I often find myself lost in thought. Perhaps I should purchase a map.
~ Liarra Sniffles
Pale Wisp, or Wispy to her friends was in a bit of a bind.
The queen had stormed out after she delivered her news, ordering her to stay here until she returned.
Wispy, like all of her brothers and sisters, was incredibly loyal to her queen. However Wispy had.. Well lets just say she loved it when the queen told her off for small infractions. Walking that fine line between getting a slap and a chewing out, and being exiled from the hive got her blood pumping like nothing else. One day she was sure she would slip up and it would be the end of her, that risk combined with the forceful nature of the queen got her into all sorts of trouble, especially when she was bored.
Picking herself up off the ground, Wispy wandered back out to the main bedroom of her queens chambers. Through some blind luck she was one of the highest ranking drones still alive after the invasion failed, not that she was particularly highly ranked beforehoof. Even the lowest of workers could do the job of the higher-ups should the need arise, in practical terms this meant that Wispy could enter her queens bedchamber without her permission, at her own risk of course.
This in turn meant that she got way more chances to interact with the queen than before, a prospect that got her giddy when she found out.
'One of these days I'm going to walk in on the queen playing with some poor pony, I wonder what the punishment would be.' Her mind filled with dirty thoughts involving a large pony stallion and some questionable use of a two-by-four, Wispy failed to notice the huge surge of love from the throne room until it was washing over her like a tidal wave, sending her crashing to the floor out cold for several minutes.
Pulling herself from the floor with a groan, Wispy shook under the force of the love still washing over her, coming from the large odd looking changeling that must have appeared on the bed while she was out. Legs still shaking she backed up from the bed, all the way to the door where she stopped. 'Exiting now would be going against a direct order from the queen but, ugh, it's even hard to think with this much love flowing over me.' Wispy groaned and shuddered again as the love increased a bit, the creature was stirring.
'Come on Wispy, remember your training..' Wispy released a laboured breath and focused on slowing her natural feeding habits to a bearable level, letting the huge quantity of love wash over and around her, only consuming a small amount. Years of being constantly starved for love had made her a bit rusty at this, but somehow she managed.
Wispy stifled a gasp as the creature sat up properly, noticing her for the first time. Its eyes were a beautifully clear bright blue, like staring into a never-ending sky on a warm sunny day. Wispy pawed at the ground nervously, the creature walking up to her, unable to tear here eyes from its gaze. She could practically hear the wind blowing through the trees and the creatures of the day making their noises while staring into those portals blue.
'What is it-' Wispy's thoughts were interrupted once the creature got close. Despite what some ponies might say, changelings do not actually have a telepathic hive-mind. Instead they act more like bees, most of their natural language consisting of buzzing wings and pheromones.
This bipedal changeling really, really liked her if the intense strength of the scents coming from her where any indication. Wispy found herself unable to withhold a blush, her checks hot.
"Boop!"
.......
.......
'...I have been booped.' Wispy scrunched her nose at the contact, the sensation of hot fire burning through her body at the touch 'but in a good way'.
'I probably won't last five minutes with her touching me, I'll be nothing but melted changeling!'
"You are so cute!" I had the adorable little bug pony within my arms before it could blink, the little scrunchy face she made when I poked her nose was too cute. Her tiny little fangs sticking out at near end of her snout completed the picture of pure 'D'awww'. I doubted I would ever see something so cute again in my lifetime, even if I were to live forever.
I carried the now wriggling buggy to the bedside and plopped her down somewhat ungracefully on her back. Her eyes were wide, her fore-hooves held below her chin.
'I think I'm going to have a heart attack at this rate.' I grabbed one of her little hoofsies and gave it a poke, gauging the chittering noise she made to be a giggle. 'Weakness found: commence full attack.'
Very soon the little bug pony could barely breathe through the chittering, having her so completely at my mercy felt good, I had the sudden desire to start cackling evilly.
Chrysalis wasn't entirely sure what she expected to find upon returning to her room.
The drone being pinned to the bed and mercilessly tickled into tears was not one of them.
'what the buck.' She stood in the doorway for nearly a full minute, stunned into silence by what she was seeing. The raw love washing over her and the drone was incredibly tempting, but Chrysalis felt she might explode if she took any more before resting. Looking closer at the drone, she could tell by the slight drool coming from its mouth that it was too far gone to care about anything right now.
Taking her time she took a better look at the creature than before, her critical eye picking up every minute detail. Other than its bipedal posture, odd claws and hair, it did not seem different from any other drone. She couldn't sense any royal blood in its veins, nor did it have royal eyes from what she could see.
The smooth black surface she had at first assumed to be regular chitin appeared to be just incredibly dark grey skin, with neither fur nor shell the queen was curious how she must feel.
With a slight shiver thinking about what those soft looking claws could do to her, she cleared her throat to get the creatures attention.
Despite the drones pretesting at the sudden loss of contact, if not the tickling, the creature stopped and moved its gaze to meet Chrysalis. For her part, Chrysalis's practised control over her face hid the exhale when she got an unobstructed view of..
'Those eyes...'
The glittering bright blue orbs. Chrysalis needn't have worried about not being able to perfectly judge the body language of a whole new creature, those eyes managed to convey so much emotion. They were simply enchanting to look at.
She felt many strange things while staring into those impossible eyes. The feeling that stood out was that of refreshing freedom, it felt as though she had just finished a tall glass of chilled water in an open field, the wind gently blowing through the long grass.
Shaking herself from her daze, Chrysalis gave the creature her best winning smile.
"What is your name?" The queen buzzed her wings in the proper changeling language.
The creatures ears twitched ever so slightly, clearly she had heard her but her eyes showed only confusion.
'I guess her being able to understand that would be too convenient' Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried again, this time in common.
"Do you have a name?" This time the creature reacted instantly, shaking her head in the negative and blinking once, before returning those big beautiful eyes to the queen's.
"Then I shall name you myself." The creature looked at her expectantly, a tinge of excitement in her emotions and eyes.
Frowning the queen considered her options, it would have to be in common, like the shallow names of the ponies instead of the deeper meaning behind the changeling communications. Perhaps naming her as a pony would may help her if she is forced into contact with them.
'Not that I plan to ever let this miracle far from sight' Chrysalis shook her head, finding it slightly difficult to focus with so much love in her system.
How about... Some rare mineral of blue after her eyes. Blue Hemimorphite? Too complex. Blue Sapphire? Too basic. Blue Tourmaline? Blue Tourmaline has the correct colours and a nice ring to it, but it just doesn't quite roll off the tongue right.' The queen snorted in frustration, any other drone would be named in an instant, why was this proving so difficult.
'Perhaps something with teal in it. Maybe even Teal Tourmaline.' Some nagging part of her still didn't feel that this was the right choice, is this the magic that pony parents get hit with when naming a foal to match their future cutie mark?
Forgetting the dead end, Chrysalis switched to a different tack.
'She seems to contain endless stream of love, so perhaps something more poetic will work.' The queen thought of her eyes, deep pools of love. Maybe she could work with this.
'Deep Pools? Too vague. Boundless Love? Too cheesy. Sweet Saccharine? A bit redundant.' Chrysalis was getting angry now.
'I didn't know I could speak...' I am surprised that I can hear and understand her language, up until now I hadn't thought about how I would converse with another, nor had I really thought about the ramifications of other conscious beings existing in my world.
It is again, strangely comforting to know that I am not alone, despite my prior lack of understanding on what it actually means to be alone. I suppose I am just going to have to accept that my knowledge requires some kind of trigger if I cannot think myself into various concepts. I don't know if this is normal, and am unsure if it wisest to assume it so or not.
Thinking back on it, I had actually spoken to the little one without even thinking about it. Perhaps it was too shy or scared to respond.
This thought made me feel a little bad, but hopefully it hadn't been upset by my ticklish onslaught.
The large bug pony seemed to be getting more and more frustrated the longer she stood there, surely thinking up a name couldn't be that difficult.
The smaller bug pony in my arms had calmed down a bit, but her eyes were still somewhat glazed over, which is odd considering she has no visible pupils to give the unfocused effect.
The large bug is very different, her big green catlike eyes are getting narrower and narrower as time goes by.
Taking a good look at her, I lazily let my eyes trace her figure. She has much more pronounced holes in her legs than either myself or the small pony. Her horn is longer and shaped differently too. Most strikingly apart from her eyes, she has hair like I do, in the same colour as well. I ponder the meaning of this while watching her face contort into various expressions.
If I was standing then I would still be taller than her, I'd estimate her to be roughly two thirds my height not counting her horn.
'She isn't quite as cute as the little one, but perhaps she would be better without her scowl.'
Something I hadn't spotted before, her crown, the bug pony had a cute little crown on her head. I couldn't tell if it was a part of her or not, but the idea of someone growing a crown on their head seems silly.
'I wonder if she's a princess bug pony.' The thought of the cute little bug I had been tickling in a tiara and dress made me smile.
'Speaking of the little cutie, is she purring right now? She is! That's so cute.' The little pony really is purring in my embrace, exactly like a loud cat would. 'These bug ponies are the best.' I let her nuzzle my arms, barely suppressing a squeak.
My eyes snap back to the princess pony as she makes an 'I've just worked it out noise', meeting her gaze again.
"Your name shall be 'Sweet Tourmaline' and it is my pleasure to welcome you to my hive. My name is Chrysalis, I am queen of this domain."
"Hello, my name is Sweet Tourmaline. Thank you for welcoming me into your uh.. Queendom?" I give her a somewhat sheepish smile.
The queen responds with a smile or her own, a chuckle breaking the silence.
"I'm sure you are. Now come, you must have many questions and I'll not have you stumbling over your words while answering mine!" Her tone makes me jump slightly, she must be used to commanding her subjects with a very firm hoof.
Time for that tense change
After several hours talking together, the two established a question and answer routine that suited them both. The queen would ask Tourmaline a question.
"Do you remember anything from before you were put in the pod" The queen looking only slightly impatient at her somewhat slow response time.
"Assuming the green thing is the pod, no. Until your earlier question of my true origin, I believed my entire existence to have started only today." This information created more questions than it answered for Tourmaline, but the queen only gave a small smile and nodded for her to ask a question of her own.
"Do you know what was I like before the pod" Her smile disappeared as quickly as it came.
"I have no idea, you have been in the pod for a very, very long time." Was that a tinge of pity in her voice?
"Understanding that your entire existence started today, how do you know how to speak, walk or understand concepts that are not naturally occurring." That was a tough one as she didn't know herself but the queen seemed to have finally accepted her explanation for her lack of memories.
"I just do. It's as though the information is there but I do not realise it until it is jostled free. I did not know I had arms, for example, until I accidentally moved one of them." If the surprised look that flashed across her face was anything to go by, The queen and her race of changelings did not normally store knowledge like this.
Tourmaline shifted her position on her bed.
"I do have a slight feeling about certain things, such as my poor reaction to my flexibility or my surprise at having wings and a horn. That's the best 'memory' I have from before today."
Chrysalis frowned at this, her emotions swinging from happy to sad for the amnesiac.
'On the one hoof, if she remembered everything it would make keeping her here harder. But despite being willing to do many things, wiping someones memories so completely is a terrible thing to do to somepony.' Chrysalis sighed, before returning to meet those gorgeous blue, pupil-less sparkling eyes once again.
"You have a good enough understanding of your situation that I am happy to let you live here. It is clear that you do not know anything else that was not told to you today so I shall leave you for now. If you have any questions about yourself, Wisp should be able to answer them as well as I can." She beckoned at the small changeling stuck inside a green bubble, the bubble disappearing as she did so.
"I am assigning Wisp to be your guide throughout the hive. All of the rules that apply to her shall apply to you, so make sure she tells you all she can." The queen paused in thought for a moment before continuing.
"I only ask that you do not leave the hive. For reasons that will become obvious once you talk to wisp, I cannot allow you to freely explore the world." She turned to Wisp and lit her horn.
With a gasp, the dreamy/dazed look disappeared from Wispy's eyes.
"My queen! There is a strange changeling on your..." Her eyes met with Tourmaline's. "...Bed" She finished lamely, glancing back and fourth between the queen and her new charge.
"As I was saying." The queen tittered, an amused smirk adorning her face. "You are now in charge of Sweet Tourmaline's safety until I say otherwise. No other changelings will be allowed to interact with her outside of casual conversation unless you or I permit them, is that clear?" The queen was looking pointedly at the drone, almost daring her to refuse for any reason.
For her part, Wisp at least pretended to consider it before agreeing with a loud "YES!" and a solid bounce, which made Tourmaline to giggle.
"Good, now away with you!" The queen flicked her hoof in a dismissive gesture. "I'm sure Tourmaline is tired after all this excitement, you may stay wherever you wish. I expect you to report any more memories of interest that are triggered Wisp." Wisp simply smiled, pulling Tourmaline off the bed and trotting towards the entrance without another word, stopping only to bow before gently pulling the large stone door closed.
'She really is quite a sight when standing tall.' Chrysalis mused to herself as she returned to empty her now cold bath. 'It looks like my situation might not be as dire as I feared.'