//------------------------------// // Cures // Story: Pride and Joy // by Melody Song //------------------------------// “So… Mety?” Apex asked as the unreformed changeling walked. Metamorphosis smiled slightly at the sudden nickname. “Yes?” “Whas’ wrong wi’ the Hive?” “False Love.” “Fal’ Love?” Metamorphosis nodded. “False love is what is created when a normal love potion has Columbine added to it.” “Bu’ then how come Almexa didn’ know wha’ i’ did? She’s a changelin’ too!” Apex said “The recipe for False Love is unknown to most creatures. It doesn’t surprise me that not even the other changelings recognized it.” Metamorphosis said, noticing they were getting closer to the Hive. He stopped and lit up his horn, and Apex trembled. “Wh-Wha’ ‘re you doin’?” “It’s alright little one.” Metamorphosis glanced back at him comfortingly. “I’m just going to cast a spell to prevent us from wanting to feed on the False Love.” “O-Okay…” Apex closed his eyes and let Metamorphosis cast the spell. It wound around Apex’s muzzle and sank into his chitin, making him squeak a bit in surprise. “It’s okay Apex. This will make the False Love odorless to you, and it’s smell is part of what makes it seem so tempting.” Metamorphosis told him. Apex nodded and adjusted his position on Metamorphosis’ back. Metamorphosis smiled at him, cast the spell on himself, then entered the Hive. His eyes widened. Changelings were everywhere, reformed ones. They all seemed to be under the potion’s effects, sprawled out in clusters. “Wha’ now Mety?” Apex asked, climbing onto his head. “We’ll have to take a look around the Hive and assess the level of danger each changeling is in.” “Dan’er? Bu’ Alemxa sai’ tha’ i’ was equal t’ a day of love.” “She probably thought it was, yes.” Metamorphosis said, stepping around the changelings sprawled on the ground. “But that’s because False Love can be very tricky to measure and analyze. This Almexa, as an alchemy changeling, probably is used to potion making.” “She is! Celly showed’d me their lab’atory, i’ was cool!” “I’m sure it was little one.” Metamorphosis chuckled, smiling at him. “But as False Love isn’t well known, she would have had no knowledge of what it could do. What she created obviously seemed to her like something that would be beneficial to her kind, when it was actually the opposite.” “Wha’ d’you mean Mety?” Apex asked “Rather than sustain a changeling, False Love acts in something akin to the power of suggestion. When you ingest it, or even just feed on the love from the air, it certainly feels like your stomach is being filled. However, False Love is not nutritious to a changeling at all, it’s like…” “Like… chockit cake?” Apex asked, his stomach growling at the suggestion of cake. “Sure Apex, that’s a good example. Like chocolate cake, it’s very sweet and delicious, but it contains none of the same ‘proteins’ found in natural love that we need to feed on. Not only that, but the delicious taste and smell causes us to continue drinking more and more. So essentially, the False Love is giving changelings who ingest it the feeling that they are full and well fed, while they’re actually starving themselves because they don’t have access to the proteins.” “Th-Then how come no ones… d-die… died…?” Apex buried himself deeper against Metamorphosis’ carapace. “Don’t worry little one, no one is going to die.” Metamorphosis smiled at him softly. “I was describing the effects it has on unreformed changelings. Since reformed changelings can make their own love anyway, a single dose of False Love wouldn’t usually be a problem, they’d return to normal in a few days.” “Bu’ they’ve had way mo’e than tha’!” “Mhm. You are lucky I found you when I did, Apex.” Metamorphosis stopped and examined an unconscious changeling. “These changelings are burning through their naturally produced love so fast, they can do nothing but ingest the False Love to feed.” “So wha’ do we do?” “I know a potion that will essentially sober them up. But we’ll need to gather all the ingredients, as well as get rid of all of the False Love potions.” “I saw them makin’ i’.” Apex announced. “Good. Now, I’d go with you, but I need to prepare the counter potion and you know the Hive better than myself now. You’ll have to go alone, do you think you could do that?” “Mhm.” Apex jumped off Metamorphosis. “N-No one goes in’o the throne room an’more, you can make the potion there, i’s tha’ way.” he pointed down the hall. “Alright. Thank you Apex.” Apex nodded and ran off down the hall, skirting other changelings. Metamorphosis’ spell prevented him from slowing down as the enticing scent of the False Love got his attention. Metamorphosis then headed down the hall in the indicated direction. -------------------------- Apex rushed into the Hive’s alchemy division, immediately spotting the large cauldron of swirling pink liquid. He ran over and examined it for a minute, then closed his eyes. He usually never took forms larger than a pony foal, but now, in a whirl of flames, Apex was a huge dragon. He grinned and grabbed the cauldron, pulling it easily out of the alchemy division’s room. Apex managed to drag it all the way to the entrance of the Hive, where he flapped his wings and took off. He pulled the cauldron with him, stopping at a nearby pony town. He set the cauldron down near a grate on the street. Ocellus had told him these led to a disposal that would contain anything, and that magic purified it before recycling it. He tipped the pot over and watched the love poison empty out. He then abandoned the cauldron in a trash heap, transforming back before returning to the Hive. Apex trotted into the throne room, seeing Metamorphosis lying on the floor, hunched over some old potion books and containers. He looked up, smiling softly. “Did you get rid of it?” “Mhm! I turned in’o a dragon! Wai’ll I tell Uncle Pharynx, I ne’er turned in’o something tha’ big ‘afore!” Metamorphosis chuckled, then returned to his work. “You seem to think very highly of him.” “Tha’s ‘cause Uncle Pharynx is the bes’! He’s the grea’es’ warrior in the Hive! An’ ‘m gonna be jus’ like him!” Apex said, dropping into a crouch, then jumping up, giggling. “An’ Papa Thorax will be so proud of me!” Metamorphosis chuckled again, smiling. “So I take it they’re brothers? Pharynx and Thorax?” “Mhm.” Apex trotted over and sat down, watching what Metamorphosis was doing. “An’ they go’ a sis’er too, Celly. They ‘dopted her a few months ‘go!” “Adopted?” “Mhm. They ‘dopted her as a sis’er, like how Papa Thorax ‘dopted me!” Apex said cheerfully, and Metamorphosis stopped what he was doing. “So, um… why did they adopt ‘Celly’?” “Ocellus.” Apex explained. “They ‘dopted her ‘cause she’s their ‘dvisor an’ they love her like a sis’er.” “That was nice of them.” “Mhm… an’ Papa Thorax ‘s the grea’es’ papa, he took me in when my mommy an’ daddy…” Metamorphosis nuzzled him in comfort. Apex smiled again. Metamorphosis smiled at him as well, turning back to his work. “You can keep talking if you want Apex, I’ll enjoy the conversation.” “Okay… Papa Thorax ‘dopted me ‘fically a while ‘go. Uncle Pharynx says he do’es on me, bu’ also tha’ he loves me an’ tries to make me happy ‘cause he didn’ ge’ to be when he was my age.” “Oh?” Metamorphosis asked, not looking up as he stirred in some ingredients to the solution he was creating. “Mhm. See, Papa Thorax an’ Uncle Pharynx weren’ really close growin’ up. Papa Thorax sai’ i’s ‘cause they were too differen’. Bu’ he didn’ have a good nymphood ‘cause of i’. An’ his mother was… was her, an’ she really didn’ like him. She used to punish him, Uncle Pharynx says so.” “Her?” Metamorphosis looked back at him, eyes widening slightly. “Chrysalis?” Apex whimpered at the name but nodded. Metamorphosis paused, then spoke. “Apex… do Thorax and Pharynx have a father?” Apex blinked, then shook his head. “Nu-uh. Uncle Pharynx sai’ tha’ she ne’er tol’ them ‘bout him. An’ they ne’er me’ him.”