Love.
It is perhaps one of, if not THE most powerful of all perceptible emotions. It is also, as many of us have come to find out for ourselves, a great many other things. A driving force...an infection...a cure.
For our changelings and their queen however, love was food. Simple as that. And for the countless generations of changelings and queens alike that had come before them, it had been nothing but that, food.
Now, to consider love as nothing more than a means of sustenance was simple enough a concept for any changeling. To obtain that love, however, was anything but. In fact, if you considered their...base appearance, the way they'd normally go about obtaining love, then harvest that love once they had the opportunity to, as well as the general reaction most would've had to these factors, it was a wonder in of itself that the changelings had managed to survive up to this point, never mind the fact that they were, on a day to day basis, almost always one bad harvest or sudden raid away from their utter extinction as a species. Long story short, the reason changelings always appeared as a starved, ravenous bunch was because they were changelings. Few knew, save for the queen, her greatest warriors or luckiest few, what it truly felt like to ever be full, let alone not constantly starving. Case in point, Chrysalis had never related herself to a moth. Well, until now that is.
Love was in the air. Hell at that moment, you could almost cut it with a knife it was that thick with the stuff.
Maws drooled puddles, wings buzzed madly, and many other presumably happy bug pone noises were heard throughout the crowd as the giant pair continued to unknowingly wave a veritable lovebug buffet in the faces of the panting little lings.
An unsurprising feat considering the giant and his dog being at the size they were. And the intensity that which the hound was putting in its show of affection for said master? Yeah, pretty sure a few of the weaker lings in the crowd just fainted from the smell alone. But despite the sounds of light thuds to their ears and twitching heaps at their holed hooves, those poor fallen few went almost entirely unnoticed by the rest of their slightly drooling, but definitely tail-wagging kin.
Really the only ones by this point who didn’t look all that affected were Chrysalis, Brute, and Ruby. And really that only seemed to be the case because Chrysalis had her bug mom endurance (along with the fact she didn’t want her kiddos to see her drool up a lake as was made obvious by the several times she quickly swiped at her mouth), Ruby had her spells, and Brute...well was just Brute. And hey, the guards spread about the scene also seemed to not be that completely lost in the sauce too. Which was a saving grace for the fainted few, as the guards nearest them in the craving crowd seemed sober enough to at least check on them, the occasional stumble or wobbling pause aside.
"My queen." Suddenly came Brute's voice, a significant hint of hesitancy there. Chrysalis didn't even need to guess why.
"Yes Brute, I know." the queen of the changelings said, quickly swiping at her dribbling maw yet again. "Things just got a bit more...complicated."
And complicated they were indeed. Because how else was a queen of her caliber supposed to properly handle something like this? Sure. She could call the giant's bluff for being genuinely generous by demanding that he submit himself and his pooch to being her hive's love generators for the foreseeable future. There was just one little problem to that seemingly simple plan.
She was smol.
And her hive, what was left of it at least, was just as small numerically as it was literally. At least in comparison to the giant and his dog.
And that dog, a pup no less. Chrysalis and her lings would've been made mincemeat by it had it not been for the giant's intervention. Though she hated to admit it, she obviously knew that the dog was stronger than both her and her best warriors combined. Tartarus, even if she ordered ALL of her hive to suddenly attack it, she doubted most would land more than a couple blows or blasts before they were all promptly slaughtered by the young canine. And even if they could somehow take care of the monstrous mutt, the giant still remained.
Chrysalis gulped at the thought. She had heard of the tales, read the old texts. She could remember several hives of old off the top of her head that had met their gruesome and abrupt ends simply because they had either accidently burrowed into a dragon's den, or had thought it could harvest love from an ursa major, or even thought it could tame a ursa minor in the hopes of using it for their own plans. Long stories short, those hives that had spent months, if not years seeing themselves grow numerically and expand territorially were all wiped entirely away from the world in but a single day.
Or was it a few hours?
Chrysalis honestly didn't know. Nor did she really care.
What she did care about though was her own hive. And knowing that, if she crossed this giant -who could've probably ended those hive-enders easily- in any way, there was a likely, if almost definite chance that she would beat all those other hives and their queens in discovering the fastest route to a complete and utterly bloody hive wipe. And seeing that the giant and his dog seemed almost inseparable from each other, if the love-sharing show wasn't enough of a giveaway, if she somehow managed to hurt or even kill it in front of him? Accident or not?
Heh, forget hours, Chrysalis doubted the mountain-sized biped would spare her or her kin even a second to breathe a syllable of an apology or excuse before they were all instantaneously atomized.
'My queen.'
'Wha-?' Chrysalis physically and mentally blinked, snapping herself out of that particularly dark thought to glance at her commander. 'What is it, Brute?'
'Apologies, my queen. But I need to know what our next course of action should be.' He thought back, glancing at the crowd behind them. 'And not to rush you either...but some of the drones are beginning to look feral.'
Hearing that, and glancing back herself, the queen's eyes widened a tad when she saw that almost all of her changelings, red-robed and bare chitin alike, looked as if they were seeing the shifting goddess herself. Their eyes as wide as saucers. Their jaws hung limp bellow drooling fangs. And their wings...seemed to buzz almost in tandem with one another. Even the soldiers were visibly vibrating in their own armor, weapons discarded and steel plates chattering as they quietly chittered to themselves. Some walked, some hovered, and some dragged themselves forward as they all slowly inched towards what was essentially the sun to a moth.
'While I would never intend to order you around, my queen,' Brute added, his telepathic voice wavering towards the end but still pressing forward, "I would highly suggest that you please give orders to both the hive and I before we all drown in our own drool."
'R-Right. Right.' The queen agreed, nodding absently as she tried to think up a plan.
'I will-. I mean the t-troops will first need to...to um...'
And continued to think up a plan as one second ticked by another. And another. And another.
'We'll obviously have to...I mean, we will have to...to, to uh...buck.'
She didn't have a plan.
She could not, for the life of her or her changelings for that matter, come up with a plan. She began to sweat. Her eyes darting from her patiently-awaiting Brute, to her impatiently-waiting horde of starving children, to the giant who's infernal beast had at least relented enough in its licking to let the human raise to a sitting position, then back to Brute who had the nerve to raise a innocent brow as he tilted his head at her.
'My Queen?' He mentally called. But to his queen, he might've as will've called to her from the abyss.
Chrysalis -in yet another instance of showing a side she'd swore rarely if never to ever have any of her kin see, let alone Brute of all lings, took a step back, her ears wilted as all that she could hear in that moment was only the thundering beat of her heart. Her breathe quickened. Her wings twitched fiercely. And for a second, she idly wondered if a changeling could throw up emotions. Was she having a panic attack?
'Me? Panicking?' She suddenly thought to herself and the word, echoing throughout her psyche like a tolling bell, shocked her into a pause. You could practically hear the record scratch in Chrysalis's mind as she processed that word, remembered its definition, and could almost imagine herself as the textbook example. Coincidentally, she then immediately imagined a dictionary bursting into emerald flame, rekindling something within her that was akin to a self-awareness so spiteful and condescending it'd make a elder dragon cringe. And soon enough, more words began to resurface because of that loathing awareness, like bits of driftwood in a raging sea. 'Like The Abyss I do! I do NOT panic. In fact, I am the one who spreads panic! I am its creator! Its master! I do NOT and will NOT suffer from it like...like...like some blasted pony!'
Seething from her internal rant, and just before the gravity of reality and all the pressures thereof could drag her back down to their depressive depths, Chrysalis's head suddenly snapped towards Brute, who despite being the big bug that he was, still flinched like a newspawn not only at the sudden and shear intensity of his queen's eye, but from the almost noxious mix of emotions he could almost see writhing over his queen like a self-mutilating hydra. Her next thoughts were cold and calculated.
'Brute.'
'Y-Yes, my queen?'
'As you've realized it, we are pressed for time and a plan. I however need more time to formulate one. And though I hate to admit it, I am...faltering right now. Can I...rely on you to keep the others in line long enough so that I can piece...something together?'
Brute was silent for a few moments more than Chrysalis would've liked and her wings began to twitch nervously. Though she hated for that to show, as much as she hated the possibility that at any second now Brute would, at best, question the hints of weakness that'd leaked out towards the end and her telepathic confession and command, or worse, fancy the thought that his queen was practically begging him to bail her out of this endeavor. An endeavor her stubbornness more or less willed into existence. Yet despite the odds, the simple, curt nod he gave her instead was all that she could've preyed for.
'Of course, my queen.' He thought before, without even hesitating, followed up with another. 'I feared you'd never ask.'
His slight look of relief was rewarded with his queen raising a brow.
'Was...that thought also intended for me?'
The commander, in all his sincerity and stoicism, looked as surprised as a blind man being told he'd failed his eye exam.
'...No?' He responded, veritable amounts of false innocence permeating around the ling like a flickering halo. Or in the queens opinion, like a swarm of flies over a pile of bullshit. The queen's brow hiked up a tad more, and as the commander's own brow began to sweat, she closed her eyes and sighed.
'Thank you.' She thought back, before opening her eyes and befitting Brute with the smallest and sincerest of smiles. A second longer and the smile faded, replaced instead with a determined frown. 'Now go.'
Nodding, the changeling turned and began barking orders to his troops, breaking them from their love-starved spells and spurring them into action. Action which primarily focused on holding back the tide of love-starved, yet still mostly-cognizant lings of the group while simultaneously tending to or sedating the more feral members of the hive, a necessity by this point which was thankfully carried out by a few of Ruby's lesser love-crazed acolytes at her mental behest. And while Brute was overseeing all of that, Chrysalis was attempting to once again formulate a plan.
First of all, threats and anything else that'd even remotely result in confrontation were off the table.
Sure, Chrysalis had already taken plenty of risks getting to this point. Some key examples...
So desperate for a meal that she'd waged a one-queen-war against life itself despite the odds being near negative in her favor? Check.
Bold enough to not only rip the very fabrics of time and space apart, but also weave together a comically-large-sized slingshot using those fabrics, aim it practically blindfolded, and then launch herself and her children into the proverbial and quite literal void? Check.
All the while knowing that by doing this, she'd not only be risking the end to the royal bloodline of changeling queens before and after her, but would also be simultaneously risking what was amounting to be the last lings of the true changeling race? Check.
All of that, for even just the faintest hope of maybe finding even marginally greener pastures? Check. Check. Check.
But to actually square up against these two? Or even just one of the them for that matter?
Out. Of. The fucking question.
Case in point, those spiders from before. Chrysalis had barely been able to take down just ONE of those horrid insects on her own. The dog had killed two with the same amount of effort it took to blink.
And while Chrysalis never saw or heard if it ever did get that third one, she could only assume that because the giant seemed to consider its effortless hunt for these arachnids as little more than a slight if reoccurring annoyance, the canine had probably slaughtered countless scores of them well before she set hoof on this world.
All of that power, fueled by an insatiable hunger, housed within a merciless apex predator. And all it took to reduce all of that to a quivering and whimpering mess was a single look from its master.
How could Chrysalis even imagine facing something like that? Simple. She couldn't. There was no way she could logically see herself or her hive take on either, let alone both in a head-on fight without a swift and utterly abysmal one-sided genocide.
'Maybe if we still had the numbers from before that wedding fiasco, we'd actually have a chance.' The queen thought bitterly to herself. she then thought for a few more seconds before shaking her head, having ruled out that fantasy as it'd only just irritate the giants more and prolong the inevitable. Besides, whether if she had thousands more changelings under her command or millions, it would never be enough.
Moving on, Chrysalis continued to consider her options. The next of which being bargaining. But try as she could, the queen just couldn't figure what she or her lings could offer that'd interest the giant enough to trade his love for. Unless, it wasn't a what he might want, but a who?
'NO! N-No, that's out of the question, too!'
There was no way that Chrysalis was going to sell her children off like some indebted serf.
Even if the giant demanded it, she would...she'd...do...something. She'd literally offer him anything else. Forbidden knowledge, dark magics, anything. Anything, except her children.
'A-Anyway, I'll come back to that one.'
Yet despite that, no matter how she tried to reason it, the only other option she had was…
‘But, if it DID come to that…’ She thought, mulling the idea over. That of which, if the bargaining plan failed, would need to involve a bit of begging and a whole lot of acceptance.
She didn’t like it, in fact Chrysalis downright despised herself for being so weak as to even humor the possibility of...surrendering to another. Any other queen would rather perish before such a option was considered. But at the same time, a queen who could not face facts and do what was necessary to save her children was unfit to be called a queen at all. Or even a good mother for that matter.
'And I'm the best mother around!' Chrysalis thought angrily to herself as she puffed her chest.
So what if admitting loyalty to another meant losing face as a queen? If pledging her allegiance to this giant meant not only the continued survival of her hive, but perhaps even its ultimate salvation? Then, as best bug mom, it'd only be natural that she'd bare that shame so that her children could live on in peace and prosperity. If only it hadn't taken Chrysalis until now to realize th-.
'Alright!' Chrysalis mentally proclaimed, her mind mostly made up. 'I've got a plan. All that's left now is to set it in motion.'
But before she did that, she turned to check on her commander's progress on his front. And, after seeing Brute and Ruby standing triumphantly over the tamed and sedated remnants of her hive's populace, Chrysalis nodded once with a proud grin before turning back to regard the massive pair before her. Seems the giant had been occupied with his furry companion the whole time. No matter. It was now time for Chrysalis, queen of the mighty and fearsome changeling race to command all attention, and to flawlessly utilize the gifts bestowed upon her since her hatching and with which she'd been using and honing for decades.
As the eloquent speaker and drop-dead beauty that she was, persuading this giant to offer his love would be no different nor more difficult than it had been to fool all those ponies so long ago. In fact? If he could believe all that bull that Chrysalis had told him before, than this 'little' request would be a walk in the nest for her.
Clearing her throat, she raised her head high to meet the giant's curious gaze.
"Oh, giant. Ruler of these lands. I beseech you to-."
"Woah, Burrow! Y-Your hooves!
The crack of a whip snapped at the dusty air as the queen's head did a one-eighty, her eyes smoldering with fury as she searched for the one who’d just signed their own death warrant by daring to interrupt her.
That very same fury, along with any bit of excess anger or even lingering irritation instantly vaporized however, as those very same eyes of hers fell on the changeling in question. And widened in shock.
The changeling soldier Burrow, who had at one moment been swallowed alive by the giant’s pet beast before being upchucked the next, now stood puzzled and surrounded by his shocked brothers and sisters as they all stared at his hooves.
Or more importantly, what was missing from them.
“Your leg holes! T-They’re, they’re gone!” One changeling shouted.
“And n-not just those ones either! Your horn, too! A-And even your wings!” Another roared, stupefied beyond belief. “By the Goddess, Burrow, ALL your holes appear to be gone! How's that even possible?!”
'They're just now seeing this?' Chrysalis thought to herself, having not noticed the changeling's physical change herself but still confused and a little peeved they'd do so now and so audibly as they did when she'd just been about ready to address the gi-.
Chrysalis froze as the reality of the changeling's altered appearance finally caught up with her. But rather than be glad, proud, or even envious upon seeing one of her children having finally consumed enough love to trigger and complete their body's reclamation, the queen was actually rather shocked.
She was shocked because even if occasionally she admitted to not knowing everything there was to know, she still knew one thing for certain, and that was, as all changelings knew, that once changelings consumed enough love energy to trigger their body's innate reclamation ability, -which was almost in of itself a incredible feat-and-a-half for a queen, let alone the common drone- they would also need to maintain that same level of energy at an constant rate throughout the entire process. A process, which Chrysalis reminded herself rather forcibly, that could take days or even weeks depending on the severity of the changeling's condition.
Never, in all here years as a queen or during the reign of previous queens, had she heard of a changeling -again, a mere grunt no less- not only both trigger and complete their reclamation in a single day, but actually survive the process a second more after its completion.
In fact, the only reason that Chrysalis could come up with that'd maybe justify the soldier's continued living was, funny enough, the very same reason she stood there, shock-still, watching silently as an equally stupefied Ruby was circling the changeling like a starving shark, closely inspecting every inch of his body while frantically mumbling to herself. The ever-stoic Brute, at least gave the guard some space, -unlike the others and especially unlike a certain red-robed changeling- gave him instead a simple, appraising nod.
No, Chrysalis wasn't just focused on the HOW or even on the HOW MUCH by this point. She was more so worried, bordering on deathly afraid by this point, about just WHERE did this changeling manage to siphon that much love energy from and in such a short time. She had an hunch of course. She was just doing everything in her power NOT to acknowledge it.
'Actually.' Chrysalis internally started. 'Maybe there's still a chance to salvage this!' The queen smiled, hope slowly rising within her. 'The giant doesn't know everything about us. All she really had to do was just tell him that changelings could trigger their reclamation ability so long as they stayed close enough to a large enough source of love energy. This was nothing more than a passive extraction. And if he asked why she didn't mention this sort of thing, she just had be as convincing and as cute as possible when she said that she simply forgot to mention it. Child's play.
Nodding at her own brilliant plan of exploiting the giant's still-infantile grasp on her people's biology, Chrysalis turned to him to put it into action.
"G-" Or she was about to, until she froze upon seeing the look on the giant's face. He was staring at the changeling, his eyes squinted and flickering several times from between him and the dog resting in his lap. His eyes then began to dart slightly this way and that, almost as if her were connecting dots that only he could see. But whether by chance or by the fact that she'd been caught staring, those eyes finally flicked over to her. And when they narrowed just a bit more at her and she reflexively gulped at the scrutiny, Chrysalis swore she saw the last dot's connection mirrored through those now slightly widening orbs of his.
‘Oh no. Please no.’ Chrysalis preyed to herself, her blood running cold as desperation crept in. ‘Oh Goddess above, PLEASE don't tell me he-.’
“Chrysalis.”
The changeling queen flinched, her entire body going rigid as she heard the giant utter her name. Quiet and as impossibly calm as it may have seemed, she couldn’t help but imagine the murderous glare and unsuppressed fury that'd erupt from him at any moment. And the violent stomping that would definitely follow. Truly never before, in all her years, had Chrysalis been more genuinely afraid of anything or anyone than at that very moment.
And, despite the queen facing certain doom for both herself and her people, A sudden thought came to her. If this was really the end for her and her children, then wasn't she at least entitled to some last words?
She should really say them now while she's still got the chance to.
Actually? No, never mind.
She only has just one.
"Buck."