Rest with us.

Lorikeet's heart raced. "Ma'am!"

Sleep with us.

"Ma'am, please, wake up!" Damsel didn't stir, even when he started shaking her.

Wait with us.

Pleading, the young flutterpony continued shaking his changeling companion, calling across the hivemind to anyone who might be awake

Dream with us.

The only answer was his own echo in the near-silence... and the whispering voices, barely there on the edge of perception.

We wait.

Calling to him.

We rest.

Drawing Damsel into a deeper sleep and beckoning him to join her.

We sleep.

To join the Hive.

We dream.

"M-ma'am..." Lorikeet was tired... so tired...

Dream with us.

He shook his head, trying to clear the fog that was filling his mind and focus.

Dream with us.

The Hive was just beyond the resin wall, the sleeping Queen so close he could feel her influence pressing down on him, warm and inviting, reminding him of his favorite blanket from his foalhood.

Dream with us.

All he had to do was get to them... wake them up... and everything would be right...

Dream with us.

Unsteady, he scraped one hoof against the smooth resin, barely scuffing the resilient surface. It was magically hardened, impossible to get through without a working horn of his own, the tingle in his hoof hinting at the strength of the magic woven into it.

Dream with us.

Fighting to stay awake, he nudged his partner, desperate to wake her, even a little. It was no use though, she was lost to the dreaming Hive, taking all hope of using her magic to pierce the thick wall and awaken the Queen.

Dream with us.

It was hard to think... he had to get away, had to put some distance between himself and the Hive... had to get to where he couldn't hear them...

Rest with us.

Lorikeet eyed Damsel's curled-up form, the mare deep in peaceful slumber. He couldn't leave without her, wouldn't leave without her.

Dream with us.

As gently as he could, he set her on his back, wincing at every unintentional jostle and bump, whispering apologies that he knew she couldn't hear. He minded her wounded leg, checking the hasty resin cast and praying to the Queens it would hold.

Wait with us.

The changeling as secure as she could be, draped across his back, he took a deep breath and forced his hooves to move, determined to leave the place before he, too, was lured to rest by the Hive's call.

Dream with us.

Flutter Valley passed by almost un-noticed, the flutterpony focused on putting one hoof in front of the other, refusing to stop moving. He had to move. Had to leave. The tunnel was so close... he could see it, the dimly lit passage his only hope. Just a few more steps... he had to make it, had to return to the Hive... to the Stable...

Child.

He stumbled at the sudden change, the hivemind's chorus falling silent as a new voice rung out across it. Something pressed against his mind, a strong presence, yet gentle, almost loving as it washed through him, halting his advance. Images sprang to mind, his briefing and journey from the Hive replaying itself to the odd presence.

Poison. Such poison. Such hate.

His legs trembled at the thought that, somehow, he'd disappointed that voice, that regal, motherly voice. It hurt him deeply, like disappointing a parent.

Flutterpony. My flutterpony. Be strong.

Relief flooded through him as the voice sounded its approval of him.

I dream. We dream. We wait. Be strong. Go. Go, My flutterpony.

Strength filled him, his mind focused once more on his task, the voice urging him onwards. One step, then another, his hooves carrying him forwards, towards the tunnel that led to the outside. As he entered, he heard the voice speak one last time.

We wait. We dream. Heal the poison, My Guards. Heal and return.

Determination blossoming in his chest, Lorikeet entered the tunnel, silence falling all around him as the hivemind drifted into dreamless slumber.

Deep within the earth, in the Hall of Queens, a single head rose from the massed piles of slumbering bodies. Slitted eyes opened blearily, scanning the many still forms, lit only by a gently glowing stone at the centre of the room. Seeing nothing amiss, Chrysalis lay her head back down once more, a single thought crossing her mind before hibernation claimed her once more.

I dreamt of a flutterpony... how odd...