Carapace's ears twitched as its eyelids clicked open. There was a bad taste in its mouth--agony and boredom. Not usually two flavors that went together.
But those two stale emotions were the only ones it tasted. Raising its head from where it had been resting on its forehooves (sleeping again--it was starting to expect death any day now), it glanced around the frigid stone room. Empty. There were no guards, except...
The red unicorn was crouched in front of Carapace's cage, studying it. Despite having taken his form without thinking yesterday, it bared the last inch of its fangs and snarled.
To its shock, the guard snarled back.
"It doesn't work on me, beast," he said grimly, climbing to his hooves. His brown eyes remained fixed on Carapace's blue ones.
Its tongue flicked out of its mouth to taste any emotion it might have missed. But there was none. The red stallion was as barren of feeling as one of its kind.
"What's wrong with you?" Carapace asked. It really didn't think it had anything to lose by asking. And this emotionless pony intrigued it like none of the others had.
"You're not exactly in a position to be asking that," he replied, raising an eyebrow.
"You don't feel."
"Neither do you."
"Ah, yes, but I don't belong to the most emotional race on the planet. And I think I might actually be more expressive than you, which doesn't bode well for your status as an equine."
"Are you suggesting I'm one of your kind?" There was a trace of humor in his voice, even though Carapace could tell he didn't feel any amusement. "I'm a soldier, creature. Not a monster."
Carapace lowered its head back onto its hooves. "Alright. I'll accept, for a moment, that I'm a monster. But which one of us is killing the other?"
The unicorn was silent for a few seconds, and Carapace figured (not without more than a hint of triumph) that it had one. But then the pony spoke.
"Neither the prince nor the princess have slept more than an hour since you came," he said. "They can't go on like this for much longer."
He suddenly glanced backwards, towards the stairs that led to the rest of the palace. Hoofsteps echoed down them, the sort that came from golden horseshoes. "Well, speak of the draconequus."
Carapace put a hoof to its bands, wincing as the organs they protected started to ache. Its guts had taken one hay of a beating over the last few days.
"Please, Princess Cadenza, stay where you are," it called. "Any closer and I might start vomiting blood."
"It speaks!?" somepony exclaimed. Something purple raced down the stairs, stopping in front of the cage as the red unicorn stepped aside and the pain in Carapace's belly was replaced with tepid warmth. This particular pony wasn't repulsed, or hateful--just curious.
And familiar. Carapace recognized the mare it had changed into to deal with the white unicorn--with smaller eyes and hooves, of course.
"Why don't you want Cadance down here?" the lavender unicorn asked, enunciating carefully and maintaining eye contact. Carapace's lip curled.
"I've spoken the language since before you were laid," it snapped. "Keep talking to me like I'm some sort of savage animal and I'll start acting like one."
Her eyes widened. She circled the cage, examining the occupant from every angle. Carapace watched her warily.
"Just like any other Changeling," she murmured. "But so obviously intelligent! And an actual mane and tail..."
"Twilight!" a mare called from above. Carapace grimaced at the sound of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's voice. "Will you be okay?"
"Mm-hm!" The unicorn had taken a pencil and a pad of paper out of one of the bags strapped to her sides and was frantically taking notes. Carapace felt the princess's hate fade, and sighed in relief.
"Equine mannerisms," the unicorn muttered. It glanced at her, then took her form, with minimal effort. For the first time, she was aware the thick glossiness of her new mane and tail, the faintest softness in her belly area, the weakness of her legs. All of that could be remedied by just going with a simple illusion rather than a full-on superficial morph, but Carapace was the best shifter in the Swarm. She didn't do that.
"I'm going to have to ask you what you're doing," she said.
The other mare frowned at the sound of her own voice, but didn't look up. Whatever nonchalant aura she was trying to project was ruined by the fact that Carapace suddenly tasted unease.
"Just trying to learn," she replied in an admirably calm voice. "If I ask you some questions, will you answer honestly?"
"Cooperate? Of course," Carapace replied. "After all, I came to make peace."
The slight sarcasm in her voice wasn't lost on her double, who glanced up and smirked.
"If you play nice, I'll let you out."
She was unable to keep her newly expressive features under control, much to the unicorn's amusement.
"You didn't expect to rot in there, did you? You're an ambassador. After discussing it, we decided to let you join the court."
Carapace gagged on a sudden wave of bitterness and apprehension. The smiles and light tone meant nothing--she wasn't trusted. Whatever the ponies' reason for freeing her, it wasn't diplomatic. She wished desperately for telepathy instead of empathy. At least then she would know what they had in store for her.
The tips of her fangs had returned, an automatic protection instinct, and she retracted them. Forcing what she hoped was a grateful smile, Carapace looked her double in the eyes. There was no way her prey--who, as a whole, were turning out to be far more dangerous than she had been taught--could be allowed to know that their every feeling, no matter how insignificant, was being broadcast. That was something she intended to keep to herself.
"Okay, first question." After returning the smile, the pony looked down at her pad of paper. "What is your society like?"
Carapace forced back a sarcastic retort. Cooperate. "We are a collective. The Queen is at the head, and our minds are made up of her thoughts and needs. But the connection is one-way. Our Queen is independent."
"And you're part of this collective?" Her skepticism was obvious, even without Carapace's ability to sense her feelings.
"No."
"Are you the only one besides Chrys--er, the Queen?"
"No, there's...one other, who is separate." If the queen hadn't yet crushed Gossamer in a fit of irritation.
"Hmm." The unicorn scribbled on her little pad, feelings muted by thought. Carapace could have ripped it away from her with her magic, but the symbols on the paper would have meant next to nothing to her. "So you have no connection to Chrysalis whatsoever?"
"None," Carapace replied. And it only took you three days to figure it out. In the meantime, you almost killed me with your hate. Both figuratively and literally.
"Well..." Her double seemed unsure about just what to do next. "I think I'll ask the rest later. Here, stand back and--stop being me."
Carapace obliged, shedding the weak-legged form with relief it hoped wasn't too obvious. A magenta aura sprang up around the lock on its cage, and something clicked. The door swung open.
Cautiously, it stepped out under the watchful gazes of the two unicorns, one red and one purple. How odd, that all the other guards would be gone on the day they let it out of its cage. A more experienced member of its kind might have been suspicious. Then again, a more experienced member of its kind probably wouldn't have had the genius idea to approach the ponies in its true form, so Carapace could live with that.
It grinned at the mare who had freed it. She hesitantly smiled back, probably unnerved by its fangs.
Then it lunged at her.
A/N: Questions? Suggestions? Observations? Please, comment.