//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: New Family // by awesomesauce4 //------------------------------// The next ‘morning,’ Jeremy and Chrysalis woke up to find that they were entwined in each other’s arms. “Oh, hey,” Jeremy greeted, laughing, and Chrysalis flinched away, grimacing. “What’s with your breath?” she complained. Jeremy chuckled, politely directing his breathing off to the side. “It’s called morning breath, it’s pretty common. I haven’t paid much attention to hygiene lately, on account of… well, being in Tartarus,” he noted. Chrysalis smiled mysteriously. “Wait until you see what’s outside,” she teased. Curious, Jeremy put on his sweater and jeans, following her outside to the corridor. She led him to a portal just across from her room, which Jeremy was sure hadn’t existed before. To his shock, he found all the comforts of a modern bathroom, carved out of gray stone and metal. Jeremy tested the sink, and was surprised to find it had running water. “How’d you do this in one night?” he asked incredulously, staring around at all the modern conveniences. “Actually, we were working on this for a while longer,” Chrysalis answered. “This room used to be an old King’s bathroom, because he was the only one who needed to… well, wash. Everything else was copied from what we saw of the Canterlot palace, because… well… I thought it was luxurious, so I wanted it,” Chrysalis admitted. “Nightmare Moon helped last night as well, she had you dream about your life back home and took a bunch of stuff that she thought you might need out of the dream.” Jeremy put a hand to his chin in thought. “That explains my weird dreams, I guess. Well… we should build more of these, so that everyone can enjoy them,” he noted. “But for now… this is amazing! Thank you so much,” he complimented, beaming. Chrysalis blushed. “It’s the least I can do, honestly,” she replied, smiling back. After Jeremy had showered, brushed his teeth, and made himself as clean as he could possibly be, he rejoined Chrysalis in the hallway and they set off for the throne room. As Jeremy looked around at the teal-blue, shifting walls, he was greeted by a sense of belonging, of home. It was such a contrast to how he had felt just a day ago that he wondered if the crown on his head was influencing his thoughts. They took their places at the throne, the changeling guards saluting as normal before Chrysalis took a seat on Jeremy’s lap. They sat there for a moment. “So… what exactly do we do?” Jeremy asked. A changeling guard stifled a snicker, and was quickly elbowed by another one. Chrysalis giggled cutely. “Honestly, I, um… I don’t really know. Celestia and Luna typically answer petitions of some sort while they sit on their thrones, but, um… we can just answer those mentally, and there’s really not all that many ‘petitions’ to begin with, because of the whole ‘hive mind’ thing, so…” Jeremy thought hard. “Okay… um… where are the others?” he wondered. “They’re heading here now, they just had breakfast,” Chrysalis answered. “What about you, when’s the last time you fed?” Jeremy worried, looking her over. “Honey, I fed off of you this morning,” Chrysalis dismissed. “I won’t need to feed again for a while.” Jeremy sighed, but let it go. She knew her own body better than he did, after all. Tirek, Sombra, and Nightmare Moon walked into the room a moment later, and Sombra smirked as he saw Jeremy lounging about on his throne. “Sit up straight, you degenerate layabout,” Sombra ribbed. “Are you a King or not?” Jeremy laughed, unconsciously adjusting his poise. “I’m pretty sure I’m a degenerate, layabout King, but if you say so,” he joked back. “So, didst thee need us for something? A Guard mentioned thou asking after us,” Nightmare Moon inquired. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I did,” Jeremy answered, Chrysalis looking up at him curiously. “I need help writing down a series of laws… like a bill of rights, or a constitution or something. Something that gives changelings the ability to overthrow or usurp their King if he infringes on their basic rights. Also for like, finances and policing and that sort of thing.” Most of the changelings in the room were looking at him strangely. “But… why?” Chrysalis asked. “We don’t really… need laws. We’re not autonomous, like you… well, like you were,” she remarked. Jeremy was mostly thinking of the crime rates and political scandals back home, and how he had always wanted to do something in order to fix them. Political corruption was nothing new to him, and neither were things like arson, mass murder, theft, rape, or torture. He wanted to make very certain that the evils of humanity would never infect his new home in any way. “We don’t really need to be policed, because every changeling is already aware at least on some level of what every other changeling is doing. All things belong to the Hive, so there’s no such thing as ‘theft’ either. ‘Torture’ would imply that we were torturing one of our own… which I used to do as punishment for failing. It didn’t really matter to me, because I could just revive the drone whenever necessary via the hive mind, but… I won’t ever do that anymore, not after what we’ve been through. As for… the other thing…” Chrysalis paused a moment to shudder. “I think we won’t have to worry about that either.” Jeremy mulled over this for a moment, then sighed. “I just… I don’t like the thought of some future King being able to abuse their power like the last one did. Most of the systems of government back home relied on a system of checks and balances so that no one group became too powerful, but… maybe that doesn’t apply here? Because everyone back home was autonomous,” he posited. Nightmare Moon nodded. “If thou art speaking of accepted systems of rule, we art compelled to note that many insects share much the same methods as our Queen here, and enjoy a nearly crime-less system as a result.” Sombra snorted. “I wasn’t going to make the insect comparison… out loud,” he teased. Nightmare Moon blushed as she realized her faux pas. “Oh, we… we didst not mean…” she trailed off. “Don’t worry, we’ve heard it all before,” Chrysalis sighed. “That’s the price of autonomy, huh?” Jeremy mused. “It would seem so,” Chrysalis agreed. “At any rate, there does exist a check to the King’s power. Under ordinary circumstances, the Queen can banish them from the hive mind, thus restoring balance if they became too powerful. But I… I was weak,” Chrysalis admitted, ears drooping down. “Not anymore,” Jeremy immediately comforted. “You’re stronger than you know.” Chrysalis smiled, but said nothing. “Okay, so I guess that takes care of government. But what about finance? If we are to become a major political player in the world, we have to have something that the rest of the world wants. It could be minerals or ores, it could be knowledge – and it often is knowledge, or it could be technology. Or maybe even something else,” Jeremy mused. Tirek raised an eyebrow. “That’s… rather smart,” he noted. “Who did you learn economics from?” Jeremy snorted. “I learned the bare basics from my history classes, and a few things I picked up on the side. I never paid much attention to the intricacies of tax law, for example.” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “What’s a ‘tax?’” she asked. All four of them looked at her. “…How dost thou not know what a tax is?” Nightmare Moon inquired, sounding as though she were about to laugh. “Next you’ll be saying you don’t know what money is,” Sombra mocked, chuckling. “I do! It’s… uh… that thing ponies really like!” Chrysalis defended, embarrassed. Nightmare Moon and Sombra burst out laughing, and Jeremy stared at them, unamused. “…Anyway, money is a system of bartering for goods and services,” he explained to Chrysalis. “Say you want something someone else has. In earlier times, you would trade something of equal value. But the equal-value thing might be heavy, or otherwise unsuited to being carried around and traded. So a stand-in is used in the form of money. Everything tradeable is now defined by its worth in a currency, or type of money. Money is usually made to be very small, and easy to carry, so you can go out and get things without having to carry other, heavy things in return,” Jeremy explained. “More or less,” Nightmare Moon agreed. “Okay… so then what’s a tax?” Chrysalis asked. “Taxes are when the government demands money from its citizens to pay for stuff. It can get pretty complicated, but the general gist is that the government uses the money to buy or make things to protect or improve the citizens’ lives.” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t the citizens just go out and do that themselves?” she asked. Jeremy shook his head. “Not always. Remember, they’re autonomous, and often that means dealing with much more complicated social stuff than a single hive mind. They might not have the time, they might not have enough money to do it themselves, and so on. So the government does it for them. Though… I guess taxes wouldn’t apply in a hive mind either? Because there’s no such thing as individual possessions…” Jeremy took a moment to think, and realized that he may, in fact, have just become the king of a communist nation. How odd. “Taxes only make sense if there are things the King and Queen need money for that the individuals don’t,” Tirek added. “If, as seems to be the case, the King and Queen of the Hive own all the property in the Hive, then that means there is nothing they can tax, and the issue becomes moot.” Jeremy accepted this reasoning with a nod. “Okay… no tax laws either. Interesting… I guess the only remaining thing is exports and imports?” Sombra nodded. “Chrysalis, do you own or know of any sources of crystals or mines nearby?” the shadow king asked. Chrysalis hesitantly nodded. “There are a few dragon hoards that have been abandoned nearby our hive, once we made our presence clear. What can they be traded for?” she asked. “I would go for information, specifically that of engineering and science. On my planet, the richest and most powerful nations became so because they relentlessly pursued innovations that everybody immediately wanted,” Jeremy noted. “Innovation is useless without materials,” Sombra countered. “Perhaps a balance of both?” Nightmare Moon suggested. “Works for me. Uh… is there anything else about government I haven’t covered yet?” Jeremy asked, looking at Nightmare Moon and Sombra. “You forgot the part where you declare yourself King for life, make yourself immortal, and remove the system of checks and balances,” Sombra suggested. “Sombra…” Nightmare Moon trailed off, annoyed. “What? He asked,” Sombra retorted. Jeremy chuckled. “To be fair, I did. So, uh… what now?” he asked. “Hmm… Wanna see something interesting?” Chrysalis suggested. “Sure,” Jeremy answered, getting up and stretching. “I would ask the rest of you not follow us. The location I am about to go to must be kept private,” Chrysalis explained to the other three. “More waiting and doing nothing, then. Can do,” Sombra grumbled as the pair of them exited the room. “Thank you, we’ll make it up to you!” Jeremy called. Chrysalis led him through yet another series of portals, and Jeremy sighed as he once again tried and failed to chart just where in the Hive they were. “Is there some kind of map of this place?” he complained. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be lost. I don’t know how the others manage.” Chrysalis laughed. “They don’t move around too much… and I have a pair of my guards follow them around in case they get lost.” Jeremy nodded appreciatively. “Fair enough…” he sighed, still looking around. Chrysalis looked at him sympathetically. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it eventually.” Jeremy hummed in thought, and said nothing more. Finally, Chrysalis came to a corridor with no other opening portals, heading straight for the end. She approached the wall with no signs of slowing down, and Jeremy held out a hand as if to stop her. “Hey, wait-“ he called, but it was too late – she had already hit the wall. To his surprise, she kept right on going, walking through it as though it wasn’t there. Jeremy stood alone in the empty corridor for a moment, then cautiously stuck a hand through the false wall. It didn’t feel like much of anything, so he walked through it as well. To his surprise, the area beyond the wall was completely different. The whole, poorly lit place was padded with some kind of bluish-gray foam, cushioning every square inch. Eggs were strewn about, nestled in crevices and corners or simply laying out in the open. Drones passed between each egg, holding it close as a white light emanated from their chests – love, Jeremy presumed. “Is this… a nursery?” he asked quietly, looking around. “A hatchery,” Chrysalis corrected. “After I finish laying all these eggs, the drones tend to them, making sure they get enough love to grow properly. It’s one of the most important jobs in the Hive, and I tend to hoof-pick drones from the nursery who have proven their skills.” Jeremy nodded in fascination, stooping down to examine an egg. It was a dark yellow in coloration, with brown lines reminiscent of veins strewn about the surface. “You laid this?” Jeremy queried. “It’s as big as your head!” Chrysalis chuckled. “I’m a shapeshifter. I can just change size to make it easier,” she explained. Jeremy accepted this with an uncertain shrug, puzzling over changeling biology. “Anyway, the interesting thing I wanted to show you is just how well this place is doing. Before yesterday… the eggs were barely getting enough, and they were the most well-fed changelings in the entire Hive,” Chrysalis explained. Jeremy sympathetically looked over at an egg. Was it just his imagination, or did it look slightly… deflated? “But now that all that love from the former King has returned to us… we have more than enough,” Chrysalis whispered. “We won’t be hungry for a very long time.” Jeremy stooped down and hugged her, and she returned it, smooching him on the cheek as she giggled. “So, would you like to see the nursery?” Chrysalis asked, already heading over to a nearby portal. “Of course,” Jeremy answered enthusiastically. “I’ve always wanted to see what a baby changeling looks like!” The nursery, in contrast to the hatchery, was well-lit, a massive glowing green pustule decorating the ceiling and bathing the entire house-sized cave in vivid green light. “Wow. It’s bright in here,” Jeremy noticed, grimacing. Chrysalis nodded. “It’s to train changeling eyes to withstand the surface light. We keep the hatchery dark, as light harms the growth of the eggs, but as soon as they hatch, they are taken here so they can adapt.” Jeremy nodded in fascination, gazing around at the room. It seemed like a cross between a home and a school – some drones were feeding the young, as in the hatchery, while others seemed to be instructing the tinier ones on some sort of subject. Jeremy listened in on one drone, who appeared to be instructing a group of changelings barely a foot tall each on the basics of transformation. “…Concentrate, hold the image in your mind. You don’t need to see it perfectly, just enough to feel like it. You must become whatever you transform into, in mind and body,” the drone instructed, shifting into one of them to prove its point. One of the little ones scrunched up its face, concentrating hard, and a flicker of green flame appeared at the tip of its horn, snuffed out a moment later. “Not bad,” the drone allowed, transforming back to its normal form effortlessly. “But you must concentrate harder. Oh – your Majesties!” they noticed, bowing as they caught sight of Chrysalis and Jeremy. “My loyal Ocelli. How are the drones?” Chrysalis asked, surveying them. “My Queen, they are coming along most adequately,” the drone immediately answered. “I expect within the week, they’ll be able to… my King?” Ocelli asked curiously, looking over. Chrysalis looked over as well, to find Jeremy hugging all five of the little changelings, a smile on his face. “Sorry, couldn’t help it,” he explained. “They were too cute.” Chrysalis slapped a hoof to her forehead, grinning, and Ocelli smiled as well. More changeling babies began to appear, literally crawling out of the walls as they apparently sought out the nearby source of love. Very quickly, Jeremy was literally covered in a pile of cute, cuddly changeling babies, hissing and licking his face as he giggled uncontrollably. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of there,” Chrysalis instructed worriedly, preparing to issue a mental command, but Jeremy held up a hand. “Why? This is the opposite of a problem!” he laughed, by now completely buried. Chrysalis looked at him strangely, but sighed and watched, as the nursery drones gathered around them. “Why is every single wriggler in the nursery in that pile?” one asked another. “The new King is under there,” Chrysalis answered exasperatedly. “Is he okay?” the drone worried. Chrysalis sighed. “He appears to be having fun.” A while later, the small army of baby changelings stumbled away from him, bellies swollen and content, dreamy smiles on their faces. Jeremy, who was red in the face from laughing so hard, slowly got to his feet, feeling dizzy. “You okay?” Chrysalis asked, noticing his complexion. “I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in my life,” Jeremy answered, still grinning as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow. Chrysalis smiled at him. “So… you really think they’re cute? Ponies thought they were… ‘creepy,’” she muttered. Jeremy immediately looked offended. “Creepy? They’re adorable! Ponies must be blind if they can’t see that amount of cuteness!” he proclaimed, to the giggles of the surrounding nurses. Chrysalis chuckled as well, supporting him with her body as he shook off his earlier mirth. “Anyway… wow. That was amazing!” Jeremy gushed, now that they were outside the door. Chrysalis laughed joyfully, a few nearby changelings looking over in amazement as she smiled back. “Right? I just… I’ve never seen them so happy. And it makes me happy! I… watching them play, and laugh, I just…” Chrysalis trailed off, her genuine smile slowly turning to a guilty smile. “I almost feel as if… this is all just a beautiful dream, and I’m going to wake up one day, back in my cell,” she admitted. “Huh?” Jeremy replied, taken aback by her sudden mood shift. “I… don’t feel like I deserve this. I thought for so long that I was a monster, that I'd live out my life being hated by everyone. But… is it really this easy? To turn it all around? It seems… fake,” she explained. Jeremy didn’t know what to say for a moment, then mentally slapped himself as he realized she was waiting on his response. “I… well, for starters, it’s real,” he countered lamely, and Chrysalis sighed, stopping their movement forward to take a seat by one of the shifting walls. “I mean… ugh, I’m not saying this right! What I’m trying to say is, you totally deserve this! Just because you think you’re not worth it doesn’t mean the rest of us do!” he tried, pulling her into a hug. “Uh-huh,” Chrysalis replied, sounding unconvinced. “Just… I know it’s all so new and confusing and surreal. It’s like that for me too, honestly. But… I’m going to do my best to show you that this is real, and you do deserve it, and it’s going to be great,” Jeremy finished, a small smile on his face. Chrysalis looked at him and sighed, a reluctant grin coming to her face. “I still don’t believe you… but okay,” Chrysalis conceded. Jeremy picked her up, surprising her as he hugged her to his chest. He tried carrying her a few steps, and was surprised to find that she weighed almost nothing. She must have a very strong exoskeleton, Jeremy mused, smiling down at her. They returned to the throne room, where Nightmare Moon, Sombra and Tirek had been waiting. Tirek was being fanned by two changelings, who had somehow obtained giant leaves to use as fans, and eating a cluster of grapes as he relaxed on the ground. Jeremy looked at him sternly, and Tirek laughed. “What? Chrysalis said it was fine,” the centaur retorted. “Get your own servants, Tirek,” Jeremy shot back with a grin, and Tirek laughed as he stood up, the two drones lowering the fans in relief. “So, how was that thing that you couldn’t show us?” Sombra snarked. “It was absolutely incredible,” Jeremy answered, gazing off into the distance with a dreamy look in his eye. “So cute.” Chrysalis giggled. “We visited the secret hatchery,” she explained. “Ah. Doth thee not trust us with its location?” Nightmare Moon inquired, a lopsided frown coming to her face. Chrysalis sighed slowly. “It’s a very old law that only the Queen, King, and a rare few of the drones get to know precisely where it is. It’s not out of any insult to you three, I’m just trying to follow the ancient laws. For once,” she grumbled. “Hmm,” Nightmare Moon answered, seemingly unconvinced, and Jeremy looked at her sharply. “…Anyway, anything new with you three?” he asked after a moment. “Nope. Been resting, mostly. Speaking of which, I’m beginning to get bored. Not that being on the surface isn’t great and all, but can’t we go out and do something?” Tirek complained. “Not much to do around here, the Hive’s situated in the middle of a wasteland,” Chrysalis answered. “I suppose if we really wanted to, we could go up north to Appleloosa and… well, I guess we can’t terrorize them,” Chrysalis noted, looking at Jeremy. Jeremy shook his head. “Where are we, in Equestria?” he asked. “The far southern point of the continent,” Chrysalis immediately answered. Jeremy thought hard, recalling the maps of Equestria he’d seen. There wasn’t much to the south, unless you counted the swamps and the Badlands. “…Do you have any books, or anything in the Hive?” Jeremy asked. Chrysalis shook her head, and Jeremy looked sad. “How did any of you keep yourselves entertained?” he asked uncertainly. Chrysalis snorted. “Entertainment wasn’t an issue. Not starving and not getting stomped on by the King were our problems.” Jeremy immediately felt guilty for suggesting that they were boring. “Oh… sorry…” he trailed off. Chrysalis smooched him on the cheek. “It’s okay. Now we can figure out this whole ‘fun’ thing, after all,” she added, and Jeremy gave her a slight smile. “Well… hmm,” he thought out loud. “Does anyone here know how to carve stone?” Instantly, at least ten pairs of hooves were raised in the air, including those of the Guards. Jeremy looked around with a smile. “I think we can work something out,” he commented, smiling. A few hours later, they were still sitting around the newly constructed game board, as far away from the throne room as they could get so that the others’ magic would work. Tirek was rattling the dice in his massive fists, eagerly leaning over the comparatively tiny board as he cast them. “Two, five, five, four, three… you could go for a small straight,” Jeremy pointed out. “I think I’ll try for a ‘Yahtzee,’ Tirek decided, grinning as he rolled them again. “Another five… you’re gonna need two more,” Sombra murmured, watching intently as he clutched his score sheet with his hooves. Tirek rolled once more, and crowed and whooped in delight as the two fives faced up. “Yahtzee!” Tirek announced, gleefully writing it down on his score sheet with the stick of charcoal he had been provided. “Man, Tirek is destroying us at this game,” Jeremy quipped, looking over his own score sheet. Nightmare Moon grumbled, presumably still miffed that she had wasted six turns trying to roll a Yahtzee of her own. “Don’t worry, everyone, I have a plan,” Chrysalis announced, and Tirek looked at her suspiciously. Do you actually have a plan? Jeremy asked mentally. Not in the slightest, Chrysalis answered, causing both Jeremy and the nearby changelings who were watching to suppress giggles. She rolled the dice, casually casting them out onto the playing board. “Four ones. You can do it, Chryssi!” Jeremy cheered. Chrysalis rolled the last die again, obtaining a three. “Come on…” Chrysalis muttered, rolling the offending die as hard as she could with her magic before letting it drop to the board below. “One! Thou hast done it!” Nightmare Moon joyously announced. “That puts her ahead of Tirek by three points… oh, this is getting close,” Jeremy commented, a devilish grin coming to his face. “Last turn, everypony,” Nightmare Moon warned, checking over her own score sheet. “Alright, let’s do this,” Jeremy muttered, rolling the dice with his hands. “Two, four, four, five, one. Not much you can do with that…” Tirek noted. Jeremy frowned. “We shall see about that,” he declared, picking up all except the fours and rerolling them. “Another four. Art thou trying for a Yahtzee as well?” Nightmare Moon inquired. Jeremy shook his head. “Just fours, this time. I still need to fill that section out.” He rolled again, and managed to score one more four. “Okay, Nightmare Moon, your turn,” Jeremy announced, passing the dice to his left. Nightmare Moon grasped them in her magic, rolling them halfheartedly before tossing them on the board. “One more and you’d have a small straight, nice!” Jeremy complimented. Nightmare Moon smiled, though it seemed to be strained for some reason. “Here’s hoping,” she muttered, rolling the two remaining die again. To her mild surprise, she managed to roll the small straight, and she marked it down with a small smile. “Okay, Sombra, last turn,” Chrysalis informed him as Nightmare Moon passed the dice left to the shadow king. Sombra took them in his magic, shaking them vigorously before throwing them down at the board. “Two sixes, a three, a two, and a five,” Tirek noted. “You already have your straights, so… what will you do, Sombra?” Sombra thought hard. “Well, I’m not going to win anyway, so I might as well take my scratch,” Sombra commented, passing the dice left to Tirek. “Okay, very last turn of the game,” Jeremy announced eagerly. “Come on…” Tirek muttered, rolling the dice as hard as he could. “One, two two’s, a four, and a six. Not a whole lot to work with there…” Chrysalis noted. “Just three more,” Tirek muttered, rolling the dice again. “Ooh, no two’s. Come on, big guy,” Jeremy encouraged. Tirek shook the dice for all he was worth, casting them onto the floor. “Still no two’s. Tough luck…” Jeremy trailed off. Tirek shrugged. “Eh, at least we got to kill some time. This was… surprisingly entertaining,” he admitted, scratching an ear. “We must spread this game to Equestria at large!” Nightmare Moon added. Jeremy grinned guiltily. “We… may run into some copyright issues if we try. Maybe later, if I can get back to Earth and ask for publishing rights or something,” Jeremy answered. “Well… I’m tired. I’m going to head to bed,” Sombra declared. “...Good game, though,” he added as an afterthought, disappearing through the main doors. “I might as well call it a night too,” Jeremy agreed, standing up and stretching. “What should we do with the game?” Chrysalis wondered. Jeremy shrugged. “Pass it around to the rest of the Hive, so they can try?” he suggested. Chrysalis thought for a moment. “Perhaps the small ones could get some enjoyment out of it,” she added, and Jeremy brightened at the thought. “Absolutely!” he agreed, and Chrysalis smiled, using her magic to teleport the game set away. “Anyway… goodnight, everyone,” she announced, heading for the door. “Good night,” Nightmare Moon and Tirek called back, and Jeremy followed her out with a “good night” of his own. They snuggled together under the covers, Jeremy relaxing and leaning into her hair as Chrysalis’ breaths gently rippled across the blanket. “Good night, babe. See you tomorrow,” Jeremy mumbled, kissing her on the forehead. “See you tomorrow…” Chrysalis returned in a whisper, seemingly already half asleep. Jeremy closed his eyes, and slipped into the world of dreams. Hours later, Jeremy fidgeted, tossing and turning. Something was wrong, he knew that much even while asleep, but what? Finally, he opened his eyes, looking around. “Chrysalis?” he whispered, feeling around the sheets. She wasn’t there. Worried, he hurriedly got out of bed, turning on the lamp to put on his sweater and crown before making his way outside. He felt somehow drawn to her, as though he knew subconsciously exactly where she was. As well he might, Jeremy mused. After all, his crown apparently had some pretty serious psychic abilities built into it. He moved upward, towards the top of the Hive, a place he had never visited before. Finally, as he moved through a portal, a rush of cold air greeted his face, the wind whipping around his sweater. This area had clearly used to be a cave, but was now destroyed, only rubble and debris remaining where the walls and ceiling used to be. “Chrysalis?” he called out. “Over here,” she answered quietly. Jeremy spotted her, in the center of the clearing, sitting on what looked like a very damaged and stunted outcropping of rock. He moved to join her, gazing up at the stars above. “Sorry, I just…” Chrysalis trailed off. “Do you need some space?” Jeremy offered. Chrysalis looked frustrated. “I… No. I don’t. I should have warned you. I just… came up here, to think about things. This… used to be my throne. I put it all the way up here, as far from… him as possible. Then, some things happened, and it… exploded.” Jeremy quirked his mouth up in a smile. “Some things being Starlight Glimmer and a particularly large rock?” he teased. Chrysalis looked at him in shock, before settling on a smile. “Right, right. I forgot, we’re fictional characters. And for your information, it was a drone named Thorax that actually exploded the throne.” Jeremy gazed off into the distance. “What are we going to do about Thorax and his changelings, anyway?” he wondered. Chrysalis sighed. “Let’s… let’s not worry about that now,” she pleaded. “Okay,” Jeremy conceded. They spent what could have been minutes or hours there, gazing up at the stars, and wondering about their lives.