The next pony strode up to the counter and Fine Roast greeted them with a smile. “Hello and welcome to the Sweet Roast Cafe! What can I get you?”
She smiled back. “Hi! Could I get a small—”
Roast nodded and looked down to his notepad, writing her order with the pen in his mouth. “Absolutely! Coming right up.” He turned to Sweet Leaf at the espresso station against the back wall and walked the half-a-dozen meters over to her.
Firefly turned and smiled, leaning over to nuzzle him. “Hey, honey.”
“Hey yourself.” He returned the nuzzle against her soft fur. “Think you could fill this?” Roast lifted up the pad with an order he couldn’t quite make out anymore.
“Sure!” She took the pad and turned to pick up a coffee cup next to the espresso machine.
Roast smiled warmly at his wife before turning back to the cash register. He hit a few buttons and the register gave a loud ding. “That’ll be twenty bits!”
The mare wordlessly hooved over some bits and Roast secured them away. He stepped out from the counter, picked up a cleaning bucket, and headed to one of their tables. A rag plopped onto the surface and he began scrubbing away at the numerous coffee stains and crumbs left from the day’s last patron. A long moment later, he sighed and set the rag back into the bucket.
He turned and walked back through the kitchen and up the stairs, finding his wife in their bedroom. Donning his saddlebags, he and Firefly went back downstairs and out the front door.
Firefly took a deep breath of the cool, autumn air and sighed long and slow. “I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve been able to get out of that cafe.”
“It has,” Roast replied, leading the way down the empty, evening street. “Even longer since we went to the park.”
She giggled and returned his smile from a meter or two across the trail. “I love you.”
“Love you too, sweet cheeks.”
They continued down the trail for several, long minutes. Roast looked over as the trees ended, revealing a well-tended field of grass, a couple playgrounds, and some buckball courts. Foals merrily played away and he sighed wistfully.
Roast came up to the buckball court and began cheering on the sidelines. One of the fillies turned and flashed a big smile before smacking the ball straight out of the air into the opposite team’s bucket. He stomped his hooves in applause and saw his wife across the court praising their team just as much as he was. The applause died down and he turned back down the dirt path.
“What a game!” Firefly said from her side of the trail.
“Yeah. Our little girl sure can score with the best of them.”
“She gets it from you, you know.” She bumped her flank against his.
“Please.” He rolled his eyes. “My skills at air hockey are hardly genetic.”
“Whatever you say.” Firefly bumped his shoulder. They turned down another trail and she began humming, the dirt path crunching beneath their hooves, trees growing more dense on either side. Her fur rubbed his as she leaned into him.
Times like these reminded him how wonderful a life he led. A successful cafe, good friends, a peaceful town. And a beautiful wife. He nosed into her mane, but the familiar scent of her was absent. Though, he wasn’t concerned. Smells were funny like that.
“You know,” she spoke up again, “we should go on a vacation.”
Roast hummed. “I suppose we could take another. There’s no rule against one every month. In fact, we should take one every month!”
“I like the sound of that. I’d love to visit Canterlot. I hear it’s beautiful this time of year.” Firefly nuzzled him one last time.
He smiled at her again, finding her back at her place a couple meters across from him. “Let’s do it, then! I’ll get us tickets tomorrow. What are you thinking of seeing up there?”
Firefly hummed. “I’d love to go to the palace. I hear the tours are amazing. The huge hallways, the throne room, and the beautiful gardens all sound so wonderful.”
“But…” Roast paused for a moment, “aren’t you worried about being so close to the princesses? And what about your, err, friends?”
“Oh, pshaw!” She waved a hoof as they came to a tiny, dead-end clearing in the forest before she hopped up onto a bench in the middle. “They’re fine. The hive doesn’t have to know and it’s not like we have to tell the princesses I’m a changeling.”
He took his end of the bench, glancing around in worry. “You don’t think they might be able to tell? And should we be talking about that here?”
“It’s fine. We’re out in the middle of nowhere!”
Her words did little to ease his anxiety and his eyes darted out along the thick treeline. “I still think we should be careful. Getting ponynapped wasn’t exactly nice last time.”
“Getting ponynapped?”
“Yeah, remember when you went—” he stopped short and gasped as he looked at her now-changeling form on the bench. “Sweet! Change back! Now!”
“Why? It’s only you and me out here.”
“It doesn’t matter! I can’t lose you!”
“But, I don’t understand.” Her head cocked in confusion. “You already did.”
His eyes grew wide as one second she was looking at him in confusion, and the next she was gone. “Firefly!” He cried out and jumped off the bench. His hooves touched nothing and his heart seized. He looked down to see the ground in front of the bench rushing closer, a hundred meters down.
Fine Roast gasped and nearly gagged at the viscous air being dragged into his lungs. His eyes opened and he found his vision filled with green, a low light illuminating from somewhere around him. Confused, he reached out a hoof and pressed, finding something firm, but pliable. He squinted and pressed harder before reeling back as his memories flashed through his mind.
Firefly’s meeting. Her early arrival and odd behavior. The changelings that took her face. The same changelings that paralyzed and put him to sleep.
His eyes grew wide and he pressed his hooves harder against what he now knew was a cocoon, but his force against strong material only pushed him away. He raised up and pressed all four hooves on opposite sides, barely managing to deform the elongated, egg-like shape.
Roast settled and floated back to the middle, eyes shifting along the world outside of his prison for anything that could help. A rough cave-like wall held a few strange-looking lanterns embedded in its surface. A little ways over, there seemed to be a carved passageway out of the room. His gaze continued further left and the liquid caught in his throat as he saw where he was.
On both sides and behind him were dozens of other cocoons. In his peripheral, they nearly blended in with the green of his own, but it became painfully obvious once they came into focus. He knew from Firefly that changelings captured and kept ponies, but seeing where they were stored in person was a whole other experience.
All of the others seemed to be ponies. Young adults, middle age, elderly, they were all floating in the same green substance, eyes closed and expressionless, all somehow breathing. Occasionally one would twitch, but they were all otherwise motionless. He was momentarily relieved that there were no foals he could see, though that only meant it was at least uncommon for them to take younger ponies. He idly and morbidly wondered if one of the ponies near him was Firefly’s ex-source before Roast or the ex’s real wife.
Roast shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for idle thought. He needed to figure out how to escape and get back to his wife. Peering at the others again, their pods were haphazardly aligned in several rows and columns, but none appeared to be awake or of any use.
Shifting his attention above, he saw only the swirling end of his cocoon, several splotches of liquid on the cave’s ceiling, and a carved stone support a couple cocoons over.
Below, he saw glowing patches of what he assumed was some kind of moss. A sparse number of holes also dotted the floor, just big enough for a stallion his size to fit through. In the next row over, Roast’s attention was drawn a little ways down. He leaned close and squinted, a little black mass sat in a gap where it seemed the next cocoon should have been. He couldn’t make out any details in the low light and there didn’t seem to be anything else of note around it.
A softly glowing light appeared near the ceiling and caught Roast’s eye. It shone through the translucent forest of green goo and bobbed slightly as it moved closer, occasionally disappearing and reappearing from behind others in his row. The light slowly came more into focus and when it neared only a couple ponies away, Roast noticed it wasn’t one light, but two.
He gasped at the striking familiarity of his wife’s own natural pair of eyes, glowing in the dark. Which meant above his head was the floor and the eyes no doubt belonged to another changeling. A changeling he bet wasn’t in the mood for a chat.
Right before the eyes came around his neighbor, Roast got a glimpse of the changeling’s head and solid-colored eyes and he closed his own. Upside down, he hung there and played possum as best he could. Betraying his will, his ears gave a tiny twitch at the sound of a soft tap. His heart beat away inside his chest and he tried to remain calm and emotionless.
He slowed his breaths, imitating Firefly’s breathing exercise she’d shared some months ago. Deep breath in. Hold. Slowly release back out. Again and again he drew then exhaled.
Despite it all, a series of what he presumed were knocks against his prison reached his ears, and his heart rate refused to listen to his request for calm. Silence reigned for several long, painful seconds before another three soft taps greeted him. He knew the chances this changeling was there to help was infinitesimal. He knew it was only there to ensure he stayed asleep. He knew, yet he still opened his eyes.
The changeling on the floor above him stared back for a long couple seconds before its eyes widened and it took off past him.
Roast turned and watched it disappear down the passageway he spotted earlier. His eyes darted around, but found no other changelings. Help was no doubt on the way and not the kind that benefited him. Returning his focus to the seemingly-thin walls, he pressed hard and tried to twist, bunch, and futilely bite, all to no avail. Frustration mounting, he punched the cocoon, the fluid absorbing the momentum and any satisfaction.
With a huff, he inspected every bit of the membrane he could see. It showed no signs of strain or stretching. Nearest the floor he felt no imperfections in the swirling tip. He craned his neck to the ceiling past his hooves and saw the black, round base where his cocoon’s membranous walls ended. A bit awkwardly, he maneuvered his hooves against the smooth walls and rotated himself upwards.
Squinting and reaching out a hoof, he felt along the ceiling of his tiny chamber. He could barely make anything out, but its texture was different from the membranous wall. There seemed to be several bumps and a few small openings. One hole, he noticed, had a slight flow of liquid coming from it, while another with a flow going into it. A third had no flow and was a little wider than the others.
He pressed a hoof into the larger, but grumbled as he only managed to push himself away. He set his hooves against the slippery sides and strained upwards to get a closer look.
As his snout nearly came in contact with it, he reeled back in surprise as a blue glow surrounded his vision. He was tugged down, flipped back around, and made to look at the now trio of changelings on the not-ceiling.
The middle one in front held a very unamused, half-lidded stare at him.
Placing a hoof against the wall, Roast tried to speak. No sound came from his liquid-covered vocal chords, so he instead tried to mouth the word “please” to them. Once, twice, three times, before the middle changeling turned and addressed the changeling on Roast’s right. Roast’s ears twitched at the barest sound of muffled speech. As the changeling spoke and made several gestures to Roast, its conversation partner merely nodded, sometimes tilting its head in response.
The changeling on the left simply sat and watched Roast. He looked back at it and slowly mouthed, “Please, help. Firefly. I know Firefly. Please.” Not even a questioning look was given in return and Roast deflated as his suspicions were confirmed. They either didn’t understand or, more likely, didn’t care.
He was only cattle, after all.
After many more seconds, the middle changeling finished and all three sets of eyes turned back to him. The middle one spoke and the right nodded, its horn beginning to glow. After not but a second, Roast felt the now-familiar sensation of his consciousness slipping against his will. He could barely mouth “please” one last time before darkness welcomed him once again.
The machine in front of Roast hissed away as it frothed milk in a pitcher and dripped fresh espresso into a little ceramic cup. He had no idea what the customer wanted, but he was pretty sure they wouldn’t mind. Roast dumped the shot of espresso into the pitcher, but not before wondering why he didn’t drip the espresso directly into the pitcher.
They’d be fast out of dishes if he kept that up.
Resolving to save more bits, he tossed the espresso cup into the sink with a loud crack and took the pitcher to the serving counter. “Order up!” He set the pitcher on the counter, its handle facing the customers.
He squinted and peered across the counter to the other side of the vast cafe where he knew his beautiful wife worked. She wasn’t quite visible and he felt a pang of loneliness in his heart. Roast glanced about for another order to fill, but was elated to not find one. A smile crossed his face as he decided then would be a great time for a break. Without hesitation, he stepped away from his espresso bar and began the journey to the cashier’s counter.
After what Roast was certain was a few hours of travel and many thoughts of his wonderful wife, he finally made it to the other side. He furrowed his brow as he looked over to see Firefly in her bare chitin, happily taking order after order. That concerned him a little. He hadn’t remembered discussing her revealing herself yet.
He stepped around the counter and his mouth gaped at the sight. While the countertop was pristinely kept, behind it lay an absolute mess. After Firefly finished taking an order, she dumped the bits on top of an ever-growing pile next to her. She tore the order off the notepad and tossed it behind her to flutter its way down to meet hundreds more.
“Firefly?” Roast softly called.
His wife turned, looking more than a little harrowed. On meeting his gaze, a big smile came across her face, showing off every glistening centimeter of her long, dripping fangs. “Roast! It’s so great you’re here! I need your help!”
Roast nearly leapt forward. “Of course! What’s wrong?”
“It’s all these customers!” She waved a hoof at the ever growing line. “I decided to start serving as myself and apparently word got out that there’s a changeling coffee shop in town. Now it seems everyone wants to try our coffee!”
“Oh, sweetie…” He set his coffee down and stepped forward, embracing her. “You know what? Let’s take a break. Celestia knows you need it.”
Firefly sniffled. “Yeah. Okay. I guess we could go visit Aura.”
Roast broke the hug and turned around. “That sounds like a perfect idea. Come on.”
“Don’t you want your coffee?” She pressed the cup to his lips.
His eyes crossed at it for a long while before taking a far bigger draw than he intended. It tasted both sweet and acrid at the same time and he spat it out sideways with a vigorous head shake. “You know,” he gently pushed the cup away, “I forgot I don’t drink coffee.” Without another word, he led her out from behind the counter, weaving through the line of customers and narrowly avoiding knocking a cocoon over. “There, see?” he spoke up again as they passed through the front door. “What a wonderful day.”
“Yeah, it is.” Firefly looked up to the sky, drawing Roast’s attention up as well. Pegasi and changelings flew all about, some with saddlebags, some with briefcases in their teeth and fangs. “It’s so nice the queen decided to make peace with Equestria.”
“I’ll say.” He nodded, patiently waiting for a cocooned pony to roll by before walking onto the street. “All the changelings can finally be out in the open. I can definitely say I won’t miss being ponynapped.”
She playfully thwapped him with her tail. “You know they apologized for that.”
“I know,” Roast sighed, then turned down a street and saw Aura’s house a little ways down. “I don’t like losing you. Not then, not ever.”
She brushed her fur up against his and nosed his neck. “Roast, it’s okay. You’ve got me now and forever more.”
“But… then why did the queen put us so far apart in the cafe?”
“You know why, Roast. It was a perfectly reasonable decision.”
While he couldn’t remember why the queen had done it, he remembered it was indeed perfectly reasonable.
“Hey you two!”
Roast looked up to see Refined Aura waving from her porch.
“Hey, Aura!” Firefly waved and trotted ahead, wrapping the pegasus in a hug.
“Well come on inside!” Aura trotted through her open door with Firefly.
Roast followed them inside, finding the two ladies already seated at the table, hooves up in the air with a steaming cup resting in the frog of each. At the spot across from them were two cups filled with coffee. Taking his seat, he tried to scoop a cup in each hoof, but couldn’t manage to pick up both at the same time. After a few more tries and much spilt coffee, he gave up and settled for one. He hoped it wouldn’t offend their host.
“So, I hear things are looking up for the cafe!” Aura took a sip from the tea cup in her left hoof, then from the right.
“They sure are!” Firefly mimicked her sips. “So many customers, you wouldn’t believe!”
“I bet I would.” Aura drank from both again.
Roast merely stared at Aura. This was normal for Firefly, but something was off about their friend. “Aura, sorry if this is rude, but it seems like there’s something different about you.”
The others merely looked at him. They both spoke at the same time. “The only rude thing is you not drinking after you talk.”
He looked down at his coffee and had little desire for the dark, swirling liquid. A subtle glance up confirmed they were still intently watching. Roast brought the cup up to his mouth, mimicking drinking, but drawing in nothing. He hoped they wouldn’t notice.
“The other one, too.”
Lacking much dexterity at all, he set the cup down, picked up the other, and repeated the false sip.
“Yeah! I got my hooves done!” Aura smiled and showed off the orange hoof polish that matched her eyes. “What do you think?” She sipped twice.
“It looks… nice?” They really did look great, but there was still something else he couldn’t place. He knew they were staring, waiting for him to drink, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the shiny orange polish. Then it hit him.
“Your wings.” His eyes darted back to Aura’s, her angry glare deepening every second. “You never use your hooves. Why are you using your hooves?”
“You didn’t drink,” the two voices echoed.
Roast shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”
“Drink your coffee.” The two stood up on their hind legs, cups still held aloft. “Drink your coffee!” They came around each side and Roast tried to back up, but the chair wouldn’t budge. They both dropped a cup and grabbed his jaw, shoving their cups at his mouth. “Drink!”
Roast’s eyes shot open, green tinting his vision once more. Half a second later, he realized his jaw was clenched and his lips pursed shut. A shimmer caught his eye. At his snout, there appeared to be a shimmering ball of… something. Another shimmer further away and above drew his attention outside. There in front of him was an upside-down changeling, frozen with its eyes wide open and mouth agape. He tilted his head at it.
The two stared for several seconds before the telekinesis winked out. The changeling spun around and took off before he could even greet it.
After its tail disappeared down the exit, he carefully reached up to grab the dark-colored ball it left behind. He scrunched his eyebrows as he examined it. He pressed on the slimy thing and the little ball of goop squished and slipped, shooting out of his hooves. It reformed back to a sphere and wobbled in the sea of green before it softly bounced off his chest. He drew it close again, but couldn’t make out any details; it all seemed one uniform color and substance.
He gave it a little lick and scrunched his nose at the thing. It was sweet, yet bitter, reminding him of burnt-yet-watery coffee covered up with the cheapest sweetcream.
The terrible flavor granted his sleepy mind more clarity and he shook his head. He pushed the thing away and took a deep breath of the same breathable, green liquid as before. He blinked hard, trying to squeeze the last bit of sleep from his mind. There was little time to spare before the changeling and many more of its friends returned.
A quick glance around confirmed nothing appeared different from before, other than the ball of goop. And, he remembered as he looked past his hooves at the ceiling, there was still the thing he presumed this cocoon was attached to.
Placing his hooves against the walls, he flipped himself around and pushed up to the base. After half-a-minute of straining and slipping, he finally managed to shove his snout against the hole that neither expelled nor drew liquid. He nosed around, but there was little his muzzle could tell him. He grimaced at a thought and wished for any other method of exploration, but his options were limited. He tentatively extended his long pony tongue and felt around, but ran short of reach right at the end of the hole. A gag nearly forced its way out at the familiar sweet-acrid flavor.
He raised an eyebrow at it, wondering if that nasty-tasting ball came through there. With a wriggle of his nose, he managed to push his snout in and extend his tongue a little further, easily reaching the end this time. He pressed his tongue further and was joyously greeted by the touch of cool air.
Pulling back for another liquid filled breath, he shoved his snout back to it. His upper lip easily fit in and he bit down on the hole’s edge. With care, he gave an experimental tug and a tiny cinder of hope filled him when he felt his teeth maintain their grip.
His hooves shook with effort as they held him there, tightly against the top. He ground his teeth against it and gave a sharp yank. He slipped down, his legs buckling from the force. But there, right above him, was a flap of whatever kept this thing attached to the ceiling.
Hope now a burning flame, he scrambled back up and dug more of his nose into the torn hole. Another tug and more ripped off. The third placed his nose right against the orifice-like thing at the end of the widened opening. One more rip and his eyes grew wide as a small pocket of air gurgled into the cocoon.
As he began nosing up a fifth time, a tingly tap on his shoulder gave him a start.
He spun around and froze at the sight of changelings on the floor before him, three of them armored. Though it was the one in front who drained the blood from his face. She simply looked at him with a single raised brow. He was certain this was a she, if for no other reason than her being twice the height of any other changeling he’d seen.
Her green, slitted eyes both drew him in and struck fear into his heart. Small fangs protruded from either side of her closed mouth, fangs that could easily sink in and rend his flesh. And her long, jagged horn betrayed both her status and her great magical prowess.
“Queen Chrysalis,” he mouthed with no small trepidation.
Though his words were silent, her eyes narrowed on him and remained for a long while. Even after he grew uncomfortable and broke away from her gaze, they lingered.
After what felt like an eternity, she drew his attention again as she came closer and crouched, peering up inside. She examined the mess he made, then rose back up with an unamused stare.
His cheeks grew warm and he felt like a foal caught with his hoof in the cookie jar. She turned away and spoke, but her words were garbled and diffused by the liquid he floated in.
Once she’d finished, two changelings turned and ran out of sight. The last remaining, unarmored changeling spoke, but was quickly cut off. He slowly nodded, but said nothing more.
Another moment passed by in silence before movement in Roast’s peripheral caught his eye. A large, wooden tub was being wheeled over by a changeling. Beside it, another changeling had what looked to be a flat and empty cocoon across their back.
A spike of fear stabbed into his chest as the tub was wheeled underneath him. The changeling pushing it lit their horn and a shimmer appeared below him. Roast felt his world fall out from under him and sloshed unceremoniously down into the basin waiting for him. Instinct told him to surface and, for the first time in Celestia knew how many days, he felt something other than warm fluid against his fur.
He drew cool air into his waterlogged lungs and choked, coughing and spitting out the now-foreign liquid. After many coughs and drips of spittle, his lungs settled and heard a barely audible voice from above. He glanced up to see Chrysalis looking back down at him just as the tub began to move away.
“Wa—” Roast choked and coughed up little drippings, hanging his forelegs against the rim. “Wait, please!” he barely managed to croak out before shaking the liquid out of his ears. “Queen Chrysalis, please! I love her!”
A moment passed by, Chrysalis’s eyes staring into Roast’s and Roast silently pleading back. Hopelessness and helplessness began to fill his mind and heart.
“Stop.”
His breath was nearly stolen and he jerked forward as the tub swiftly halted.
“I have heard rumors of such things.” Chrysalis stepped forward, peering down at him again. “You may have just destroyed some of my quite valuable property, but please. Do enlighten me.”
Fine Roast struggled to keep another cough down and remain dignified in front of royalty. “I love her. Firefly, the changeling. I’ve loved her for years. I didn’t know what she was when I saw that black chitin all that time ago, but I knew she was genuine. It didn’t matter—” another wet cough burst from him before he could cover his mouth. His ears flattened at the green spatters against her hooves.
“S-sorry.” He hunched sheepishly and glanced back up, but Chrysalis’s eyes remained solely on his, an eyeridge barely raised. He took it as a sign to continue. “She’d done nothing to deserve any ire and it didn’t matter to me that she was different. It still doesn’t, now that I know what she is. She’s my world and I’m terrified I’ll never see her again.”
Chrysalis’s expression remained unchanging and Roast began to fear she was merely humoring him. Even if she was, he still had to try.
“I don’t know what I can do to assure you I’m honest. I know it’s the most contrived thing on this planet, but I won’t tell anyone about anything, not even this.” He waved a hoof to all the other, entombed ponies. “I don’t know if that makes me a terrible pony, but all I want is to be with her. I’ll help the hive, I’ll work for you and give as much love as I can through her. I won’t even leave if you don’t want me to. But, please, don’t take her from me.”
The air fell silent with his final word. As his heart hammered away in his chest, his gaze remained locked with Chrysalis’s. He refused to be the first to break away again, even as shivers ran through him from the cold air on his wet body. After an eternity passed, the queen simply huffed.
“As tempting as that is, I’m afraid your little pony legs and wingless back will be of little help here. Even so, why have you scurrying around our hooves, taking time away from one of my skilled and able-bodied changelings? Not when you could just as easily help us from within one of those?” She waved a hoof in the same motion he had. “She could find another, while you stay here and grant us your love. We get two pony’s worth of love, and you get to spend every minute of the rest of your life with her. You wouldn’t even notice the difference.”
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He shook his head and whispered, “It wouldn’t be her.”
It was unconvincing and he knew it provided no counter-argument. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think of anything that could persuade her. Flashes from Firefly’s interrogation filled his mind and he wondered if this was how she had felt. They’d almost not gotten out, if he hadn’t—
His eyes shot open. It had been a gamble, but he’d spilled information to Aura and it had saved them. While it was no less of a gamble, this was the only card he had left. Except, he had no idea if it was an ace or a two.
Please.
“You could put me in one of those.” With some effort, he pushed himself back up and locked eyes with Chrysalis again. “You could send her back out, destroy her, make her hate you, and maybe get twice the love. Or you could let me be with her and get the same amount, if not more. I’ll never leave her and you’ll never have to worry about her having to find a new source.”
She raised an eyeridge. “You hold your love in such high regard. What makes you think you’re not overvaluing yourself?”
Nervousness curled up in Roast’s stomach and he desperately hoped he could convince her he was a pony worth having. “I’m certain you know about Firefly’s crystals. What I’m willing to bet you don’t know is the cause. She was terrified of telling you. She feared you’d do exactly what you were about to do.” He paused and took a breath, willing his hind legs to stop shaking. “The reason her love is so potent… is because of me. Because I love her, not one of her facades. If you stick me back in one of those, you’ll get nothing better than you would from any other pony. Maybe not even that. But, if you let her be with the pony she wants, the pony Firefly married, I guarantee, you’ll get everything you want and nothing you don’t.”
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes again and the straight line of her lips creased down into a deep frown. A long moment later, she spoke again, “Before Sweet Leaf, were you with anypony else?”
The question caught him off guard and he looked back and forth between both of her glaring eyes. He shook his head. “No. Firefly is the only one I’ve ever loved.”
Her frown turned into a bitter grin. “Then I can assume you don’t know the love of a foal, nor the love for a foal.”
A white hot anger sparked and flared in his chest. “So then you’re just like every other over-protective mother, thinking you know everything and need to control every one of your children. Firefly has left your nest, she doesn’t need—”
“Be silent!” Chrysalis’s scream filled the room and stomped a forehoof, Roast reeling back from her. Her exclamation was loud enough that several nearby ponies shifted in their sleep. The three unarmored changelings rushed over to the ponies and lit their horns. “You speak of things you know nothing about. How old do you think I am? How old do you think the hive is? You presume I am attempting to shelter her, keep her from happiness, ‘destroy’ her, as you so naively spouted. You presume you are trying to protect her.” She leaned her neck down until her face was even with his. Her gaze softened and she looked him deep in his eyes. She dropped her voice to a whisper, “You wished to father foals one day, did you not?”
The unbidden shivers in his legs returned and his mind flashed back to watching his dream filly win her game. He didn’t know how she could know, but she knew and he felt like a misbehaving foal in her presence. A nod was all he could give.
“What would you do if you learned your foal was about to drink a deadly poison?” She paused for a brief moment to look back and forth between his eyes. “You would stop them, wouldn’t you?”
Another nod.
“Little pony…” She raised her neck back up and reached out to caress his cheek. “The warm, wonderful tasting poison that offers protection and care, safety and security. That unwitting poison is you. The one who would destroy her is not me, but none other than yourself.”
Tears bit at his eyes once again as she set her hoof down, raising back up. It… it didn’t make sense. “H-how? How is what we have wrong?”
“You made her love you,” she said softly, looking down with pity. “You made her disregard her training and lie to keep you. Did you not think there was a reason for changelings to guard their hearts? For it to be drilled over and over before they even set hoof in Equestria?”
Roast sat back into the cooling liquid and shook his head. Love couldn’t harm, right? It wasn’t possible. Images of Firefly filled his head, of her sick in bed and him feeding her spoonful after spoonful of medicine, only to find her growing worse. He wasn’t a doctor, just as much as he wasn’t a changeling. They fed on love. Who was he to say there wasn’t more than one kind, a more harmful kind?
Except… he furrowed his brows. If that was the case, something Firefly had said didn’t make sense. His expression went from searching her eyes to narrowing on them. That couldn’t be right. This was a trick.
“No.” He stood up straight and the fire inside him burned again. “Firefly told me months ago exactly how important that training was. A day, at most, and it was nothing more than a joke. Noling took it seriously. She said the other collectors barely even remembered it. Maybe next time you should think before you try and bluff.”
Chrysalis merely stared at him, expression untelling. After many long seconds, her mouth turned to a frown once again. “You’re confident,” it was a simple statement, bereft of accusation, “and you’re not lying. I have no doubt that is at least what you believe Firefly told you. If it is indeed true, then some things are beginning to make more sense, and more than one of my changelings may have excuses I am growing desperate to hear.
“I know you still think I’m lying, that I’m trying to placate you. I can see it in your eyes—” Roast glared harder at her obvious statement, “—and in your heart. Whether you believe me or not means little, but know that if you are correct, you have done myself and the entire hive a great service today. While I cannot let you go, nor allow you your relationship, I will grant you the knowledge that, if Firefly’s most grievous offense was loving you, she will be unharmed. I will also personally ensure your dreams of her are nothing but pleasant. That said,” her voice turned dark, “if you somehow manage another attempt at escape, my grace will swiftly come to an end and you will discover what my changelings are capable of.”
Roast growled at her. She could keep her victory and her threats. He’d find a way. “Fine. I know there’s no way I can get out of here.” Not today. “Do what you will.”
Chrysalis looked him over a little while longer before her face softened once again. “It’s not often I have such candid conversations, and you are the first pony I’ve had one with in some time. For what it’s worth, I am sorry our paths have crossed. Nature is a cruel mistress and a wolf is given no say in its character.” She peered past Roast. “You may continue.”
Roast jerked again as his tub was tugged forward. A short ways later, it turned into the sea of sleeping ponies. A couple rows deep and the basin slowed, then stopped under one of the black masses he’d spotted earlier. He glanced up and saw it was another anchor-like thing, the same of which he’d ripped open.
Magic surrounded him and he was levitated up again. His body slid into his new prison and he fought the fresh tears that welled up. Tears of anger and frustration, he convinced himself. His only comfort was that he’d broken from his sleep twice. A third time wouldn’t be hard. It couldn’t be.
The changeling who wheeled him over magicked his cocoon up to the black mass, his body scrunching uncomfortably at the bottom. Another flitted near the ceiling, attaching the membrane to the new anchor with the magical application of changeling saliva. After it was secure, the first released its magic, then flew up and flipped around, landing and sticking to a moss-baren portion of the ceiling. Roast was taken aback when it didn’t fall off and idly wondered why Firefly never mentioned she could climb walls. Unhindered by his surprise, the changeling skittered along the ceiling and up into one of the holes he’d seen earlier.
Out of the corner of his eye, Roast spotted Chrysalis approaching. A frown began to cross his face, even from his undignified position. Not but a moment after she stopped, a few drips on his head drew his attention up. The drips from one of the holes in the anchor quickly turned into a diagonal spout of familiar, green liquid. The queen looked on in silence over the next few minutes as his cocoon was filled yet again. Soon, he was floating, his hooves lifting off the bottom and head bobbing above the fluid.
Chrysalis stepped forward, right up to the transparent wall, earning another glare. “I suggest you exhale,” she began, the cocoon walls slightly distorting her words, “then breathe it in of your own accord. It’s far more pleasant than forcing us to do it for you.”
Arguments and curses rose in his throat like bile, if only to spite her with the barest of inconvenience, regardless of his discomfort. But it would solve nothing. Now he could only hope he’d wake up again, to get one more try.
He had to.
The fluid reached his jaw and he breathed in one last breath before lowering his head. His vision clouded before the liquid settled across his eyes. He stared back at the now green-tinted queen and held onto his last remnants of air. After many spiteful, pitiful seconds, his lungs began to burn and he released as much air as he could in a long stream before drawing the liquid back in.
Instinct and intellect fought and he choked on the liquid. Little bubbles filtered from his nose and he clambered upwards, only to find all air gone. Right as the panic nearly overcame him, the drowning sensation dissipated. He breathed in and back out several more times, the last vestiges of air leaving his lungs.
His body floated to the middle where he found Chrysalis, not having moved even a centimeter. He stared at her as she watched him in turn.
Without warning, her horn lit and Roast reeled back as a beam of magic streaked through the membrane, hitting him in the forehead. An unknown amount of time passed before his senses returned, dizziness and a spinning world greeting him.
Queen Chrysalis was still there, yet his dizziness was quickly replaced by a sense of peace. He seemed to recall being upset with her, but he struggled to remember why. The one thing he knew with absolute certainty, was she wouldn’t hurt him, nor his wife, nor any creature. Sweet Leaf was waiting for him and the queen was ready to take him. She was kind and just and she knew what was best for all of them.
Everything was going to be okay.
As a smile finally graced his face, the queen’s gentle presence and promise of a lifetime with his love lulled him from consciousness.