Chapter 61
Dragon Country
“Move along!” a changeling hissed, spurring their prisoners along. An exhausted, defeated thestral collapsed as the changeling cuffed him, lacking the energy to fight back.
“CEDAR!” A distressed mare cried. She too was a thestral, but she had a bit more fight left in her than her counterpart. Wild Flower fought through the swarms of changelings to reach her husband, causing enough of a distraction so that no one noticed the frightened squeak of a filly.
“Shh,” her brother clapped a hoof over the filly’s mouth, praying that their location wouldn’t be revealed. Peering through the bushes, the golden-coated colt determined that they had not been noticed, and removed his hoof from the trembling filly.
“I-I’m scared, Chance,” she sniffed, burying her light and dark blue painted coat into his red-brown vest.
“Me too, Ocean Mist,” he confessed, carefully reaching down to straighten her blue-framed glasses.
“What’s going to happen to Mommy and Daddy?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can’t we help them?” she dared steal another glance at her adoptive parents as Wild Flower and Cedar were separated again and herded into the changelings’ prison wagons to be carted off who-knows-where.
“They told us to stay hidden,” he choked, remembering the painful order from his father. He pretended to brush deep blue strands of hair out of his face as he secretly wiped away a tear.
“What’s going to happen to us now?”
“I-” Chance’s heart raced as he felt the tickle of fire play at his hooves. He was receiving a message from someone. Not now! The flash of fire would surely expose them! But this was a sensation like none he had ever experienced; it wasn’t just a little package that he could easily send back. This was a big shipment that he couldn’t suppress if he wanted to. He could just try and keep the fire as compact and unnoticeable as possible. Chance aimed his shaggy, orange-tipped hooves as far away from the changelings as he could just as red-orange fire flickered to life, revealing six frightened ponies close to his own age.
“Charcoal?!” Chance gasped, jaw dropping as his two cousins and their friends materialized on the ground before them.
“Hey,” Char panted, collapsing in the dirt and leaves.
“What are you doing here? How’d you do that?!” Chance frantically asked, hurriedly making sure they had gone unnoticed.
“No time to explain. Ponyville’s been attacked by changelings! Mom, dad and their friends went out in the Everfree, and never came back. I’ve got to see Aunt Wild Flower.”
“We’ve got changelings here too,” Chance held back his cousin before he rounded the bend where changelings were plundering any and all homes on the outskirts of Baltimare, theirs included.
“Mom and Dad...” Ocean choked, unable to finish the sentence. Charcoal peered around the bushes to witness the scene for himself.
“Oh, no.” Lilac crawled over to see for herself, and gasped rather loudly.
“AUNTIE!” The world stood still as the entire assembly of changelings spotted them. Candy roughly cuffed Lilac’s shoulder.
“There!”
“Get them!”
“Kids, get out of here!” Wild Flower demanded, trying to buy the children time by scrabbling at the changelings once more.
Blue fire exploded from Charcoal’s hooves, earning his friends cover as they ran. But he lingered a moment longer, staring wide-eyed at his Aunt. How could he leave her here? She met his gaze.
“Charcoal, what are you doing? RUN!” She lost her grip on the changeling, which was now headed straight for him.
“We’ll be back for you! I promise!” Charcoal sent another hot puff of fire at his opponent before following his friends back into the forest.
“Where are we going?” Spectrum panted.
“There’s nowhere to go!” Chance huffed, struggling to keep up with the athletic pegasus.
“Can’t you send us somewhere else, Charcoal?”
“Who’s left that can receive thestral teleports and hasn’t been taken over by changelings yet?” Petti inquired.
“I... I do know someone... but I can barely send a letter that far, let alone six ponies!”
“We’re kind of low on options here, Char,” Thunder gritted her teeth.
“Just do it!” Candy agreed. Charcoal cast one last look back at the pursuing changelings, who were rapidly gaining on them.
“Okay... hang on!” Charcoal poured the remainder of his energy into one last teleport. Frustrated changelings pushed ever harder, determined not to disappoint their queen again. One latched on to Charcoal’s hoof just before they vanished.
“GIVE ‘EM BACK!”
“Give what back?”
“Don’t play dumb! I know you took my gemstones, Garble!”
“And why would I want your gemstones, Clump?”
“Guess that dragon greed is finally catching up to you.”
“Says you, always hoarding your cut!”
“You’re just jealous because I have more gemstones than you.”
“Maybe, but either way, I didn’t touch your precious gemstones.”
“Garble, you selfish, stingy liar!”
“Did you just call me a liar?” the red dragon narrowed his eyes.
“A selfish stingy one,” Clump confirmed, also reducing his eyes to slits.
“Why, you-” Garble rose to his full height, fully prepared to spar with his pal. Clump likewise took up a defensive poise. Garble sucked in a deep breath, ready to belch flame.
“Boys!” a feminine voice interrupted the battle before it had begun. A dragoness with bright, goldenrod scales and wavy, hot pink spines than curled around her head and neck like hair poked her head outside a cave. She was small and petite in comparison to muscular Garble, but that was typical of females. “Stop fighting, you two,” she chided.
“But he-!”
“No but’s! Don’t make me come over there!”
“Yes, ma’am,” Clump begrudgingly consented.
“Garble?” she prompted, raising an eyebrow in expectation. Garble’s face contorted as he failed to swallow the flame, but belched anyway.
“WHOA!” Nine ponies tumbled down from where Garble’s fire dissipated. Three of them had wings, and managed to catch themselves midair. The rest either didn’t have wings at all, were too inexperienced to perform such a stunt, or were too entangled in each other to gain air. Regardless, these ones plummeted down.
“What the-?!” Garble instinctively reached out to catch them in his massive claws, but two still slipped through his fingers.
“Charcoal!” Lilac cried, futilely reaching for her brother through Garble’s claws.
“Argh!” Charcoal desperately tried to pry the changeling off his back in order to unfurl his wings, but the creature had him in a deathlock. They were both going to splat on the ground. Or, rather, on Clump. Both ponies collided with Clump’s generous gut, and needless to say, it was a far softer cushion than the rocky ground would have been. Both tumbled to the floor, still interlocked. Unfortunately, though, the rough ride had landed the changeling on top.
“Get off! Get off!” Charcoal screamed, kicking and thrashing in an attempt to remove the drone. It hissed in defiance, charging its horn to cast some spell or another. Just before the magical burst could be discharged, however, a huge, heavy, mace-like object collided with the changeling, knocking it aside. The object proved to be Clump’s tail. Charcoal rolled over and darted to the safety of his brother’s shadow.
“Whoa!” Garble exclaimed, setting the colts and fillies down and examining the changeling from a safe distance as he also shielded the ponies.
“Watch it!” Candy cried as the changeling jumped back to its hooves.
“Get ‘im! Get ‘im!” Thunder enthusiastically cried, darting to and fro between Garble’s feet. The changeling readied another blast at the ponies before being crushed for a second time with Clump’s heavy, bulbous tail.
“Is everyone okay?” the dragoness completely emerged from the cave, and was even flanked by two more females about her size.
One had bright blue scales and green spikes that stuck straight back from her head like windblown icicles. She was small and slender, but what she lacked in size she made up for with beauty. She was currently modeling three necklaces, two tail bands, several bangle bracelets and many earrings, some studs but mostly small golden hoops in each ear.
The other was a very simple dragoness, a little smaller than her companions. She was stout with bright yellow scales, bold orange eyes, and spines to match. Three simple triangles stuck out from the back of her head, and six down the sides of her tail- three on either side, that is, all horizontally aligned. Her tail didn’t end in a spade or mace, but rather, a simple, round, bulbous tip.
“Charcoal? Lilac? What in the world are you doing here? How did you get here? Where’s Acrylic? Torchwood? Blaze? I want answers!” The threat subdued for the time being, Garble turned to their visitors, not sure whether to be happy or cross. Charcoal took a few shaky steps out from beneath the massive dragon.
“Oh, Garble, give them a moment. Just look at the poor things. They’re scared stiff,” the first dragoness cooed, nudging him aside. She then lay down to come closer to the ponies’ level. “Hello, again, Lilac. Do you remember me?”
“Flare?” Lilac squinted as she tried to recall the name of Garble’s wife.
“That’s right. We met on the last dragon migration when your parents took you to see us,” Flare smiled.
“Oh, they’re so adorable!” the blue dragoness squealed, jewelry jangling as she reached down to scoop one of them up. All of the ponies darted as she reached into their midst, but alas, squirming Petticoat hadn’t been quite fast enough. She eventually went limp and gave up on trying to get away.
“Who’re ya callin’ adorable?” Candy indignantly shook a hoof.
“She’s throwing a tiny tantrum! Isn’t it cute, Ember?” the blue one turned to their small yellow companion.
“They are precious,” Ember agreed, “but maybe don’t strangle her, Summer?”
“Oops! Sorry,” Summer giggled, gently setting Petti back down.
“It’s okay,” Petti gasped for air, then reconsidered the dragoness from a distance. “I like your necklaces.”
“Yeah, okay, they’re ‘cute’,” Garble impatiently rolled his eyes, turning back to Charcoal. “What are you all doing here?”
“Yo, Garble, what’s up?” The lanky, but far more muscular form of Pierce snaked his way over the volcanic rock, followed by Vex, who had slimmed out a bit since his teen years. Fizzle eventually clambered over the ledge from the other side, and Soot popped up from a nap behind one of the rocks. One last dragoness peered out from the cave, and a couple more followed after the males. One last dragon joined the assembly, a female, swooping in from above. She was quite an odd dragon, covered in a mottled mixture of feathers and scales. Her wings, completely feathery, almost gave her an angelic appearance... until she clumsily splatted on the ground.
“I’m okay!” she enthusiastically piped up, bound over completely unfazed by the crash.
“Whoa, Charcoal? What are you guys doing here?” Fizzle offered a lopsided grin as he spotted the ponies, but the look was promptly smothered as the energetic (but klutzy) dragoness pounced him.
“Ooh! Hi Charcoal! Hi Lilac! I remember you from last year’s migration. But who’re they?” she wondered, peering at the ponies with wide, curious, bright yellow eyes.
“Oh, for the love of... fine, get through introductions, but make it quick,” Garble growled.
“Hi! I’m Effervesce,” the ditzy dragon waved a claw. “But you can call me Vess.” Vess was white with pearly scales that were speckled with the occasional feathers. The ratio of scales to feathers began dramatically favoring the plumage around her wings, which were completely composed of enormous feathers, but around her legs and ankles, scales dominated. She had cheery yellow accents in her plush underbelly, which was mostly soft downy. Some of the outermost feathers of her wings were tinted this pale hue, but the horns adorning her heels, elbows and wrists were a little brighter and even red-tipped. Charcoal had been informed that this unusual combination of feathers and scales wasn’t actually so uncommon amongst the eastern dragon flocks from which Vess had originated. Always bubbly but not always too smart, Vess was still lovable. At least, Fizzle thought so, because he married her.
“Uh, hi,” Chance timidly coughed. “I’m Chance, and that’s my sister, Ocean Mist.” The shy filly dared peer out from behind her brother.
“And I’m Spectrum,” the pegasus colt spoke up.
“I’m Thunder Cloud. He’s my brother,” Thunder pointed to Spectrum.
“I’m Candy Apple, and that there’s Petticoat.”
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Petti turned up her nose in the sophisticated fashion her mother had taught her to use when meeting new ponies- er, dragons.
“Polite little pony,” a new dragoness spoke, currently nestled in Clump’s arms. “I’m Scoria.” This dragon, Scoria, had dull purple scales but a bold, vivid turquoise stripe down her back. She was freckled and had two large, stout horns like him. She was a little on the pudgy side, but that only made her more adorable. She had beautiful blue eyes outlined in thick lashes, which she batted in a shy, reserved manner.
“I’m Crystal,” a hefty yet beautiful dragoness introduced. Her mottled blue and black scales contrasted drastically with the bright green patterns on her many frills. Decorative fins adorned every inch of her, from the nape of her neck to her tail tip and even reaching beyond, accompanied by four rows of frills beneath her impressive wings, and not to mention the ribbons draping off her jawbone. Crystal could be a bit overconfident and feisty at times, which often got her in trouble. Perhaps that mischievous streak was what had attracted Pierce, for even after marriage, the two always found ways to get into some roguery.
“I’m Flare,” the first goldenrod colored female smiled down at them, leaning against Garble as she properly introduced herself. “And you’ve already met Summer and Ember.” Said dragons had also returned to the side of their respective mates, Ember to Vex and Summer to Soot.
“Now will someone please tell me what’s going on?”
“Hang on!” Vess interrupted. “There’s one more!” She peered down at the form still struggling to free itself from the incredible weight of Clump’s tail.
“Changeling!” Lilac squeaked, jumping back behind her brother.
“Hello, Changeling!” Vess waved.
“No, that’s not his... her... its name,” Charcoal shook his head. “That’s what species it is- a changeling.”
“Dude, aren’t those freaky love-eating ponies?” Soot recoiled from the squirming changeling, protectively nudging Summer behind him.
“That’s them.”
“What’d you bring it here for?” Garble cuffed his brother. Charcoal indignantly rubbed the sore spot.
“I wasn’t trying to. Those things are attacking Ponyville, and Baltimare, and who knows where else!”
“Acrylic? Torchwood? Blaze? Are they okay?” Garble’s eyes suddenly widened with worry.
“Mom and Dad went off with the rest of our parents into the Everfree earlier to investigate something- an old friend of Discord’s supposedly turned to stone- but they never came back. Charcoal’s voice grew quiet. The dragons looked to each other, an eerie, unnerving silence befalling them all.
“For all we know, the changelings already got to them,” Spectrum shuddered.
“Blaze?” Garble asked, eyes deadened, dreading the news as to what had become of his brother.
“He and Spike stayed behind so we could get away,” Charcoal choked. Garble sagged, and Flare immediately hugged him, providing both support and comfort. Vex likewise reached out to pat his friend consolingly on the back.
“We tried going to Aunt Wild Flower’s, but the changelings found them too,” Lilac reported.
“They took Mommy and Daddy and put them in cages,” Ocean Mist shuddered, snuggling up to her brother’s side.
“Oh, you poor dears.” This time, Summer offered a comforting wing instead of scooping them up against their will. Ocean Mist looked her over a moment before darting into her comforting embrace.
“This was the only other place I knew to go,” Charcoal explained.
“How did you manage a teleport this far? With live ponies, no less? We’re a whole ocean away from Equestria- this is dragon country!”
“I know. We need your help,” Charcoal appealed to his brother again. “Please.” Garble was still unsteadied by the news of his missing family members, and barely registered the request. His expression was impassible, impossible to read behind glazed eyes.
“Garble?” Soot called, gesturing to Vex to shake him out of it. By the time Garble blinked back to reality, everyone was staring expectantly at him.
“You okay?” Garble ignored Pierce’s inquiry and looked back to the ponies. The changeling had nearly worked itself free of Clump’s weight, attracting his attention. Now enraged, Garble slammed a claw back on top of it, and squeezed it rather tightly within his grip. The changeling gasped for breath as the air was forced out of its lungs.
“Where is my brother?” Garble seethed, fury burning in his yellow eyes.
“Garble, calm down,” his mate pleaded, gently trying to loosen his grip on the suffocating creature. This only made him angrier, and it tightened instead.
“WHERE IS HE?!”
“C-ca-ca-” the changeling stuttered, wheezing as it failed to intake oxygen.
“Garble, stop!” Charcoal shouted, taking to the air and landing on the dragon’s fist. “You won’t get any information out of him that way.” Garble’s face was contorted in anger, but his gaze uneasily wavered between the thestral and the changeling drone. He finally grunted, realizing Charcoal was right, but angrily hurled the drone back at the ground. It skidded rather harshly across the rock, kicking up dust in its wake.
Charcoal had managed to stay airborne, and now glided back down to the ground. He planted a hoof on the changeling’s chest and forced most of his weight overtop of it, preventing it from getting up. He was no longer in danger; the changeling had already been weakened well beyond the point of using magic.
“Tell us what your queen is planning,” he demanded.
“C-can’t... betray... Chrysalis...” the changeling coughed.
“It’s either that or die!” Garble bellowed, Flare narrowly preventing him from frying the nuisance right there and then.
“Go ahead. I don’t matter.”
“Why’d ya go an’ say a thing like that?” Candy cocked her head.
“Changelings are despised by all. Only the Queen loves us, so we serve her.”
“She loves you enough to make you slaves?” Spectrum dubiously raised an eyebrow.
“Without Chrysalis, I am nothing.”
“Boy, that queen’s sure got ya brainwashed.”
“That’s terrible!” Petti gasped in agreement.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Lilac cautiously approached, but Charcoal held her back at wing’s length. “Don’t you have any friends?”
“I am a drone. I do not need friends to carry out my orders.”
“Everyone needs friends!” Thunder exclaimed.
“Who cares if it has friends or not?” Garble growled. “I just want my brother back.”
“You might not have friends, but we do,” Charcoal let the changeling up, hoping that appealing to it might prove more fruitful than their threats. “We need them back. Tell us what we need to know and you’ll be free to rejoin your hive or whatever.”
“If I betray Chrysalis, there will be no hive to return to.”
“We’re not going to kill anyone! They’ll still be there,” Charcoal assured. The changeling shook its head.
“If I betray the Queen, I will be exiled from the hive. There will be no one to turn to.”
“So don’t tell her you betrayed her,” Spectrum suggested.
“We are linked by a hive mind. They will know.”
“So Chrysalis is listening in to your thoughts right now? Well, tell her this: when we get back there, we’re going to kick her-”
“I am too far out of range. My hive cannot currently hear my thoughts, and I cannot hear theirs.”
“Look,” Charcoal pleaded, “we really need your help.”
“You might as well kill me, because I will not assist the likes of you,” the changeling narrowed its eyes.
“Suit yourself,” Garble sucked in a deep breath.
“WAIT!” Charcoal instinctively jumped over top of the changeling, wings spread to shield it from Garble’s fiery breath. Charcoal was a bit singed and the changeling slightly shaken, but both were relatively unharmed.
“What are you doing?!” Garble roared, pounding his fist in frustration.
“We need him!” Charcoal shouted back.
“He took my brother from me!”
“Our brother, and our parents,” Charcoal corrected. Garble snarled in agitation and began to pace. “Would that really be what Mom would’ve wanted?” Garble paused. “She was always compassionate, understanding, forgiving. Yes, they’re gone, but grilling the changeling isn’t going to change things. We might still be able to get her back, but we need him alive.”
“You heard him! He’s not going to help us.”
“We’ll see.” Charcoal pushed off, completely removing himself from the changeling, who was still steadying itself from the near-death experience. Charcoal took in the scene with great intent. Despite what it had said, it obviously didn’t want to die. It refused to betray the queen because without her, it had no place to turn to. What if they offered it a new home?
“Look... uh... hey, I don’t even know your name.”
“Changeling drones have no names,” it nervously informed.
“You gotta have a name!” Candy insisted.
“Changeling drones have no names,” it repeated again.
“Ooh, ooh, let’s give you a name!” Lilac suggested.
“Don’t name it! Once you name it, you get attached,” Pierce warned. The ponies all erupted into laughter.
“Let’s name him,” Lilac giggled again.
“Buggy?” Thunder suggested.
“Scary!” Petti tried.
“Meanie!” Candy declared. Lilac glared at her friends, who innocently shrugged back.
“Shift,” the quiet filly Ocean Mist finally spoke up. Chance looked to Charcoal and shrugged. Deeming the name decent, they all turned to the changeling.
“What do you say, pal?”
“Pal?” The changeling narrowed its eyes in confusion. Charcoal sighed in exasperation.
“Do you like the name or not?”
“Opinion is irrelevant.”
“Is not!” Lilac declared.
“You’re the one that’s going to have to live with it,” Spectrum agreed.
“Very well. You may call me Shift.”
“See? Now we’re getting somewhere.” Charcoal lightly bumped Shift’s shoulder with his wing as he passed. The changeling looked extremely baffled by the gesture.
“Ponies do that to show affection,” Spectrum explained, also passing by Shift to join Charcoal, who had settled in the dirt a little farther off.
“You express love by inflicting pain? This seems very contradictory.”
“Boys are weird like that,” Lilac shrugged, bounding by.
“Oh, come on. Did that really hurt?”
“Yes.”
“He’s awfully banged up,” Ember reminded them.
“Oh, right. Sorry,” Charcoal offered an apologetic grin.
“I can fix that!” Lilac declared, momentarily returning to Shift. She looped her hoof through one of the cavities in his leg, and dragged him to the newly formed circle. “Sit!” Chance shoved his rump down to the dirt when he made no move to do so. “Dad showed me how to do this, once,” she explained, grunting as she summoned a small turquoise flame. She moved it over to Shift, who jumped back up out of fear.
“Whoa, Lilac, you better let me do that,” Charcoal interrupted, snuffing out her blue-green flame and replacing it with his own lighter cyan fire. He still didn’t trust the inexperienced filly with such advanced techniques as healing. She pouted but let her brother take over. Shift still wiggled away from the fire. Charcoal sighed. “Look, it’s not going to hurt. I want to help, okay?” Before Shift could reply or even protest, the fire overtook him, bathing every inch of his body. When it died back down, not a scratch, cut, or bruise was left on his previously battered body. Even the torn and frayed fins that served as his mane had been healed over, restored to their initial, untouched state. Shift took a moment just to stare at Charcoal.
“Why did you do that?”
“Good question,” Garble agreed.
“You’re our friend, aren’t you?”
“FRIEND?!”
“I think that’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you?”
“Just because we aren’t trying to kill each other doesn’t make us friends,” Thunder agreed. Charcoal grinned.
“For a changeling and a group of ponies just attacked by changelings, I’d say that’s close enough.” The others cast him incredulous looks. “Okay, everypony. Baby steps.”
“Changelings don’t have friends,” Shift reminded him.
“Looks like you’re an exception to the rule, pal.”
“Don’t call me ‘pal’,” he requested.
“Friend? Chum?” Charcoal suggested.
“Shift,” he corrected. Charcoal chuckled.
“Fair enough. Well, then, Shift, come sit down.”
“Why?”
“We just want to talk, that’s all.”
“We do?”
“Yes. We do.”
“Great. You’ve named it, and even become ‘friends’ with the thing. I still fail to see how any of this is going to help us get Mom, Dad and Blaze back,” Garble huffed. Flare made no move to silence him this time. Instead, she herself took a seat on the outskirts of the ponies’ existing circle, cuing the other dragons to do the same. Eventually, Garble was the only one remaining. With a heavy sigh, he too plopped down.
“Shift you said that the other changelings will know if you betray them, and kick you out, right? That’s why you can’t help us if you wanted to.”
“Correct.”
“So let’s make a deal. Help us, and you can come back to live in Ponyville, or the Everfree, or wherever you please.”
“He can?!”
“Will Princess Twilight even go for that?”
“She will if we vouch for him. So, what do you say, Shift?”
“You are still forgetting something. I do not want to help. You have given me a name and ‘friendship,’ but I do not even understand the point to having either.”
“Believe me, once you get it figured out, it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever known,” Charcoal assured. “Discord, the Lord of Chaos himself gave up trying to take over because he recognized the true value of friendship.”
“We’ll be your friends, Shift!” Lilac volunteered, trusting whole-heartedly in her brother.
“Come on. You’ve gotta at least be a little curious?” Candy Apple prompted.
“You too?”
“Why not? Charcoal’s right- he stopped tryin’ to kill us, and comin’ from a changelin’, that means a lot. There’s gotta be good somewhere down in there.”
“Well... I guess that’s true...” Thunder reasoned. “Alright, count me in.”
“If you’re in, so am I,” Spectrum voiced.
“All in favor of becoming Shift’s friend, raise your hoof... or claw!” Lilac enthusiastically called, raising her own hoof high. All the ponies eventually lifted their hooves. Flare took the lead in raising her own, until every hoof and claw was raised but one.
“Garble?”
“Nuh-uh. You got me to sit down, but I am not becoming friends with that monster!”
“He’ll come around,” Charcoal promised. “So you in?”
“Come on, Shift!”
“It’s time to start thinking for yourself for once!”
“Chrysalis has cared for me for as long as I have existed. I will not abandon her for ponies and dragons I was ordered to attack. You may have spared my life for the time being, but Chrysalis has never harmed me, not once even lied.”
“Never once lied, huh?”
“She did tell you that no one could love a changeling, didn’t she?”
“Correct.”
“Friends love each other, Shift. We’re your friends.”
“You... love me?”
“Not in the gross romantic way,” Thunder quickly clarified.
“But yeah, we love ya in a friendly sorta way,” Candy agreed.
“And I’ll wager that she’s the one that she’s the one who taught you your only purpose is to serve her hive?”
“C-correct,” Shift haltingly admitted.
“Don’t you see she’s brainwashed you? You do matter, Shift! She might call you a ‘mindless drone,’ but you’re thinking for yourself now!”
“Looks like Chrysalis lied after all.”
“You... you lie!” Shift jumped up, recoiling from the ponies like a snake. His world spun as he took in this new concept. Was it possible? Could he really be loved?
“We’re not lying, Shift. I think that you know somewhere deep down that we’re telling the truth.”
“Think about it, Shift. Chrysalis says she loves you, but she makes you serve her and says you don’t matter! You do matter to us, Shift. You see the difference?”
Shift did see. Or at least, he was beginning to understand. Chrysalis said she loved her subjects, but there was a great difference in how she treated him compared to these ponies. In the hive, he was given the bare necessities he would need to stay alive and fulfill his purpose. But with these ponies... he had already enjoyed the luxury of a quick-heal spell. Charcoal didn’t have to do that for him; he would have healed on his own, eventually. Keeping him weak would have also given them the strategic advantage- now, how could they trust that he wouldn’t fight back. Logically speaking, Charcoal shouldn’t have performed the spell at all. But he did.
Shift was no longer a dime in a dozen, a face in the crowd. He was an individual. He had a name. Now that he was regaining strength, he could feel the love radiating from individuals around him. Better yet, it was directed at him, for him! He wasn’t even in disguise! How many of his hive could say that?
“Shift? You okay?”
“I... am...” he finally spoke, “good. I am very good.”
“What happened to, ‘opinion is irrelevant’?” Spectrum teased.
“I have friends, now. Opinion is relevant amongst friends.”
“Now you’re getting it,” Chance clapped him on the back. There was a long pause as Shift considered his options. Go back to the hive, or live amongst ponies? Amongst friends?
“I will help you find your friends,” he finally decided.
“ALRIGHT!” the whole team cheered. Petti and Lilac high-hoofed, Thunder and Candy knocked heads, and Ocean Mist darted forth from the safety of her brother. She tackled Shift headlong, arms clasped about his neck.
“Thank you,” she tearfully whispered. The warmth of real, powerful love seeped from Ocean Mist into his body, returning him to his full strength. For this he was grateful, but what if he drained her energy? He couldn’t help it- this was the natural outcome of feeding from love. Shift awkwardly, robotically patted her back.
Charcoal stood in the center of the massive ring. “Garble, I know you’d rather not work with Shift, but we’ll need everyone on board to make this work.” Garble sighed.
“Tell me what I need to do to get my- our- brother back.” Charcoal beamed.
“Alright, so here’s the plan.”