//------------------------------// // Acclimation // Story: Markings of a King // by Zimprus Nalune //------------------------------// Jack’s eyes shot open, and he quickly sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. His body still ached, although it was lacking in the state of being half-energized. He found himself on a stone slab once more, although there was a definite change in décor since he had last awoken. The human was in a small, square room, with a sparse yet tasteful decorum. The stone slab the teen rested on was cut to be large enough for him to move around comfortably, despite the somewhat stiff material it was made of. The slab itself was pressed up against the wall opposite to room’s entrance: a portal surrounded by glowing green runes. Two large pillars holding bowls of flickering flames stood on either side of the entrance. And finally, a single green curtain emblazoned with a changeling head hung on both the walls next to the human. Jack swung his legs off of what was apparently his new bed and slowly stood up, stretching to relieve the stiffness in his joints. Once he had finished, he looked around his new room once more, thoughts falling into coherence. “Beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose,” he said quietly. “Though I’m really not complaining, regardless.” He smirked. “Note to self: remind humanity that stone can be just as good a bed as springs.” After standing for a moment and chuckled lightly to himself, Jack sighed and looked out of his room. With a shrug, he passed through the gap in his wall and began to explore the hive he had been brought to. The human walked briskly through the hallways and tunnels of the changeling outpost, hopelessly lost but not really caring. One of the first things the teen noticed was a distinct lack of any changelings. He slowed to a stop once he came to a sort of hub, where several tunnels convened and spread into the walls, ceiling, and even the floor. “Anyo…anyling here?” the human called, hearing his voice reverberate down the tunnels. He strained to hear the faintest buzzing of wings, the slightest scraping of chitin on rock. But try as he might, his ears were only able to pick up a few whispers. Jack blinked. Those whispers… I’m not hearing them. Or at least, not how I should be. The human closed his eyes and focused on the whispers. They quickly became proper voices, but just as he began to make sense of their speech, they hushed themselves and Jack could no longer hear them. But as he began to turn his attention elsewhere, a single voice reverberated through his mind, bringing a single word and an undeniable command. COME. Jack’s body twitched and jerked against his will, and soon the human found himself navigating through the underground hive like he had lived in it his entire life. His arms and legs were suddenly in possession of an alien strength and determination as his body continued onwards, Jack’s conscious taking a back-seat to the will of the voices. He continued on through the hive for some time, the only direction that he could keep track of being up. Eventually the human found himself in an enormous circular cavern, easily as long and as wide as a baseball field, and as high as almost two gymnasiums, filled with changelings that milled about almost aimlessly. It was in this cavern that the voices in Jack’s head seemed to amplify, pushing him to travel up a stone slope that hugged the wall of the cavern and circled around to a high-up ledge that jutted out over the floor. Jack traveled up the slope, regaining enough motor control to look at the ledge to see none other than the changeling queen standing expectantly. With a slight jerking of his head, the teen managed to look down at what must have been a few hundred changelings, who had suddenly turned their undivided attention to him. He would have shivered, but his body refused to acknowledge that which had guided it for so long. Finally, the human reached the beginning of the ledge, where Chrysalis greeted him with a smirk. “I trust your accommodations were adequate?” The voices in Jack’s head finally subsided to whispers, allowing him to control his own self once more. He shivered, partly to make up for the one he missed, partly because the receding voices left him… alone. “Fine enough,” he responded. “Now what is this all about?” Chrysalis smiled and stepped closer. “It’s time for you to see those who saved you. They wish to see you as well.” The queen leaned in and placed her mouth next to the human’s ear. “We have gifted you in ways you cannot imagine,” she whispered. “We did not mean to, make no mistake, but you have been given far more than just a new life. You have already scraped the surface of your magic, and you have touched the Hive Mind.” Chrysalis drew back slightly and lifted Jack’s left hand, now his left claw and talons, and placed her warped hoof on his palm. Jack’s eyes widened as a green flash enveloped his hand, turning it back into the fleshy appendage it had been before. The queen allowed him to observe in awe for a brief moment, then shifted the hand back into its true form. “I have given of myself so that you could live again,” Chrysalis said. “And I ask one thing in return: Will you claim the changelings as your own?” Jack’s thoughts whirled. She’s the reason I’m alive? I owe my life to her, of all people? The human frowned. Take the changelings as my own… that’s an odd, incredibly vague request. But… I suppose don’t owe any…anyling else anything. Jack opened his mouth to give Chrysalis her answer, but she held up a hoof. “Don’t tell me,” she said, smirking once more. “Tell them.” She pointed over the ledge, towards the sea of insectoid beasts that awaited a response just as eagerly as their queen. Jack gulped as his eyes went wide. “Um, I’m not really the best at pub-“ Chrysalis growled lowly, and Jack raised his hands and backed away. “Alright, point taken, I’m going.” The human made his way to the end of the ledge somewhat less rapidly than his walk to the cavern, stopping at the precipice and looking out at the swarm of changelings that held unblinking gazes, all directed at him. The teen licked his lips and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before looking down at his saviors once more. Finally, he raised his arms and began to speak. “Changelings!” he began, already berating himself for being overly dramatic. “I do not know all of you, but I am almost certain that you know me. I am Jack, and I am, or at least was, a human. I came to your world alone, and as you know, I was attacked by the Royal Guard simply for being near the border. But your kind saved me, and made me, well…” He gestured to himself vaguely. “Whatever I am now.” Jack spared a glance back a Chrysalis, who was watching him even more intently than her subjects. He nodded quickly at her, and then resumed his speech. “You have shown me the utmost generosity and kindness, and your queen has possibly been the most generous to me.” Jack raised his left hand, green arcs of magic sparking across the surface. “You see this? This is but one of the gifts she has given. And I am sure that there are some that remain to be given. In return, she has asked what I can only call trivial.” Jack took another deep breath, only now realizing that there was some unknown gravity behind what he was about to do. “She has asked me to claim the changelings as my own. And in light of all that has happened so far, I can only think of one answer.” Jack turned and faced Chrysalis, his expression resolute. “I answer you…” “YES!” As the uniform cheers of the changelings below him rose in volume, Jack could hear them in his mind as well as his ears. He frowned as he realized that each and every single cheer was in total unison, the lack of variance giving the impression that changelings, or at least the ones currently gathered, had little to no sentience or individuality. Save for the queen, of course. “Thank you,” Chrysalis said, approaching the human with a genuine smile. “You cannot imagine the scope of what you have just done.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “A little early for world-shaking decisions, isn’t it?” “History knows no clock, human,” The queen said softly, looking off to the side with an expression of sadness. “Do you think history cared what time Chaos was unleashed upon Equestria? Do you think history cared when our forces were decimated at the Siege of Canterlot?” The teen considered Chrysalis’ words as the crowd beneath them splintered and returned to their duties. “I suppose not.” The changeling queen turned and gestured with a hoof for the human to follow her, the mismatched pair walking back down to the floor along the circular ramp at a leisurely pace. Chrysalis led the way back to the lower levels of the hive, an uneasy silence between the queen and teen. Eventually, Jack decided to break it. “So,” he began slowly, attempting to think of a conversation-starter. “What was that whole bit back there? With the acceptance speech and all?” Chrysalis’ expression became somber, and she was thankful that she had her back turned to her follower. “It was… an important thing. Your comment about world-shaking events was not inaccurate.” Again, silence pervaded the air, but only for a moment. “But for now, you have other concerns. I will tell you what you need to know later.” The queen glanced over her shoulder to view an irritated human. “For now, ask me a question. Anything other than your acceptance, I will indulge you.” Jack frowned, but didn’t comment any further on the topic. He lowered his head and thought, eyes searching the ground as if his chosen question was engraved in the dirt. Anything, huh? I suppose I could ask about the changelings themselves… but I think I already know or guessed at what I need to. Jack looked up for a moment at the changeling in front of him, her words suddenly coming back to him, igniting unease in his mind. “I have given of myself so that you could live again.” He knew what to ask. “You mentioned that you had ‘given of yourself’,” Jack asked, making air quotes with his fingers as he spoke. “Exactly what does that entail?” Chrysalis chuckled lightly. “A wise question,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “And I understand where your concern lies.” The queen kept walking, offering no further response. When Jack began to open his mouth to ask about her delay, she simply shushed him and continued to guide him deeper into the changeling hive. The teen rolled his eyes in annoyance and sighed dramatically, but kept following his companion. Eventually the duo came to a large set of intricately carved wooden doors, various scenes of changeling royalty imprinted upon them. Chrysalis stopped in front of the doors and turned around, looking straight into Jack’s eyes with an air of command and authority. Jerking her head backwards towards the doors, the queen uttered a simple sentence. “Open them.” She stepped aside to allow Jack to walk up to the doors, which he did. But as he prepared to push the wooden artwork aside, Chrysalis snapped up a hoof to block his right hand. “Not like that,” she said. “You know what I mean.” Jack looked at the hoof in front of him for a moment, until it lowered. His gaze drifted up to the possessor of the limb, who he contemplated for a moment before lowering his right hand. Instead, he brought up his left hand, the hand that he was no longer sure belonged wholly to him. He examined the chitinous gauntlet, truly observing for the first time how it was attached, yet at the same time, was made to seem like his own arm had sprouted the armor-like covering. Veins and capillaries were clearly linked to both his arm and the black plating, and the more he focused on it, the more trouble the teen had seeing where human ended and changeling began. The way the shape matched that of the hand that may or may not have lain underneath did nothing to help differentiate. As a final test, Jack turned his hand so that he was looking at the palm, feeling for the odd, almost-yet-not-painful sensation that would have signaled whether his years-old improperly healed wrist injury remained. As he let his hand drop to his side, he did not know whether to laugh or cry. *** Chrysalis observed the human with a strange curiosity. Her words had not been lost on him, his drawn-out observation of his new hand had made that reasonably clear. She raised an eyebrow when she saw his lips twitch as he rotated his wrist, then lowered his entire hand to his side. “Something wrong?” she asked. Despite being the queen, she had had enough experience among ponies to spot internal conflict, if only for the purpose of either rapidly soothing or avoiding it. Jack paused, then slowly shook his head. “No. Nothing.” He raised his warped hand, closing his eyes and furrowing his brow. Chrysalis squinted, trying to make out the ever-so-faint glow around or in him that would mark him as being able to use the innate magic all creatures possessed. Both human and changeling held their breaths for some time, the former searching every recess in his mind for the burst of power that had allowed him to stop the queen in her tracks the day before. The latter kept watching, unsure whether she would be disappointed or indifferent if he failed to use magic. It had never been part of her design for him to unlock such abilities, but fate seemed to have countermanded Chrysalis’ wishes. Her passive expression slowly became one of disappointment as time seemed to drag on, her internal clock annoyingly telling her that they were spending far too much time on a simple test of ability. “Alright, that’s eno—” Chrysalis began, but a small, almost unnoticeable flicker stopped her dead in her tracks. Her excitement gently rose as the flicker appeared once, twice, thrice, and then became a small ember of energy. She smiled as the human’s left hand sparked and lit up with a weak green aura, gritted teeth signifying how much the human struggled to keep his magical abilities working. But the ember inside him stayed strong, allowing Jack to slowly but surely push open the wooden doors that rested but a half-foot away from his palm. No sooner than the doors had been fully opened, than Jack let out a breath and fell forward, only the magic of the changeling queen saving him from embarrassingly face-planting on the ground like a larva after their first use of magic. “Easy now…” Chrysalis said softly. “Good… good job.” The human raised his head weakly, a small grin on his face. “Well…” he began, panting somewhat heavily. “At least… now I can… tell science… to stick it… where the sun don’t shine…” The changeling queen couldn’t resist a harsh laugh, getting a great deal of amusement out of the human’s sense of humor. She carefully levitated her exhausted compatriot onto her back, not minding the extra weight half as much as she would have for anyling less important. The queen closed the doors effortlessly behind her, briefly wondering how something so simple could be so exhausting. *** Jack’s body felt like it was burning. Not just the sensation of being on fire, but that of being frozen, and that of being electrocuted, flooded his senses. It was painful, yet there was a certain degree of comfort to it, as if he was being warmed, cooled, and energized as opposed to being incinerated, frozen, and shocked. And once more, his vision was unfocused, hearing rendered null, and stomach upset. But it seemed much more manageable, and so the human tried to clear his head and focus once more. He was faintly aware of being carried on Chrysalis’ back, and as his vision began to refocus, he saw that they were in a large bedroom, one that could only belong to the queen herself. A sensation of weightlessness came over him, and his world spun as he was levitated off of the queen’s back and onto a large bed, one made out of fabric and springs, not a simple stone cot the likes of which he had woken up on. No sooner than he was lain down on the mattress than his senses returned to him fully. The teen sat up and observed the changeling queen as she paced in front of him. Jack prepared to speak, but a voice rang through his head, clear and familiar. “Listen, do not speak.” He obeyed, ending his attempt at speech before a single word escaped his lips. As he had done before, Jack listened to the chattering at the back of his mind, but one voice seemed to stand out from the swarm. “You hear my voice above all others for a reason.” Chrysalis’ voice, with a slight echo, rang through Jack’s head. “I am the queen, not some mindless drone. But!” The changeling snapped, looking directly into the human’s eyes. “You asked what I meant by ‘giving of myself’. Here is your answer.” The teen felt his limbs suddenly go limp, but only for a split second. Almost immediately, they began to move on their own in a jerky, uncoordinated fashion. Chrysalis frowned, lip raised in a small snarl as she closed her eyes, evidently deep in concentration. Jack began to panic, trying desperately to get his arms and legs to respond to him once more. Finally, Chrysalis released a breath and panted lightly, and at the same time Jack regained control of his body. His features bore an expression of amazement and fear, and his next question came shakily. “W…wh… what did you do?” The changeling queen opened her eyes and stared at him once more. “You were grievously injured. Magical wounds, some reaching deeper into your body than the surface damage would suggest. You would have DIED. Do you realize that? You owe me your life.” Jack’s eyes widened. I don’t like the idea of owing somebody my life. “Then be glad I’m not collecting,” Chrysalis said aloud, making Jack sputter in confusion with the slightest hint of fear. “Why do you think I did what I did? I didn’t do it so I could have some slave or servant, as you seem to think. I did it so that you would help us, hopefully from some sense of honor or being indebted.” The human smiled slightly. “Well, I won’t deny that I feel like I owe you now. But I think I still would have helped you anyway.” The queen cocked her head. “Why? All of pony-kind hates us. Why would you help us?” The teen chuckled for a moment. “Well, apart from the fact that they hate me, I’ve always been partial to changelings.” Chrysalis’ eyes widened in genuine surprise, and Jack could sense a form of positive feeling in the back of his mind. He grinned. “By the way, you still haven’t answered my question.” The changeling looked at him peculiarly, as if she was judging him in some unknown fashion. Finally, she nodded slowly before speaking. “As I said before, you were close to death. You may have noticed some extreme measures we had to take.” She gestured to Jack’s black hand. “Other things were more surgical. We literally had to replace several of your bones because of the damage those Royal Guards did.” Jack’s jaw dropped. “M…my BONES!?” The queen chuckled at his outburst and nodded. “Yes, your bones. That part was a bit painful for me.” Jack’s expression became even more shocked. He then let out a dramatic sigh and flopped backwards onto Chrysalis’ bed, lying down for a moment in a state of false unconsciousness before springing back up, a serious look on his face. “So…” he said slowly, steepling his fingers. “I’m guessing that the repercussions were far more extensive than a simple recovery.” The changeling chuckled slightly. “From completely exasperated, to extremely sophisticated in just a few seconds. It seems you’re more of a changeling than you think.” “No, I’m more of a changeling than you think.” Chrysalis gave Jack a blank stare, coughing once awkwardly before she continued. “Yes, well… as I was saying, I think you’ll find that you have changed.” Jack raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you say that?” The queen grinned. “How many humans can claim to be part of the hive mind of another species?” “None, or at least nobody that I can recall.” A wry smile accompanied the end of the sentence. “I would think that that alone would mark you as being different,” Chrysalis said. “But in case that wasn’t enough for you, let me tell you this. Do you remember how I changed your hand? How I led you to speak in front of this outpost’s changelings? How I spoke directly to you?” Jack nodded, unable to stop himself from looking at his chitinous left hand. “Those new parts of you… they all came from me.” Chrysalis lifted up her right foreleg and let it hang in the air. “It took me a month to regrow this limb. To regrow the material we used to save you. And because of that…” The queen swung her hanging limb from side to side, Jack’s right leg suddenly moving in perfect sync. “I am a part of you, and you are a part of me.” Jack frowned and gritted his teeth, putting all his willpower into seizing control of his leg. For a moment, the limb froze in midair, and the queen who had been controlling it gasped as her control was slowly but surely removed. Finally, with a mutual gasp, Jack regained control of his appendage and Chrysalis was left to stagger backwards as if he had struck her with another gale. Jack panted, thoroughly mentally exhausted. His head throbbed, but he couldn’t help a grin that crept onto his face. His left eye began twitching rapidly, and the twitching was accompanied by a gradually increasing headache. The teen forced his eye to stay shut, and began rubbing it fiercely. Immediately, he noticed a change in his world. “What the…” was all he could muster. Everything, the bed, himself, and as he looked up, even Chrysalis, had become exactly like what he enjoyed watching on TV only one month ago. Jack stood up, abandoning his left eye. No sooner than it opened, however, than the his perception changed once more, Chrysalis turning from a cartoonish ponyesque bug into a majestic black, chitinous, insectoid beast, and her room retuning to the gritty, three-dimensional reality he was used to. Jack sputtered, his attempt to understand exactly what was occurring not being at all helped by his slowly mounting headache. He brought his hand up once more to cover his left eye, but he froze when his hand brushed his face and caught on something that was not skin, and did not have the right texture of a scab he would have been unsurprised to find. “M… mirror…. Now…” Jack grunted, removing his hand from his face so he could use both to rub his temples in an attempt to relieve the mounting pressure in his skull. Chrysalis’ face showed the barest hint of curiosity, but was soon covered in a mask of non-emotion as she led him across her room to a mirror that had been mounted on the far wall. The changeling queen stood next to the human as he examined himself in the mirror, a mixture of fright, amazement, sadness, and sick amusement on his features. Jack brought his right hand up to run it across his face. Flesh met flesh, initially, but slowly slid onto a sliver of black chitin that protruded from his skin. Several bits of the same material were scattered about his face- on his cheek, next to his right eye, underneath his jaw. And as his hand ran through his hair, a rebellious whimper escaped him as he felt a row of small spines. They were completely hidden underneath his hair, but that fact did nothing to comfort the teen as he once more shakily brought his left hand into his field of vision. The appendage pulsed and crackled with magical energy, sending painful jolts up Jack’s arm that only worsened the pain in his head. The human let out a yelp as he felt his back muscles tighten up in a way they had never done before, remaining painfully contracted as he groped at a new source of what was slowly becoming torture: his spines. The twin add-ons remained almost perpendicular to his back, sending painful jolts across the teen’s back whenever he tried to force them flat against his back. Tears came to his eyes as the agony increased, as what felt like liquid fire erupted in his arms and legs, as if his own body was trying to burn itself from the inside out. Jack finally collapse onto the ground, trying and very nearly failing to avoid rolling around in anguish. He managed to look up at Chrysalis, whose only outward emotion was one of pity. “H… h… h… elp…” Jack croaked, tears forcing their way to his eyes. In response, the queen turned and walked away, out of Jack’s sight. He heard two large doors opening and slamming closed, and he knew he was alone. But even the loneliness did not last long. A sudden cacophony of voices burst into Jack’s mind, causing him to let out a scream that he had tried to hold in, but had ultimately failed to. And with one scream, his entire semblance of self-control vanished, and he began writhing on the floor in agony, clutching at his face, his hand, his back, curling up, and then repeating in a randomness manifested in sudden, mind-piercing pain that seemingly could not decide which part of Jack’s altered body it wanted to manifest in. After an unknown amount of time, Jack felt his vocal chords give out, and his screams were reduced to coarse whimpers and choking half-gargles. He attempted to stand up, but could not manage to get off his hands and knees. Through tear-filled vision, the tortured human made out his reflection in Chrysalis’ mirror. As the pain graduated from mind-crushing to all-consuming, the teen let out an angered yell, lashing out with his mutated left hand in a punch that shattered the glass and left a crater in the wall. Whether through a haze of suffering too great to be interfered with, or by virtue of his changes, Jack hardly felt the impact, let alone the additional pain that should have followed. The human only lasted a few moments more before passing, for the umpteenth time, into unconsciousness.