//------------------------------// // 4. But I Thought it Was Just for Fun // Story: Trouble in Tiatarta // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// Ocellus’ head titled as she turned to look at Nonchalant, though she still leaned down close to the yellow-and-green changeling. “How do you...” she began, when a scent reached her from the bug, and her eyes widened. It smelled so good. She turned to the changeling, who was still giggling and writhing a little, occasionally mumbling something about airships and flying them and then giggling more, and the mirth, the joy, the sheer happiness...! She felt herself being seized in a blue aura and dragged away across the deck. “No. Bad bug,” Nonchalant said, stepping forward and standing between Ocellus and the other changeling. “Love poison, it’s in the name!” Smolder grabbed Ocellus from Nonchalant’s telekinesis, and stepped forward. “How the heck would you know that?” She demanded, growling and snorting smoke. Nonchalant flipped her mane. “Relationship counselor. You think I don’t have to deal with love poisons and the effects of them?” “Okay, but how would you know how they affect changelings?” “Relationship counselor! You think I don’t have to deal with changelings?” Nonchalant laughed, though she turned and prodded at the changeling under her hooves again. “I could tell you stories. Wait, no I couldn’t. Doctor-patient confidentiality or whatever.” She leaned down and prodded the changeling in his cheek. “Bug. You’re ruining my vacation and it hasn’t even started yet. Who did you eat?” The changeling’s eyes fluttered, but all that happened was he broke out into more giggles. “We’re flying...!” Nonchalant whickered, then stepped back. “Fine, whatever.” Ocellus took in a few breaths. Standing next to Smolder, but with Smolder’s focus on Nonchalant, she mostly smelled the confidence and certainty mixed with defiance of her friend, focused as she was right now on Nonchalant rather than her. The sheer joy of the changeling was washed from her throat. She forced herself to look back to Nonchalant. “W...will he be okay?” She asked. “Eventually. Believe it or not, this is a mild reaction. Less than he deserves for actually - ” “H-hey!” Ocellus objected. “No creature deserves to be like...like this!” Nonchalant seemed taken aback by Ocellus’ outburst. She made to respond, when a buzzing filled the air. Turning to look, Ocellus saw three changelings flying straight at them with all the speed they could muster, perhaps because a few hundred feet behind them were an equal number of pegasi, one of which was carrying a purple-coated, black-maned earth pony. The lead changeling had a red carapace with orange elytra and yellow eyes and wings; Ocellus realized she recognized her. “Instructor Ecdysis!” She called as the changeling landed. Ecdysis didn’t acknowledge Ocellus, instead barreling right past her, Smolder, and Nonchalant to come up to the poisoned changeling, the other two bugs with her taking up flanking positions. “Turn into a rock!” She exclaimed to him. “A fish, a twig, something easy to hide or something we can throw overboard or - ” “Boop,” was the changeling’s response, as he pressed a hoof to Ecdysis’ muzzle. Then he started giggling again. “Clavicle, we don’t have time for this, get it together so that - ” “So that nothing!” Came another voice. The pegasi had arrived, deposing the earth pony aboard the gondola. She was the one who spoke, and she came forward, also ignoring Ocellus, Smolder, and Nonchalant and instead getting right up to Ecdysis. She was taller than the changeling by just a bit. Ecdysis took in a sharp breath, and winced at what she smelled. “Mayor Dusk, Clavicle is a subject of the Badlands Hive and I have diplomatic immunity - ” “And he doesn’t, and we’re in Equestrian airspace over Equestrian waters and he stole an Equestrian citizen’s airship!” The earth pony - Mayor Delilah Dusk, Ocellus assumed, remembering Twilight’s offhand comment from a few days ago - exclaimed. After a moment her gaze softened as she looked down to the changeling. “Or...her? I’m sorry, I really am trying...” “Clavicle presents as male, yes. That’s not the issue.” “No, it’s not.” Mayor Dusk looked back to Ecdysis, then nodded back over her shoulder. “These officers are going to take Clavicle into custody. Cloud Spirit can decide whether or not to press charges for the theft, but even if he doesn’t...” “But it’s not his fault!” Ecdysis swung a hoof back to the changeling at her hooves. “Look at him! He’s been poisoned, just like Obtect and Hyaline and - ” “And all the other bugs you can’t seem to control.” Dusk’s eyes narrowed. “And I’ve been looking into love poisons. These aren’t the symptoms of a pony...sorry, a creature who drank one. He’s not making lovey-dovey faces at any creature. He ate the fake love, didn’t he?” “Quite right,” Nonchalant spoke up. Ecdysis’ and Mayor Dusk’s head whipped to look at her, and she smiled. “Nonchalant. Relationship counselor. And yes, a changeling under the effects of a love poison acts like any other creature would. This,” she was still near Clavicle, and prodded him, “is what happens when a changeling eats the fake love.” Ecdysis looked back to Mayor Dusk. “Small nibbles,” she pleaded. “We were born hungry, we were raised starving, tiny bites don’t hurt any creature, I explained this to you and you said that - ” “And could this happen from tiny bites?” Mayor Dusk asked. She looked to Nonchalant. “Small nibbles?” Nonchalant shook her head. “No. There’s at least one creature unconscious somewhere right now, drained of fake love. The good news is, they’re cured! No stroke-of-midnight nonsense or whatever. The bad news...depends on where they are. Does this town have a wolf problem? Coyotes?” Mayor Dusk looked back to Ecdysis. “Clavicle comes with us,” she said with finality. “If King Thorax wants to try and extradite him, that’s between him and Princess Celestia, but until then...” Ecdysis’ wings buzzed beneath her elytra. “Pleurite, go with him.” One of the other changelings started to come forward. Dusk shook her head. “No, Ecdysis, that’s not how it works, Pleurite hasn’t done anything and I can’t just have...her?...sitting in the town’s stockade when she’s done nothing - ” “Pleurite, go commit a cr - ” Dusk’s hoof shot up and covered Ecdysis’ mouth before she could finish the sentence. “Really?” She asked. “Really,” Ecdysis said around the hoof. “Fine. Officers, arrest Clavicle, and Pleurite can come along.” The pegasi - they in fact were all wearing simple white, short-sleeves shirts and caps that identified them as police - came forward, the changelings making room for them to hoist up Clavicle. He apparently found the experience hilarious as two of the pegasi lifted off, carrying the giggling bug between them, while Pleurite followed. The last pegasus remained with the mayor, her ride back. The silence lingered for several long seconds, before Smolder cleared her throat. “So...” she said, looking to Ocellus and pointing a finger at both Ecdysis and Mayor Dusk. “Friendship problem?” The changeling and earth pony looked over to Ocellus and Smolder. The latter shook her head. “I’m sorry, who...?” “Smolder,” the dragon responded. “And that’s Ocellus.” “And I’m out of here,” Nonchalant spoke up, heading over to the edge of the airship a gondola and squinting at the nearby ferry. “Good practice for my teleporting, I suppose.” “Actually, Miss - ” “Doctor.” “ - Doctor Nonchalant,” Mayor Dusk said, “I’d appreciate it if you could stop by my office at Tiatarta. Any expertise on love poisons would be appreciated.” Nonchalant barely hesitated in her response. “No. I’m on vacation.” With that, blue light momentarily engulfed her, then she disappeared, and reappeared on the deck of the ferry. Ocellus, meanwhile, had trotted over and up to Ecdysis. “Um...Instructor,” she said, though she couldn’t keep from wincing at the melancholy scent that came off of the red changeling. Ecdysis turned to look directly at her, though she kept Mayor Dusk in her vision as well. “Ocellus. King Thorax said you were coming. There was supposed to be...” she drifted off, then shook her head. “I’m sorry you arrived to this.” Smolder came up alongside Ocellus, hands on her hips. “Instructor?” Ecdysis looked to Smolder. “Old job, during the Bad Old Days. Ocellus was...a mediocre student.” But she smiled a little as she said that, and for just a moment warm affection broke through the morose aroma that surrounded her. “But in a good way, it turns out.” “Oh,” Smolder said, glancing to Ocellus. “For that thing you were gonna be?” Ocellus flinched. “Y-yeah.” “Still think it’s cool.” “Excuse me,” Mayor Dusk spoke up, trotting over to the two students and Ecdysis, “I’m glad you three all know each other, but you,” she pointed at Ocellus, “weren’t with Ecdysis when she flew over here, and...” she tilted her head to the side. “Are you really a dragon?” “Yeah,” Smolder said, crossing her arms and leaning towards Dusk, “what’s it to you?” “Just wanted to be sure. There’s a changeling at the Nook who spends all his time as a potted plant. Except when...ugh.” She put a hoof to her face and dragged it down slowly. “I miss when Venter was the biggest problem bug.” “Me too,” Ecdysis intoned. “In any event,” Mayor Dusk said, looking to the two teenagers again, “what are you doing on this airship?” “Oh, y’know, saving it from crashing into things,” Smolder explained. Ocellus, Ecdysis, and the other changeling could all smell the confidence and pride coming off of her, strong enough to clear the air a bit of the otherwise sour mood. “Me and Ocellus were on that ferry. We’re from Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship, and were sent here because apparently you two,” she pointed to Ecdysis and Dusk, “have a friendship problem!” Ecdysis and Mayor Dusk looked between each other. “No we don’t,” Ecdysis said. “Delilah is just protecting her town.” “And Ecdysis just wants to keep her bugs safe,” Dusk added. “This isn’t personal. I actually admire the lengths Ecdysis is willing to go to,” she glanced over at the red changeling, “even if she may have skirted the edge of Equestrian law just now.” “And I know you can’t bend those laws on a whim,” Ecdysis confirmed. “And that you’ve done a lot of work to incorporate us in to your plans for Tiatarta, Delilah. Plans that I want the Nook to be part of.” “Me too.” Smolder glanced between the two adults discussing their problems in a calm and mature and open way. “Okay! Great! Friendship problem solved, right?” She glanced up at her spines. In spite of herself, Ocellus looked at her elytra. Neither were doing anything extraordinary. “Darn,” Smolder said. “It wasn’t going to be that easy,” Ocellus chided. Mayor Dusk looked between the two students. “Well, that explained...very little...but if you did save this ship and the ferry, then congratulations are in order. If you stop by the town hall I might be able to arrange something. Discounts at some of the local attractions.” She frowned as she stepped back from them, and looked back to Ecdysis. “For what it's worth, Ecdysis, I really hope we can get to the bottom of this soon - before some creature does get hurt more than your changelings already have been. But until then, I apparently have at least one love-drained creature to start looking for - ” “My bugs will help,” Ecdysis said quickly. “We...we might be able to think of some places where a changeling might...stash some creature.” The stink of guilt poured off of Ecdysis, and the other changeling with her... and Ocellus, because she could, in fact, think of a few places most towns had where she might stash an unconscious victim for later. In fact she was standing right next to the bug who had taught her. Delilah Dusk didn’t miss the implication. “Advice would be appreciated...but under the circumstances I don’t think it would be a good idea for have changelings combing the environs right now.” “We could do it in disguise - ” “I don’t think that would help at all.” Ecdysis froze, then nodded, and Ocellus had to clamp her mouth shut as the awful scent of shame began assaulting her senses again. The distinct piques that made it different from Smolder’s didn’t help in the slightest. Mayor Dusk cast a sympathetic glance Ecdysis’ way, but then turned to the pegasus still aboard. “Let’s go,” she said. The pegasus nodded, grasping her about the barrel and taking off. Smolder and Ocellus watched the two ponies fly back towards Tiatarta. The silence lasted for only a few moments before Smolder looked back to Ocellus. “I think Pharynx is going to kill Headmare Twilight,” she said. They had flown back to the ferry to retrieve their bags, then taken to the air and flown off at a slow pace towards Tiatarta, leaving the airship hovering where it was for now. Ecdysis has introduced the other changeling as Vertex, but quickly sent him off to catch up with Mayor Dusk so as to aid in searching the town. Smolder fought very, very hard to not keep herself between Ecdysis and Ocellus. She couldn’t stop herself from flying over the two, though, a position of aerial superiority, with fire rumbling in her belly and ready to be spat forth if Ecdysis tried to make off with her hoard. If the changeling noticed, however, she didn’t show it. “So, Instructor,” Smolder asked, trying to take her mind off of the violent thoughts that Ecdysis hadn't earned, “how long has this been going on for?” Ecdysis didn’t turn her head; with those big yellow compound eyes, she didn’t need to. “Trouble in general? From the moment we got here.” She answered. “And please, just call me Ecdysis. I’m not an instructor anymore. In any event, at first it was just normal growing pains. Changelings getting used to ponies, ponies getting used to changelings.” She waved a hoof at the town they were approaching, about half a mile out. “Tiatarta gets vacationers from other races fairly often. It’s why it was chosen by King Thorax and Princess Celestia. I’ve seen diamond dogs, griffons, camels, even a full-grown river serpent.” Smolder looked to Ocellus, who turned her head a little to acknowledge the look and smiled. “Steven Magnet?” Ocellus asked. The day he had substituted for Professor Rarity and they had learned how to weave baskets underwater had been fun. “I didn’t get his name. In any event, there was some initial distrust from the ponies, of course. And it didn’t help that...” she trailed off a moment, then flipped around in the air to look directly at Smolder, though she kept flying fairly well for being upside-down. “Look, freedom is new to us. For centuries we said what Chrysalis told us to say, did what Chrysalis told us to do, were who Chrysalis told us to be. And King Thorax is completely different, he’s kind and caring and generous and puts every other bug before himself...but he’s still the king, you know? Still the big bug in charge. So when we all came out here and set up the Nook, away from King Thorax, basically no adult supervision, is the best way to phrase it...” Smolder burst out laughing when she realized what Ecdysis was implying. “Oh, wow. I actually think I’m sorry for missing it.” Ecdysis has a grin split her features as well, licking her lips as she flipped back around. “It’s something me and Delilah can laugh about now...but yeah. First wave of colonists to the Nook were a hundred bugs with no sense of personal property, personal space, or moderation. We didn’t mean to hurt any creature, but...” she laughed. “Well, in my case I ran up a huge tab at Patios & Pancakes. I was so used to dine-and-dashing as an infiltrator that I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to do it anymore.” Ocellus was grinning too. “I...made a few of the same mistakes in Ponyville,” she admitted. “I didn’t,” Smolder said. Which was technically true, though enough of a technicality that Ocellus glared at her and Smolder hung her head in defeat. She’d in fact known full well what “paying” was. She just hadn’t, at first, felt any real need to do it unless she’s had no other choice. But then Professor Rainbow Dash has intercepted her attempt to walk out of Amethyst Star’s Fine Jewelry with a necklace, explained that she needed to pay for things, and threatened to send her back to the dragon lands when Smolder had been about to defiantly eat the necklace. And then beat her in a wrestling match when Smolder tried to eat the necklace anyway. Also the fact that Gallus tipped better than her had gotten under her scales. “But those were growing pains,” Ecdysis continued. “We all got acquainted with the town stockade a few times, but any real problem bugs were shipped back to the Badlands. The rest of us learned from our mistakes and got better, and the changelings in the Badlands were better prepared and trained before being sent here. We’re five hundred strong now...and starting to grow on our own.” She grinned, and turned to look directly at Ocellus. “We just finished a hatchery.” Ocellus’ eyes widened as she put her hooves to her cheeks, one of the biggest smiles Smolder had ever seen the changeling produce suddenly shining from her. “Any eggs?” She asked. “Some on the way.” She turned so she could once again have both Ocellus and Smolder in her vision. “These will be the first eggs lain outside the Badlands in centuries. The first grubs hatched in a place that Chrysalis never touched.” “Congrats,” Smolder said, and shrugged as she crossed her arms. “But, uh...getting back on topic...” Ecdysis blinked a couple times, then sighed. “Right. Three weeks ago a changeling named Obtect stumbled through Tiatarta, and he was...well, acting a lot like Clavicle was. He’d been fine when he left the Nook for a night out, but then early the next morning he was found, um...let's say, adding some decorations to the statue of the town’s founder. He was brought back to the Nook. We didn’t know that it was a love poison at first, we just knew he smelled and tasted too euphoric and thought that draining that might help him. And it sort of did...by spreading it around to every changeling that fed on him. Then every changeling that fed from them...” Smolder chuckled grimly. “An early Hearth’s Warming party?” “Kind of, actually. When I came-to a few hours later I was lounging in a pool of punch. Anyway, Obtect doesn’t remember what happened to him. We looked into it, I contacted this brain bug I know named Urtica back in the Badlands Hive, and she figured out that it was from eating fake love.” She shook her head. “Which doesn’t make sense. Obtect’s a good changeling, just a worker bug even during the Bad Old Days and a farmer now. He might nibble on a stray feeling but he would never actually drain a creature, but draining a creature is the only way for a changeling to get that messed up according to Urtica. A few small bites wouldn’t do it.” The three had reached Tiatarta by now. The town was smaller than Ponyville, and sported different architecture as well - white-walled stucco buildings, mostly, with red-tiled sloping roofs, the buildings framing the white sand beaches that Tiatarta was apparently known for. On a warm and sunny day like today, the beaches had dozens of creatures lounging on towels or beneath umbrellas, or else playing in the warm water. Most of them were ponies, but Smolder did indeed see a couple of griffons, a number of sea ponies, and even a changeling trio, the last of which all waved up to Ecdysis, oblivious to the mood of their flight. She waved back. Ecdysis banked left and flew south along the beach, and Smolder and Ocellus followed. The town gave way to somewhat rocky terrain, scrub near the salty water but transitioning into a thick forest just a few hundred feet from the shores. “The really strange thing,” Ecdysis said, “is that we never found Obtect’s...victim, the creature he must have drained. No creature has been reported as missing, no one in Tiatarta remembers seeing any creature acting like they were affected by a love poison.” “Maybe they’d only just taken it,” Ocellus ventured, “and Obtect drained them too fast, and maybe they don't remember. You did say that he went out at night...” “That’s what we thought. Hoped.” Ecdysis said. “But then, starting a week and a half ago...first a bug named Hyaline, strung out on the beach, making sand-angels. Then another, Nervure, wouldn’t leave the Chill Spot, a spa and ice cream parlor. Had to be dragged out. Then Fovea...Trophus...” her flight speed slowed to a crawl, then halted as she hovered in the air, head down and limbs hanging limply. “There’s more than two dozen bugs down right now, and without the rest of us siphoning it off and spreading it around it takes longer for them to return to normal. Days. The only pieces of good news are that we learned after Obtect not to try and drain them, and that at least none of them are violent or harmful - ” she paused, and put a hoof to her chest. “At least...not until Clavicle.” “But Clavicle’s not violent or harmful!” Ocellus objected, flying in front of and beneath Ecdysis so she could look directly at the older changeling. “He didn’t resist us or even try to, didn’t mean to hurt any creature...the most 'violent' thing he did was poke your snout!” “And almost crash an airship he'd stolen into a boat with fifty creatures on it,” Smolder said. Ocellus whirled to face her, and Smolder didn’t need to be a changeling to all but taste the sense of betrayal. “Look, I’m just saying what happened. It means that this is serious.” She crossed her arms as she drifted over to in front of Ecdysis, looking at as much of her yellow compound eyes as she could. “Which means that it’s time you told Thorax.” Ocellus opened her mouth to begin to retort, but then closed it as she turned back to Ecdysis. “You didn’t...no, wait, of course not. Because Thorax would have told Pharynx, but Pharynx thought that Tiatarta was safe until the Cutie Map sent us here...but...why?” Ecdysis tilted her head up, and her eyelids narrowed. “Because the Nook has to work. It has to. If we can’t prove that changelings can live alongside ponies, or away from the King...then we’ll all be stuck in the Badlands. Our numbers will grow. The food supply won’t. We’ll get hungry again. Starve again. And then the only way we’ll be able to fix that will be...” she drifted off a moment, before shaking her head. “I...I was an infiltrator. I was good at it. I was in Canterlot, too...and I was good at that as well. Never again. I won’t let us go back to that.” Smolder began to object, opened her mouth to point out all the reasons why that was stupid...but instead found her jaw hanging open when Ocellus came forward and wrapped her hooves around Ecdysis’ neck, hugging the bigger changeling as best she could while both were flying. “Okay,” Ocellus said. “Okay. That’s...that’s a good point.” “What?” Smolder asked. “No it isn’t!” Ocellus looked to Smolder. “Yes it is. You don’t know, Smolder, you’re a dragon. You can eat rocks. You could live off the sand on the beach down there. You’ve never starved.” Smolder grunted. “The Nook isn’t going to be called a failure just because some creature is poisoning changelings. We’re just here for a friendship problem, Ocellus! This isn’t that.” Ocellus’ head titled to the side, and she actually smiled playfully. “You think some creature who’s poisoning innocent changelings doesn’t need to learn a lesson about friendship?” Smolder once again began to object, and once again found herself with a hanging-open jaw. She shut it after a moment, glancing away. “That’s stretching and you know it,” she huffed. “Sounds reasonable to me,” Ocellus countered. Smolder stared at Ocellus, who matched the gaze, the tiny changeling somehow shedding her usual delicateness and conveying determination like Smolder had never seen her possess before. Absolute, rock-solid certainty that what she was saying was right, that what she wanted was the way things had to be. She was radiant. She was so valuable, Smolder just wanted to grab onto the changeling and never let go... “Okay,” Smolder gave in, grabbing at her bag and the mediocre hoard within in an attempt to distract herself. “Okay, fine. I guess this is probably what we’re here for. Or if it’s not then we’ll stumble across it while doing this.” Ocellus nodded, then after a moment flew forward and lightly hugged Smolder as she had Ecdysis. “Thank you,” she intoned. Smolder struggled to stay airborn - her wings weren’t as great at hovering as Ocellus’ were - but didn't hesitate for a moment to return the hug, breathing in sharply at finally feeling the soft fuzz and pliable carapace beneath it in her hands. The surprising warmth that came through Ocellus' carapace. The feel of Ocellus' cheek against her own...but even as she did, she forced the primitive wyrm chanting mine over and over in her head back into its cave and focused. “The second my spines and your elytra start glowing and vibrating, though, we let Thorax know. Deal? I'm not even saying that we leave. Just that it means that we found the real friendship problem and solved it, so that means that this has to be handled by some creature else, and we can help them.” She had expected an argument, but instead Ocellus only tightened her hug for a moment. ”Deal,” she said, then released Smolder - Smolder letting go of her only after several seconds - and turned to look at Ecdysis. ”Right? We'll help out if we can, but if it turns out we can't...” Ecydsis lifted her head. Nominally it looked almost like she was staring between them, but Smolder knew that she and Ocellus had the red changeling's complete focus, even as she turned her forehooves over themselves. ”I'll...have failed...” ”No,” Ocellus said. ”You'll have learned that you needed help. And there's nothing wrong with that.” Ecdysis closed her eyes, but nodded. She started moving again, and Smolder and Ocellus followed behind her. Smolder looked over to Ocellus, who turned her head to look directly back. ”Was...” she began, then considered whether she wanted to know if Ocellus had just done that - let her grab her, hold her, possess her for just a moment - on purpose or not to help get her way, and finally shook her head. ”Nevermind. Doesn't matter.” Ocellus held her direct gaze for a moment, then nodded. ”Right. And...thank you.” She took in a deep breath, then licked her lips. ”Um...Smolder, since we're going to the Nook, you should know...the changelings there are probably used to...well, feeling each other all the time. Scenting each others' emotions. I just want you to know, it's not meant to be invasive. It's just what we're like...but it might be off-putting.” ”Uh-huh.” Smolder confirmed. She'd already figured as much, and was trying to figure out how to disguise...well, what she wanted from Ocellus, which she doubted would go over well in the Nook. Probably it would just be more-or-less like being around dragons. Act big and tough. Distract from weaknesses by pointing out the weaknesses of others. She grinned a little at that as she looked back to Ocellus. ”Honestly I'm worried about what I'm going to smell.” Ocellus' eyes widened. ”Wh...what do you mean?” ”Changelings might have a nose, or whatever, for emotional scents, but for real ones...remember your first month at the school?” The tiny changeling began to blush furiously. ”I...bu...” ”Professor Rarity ended up scheduling a field trip to the spa?” ”You - it's not like I was dirty!” ”Uh-huh. Which is why while we were there she had a bunch of cleaning ponies fumigate our dorm room.” ”That's not fair! I'd just molted earlier that week and hadn't finished eating all my carapace - can't believe they almost threw it out...” ”Honestly I think my favorite part was when Yona - Yona - was laying out a bunch of scents for you to pick from and you finally just asked 'but what is soap?'” Blue fire washed over Ocellus and she transformed into a bugbear that proceeded to grab Smolder from the air and pinch her cheeks furiously. Totally worth it, though. Ecdysis. Unlike Ocellus, Ecdysis was a name that Chrysalis recognized, if not recall any particular details about beyond that she had been a reasonably skilled infiltrator. Still, it meant that she deserved to suffer forever for betraying her, turning on her, abandoning her like all the others. Ocellus at least had the excuse of having probably only been a nymph at the time, or at most only a molt or two into adulthood. Ecdysis was older. She should have known better than to betray her queen. So Chrysalis had made sure that Clavicle - a name she didn't recognize - would end up in the possession of the ponies, because it would hurt Ecdysis. Deliver just a measure of well-deserved suffering on her. Besides, she'd hardly thrown Clavicle to the wolves in the process. A few days working off love poisoning in an Equestrian stockade would hardly be the most traumatic experience for the drone. Love poison... Chrysalis shook her head and turned to lie on her back. She had ridden the ferry the rest of the way in, checked into a hotel, and went straight for the beach. An umbrella lay open overhead to keep out the worst of the noonday sun, but she could still feel herself getting wonderfully warm in the subtropical heat as she lay on a large green towel. Tomorrow she'd try and find a secluded cove somewhere to luxuriate in her natural form, but for now the heat spreading through her assumed unicorn body was relaxing. Love poison is hardly natural. And from the sound of things, this Clavicle wasn't the first... Chrysalis grunted, and rolled back onto her stomach. She scooted off her towel and into the hot, fine sand, and smiled as she buried the tips of her hooves into it, wiggled her barrel against it. Cleaning it off wouldn't be an issue, just a simple shape-shift, or she could always go for a swim. So while it was coarse and rough and got everywhere, Chrysalis could enjoy the sensation of it across skin and under fur she didn't normally have, rub her cheek against it, maybe even consider shifting herself into a pegasus body so that she could try out that sand bathing thing that some pegasi recommended. It was novel, not discomforting. It seems so roundabout, too. First whoever is doing this would have to poison at least one creature, possibly more depending on the type used, then get a changeling to feed on them, then find somewhere to hide the formerly poisoned creature... Chrysalis growled. She rolled back onto her back. She was in direct sunlight now, but it wasn't so bad, at least for a few minutes. Celestia had many insufferable qualities, but the sun wasn't one of them. A bright ball of magic and fire burning in the sky, warming everything beneath the world it orbited. On days like today the sunlight could actually almost feel like it was carrying emotions with it...love, in particular. Might have had something to do with her currently-equine form given how mare bodies reacted to increases in light and temperature. And if that feeling of love was somehow ephemerally carried from the Alicorn of the Sun through her celestial body and then shined down onto the world? Well, then Chrysalis would eat it up. No changeling, not even the queen, would turn down a free meal. And why bother hiding the poisoned creature? If the goal is to discredit the Nook then by all means have some love-drunk changeling stumble around town making a fool of themselves while some poor, innocent foal can find an unconscious, love-drained victim in an alley and be traumatized for the next five years. That's how I'd do it. ”Hhhzzzkkk...” Chrysalis hissed, opening her eyes. She saw the shadow of Twilight had come out from where its home lay next to Chrysalis' towel, and was currently sitting beneath the umbrealla's shade, looking at her. Chrysalis glared back. ”What?” She demanded. The shadow stared at her. ”What is it? Speak when you're spoken to!” The shadow stared at her. ”Hhhzzzkkk...this is about the love poison, isn't it? Well, I don't care! I'm on vacation! And why should I care? They all abandoned me! So what does it matter if some creature is attacking them? I could have told them that would happen! That they'd never earn real friendship or trust! That any love they got would only be marginally more real than a love poison's!” The shadow stared at her. ”I could have! I would have if they would have listened like they were supposed to! Now this Nook is weak and vulnerable and exposed and surrounded by other creatures and clearly lacks a strong...leader...” The shadow stared at her. ”...oh. Ooooh...devious! You're right!” Chrysalis rolled over onto her stomach and looked at the shadow. ”Whoever is doing this...they want to discredit changelings, almost certainly! But that can be turned around, can't it? I could show the Nook...show them that the other races aren't to be trusted. Show them how much of a fool Thorax is! Show them how much better they'd be with me...” The shadow stared at her. ”I will definitely reward you for this one. Maybe carve something on your home? How about a picture of you with cute little grubs crawling all over you? Would you like that?” The shadow disappeared back into its home. Chrysalis pursed her lips. ”Well...we'll workshop that, then. I think that would look good, but you did well today so we'll want you to be happy with it.” Chrysalis considered, then lay back down on the beach, wiggling into the sand. ”Tomorrow. This becomes a working vacation tomorrow. I've still earned at least today, right?” The shadow of Twilight didn't reappear, and Chrysalis decided to take that as confirmation. The True Queen of the Changelings giggled delightedly to herself, outlining her plan. First, find those two students of that friendship school. Ocellus and Smolder. They'd been sent here by Harmony and it had to be for this, right? The forces of destiny and fate and whatever were urging them forward. So she'd present herself, Doctor Nonchalant returned to aid them with her expertise on love poisons. Second, find the culprit. The one who was love-poisoning changelings. Should be easy, it was a small enough town and they probably stank of malevolence when near a changeling, so sticking near Ocellus would sooner or later turn up the guilty party. Third, drag the culprit before the Nook so that they could drain them of love in vengeance - she would not touch their love herself just to show how considerate she was of her bugs - and present her case and reveal her glorious form. Thorax was weak for trusting other creatures. She'd ruled them for a thousand years, directed them, guided them, found them food, kept them strong. If the bugs at the Nook returned to the fold fast enough she'd even keep her punishments to a minimum, just to show how merciful she could be. Fourth, wreak terrible vengeance upon Thorax and Starlight Glimmer and Princess Cadance and every other creature who had wronged her. Yes...tomorrow was going to be perfect.