//------------------------------// // By The Power Vested In Me // Story: Creating A Hive // by Authora97 //------------------------------// It was a lovely sunny day at the Stardust house. (Raspberry was denying any of Thorax’s name suggestions. The house totally needed a name and Phil was completely fine!) Thorax woke up to sunshine coming in from the window. He could remember Raspberry saying she’d moved it during her remodel of the house, changing it so the sun didn’t shine directly in her eyes every morning. Thorax appreciated the sunlight all the same. It kept the room from being totally freezing, how Raspberry liked it. Thorax was part insect, his Hive was in the desert, he wasn’t built for this sort of weather! Either way a good start to the morning. He shifted into a fly, buzzing out from the bed. Raspberry wasn’t a morning pony so waking her up was a bad idea (well unless she had a prank to play on Killjoy). Thorax buzzed out of the room, sneaking out with barely a sound. He flew off downstairs to the kitchen. He started making breakfast. He remembered his first attempts at breakfast- probably for the best that Raspberry and Killjoy never saw them. But now he had skills. He used those skills to cook for the omnivores in his family. He made muffins- blueberry, a favorite. Lilac’s were given amethysts too. Thorax cooked up hash browns and scrambled eggs. He thought about pancakes, but remembered he made them yesterday.  Before long there was a proper breakfast set up. Thorax was begging to set up plates when he heard turned tumbling down the stairs.  Lilac and Cookie came into the dining room. Lilac stumbled into her seat, blinking tiredly. Cookie was practically crawling to her seat. Thorax set the plates down on the table.  “Morning girls.” He greeted. “Sleep okay?” Lilac blinked slowly. Her eyelids dropped between blinks. Eventually she hummed an affirmative. Cookie yawned. “Daddy...tired!” “Oh I know, Cooks.” Thorax moved the plate closer to her. “Nothing muffins and eggs can’t fix, yes?” Cookie stared down at the plate before her. She seemed to be having an internal debate. Food, but moving. Staying still, but no food. A battle for the ages.  Thorax left her to her conflict. The food would win in the end, as it won every morning.  He heard another two ponies come down the stairs. He set up the rest of their plates, guessing pretty fast what they would want from the spread he’d made.  Killjoy stumbled down. She ground, flying into her seat in a near dead flop. If Thorax didn’t know better, he’d say Killjoy had a hangover. She had a high alcohol tolerance- superpony levels of tolerance. Dynamite was much cheerier. A morning pony in disguise, no doubt. Thorax moved plates in front of them. Dynamite grinned at him. “Thanks, Dad.” “Welcome Dynamite.” He set about making his own plate, and Raspberry’s. She’d stayed up late reading. “Plans for the day?” Dynamite grinned. “Yeah! Princess Twilight has a whole wall at her library about science so I was gonna go by, see what I don’t know already about explosives!” Cookie gawked. She had decided to eat her food, so there were blueberry bits stuck to her beak. Thorax was concerned she would take up an interest in explosives. “Books?” Oh that’s less scary. Dynamite nodded, shyly. Thorax beamed at the admission. He could barely see the filly the Equestrian Social Services had spoken of, that rebelled in every home she had to the point where she’d run away. Or, maybe his perception of weird had been messed up along the way? “I’m going to work at lunch, then I’m gonna kick the butt of anypony that looks at me sideways.” Killjoy grumbled. She shoveled hashbrowns into her muzzle, gulping them down with water. “Maybe have fun with them. Well not real fun, that’s not allowed, doesn’t mean I can’t practice. Speaking of- Boytoy why is there no bacon?” Thorax was still pondering his own perception of ‘weird’. “Yeah, good idea...wait no! You know Starry can’t let you near the pigs.” Thorax scolded, while knowing absolutely nothing about why Killjoy wasn’t allowed. Killjoy pouted. The petulant child that she was. “Lilac, Cookie?” Lilac picked off the amethyst from her muffin. She popped it in her mouth, crunching down on it. “The Crusaders, again. Cookie and I are gonna help them.” “How so?” “Keep them away from the library.” Lilac supplied. Thorax was confused for a split second. His eyes fell on Dynamite’s matching confused expression, and he got it. “Scootaloo still on the ‘extreme sports’ cutie mark idea?” Lilac nodded, somber. “What’s wrong with them talking to me? It went fine during your Flag Carrying idea!” Dynamite argued, still confused. “My fillyhood friends are adrenaline junkies.” Lilac explained. “And Scootaloo thought your explosions were fun, so maybe they should try for ‘demolition expert’ cutiemarks.” Dynamite stared in awe. “That’s...wow. I thought I was the only one that wanted that!” Killjoy snickered. “What’s funny is that might actually be your cutiemark.” She cackled, nearly dropping off her chair she was laughing so hard. The girls were all staring in confusion at their aunt. Thorax hummed. He lifted up the plates. “I’m gonna go feed your mother. Have a fun day kids!” “Bye Dad!” “Yes Daddy!” “Nice knowing you, Rax!” He laughed. When he made it upstairs, Raspberry was grumbling in bed. Thorax thought it was adorable. Still, he liked being alive, so he didn’t antagonize her. He sat down in front of the bed, digging into the food. He levitated Raspberry’s plate to the nightstand on her side of the bed. He had to move a notebook to reach it. Thorax brought the notebook to him. He could see the writing on the front. There were big white letters on the front in a language Thorax could never hope to recognize. He knew it was from Earth. Not much beyond that. Thorax opened up the journal.  He started searching the pages. He reckoned that Raspberry had gathered up all her old notes from previous jumps to this world. To his delight, it was the Marvel world. Thorax saw pictures of Raspberry’s form in that world, the added articles about her, security photos of her sister. Even the later pages about the movies they haven’t done yet were done impressively. There was clattering to the side. He looked over, seeing Raspberry sitting up. He beamed at her. She grunted his direction. Another love-filled greeting from the love of Thorax’s life. Thorax held up the notebook. “So...we still going on this at the end here? I mean, it’s a lot of good work.” She huffed, taking a bite from the muffin.  “Cool...cool.” Thorax lowered the book. “Dynamite’s spending the day at the library, studying more explosives. Lilac and Cookie are gonna work to keep the Crusaders from talking to Dynamite after what happened before-” Raspberry snickered. “Drink water, Starry.” Thorax reminded her. Choking on breakfast was a bad way to start the day, generally. He carried on. “Your sister is gonna work at lunch, so we won’t see much of her. Oh, she’s asking about pigs again-” Raspberry groaned, then snickered. “One day you’ll tell me the meaning behind that inside joke.” “That’ll be the day you die.” Raspberry countered. “It’ll be self-inflicted because the truth was too horrible to bare in mind.” “Talking from personal experience?” “Babe it’s an awful truth...but also really funny.” Raspberry let out a fond sigh. “What a shitty summer that was.” Well if she was making death jokes, she was in stable condition. Thorax stood up. He plopped himself beside her in the bed. Raspberry laughed. “What’re we doing today?” Thorax asked. Raspberry hummed. She finished off the muffin, moving onto the scrambled eggs. “Power Ponies- you heard of them?” Thorax nodded, beaming. “Spike has an enchanted comic that sucks the Mane 6 into it, as the characters.” “So like what you do anyway?” Thorax asked. Raspberry paused. “...I hadn’t considered that.” Thorax grinned. He was clever...sometimes. “So they work alongside-” “No they work as the Power Ponies. Not at all like I do.” Raspberry realized. She shook her head. “Ugh- I’m so tired. They replace the characters, probably because of the book-” “But isn’t that what you do?” “No! I don’t! I- the identities I have were never there in the first place! They only exist to become me! Which makes me sound like a bitch but- UGH!” Raspberry argued. “Quit throwing off my groove!” “It’s fun though-” Thorax snickered. He booped Raspberry’s cheek. She groaned, being too adorable to fear. At least in Thorax’s heart eyes. “They have to fight a megalomaniac! They all figure out the powers then get kicked out of the book. Nothing weird or out of the normal!” “You’re going with, then?” Thorax smiled fondly. “Of course I am! What do I look like, someone boring?” Raspberry scoffed in disgust. “You too?” Thorax beamed. “Really?! I can- is this you being nice, or part of the Plan?” “Does it matter?” Raspberry questioned. Thorax pondered for a moment. “...nah.” ==CAH== Long story short, Raspberry and Thorax followed them. It had gone as well as could be expected. Raspberry had ended up as a superhero- Voice Over, her same superhero identity from years ago. Thorax was a civilian, which was completely okay. When Raspberry had been captured with the others, Thorax had spoken to Spike about it. He had given this really moving speech about how just because he was in the background to a lot of Raspberry’s plans didn’t mean that he was any less important to the plan itself. Thorax reminded Spike about his time at the Hive, how he’d been nothing but a drone, talked about how he moved past that to be the pony he is now. It was really moving Someone should’ve written it down. Oh well. Shame nopony will ever see it with their eyes. At the end, Raspberry and Thorax went home. They were laughing with each other- jokes about what happened. “I’m just saying, the suit really complimented your-” Thorax teased. “Shut up you dork.” Raspberry laughed. She bumped her hips against Thorax’s legs. The changeling stumbled in his steps, laughing still. They walked towards their home. By this point in the day, it should be empty. It was, on the inside. Outside it was 100% more populated. A mare stood on their porch. Raspberry and Thorax paused in their steps. In their experience, someone on their porch often went wrong.  “Do you owe ponies money?” Raspberry whispered to Thorax. Thorax shook his head. “You blackmail anypony?” Raspberry hesitated. “...not in Equestria.” “I’ll take it.” Thorax braced himself. “Let’s brave it.” The couple nodded in agreement. They took a slow approach to the stranger on their porch. Funny enough, the earth pony did not look threatening. She had a soft pink coat, a short pale green mane, and two blue saddlebags on her sides. Thorax was the first to spot her cutiemark: a rolled out scroll covered in doodles of varying color. They continued their ‘sneaky’ trot up to their own house. The mare was staring at the house, clearly having done internal debate about leaving or staying. Once they were close enough, they let their steps be heard.  The mare turned to them. She visibly brightened at the sight. She waited to speak until they were closer. “Hello. My name is Star Petunia. I’m a caseworker at social services.” She introduced. Thorax and Raspberry blinked. “Oh. Welcome.” Raspberry was the quickest back to sense. She put on her warmest greeting smile. “Seeing as you came to us, you probably know I’m Raspberry Stardust, and this is Thorax.” “We like being nice anyway.” Thorax waved a hoof. “We’d actually appreciate it if you considered becoming foster parents.” The social worker admitted. “Just- in case of emergencies. You know?” Raspberry turned to Thorax. The changeling turned to look at her. The social worker watched as they seemed to have a silent conversation she wasn’t privy to. She was able to guess that Raspberry was asking for yes, while Thorax was trying to find a good reason to say ‘no’. In the end something in him saw a good reason to wholeheartedly agree.  “We’re in.” “Great!” She pulled out a form. “Most of the paperwork was handled back at the office. All we need from you are your signatures.” The couple took the form, along with and offered quill. Raspberry quickly. Thorax took a moment, deciding to just plainly write his name instead of the fancy swirling. “Here you go!” Thorax cheerfully passed the form back. “Great!” Star Petunia pulled out a stamp, pressing it down on the top of the form. She slipped it into her saddlebag...then pulled out a file. “Here’s your new foal.” “What?!” Raspberry’s expression dropped.  Thorax took the file before Raspberry had the chance. He opened it, giving it a confused once over. Raspberry pulled on it, so he moved it so they could both read it. “Short notice, we’re aware.” Star Petunia continued. “We did say emergencies and well...your name was still on our minds from Ms Berry’s case. When I brought it up to his social worker, your family was an easy choice.” Thorax read the case. The foal was an Earth pony, just barely past age 10. He had a dark blue coat, a neon green/blue scaragglu mane, and neon green eyes. There was no registered cutiemark. Thorax saw a fairly empty list of foster homes, but that was because he had been found alone. His parents had vanished- last reported headed south. Poor colt...he’s had it rough. There was a picture. Thorax quickly snatched it before Raspberry could see him. She gave Thorax an annoyed glare.  “No.” Thorax cautioned. “We’ll fall in love- you know we will.” “We don’t have a boy yet.” Raspberry pointed out. Her sharp amber eyes kept darting to the picture. “You must be drowning in estrogen.” “Raspberry I grew up in a matriarchy then rebelled so I could serve a different matriarchy. And I married you, serving in a complete new matriarchy. I expected a lot of estrogen.” Thorax countered. “Married?” Star Petunia repeated, surprised. “Our records didn’t-” “Changelings haven’t been able to integrate their legal works into the Equestria system.” Thorax explained to her. He went back to Raspberry. “We shouldn’t.” “Because that’s the answer you need to say first?” Raspberry teased. Star Petunia knew the Princess had him pinned.  Thorax sighed, resigned. He turned back to Star Petunia. “Is adopting him a possibility?” “What? Mr Thorax we only need you to foster-” Star Petunia began. “No I heard. This’ll save save time later if we know now.” Thorax pressed on. “Can he be adopted at a later date?” “Well...um...his parents are technically still ‘unknown’, location wise but...I don’t see why-” Star Petunia admitted. She was still confused as to the line of questioning. “If he stays here, is there a chance in the long run we can adopt him?” Thorax clarified. “I would have to check the rules.” She admitted. She glanced at Raspberry, who was trying to grab the photo from Thorax with magic. It was going poorly. “So I can’t say just yet. Why are you asking?” “Because there’s a real chance she wants to adopt him already.” Thorax answered. “Right, Starry?” “I would.” Raspberry answered. “If you let me see his face.” “This is as honest as I’ll get you until you see this picture.” Thorax argued. He pulled the photo further away from the pink alicorn. “So I’m guessing the answer is ‘maybe’ for adoption?” Star Petunia blinked. “Yes.” Thorax braced himself. “Okay.” He let Raspberry take the picture. She gawked. She turned to Thorax, as if to see if this were true. Thorax nodded. She turned back to Star Petunia. “We’ll take him. Tell Dark Justice he’ll have his own room by night fall.” Raspberry supplied. “Honey, do you still have that old house from when you moved here?” “It’s a mess. I can have it cleaned in an hour.” Thorax replied. Raspberry nodded. “We’d have to tell the girls.” “Then we tell them at dinner. I bet he’ll be there just after.” Raspberry replied. “What about-” “Killjoy will think it’s funny.” Thorax replied. “Come on, Dark Justice? Sounds like-” “The makings of Batman, I know. Let’s just hope-” “-that we can keep him and he fulfills his destiny?” “-that we keep him from going full stupid.” “-makes sense, makes sense.” Raspberry nodded. Star Petunia blinked at them. It showed her professionalism when she took this oddity in stride. “I’ll have him brought over by 7pm. His social worker is Swift Wind.” Thorax nodded. He accepted the information, adding a mental tick to his schedule for dinner. Raspberry eyed Star Petunia carefully. “Hey. If Dark Justice has a social worker, and I know you’re not Dynamite Berry’s, then who are you?” Star Petunia grinned, with a smugness Raspberry could respect. “I’m the only pony in the office who was brave enough to bring you the file, and clever enough to know you’d say yes.” And so, Raspberry respected the gall of Star Petunia. She damn near played them like fiddles. ==CAH== That was the house Dynamite walked into when her time at the library was done. She had her saddlebags packed tight with borrowed books.  Her new parents were working on the new setup. Raspberry was scribbling on paper, multiple pencils scattered around the table. Thorax was starting on dinner. “What are you doing?” Dynamite asked.  Raspberry didn’t look up from her designs. “Redesigning the house.” “Again?” Dynamite asked. She knew they did that when Dynamite moved in, she wondered why they’d do it again so soon. “Yeah.” Raspberry replied, dragging off. “Honey could we turn the her door into a door for the hallway?” “Babe you know way more about it than me-” “I know I’m just asking for your own convenience.” Raspberry replied. “Why would I want to-” “In case we add something cool later.” “We’re already adding ten rooms. What more would we need?” “Well I was trying to be nice.” Dynamite glanced between the couple that had taken her into their family. “We’re adding ten rooms? Do we have the space?” “Course we do.” Raspberry brushed off. She sent an annoyed glare Thorax’s way before going back to Dynamite. “I have a great understanding of bending the laws of physics.” Dynamite looked over at Thorax. The changeling was nodded, tiredly. As if he’s given up any logical explanation for that. “Why are we adding new rooms? Is it in case Lilac burns then down?” “That’s not a terrible assumption.” Raspberry noted. “But no.” “You’re getting a brother!” Thorax cheered loudly. “We’re fostering him. He’ll be here later tonight!” Dynamite gawked. Raspberry glared. “We agreed we’d wait to tell everyone at once.” “And I thought we agreed you’d stop asking me construction questions. I can’t even build a birdhouse, Starry, a birdhouse!” Dynamite immediately dropped all concern. If he was calling her those gooey pet names, they weren’t really fighting. “Seriously, fostering? You’re doing that?” “Why not?” Raspberry countered. “Killjoy.” Dynamite deadpanned. “Back Home, she was a foster kid herself. She sees the need, gets it.” Raspberry explained with an all too smug expression. “And that implies she’s staying in the house. She’s moving into Bee’s old home.” Dynamite hummed. “You’re giving Killjoy a house?” “Yes.” “And we’re aware how stupid an idea it sounds.” Thorax supplied. He kept on cooking dinner. “Giving Killjoy a murder-house-” “It’s not a murder-house.” Raspberry argued. “Prove it!” Thorax countered. Raspberry huffed. “She’s not that stupid. If she made it into a murder-house, she’d get caught by me.” Thorax scoffed. “She’s not that afraid of you- Whoa!” Raspberry had thrown a pencil at his head. It just barely avoided poking him in the eye. Thorax stared at her, appalled. “Did you throw a pencil at me?” “Did you ask a stupid question?” Raspberry countered. Dynamite heard the door open behind her. She walked over to it, seeing Lilac and Cookie stumbling in. “Hey. Dynamite.” Lilac panted. She wiped her forehead. “Phew. Long day. Mom and Dad home yet?” Dynamite heard another object being thrown- probably another pencil or something. “Yes.” Thorax yelped. “By the way, they got another kid. He’s coming tonight.” Lilac gawked. “I’m getting a brother?!” Cookie cheered in delight. “WAHOO!” She flew off into the dining room. Loud crashing noises followed, as clearly Cookie hadn’t stopped until she crashed into Raspberry’s face. Dynamite snickered. She turned to a still confused Lilac. “Mom total has a black- hey you good?” Lilac stared down at her feet, gobsmacked. “Lilac?” Dynamite repeated.  Lilac seemed to barely come back to herself. She looked up at Dynamite. She took a deep breath, seeming to be breathing her soul to rights. When she let out a breath Dynamite flinched. Lucky for her there wasn’t any flames. The purple dragon took another deep breath, letting out another flameless breath. “Drat...I wanted to talk to them about-” Lilac cut herself off. Dynamite shrugged. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t listen to you. Mom’s got like, a sixth sense for hearing stuff. She’s like- part...I don’t know, what’s something that hears really well?” “Dolphins.” Lilac supplied in a monotone voice. “Yeah. Dolphins- she can hear stuff like dolphins.” Dynamite nodded proudly. “She’d listen.” Lilac shook her head. “No...it’s okay. I’ll just ask later. It’s okay.” She walked off into the kitchen.  Dynamite glanced back towards them. She heard Cookie rambling in excitement, bursting with glee at another new sibling. Thorax was laughing at Raspberry, Raspberry was shouting in anger. Lilac was staying silent. The blue pegasus could only wonder what her new brother was like. Sure, she could be afraid about another kid being added to the family, so soon after she herself was added. But in her barely one month since moving in, Dynamite saw what kind of pony Raspberry Stardust/Morgan Spencer was. She would treat them all equal. Hell, and she was moving Killjoy out of the house. Imagine all the trouble she could get into without being under Raspberry’s roof.