Far away from the Equestrian border, the changeling squad that had retrieved the human from the hooves of the Royal Guard carried their precious cargo gently into the depths of their outpost. The orderly honeycomb exterior belied the twisting and complex tunnels that were carved deep into the earth.
The squad navigated the corridors flawlessly, bringing the human to the medical area, where they set him down on an unoccupied slab of stone. Several changelings swarmed over to the critically injured being, each pooling their magic in an attempt to heal him. Try as they might, however, their magic was not made to restore, and the changelings present could only manage to keep the human’s heart beating and seal a few light gashes that would have healed flawlessly on their own anyway.
The group’s attention was broken only briefly as the air behind them crackled and sparked, the queen of all changelings teleporting into the room without fanfare. One of the changeling drones monitoring the human broke away and went up to its queen as she gathered her breath. Long-distance teleportation was not easy, not even to a queen.
“My queen,” the changeling spoke, bowing briefly. “We have recovered the human.”
“I can see that,” Chrysalis responded irritatedly. “Why is he on a medical slab, surrounded by healers? Did I not tell you to save him?”
The lower changeling’s gaze was unwavering. “We did not reach him in time. The Royal Guard attacked him before we arrived. He fought back, and even managed to kill their sergeant. But they appeared to have overwhelmed him with numbers.”
Chrysalis snarled in disgust for her enemies. “How severe are his injuries?”
“Unless he is kept with someling at all times to keep his heart beating, he will not survive,” the drone said bluntly. “His body cannot heal itself as it needs to, and we cannot heal him ourselves. It is likely he will starve, if not die from blood loss or infection.”
Chrysalis frowned and stared at the ground. The thoughts of the Hive responded to her own, offering suggestions, adding their thinking power to hers.
Take a pony healer…
Kill him…
Bring him to the ponies…
Support him…
The changeling queen rejected each one of these thoughts. They were either too contradictory to her desires, or cost resources they could not afford on such a risky investment. The queen dug deeper, using the full collective thinking of the Hive Mind, but it seemed that any of the voices of her subjects called for something that had already been said.
Graft him…
Implant him…
Chrysalis’ head snapped up at the thoughts. Graft, paired with implanting… it could work. The twin techniques had long been used to heal changelings with severe injuries, and in extreme cases they could replace entire limbs or organs. It was risky, however, as nothing was known about human anatomy or biology.
“You!” Chrysalis called, pointing at one of the changelings that served as one of the medical personnel. “Tell me, could it work?”
The medical changeling traded places with the drone, the latter dismissed with a mental wave. “I am not sure, my queen,” it replied, shifting its weight uncertainly. “I do not think it would be wise to take flesh from him right now, not in his state of injury. We would have to supply the material ourselves…”
“And the catch?” The queen asked.
“It would have to come from you, my queen,” the changeling said, its voice wavering slightly. “Only your body can be altered to the degree we need to fix him. The rest of us simply cannot change like you can.”
Chrysalis smirked slightly at the compliment. “Very well then. What degree of grafts and implants does he require?”
“You would have to give at least a leg’s worth of material, my queen,” the changeling said. “And that would simply be for his exterior wounds. We may have to take some of your bone as well. Even then, there is no guaren-“
“Then do it,” Chrysalis commanded resolutely. “This human holds the key to our victory. He will not die.”
The medical drone nodded and created a magical blade around its horn. “As you will, my queen.”
***
In the mind of the human, a dream began with a flicker of green static. A small room with no discernible features, save for one chair, flashed into existence. His view flickered once, twice more, and suddenly he could make out a creature similar to the ones that saved him. But if the smaller ones had been majestic, this one was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
“Sit,” it commanded. The human obeyed after a moment’s hesitation, slowly settling into his chair, which creaked once as he sat. The creature opted to simply stand, looking its companion over, face showing no emotion whatsoever.
“What is your name?” It asked. The teen began to answer, but stopped himself a moment before he did so. Instead, he smirked, and posed a question of his own.
“Names are powerful things. I could just as easily tell you a lie, and you would not know.” The creature’s face flickered to show a moment’s worth of irritation. “What is your name? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
“There will be no lies in here,” the creature declared, the human now deciding it was likely a female. “My name is Chrysalis. Queen Chrysalis.”
“Called it,” the male muttered to himself. He smiled widely, before getting up and bowing to what he knew to be the queen of the changelings. “’Tis an honor, Queen Chrysalis. My name is Jack.”
“You are human, correct?” Chrysalis asked, and for a moment Jack could discern a flicker of concern from her. His smile immediately became a frown.
“Much as I wish otherwise, yes, I am human,” he answered. “And you are a changeling?”
The queen took a step back, surprised by the show of knowledge. “How did you know that?” Jack chuckled and sat down once more, resting one leg on top of the other.
“Oh you know, because you totally weren’t the season 2 finale villain of a show that I love oh-so-much,” he remarked, grinning. “Though I will say, everything is much less cartoonish in person.”
Chrysalis was taken aback by the human’s words, before cocking her head and questioning him further. “Do you know where you are?”
At this, the human got up, sighed, and shoved his hands into his pockets as he began milling around. “At some god-forsaken fence, ready to die and enter the pointless oblivion of the beyond.” He glanced at Chrysalis. “That is, if your underlings haven’t eaten me and I’m some spirit cursed to wander what I’m going to assume is Equestria until the end of time.”
The queen smiled. “Not even close.” Jack immediately whirled to face her, his expression expectant. The changeling continued.
“My children brought you back to an outpost, far away from the Equestrians. You were severely injured, burns all over you, deep stabs, missing flesh and bones broken in several places.” The teen let out a whistle.
“Wow, just give me some shades and call me Adam Jensen,” he said nonchalantly. “And yet, I’m getting the faint vibe that I’m not dead.”
“We are in the process of healing you,” Chrysalis explained. “For a timely recovery, we had to use some… unorthodox methods on you. You’re still you… you just might have a few extra bits and pieces now.”
Jack nodded slowly, placing a hand on his chin. “How long…?”
“One month,” Chrysalis deadpanned. Jack blinked and recoiled slightly.
“Well damn,” he said, surprise evident on his features. “And how did you keep me alive that entire time?” Chrysalis shivered.
“Don’t ask,” she said quietly. “Just know that there are a few changelings who you owe your life to and will never meet.”
Jack nodded solemnly and the dream-room flickered once more.
“Time’s up,” Chrysalis said. “Time to wake up.”
And with another flicker, the dream ended.
***
Jack’s entire body ached. His limbs felt heavier, and he could hear a buzzing noise that could only be coming from his own head. He opened his eyes slowly, grateful that there wasn’t some overly bright light above like some cheesy hospital wakeup scene.
He immediately noticed several things. First, he was surrounded by changelings, including the queen herself.
Second, the buzzing in his head was slowly turning to whispers. He tried listening to them, and soon the sound of a thousand voices speaking as one filled his ears. The human flinched at the sudden rise in noise, and quickly tuned the voices back out. Around him, several changelings twitched or staggered, one or two even letting out a wistful sigh.
As he lifted his arms to inspect them, their prior heaviness faded away, replaced with the feeling of strength that he had not known before. He noticed that his entire left hand was now covered in a clawed gauntlet of black chitin that reminded him of the changelings that surrounded him. Odd band-like pieces wrapped around both of his upper arms, small spikes jutting away from his arms at one end, while the other was firmly placed on his biceps.
An odd feeling on his back brought his attention to that next, and he groped around, careful not to scratch himself with his new hand. His eventually located the source: two long, somewhat thick spines that remained just separate from his back that he found were capable of raising and lowering, like something he might have found on an urchin, if said urchin’s spines were curved and could be moved at will. A slight tap with his still-fleshy hand revealed the spines to have sharp tips, something that brought a wicked grin to the human’s face.
And fourth, his only garb seemed to be his underwear which, if Chrysalis had been telling the truth, was now one moth overdue for a wash.
“SONOFABITCH!” Jack yelled. “Clothes, anybody!?”
Chrysalis laughed and levitated the rest of the human’s clothing over to him. “Oh don’t be like that,” she said mockingly. “We washed all your clothes.” The teen let out a sigh of relief and began to put his jeans back on.
“Wait, did you say ALL of them?”
The changeling queen chuckled again and waved her holed hoof dismissively. “Oh, nothing.”
Once he had dressed himself, Jack patted his pockets and sighed. “Well, I don’t suppose any of my usual possessions would help me now, would they? With a lack of electricity and all that.” He received a blank stare in return.
“I do not remember any ‘electricity’ from your memories,” Chrysalis said. “I must have missed it.”
“Wait, you rooted through my head while I was unconscious?” Jack asked indignantly.
“It’s not like you were going to stop me. After all, I think I deserve a bit of knowledge for saving your life.”
Jack’s lip raised in a snarl. “You could have asked first.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes dramatically. “Oh I’m sorry, perhaps I should have asked an unconscious patient for permission to enter his head!”
“Yes, you should have!” He shouted back, clenching his fists as a feeling of aggression that was not his own, yet at the same time, was. Out of the corners of his eyes, the teen saw the crowd of changelings slowly backing away, forming a ring of bodies around the human and their queen.
Chrysalis snarled and lowered her head, pointing her twisted horn at Jack, who clenched his fists and settled into a fighting pose. The two circled one another, the challenge clear.
Chrysalis snarled slightly. The aggression flooding the two of them was in fact of her doing. She needed to fight this human. She needed to see just how overboard her subjects had gone with his restoration.
Jack frowned. His body felt awkward and mismatched. Some parts of him practically reverberated with a strange vigor, and other parts felt disused and worn. With a growl to himself, he focused on the task at hand: teaching the queen he respected some of the same.
The changeling queen was the first to move, bull rushing the human with her horn poised to spear him. Jack dove away, his right leg putting considerably more force into the dodge than his left, which sent him flying into the wall of changelings that quickly pushed him back into the fight. Chrysalis pawed at the ground, her wings fluttering intermittently.
Everything seemed to slow into bullet time for the teen. Chrysalis’ sudden charge became predictable, but the human could not move any faster than he could normally. A bizarre humming filled his ears, and his left hand moved backwards of its accord. Jack’s eyes followed his appendage, the human unable to control himself.
The hand opened up, making a five-fingered claw that began to spark with green magic. Jack’s eyes slowly widened as the magic sparked once, twice, three times, then surrounded his hand in an aura of green light and arcs of arcane power. The hand re-clenched and thrust itself forward, speeding up as the human’s perception of time reverted to normal.
The human’s newly acquired magic burst into a gale of green, high-speed winds countering Chrysalis’ charge and rooting her to the spot. Several less-fortunate changelings were sent flying, either into each other, or into the walls of the large medical room.
The burst of magic went as quickly as it came, leaving an exhausted human who promptly fell to the ground, and a hugely surprised changeling swarm.
Chrysalis slowly walked over to Jack, who was panting on his hands and knees as his vision swam. He saw the hooves of the changeling queen in front of him, and slowly forced himself to stand up, his stomach threatening to reject whatever his hosts had put in it. Previously invigorated limbs felt as deadened as the rest of him, but none of this deterred him from fighting through a foe he had conquered once before.
Jack eventually stood upright, vision fuzzy and hearing muffled. He shakily rose a clawed digit to poke Chrysalis in her chest.
“Respect…” he croaked. “Show some.” The changeling queen looked him over, then nodded slightly.
Only then did he allow himself to pass out.