//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Strange Happenings in the Hive // by ZealousHeretic //------------------------------// A typical changeling can survive entirely on emotional energy and water. While they do possess a digestive tract, it is incredibly weak and has trouble with all but the most easily digestible food, anything other than that could result in anything from minor cramping to explosive diarrhea, depending on the changeling’s constitution.” --Excerpt from the dietary habits chapter in On Changelings by Musty Tome. ___________________________________________________________________________ Chrysalis got tired of following Aaron as he wandered randomly through the tunnels rather quickly and grabbed him after about seven minutes. If the drones haven’t gathered the ingredients and at least make an attempt at pancakes by now then they deserve what they get, Chrysalis thought, pulling Aaron along beside her, his hand held in her magic, Then again, they probably don’t even know the ingredients to pancakes, even I only have a vague idea of what they are. “Do you think they’ll make good pancakes?” Aaron asked, sounding concerned. No. “Maybe,” Chrysalis replied, not bothering to look back at him, “What if they don’t?” Aaron smiled. “I’ll have to show them how so they can try again.” “You can make pancakes?” Chrysalis asked, raising an eyebrow. Aaron nodded his head. “They’re easy.” “I can’t believe your mo—” Chrysalis managed to stop herself, Not today, any subject but the mom I don’t want another crying episode, “—ths, moths, do you know what those are?" Aaron tilted his head. “Um, they’re bugs right?” “Correct, I just wanted to make clear that, though changeling’s have some bug-like characteristics, we are nothing like moths.” “Ok …” “Glad we got that out of the way. Now, was there anything else you might want to drink instead of water?” Chrysalis asked, trying to change the subject. “We don’t have milk but we might have something else.” Aaron pondered for a moment. “What time is it?” he asked. “Exactly? No idea,” Chrysalis responded, “I do believe it is a bit later in the day though, maybe even night. Why?” “I wanted to know if it was breakfast time or dinner time.” “Well, it’s closer to dinner.” “Yes!” Aaron exclaimed excitedly, “I’m getting pancakes.” “What are you going on about now?” “Breakfast for dinner is awesome.” “I’ll take your word for it,” Chrysalis deadpanned. “Why?” Aaron asked, looking perplexed. “Changeling’s don’t eat breakfast.” Aaron gasped. “What? Why?” he asked, sounding shocked, before getting excited and running in front of her, “Do you need me to make you some?” “I’ll be fine,” Chrysalis answered, trying to calm him down, “Let’s worry about you for now.” “Ok,” Aaron replied, his head drooping, letting Chrysalis get back in front. Oh, he looks so sad, but there’s no way in Tartarus that I’m letting him near the our stove, Chrysalis thought, Wait, we don’t even have a stove, the equestrians took it since we used it to make poisons. “Cheer up, your pancakes will probably be interesting.” “Why?” Because the ones making them don’t have a way to cook them, probably don’t know how to make them, and most likely don’t know all the ingredients, Chrysalis rattled off internally, I really should have thought this through more before I sent them off, they’re going to make a mess and might have to kill them for it. I’m running out of drones, why do they keep messing up and making me kill them? “I just have a feeling,” Chrysalis said finally. “It’s ok, I’ll just show them how if they mess up too bad.” “We’ll see.” Maybe they tried cooking with magic, they just got fed so they have the fuel to do it, Chrysalis pursed her lips, If they had that kind of control then that would be quite impressive. I’d have to consider training that drone further to refine their skills even more. I’ll definitely need skilled changelings to train any future guards, when I get the equestrians off my back, that is. “Do you have lunch, or dinner?” Aaron asked. “We do not have either.” Wait a second, we don’t even have a dining hall. Where are they going to serve Aaron food? We don’t eat so we don’t have an eating area. By the hive this whole situation is falling apart. Chrysalis thought frantically, Where did those drones even go? We had a kitchen, but that was mostly used for alchemy so the ponies took everything after we signed the treaty. All the ingredients we have are kept near the medical ward. So they had to’ve gone there. “Ah, M-my queen, we are in here.” The male drone called out to them from behind. How curious. “Have you completed Aaron’s pancakes?” Chrysalis asked, eyebrow raised. “Forgive my my queen,” Camo replied, bowing his head, “but they will be a couple more minutes.” Chrysalis scoffed as she made her way over. “I guess this is the kind of work I should expect at this point.” There’s no way they managed something passable. The room was empty save a table and a stepping stool, assumedly for Aaron to sit on. “I don’t know where those pancakes are coming from, but your time is running out.” Chrysalis stared at the nervous pair of changelings while Aaron went to sit down. “Not to worry, my queen, I’ve got the boy’s pancakes right here.” Oh no, not him! Chrysalis thought, not wanting to turn around and look back. Mirror walked in the room, balancing a plate of pancakes on his back. He zipped to the table and set the plate down in front of the stool before turning to Aaron and patting the stool. “Come along then, these pancakes won’t eat themselves,” Mirror said, a happy smile on his face. Aaron slowly walked over, eyeing Mirror, and sat down in front the pancakes. “Where’s the syrup?” Aaron asked. Mirror’s eyebrow raised. “Well, well, watch and amazed,” he began, “Look right.” Aaron did as Mirror requested. “Good, now look left.” Aaron complied in regards to this request as well. “Perfect, now did you see any syrup?” Aaron shook his head. “That’s because there’s none,” Mirror said with a grin on his face, “You’ll have to eat these plain.” “Pancakes without syrup?” Aaron exclaimed, “Ahh.” “Just try it, I think it turned out quite satisfactory,” Mirror replied, rolling his eyes, “ It will definitely be delectable.” Aaron looked helplessly at Chrysalis, probably not understanding some of the words Mirror was using. “Just eat it,” Chrysalis said, trying to ignore Mirror’s self-satisfaction. Aaron relents looks for silverware. “Where’s my fork?” “Does this look like Canterlot?” Mirror replied quickly, glancing at Chrysalis, “It’s probably a good thing it isn’t, that’s a tough place to get into without a reservation.” Aaron looked unsure. He was fighting the years of manners drilled into his head by his parent, telling him to never eat something like pancakes with his fingers. “Ok,” Aaron said finally, before ripping off a piece and lifting it to his mouth. Mirror looked excited, Chrysalis annoyed, and Camo and Illusion looked quite tense. Aaron slowly put the piece in his mouth and began to chew. “It’s good!” Aaron exclaimed. Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. “Yeah,” Camo chuckled nervously, “Maybe not what mom used make—” Chrysalis let out a combination of a gasp and a gag. Aaron’s eyes widened and he stared down at the plate, mumbling something inaudible. Tears began welling up in his eyes. Dammit all! Chrysalis screamed internally, charging a sound blocking spell. The room flooded with magic and a bright flash erupted by the table. Two Alicorns stood, freshly teleported, and looked around the room. The flash and influx of magic disrupted Chrysalis's spell. There was a thud as Aaron collapsed to the floor. Luna’s eyes shot toward the sound. “I knew there was something going on here,” she announced, her gaze turning to Chrysalis. “”Chrysalis,” Cadance looked uncertain, “What is that thing?” Chrysalis stood, mouth agape, for several seconds. Everything had fallen apart in an instant. “I—I don’t know exactly,” Chrysalis said truthfully, “I …” No one spoke for several moments. “How long have you been hiding this creature, Queen Chrysalis?” Luna asked, her voice low. “Less than the amount of time you spend sleeping and lazing around,” Chrysalis shot back, teeth bared. “I do not laze around!” Luna yelled, “And you have broken the treaty—” “My queen, Aaron is burning up again,” Camo reported nervously, he had moved to check Aaron as soon as he fell, “Far worse than before.” “I believe you broke the treaty first, actually,” Mirror interrupted, meeting Luna’s glare, “The creature, Aaron, is under our care, and you assaulted him.” “We did no such thing!” Luna denied, flaring her wings and facing Mirror. “Ah, but you did,” Mirror replied with a small smile, “ Poor Aaron is very susceptible to magic of any kind, and you just flooded the room with your magical energy when you teleported in. Why do you think he collapsed as soon as you came?” “You lie,” Luna growled. “I do not, and I’ll prove it to you,” Mirror responded, turning to Camo and Illusion, who were pressed against the wall, trying to go unnoticed, “Camo, quick, we need another magic suppressor.” Camo gulped. “I can’t make anymore, we’re out of ingredients.” Mirror’s eyes widened. “Shit.” Cadance stepped forward. “If what you say is true, then I’ll just use a spell to get rid of the magic that’s hurting him.” “That won’t work,” Chrysalis said through clenched teeth. “Your spells get rid of bad magic by pushing it out with good magic, since all magic hurts Aaron, you would be doing more harm than good.” “Then we will take him to the nearest hospital, they should have the proper supplies to aid the creature there,” Luna announced, “and we’ll discuss your treaty-breaking after the creature is stable.” “That won’t work either,” Mirror interjected. “Teleporting would probably kill him, and I don’t know if he’d last long enough to be carried all the way to the nearest hospital.” “Then, pray tell, what course of action do you suggest?” “I don’t know,” Mirror replied, his head hanging. “I do,” Chrysalis said, stepping towards Aaron, “Feeding on him drains magic from him.” “My queen,” Mirror interjected, “Physical contact alone is enough to make a changeling sick, we have no idea what feeding upon him might do.” “I have tested it already,” Chrysalis replied, glaring at Mirror “I can take it.” “You lie, my queen, I can see it in your eyes.” “Silence, I can feed on him a little, I haven’t tried feeding a lot from him.” “What happened when you tried feeding from him before?” Luna asked, a serious tone in her voice. “I was overwhelmed,” Chrysalis answered, cringing a bit, “Given time I could get used to it, but at this point, I can only take a little at a time.” “He needs a bit more than a little, my queen,” Mirror argued through clenched teeth. “You should not needlessly harm yourself.” Illusion stepped forward tentatively. “I could also try feeding on Aaron a bit.” “Step back drone,” Chrysalis commanded, “You could not handle such a feeding session.” “My queen, I have already gotten sick from physical contact with Aaron, I might have built up some immunity to magical overdosing.” “You might have, I already know I can handle feeding upon him.” Illusion was about to argue, but Cadance spoke first. “Wait a second, what if Chrysalis takes what she can from Aaron, and then I purge that from her system with my spell?” “The energy I get from Aaron would be too difficult to remove, by the time you flooded it out with your spell, I’d be too full to take more of Aaron’s energy.” Realization dawned in Luna’s eyes. “Yes, but you could transfer that to your drones, then you’d have room to feed off Aaron again.” Chrysalis’s brow furrowed. “That might work, the only problem with that plan is that Cadance thought of it.” “This is no time for jokes, we must make haste before the creature dies.” Chrysalis grabbed Aaron by the back of his collar with her teeth and propped him up on the stool he had been sitting on. “Oh, this is going to be unpleasant,” Chrysalis muttered before touching her horn to Aaron’s head. A small bit of sickly yellow energy came from Aaron and was absorbed by Chrysalis. Luna curled her lip back. “That didn’t look pleasant.” Chrysalis shook off the taste of the energy. “It isn’t actually bad, it’s just far too sweet.” “How unfortunate, I had hoped it would be worse for you,” Luna replied. Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed, but she held back a retort. “How can something be too sweet?” Cadance asked, raising an eyebrow. “Imagine one of those cupcakes the element of laughter makes.” “Well those aren’t that—” “And multiply that sweetness by a factor of fifty.” Both Luna and Cadance winced. “I’m sorry I asked,” Cadance replied, “How are you faring?” Chrysalis shook herself off. “I’m not too sure, I’ll tell you how I’m faring after this round.” She touched her horn to Aaron’s forehead again and took in more energy. She cringed and stumbled back. Cadance rushed over and started to purging Chrysalis’s system of the strange magic energy. “Are you doing alright Queen Chrysalis?” Cadence asked, putting her hoof on Chrysalis’s shoulder. “You know, it’s funny,” Chrysalis said, looking dazed, “The plan you thought of involves causing me a lot of discomfort. Maybe not as much as being sent to those crystal caves I sent you to, but I had thought we were even for that since you literally blasted me out of Canterlot, apparently not.” “This is the only plan that would work,” Luna interjected, “The side effects were simply a happy accident.” “Luna!” Cadance berated, shooting her a glance. “Drone, come closer, I must transfer this energy to you.” Illusion and Camo looked at each other and back to their queen. “Which one of us?” Illusion asked. “Uh,” Chrysalis’s brow furrowed, “Camel, you first.” Camo’s jaw dropped a bit. “I—fine,” he replied, heading over to Chrysalis. A green energy flowed from Chrysalis’s horn to Camo’s. After several seconds Camo started to levitate and his eyes began to glow. Chrysalis quickly cut off the spell. “Dammit,” she muttered, “He doesn’t have the magical capacity to hold my power! That was barely more than half!” Illusion stepped forward. “Camo, start using your magic as fast as you can,” she directed, “ I can take it from where he left off, my queen.” Camo started levitating the table. “Stop,” Mirror interrupted, “Do that outside of this room, Camo, since using magic so close to Aaron might affect him.” “Then we should probably move a bit further away the next time we purge magic from your system Chrysalis.” Cadance suggested. “I think you just want to laugh at me while I try walking in that state!” Chrysalis shot back. “You must still be feeling the effects of Aaron’s magic if you insist on being so paranoid,” Cadance retorted. “Oh, calm down,” Chrysalis said, rolling her eyes, “I’m only trying to lighten the mood with some jokes.” “Sub-par jokes,” Luna muttered under her breath. “Sub-par? Like your volume control?” Chrysalis retorted. “What was that? I didn’t quite catch what you said?” Luna said, gritting her teeth. “Probably because you gone deaf from your own yelling.” A loud bang erupted as Cadance stomped her hoof, cracking the floor. “Enough of your bickering, you can go at it after there isn’t a life in danger.” Both Luna and Chrysalis grumbled an apology. “You’ll be paying for the repair cost to repair the cracks you made in my floor, though.” Cadance only sighed in reply. Cadance and the group repeated the drain-and-purge process on Aaron several more times, until Cadance ran out of energy to fully purge Chrysalis. Panting, Cadance looked over to Luna. “Care to take over for me?” “One of us has to stay at full power in case Queen Chrysalis betrays us.” “ I go along with your stupid plan and you still don’t trust me? I’m probably going to develop bulimia because of this!” “I do not,” Luna replied, glaring at Chrysalis. “Princess Luna, please,” Mirror begged, “Aaron is not yet in the clear! Your teleporting in here really did a number on him! I’m quite honestly surprised that he isn’t dead.” “I’ll not be swayed by your guilt tripping, drone,” Luna shot back, “If the changeling race wasn’t so treacherous, then we would not be in this situation.” “I’ll admit that I’ve made mistakes, Luna,” Chrysalis said, “But if you could stop punish Aaron for them, that’d be great.” Luna growled. “By now I think his condition is stable enough for us to transport him to an Equestrian alchemist.” “Illusion,” Mirror said, “You’re the resident expert on exotic species, what are his chances if the princess tries to move him?” “Uh—I,” Illusion stammered, her eyes widening, “Well, this is the worst case of magic poisoning I’ve seen him suffer from. He’s got an even worse fever than when we found him. I could make estimations on his condition based on primates near his size but—” “I think the princess gets the point,” Mirror interrupted. “Luna, this isn’t the time for paranoia,” Cadance advised, “You of all ponies should know the about the need for a little trust and forgiveness when you’re a former enemy.” Luna flinched. “I assumed my sister would have told you to never bring that up.” “She did,” Cadance answered, “But you don’t strike me as a pony that needs to be coddled.” Chrysalis bite back all of the comments she would have loved to make at that moment, Luna’s paranoia, while not baseless, was unnecessary. Any small victory Chrysalis could get here if she took out two of the princesses wouldn’t go over well in the long run. The changeling race was too small at the moment to survive without the love energy rations Equestria provided while security against changeling infiltrations was so high everywhere. “We—I will concede this time,” Luna replied, her eyes not meeting Cadance’s at first, “Thank you for your wisdom, my niece, I was blinded by my anger.” “Everyone has emotions, Aunty, but how you deal with them is how one can identify the wise and experienced apart from the young and foolhardy. Now let’s save, Aaron.” Luna took over for Cadance and finished purging Chrysalis. The process was continually repeated, until Aaron was no longer showing any signs of a fever, leaving Luna looking exhausted and Chrysalis looking a little sickly. “By the hive,” Chrysalis groaned, “That certainly took a while.” “Indeed,” Luna replied, “Let’s not do it again anytime soon, if at all.” “So long as you stop teleporting without any consideration for others,” Chrysalis shot back, “Speaking of which, you can leave whenever.” “I think you’re forgetting the matter of you violating the terms of the treaty.” Luna said, her brow furrowing. “If I may interject,” Mirror interjected, “We were simply looking after Aaron’s safety. Since he is so sensitive to magic, we thought it best we keep him away from you ponies for the time being until we could get his condition under control.” “I—well, you could have told Cadance about him when she was here,” Luna argued, “So you were still hiding him from us.” “Consider our position,” Mirror pleaded, “We were uncertain about his condition and didn’t know what the presence of an alicorn, which need I remind you heavily radiates magic even when not utilizing it might do. If we had told Cadance about him, would she have listened to us if we asked her not to see him?” This damn smooth-talking liar, Chrysalis thought, watching silently as their argument unfolded, By the hive, if he tries to hold this over me, I may actually kill him this time. “Luna,” Cadance interjected, “That’s actually a fair point, if they had told me they had a never before seen creature in their hive, but that I couldn’t see it, I would have probably ignored their reasons and gone to see it.” “I see what you mean, there is still the matter of the disturbance I felt in the dream realm. I am certain it was this creature, it was definitely in some kind of distress. How can we be certain it wasn’t something the changelings were doing?” “We’ve been doing nothing but try to help Aaron during what must surely be a strange and frightening time, and figure out what he is since we found him,” Mirror answered honestly. “He had been crawling through the pitch-black tunnels for an unknown amount of time before we found him,” Chrysalis offered, “He passed out as soon as we found him and seemed to be pretty distressed, at least as far as I could detect, perhaps that was the disturbance you felt?” “This is all too convenient,” Luna growled, “They must be lying about something.” “Maybe,” Cadance consoled, “It doesn’t matter though, we can deal with it after we get Aaron to Canterlot and figure out what to do with him.” “Excuse me? I think I heard you wrong.” Chrysalis snarled, “I didn’t just go through all this so you could take him away.” “I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll realize that he’d be much better off with us,” Cadance argued, “Plus, he’ll be out of your hair and you can go back to ruling your changelings.” “I found him, he is mine,” Chrysalis said, glaring. Luna stepped between Cadance and Chrysalis. “Why are you so adamant on this Queen Chrysalis? You have enough to deal with without taking care of a one of a kind creature.” “Mine,” Chrysalis answered simply, her eyes slightly out of focus. “If I may,” Mirror said, getting Cadance’s and Luna’s attention, “We don’t know how feeding off of Aaron might have affected Queen Chrysalis, and since changelings are normally protective of food sources, she may be feeling an abnormal amount of possessiveness towards Aaron. If you both could, perhaps, come back in a week or two—” Luna snorted. “I think we shall pass on that, it would serve the creature better to be in Equestrian care, no offense to your hive, but I can’t imagine you can match the quality of care we can. You can’t even stock enough ingredients for potions to keep his magic levels under control” “Funny thing that, ingredient collecting has slowed down since we’re a bit understaffed,” Mirror replied, waving his hoof, “On account of most of us being killed, or did you miss that detail while you slept?” I hope Luna isn’t making a mistake trying to intimidate the changelings into handing over the creature peacefully, Cadance thought, hiding her nervousness while she watched the scene unfold. Camo and Illusion stood silently in the entrance of the room, where they had been waiting since everyone finally, working together, got Aaron’s magic levels down. Both had narrowed eyes trained on Princess Luna. Something snapped in Camo, he’d worked too hard dealing with Aaron to take the thinly veiled insults Luna was tossing at them. “Who do you think you are?” Camo growled, “You don’t know anything about him and yet you’re here trying to lecture us on what’s best for him?” Luna turned to the angry changeling, unaffected by his aggression. “We are simply stating facts, and it has been established that none of us know anything about the creature,” Luna replied, looking down her nose at Camo, “So we are equal in that regard.” “Maybe none of you don’t know anything about him, but I do.” Camo shot back, stepping forward, “For one, I know his name is Aaron, not the creature, and that he’s a scared youngling who doesn’t know where in Tartarus he is. He—” “Enough, drone,” Chrysalis interrupted, looking much more coherent than she did before, “I may be willing to negotiate, shared time is out of the question, of course, all the traveling wouldn’t be good for him, however, we could be persuaded to accept your support for his care here by way of ingredients to magic suppressor potions and general funds.” “Ha, finally, a good joke,” Luna retorted, “We will consider reimbursing the alchemic stocks you used in his care after we take him, and no more.” “You will provide ingredients and funds to aid in his care and I will allow you to keep single pony here to watch over his care and report back to you.” Luna smirked. “I might consider that,” Luna started before breaking out into chuckles, “If the pony in question is Twilight Sparkle.” “I’ll die before I let that annoying, question machine into my hive.” Cadance moved to Luna’s side and whispered in her ear. Luna sighed. “Alright, final offer,” Luna said while glancing back at Cadance, “Aaron stays in a location between this hive and Canterlot and will be cared for by qualified Equestrians, but he can be accompanied by some changelings of your choice.” Chrysalis pursed her lips. “Where is this location, and who might these ‘qualified Equestrians’ be?” Luna glanced back at Cadance, who answered, “Ponyville, and we were thinking of asking the Element of Kindness to look after him.” “Ponyville is a lot closer to Canterlot than it is to this hive.” Cadance stood firm. “It is the best option we have right now.” Chrysalis sighed. “I don’t suppose I can waste this chance. Drone, erm, Illustration, you and a partner of your choice will see to Aaron’s care, along with Mirror.” “Excuse me?” Mirror blurted out. “Come closer, Mirror,” Chrysalis said, beckoning to him. Once he was at her side she pulled him in and spoke in a low voice. “I need you to go with them and send letters back. Partially to report Aaron’s condition to me, but more importantly, I need you to make contact with the one called Twilight Sparkle.” “May I ask why?” Mirror whispered, looking confused. “You have a natural affinity for being annoying and I wouldn’t wish your company on anyone, but the purple pony has done more than enough to warrant such torture.” Chrysalis replied, chuckling. “You’re kidding …” “Do what you do best, in any manner you see fit, and write about it in detail.” Mirror’s hoof met his forehead and sighed. “You’re quite silly when you’re not murderous.” “I don’t remember asking for you opinion,” Chrysalis replied, her eyes narrowing. “Should we be worried about what she told her drone to do?” Cadance whispered to Luna. “Nay, it will be most enjoyable to see which race prevail when their brightest minds clash.” “What?” “I used a spell to hear what Chrysalis said, it is nothing harmful, trust me,” Luna reassured. “Why are you using spells so close to Aaron?” Cadance whispered. “I—er, horseapples.”