//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20 
// Story: Even Stranger 
// by SaltyJustice 
//------------------------------//

	From somewhere deep within the hive, a melody vibrated through the thin stone walls.  Powerful and low, the bass could be heard all through the structure.  Queen Chrysalis had sent a security detail only half an hour ago to locate the source of disturbance, yet they had been unable to find it.  That, or unwilling to report that they had.
The Queen stood now next to a mechanical parts store-room on the lowest floor of the hive, which was technically considered a sub-basement meant for water collection.  The water had further dried and required a different mechanism, that of diverting a nearby stream towards the upper floors for direct acquisition, and the area had been re-purposed.  It was seldom traveled and the passing maintenance crew members paid her no notice.  They had no need to, for she seemed, to them, to be a rather young, lost-looking first-year trainee.
Tarsus, however, knew what to look for.  He casually made his way along the corridor and, seeing her nod to him, stopped next to her and reclined against the wall.  He waited until he was certain there were no eavesdroppers in the hallway before he spoke.
"My queen," he said to confirm.
"Indeed."
"What is the purpose of this meeting place?"
Chrysalis motioned at the door of the store-room.
"Tegula waits for you within.  You will guard this entrance until I have finished personally debriefing her, at which point, you will then have your chance.  I will meet you in my quarters at 1900 hours.  Understood?"
Tarsus chanced a salute.  Chrysalis relaxed herself and opened the door to the darkened store-room, being sure to close it behind her.

After half an hour had transpired, Tegula stuck her head out from the door.
"Uh, Commander?"
Tarsus glanced over at her.
"Yes?"
"Um, Chrissy says you can come in now."
Tarsus made sure the hall was empty before following her lead.  The room held two-dozen stone shelves with an assortment of replacement pipes and parts for the plumbing system.  The sole enchanted light flickered at random and left no end of sharp shadows throughout the room.
"Where is the queen?"
Tegula looked around.  "She was right here..."
Tarsus could make out, in the gloom, the square outline of a secret passage along the back wall.  He chuckled to himself.
"Never mind.  Let us begin.  First, I am sure I need not tell you that everything you have seen on this mission does not leave this room.  Do not write in your journal about it, do not gossip about it, and certainly do not include it in any official reports."
"Understood, sir."
"Very well.  I will be discussing with the Queen all the details of your mission.  Please inform me what you found."
Tegula detailed the whole story, of her finding everything abandoned and mostly looted.  Of finding the ash in the quarters.  Of finding the bones of changelings, and of the paint written atop them that she had decoded.  At Tarsus' request, she repeated the parts he had been present for, recalling as best she could.
"I see," Tarsus said as Tegula finished. 
"Is that all, sir?"
"No, it is not.  However, this is no longer official.  I have some more questions for you."
"About what?"
Tarsus paused, allowing Tegula time to think.  He waited just long enough for her mind to begin to wander.
"Tell me about your relationship to the Queen."
"My what?"
Tarsus took a step forward and Tegula instinctively took a step back.
"While you have fulfilled your duty faithfully and I have no reason to suspect you, being suspicious is my job.  When I went and pulled your records, I found you had never worked in the botanical survey.  I found that the forensics department has no idea there's a Tegula working for them.  I found that your birth records have been clearly forged.  If it were not for the fact that the Queen knows you personally, I'd have you in the brig until I figure out who you are.  So, tell me, what is your relationship to the Queen?"
Tegula swallowed.  Tarsus pushed his head even closer, and Tegula drew further away.
"Chrissy and I used to do botany work.  That's it."
"That doesn't explain any of it."
"It does!"
Tarsus took another step.  Tegula tried to back up, but bumped against one of the storage shelves.  A metal part loosened and fell, clanging as it rolled away into the darkness.
"Try again," Tarsus said.
"I'm serious!  Chrissy said I wouldn't be safe if anyone knew I knew her!"
"So, she wiped your records?  Made you change your name?"
Tegula nodded.  "Yes, sir."
Tarsus relented and let Tegula room to breathe.  She availed herself immediately.
"I take it you were not one-time associates.  Does this go back further?"
Tegula hung her head.  "We did basic training together.  She's a good friend."
Tarsus drew back, turning to face the doorway and pacing in place.  Tegula let out a sigh of relief, and waited for the next question.
"You may not believe this, but I can relate to your position.  However, I have other matters at hoof.  What has your analysis of the ash told you so far?"
Tegula scrambled to pull a note pad from the shelf next to her.  Her poorly-written notes were legible only to her, and thus in no need of a cipher.
"Uh, best I can say is that it was a primarily wood-driven fire, burning at one-hundred-forty centigrade in low moisture conditions with limited oxygen."
"How long ago!?" Tarsus snapped.
"At least four weeks.  After that, the accuracy drops and I can't tell you, since the ash normalized to the limited air flow.  If the ash was on the surface I'd know exactly when it burnt."
Tarsus nodded.  "The bones?  The paint?"
"I couldn't find any identification, and all the heads were removed.  The paint was waterproofing seal paint from the machine shops, just like the stuff we have here."
"Who were the victims?"
Tegula flipped a page of her notes.
"Officers, definitely.  Their bones showed no deformities from manual labour and none of them were daily shape-shifters.  Infiltrators would have shown the magical cross-hatch on their bones."
Tarsus paced through the room.  He had pieces and only pieces, fitting them together was proving difficult.  Questions he could not answer kept running through his mind as he paced.  Who did this?  What happened to the rest of the bodies?  Why burn everything the way they had?  How did they know there was a hive at Marmalade Falls?
"Sir?"
Tegula had reached the end of her notes.  Tarsus had only one more question.
"The ash on the bones?"
"Definitely the flesh of the officers.  Can't tell you if they were burnt alive or not."
Tarsus shuddered.
"That will be all.  You have performed admirably despite yourself, Tegula.  If you find any other useful details, please submit them to me directly, in person."
"Okay, sir."  Tegula gave a half-hearted salute, collected her note pad, and let herself out.
The light flickered again in the store room, and Tarsus made no move to leave.  His eyes were distant as he was lost in thought.  The more he learned, the more afraid he became.

"Tarsus, did your debriefing assuage your conscience?"
Chrysalis lay staring at a freshly-cracked sunfluffer stem she had placed in her quarters.  She breathed in the aroma as Tarsus milled near the doorway.
"No, my Queen.  I trust Tegula left nothing out?"
"Of course not, I know every detail as though I'd seen it myself.  I also am prepared to assume you have pried into my history with her?"
Tarsus flashed a smile.  "Of course."
"She's a good changeling and a skilled worker.  I have no desire to see her talents wasted due to petty politics."
"As you wish.  If I may ask, why is your coat sparkling?"
Chrysalis looked down at her chest, which showed a thousand points of light, each reflecting in the ambience of her room.  As she turned, the sparkles shifted, and her hoof could not brush them off.
"That's what I've been meaning to speak to you about, once you returned.  How many agents can we pull in before we threaten the food supply?"
"Only two or three, my Queen.  I would recommend against it."
"My options are limited, the situation is progressing far faster than I had anticipated."
Chrysalis strode towards her nightstand and extracted a small towel.  The glitter did not come off when rubbed, either.
"Earlier today," she said, "a first-year basic-training hatchling threw confetti at me in the hallways.  Confetti."
"That's to be expected from first-years," Tarsus offered.
"That is precisely what I would have said, had I not been hearing music playing from somewhere in the lower floors.  I trust you have heard it too?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"And no doubt you have heard stories of wild gatherings and parties?  Without appropriate scheduling and permissions?"
"Yes.  I have heard ma'am, but none of my agents have managed to infiltrate any.  I suspect they're tall-tales."
Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively.  "Open celebration in the hallways is one thing, but parties?  Music?  Not only do I wonder where it comes from, I also wonder who taught the younglings how to make it, who got them the instruments.  Who got them that confetti, Tarsus?"
Tarsus suddenly avoided making eye contact.
"Tarsus, report!"
Tarsus sighed.  "I would guess it would have been one of my agents, to tell the truth.  I doubt the security teams have the brains to even venture buying it, much less attempting to manufacture it."
"Hrmph.  I do not hold you entirely blameless, mind you, but no amount of incompetence could account for this.  Something else has happened, and I don't know what it is..."
Tarsus stamped a hoof down, causing Chrysalis to sit up and turn her eyes to him.
"My Queen, we are facing a truly dangerous existential threat.  Can we wait to deal with the petty parties of hatchlings until after we have guaranteed our survival?"
Chrysalis scoffed, but did not disagree.  "I suppose so, but I would still like Internal Affairs to look for these disloyal Infiltrators.  Make sure no one escapes punishment by virtue of our affronting challenges."
Tarsus bowed, concealing a smirk of his own.  "Yes, my Queen."

"'You're next', written in cipher.  What could that mean?" Chrysalis mused.
"I would imagine it means we're next," Tarsus said.  His sarcasm had not been intended.
"Yes, it would.  That alone tells me a few things."
"Such as?"
Chrysalis adjusted the sunfluffer flower, which had started to list in its vial as its weight shifted.  Though the flowers had a shelf-life of about a week if they were kept in water, the scent waned a few days after the stem was cracked.  This one had begun to weaken only a few hours after being opened, unfortunately.
"That someone wrote it.  We are not under assault from a disease or a wild creature, but an intelligent assailant.  Further, they have broken our basic cipher, and likely could have stolen whatever documents the Marmalade Falls hive failed to destroy."
"Do you believe that accounts for the fire?"
"No."
Chrysalis strode towards Tarsus, keeping her eyes trained on him.  She hoped that he would betray some flinch, some small tick, some weakness.  He did not, and for all appearances was engaging with her earnestly.
"Destruction of their records is only one possibility.  Are you aware of a place called Termite Hills?"
Tarsus scratched his chin, but could not recall a place of that name.  "No, my Queen."
"A failed colony far to the south of here, it was started once Los Pegasus became large enough to support it. The records are sealed with my royal authorization, but I will unseal them for you if you doubt my claims."
"Of course not, ma'am.  I will read the records only to serve the hive."
Chrysalis snickered, then snapped back to her normally dour self.  "The hive lasted three months before a breach occurred.  A pony courier spotted an agent entering and followed, then alerted the city's garrison to the presence of the hive.
"Pegasus soldiers attempted a direct assault and were initially defeated by the security teams.  However, the hive only had three entrances dug out, and the ponies quickly surrounded them and prepared for a siege.  While they could have simply waited us out, they didn't.
"The army collected a few hundred barrels of lamp oil, and assembled them at the uppermost entrance.  They waited until night, then dumped the oil in the entrance and made sure to seal the other hatches off."
Tarsus could scarcely believe what he was hearing.  How long ago had this happened?
"The rest is easy to predict.  They lit the oil on fire and proceeded to bake everyone within.  Most of the our people died from smoke inhalation or smothering."
Tarsus could only shake his head.  This sort of thing was so rare in changeling history that it was not considered his responsibility to know about it.  That the ponies could be so brutal was beyond question, but that his own people had failed so...
"Marmalade Falls...  Do you think it was the ponies?" Tarsus asked.
Chrysalis shook her head.  "Not the military wing, anyway, we'd certainly know about it.  However, it would not surprise me at all to hear they have secret operatives dedicated to this purpose.  Perhaps we have underestimated our foes..."
Tarsus left the briefing shaken and uncertain.  Chrysalis merely retired to her bed and lay down.  Sleep would not come easy to her anymore, for the Queen had too much on her mind for that.
Though she had let Tarsus believe the ponies were their only threat, she had not mentioned the second one, far greater.  She feared that he may scarcely be able to believe it, or worse, that he would have no problem believing it.  With all the events transpiring now, both within and without the hive, all her hopes and thoughts returned to that one agent she had sent out into the field.  The one who never quite fit.  The one whose only property of note was his boundless loyalty.
Unbeknownst to him, the future of the hive now rested on his shoulders.  Queen Chrysalis hoped they were ready to support the weight.

"Help me fix him."
That was all that Octavia had said to Vinyl.  Thorax had regained consciousness at some point, to find himself suspended about the ground a makeshift stretcher.   Vinyl and Octavia were carrying him towards the Urgent Care tent a few blocks away.  As usual, his tongue was hanging out, though not due to a drug overdose this time.
All his focus was now on maintaining the disguise of a pony.  He couldn't move anything below his neck, though pain hadn't set in yet.  Vinyl had mused that it was adrenaline, while Thorax had responded with his customary whimper.  Octavia said nothing at all.
Redheart looked up her reading as Tavi and Vinyl set the stretcher down on the traction bench opposite the entrance.  Redheart took one look at Thorax.  At least he was conscious this time.
"Again?  Really?"
Vinyl shrugged.  Redheart went over to perform her examination.
A snapping sound from the spinal cord confirmed her initial diagnosis.
"Well, I see somepony broke his back.  Are you going to tell me he did it to himself again?"
"Uh, would you believe that?" Vinyl asked.
"I've been hearing rumours around town, but no.  Nobody's that stupid."
Thorax let out a whimper.
"Unicorn lady," Redheart said, addressing Vinyl.  She snapped to attention and scowled.
"I have a name, you know."
"Unicorn lady, if you know a pain-suppression spell, prep for surgery."
At last, that snapped Octavia out of her funk.
"You want Vinyl in the operating room?" she asked.
"I don't have much choice.  In case you haven't figured it out, your friend is a changeling.  Did you know that?"
Octavia grimly nodded.
"If you don't want him getting arrested, one of you needs to be my anesthetic.  Now suit up."
"What do I do?" Vinyl asked, "Wash off my horn, or something?"
"Take off those stupid glasses and put on a breath-mask.  Gray one - guard the entrance."
Octavia turned and sat next to the flap which led back out to Ponyville.  As she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Vinyl, now wearing a breath-mask up to her eyes, with her glasses placed over it.  Redheart looked about to slap her, but instead put that energy into hauling Thorax into a secluded part of the tent behind another flap.  Redheart pulled closed the flap and revealed a sign stitched onto it: "Magically decontaminated, medical staff only."

For what seemed like hours, Octavia stared into the night.  Periodically a crunch or a snap could be heard from within the tent, followed often by shouting from someone or moaning from someone else.  Octavia sat and thought, hiding her head within her forelegs.  She wanted to cry again, yet found she had already spilled all her tears.  Only dry sniffing let her relieve her feelings.
The book that Redheart had been reading lay near the makeshift counter which sat, untethered, within the tent.  Bored, Octavia looked over at it and read the title.  "Changeling Anatomy:  An Advanced Study".  Octavia picked it up and began reading it, not noticing a bookmark falling out of the back and settling on the floor.
The first chapter detailed only the most basic of information, specifically changeling shape-shifting.  There were some glaring inaccuracies readily apparent, specifically about what the form-change looked like, that Octavia could spot immediately.  The language was also very dry and detached, certainly not an engaging read.
A grunt made Octavia put the book down again.
"Yep, you found my book," Redheart said.  Vinyl had also appeared behind Redheart.  For some reason, Redheart was spotless, while Vinyl was covered in blood, especially around her mouth.  The breath-mask had evidently been insufficient.
"But how did you know that Hist - "
"I don't think that's his name," Vinyl interjected.
"Ahem," Redheart said, "I saw through his little disguise when he dosed on that weed.  I figured you must have known."
"No, no I didn't," Octavia said, "Will he be okay?"
"Well, seems somepony really did a lot of damage.  I expect he'll be in bed for a few months, given that he suffered enough fractures and broken bones to make the entire emergency room at Canterlot General panic.  What amazes me is that he's alive at all."
Octavia only cast her eyes at the floor.  Without a peep, she turned and left the tent, her tail dragging sullenly along the ground.  Redheart made no move to follow her.
Vinyl broke the silence.  "Uh, should I, like, do something?"
"Come back when he wakes up.  I'll keep him in the ICU bed until we can move him to the hospital."
Unbeknownst to the ponies outside, Thorax had not passed out during the surgery, and could hear everything they said.  The tent was dark around him, and he was only somewhat aware of what had been done to his back by the doctor.
As he lay there waiting for sleep, only two thoughts emerged in his mind.  The first was his longing for Octavia, no less intense for the violence she had inflicted upon him.  The second was a lamentation of how difficult it was going to be to explain this to his superiors.