Ignorance and Apathy
I am Idol Hooves.
“Yes, Idol, I understand. Are you alright?” A tinge of concern flavored her words, and I started. The mare was currently kicking stones into a small circle, a few pieces of brush and kindling already between us. I nodded, rolling a log towards the firepit.
“Oh. Yes, I am, it’s just… I have never actually considered… this. I have a name. On a shape that looks… something like myself. Based on things I am… interested in. It is a much grander experience than I had anticipated. But I have to familiarize myself with it to keep it as a useful form.”
“Is shapeshifting really that complicated?” She stepped on some of the kindling, shattering it further.
“The less pony-like a form is, the harder it becomes to hold. Shells that aren’t pony-like shatter quickly. An illusion will hold, but… illusion or shell will not grant me the ability to mimic a griffon’s cry.” A wave of interest from Topaz, which I drank in eagerly, seeing no harm in drinking of the emotion whilst I used energy to adjust myself to this new shape. I sharpened my already altered hoof, bringing it down on the sides of the log, splintering off several sizeable sections, which I formed into a peak at Topaz’s guidance.
“Wait, so, as a griffon, can you use the talons?” She held up a front hoof. “I mean, apart from unicorns, most of us don’t have that sort of dexterity.” She fought with her saddlebag a moment, prying her pen and notebook free and settling down on her sleeping bag. I frowned, looking up to the setting sun. It was still early, we could both still be gathering food, even if Topaz claimed that our food stores were enough for several days of travel already. Nonetheless, her apparent eagerness to rest at every opportunity bothered me, given that she was claiming her injuries more tolerable as time went on.
“Yes, of course. If, as a griffon, I was incapable of reacting appropriately, the disguise would be an utter failure. A griffon without the ability to snatch prey from the ground would go hungry and be ostracized, besides.”
“I think you’re a little out of the loop, griffons haven’t been that bad in… a long time. I mean, sure, some of them are still a little on the savage side, but I’m actually pretty sure that… that they’re not all bloodthirsty anymore. They do a lot of trading with ponies, I’m sure some of them even do their own farming.”
“It was my perception that they hunted ponies?”
Here Topaz’s head jerked up to look at me more carefully. “That hasn’t happened in almost a millennia. Outside of very, very rare cases that usually get resolved by both sides. Princess Celestia is even looking into trying to get some younger ones involved in our flight schools, get ponies and griffons to be even closer.” She began furiously scribbling, her face a mask of concentration but her attention still unquestionably on the subject. Or, I suppose, she was simply trying to hold the pen still in her mouth.
I considered her words. The changelings as a species did not have much interaction with griffons, I was almost sure of it. But… when had the hive’s last interaction with them been? The little knowledge the Queen had gifted me with at the start of my banishment was almost entirely devoid of context; I knew the griffons did not like ponies. I did not, however, know how recent this information was. ‘Stay away from treasure mounds, flee from any cave you discover with one because it is a dragon’s nest. Avoid Everfree Forest. Griffons are a predator.’ And more information that I could not immediately recognize as my own, but had slowly begun to sink into my thoughts as fact that I had personally established.
“Have you spent much time among the griffons? Why else would you take that shape?”
“None at all, actually. As I’ve said, I am not a gatherer.” With a huff, I set the kindling alight, the logs quickly catching with the green flame before it turned a cheery yellow with vague hints of red. Topaz rolled an apple to me, impaling her own on a green stick as we started at our dinner. I confess, I have grown fond of cooking food, even if there is some energy wasted in the process. After a day of eating apples, there is some strange appeal to roasting one over a fire as opposed to simply devouring yet another. It did not hurt that I was flavoring mine with emotion flowing from Topaz. “…When we are hatchlings, we play. We shapeshift at will, into whatever we wish. Small dragons, griffons, even one-headed hydras, or giant spiders. The freedom is encouraged, I think.”
“So… so what changes?”
“Excuse me?” I rolled my own stick, adjusting it to keep the apple out of the open flame. Burnt apple was different, but not what I would call a desirable repeat experience, even if Topaz had laughed uproariously at the look on my face as I had diligently chewed the charred fruit.
“It sounds like… like when you’re foals, you’re all encouraged to be emotional, and happy, and have fun wasting energy.”
“I can’t imagine any creature would not want their offspring to be happy and healthy.”
“No, no, I mean. When you… get older, I guess, you stop being… outgoing. You act like you’re supposed to be just… just a drone, but you’re not.”
“I should be. I am aberrant.”
Something fell into the fire, and I frowned, peering at it, then glanced to my own apple. I had never known Topaz to drop one of her own, as this was a trick her father had taught her when she was just a little foal.
“But why… why would anypony… stop wanting… to be happy?” The flow of emotion from her cut off like a line had snapped, and I jerked my head up to her, then froze.
Topaz was staring dully at the apple in the fire, watching it as it hissed and burned. Even in the yellow light of the flame, her coat seemed to have lost its luster, and as I watched the very color itself seemed to be draining from her.
With a wordless cry, I bounded over the fire to her, shaking the pegasus. Her breathing was steady and even, but I expected that. The sound did nothing to her, and she only reacted at the violent shaking I was giving her. I hadn’t been paying attention, hadn’t even considered this possibility.
“What.” Her voice was dull, a monotone. She didn’t care. Couldn’t. But that couldn’t be, I couldn’t have drained her so far, could I?
A knot popped on one of the logs, sending sparks flying. One landed on her open notebook, and she watched it settle and burn as I desperately stepped on it, trying to be delicate and not damage her pages. I snatched the notebook up in a wave of poorly contained magic and tossed it to our gear, giving it no more regard once the immediate threat to it was dealt with. “Topaz, are you well?”
“Fine.” Her stomach rumbled, but she made no motion to react to it.
Order preserve. I had just reduced the only pony who knew me to a husk. Her interest, I’d been feeding on the complex emotion for too long, too deeply… and now it was gone. I had seen this, amongst my own kind, especially where hatchlings were present. They would latch onto a parent too strongly, too desperately hungry, and the parent would be drained. Drained dry, and unable to feel anymore. The hatching they had loved was just a hatchling, of no special importance to them. Even if they could recognize the tiny changeling before them as their own flesh and blood, they could no longer attach significance to that fact. In many cases in my own memory… that changeling died soon after. They stopped functioning, stopped caring about their own well-being, or that of the hive around them. It was why hatchlings were kept in the nursery, with a caretaker who was given exceptional quantities of love to dole out. But… even so, a parent could be drawn to their own offspring. Drawn in… and consumed.
And I had done this to Topaz. A pony who had helped given me name and shape, a companion. I was horrified. I was no hatchling, no foal to be unaware of my actions. How had I not seen? How had I not realized this? Would she recover? Could she? I looked about, trying to think of what to do. Her reaction to the loss had been sudden. I would take her to Canterlot. They could help her, perhaps. I cursed myself, the feeling of fullness suddenly disgusting to me. The chill of the night air did nothing to soothe my fears, and remembering the rumblings of her stomach, I recovered my own apple. Not quite done, but enough that she could eat. I held it down to her, but she continued to stare dully ahead, comprehending perhaps, but not compelled enough to eat it. I dumped her saddlebag out, taking a small knife from a pouch and cutting the lightly toasted apple into sections, putting them down before her. When she still did not react, I pried open her mouth with tendrils of magic and set one of the slices inside, holding my breath until she began to slowly chew, more as if trying to clear her mouth than to assuage her hunger. A trickle of relief swept through me, and I sighed. If I could get her to eat, I could get her to Canterlot. Breathing and eating. Functional was good. If she could walk, better still. If not… if not I would carry this mare on my back until we reached the city.
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eep! Topaz!
Hope that Idol can get her some help before anything bad happens
Oh fuck me. I didn't see this coming at all
Before MLP, I had only ever seen it spelled as gryphon. The internet seems to think it has 3 ways to spell it.
Edit: My unabridged dictionary from 1981 agrees. I still prefer gryphon.
...This is terrifying.
Awesome chapter!
Perhaps he should try to return the energy he'd taken and hope that it restores her?
...I don't think it works like that.
Why not? Birds do that for their young and changelings can transfer love between each other.
Both griffin and gryphon are appropriate no matter what spellcheckers say. I personally just like the look of "gryphon" better.
5031756
Maybe that's how you make a Pinkie. You suck all the joy out of her family, then realizing your mistake you try and put it back. It doesn't work so you try harder. Unfortunately, because you're pushing so hard, once it does work you just don't have enough control and Pinkie gets everyone's joy.
Makes sense?
Ehhhhhh... I tried.
And technically unicorns wouldn't have it either, because dexterity is for hands.
Technically it would be ungularity (ungulus = hoof; hooved animals are called ungulates)
Aside from that, I spell it gryphons for my AU fics. Other than that, griffin is what goes.
Unexpectedly dark. I certainly hope it's not permanent. It's nice to see Idol determined to save her. At the very least, it's a good lesson.
5031756
It might be something closer in concept to squeezing a fruit for juice. It's rather more difficult to put in than it is to take out.
5031797 "Dexterity" isn't actually hand-specific; "dexter" means "right[-side]", and that's it.
Oh no
Please be ok, Topaz. Also please don't hate Idol. This ship of curious scientist and clueless bug is too cute to sink straight out of the shipyard. We haven't even broken the bottle of champagne yet. Also I think I should revoke my own metaphor privileges <.<
Author y u do dis
Now you got me spelling gryffons gryphons or is t gryffins
Gryphins?
What is life even anymore... What are words...
This is really good so far. It reminds me a lot of Without A Hive, though it's different enough from that telling that it doesn't infringe. I'm looking forward to what you have to say about Celestia and the Guard, for sure.
wait a second, shouldn't he be able to try giving the emotion back to her, sharing in the same way changelings do with others in their groups? or is it that they can only drain?
And that's why Changeling companions are not the best things, indeed.
5033507 I think its more that he could give it to her, but she wouldn't have the capacity for turning it back into useful energy. I think That's what the issue here is.
Yeah, griffon spelling is weird.
I've learnt that a male is a griffon while a female is a gryphon.
I think when referring to the species or a group of them, it can go either way, but I'm not sure.
Also, buck.
5034015 but it's implied that it is stored as the raw emotion.
Great story.
Keep on the good work.
The only thing I hate more than catching up on the release date of a good fanfic...
...is catching up on the release date of a good fanfic when the last update ended ON A CLIFFHANGER!
5036907 Well, you have to take into account that the author is evil. So that's a thing.
5034571 Part of the problem stems from the fact that Idol isn't a gatherer and has no training or knowledge as to how such a thing would be done; most changelings simply take from changelings who are designated emotional storage. In the case of the 'husks' they are drained to the point where they're emotionally crippled even by changeling standards. Basically the process breaks them. And yes, I figure it's very traumatic for both the hatchling and the parent.
5031920 I like the juice analogy, but I think it's a bit more like harvesting rubber. There's two ways to do it; you can tap the source, or you can chop the tree down and process it all at once. Turning a changeling into a husk is like salting the field on top of that.
And for those of you loving TVTropes, this has been brought to my attention. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanFic/TheChangelingOfTheGuard
5037122 But why not a council, or multiple princesses that can serve the same purpose? Why structure themselves like an insect colony and submit themselves to every whim of the Queen?
He was answering the question more along the lines of 'Why is it a queen' and not 'why is there a queen' which is probably more what Topaz meant, but he's still not picking up nuance. I'm sure he's explained all this in some detail to her, but if you suggested the idea of a council or a republic to him, he'd probably think you were insane. The idea of any changeling being 'nobility' outside of the Queen is, for him, completely unthinkable. The idea of the hive not having a queen doesn't warrant thinking about.
I can hardly wait for the next chapter!
Idol, you fucked up.
HAVE FUN!!!
Fucking favorited!
Topaz, noooooooo!
Either Griffin or gryphon is correct, although Griffin is usually used as a name and gryphon is usually used to refer to mythical eagle lions.
Aaaaaaand there is the tragic moment I've been seeing coming for the past few chapters.
Run Idol. She may not have much time...
Mythologically 'gryphon' is correct. In terms of My Little Pony 'griffin' is the accepted spelling. I saw one fanfic that gave an explaination I found amusing and enjoyable:
Griffin is the spelling and word for a /female/, while gryphon is the masculine. This is amusing because non-gryphon races have difficulty seperating the two unless it's written.
5363601
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140614021036/evolve/images/4/45/Griffin_Portrait.png
Soon...
I've seen your story pop up many times, and I was always like "eh, not sure if I'd like it" but it's completely different from expectations. I really enjoy it so far.
Also, I spell it "gryphons" personally, I believe it's British? Meh, whatever.
I still ship Tsunami.
Aren't emotions caused by chemical reaction? He would have to damage her brain, traumatize her or something to cause her loosing emotions. I think changelings draw magic from ponies and for it they use emotions.
Nooooo!!!!! Idol!!!!
5716665 It's a form of magic, I don't think it matters how emotions are formed.
Either spelling works fine usually. There is actually a difference between "griffin" and "gryphon", but it is a very small (and frustratingly vague), and most people don't know it anyway. I personally use "gryphon" because as far as i know, "gryphon" refers to more human-like creature (as in intelligence), and "griffin" refers to a more animal-like creature (like having the mindset of a lion or eagle). But the definitions i have found are very vague and undefined, like I said above.
Awe damn. This was unexpectedly feels full.
SEEEEEEEE!!! SEE SEE SEE!!!!
Cherngelerngs are DANGEROUS!!!
But wait... only if we have emotion for them to eat! I KNOW HOW TO DEFEAT THEM!!!
*Alondro is assimilated by the Borg* NOW EMOTIONS ARE IRRELEVANT. CHERNGELERNGS ARE ALSO IRRELEVANT.
Oh no D: Please let him be able to help his friend. the poor guy is only just starting to come into his own, He's discovering friendship, his own personal interests, he picked a CUTIE MARK, And now he's broken his closest friend. This'll crush him if it goes bad. :(
Also I prefer gryphons over griffons.
6547944
I am not dangerous! Nor am I irrelevant!
...oh, no.
No, no, no...
catchquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/11-02-Dumb-and-Dumber-quotes.gif
After much trouble with the same problem, I've decided to use "griffon" for male and "griffin" for female. As for "gryphons"... I dunno, maybe for the race as a whole, or just generally the plural? One griffon, one griffin, two gryphons.
5647176
Any time i see it spelled out, gryphon, i hear it spoken with a French accent.
I don't know why though.
...Millennia is plural.
At least being a pony, she should be able to regain her emotions, hopefully.
I've always spelled it griffons, mostly because that's faster for me, hehe.
And on noes! Topaz
She better be alright 
Nice chappie
The hatching they had loved was just a hatchling, of no special importance to them.
hatchling
Difference
dog or vulture
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/griffon
mythological creature
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/griffin
Hasbro got it WRONG!
It's a portmanteau of eagle (griff or gryph) and lion (-on), so I always spell it griffon. I use griff instead of gryph because hippogriff is typically spelled with the former, and draws from the same root.
Wonder if he will give emotion to her. It possible.
I like how we get a glimpse of Idol’s protective instinct and honor in his instant decision to take care of Topaz when he drained her without even worrying about himself.
Being a guard was just the perfect outlet for that.
Oh interesting! So the Changeling can actually exhaust an emotion in a creature? Goodness since this is canon with the series that must say INCREDIBLE things about Shining's love for Cadance considering Chrysalis was draining him for weeks, enough that it made her stronger than Celestia (to her own surprise) and that still didn't seem to remove any of his love for Cadance considering right after they Love-Shield bombed everyone without hesitation.
Hmm. I do hope Topaz will be alright. I'm curious what the mechanics of 'exhausting' an emotion will be. Do they lose the capacity for the emotion? Can it be 'restored'?