Grasshopper poked her head around the doorway. She watched for a moment, then gingerly stepped inside.
“Hey, Lukey,” she said gently, “How you doing?”
Lucanus--Luke, Lukey, Lil’ Luke, or a dozen other nicknames--pulled his thin blanket over his head. “Fine,” he lied.
Grasshopper smiled. The cave was warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so blankets weren’t really necessary. Just something nice to comfort the little ones. Even so, Luke had held onto his blankie a little longer than most deemed proper. And, to cap it off, it was too short. Now that he’d pulled it up over his head, his back hooves stuck out the bottom--along with the tips of his oversized wings.
“Your wings look like they’re coming in nicely,” Grasshopper said.
Luke pressed his wings close to his body. He hesitated a second, then rolled on his side, hiding them against the wall.
Grasshopper watched him for a second, then took a deep breath. She sat down on the pile of straw that served for his mattress, then started rubbing his shoulder.
“You wanna talk about it?” she asked.
“No,” he replied. A second later, he shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe.”
Grasshopper smiled a little. Every changeling in the hive were siblings (after all, they all shared a single Mama) but Grasshopper had always had a special sort of bond with little Luke. Oh, sure, everyone was fond of him--with a hive this small, every grub was precious--but Luke was different. He was a Drone. A boy.
Every other changeling in the hive, except for Mama herself, was a worker--a girl, but a girl that couldn’t have babies. That was how it was supposed to be. Could you imagine the chaos if anyone could run off and start having larvae of their own anytime they wanted? Nevertheless, every so often, Mama laid a special egg. Luke was one of those: he was a Drone. A boy. And that made him special.
Luke had just had his first molt a few months ago. He was barely getting out of grub-hood, and he looked it. He stood about half of Hops’s own height, even on tip-hoof. And he was adorable, to boot--but just don’t let him hear you say that.
“You wanna go on a walk?” Grasshopper said.
Luke hesitated, then peeked over his hooves. “Outside?” he asked cautiously.
Grasshopper smiled. “In the woods? Sure.”
Luke deflated the slightest bit. “Oh. Sure,” he said, sullenly.
Though the Hive had very strict rules about who could disguise themselves as Pinkie, and when, the rules were a little more lax regarding other ponies. Changelings who wanted to go get a milkshake together, for example, could parade through town as a pair of visiting tourists from Canterlot, or Dodge Junction, or even places further-flung than that. However, you still had to have Mama’s permission. Grubs, who could barely hold a form other than their own for a few seconds, weren’t allowed outside at all until after their first or second molt. And even then, they had to go with an adult. Until they could prove they’d mastered their transforming, the only real place to go was to visit the outskirts of the Everfree forest, outside the back entrance to the hive.
The two of them walked back into the main chamber, then towards the tunnel that led to the exit tunnel. Mama, still inspecting the ranks of newbies, shot Grasshopper a look. Hops responded by giving a significant nod towards Luke, then towards the exit. Mama rolled her eyes, but went back to her work.
The exit tunnel wasn’t as nice as the other tunnels, but then again, it wasn’t supposed to be. It shot off horizontally through the rock, slowly growing narrower as it did, until the two of them could barely walk side-by-side. Then, suddenly, they passed the pinch, and the tunnel widened out again into a dirt tunnel. A few scraggly vines and roots grew through the ceilings and floors, and a couple enterprising spiders had even spun webs across the empty space. And the entire place just smelt icky, like old mud.
And yet, this was the only exit from the Hive that didn’t empty out in Ponyville. When someone needed a little air, this is where they went. But even here, there were rules…
Luke and Grasshopper walked down the tunnel towards the exit, side-by-side, At some unseen signal, both of them transformed in flashes of pink flame: him into a little colt with a golden coat, she, a mare with a curly forest-green mane.
Had to stay disguised, after all, even out here. You never could tell...
A little while later, the tunnel turned sharply upward. Hops helped Luke clamber up out of the tunnel first, then hoisted herself up afterwards. She shook the dirt off her coat, then looked around. They appeared to be alone. Good.
Hops turned to Luke, only to find him inspecting a small bunch of wildflowers, growing in a patch of sunlight that somehow made it down through the forest leaves above. He leaned down, took a deep sniff--then squawked in alarm and scrambled backwards as the flowers exploded into color.
Grasshopper jumped, too--but then started to laugh. Luke turned to scowl at her, then followed her gaze--and stared at the spots of color flying around their small clearing in wonder.
“What are those things?” he asked, mystified.
“They’re butterflies, silly,” Hops said. “Your wildflowers have some visitors.”
“What are they doing?”
Hops shrugged. “They like to eat the flowers, I think.”
Luke stuck out his tongue. “I don’t think they’d taste very good, though…”
Hops shook her head. “Nah… but they do smell nice.”
“Yeah,” Luke admitted.
Hops shook her head, then trotted off down the narrow path. Luke watched the butterflies for a moment longer, then hurried after her.
After a few minutes’ walking, Luke looked up at Hops, his brow furrowed uncertainly.
“Hops?” he asked.
“Yeah?”
“Why are they so bright?”
Hops looked back at him. “Why’s what so bright?”
He nodded back over his shoulder. “The butterflies,” he said. “They were all bright orange. Most other bugs try and blend in. But the butterflies, they stand out. Why’s that?”
Hops shrugged. “I dunno,” she admitted. “Danni said that she read somewhere that they don’t taste good. So they’re trying to warn things that might wanna eat them to stay away.”
Luke frowned. “So they’re drawing attention to themselves… so they don’t get eaten?”
“I guess,” Hops replied.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he insisted. “You have to hide to be safe. That’s what Mama says.”
“Yeah,” Hops admitted. “But, I dunno… maybe the rules are different for butterflies.”
Luke didn’t answer, and they walked on in quiet for another few minutes. But it was a confused, contemplative silence--the sort of quiet that, Hops knew, meant Luke was still trying to figure out the contradiction.
They walked on in silence for a few minutes longer, before Hops shot a wary glance at Luke.
“So,” she said casually, “everything okay?”
Luke nodded without looking at her.
“Getting enough love? Anyone picking on you?”
Luke nodded yes to the first question, then shook his head no to the second.
“Then what’s got you down?” she asked.
Luke hesitated, then looked up--not at her, but out through the woods. Hops followed his gaze--and her blood ran cold.
They were standing at the edge of the forest. There, through the last few lines of trees, stood the outskirts of Ponyville.
“Luke…” she said carefully, turning to watch him. “You know what Mama said…”
“I know,” Luke whined, “But…”
“But nothin’,” Hops interrupted. “We gotta stay disguised. If you go out there, and ponies start asking questions…”
“I know, I know,” Luke moaned. “We could all get in trouble.”
Luke had already molted once. And, by all indications, he was getting pretty good at his transformations. But, no matter how often he asked, Mama refused to coach him on how to be Pinkie Pie, and wouldn’t let him go up and explore Ponyville. It was for his own good, she said--and, to be honest, most of his sisters would agree.
Being in disguise was dangerous. It was far too easy to do or say the wrong thing, and get nervous, and almost drop your transformation. Besides, Luke didn’t need to learn how to transform. He was a Drone, not a worker. He had a different job, a very special job. One day, Mama said, he would take those big ol' wings of his and fly somewhere far away to do--well, whatever his job was. Mama had hinted that it had something to do with birds or bees--but had also dodged the question anyone tried to ask her for specifics. In any case, Mama made it clear that there would always be somebuggy around to take care of him, either one of his sisters in this hive, or someone else wherever he ended up. So, there was no need to learn how to blend in, especially not in a town so small as Ponyville.
That still didn’t stop him from asking, though.
“Let’s go,” Grasshopper said, turning away from Ponyville. “I don’t mind walking with you through the woods, but we can’t be out here like this. Not while somepony could see…”
“What’s it like?” Luke blurted.
“Huh?” Hops asked, turning back to him.
Luke still stood on the edge of the woods, staring at the town. He had a desperate, hungry look in his eyes, the sort of hunger that had nothing to do with his stomach. He must have felt the weight of her gaze, because he turned and looked at her.
“What’s Ponyville like?” he repeated. “We live right under it, and I’ve never been… everyone else gets to go, and they won’t let me…”
“Yeah… but you get to see it in the cave, don’t you?”
Luke looked away. “Yeah, but… it’s not the same,” he whined.
Hops bit her lip. It probably wasn’t, to be fair. Part of the magic of the crystal cave allowed any changelings who might be watching to absorb a little of the love picked up by whoever was on shift. Made it so no one starved, not even those who were too sick to go out, or those who hadn’t gotten their Pinkie Pie transformation down pat yet.
“And besides,” she continued, “you’re special. You’re a drone. We wanna make sure nothing bad’s going to happen to you…”
And that was why Luke, more than any of the others, spent time in the crystal cave. She had always been slightly envious--he never had to work the counter during a boring shift, or compose a grand musical number on the fly… and yet, it had never occurred to Grasshopper just how lonely a life like that could be. Always staying at home, watching everyone else go out and have fun, surviving on the few crumbs of affection that they might spill on their way home...
Grasshopper pushed the thought out of her mind.
“Besides,” she added, “you get to go on your big trip when you grow up! None of us get to do that.”
That mysterious, magical trip Mama was always hinting at, where he would fly far away, and find a Queen, and then… um...
“...yeah…” Luke said, turning longingly back to Ponyville. “But I don’t want to go flying away. I want to be like you. I want to go and meet ponies, and get to know them, and…”
He trailed off. Grasshopper swallowed.
“Luke, I promise I’ll tell you all about it,” she said slowly, “but you have to come inside. Okay?”
Luke took a deep breath, then let it out. “...okay,” he said, turning away from Ponyville again. “You promise?”
“I promise,” she said, coaxingly. “As soon as we get you back to your room, I’ll tell you everything…”