//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Integration // by Raugos //------------------------------// Twelve years before Integration… Lake Misty Mellow was one of Caramel’s favourite summer getaways. It was huge—large enough that it had waves of its own, and it was just only possible to see the other side of the shore on a clear day. It had gravelly beaches all around, and was surrounded by loads of tall trees that kept the winds pretty calm so long as he didn’t go too far out. And the best part was that it was free of any of the nasties that usually lived in deep water. The lake was one of the few under Princess Celestia’s protection, and everypony knew that she always made sure that nothing dangerous could move into it. So it was without hesitation that Caramel and his classmates waded into the waters, not worried in the slightest even when they were out where it was too deep to stand in. It was safe, and they all knew how to swim anyway. “Cannonball!” yelled Lucky and Shining Armour. Caramel whirled around in the water just in time to see the pair of colts leap from a rocky outcrop from over the water’s edge. They sailed through the air for a short distance before hurtling onto the surface near him and creating two enormous splashes that drenched through and through. He wiped his now wet mane out of his eyes, snorted out water, and then glared at the pair of them. Normally, they would have laughed at him and carried on, but their horse play had also drenched Lyra, Vinyl Scratch and Berry Punch, who were giving them similarly unimpressed looks. Vinyl’s mane was glistening, matted and plastered to her head and neck like a hunk of lightning-blue sea grass. And there were little twigs stuck in it, too. Shining and Lucky grinned nervously. Nopony messed with Vinyl’s mane. Ever. Her mouth twisted into a mean grin as she slowly and deliberately wiped away a lock of hair from her face. Her horn glowed blue, and the water around them rippled. Lyra was sportingly ticked off too; golden sparks erupted from her horn, and a globule of water separated itself from the lake’s surface and hovered by her side. Uh oh. Unicorn water fight. Caramel knew better than to get involved in those. He quickly dove under the surface just before they started lobbing water globes at each other. It was crystal clear, and he could easily see everypony treading water as they joined or watched the unicorns’ battle. He was content to stay out of it for now, and turned and swam towards the edge of the lake where Miss Cheerilee was keeping an eye on all of them. When he surfaced a little closer to shore, he heard Sassaflash saying, “—be fine. I’m happy just staying here.” Miss Cheerilee looked a little puzzled. She was sitting on a picnic mat on the gravelly shore with Sassaflash, and was holding a pair of bright orange water wings in her forehooves. Sash was lying on the mat and staring out towards the lake with a distant look in her eyes. What’s going on? Caramel waded to shore and trotted over to them, dripping wet. “But, my dear,” said their teacher, “are you sure you really just want to stay here? The whole point of coming to the lake was to go swimming!” She turned when Caramel was close and smiled at him, and then turned back to Sash and said, “Don’t you want to join your friends? They look like they’re having fun. You just need to put these on and you’ll be okay.” Sash eyed the water wings and wrinkled her nose. “They’re demeaning. Those things are only for foals.” Miss Cheerilee sighed, but her patient smile didn’t waver. “They’re for ponies who are learning to swim. There’s nothing wrong with that. You have to start somewhere, don’t you?” “Yeah,” Caramel piped up. “My mom made me wear them too when I was learning. They’re not too bad.” “Hmph.” Sash didn’t sound convinced. She looked wistfully at the lake where the rest of the class were shouting and squealing and laughing as they splashed each other silly, but her ears suddenly drooped back and she turned away, refusing to look any of them in the eye. Miss Cheerilee put a hoof on her shoulder. “Well, if you really don’t want to, then that’s fine, I suppose. I guess it’s a good thing I brought some board games. We can—” she suddenly paused, looked at Caramel for a second, then exclaimed, “I’ve got an idea!” Caramel took a step back. I don’t like where this is going. “Will you wear your water wings if Caramel wears a pair, too? I brought some extras!” Before he could whirl around and trot off whilst whistling a minding-my-own-business tune, Sash mumbled, “I suppose.” They both turned to him, and judging by Miss Cheerilee’s smile, he was well and truly cornered. He sighed and shrugged. “Yeah, okay.” It took their teacher only moments to blow up another pair of water wings and slide them snugly up his forelegs. Sash reluctantly allowed Miss Cheerilee to put hers on as well, and then they were both herded to the water’s edge. Caramel got in without hesitation, but Miss Cheerilee stuck close to Sash as the turquoise filly waded in slowly. She looked a pretty nervous, almost as if she was expecting a hydra to pop out of the water any second. Her wings didn’t stop twitching, and her legs moved like they were made of wood. “Relax, it’s hard to swim when you’re all stiff like that,” he advised. Sash just nodded. “You’re doing great,” Miss Cheerilee said. “Just a little bit deeper and you’ll be able to join your friends.” Sash flinched when a wave came and the water wings lifted them so that their hooves no longer touched the bottom. Their hooves hit the lake bed again as soon as the wave passed, but Sash had stopped moving. Caramel gave her a little nudge. “It’s okay, we’ll just float when we go deep enough. We won’t even need to tread water with these on.” She looked at him for a brief moment, then reluctantly waded on. “I nearly drowned once, you know,” she said under her breath. “Oh.” Caramel really didn’t know what to say to that. Did Miss Cheerilee know? Maybe she wouldn’t have insisted on getting Sassaflash into the water if that was the case. He slowed down a little and added, “Err, I didn’t know. Do you want to get out of here?” A look of determination crossed her face. “I’m already here. No reason to quit. I just... Woah.” She smiled in surprise. They were already floating in deep water. “Huh, that wasn’t so bad. I guess I just needed to get used to it.” She waggled her forelegs in emphasis. “It’s not so easy to sink with these.” Caramel raised an eyebrow. “Well, yeah... Isn’t that the whole point of water wings? Are you saying that you weren’t wearing any floaties the first time you tried to swim?” Sash’s eyes widened for a second, but in the next instant she chuckled and nodded. “Uh, yeah. That’s what I meant. It was a little stupid of me. Heh.” He decided not to press further. It was obvious that she didn’t want to talk about it. He glanced around to find something else to talk about, and he saw Miss Cheerilee hanging back a bit, keeping an eye on both of them. She smiled encouragingly when she saw him looking and motioned him to carry on with showing Sash what to do. “Hey, look at the baby lovebirds. They look so cute with their water wings!” Lucky hollered, interrupting his thoughts. Oh joy. Caramel could feel the tips of his ears heating up. Shining and Lucky were snickering amongst themselves about ten paces away. They sounded a little out of breath, though, which wasn’t surprising, given the water fight they’d just had. And then he had an idea. He pulled a foreleg back and thrust it forward on the water surface quickly and efficiently, creating a long-reaching splash of water that smacked both colts in the face. Their snickering ended in sputters. “Well, this ‘baby’ can still give you a run for your bits in a water fight,” Caramel retorted with a smirk. Shining Armour snorted. “Pfft. You and what army?” His horn lit up, and several water globes lifted out of the lake’s surface. Lucky swam to the side to flank Caramel and added, “Prepare to lose, wimps. Nopony can beat us!” You asked for it. Caramel’s smirk widened. “Me and this army.” He then put both hooves to his muzzle and shouted, “Hey, everypony, Shining and Lucky say that nopony can beat them in a water fight! Who wants to have another go at them?” All heads turned to the two big colts, whose jaws suddenly dropped in horror. Everypony was closing in on them. Caramel and Sash were at their front, Lyra and Berry Punch had them flanked, and Cherry Berry and Vinyl were approaching from their rears. “Ooh, ready for round two?” Vinyl asked. “I could use more target practice!” “Hey, no fair!” Lucky protested. But Shining Armour poked him in the ribs and said, “Shush. We can take them!” A purple dome of magic suddenly formed over the two colts, and Shining Armour blew a raspberry at everypony from behind his barrier. “This is the last stand of Princess Celestia’s army! We will never surrender!” “Confident, aren’t they?” Sash commented as they bobbed up and down in the water. “Maybe we should take them down a notch.” Caramel shared a grin with her and turned towards Shining and Lucky. He then adjusted his water wings so that he’d have a little more freedom of movement and shouted, “Chaaarge!” * * * * * Three months before Integration… “Eat your food,” chirped the changeling after placing another bowl of royal jelly on the sand. Caramel glared at it in distaste. He knew that it wasn’t to blame for his daily ordeal, but he couldn’t help resenting it all the same. After all, it was the one responsible for reporting to Chrysalis about his daily intake of the horrible stuff. He’d refused to eat any of it the first time it had come alone, knowing what the jelly was doing to him, and the bug pony had simply shrugged and gone off to rat him out to the queen. She’d then come and throttled him with magic, allowing him only two or three breaths in exchange for every mouthful of the stuff he took, and since then he’d known better than to disobey. So he sighed and gulped it all down with no complaint. When he was finished, the changeling took the bowl and left without another word. He watched it leave, then flopped onto the sand of his pit and sighed, counting down the minutes. It was almost like clockwork; first there would be the bellyache which would last an hour or two, followed by a racing heart, weak and twitchy limbs, itching skin, nausea and a general feeling of misery and hopelessness as he lamented his brilliance in coming up with the idea of joining the changelings. But after his regular session of dry heaving, his head would clear and he would always remember the reason why he came in the first place. Sassaflash always visited him after the worst of it was over, sometimes even during. Changelings, as he’d discovered, didn’t keep twenty-four hour days since there was no day or night to keep track of. Instead, they did everything in cycles of roughly seven to eight hours, if his calculations based on his sleeping patterns and bowel movements were accurate. If that was the case, this was going to be his ninth or tenth day in the hive. Something was different about his royal jelly treatment this day, though. The bellyache wasn’t as intense and gut-twisting as before, and it was over a lot quicker. The fever and aching didn’t come either, although his heart rate did go up. And he ended up feeling more bored than miserable during that period. Sometimes, he really wished the changelings would take a leaf out of ponies’ books and actually have some form of entertainment. Heck, board games, cards or even paper and crayons would be an improvement over sitting in the dim pit with nothing to do but daydream and doodle stuff in the sand. And they apparently weren’t that big on conversations either. Eventually, the sleepiness came. That much hadn’t changed, at least. He’d go to sleep for several hours, and possibly find a few more surprises waiting for him when he woke up. By now, his coat was patchy and discoloured above and around his fetlocks, and his stubby horn had already pierced the skin on his forehead, poking out an inch. He was pretty sure he was losing hair on his tail, too. But those really couldn’t compare to the fact that several of his front teeth were coming loose, and for a stallion who had always brushed and flossed carefully, it was ridiculously unfair! He lay down and shut his eyes, thinking of the various things Minuette was going to say to him if she ever found out that all of her hard work of setting his teeth straight was going down the drain. * * * * * The forest was deep, the trees were tall, and the undergrowth was choking. There were clusters of twigs and leaves of every shape and size around him, and everything was bathed in a deep, purple light that seemed to come from no particular source, painting silhouettes at odd and impossible angles. The air was completely still and cloying with humidity. Caramel fought his way through the brambles and shrubs, grimacing as twigs and leaves slapped his face and thorns pricked his hide. He had to get through; he had to find a way. No matter what came along, he was going to face it and beat it back down. Suddenly, the trees behind him rustled. He whirled around and cried out in alarm. “Who’s there?” As if in answer, a small patch of shrubs rustled. He squinted at it, but could not make out what it was. The purple light wasn’t bright enough, but he could clearly tell that there was something in there. And for some reason, he didn’t want to find out what exactly was lurking in the shadows. Even as he tried to discern its features, he could feel his courage melting away like an ice cube under the sun. An otherworldly terror took hold of him as he turned tail and ran deeper into the dark forest. And the thing followed. He could hear it slithering, crawling… surging from behind, mindlessly hungering for him. Caramel didn’t know how he knew, but it wanted him. And he was pretty sure that that wasn’t a good thing. It was making garbled sounds like a mixture of whispering and vomiting, horribly breathy and squelchy noises that reminded him of things living in rot and mud. So he galloped harder, ignoring the fresh cuts and bruises that appeared as he tore through thorny brambles and whip-like vines. The thing was persistent at first, always keeping within a hair’s breadth of his tail, but it eventually fell behind, keeping farther and farther away. Which was a good thing, too, because the forest had gotten so dense that he could go no deeper. He sat down in the shadows and damp undergrowth, panting for breath, and watched the thing. It had stopped moving, but it wasn’t sitting, and it certainly wasn’t floating either. It was just… there. Whatever it was. But he could sense it observing him, even though it had no eyes. Suddenly, the thing lunged forward, and was upon him in an instant. Caramel yelped and flailed at it with his hooves, but it held him down fast. Again, he couldn’t see how it did so, but he was quickly immobilised, and could only stare at the indistinct mass of something as it lowered its… face? A gaping, pink-fleshed hole opened on its surface, rimmed with teeth. This time, Caramel was too terrified to make a sound. Instead, he swatted at it with a hoof and felt it connect with something hard… * * * * * “Oww!” Caramel gasped and leapt to all fours, ready to buck at his attacker, but froze when he saw a teal-coated, yellow-maned pegasus tenderly rubbing her jaw. It was Sassaflash in pony form. Just another dream. A surprisingly lucid one, but still a dream. His shoulders slumped, and he rushed over to her side and sheepishly said, “Sorry. It was a pretty bad nightmare.” Sash snorted. “I could see that much. You were galloping in your sleep. It was kinda cute at first.” She smiled and pointed at a patch of sand that had an imprint of his head, neck and body, along with wide, sweeping depressions where his legs had been in constant motion. Then her smile turned into a frown, and she continued, “Except for the part where you started freaking out. I tried to calm you down, but you wouldn’t wake up. Must’ve been pretty awful.” “You could say that,” he mumbled. You have no idea. Even though he was awake and could think clearly, the memory of the creature chasing him was still enough to make his legs quivery. “Well, nightmares can’t get you when you’re awake,” she soothed, and wrapped him in a tight hug. “Feel better now?” Surprisingly, he did feel better. “How are you holding up? I see you’ve just got your wing buds.” She stroked his back, and he felt an odd sensation somewhere behind his shoulders. He craned his neck around and saw two large lumps bulging out from underneath his hide. They felt a little bony, and bits of his coat fell away when he rubbed them, revealing pink, raw skin beneath. “Leave it,” Sash advised. “Let everything come and go on its own. If you rub or scratch yourself until you bleed, you might get an infection, which would be pretty bad down here.” “I sure hope that I’ll at least be able to fly at the end of all this,” he muttered. “Would be nice to see the perks of turning into one of you guys.” It was only after the words had left his mouth that he realised just what exactly he was saying. He snapped his mouth shut before he spouted any more nonsense, but from the solemn look he was getting from Sash, it was too late to think of a less offensive way of stating it. He had no excuse, especially not when it involved his marefriend. The awkward silence stretched on for quite a while, until he finally worked up the courage to speak again. “Can I see you in your true form?” he asked. A frown creased her brow. “I think I can see where this is going. Haven’t we already gone through this?” She sighed and shook her head. “Caramel, I’ve had this form for ages. This is me. Nothing has changed. I’m still the same pony you knew all these years.” He gave her a wry grin and replied, “Since when do pegasi have horns?” “That doesn’t count. I just don’t have a reason to hide it anymore.” “Exactly.” Sash snorted and playfully slapped his shoulder with a feathery wing. “Okay, fine. You got me there, smart guy.” Caramel shrugged. “It’s not that I think you’re somepony else now. More like there’s a part of you I don’t know yet.” He scratched his forehead and winced when his hoof rubbed against the tender skin around his new horn. “I mean, if your mom has her way, it looks like I’m going to have a lot to find out about myself, too. And pretty soon, from the looks of things.” “You know, you’re taking this rather well.” I nearly tried to bite your mom. Best not to mention his hysterics the first time the queen had checked up on him since his horn popped out, then. He smiled, leaned forward and nuzzled her on the cheek. “I guess I just have a good reason to not complain too much.” Green fire flared to life all over her, eating up her yellow mane and tail. The teal hairs on her coat retreated into her body, leaving her pink skin to harden and blacken until it was the glossy black carapace of a changeling. She blinked, and her eyes were a pure blue when she opened them again. A fish-like crest sprouted from the back of her head and down her neck to replace her mane, and her horn grew curved and sharp. Blue, translucent wings popped out of her back, and the fire disappeared after that. “Still no complaints?” she asked in a raspy voice. Without hesitation, he nuzzled her again. Her cheek was stiffer than before and a little rougher, too, but it wasn’t hard and cold as he’d expected. He smiled and replied, “Like you said, nothing has changed.” “Oh, ha ha. You’re awfully funny today,” she drawled. At least changeling smiles could look warm, even though those fangs made them look rather predatory. They sat together for a while, this time in companionable silence. “So… what’s your first name?” “Hmm?” “You know…” He made a vague gesture with his hoof. “What were you called before we met in school?” “Calyx.” Caramel frowned as he racked his brain. “That sounds awfully familiar.” “You probably remember it from Mrs Sprout’s botany classes. It’s a part of a flower.” He chuckled. “Hmm. Calyx. I like your real name too.” “Sassaflash is just as real as Calyx. I’ve answered to both names for most of my life, so it doesn’t matter which one you call me,” she said. “But you could do with learning the names of my brothers and sisters, if you want to.” “Sure. But I don’t really get visitors down here, and the changeling who brings my food isn’t all that big on talk.” “Well, that’s because not all of us can speak Equestrian very well. Most of us understand it, but only those who go on the surface have put any real effort into mastering it. Down here, we all speak Vespid.” At Caramel’s blank look, she chuckled and added, “And I’m going to have to teach you a bit of that, I guess. For starters, we use other parts as much as our mouths when we communicate. Like this—” Her wings flickered for a split second, making a chirping sound. “That means ‘yes’. And this…” She chirped with her wings again, “—means ‘no’.” This is going to be worse than learning fancy talk, isn’t it? Caramel bit his lip. “They both sound the same to me.” “Well, you’ll get used to it. Maybe your ears have to change a little more before you can hear the difference. In any case,” she snuggled up to him, “I’ll be here to teach you our language. The same goes for flight when your wings mature. I think that’s one lesson that you can really look forward to.” Caramel glanced back at the knobs on his back. Wings... He was going to get wings. He’d gone through a phase of envying pegasi when he was younger – every earth pony did – but he’d never thought he’d see the day when he would actually be getting exactly what he’d asked for. Wish upon a star for wings of my own? Yeah, whoop-dee-doo. That’ll teach me. * * * * * The next time the changeling came into his pit to feed him, after gulping down the last mouthful of royal jelly, he trotted right up to it and said, “So, umm, I guess I should start by apologising.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I mean, you’ve been doing this for me for quite a while, but I know that it’s not because you want to hurt me, even if that stuff keeps making me miserable. So, I’m sorry for being rude and thinking of you as a jerk.” The changeling blinked. “My name is Caramel. What’s yours?” Still no answer. It simply gazed at him for a long moment, and he found himself wondering if it had understood at all. But it should have, since it had spoken to him before, even if only a little. Those pupil-less blue eyes were a little disconcerting, though. “Umm, I’m sorry if I had offended you or anything, but—” “Chitin.” It was his turn to blink. “Eh?” The changeling tilted its head and said, “My name is Chitin.” “Oh. Nice to meet you. And, err…” He could feel his cheeks going red as he fumbled with the next question. “Are you male or female? I mean, I don’t know how to tell you guys apart. Not yet, anyway.” “I’m female.” He was just opening his mouth to say “I see,” but the changeling was suddenly engulfed in green fire, and in its place stood a pure white pegasus stallion, with bright blue eyes and a short-cropped mane and tail. Except for the lack of armour, it looked exactly like one of Princess Celestia’s royal guards. The ‘guard’ smiled in delight and said in a fairly deep voice, “But I can look like a male, too, if that would make you more comfortable.” Caramel couldn’t decide whether there was a double meaning behind that statement or not, and he probably didn’t want to know either way. He grinned awkwardly and shook his head. “Umm, there’s no need for that. I’m okay with your real form, thanks.” Chitin reverted to changeling form in a flash, took the empty bowl and flew out of his pit. But just before disappearing over the edge and out of sight, she waved down at him. “See you later.” Caramel waved back. “Yeah, later.” Well, that went okay. He only had several hundred more changelings to get to know at the very least, depending on the size of Sash’s family. Big Mac’s family reunion’s got nothing on this.