is fun," Ocellus says to herself with a deadpan worthy of Gallus.
Queen Elytra is hovering in the air over them, unimpressed. Her horn glows, and a horrible sloshing fills the air as the resin in the changeling pods around them softens. Flashes of brighter green light from within tell Ocellus the bait changelings are retaking their natural forms.
They are about to be so very surrounded.
Just like Starlight and Thorax.
Ocellus lifts herself into the air, her arms wide. "Listen to me! Look at me!"
All about her, she hears the softened pods splitting open like overripe fruit. The skittering of drones as they climb out. The wet sound of wings shaking off a coating of melted resin.
"I'm a changeling too," she calls as she lifts herself high for all to see. "I was once starving, just like all of you. But there is another way to survive. You just have to share your love!"
She looks at Queen Elytra. The queen hovers, her expression cool, unfazed. Not haughty. Not panicking.
Several of the drones are taking to the air, staring at her with the hostility their queen's demeanor lacks.
She has to reach them. They have to see."I'm living proof!"
They have to!
"Well, that is definitely something worth looking into," Queen Elytra responds in a droll tone. "After we get home."
The changelings surrounding them hiss, their forked tongues lashing out like angry serpents. Agreeing with their Queen. Applauding her. Intimidating the intruders into their hive.
A black hole of deja vu.
Queen Elytra flies up to her. "A noble try Ocellus." The queen's voice is calm and sickly sweet.
"But my hive is driven by a greater hunger than love. I give them love. And once we have reclaimed what should be mine, if any of them wishes to become like you, they have my blessing to do so." Queen Elytra's eyes narrow and her tone becomes harder than a cragadile's scales. "Unlike some queens, I don't punish my children if they want to sever ties and go their own way."
"This is not our home!" the changeling queen announces, moving past her. The part of Ocellus not simply reeling makes mental notes. "The world in the sky is. I was banished to this lonely rock by my mother for the crime of being everything I was born to be."
Below them, Yona is still glowering haughtily. "Are all bugqueens best at monologuing?"
Her afflicted friend's words shake Ocellus out of her stupor. Her mental notebook Unanswered Questions is open and she is finally filling in lines under her first and biggest question: why are there changelings on the moon? She doesn't have a picture yet, but Queen Elytra's soliloquy is revealing that the puzzle does have pieces. And she has found a big one.
"You're not looking to return peacefully from banishment," Ocellus counters. Queen Elytra spins around to face her again. "You're creating weapons! You're stealing Luna's knowledge. I'm not going to let you come to my home bringing war and nightmares..."
"Nightmares?" Queen Elytra interrupts. "Who said anything about nightmares? With all your former ruler knows, I can bring creatures' dreams to life! Give them their deepest, darkest desires! I'll give them what they love, and there will be no end to the feeding. With that power, no force could stand against me. And who would want to?"
Ocellus' jaw drops.
That's... Ingenious? Diabolical? Horrifying? Under Queen Chrysalis, changelings used to eliminate creatures who were part of a loving relationship and replace them. How many creatures would willingly accept a facsimile of someone they loved and lost? Or someone they could never have? How many would give up their freedom for their greatest desires made real... or as real as anything created from dark essence could pretend to be?
When she was a love-starved changeling, she would pretend to be what a pony wanted her to be. Now, she's... still doing that, isn't she? Is she any more real than the effigies that Queen Elytra is promising?
"YAKS STOP!" Yona promises loudly. "Yaks not want fake gifts! Yaks SMASH them! Yona stop evil bugqueen!"
Queen Elytra ignores the yak beneath them, focusing on Ocellus. The queen's voice shifts again to sickly sweetness. "All I want is to return home. And you... you and that monster in the mirror... you seek to rob me of that chance?"
Ocellus jerks as if slapped. A defiant anger wells within her. "Luna's not a monster! No matter what she did before. She's changed! Creatures can change!"
Queen Elytra scowls, her tone one of dry anger. "I don't want to change. I want to carve out my place and shape it in my image!"
"Yona not want world in ugly bugqueen image! World should be in image of YAKS!"
Queen Elytra's eyes narrow to slits. Then widen as she smiles far too widely. "Well, if nightmares are what you truly want..."
Ocellus knows she has failed. But she has one shot left to end this -- to remove Queen Elytra (without even harming her!) and break the leash she has on her drones. Before the changeling queen can finish her threat, Ocellus transforms in a flash of turquoise light.
Cockatrice-Ocellus stares into Queen Elytra's eyes.
Queen Elytra spits jelly into Cockatrice-Ocellus' face, blinding her.
I can't see! I can't see! Ocellus falls to the floor with a bone-shaking thud, wrenching one of her cockatrice wings. She reverts to her nymph self as her hooves fly to her face, her ocelli covered in hardening resin. She feels the splash of more royal jelly hit her, spilling across her body and to the floor, stiffening, becoming elastic.
The royal jelly binding her never solidifies. It collapses back into softness as a yak hoof wipes it away from her face. Ocellus looks up, her vision blurry. The smile on Yona's face looks a lot like her friend's.
How is she doing that? Only a queen...
Wait, is Pride's relationship with Queen Elytra symbiotic? Pride amplifies Elytra's self-love enough for her to feed on herself. Is it also taking something from her? Ocellus knows pride is a weakness that masquerades as a strength. A precarious self-image that must be fed. If the anti-Elements resonate with their vices, what has Pride conned Elytra into feeding it?
Is Yona drawing on Queen Elytra's powers through Pride somehow?
Her ocelli catch the light of drones conjuring their collision barriers. "Yona, look out!"
The nymph's vision goes dark as she gets a face full of yak fur, Yona stepping over her protectively.
Ocellus hears the meaty thumps as five drones comet into the yak. The nymph's breath catches as she waits for the yak to collapse on her, unconscious or dead. She knows that should have killed her friend.
The fall doesn't come. Ocellus slides her head enough to see beyond the dangling curtain of yak belly-hair. Her still-blurred ocelli open wide with wonder.
Pride-Yona continues to stand, unfazed as the drones scattered around her groan and try to regain their senses.
"Th-thank you, Yona!"
Yona hrumphs. "What friends for? Yona protect small, weak bugfriend. Keep Ocellus safe. Yona make Yak Promise."
Yona bounds off of her, diving into battle with the drones.
Ocellus rolls onto her hooves. "I'm beginning to really dislike the word 'bugfriend'."
Queen Elytra lands in front of her. "Go ahead," she says in a silky purr. "Show me another of your interesting forms."
Ocellus flies into the air, trying to keep her distance. A shapeshifter battle is the last thing she wants. One of the first aspects of this hive Ocellus noticed was their limited and object-heavy form repertoire. They've proven adept at learning new ones, one even becoming her dice and Gallus. She doesn't want to add any new weapons to their arsenal.
It was probably a really bad move to turn into a cockatrice. On the other hoof, maybe they'll all just petrify each other.
Queen Elytra looks up at her with an expression that says: where do you think you're going? The room is huge, there is a lot of up, but eventually she will hit the ceiling.
"Of all the creatures from our home, you had to be a changeling," Queen Elytra says in an almost regretful tone. "You are a threat to everything, Ocellus. I can't let you leave here. Not someone who can identify my drones just by standing near them."
Ocellus blinks. That's why she's worried about me? Not because I might destroy the portal, but because she thinks I'm a drone detector? It doesn't even work that way!
Except it almost would if part of her palate wasn't atrophied. Love-waste is something only changelings can taste. It would be useless in situations when love wasn't a factor, which usually included battle, but a changeling could use their senses to detect another changeling while they were in the act of feeding.
The queen beats her wings, flying up towards Ocellus.
If that's why I'm a threat, Ocellus realizes, then she must see our whole hive the same way. In her invasion, we'll be her first target.
Ocellus transforms into a rock and drops into Queen Elytra's upturned face. Queen Elytra lets out a rasp of surprise and pain as the impact drives her back down. The changeling queen somersaults as she falls, Rock-Ocellus sliding off her face.
Rock-Ocellus hits the floor, bouncing once and transforming in a flash. "Yona! Our friends are waiting for us!"
Above her, the queen wobbles in the air, dazed.
"Yaks not retreat! Yaks win!"
Oh please not this. Ocellus thinks quickly. Yona needs to win; her pride demands it. So set the win conditions. "They're trying to keep us here. We win if we get back to our friends!"
Yona pauses at that. The yak stops thumping a drone, dropping it to the floor unconscious, and looks around. "Okay. Bugfriend lead way."
Ocellus can almost taste Pride tainting every use of that word. A word she's used to hearing said only with fondness and maybe some respect. It makes her queasy.
Ocellus looks around too. There are huge crater-impact cracks across the marble flooring. She sees a lot of unconscious drones scattered about the floor. As much as she misses her true friend, Ocellus is really glad that Pride-charged, nigh-invincible, Yak-supremacist-version Yona is on her side.
Queen Elytra flies above them, having shaken off the blow. "Now that was just rude."
Her horn is glowing with fierce green light. Two chunks of onyx stone float up next to her, rotating slowly. In the light of the queen's magic, Ocellus catches the deconstruction capital rune carved into each stone.
"Let me show you another of my toys," Queen Elytra hisses, hurling one of the onyx rocks at Ocellus.
Ocellus dives behind a ruptured changeling pod. The rock hits the floor on the opposite side of her cover.
The treasury fills with a horrendous warping sound, like the air itself is screaming. Reality warps as her cover is pulled apart, broken down into globblets of green as it is vacuumed into an eruption of ultra-bright etheric flashes.
The uncontrolled devouring tears up the floor beneath the lights, turning it into oil and blue smoke before it is sucked into the light.
Ocellus feels herself being pushed towards the etheric lights as air rushes into the void. She scrambles, the marble beneath her offering nothing to grab onto. She loses purchase with the ground, beating her wings frantically as she is drawn through the air towards the devouring point.
With a pop, the flashes collapse. Ocellus drops, hitting the chewed edge of the floor and rolling into the cistern below. She spreads her wings, beating hard, catching herself. Her heart is pounding, her breaths hard and quick. Her flesh is panic-tight under her chitin.
She crests the floor to see Queen Elytra smiling at her, juggling the second onyx stone.
"Hey! Evil bugwhore!"
Ocellus nearly falls out of the air at Yona's choice of word.
Queen Elytra turns.
"YAK SMASH!"
Yona STOMPS! Her hooves flash with silvery-white light that spreads out in a visual shockwave, tearing up the marble floor. Veins of light race up the columns to each side of the yak as they crack. Then shatter.
Fractures lit with silver-white light slash across the fan ribbing above. Chunks of the ceiling start to fall. One crashes down on a softened changeling pod, smashing it open like an egg. Lime green pours out, running into the cracks in the floor.
In a rush, Ocellus remembers all those lessons from Twilight about what the Elements of Harmony were capable of when wielded by someone in tune with their spirits. She almost feels Pride is making a statement, reminding every creature just what being an anti-Element means.
Queen Elytra backs up, eyes wide, then darts away to avoid being hit as the ceiling begins to come down.
Ocellus chooses a different direction and does the same, calling out and hoping desperately that Yona follows.
She finds herself rapidly approaching the wall. Above, she can see the balcony of the viewing room. She can fly up there easily, but Yona can't. She turns to see if her friend is following.
"Badbugs on the stairs!" Yona warns.
Ocellus looks. Yona is understating. A whole swarm is pouring into the room from the stairs. They would already be overwhelmed if the drones weren't pulling back from the collapse.
"We're not taking the stairs!" Ocellus swoops back towards Yona.
"Yona not like flying!" the yak shouts crossly.
Okay, then we won't fly, Ocellus thinks, shifting to a new plan as she surrounds herself in transformation energy, becoming Dragon-Ocellus. We'll create a climbable platform.
Turning yet again, she swoops to the closest display table, snatching a (not a vomit cannon!) royal jelly sprayer barely a moment before a huge chunk of ceiling crashes down, smashing the display table.
Dragon-Ocellus dodges the debris sent flying from the destruction. She spins, aiming the nozzle, and triggers the spray with her other claw, sending an arc of fast-hardening resin up the wall, from floor to balcony.
As Yona races up, Ocellus fires off more streams towards them, discouraging the more courageous drones from pursuing. She tries not to actually hit any, not wishing to trap a drone in resin beneath a collapsing ceiling. But the sprayer is hard to aim, the the jelly snares two of the drones who brave it. Mercifully the jelly only catches the forelegs of one and a wing of the other -- enough to drop them to the floor, but not enough to prevent them from taking forms that could survive.
Ocellus lingers long enough to see one becomes a tapestry before flying out through the balcony viewing room, following Yona.
With a great rumble, the treasury ceiling continues to crumble, more pillars cracking with fractures of white light and shattering in the cascading failure.
The changeling nymph reverts to her true form as she looks at the golden filigree in the walls.
The hallway looks similar to the one she had been in before, but she remembers more changeling pods. Oddly empty ones. Repositories, perhaps, for more royal jelly? Either way, this is not the same hall. Or, at least, parts of it aren't.
"I'm keeping this as a gift for Gallus," Ocellus tells Yona as she works to strap the sprayer over her back. "He's here. Smolder too!" The tank is almost empty, but she has no doubt the griffon would make good use of what was left. Okay, little doubt. Maybe some doubt.
"Yona other friends here? Is Sandbar? Silverstream?"
Four anti-Elements. Four friends. Ocellus shakes her head. "No. I think it's just the four of us."
Yona's face falls at the news. Ocellus feels for her. Even like this, with what Pride is twisting her into, this is Yona. She still sees her friend in there, behind the silver-white lights of her eyes.
Ocellus revisits an old line of thought. Queen Elytra's displeasure at having brought a changeling into the palace gives weight to her assumption that the queen didn't know who her corruption of the mirror portal would deliver. Envy, Pride and Greed each found a friend of hers that they could resonate with. That left her and Wrath by default. With no resonance, she wasn't drawn to Wrath.
Ocellusssss! You're not where you're ssssssupposed to be!
So what happened to Silverstream and Sandbar? The most likely answer is the same thing that happened to Luna. That they are in changeling pods near the mirror, having their memories drained.
The idea continues to make her feel deeply ill.
"More bugs," Yona snorts in disgust, clopping a hoof and lowering her horns.
Ocellus looks up to see half a dozen guardian drones staring at them from the far end of the hall. Before she can react, Yona is charging down the hall.
The guardian patrol shoots towards her. To Ocellus, they look like pins rushing a rolling bowling ball.
A grinding fills the air as a new wall begins to bisect the hallway -- growing from the walls, floor and ceiling simultaneously. The angry faces of the patrol disappear as the wall fills in like a closing sphincter. Golden filigree snakes up like fast-moving ivy.
Yona tries to stop before she hits and trips, somersaulting into the spreading wallpaper with a graceless thud.
A rending sound builds within the wall beside Ocellus. Wallpaper splits like skin. Filigree wilts and tumbles to the floor. Columns rise up, sprouting capitals. Soon, another doorway has formed.
Ocellus jumps through, calling for Yona to follow before the new wall closes.
The new room is familiar. The gallery. Yona's voice rings out behind her.
"Yona hate stupid bugplace!"
Still, mercifully, she follows. Ocellus turns to see the yak jump through the opening just before it seals itself, strands of canvas slithering together like dozens of licking tongues. Melding into a painting. The paint spreads across it like fast-growing mold, forming into the image of Nightmare Moon staring up at the crescent world in the sky.
Yona looks around at all the paintings, exuding curiosity and confusion.
Ocellus closes her eyes, trying to build up some defense against the absolute nastiness coming from her friend. She can't stand hearing her like this. This is not Yona.
I need to get Pride away from her, Ocellus thinks. As fast as possible. Preferably without any bug-squashing.
Ocellus thinks. She can't just snatch it. Her friend is clearly in possession of Pride, and it of her. But Ocellus hasn't actually seen it; she isn't sure where it is under all that yak hair.
And she won't fight Yona. She's already physically fought one friend for an anti-Element. And despite having defeated super-sized Smolder, Ocellus doubts she could win against the Pride-enhanced yak. Not after seeing Pride literally bring the house down.
So what are my options? I doubt she'll just give Pride to me if I ask nicely.
"Why bugplace have no pictures of bugs? Why funny-looking ponies?" Yona questions.
Here it comes, Ocellus thinks sourly.
"Should have pictures of yaks."
Ocellus takes a deep breath, then puts on a beatific smile. She opens her receptors, getting a strong taste of Yona. Mushrooms, grave dirt and tea. The taste is simultaneously Yona and disturbingly wrong. Ocellus can taste the platonic love of Yona's friendship, but there is something rotting in it. There is a strong streak of actual love in her pride, both of herself and her people. But love for her culture and heritage is riddled by a cancerous nationalism, as if pride itself is a love-starved changeling feeding on her love.
"Thank you so much for saving me back there," Ocellus says, tasting the shifts in Yona's love at the praise. The nymph adjusts her voice for stronger effect, her tone earnest and simpering. "I couldn't have survived against the bugqueen without you. You're amazing!"
"Yona happy to help," Yona says, smiling back at her. "Ocellus Yona's friend. Yona not let bugfriend get hurt. Yona best at friendship."
Mushroom soup, parsley, yak tea. Strong, and directed at her as much as herself. There is still a poisonous aftertaste, but after the queen's love, what is coming from Yona right now is almost heavenly.
"You sure are! And what you did back there was... I don't even have words for how fabulous that was." Ocellus chooses her wording to create an association with Professor Rarity, letting the compliment subconsciously feel like it is praise from Yona's favorite teacher.
Yona beams at the praise. Her eyes glow with bright silver-white light. "Yona best at smashing!"
Ocellus tastes Yona's self-love surge. She adjusts farther, making her tone just a touch more simpering, her expression more saintly.
I'm doing exactly what I've been doing wrong, Ocellus judges, not proud of herself at all. I'm being what creates the love response I want rather than being in any way me. Only this time, she is fully aware and doing it with intent. Which is even worse.
"Oh yes! And you're better than you ever were," Ocellus fawns. "I'm so glad you found that special rock. You make the best pair!"
"Special rock know Yaks are Best!" Yona thumps her chest with a hoof, standing even taller. She is soaking in the praise, letting it build her up. "And Yona is Best Yak!"
Ocellus tastes and adjusts. She nods energetically. "Especially now that you have that rock to help you be Best. My friend Yona is the best Yak now! The changeling queen never stood a chance!"
Yona nods, grinning. "Yes, Yona... hold on." The yak's expression falters, her brow furrowing. "Yona not need fancy rock to be best!"
Taste and adjust.
Ocellus backs up a step, genuflecting. "Sorry! I didn't mean you can't be best without it... uh... it's just that it helps you be best." She points a hoof. "Makes it easier, right?"
Yona scowls. "Yak BEST with or without rock!"
Ocellus puts on a face of angelic contrition. "O-of course. If you say so. I'm your friend, so I believe you."
Yona flinches back, then steps forward, stomping and snorting. "Yona prove! Here, take fancy rock! Yona show bug she best without it!"
Yona pulls the huge, round diamond out of her thick yak hair. Silvery-white light dances between its facets.
The full moon, Ocellus thinks. Which would leave Wrath as the crescent.
Ocellus stares at Pride as her friend thrusts it at her. And now realizes her plan has one small flaw. She won't be able to just scoop it up safely from Yona's hoof with her saddlebags. She's going to have to take it -- touch Pride -- even if just for a moment.
Okay. I can do this. I just need to be fast. Professor Dash fast. Ocellus feels a shaky confidence that it won't be able to poison her if she only touches it for a second.
Before Yona can change her mind, Ocellus bites Pride, one hoof opening her saddlebag.
Not a problem. Of course she was right. She's totally on top of his. Look at how amazing she just was!
Wait, what?
The surge of self-assurance was not only completely foreign, but the exact opposite of the self-disgust she was feeling just seconds before. Ocellus drops Pride into her saddlebag, feeling the throbs of a headache.
Teenk. Tunk.
Ocellus' ears shoot up. Beside her, Yona wobbles. The yak's expression collapses. She drops to the floor, burying her face in her hooves.
Ocellus turns to face the gallery's grandmare clock. The numberless, moon-like face stares back at her. The minute fork shifts.
Teenk. Tunk.
Oh dear, Not As Planned.
Darn Cliffhangers. Can't wait to see what happens!
Queen Elytra: I have an army.
Ocellus: We have a Yona.
https://youtu.be/W3GF1x0-VX0?t=98
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Don't even need to click the link to know what that is.
That was awesome. Love that Ocellus managed to get the A-E from Yona without even asking. Not surprised at how it happened, though.
Was it manipulation? Sure. Was it necessary? As necessary as the White lies we tell children to keep them calm as their world crumbles around them.
It's really sad she never finished reading those questions...
Keep going! ;)
"Three set of columns"
"Three sets of columns"?
"expression cool, unphased. Not haughty"
"expression cool, unfazed. Not haughty"?
""Well, that is definitely something worth looking into," Queen Elytra responds in a droll tone. "After we get home.""
...Which gives the idea that she might actually embrace it... as something she did for their hive, making them even stronger and more able to conquer.
Oh, and then she starts elaborating; interesting.
"out of her stuper. Her"
"out of her stupor. Her"?
"bringing war and nightmares...""
"bringing war and nightmares--""?
Nice. :D
Though I ran into the end of the chapter with a bit of a thud; I was moving so nicely through it, scene going well, what happens next, and suddenly, no more next yet! :D
Not been a real Yona fan, but dang is Yak best Anti element ;). Your talent for handling the complexities of a mind like Ocellus’s is just really captivating as well.
The source of a cover is supposed to be a link to where the art was originally posted. BBCode doesn’t work in it.
10167188 Thank you. I fixed the link so it is working correctly. The link is to the FIMfiction page of the artist. The artwork was created for this story, so there is no "originally posted" site for the art.
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This comment made my morning. Thank you!
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*Grins and bows*
So...they didn't originate on the moon but rather back on Equestrian soil. Good to know.
I'm thinking banishment, that's how they got here. Now the question is, if that's correct (and from what Elytra revealed, it seems likely that it is), who did the banishing?
I'm guessing Chrysalis.
Well, one can hope.
Totally a vomit cannon.
Honestly, it didn't surprise me much Yona bonded with Pride, or appeared at all. Yona is a wonderful cinnamon bun of a character, but admittedly her various character flaws are sometimes a bit more obvious than the others--it's not hard to see how she could tie in directly with one of the anti-elements.
As I expexted, Queen Elytra is this story's version of Alex. Not a good person/bughorse by any definition, but they only want what they believe is best for everyone.
Good job turning the A-E against itself.
Yona needs to have her B-word pass revoked.
Sorry for the delay; busy day yesterday.
Man, it does not take long for changelings to start anthropomorphizing objects when they’re lonely. Or...proteomorphizing? It’s all Greek to me. In any event between this little comment and Chrysalis’ stick, you really do get the sense that changeling minds just break down when they’re alone. Or not break so much as just immediately start constructing others to interact with.
Makes sense. You don’t really get to say “yaks best. Is fact. Next question”, without tempting Pride. This leaves Wrath as either Sandbar or Silverstream, though...hmmm…
In my own writing the magic of bovines is all related to inertia. Basically they’re the Juggernaut: once they start moving it’s incredibly difficult to stop them, irrespective of the strength of the thing trying - I had Little Strongheart able to keep moving forward when Big “I’mma just drag this entire house behind me like it’s not even there” Mac tried to stop her.
...well! My estimation of Elytra just went up a bunch. She clearly has a sense of priority, and while objectively we should know that Reformation is a desirable thing, we’re looking at this situation from the outside in. Elytra has a lot of other things to consider. Of chief interest to me is that she definitely appears to be stuck up here, I wonder how that came to be…
...but just as interesting to me is that she has no idea that Reformation was possible, which means that the changelings have been up here for awhile - years and years, with no knowledge of what’s been going on on the surface. Not surprising. More surprising is that Elytra and all the changelings have known Ocellus’ name right from the start but didn’t know she was a Reformed changeling.
Obviously she could have pulled Ocellus’ name from Luna’s memory, but one would assume that the whole “Reformation” thing would have gone along with that. So does this suggest that Elytra somehow knew about Ocellus anyway? How?
Man this hits me hard for a huge number of reasons. Damn you’re doing a good job of making me empathize with Elytra.
Argh, I’m stupid and Ocellus is right. If the changelings expected her at Wrath that means that no student appeared there. So Sandbar and Silverstream might genuinely not be here. Phooey. Shoulda’ realized that.
After this Ocellus should have a talk with Trixie and Twilight about the Alicorn Amulet. This is very much what Twilight did to free Trixie from its malignant influence. And even though Ocellus has some bad associations with it, it’d probably do her good to be re-assured by Twilight (and maybe Trixie) that this is the best way to go about doing this.
10168864 I absolutely love comments like this. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Okay, on the plus side, I can no longer get any further behind on this fic. On the downside, Ocellus has found out just how utterly screwed they are, and having to figure out not only how to steal the artifact that is keeping the Hive alive, but also deal with all the moral ramifications of that. So, no pressure or anything. Really, right now it's just their assumption that the Queen wants to invade Equestria, so far all the moonlings have really done is attack some intruders to their realm. We don't know for sure they were the ones who messed with the mirror.
And that title.... well then, going to find this hive's version of Thorax? Or her reflecting on being a bugfriend?
Huh well then, this is another one, like many of the quotes, the implies quite a bit, but I'm getting a strong feeling about this story that a lot of what is going on is going to be due to characters taking implications as fact while missing some greater context for them.
There is only one true Lampy!
Yeah, that's why I started on that early, I just knew that Lamp would get all kinds of emotional attachment put on it.
You know, story, I've been over this. Accurate, but a tad distracting, and you have used 'eyes' a few times in reference to her.
Well, that kind of works, NMM taking Pride in all the wonderful treasure she created. Given they aren't really worth anything to be greedy about them, they just existed to inflate NMM's ego.
Or for her to fill up a giant vault with coins to go swimming in, because who wouldn't want to do that?
So, question, if they are being made by the replicators, why make them out of a metal that is too soft to use anywhere but the eye? Also, can we like, but some safety caps on the ends of those? If nothing else, the metal seems soft enough the point might get dinged up without some kind of protection around it. Be kind of embarrassing if a drone stabbed itself in the eye, only for the needle to end up blocked by a dent and not able to actually inject the stuff.
See the earlier talk about if ingesting something made of something that is meant to be able to be broken down is a good idea. I mean, it's not as bad as with Dresden at least (yes the reason that came right to mind, it's the whole in 'verse reason for the trope of a human eating any of the food from the realm of the Fae being unable to ever leave, Faerie food is made from the matter of the Never Never, and when brought to the mortal world it turns into protoplasm and then fades away in a few minutes unless a spell caster is providing constant magical energy to it to make it keep it's form.)
Well, that's not good. Try to dematerilize a bit too much?
Try living off little but hay and potatoes for over a year.
Ah the perks of not giving your minions any incentive at all to have the least bit of initiative.
Plot Twist!? Okay, so...... no way......
Okay, yes on Price calling the Yak, no on her then smashing everything in sight. Well, not ALL the things at least. But, this just got even more complicated. Also, wow, great luck you just happened to glance at the ONE pod out of all of them you'd care about that we are given no reason to assume is at all odd or stands out. That, does feel a tad overly convenient.
Okay, so, which is the 'first' one? And why break something that useful?
Not going through the ancient changeling awakening ritual? The one where you find a good stick, and whack the cocoon on the side chanting "Wake up you lazy grub!" Granted, that was for cocoons, not pods.
Yeah....... filing this away for later.
No no, is not squishy bug, is bug friend! But yeah, Ocellus, think what you look like.
Ummm, not good in a "She's about to Leeroy the hell out of all this" way, or a "Where's Admiral Ackbar when I need to know it's a trap" way?
Okay then.... though on the plus side, this means they've likely seen Yona, meaning she is around here somewhere. Also, nice fake out with the dumb luck story, very well done.
There's our loveable walking disaster area. Yona Smash Time!
And I doubt they would be THAT good at mimicking her Yona-ness.
okay, I freaking LOVE this line!
Yaks best at doing the impossible! Mostly because Yaks not stop to think if thing possible or not before Yaks do it!
Well, that much shaggyness and body mass has to count for something.
See above about Yaks!
Also, if THIS is breaking your mind, be glad you aren't dealing with The Pink One. She could crash through the roof on a her peddlepowered helicopter thing, and no one would actually question it.
D'awww, and so, take it living off your love of yourself isn't exactly the healthiest way to go.
Yaks best at being distracting!
Ohhhhh boy, yup we have her going full on YAK PRIDE POWER! And it is glorious!
Everything?
Ah, Yona already have Pride, this could be less good. But also, hey, good way to get out of here. just hop onto her back and tell her Yaks best at getting bugfriends to safety, and watch her work.
Hey, at least this one is still rational enough to not want to hurt you, or keep you.
Likely, Gallus was too repulsed by the images Greed tried to use to entice him, Smolder had it react to her Draconic nature, this is the first one who just fully gave into it without some aspect of their biology going nuts.
No Ocellus, really, you need to filing them under 'moonlings' and not equate them with you. You don't see everycreature treat everypony like they are Cozy Glow or Sombra do you? It's not what they are, it's what they are doing that makes Yona want to smash them.
Okay, that is cute though.
Not helping, but, it's the thought that counts. Just know Yaks can never be wrong! Okay, I think I'm enjoying Prideful Yona way more then I should be.
That just mean no matter what way Yona charge, Yona be sure to hit them!
Oh no, Ocellus, you're not.....
You are..... well gotta try it, but going by the nine chapters left, I don't think it's going to work so well.
Huh, was not expecting THAT response. I mean, what we've seen has hinted at her being far more practical then Chryssi, and she's willing to consider this new info is, unexpected. And alright, now you have confirmation she wants... well all we know is they want to go 'home' we don't know where 'home' is tough. Ocellus, now is a good time to ask some questions! But still, this was, unexpected.
Well then........this is.... odd.
How does she know...... then again Thorax might not have been the first and, so, guess not going the route I assumed with them being on the moon, but, Chryssi get pissed another queen tried to take over? Or, exist and so be a threat to her?
Okay, I can fully see Chryssi doing that. Except you know, how did you get on the MOON! Though 'World in the sky" is odd wording....... Luna..... do you have something else you want to tell us?
Ummm, yes actually. Maybe not at knowing when the best time to do so is, but once they get going, yeah they really are naturals at it.
Ummmm, one sec....
Yeah, that pretty well sums it up. I mean, damn, that is...... damn that is good, and I'm finding it very hard to see her as related to Chryssi with a plan like that. Not using their nightmares, but using Luna's look at their dreams to use her powers and this place to give them what they want, win them over to her rather then conquer them outright... just.......just......... DAMN! Someone's actually UNDERSTOOD their Marechiavelli!
I just..just..... damn that is impressive.
But again, How did you get on the moon? no no, better way to put it..
Telling you, Chyssi missed a gold mine of love, and actual gold, Changeling brothels would be a major hit......
No, no you are not, but we've been over this.
To be fair, you'd smash real gifts too. Then again, the best gifts for Yaks are things they can smash.
Ooookay then......
Why haven't you done so already!?
Yaks best at planetary formation!
Okay, good reaction time on the Queen, and smart thinking on Ocellus.
But really, Ocellus,why did you not ask more questions! You had her monologing! That's the best way to learn about stuff! Find out how she got up on the moon!
Huh, that would explain things..... and Yona. So, as long as Yona is tapping into Pride, she is also tapping into Elytra's power?
You did say she looked thinner then usual.....
Yaks best at being meat shield!
Seriously, I freaking love her like this!
Awww, but it's so cute!
Shapeshifter duel?
Awwww, but point, and, yeah..she really just wants to learn new thing to copy.
Ummm, okay...you have noticed that she's not actually ever DONE that right Other then through having an insane Perception score?
Does she even know about the portal?
Rock, far more versatile then you'd expect.
Pfffffft, that is glorious!
Yaks best at being allies!
Oh, she just made them portable?
Okay, that is scarily effective........ damn.
So, this taking the place of some kind of black hole weapon from the game?
Wow....... Some yak has been hanging around Gallus a bit too much.
I'd take her seriously right now. Yaks best at staying on ground.
That works. Yaks best at engineering!
Except there isn't four accounted for, still have that fourth hallway to look at, and the other one you haven't been down. They might still be around here somewhere.
This is assuming a lot Ocellus. Still could have ended up snaring the other two. Of them, Silverstream could fit for Wrath, as noted, that girl does have some repressed anger.
once again..... HOW!? How did they get podded?
This image pleases me!
Me not blame Yona!
I also see some student has been taking extra lessons from Professor Pinkie.
Play to the Pride, give her special Magic Stone holding bag!
All places should have Yak art! Yaks best and being in pictures!
Making those Bluff checks, nice.
Preach on!
And making her feel even more bad later for being able to do this. Being good at this does not make you bad Ocellus, it's how and why you use it!
For a good reason! Ask Gallus how many times he's fast talked some griffon out of something by telling them what thy wanted to hear.
Ohh, ohhhhhh Ocellus, that is amazing!
Pffffft, sadly, Yaks NOT best at making Will saves!
Okay, they are themed that way, did we ever see Greed? I mean have it told to use what it looked like?
Ocellus however, does have a good Will save.
Wait, it DOES have hands? Just, no numbers? This would have been good to clarify before story!
So, ticking up, and how far from midnight?
As you may have noticed, I LOVED this chapter, got some more info, and also, YAKS BEST!
10181548 Your reactions to this chapter were beautiful to read!
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/605287222207315981/699869628469346336/Yona_Ocellus.png
So much info in this chapter. I did not expect them to escape that easily or quickly, it was somewhat anticlimactic. It goes to show how powerful these Anti-Elements really are if they let Yona take on an entire army of changelings almost on her own. Now that they have Pride, it raises another dilemma. Ocellus knows that they're able to avoid starvation because of Elytra's connection to Pride, so it'll be interesting to see how she handles the this predicament. It depends a lot on if destroying the portal means destroying the anti-elements. It does, she'd be condemning them to death.
Also, I loved Ocellus's masterful method of getting Pride away from Yona, but in doing so she only made her worries even worse in the process. It's a very effective scene.
How in the world did that happen? No clue how Chrysalis could do that. Assuming that Chrysalis is her mother, but it seems like a pretty safe bet.
And with Luna's memories, she might even be able to pull it off too. Elytra is rather practical, I can picture her embracing the "reformation" purely so she and her hive can be more powerful.
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....yep. YONA SMASH PUNY EVIL CHANGELINGS!
...strangely, I imagine her as Red Hulk given her demeanor in this chapter, not the Big Green.
Yona stares at the changeling queen defiantly, her eyes glowing a bright silvery-white. "Yona moving because YAKS BEST!"
Ocellus' disbelief freezes and shatters. Oh. Of course. "Hello, Pride."
Yeah Why am I not surprised that Yona has the Pride element 😅
"Yona not prejudice," Yona says, pointing towards Ocellus. "Yona have bugfriend."
"Oh yeah, this is fun," Ocellus says to herself with a deadpan worthy of Gallus.
Well at least yona knows her friends is
Yona hrumphs. "What friends for? Yona protect small, weak bugfriend. Keep Ocellus safe. Yona make Yak Promise."
Yona bounds off of her, diving into battle with the drones.
Ocellus rolls onto her hooves. "I'm beginning to really dislike the word 'bugfriend'."
I'm sure yona didn't mean to say that is just her pride got the best of her But at least she's helping you that's what counts 😉
I mean despite that she can be full of herself At least hes very helpful to the situation because right now there so many changeling in the room
Aww yona Despite that you are still kind of corrupted your very sweet The question is where the heck is that stone
whoa baby dang Trying to infiltrate the hive Didn't go very well what we expect because of yona got caught And finally we got to see the Queen Elytra she is something I know that for sure Answer definitely kind of dangerous like Chrysalis but worst but At least Yona and Ocellus got the stone but We have another problem the stone is taking effect on ocellus and thats not good I wonder what's gonna happen
Well Yak Supremacist Yona sure is an experience. That combination of humor, unfortunate psychological reality, and the general slap-in-the-faceness of the phrase 'yak supremacist' has me reeling.
With regards to Yona in the pod. Did the show ever establish after the wedding episode that being in a pod was dangerous? Celestia seemed to hang out in a pod for a while and it seemed like she was held captive, but not suffocating or anything.
Last minute changing the plan seems like a terrible idea when Yona isn't in immediate danger. Because I'm not sure how she'd planned to get a large and conspicuous person out of the hive. Or at least grab one of the gut blasters to seal the door shut behind her when they run?
... Well, it seems my concerns here were premature. :P
"You just have to share your love!" Bug expert solves world hunger with one simple trick! Queens hate her.
Making Yona think that escaping was her own idea was a good way of handling pride. Hopefully Ocellus can come up with a plan to make Elytra think cooperating is her own idea too?
---
"With no resonance, she wasn't drawn to Wrath." I dunno Ocellus, you seem to be pretty angry with yourself a lot of the time...
---
All's well that ends well, I guess. Ocellus could really use some self-confidence, but maybe skip out on the vanity and pridefullness? Just a little nibble of pride, as a treat!
So, Elytra is Chrysalis's daughter? I'm curious how Chrysalis even managed to banish anyone to the moon. And I wonder what Elytra will do now that her food source is completely lost to her.