//------------------------------// // S1E3b Plan of Doom // Story: Creator Hatch // by Josh Crapo //------------------------------// Finally, it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for. The first day that I could make the hive without worry. When ponies notice my Party Favor disguise, they gawk, but not for long. But then comes Double Diamond. “Party Favor?” “Yes.” “What happened to you?” “Eh. Age spells.” I scoff. “I can handle it.” “Age spells? Do you mean, from the Canterlot archives?!?” “Mhm.” “Huh. Never saw you as the magical type.” “Well, I originally intended to snatch some sort of stone, but I accidentally grabbed the wrong spell.” “A stone? For what?” “To give to Catcher. I figured I’d welcome her with a gift. The spell I intended was to neutralize the enchantment.” “So, what happened?” “I gave it to her, and she loved it.” “Well, that’s good. Hope everything else goes well with you.” “Okay. See you around?” Double Diamond nods and walks away. I sigh my relief inside. That was close. I thought I wouldn’t really be able to do Party Favor, with never getting a chance to interact with him like I did with Diamond Tiara, but I guess it didn’t matter how; all that mattered was that I did interact. -=- About an hour after my conversation with Double Diamond, I teleport from inside a house from Our Town to where in the cave that Gac is waiting. “Alright, Gac. We can finally- um... Gac?” “Yes?” “What are you doing?” “Nothing.” “Nothing? Or something?” “Oh, I’m just making room for the cocoons.” “You know, there’s already plenty of room for the two, right?” “I’m talking about future reference.” “Future reference? Are you sure you’re not thinking too far ahead?” “Yes... wait a minute... no.” “Eggs aren’t on the way yet, Gac. I have an idea though. I’ll travel to Rainbow Falls twice, first time around trying to make observations under its brutal studying conditions.” “Are you going to get some love?” “Love? Gac, I’m only going to Rainbow Falls to study before coming back here to let you know which percentage of its emotional contents is love; feeding on whatever love it has will be saved for the second trip.” “Who’re you going as?” “Just my initial disguise.” “Okay, Catcher.” “Making this hive is going to be a breeze from here on. No pony un-cocooned has ever seen past my disguise.” “Wait, Hatch! How are you going to avoid feeding off of love?” “Hmm. I guess I never considered that. Cocoons do give a changeling access to a subject’s memory. Perhaps I could look through Party Favor’s memory before I go and see what spells he came across when in Canterlot.” I fly up to Party Favor’s cocoon and use my horn to see his perspective on all the scrolls he found. The first object, obviously is the stone that he used to reveal what I really am. The second object is of a scroll, one that is to the stone. What it reveals is that the stone actually came from Chrysalis’ hive, not from “Wonderbolt Academy”. A few more scrolls pop up, like one for time travel, relec reconstitution, and dietary deviation. After that, none of the memories relevate to Canterlot. Well, I came close to finding a spell that will prevent me from instinctively feeding off of love, only feeding when I consciously do so. “I guess I will go out of my way to try to avoid feeding off of love.” -=- As Catcher, I walk over to the Rainbow Falls Train Station, ignoring the loud landing of the liquids onto the clouds. It seems that nopony has been out for a while, which is strange because I saw ponies out when I met Diamond Tiara back three days ago. Suddenly, one of the residents walks up to me. “Why, hello there. Where’re your parents?” “Home. I was just roaming the surrounding area. Perhaps I could get a tour of Rainbow Falls?” “Unfortunately, I’m not the pony that gives out the tours here. That would be the mayor.” “Okay. I’ll go to him (or her) for the tour, then.” “Alright, need anything?” “No.” “Okay. Carry on.” And with that the resident leaves. So, throughout my first visit to Rainbow Falls, I come across a wide variety of differences between that and Our Town. First off all, I can actually distinguish what is residential, and commercial. However, I also notice a few familiar ponies walking in and out of the select few stores that are present. I remember seeing said ponies in Our Town, so my assumption is that they come here in order to get the supplies they need to use or to make a given product that they sell, be it sugar, fabric, flour, chalk, a pen, a quill, or a wrench. Our Town, from my experience, is a pretty welcoming place in the case of emotion contents. Nearly all of the emotional components are positive, like happiness, relief, hope, faith, and celebration. However, I don’t nearly have a tough time avoiding feeding on positive emotions in Rainbow Falls like I did with Our Town. I never considered until now having to evade instinctively feeding. So, it’s completely new to me. Back into the caves, I meet up with Gac yet again. “Gac, we might need to feed by force.” “How do I do that?” “I’ll show you when we get back to Rainbow Falls.”