//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Strange Happenings in the Hive // by ZealousHeretic //------------------------------// “Interestingly enough, the average changeling population is almost alway proportional to how much love they can acquire. In all but the rarest cases, changeling couples will not breed, or even go through the motions of breeding for recreational purposes, unless there is an abundance of love energy to go around.” —excerpt from a guest chapter, by Musky Tome, on reproduction in On Changelings __________________________________________________________________________ “I—er, there there,” Chrysalis said, reaching out timidly with her hoof. Oh wait, he can’t even hear me through the sound blocking spell. Aaron continued his crying, far too immersed in his fear of alienation and solitude and his insecurity of being in this strange new world wasn’t helping his emotional stability at all as he remained unaware of Chrysalis. Ok, let’s take stock, I have a crying youngling and no drones to blame this on, Chrysalis thought, her eyes darting around, looking for any kind of help, What am I doing? I can handle a crying youngling, Chrysalis glanced back at at Aaron, his crying had slowed. Is he, panting? Tears were still streaming down his face, but they were joined by beads of sweat. His cries appeared to be replaced by heaving breaths. Chrysalis’s eyes widened. “I can feel love energy from him again,” she said to herself, slowly putting two and two together. My spell, he must absorbing a tiny portion of it, and edging towards another magical overdose. It seems I can only feel love energy from him when he’s got magic in him. Chrysalis released her spell and Aaron’s heavy breathing filled the tunnel. “The same symptoms as before,” Chrysalis muttered, before speaking up, “Aaron, we don’t know how you got here, but since you had to get here somehow, there must be a way for you to get back.” Whether or not the way back is attainable … . “Really?” Aaron asked, futilely wiping his tears with an already wet sleeve. Probably. “Yes, now stop crying, it’s annoys me.” “I-I’ll try,” Aaron replied. One problem solved. “My queen, it is unexpected that you’d be back in my vicinity to soon,” A, in Chrysalis’s opinion anyway, very annoying voice said, “And with a friend, I didn’t think you had those.” And another appears. “You’re not supposed to leave your room, Mirror.” Chrysalis growled, glaring at the unfazed drone before her. “I apologize, but I heard a dripping sound, and was worried there might be a leak somewhere, so I came to investigate.” And I won Canterlot. “There is no leak, go back you you’re room.” “Ah, I see, I thought you wanted my opinion on the creature.” Mirror said, slowly turning to leave. “I do not, if I did then I would have asked.” “Well I think you shouldn’t use magic on him, even if it reveals love energy, and on a less important note, you should stop making him cry. We already talked about how you should try to be less mean to lure the Equestrians into a false sense of security, this is good practice.” “I did not ask you to speak!” Chrysalis yelled, causing the still sitting Aaron to wince and tear up again. “Oi, oi, oi, no crying! Aaron, was it?” Mirror said, ignoring Chrysalis and walking to Aaron’s side and drape a hoof over his shoulder, “The noise from her mouth shouldn’t scare you, it’s the teeth you should worry about. Then again, she’d have to lower her head quite a ways to bite you, and she’s much too pompous for that.” Aaron looked confused again. “Pompous, like the fruit?” “No, no,” Mirror chuckled, “You’re thinking of pomegranate, I said ‘pompous,’ like haughty.” Aaron only tilted his head. “Egotistical.” “Conceited.” “Arrogant.” “Prideful.” Chrysalis’s nostrils were flaring and her teeth were clenched. Mirror glanced back at her looking helpless. “It appears that’s my cue to leave, I’ve run out of synonyms. You should probably consider catching the poor boy up on his reading, my queen.” Chrysalis struggled not to fire a magical blast at his back before he turned the corner. Calm down, that would mean he wins. “Ooh! I hate him,” Chrysalis muttered. “He knows a lot of big words,” Aaron said in awe, before turning to Chrysalis, “Why doesn’t he have wings or a horn like you?” “You should ask him yourself, preferably while I’m in the room.” That might just shut the his smug mouth. “Ok,” Aaron answered, looking unsure. “Not now though, I have a theory I’d like to test out.” Chrysalis said, beckoning him to follow. __________________________________________________________________________ Camo woke with a start, hearing Illusion shift in her bed. Now that I think about it, I should have toweled off her excess sweat so she wouldn’t wake up all dirty. He thought as he got up to check on her. Illusion shifted around a bit and opened her eyes. Realization flickered in her eyes as she remembered what was happening before she was knocked out. Tears welled up and streamed down her cheeks. “I-I’m so sorry, I wanted to hurt you for some reason.” Camo chuckled, trying in vain to wipe her tears away. Since, like with many other things, holed hooves isn’t the best thing for wiping away tears. “I know you didn’t mean it,” Camo said, smiling, “And even if you did, I wouldn’t listen, I’m much too stubborn.” “But I didn’t,” Illusion insisted, “What I said was a terrible lie and I shouldn’t have said it, fever or not.” “I knew it was the fever talking, Illy, don’t worry about it.” “Don’t tell me what to do,” Illusion retorted, “I’m already worried about it anyway, so there’s no point in telling me not to worry.” “I get it, I get it, sorry,” Camo relented, “I was just trying to give you a freebie after that whole thing with fooling the love princess.” Illusion blushed. “Oh yeah,” she muttered, “that happened, but I kicked you in the balls, so we’re even for that already.” Camo winced in remembrance. “Oh yeah,” he muttered, “that happened.” Illusion’s eyes widened. “Where’s the creature?” she asked frantically, looking around the room. “His name is Aaron, he woke up,” Camo answered, putting a hoof on Illusion, trying to calm her down. She relaxed a bit. “That’s good that he finally woke up, but where is he?” Camo winced. “He’s, uh, with the queen,” He answered sheepishly. “What?” Illusion asked, her voice monotone. “I got him to follow me while I was carrying you back here and the queen found us,” Camo replied, his head down, “I tried to get her to let him stay with me but she was insistent on taking him.” Illusion groan. “This is terrible,” Illusion sighed, “He might not even be alive anymore for all we know, one wrong word and she might lose her temper.” “I’m more worried about her saying something wrong and making Aaron cry,” Camo said, “He’s definitely young, doesn’t hide his emotions well, and I’m sure you remember how his crying went last time.” Illusion shivered. “Don’t remind me,” she said, shaking her head, “I hope to never relive that.” “Well you might, assuming the queen acts like herself,” Camo retorted, “Aaron is just too sensitive to handle how mean she can be sometimes.” “Did you just use the word ‘mean’ to describe the queen?” Illusion asked, raising an eyebrow, “you know she might kill you for that if she ever hears you say that.” “What can I say? I’m a fan of understatement,” Camo replied, smirking. Illusion sighed. “Well, I’ve rested enough, we need to go find the queen and Aaron. Camo snorted. “Are you crazy, she took him to her chambers, no one goes there without orders.” “We’ll be fine, I have a plan.” “You mind filling me in before dragging me along?” Camo asked, already knowing the answer. “What can I say?” Illusion retorted as she got out of bed, “I’m a fan of suspense.” __________________________________________________________________________ Just what I needed after a long train ride, Cadence moped internally, Another long train ride. The constant rattle of the train’s motion was torture to her ears. The rest of the delegation was sleeping, so there was no chance to talk to Crystal or some other random delegate. Cadance sighed. “I wish there was someone to talk to.” “Wish granted.” Cadance jumped, her horn nearly striking the ceiling. “Luna?! You startled me, I didn’t notice myself falling asleep.” “That is because you didn’t,” Luna replied, smirking. “Then why are you hear?” Cadance asked, “Did something happen back in Equestria?” “Oh, nothing so exciting,” Luna answered, as the train began to slow, “We are simply conducting a surprise inspection of the Changeling’s lair.” Cadance’s eyes widened. “Everything seemed fine when I was there earlier today, has something happened to make Celestia suspicious?” “We do not need our sister’s permission to conduct a surprise inspection,” Luna remarked, “Knowing her, she’d give them a week’s notice of a surprise inspection.” The train had slowed to a stop, jarring the sleeping delegation team, and began to move back towards the changeling’s hive. “Are you sure this is necessary, Luna?” Cadance pleaded, “I think we’re starting to make some progress towards friendship, surprising them now might ruin that.” “Princess Cadance,” Luna replied, “We are sure they are hiding something. We must do this.” “If you truly think it’s necessary …” “What’s going on, princess?” Crystal asked, walking up without her glasses, rubbing her eye. “We’re heading back to the hive for a surprise inspection.” Crystal let out a squeak. “Come again?” “We’re heading back, you don’t have to leave the train this time if you don’t want to,” Cadance consoled. “None of the delegation team will be forced to enter the hive with me,” Luna spoke to the whole train car, “I shall go on my own if necessary.” Cadance moved in close, so only Luna could hear her. “Luna, please, let me come with you.” “I will not ask, but I will accept anypony who wishes to accompany me.” “Do you have any idea what we’re looking for,” Cadance asked, still whispering. “Specifically? No,” Luna answered, eyes down, looking concerned, “I felt something troubling, that is all I know.” “What did you feel?” “A disturbance in the dream realm, I could not see specifically what it was, but I felt it and it came from the changeling’s lair,” Luna affirmed, her resolve obvious, “This cannot be a coincidence, this exact location being the epicenter of a disturbance.” “That’s definitely curious, and something I wouldn’t be able to sense even if I was just around the corner from it.” Cadance admitted, pursing her lips, “I just really hope this doesn’t strain our relationship with the changelings, it’s taken so long just to get them to calm down a bit and something like this might set us back to square one.” “If there is something truly devious going on,” Luna said, glaring in the direction of the hive, “ We believe the changelings have run out of chances, it is high time somepony put a stop to them for good.” There’s no way this is going to go well. Cadance thought, frowning. __________________________________________________________________________ Aaron followed Chrysalis into her chambers.They were dimly lit, like most everything else, and sparsely furnished, having only a bed, a mirror, and an empty desk. Chrysalis motioned him to her, rather large and lavish, bed, which he climbed up on and then sat down on. “”I’m hungry,” Aaron stated, looking at Chrysalis with pleading eyes. His face was flushed and he was still sweating. This might blow back up in my face, Chrysalis warned herself, deep in thought, But if it succeeds then I’ll have something to supplement the love rations Equestria gives us. Chrysalis knew that if she was found out that she very well might lose everything. Without the love rations they got now, assuming Equestria didn’t attack, they’d be hard pressed to gather their own since all of her best infiltrators perished in the Canterlot invasion. On the bright side, if this failed, then she could simply turn over this creature to the Equestrians and they would definitely take him off her hooves. It might even help her gain the ponies trust, and hopefully by extension, larger love energy rations, which she’d need if she ever wanted to restore the hive to its former glory. And for that she’d need more love energy. Whether those came from Aaron or from the Equestrians, She did not care. Now, since I’m not going to risk changing into whatever he is, I’ll have to get a bit creative, Chrysalis thought, as she began to weave a weak, but complicated, spell, A spell with too much magic power in it might hurt him and his mind doesn’t seem very strong, so anything too forceful or long lasting might break him. She was attempting to make a spell that would relax him, and make him more open to sharing his love, but the spell would only work for a short time so she would have to be fast. “No try to relax, this won’t hurt a bit if I do it right,” Chrysalis told Aaron, touching her horn to his forehead. His eyes widened, but he didn’t have the reflexes to move away. His eyes glowed a dull green and all expression left his face. “Alright, now to see how exactly this boy will be useful to me,” Chrysalis said to herself, I must only take a very small amount, since the tiny bit of love energy he exudes naturally was enough to down my drones I should be cautious. She absorbed his love energy as slowly as possible. It was sweet, incredibly sweet. She stopped after only a couple seconds. By the hive, that’s definitely what made those drones sick. I could hold many times more than any drone could and even this small bit is affecting me, Chrysalis thought, reeling back from the still entranced Aaron, Should I just give in and let the Equestrians have him? They’d be back here by the end of the week if I sent a letter, though I’d have to buy writing supplies if I wanted to send a letter. Maybe I could get used this foriegn love though. The first time might be overwhelming but I’m sure I could build up some tolerance. Chrysalis growled in frustration. “You certainly don’t make anything easy, do you boy?” she asked the unresponsive Aaron. And here I was, hoping for a clear cut answer. Chrysalis sighed. If I give him away, then I’ll be missing out on extra love energy, which I really can’t afford to do at this stage. If I keep him, I’ll have to hide him every time the Equestrians come by. They’ve been coming by less frequently and hardly ever do surprise visits anymore but I’d be taking a significant risk if I-- Her train of thought was interrupted when the door burst open. __________________________________________________________________________ I’m surprised the queen hasn’t trained new guards, Illusion thought, as Camo and her were trotting through the empty tunnels towards the queen's chambers, There are so few left and all they do is spy on everyone for the queen. Camo was huffing already, the life of a medical alchemist didn’t involve lot of exercise. “Illusion,” he started to ask, “Can’t we walk? It’d be much easier if we walked.” “We don’t have time to walk,” Illusion shot back, “Plus, I think this will help out with my plan” They trotted in silence for several seconds. “I know what you’re doing,” Camo said, glaring at Illusion. “Whatever do you mean?” Illusion asked, glancing back. “You want me to ask you, so you can brush me off.” “Ask what?” Illusion asked, sounding confused. “Ask you what your plan—” “No time for that, Camo, we have to move fast,” Illusion interjected. “I really hate you sometimes.” “You’ll get over it,” Ilusion retorted, looking back to give him a smirk. All I’m really doing is trying to buy more time, assuming the queen doesn’t just kill us for barging in on her, Illusion thought, biting her lip, What the hell are we going to do if we succeed. It’ll help the kid in the short term but in the long run it might be meaningless. Illusion accidentally let out a growl. “What now?” Camo asked, looking concerned. “Uh—” “Stop,” a low voice called out, “Where are you two going?” The pair skidded to a halt and didn’t dare look back. They heard the sound of hooves moving towards them. “I’ll ask again,” the voice said with a dangerous edge, “Where are you two going?” “T-to see the Queen,” Camo blurted out. Illusion’s eyes widened. No one just goes to see the queen! Dammit Camo, you’ve killed us! “Oh, have fun then,” a more familiar voice said, “Tell her Mirror said hello.” They turned to see the Mirror's tail as he was walking back into the chamber he came out of. “Dammit Mirror, don’t do that, you about gave me a heart attack,” Camo called after him. “Who was that?”Illusion asked, still getting over her shock. “Mirror, he’s harmless, one of the queen’s advisors.” “I thought she killed all her advisors after Canterlot.” “All save the one who told her not to do it, and after being overruled, convinced her not to send all of her changelings to fight,” Camo replied. “He’s the reason we didn’t get sent out?” “The reason we aren’t dead? Yeah. Really nice guy, all things considered.” Camo said, starting to head towards the queen’s chambers. “Wait, how did I never thank him, not know about him even?” Illusion asked, rushing after Camo. “I’ll tell you later,” Camo answered, not looking back. “Ok, it’s only funny when I do it.” Illusion pouted. “It’s fun for you when you do it, and it’s fun for me when I do it,” Camo retorted, chuckling, “I’ll be sure to fill you in if your plan works and the queen doesn’t kill us.” “Deal,” Illusion said, racing ahead of Camo, returning to her former pace. “Ugh, again with the running,” Camo grumbled. “This is barely a jog!” Illusion called back. “Not all of us have the time to exercise every day, Illusion.” “You have time to sleep in, though,” she shot back. “I only sleep so long because I work really hard.” “Oh I believe you, you do work hard,” Ilusion said, “As for getting a lot done …” “Shove it, little miss niche expert,” Camo countered. Illusion just giggled in reply. “Are we getting close?” Illusion skidded to a stop. “I think we might have passed it,” she answered sheepishly. Camo sighed and turned around. “It’s not the blind leading the blind, so much as it is the stupid leading the deaf.” “Oh come on! you’re barely deaf,” Illusion said, bumping him with her hip as she passed him, “And I’m not stupid, you just were distracting me.” They stood in front of the queen’s door. It was one of three actual doorways in the hive. The other two being large gates at the surface to keep out intruders. “So, are you going to knock?” Camo asked. “That’s actually your part in my plan.” “Ha, ha, how about no!” Camo retorted. “This will go a lot smoother if you just knock,” Illusion replied, her face looking unamused. Camo sighed. “Fine, but you’re going in first.” Illusion didn’t reply. Camo inched towards the door. He slowly reached his hoof up to the door, until he felt two of Illusion’s hooves on his backside as she pushed him forwards, making him burst through the door. __________________________________________________________________________ I wonder why Princess Luna decided to do a surprise inspection, Crystal thought, unable to go back to sleep, Did Princess Celestia order it, or is this just random? The train was close to the hive. The changelings will probably see the train coming and warn their queen, they’ll have plenty of time to cover up anything wrong they were doing. The train began to slow. Wait, we haven’t reached the hive yet, why are we slowing down? “Alright,” Princess Luna announced to the delegation team, “Anypony who’s coming needs to stand close to me, we are all going to teleport from here.” That explains the surprise part, but Princess Cadance was pretty tired after teleporting all of us a much shorter distance, is Princess Luna relying on a lot less of us going? Only Cadance stepped towards Luna, Crystal and the rest of the delegation team watched quietly from the other side from the train car. “Are you sure you all will be alright by yourselves?” Cadance asked, looking concerned. “We’ll be fine, princess,” Crystal answered quietly, “Too many ponies going along might get in your way, right?” “Let us not waste any time then,” Luna stated, Cadance and herself out of the train car. I hope they’ll be alright. Crystal thought, looking at the empty space where they used to be. __________________________________________________________________________ A drone rolled through the door, and another ran in close behind. The two drones from the medical ward, Chrysalis thought, glaring at the interruption, Carrot and Intrusion, I think. “My queen,” the female drone said quickly, “We have overlooked something important about the creature that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “This better be important, otherwise I’m going to kill you and your friend.” Illusion gulped. “The creature has been here quite a while,” Illusion began, “And he hasn’t eaten anything. He might be starving.” Chrysalis pursed her lips and breathed slowly out her nose before glancing over at Aaron. Her spell had just wore off. “Aaron, are you hungry?” He still looked dazed, but still heard the question and nodded vigorously. “Seems you were right, drone,” Chrysalis replied to Illusion and Camo, a slight smile on her face, before turning back to Aaron, “What would you like to eat?” “Pancakes.” The amused disappeared from Chrysalis’s face. “Pancakes,” she repeated, That spell certainly wore off quick, I suppose that was the goal, great job me, “Anything else?” Aaron pondered for a moment. “Milk.” Ok, pancakes was a stretch, but how in tartarus would we have milk for him? He’s the only one of his species here. Chrysalis turned to the drone probably named Carrot, since he was an alchemist and they kept all the ingredients they had, for cooking or otherwise, in the same place “Can we do that?” “The pancakes, sure, but I doubt we have whatever milk he’s referring to,” Camo answered, “We might use cow and hope he just accepts it.” “No,” Chrysalis said simply before turning to Aaron, “we don’t have milk, you’ll have water.” Aaron sighed. “Ok,” he replied, his head drooping. Chrysalis turned back to Camo and Illusion, “Have the cook prepare them as fast as possible.” “Um, my queen, the cook is dead.” Fucking Canterlot, Chrysalis sighed internally. “The you both better have them ready before we get down there.” Illusion squeaked and began to rush towards the door Camo groaned. “Not more running,” he said before Illusion turned back and grabbed him by the tail and dragged him out. Aaron had already gotten off the bed. Chrysalis chuckled. “I planned on giving them a couple minutes, but if you want to leave now.” They both left the room, going a rather slow pace. The sound of Camo and Illusion’s running hooves quickly faded. Aaron was walking in front of Chrysalis. “Do you know where you’re going?” Chrysalis asked, raising an eyebrow. “No, but I don’t want Camo and his friend to hurry, they might mess up my pancakes.” “Alright then,” Chrysalis replied, I wonder if they even know how to make pancakes, I can’t think of where they would’ve learned. Should I punish them if they mess up? It’s not really fair, but then again life isn’t either. Chrysalis’s eyes widened, I don’t even know how to make pancakes, and if the cook is dead then who would?