Public Opinion
"So, Jason, I take it? That's what you call yourself?" The pony asked, pacing in front of Dash and Jason. A couple of the ponies that were still hidden in the bushes went to make a move, but Dash waved them back.
"Yeah, what of it?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing. Changelings don't usually have names, it's more of a privilege than a right." She paused, examining a hoof. "And so far, you're only the second one to come up with your own. After this one here." She gestured to herself. "But you're the only functioning one, she was never able to make a clean break with the hive mind. So why are you able to think for yourself?"
"Why would I tell you anything?" Jason asked, spitting the last few words at the mare.
"I could just increase my influence over you, even if it only incapacitates any thinking capacities you possess." Jason's hoof went to his head, as the brief overload that seemed to come and go when the hive mind came into play. "So you see, I can just keep the pressure on until you break. I'm not really sure how long that'll be, but it's an interesting concept, hmm?"
"F-fuck you." He felt, heard, experienced another jolt to his head, and one of his legs buckled. He felt an arm wrap around his chest before he hit the ground. Dash pulled him into a sitting position before dragging him against a tree, stroking a hoof through his mane before turning towards Chrysalis.
"You bitch!" She lunged, only to be stopped as the earth mare's forehead lit up with a ghostly green aura and she was levitated out of the way.
"Nuh uh uhh, can't have you damaging this one."
"Dash, she's right. We need to find out what makes her different, so that we can--" His body seized up for a brief moment before returning to normal.
"So I see you've got yourself a mare-friend, judging by all the love coming from her. Funny how she knows, and yet..." Chrysalis paced a few strides to the side. "And you're a healer changeling. It's been many a year since I've seen one of those. And you're a big one too."
"So what?" Jason asked, jerking in Dash's hooves as he reacted to more hive mind infringement.
"I was getting there. All I want to know is why you're different. You know, to keep more of this from happening."
"Maybe because I wasn't born a changeling."
"That would explain it, I suppose, although I've never heard of any magic that could change species, silly changeling."
"Well I don't know what to tell you."
"Alright, I'm nothing if not a little willing to hear a good story. Why would you turn yourself into a changeling?"
"I didn't, I just became one a couple months ago."
"You're definitely ignorant enough to be only a few months old."
"That's not what I said, I--urgh." He held a hoof to his head.
"It's not like that explains your resilience to the hive mind, whether you're a run of the mill changeling or not."
"I know how to think for myself, I don't have to learn it like she did." He gestured to the possessed mare. "Why do you need to know?"
"It's always good to be prepared. And I wanted to see who I was up against here, and it looks like I don't have that much to worry about. From what I can see, you don't even know that much about being a changeling."
"Well what the hell am I missing?"
"Now now, if I told you that it would only make things harder." Her face jerked upward slightly before returning to normal. "Next time we meet, it'll be me, not some sort of defective changeling. So I'll let you be, for now. At least until you cause trouble towards me. I've got plans, as it is, whether you play a part doesn't matter either way. After all, it's not like I'm ever truly gone. You better censor your thoughts." She smiled widely, and the mare collapsed as Chrysalis left, part of the changeling's disguise on a hind leg disappearing.
"I guess we bett-" He held his head again, feeling the obnoxious flow of voices wash over him.
Call it a parting gift.
Fuck you. He thought back, but she was already gone. His mind refocused on the world, and he clutched one of Dash's hooves closer to himself. "Why wouldn't she try to do anything?"
Dash shrugged. "She said you weren't part of her plan. Unless you fall into place." Her face took on a blank look as she stared off in thought.
"We better bring her back, we could find something out from another changeling or something." He cringed, his headache giving a couple of pulses of pain before starting to fade away. He grabbed Dash's hoof and pulled himself up before walking over to the changeling, who was a rather small mare as it turned out, and slinging her over his shoulder. A couple of the ponies had come out of the bushes by now, and were staring at the trio incredulously.
"Come on guys," Jason started, "Stop staring. Let's just go. Shining's expecting us back soon anyway." They began their trek back, not trying to be as stealthy as they had been. There was really no need. As long as they got back before this changeling, whoever she was, woke up, then everything should be fine. Well, within reason, of course. These ponies had heard everything, they knew that he was still connected to the hive mind, and at some point Shining was going to find out.
"Dash." He whispered to the mare, quiet enough to keep the others from hearing. "What are we going to do now that ponies know?" She was silent for a while, only adding to Jason's nervousness with her uncharacteristic behavior.
"I'm not sure." She paused. "I mean, we usually just fight our way out of stuff, but it's not like we can do that this time. And we can't exactly go in there and tell him either."
"Funny how things just continue to steadily get worse." He looked up, his mood lightening as the hill that the camp was perched on came into view.
"They're not that bad, we're both high ranking officers. And even better than that, we have a cloud bed just up the hill there." She smirked, her attention strained slightly as one of the ponies from the group ran ahead, quickly beginning to scale the side of the hill.
"I guess someone's exited to get back." Jason said, breaking into a trot, not too fast, considering the mare on his back.
"Yeah, I would be too if that was my first mission."
"What, he's one of the reinforcements?"
"I think so." She paused. "It's almost winter, and all this armor's still hot."
Jason chuckled. "Troops from back home wore more stuff than you in one hundred degree deserts, I think you can tough it out."
"But they didn't have fur!" She complained.
"Oh yeah. It's probably about equal then."
"Oh blah blah." The hill started to flatten, and the tents came into view. They hopped over the trench a few moments later, careful not to impale themselves on one of the spikes.
"We should probably go check in with Shining, just to tell him that we found basically nothing. And explain the changeling, come to think of it." They walked through the tents, eventually coming upon the larger one and entering as another pony quickly exited.
"Hey Shining."
"Hi." He said coldly.
"Yeah, so there weren't really any griffins out there, so they must be further to the south." He moved over to the map, pointing at part of it with a hoof. "Around here."
"I see." He said, sounding just as annoyed as before.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked, not removing his hoof from the map.
"Oh, you wanna know what's wrong, Jason? A pony just came in here and told me about your little chat with Chrysalis, and said that you're apparently connected to the hive mind you fuck!! You said numerous times you weren't, so what? You just lied to all of us?!?!"
"No, I--"
"I mean, you'd think that after all this, maybe I'd be able to trust you!!"
"Shining, the--"
"And I did trust you, probably with my own life! But what, this is all for your own selfish gain?!?!"
"God dammit Shining, LISTEN TO ME!!!" Jason yelled, causing a couple of glasses on his desk to ring in the silence that followed. "I only had connections to the hive mind since a couple days ago, and I still don't know why. Apparently Chrysalis found a way to connect it to me or something. I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react just like this! It's not like you can do anything about it anyway, and it only causes me pain when it connects. So stick to your problems, and let me figure out mine!" Another silence entailed, the only noise a pony from a few tents away.
"Shaddup! I'm tryin' ta sleep!" In the middle of the day, apparently. Wait, it was almost dusk, never mind.
"Dash, what's your take on this?" Shining asked, some of his normal stoicism returning.
"Just like he said, something comes through, he looks like he's either having a seizure or a terrible headache, and then it goes away or he pushes it back out of his head."
"So why did you bring back that partially transformed changeling?"
Jason stepped forward, gently dumping the mare into a seat. "She's different, she broke away from the hive mind, at least partially. I think she's the same changeling that saved Lyra in Canterlot, although I guess I'm just drawing a connection there. Chrysalis said I was only the second free changeling."
Shining grabbed a length of rope from under his desk, walking over and tying the changeling to the chair carefully. "So your idea is, find out what's different here, and then use it against Chrysalis?"
"I guess, but she just kinda let us have her, so she must be pretty sure that we can't get any usable info."
"That's another thing, how did you talk with her anyway?"
"She kinda possessed this mare here, and then spoke through her."
"Kinda like that pony that tortured you?"
Jason hung his head, watching as Dash lifted the changeling's chin to get a better look at her. "You heard about that?" He asked.
"Yeah, me and the rest of the generals."
"Great, I'm sure that helped my public opinion."
"It kinda did when you came out alive..."
"Really?" He paused, shaking his head and trying to get back on track. "It's not like that pony though, there wasn't anything physical, it was just an illusion. But that does bring up and interesting point."
"Yeah. Sorry about doubting you, I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion based on only one other pony's words."
"It doesn't matter, I'd be pretty freaked out if those charges came to the table."
"But seriously..."
"I'm used to it by now, it's no big deal as long as I don't lose my team, or get separated from Dash."
"Jason, I think she's waking up!" Dash yelled, hurriedly pouring a glass of water to hand to the mare later. The changeling shifted and opened her eyes, looking around between Dash and Jason for a few moments.
"A-am I back in the hive?" She asked after a few minutes of complete silence.
"No, we're in a pony war camp inside the Griffin Empire." Jason replied, not breaking eye contact.
"But, why haven't you killed me then?" She asked, still shifting her gaze around nervously before her eye twitched.
"Because we aren't going to, unless you prove yourself to be a threat." Shining stepped past the chair and into view, and the mare jumped.
"What's your name?" He asked, wiping a bit of dirt off her face with a rag.
"Um, my hive name or the name I came up with?" That threw Shining for a loop, and he gave Jason a look.
"They don't have names." He whispered.
"Both then, I guess." Shining replied, looking over at the clock nervously.
"I was drone 37-U, until I renamed myself Evening Glory."
"Has a nice ring to it." Dash said, saying it under her breath again.
The mare perked up, her emotion changing rather quickly. "You think so? I always thought it sounded tacky, but what would I know about pony n-n-names?"
"You okay?" Dash asked.
"Y-y-yeah, t-this j-jus-st h-happens sometimes. See, it's gone now."
"How did you break free from the hive mind?" Jason inquired, waving a hoof in front of the changeling's face when she didn't respond.
"Wow, you're one of them." She said, letting her mouth hang open.
"One of what?"
"You're one of those better changelings, I read about them in a book in Canterlot while I was there. I liked that city, I mean it was the only city I've been to but I liked it anyway. And you're getting love from that one." She tried to point to Dash but only jerked the chair slightly. "Does she know? How did you do it? Did you come up with a spell to put her under your control? I got a lot of love from a pony once, she called herself Lyre or Liar or something. That's a weird name, I didn't want something like that for my name." Jason stuck a hoof into her mouth. Yeah, he could see the insanity here.
"I got to know her, she gave me a chance."
"Wow, really? So do you love her as well?"
"What? Yeah." He facehoofed, this was going nowhere fast. "Anyway--"
"Do you have sex?! Love from sex is the best." Her mouth started to water, before her facial expression fell, and she started crying. "I miss Lyre! She trusted me, and I wasn't hungry when I was with her!" She tried to raise her hooves to her face, the arms of the chair giving slight creaks but not budging.
Jason was having trouble keeping track of the constant emotional changes and tangents, he had been hoping she would be easier to talk to, but things could definitely be worse, at least. He walked over and patted the changeling on the shoulder, following Dash's motions. The changeling looked up at Dash, her saddened expression joined with confusion.
"Why are you giving me any love, you don't know me. I could be a murderer for all you know."
"Yeah, but all I see is a sad little mare who didn't deserve her lot."
"Hey Dash, I'll be right back." Jason said, waiting for her to nod before turning and galloping outside. He nearly ran into a small group of soldiers, a couple of them in officer garb, although he didn't care enough to look who they were before he dodged out of the way and sprinted into his tent. He went through the small pile of salvageables in the box of stuff from earth, before pulling out something he thought would be totally useless before: lithium tablets. Maybe they wouldn't work, but they couldn't possibly do that much harm.
He ran back out of the tent, clutching the pill bottle in his teeth as he galloped back. The same group of ponies had gathered around the mouth of Shining's tent, one of them sneaking a look inside. He couldn't blame them after all the yelling and screaming that had gone on.
"Hey, shoo, get outta here. And if you saw anything, don't breathe a word of it to anyone else, you hear me?" There was a murmur of approval, and they quickly made their way away from the tent. Jason walked inside, jiggling the bottle to let them know he'd returned.
"What're those?" Dash asked, catching the bottle when he tossed it over. "Lithium?"
"It's a pill we gave to crazies, it helped fix chemical imbalances in their brains."
"It says take three."
"Give her one."
"But it says--"
"We don't know what'll happen, just one for now." Dash sighed and put a couple pills back, before handing the mare, whose fore hooves had been untied, a glass of water and the pill.
"This does what?" She asked.
"Helps you think clearer."
"Wow, like glass?" Jason sighed.
"Sure." She greedily tossed the pill into her mouth and chewed it up, before washing it down with the water. It was a good thing she didn't have any taste buds. She seemed to cool off immediately, although he doubted it was from the medicine. "So we were talking about math." He heard Dash sigh.
"Oh yeah, what type?"
"Algebra. Back in the hive, I would always draw equations from a book that I brought back from a raid, and then solve them. It was quite the fun thing to do for hour upon hour."
"So you're self taught?" Jason asked.
"I guess you could say that, but I only got three quarters of the way through before Chrysalis took it away."
Jason took a sip of water. "Oh yeah? Which part did you get to?"
"I got into Tri-gon-oh-me-tri."
"Trigonometry."
"Oh, that's how you pronounce it?" She sighed and slumped backwards, smiling as if looking back on better times. Her mood changed again, and she sat bolt upright, twisting her body sideways. "I hate chairs!" She yelled, punching at the wooden arm. It cracked and splintered, before coming off altogether. She froze, before turning back to the trio.
"I'm sorry!" She yelled. "Please don't kill me, I didn't mean to break your chair!" Jason took another sip of water.
"You're not in trouble." He said, causing her to sigh gratefully.
"Good, because I never got your name. Or yours, or yours." She pointed between the three of them.
"I'm Jason, this is Rainbow Dash, and that's Shining Armor."
"Wow, Rainbow Dash, I wish I had come up with that name." She said. Jason yawned widely, causing Dash to yawn as well.
"Is she staying the night here, Shining?"
"I guess, I can just tie her to the bed or watch over her all night or something. We'll see if your pills work."
"Okay, I'm going to go sleep. You coming, Dash?"
"Sure. She got up and plodded over to the exit, while Jason tried to get the pad of paper Shining had given him earlier back. But given the fact that it was inside his ghillie suit and tied to his side, it wasn't easy. He tripped and fell over, one of his knives stabbing slightly into the ground. Shining walked over and extracted the paper with a laugh, sliding it back into a drawer. Dash sighed and helped Jason up, immediately taking the opportunity to make fun of him for his usual clumsiness.
"Nice job falling over when you have four hooves to stand on."
"Actually, I only had three."
She giggled, walking through the flap as he held it open for her. "Whatever. Do you think you'll ever get coordinated?"
"No. Not at the rate I'm going anyway."
"Don't try to, I like you when you're all clumsy. It makes dancing fun. And all those times where you're trying to be romantic and trip."
"There's gotta be some sort of conspiracy there, I don't trip that much."
She giggled again. "But it's so adorable, I like to think you're tripping over your own hooves to get to me."
"Or all the things you leave on the floor, either way."
"Just don't change, I like you this way."
"Awww. You like it when I trip near all the sharp objects we leave laying around."
"You don't need to over think everything, you know." She entered the tent, and jumped onto the bed. "That was some good acting there, Shining actually thought we were tired!"
"I am tired."
"Oh, suck it up." She struck a seductive pose. "It's not even dark out."
Jason smirked at her. "I suppose I can stay up a while later, but you're going to have to make it worth my while."
"I dunno, I'm not sure if I'm pretty enough..." She said sarcastically.
"Well aren't you the confident one." He replied, before getting up and joining her on the bed, pressing his lips to hers. They kissed for a few moments before Dash pushed him back slightly, breaking the kiss.
"That mare in there said she liked 'sex love,' is it the best kind?" She asked, looking into his eyes.
"Not to me," He replied. "It's like food, you like some things better than others. It's the best when you aren't worried or anything and we're just wherever, with each other. Like that time where we were sitting and fishing, or that time the day after we adopted Scoots, when she was on my chest. It may not have been as strong, but that's the best for me."
"You always know the right thing to say." She leaned forward to kiss him, before he stopped her with a hoof.
"It's the truth."
"I know, silly." She brushed her muzzle against his. "Now come on, don't you know it's rude to keep a mare waiting?"