//------------------------------//
// CH. 17 Mother Fluttershy 
// Story: The Last Changeling Queen 
// by Atuhor Name 
//------------------------------//



“Mother Fluttershy”


        Twilight and Naudia had agreed to sleep outside the pods for entirely different reasons.
        Twilight still wasn't convinced that it was really Luna, she seemed too at ease in the modern world, and much less like the fish out of water she had been before. It wasn't that Twilight didn't know the explanation for this, she just couldn't accept something like that so quickly. She didn't trust these other changelings enough to sleep in a pod.
        Naudia was afraid; another relic of her “happy” upbringing. Her mother always told her that if she was captured by another changeling hive, they would seal her up in a cocoon and… after that, she didn't know. Chrysalis never told her. That didn’t keep Naudia from staying up at night imagining, though.
        During these thoughts, Naudia accidentally bumped a pony, who, by the time Naudia acknowledged the minor collision, was already on the ground.
        Looking down at the pony hiding behind her mass of pink hair, Naudia was struck, as always, by the feeling that there was something… off about Fluttershy. It was never something she could put her hoof on, though.
        The feeling that they had almost nothing in common was mutual, though. The only animals Naudia ever dealt with were… dealt with. To be used, for the betterment of the hive. The concept of using precious medical supplies on an animal was alien to her. Not just from the perspective of scarcity of such items, but also, there wasn't an animal in the badlands that wouldn't eat changelings on sight if it thought it could get away with it.
        “Ah, Fluttershy!” said Naudia, attempting to act as if they were the best of friends, in the hopes that it would help.
        Fluttershy mumbled something barely audible.
        Naudia sighed, and her shoulders drooped a bit.
        “Well, I got Twilight back here in one piece. Maybe you two can make up while I go and figure out what's going to happen with my changelings.”

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        With Naudia out of the picture, Fluttershy looked more animated.
        “Twilight! Twilight, I'm so sorry, when they were taking you away, I should have said something, I knew something was wrong, but I'm too shy!”
        Twilight was going to speak, but before she could, Fluttershy gulped in a huge breath of air and barreled onward, lying on her belly and holding onto Twilight's hoof.
        “Well, after I calmed myself down with breathing exercises, I had a moment to think, away from the others, and the whole situation just didn't add up at all.” Fluttershy explained. “I thought to myself 'How could Twilight navigate through such a foreign land like that by herself?' And then other parts of your story didn't add up, but they made a lot more sense when I assumed you and the changeling queen were working together.”
        “But, when I actually tried to say something about it, I thought 'what if they think I'm working with the queen and throw me in with her?' and that lead to a lot of other what-ifs about prison, and dungeons, and having to answer to Celestia, and I just couldn't find the courage to speak, I'm so sorry Twilight.”
        “It's alright Fluttershy, breathe, just breathe.”
        “I wish this had never happened, all of this, I just want to help my friends, and care for animals...”
        Fluttershy did not break down, though. She seemed to swallow her fear. Drawing from deep inside herself, Fluttershy's face showed an unaccustomed determination, almost alien for its rarity.
        “I shouldn't have broken down like that, Twilight. It’s counterproductive to do that in front of patients.”
        “Speaking of which, Fluttershy, why are you in charge around here anyway?”
        “I'm the only one with training for Disaster Medicine, specifically Disaster Recovery and Physical Therapy.” It was strange to hear Fluttershy talk professionally about that.
        “Where did you get training for that?”
        “Oh… umm, I would rather not talk about that if it's alright with you. It’s something that tends to get me worked up.”
        As Twilight was wondering what Fluttershy would look like ‘worked up,’ much less trying to figure out what could make her angry like that, they were interrupted by a pink filly with a bandage wrapped around her belly.
        “Umm… Mo- Fluttershy, I finished the bandage.”
        Fluttershy turned to the filly and put on a wide comforting smile, the kind you saved for somepony who had been through a lot.
        “That's great dear, head back to the station and I'll be behind you shortly.”
        “OK Fluttershy.”
        Twilight stared at the filly's retreating back, stunned.
        “That was Diamond Tiara.” She turned her shocked gaze back onto Fluttershy. “What is she doing here, and why is she so well behaved?”
        Fluttershy motioned that they should move to a more secluded place before the spoke, which made Twilight more worried than DT's behavior. Finally reaching a place out of earshot for most ponies, Fluttershy spoke.
        “They were on a business trip, Diamond had a nightmare about something… I think it was her mother. Filthy Rich tried to fight the nightmare, but as an Earth pony, he didn't stand a chance.”
        “Oh.”
        “I'm worried, Twilight, I talked to one or two of the guards down here, and they say that the monster they found in that hotel room was unusually strong. I'm not sure that once this is all over, she's going to have a place to go back to that's healthy for her.”
        “She almost called you ‘mom’ back there.”
        “She's vulnerable.” Fluttershy had a haunted look in her eyes. “To get away from the nightmare, she actually had to jump off the balcony outside her room. I think she cracked a few ribs, luckily there was no internal bleeding. It's only random chance that the ponies in the room below her managed to get her down here so quickly. And...”
        Twilight motioned for her to go on, but Fluttershy needed time to compose herself again.
        “The worst part is, the nightmares don't kill anybody they capture. As best we can tell, it’s only fighting back that makes them go berserk.”
        As the shock faded, Twilight took up a determined expression. Walking over to Fluttershy, she put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.
        “Tomorrow, I'm going to end this.” Twilight felt a tingle of magic in her chest as she said that.

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        Twilight followed Fluttershy back to the main camp. The camp was not only for ponies unwilling to sleep in cocoons, it was also for injured ponies and their relatives.
        Deciding Naudia could wait a bit til she’d mended fences more with Fluttershy, Twilight decided to hang around with her until Naudia got back. As she spent time with Fluttershy, though, she noticed something strange.
        “They all call you 'Mother Fluttershy' or 'Mother Shy.' ”
        “Oh… yes, yes they do.” For a moment Fluttershy's confident attitude crumbled, and her shyness shone through before being forced back down. “I'm very good at keeping ponies calm during times like this.”
        Five minutes in, Diamond Tiara had sheepishly came back to them, and without a word between the two, remained as Fluttershy's shadow. Occasionally she would get a step closer and bite onto Fluttershy's tail, holding onto it and trailing behind her, like a nervous weanling to her mother.
        She said nothing the entire time they were making the rounds, keeping her gaze either looking up at Fluttershy or solemnly at the ground. When Fluttershy was calming down a pony, Diamond Tiara was there, trying to be around Fluttershy, as if frightened at any moment Fluttershy would be ripped away from her.
        The most awkward part of the rounds was seeing Fluttershy comforting a sobbing mare or stallion almost twice her age. Anywhere else, the image of Fluttershy gently stroking their mane would have come off as awkward, but here... here they were family. Most of the ponies that elected to sleep outside the cocoons were ponies that had had somebody taken away by corrupted changelings. Their losses brought them together.
        Throughout all of this, Twilight was unsure of what to do. Normally, she would be asking Celestia what to do, but…
        Lost, all she could do was act as a shoulder to cry on, while trying to push incomprehensible thoughts out of her head. It wasn't that she was unappreciated, but she was definitely less popular than “Mother” Fluttershy and her adorable little filly.
        Throughout all this, though, something was eating at Twilight that started in the back of her mind and worked its way forward until it spilled out of her mouth.
        “Why don't you like Naudia?” Twilight put out bluntly.
        “Oh… umm. Well, she's scary-looking.”
        “That can't be everything, Fluttershy. I've seen you face down a dragon before, you aren't acting the same.”
        Fluttershy sat down. DT came and huddled up to her side.
        “I don't know what to think of changelings, Twilight. I feel like I can empathize with them, but the things they've done… I need to know more, but I'm afraid to know more.”
        “I'm sure they...” Twilight stopped.
        She wasn't entirely sure they had a good reason for the things they had done. She didn't quite know why changelings didn't speak up to the queen. Maybe there were dissenters in Chrysalis' time… maybe there were dissenters. Come to think of it, Twilight didn't have the slightest clue as to why Changelings obeyed their queen, or almost anything about the structure of changeling government at all.
        “OK, I don't know if I can justify anything they've done under Chrysalis' rule, but I am certain things will improve under Naudia's.”
        “Why is that, Twilight?”
        “Because I'm going to make sure that they do.”
        “You're already beginning to sound like a married couple.” Fluttershy giggled.
        “Tell you what, I'm curious as to some of this stuff too. Why don't we go find Naudia and ask her ourselves?”
        Fluttershy looked uncomfortable for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

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        They found Naudia in a third camp that was being set up by her changelings to keep away from the other group of changelings, and particularly the other ponies, who were giving them slightly dangerous looks.
        This camp was up a wall in an alcove, and already looked much more like a “changeling hive” than Twilight ever would have guessed from her previous experience with one. Everywhere she looked, there was changeling goop, changeling goop hammocks, changeling goop lumps acting as beds... one changeling in particular seemed to be trying to make what looked like a crude bathtub out of the stuff.
        There were two changelings talking midway between an argument and a bartering session off to the side. One was from Naudia's hive, and the other was from… the other hive.
        Twilight had never really noticed the difference between the two, but seeing them side by side it was plain as day. Naudia's changelings were thinner and generally shorter, and they were also bald.
        The other changelings, well, Twilight would never describe a changeling as “plump,” not with the holes motif, but they definitely were more filled-out than Naudia's changelings. Their fangs were also a great deal less pronounced, going from Naudia's nearly saber-toothed changelings to barely sticking out of the changeling's mouth. They also had hair, but looking at a few, it all seemed to be cut to various standard lengths, even if they all tried to do something different with it.
        The last thing was how they stood. Naudia's changelings looked on edge all the time, and antsy, and while some of them did try to defuse that at times, whatever part of them was deciding ‘fight or flight’ was always at hoof. The other changelings seemed a lot more professional, like soldiers or guards. Stress was clearly on their minds, but it was always taking a backseat to training.
        Twilight saw Naudia among them, apparently trying to negotiate with one of the other changelings. Neither looked uncomfortable with the situation, but Twilight couldn't tell if that was because they secretly hated each other, or simply because they'd never seen a changeling from another hive before.
        When Naudia did come over to talk to them, she seemed miffed.
        "That's a feeling that's going to take some getting used to."
        "What is?" Twilight asked.
        "Talking to a changeling that's not part of my hive. I can't tell what he's feeling, and I have to keep reminding myself that he's not going to obey me just because I say so."
        "Well, umm... Fluttershy and I were wondering, why do changelings obey the queen to the letter most of the time?"
        Naudia's face tightened up at that.
        “Well, that's a bit of an awkward subject...”
        “Oh, well, if it’s taboo, I mean, we don't want to intrude.” Fluttershy said, attempting to back out of the conversation.
        “No, no, it’s just weird to have to have the… how do you say it?” Naudia thought for a moment. “The ‘birds and the bees' talk? With somebody so old.”
        “Oh. My.” Fluttershy's face immediately turned red.
        “Maybe we shouldn't have this talk out in public like this.” Twilight interjected.
        “Oh no, it’s fine, everyling needs to learn about it at some point.”
        All of them had forgotten about Diamond Tiara, hiding behind Fluttershy in fear.
        “When two changelings love each other very much,” Both Fluttershy and Twilight groaned at this point. “They go to the queen and ask permission to have a child, and if the queen thinks they've been good changelings, she'll make an egg for them!” Naudia demonstrated by swishing her horn around the same way she did back in the badlands.
        “So that's it, then? Just reproduction?” Twilight asked.
        “Well there is a good deal more about being queen, what with drones bringing me love, and me redistributing it to the hive. Settling disputes by being able to tell who is lying within the hive. Acknowledgment of marriages, trying to ensure a fair distribution of reading materials, and most importantly: I serve as a sort of buffer for the hive, able to suck negative emotions out of a drone and redistribute them to prevent… well, what’s happening up there. That's why the queen oftentimes reflects the hive and the hive often reflects the queen. They need me, and I need them, so we have to work together.”
        “That's not the birds and the bees. Dad- That wasn't the same talk I got.” Diamond Tiara blurted out.
        “Changelings have different birds and bees than ponies do. It comes from us having been designed, rather than born, in the first place.” Naudia said before turning to Fluttershy. “And who might this be? Is she one of yours?”
        “Nuh-uh, she's not my...” DT drew in a bit at that thought again.
        “Why don't I introduce you to one of the nursemaids, I'm sure they'd love to meet a darling little filly like you.” Naudia shifted over without missing a beat.
        Twilight was seriously impressed with how fast Naudia managed to defuse the situation with Diamond Tiara. She even had the little filly almost smiling and chatting with a changeling nursemaid, far quicker than she was expecting.
        “That's the first time I've seen one of our nurses so happy in years.” Before Twilight could ask why, Naudia answered her. “They have a tough job, and normally they cool off raising the grubs, but we haven't had any new grubs in years now. So they've just been stuck tending the wounded.”
        “I didn't expect you to be so good with kids.”
        “Well as the queen you have to love them, in a way they're all my kids now.” Naudia was staring over at Diamond Tiara, who was giggling at the antics of one of the nursemaids. “So what’s the story with her? I couldn't read too much about her, other than she's really touchy about family.”
        Twilight explained what she knew, and Fluttershy explained what she suspected, as succinctly as she could.
        “We'll have to see about her ribs when we have time, and I get a bad feeling in my bones about that nightmare. I'm sure it'll be easy enough to handle but… I don't like seeing a filly being put into a state like that.”
        Diamond Tiara suddenly ran over to them, holding a small ball of green slime, bouncing it along as she walked.
        “Fluttershy! They made me this weird ball! It bounces better than anything you get in the shops, can I keep it?”
        “Well, I don't know. You'd have to ask Naudia if you can.” Fluttershy and DT both looked at Naudia.
        “If they gave it to you that's fine, you'll just have to come back every once in awhile to get it filled back up.”
        “Thank you!” Diamond hastily remembered to say before running back to play with the nursemaids before.
        “Umm… I think we got off a bit on the wrong hoof Naudia.” Fluttershy said. “I think I would like to get to know you better.” Fluttershy held out a hoof for Naudia to shake.
        “Maybe once this is all over, you can teach me how to keep a pet?” Naudia said as she reciprocated the hoofshake.
        Fluttershy collected Diamond Tiara a couple minutes later, mostly to get ready for bed. Night was a strange time in the caves, already it held the ominous threat of nightmares.
        Twilight and Naudia finally settled on a changeling goop hammock, snuggled up against one another in the hopes that that would ward off the nightmares.

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        Naudia woke up to the sound of a whetstone being run across a knife. Turning her head slowly, so best to not wake up Twilight, Naudia saw that creature again.
         Its smug face was curled into a punchable grin, and it was holding Twilight's hidden dagger, running a whetstone down the edge. Somewhere in its head the motion probably looked threatening, but it had a hard time overcoming the inherent and distracting punchability in it's face.
        “You do know you're not supposed to use a whetstone on those, right?”
        It failed to smoothly hide the fact that it didn't.
        “This seems much less rehearsed than the last encounter we had.”
        “Things have changed. Celestia was supposed to do better than she did. I didn't have time to come up with something as good as the chess metaphor.”
        “I saw you, whispering into Twilight's ear. I heard you.”
        Twilight shifted a bit in her sleep.
        “You were meant to.”
        “But she can't hear you, why bother?”
        “She's met a believer, she's been infected. She'll be able to hear me soon.” Just for a moment, it dropped the shit-eating grin and adopted a more intense look.
        “What do you want with us?”
        “Stability. A stable platform to negotiate with. Those changelings upstairs? No good, would be better to just wipe things clean than to try and work with them. Things are different here, though, wiping things clean could cause problems.” Its gaze wandered about the room, unable to keep focused on Naudia for any length of time longer than an uncomfortable stare.
        Twilight had begun to sweat. Naudia didn't notice.
        “Oh, yeah? What could possibly cause problems for you?” Naudia asked sarcastically.
        “Problems I'd have to explain. Problems I can't put down ‘til they're good and ready.” It turned back to her and gave another smile, and another stare. “You know, back when this all started, I was more confident in the outcomes. Now I'm not so sure. You changelings sure know how to mix things up. Makes things exciting. If I do end up having to wipe things, I'll have to see if I can keep you around.”
        Naudia narrowed her eyes at the thing. “Who are you to talk so big?”
        “Who am I? I am a god! Follower of the only faith… no, that's not the right word. Hope, maybe. A dream, perhaps. The kind that keeps you up in a flop sweat at night.”
        Twilight was clearly having a nightmare now.
        “And I will lead those cast aside, broken. Only the final reckoning will grant them peace.”
        Twilight finally jolted awake at that.
        Naudia didn't want to take her eyes off the thing while it was ranting, but she had to break eye contact to make sure Twilight was all right.
        “Are you alright, dear?”
        “I had a nightmare. I've never had a nightmare like that.”
        Naudia noticed the thing had gone.
        "Dead gods glaring down like stars. Endless black sands, shifting without wind on the footfalls of invisible feet. Then I saw them.” Twilight shuddered in revulsion. “I could see them, walking, forever, remnants without hope for a future.”
        Naudia stroked Twilight's hair, holding her close. “It was just a dream Twilight.”
        “But I couldn't help them. Nobody could help them, and so many tried. Couldn't even get rid of them, just had to leave them there, waiting for the end.” The haunted look in Twilight's eyes told Naudia she believed every word.
        “The end of what?” Naudia asked, against her better judgment.
        “Everything.”