//------------------------------//
// CH. 14 Lost 
// Story: Who Needs the Sunshine 
// by Atuhor Name 
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Lost


        Twilight felt lost. She was lost. Lost in an empty city built by changelings, atop something so large that Twilight could see for miles out the window. She could not see the edge of the Badlands.
        But more importantly, Twilight had lost the thread on her moral compass.  Naudia's words had shocked her, and they seemed so... real, so believable.  And all Naudia wanted from Twilight was for her to not intervene on the changeling queen's behalf, because apparently she cared about Twilight.
        As if Twilight would-
        And then something Naudia said came to her mind, unbidden.
        "What if I told you that I haven't lied to you once since the second day I was here?"
        But what if she was lying about that?
        NO. Circular logic would get her nowhere. She reflected on what she knew, assuming for the moment that Naudia wasn't lying.
        Twilight thought back to the past week, Luna--no, Naudia--studying with her in the library.  Discussing obscure history, with the same level of enthusiasm that she did.  The changeling queen at Pinkie's party, bringing Twilight out of her shell enough to really enjoy it.  The lake...
        And then Twilight tried to insert the Luna she knew from Nightmare Night into those situations, and she just didn't fit.  She could never imagine Luna falling into the swing of Pinkie's party so naturally.  Twilight couldn't picture Luna nerding out over obscure Equestrian history.
        Twilight couldn't see her sitting down by the lake...
        "UGGGGH!" Twilight said aloud, frustrated and embarrassed at the same time.
        Then, as if her mind was avoiding it until the last minute, she began to think about what her role in the Canterlot invasion had been. Things were not so black-and-white now. Presumably those changelings she fought weren't all trained soldiers invading another country...
        If Naudia was to be believed, she had been up against ordinary changelings. They probably lived their lives exchanging hellos with their friends down the street. If the library was any indication, they wrote books, a lot of books.
        "OK, Twilight, calm down," she told herself. "Got to get out of here first, then deal with this later."
        If they were going to get out of this, she would at least have to make peace with Naudia.
        Pushing the library door open, Twilight realized something.
        If this was her room, Naudia practically lived in a library. The same as her.
        Twilight would have to ask her about that later.
        "Naudia?" Twilight called out, but no response came back.
        Wandering through the vast library for a minute or two, she found Naudia sitting stock-still, eyes wide, staring into space.
        She did not move for several seconds.
        "We have to get moving. We have to leave for Canterlot as soon as possible."
        "Why?"
        "My changelings, Twilight," Naudia said, "I can't hear them."
        Before Twilight knew it, she was being pushed down intricately carved hallways and through corridors she very much would have liked to explore in further detail. The changeling queen behind her, however, was frantic about getting moving.
        "Wait, Naudia, where are we going?"
        "Down to the holding cells. We need to get you food that will last until we can make it to civilization."
        "But why?"
        Naudia stopped pushing Twilight along and took a few deep breaths.
        "Twilight, I've lost connection to the hive. Somehow teleporting us out here shorted it out.  At this moment, all the changelings can assume is that I am dead, and that all hope of escaping extinction is lost."
        "But surely changelings can.... uhh... errr..."
        "No, Twilight. Only the queen can create eggs. Other changelings raise them, but only a queen can create them."
        "So you uhh, create, eggs for the entire hive..."
        "Not like that, Twilight."
        Naudia's horn glowed as she swished it in a circle. The trail left in the air coalesced into a translucent green egg, which dropped to the floor with a slight ‘gloing’ noise.
        "All right, is that clear? Now we have to go. NOW!"
        "But the egg..."
        "It is only a container for the love of a pony, Twilight, completely inert without the love of a pony. Nothing more."
        And once again, Twilight found herself being pushed deeper into the empty changeling hive.
        It looked nothing at all like she was expecting.  It all resembled a rustic medieval castle carved out of a brownish stone, and everywhere it was inlaid with intricate designs made of that same green crystal she saw in Naudia's room.
        But as they moved further down into the heart of the frankly enormous castle, things began to change for the bleak.  Twilight hadn't seen a single engraving for two floors before they finally came out into a cavern filled with strange green stumps hanging from the ceiling, and rows and rows upon rows of a strange looking fungus growing on the dirt floor.
        Naudia grabbed a nearby saddlebag off the wall and roughly plopped it down on Twilight's back.
        "I want you to gather up as much of that fungus into this saddle bag as you can possibly fit. It’s the only thing you can eat in this entire desert so don't skimp on it."
        The only thing to eat? Twilight thought, and hearing the rumbling in her stomach it couldn't hurt to try a piece, even thought it looked so...
        Twilight's eyes went wide after she took one bite.
        It tasted like strawberries! No, it tasted like SUPER strawberries… as if somepony had taken a barrel full of strawberries and distilled them down to their purest form
        Twilight immediately began to stuff her face with as much of the delicious fungus as she possibly could.
        Several minutes later Naudia came back with a full pack to find Twilight lying on her back with her stomach distended and groaning.
        "OK it looks like I'm going to have to carry your food." Naudia said face to hoof.
        "Why does it taste so good?" Twilight groaned.
        "Because it’s easier if we don't have to force feed our captives." Naudia allowed a touch of pride in her voice. "Our drones are very skilled at magically modifying plants and the such."
        "Anyway if you can’t be trusted with your food," Naudia said, “Then I need you to start reading through this book. OK?"
        Naudia levitated a leather-bound tome over to Twilight.
        "It’s a list of all the dangerous creatures out in the Badlands. That we know of."
        Flipping through the pages Twilight noticed the book wasn't bound in the traditional sense, but was instead a three-ring binder with blank pages at the back, presumably to add in more entries.
        The first page she stopped on showed a picture of a horrible snake-like dragon.
        Draco Adamas
Flightless acid-breathing feral relatives of dragons. Known for their hard scaly hide which can be used to make particularly lightweight armor. Largest ever seen was 10M long.
Thought to be an early ancestor of modern dragons.
        Another page showed a gigantic spindly spider with a tiny body and one conical lump on top of its body.
        Sand Walkers
Desert dwelling relatives of the daddy long legs. Scavenger that takes the place of a vulture. Can grow up to four meters tall, from spindly leg to relatively small body. Has very large, conical smell receptors on top of its body.
        Pages and pages of likewise handwritten descriptions of increasingly bizarre monsters later, Twilight found one that caught her eye.
        The Emperor Dune Crab
Often mistaken for rocky outcroppings in the sands, these land based hermit crabs grow huge shells of rock above them, to the point that some of the smaller and even some of the more reasonably sized mountains in the Badlands are actually dormant Dune Crabs. It is unknown how they feed or reproduce. Often, changeling nests are situated inside their titanic shells.
        Twilight looked at the accompanying drawing skeptically.
        It looked as if somepony had taken a crab and glued a tall spire like rock on top of it.  Then Twilight remembered the huge stony legs she had seen out the window.
        Twilight closed the book, glancing at the title. It read:
        The Dangerous Creatures of the Badlands
        With the word ‘dangerous’ scribbled out.
        Twilight didn't even need to speak when she brought the book over to Naudia.
        "Yes, Twilight, the entire hive is situated on the back of a mountainous crab."
        "But-"
        "And the accompanying pamphlet 'the harmless creatures of the badlands' is right here."
        Naudia handed Twilight a nearly blank notecard. It read:
        Some of the sheep.
        "Why are you so anxious right now?" Twilight asked, frustrated at not being able to get a word in edgewise.
        Naudia took deep breaths for several seconds.
        "Twilight, what would you do if today you found out Princess Celestia was dead, and tomorrow the sun would not rise?"
        Twilight sat in shock for a moment, trying to even comprehend the thought that...
        "I don't know..."
        "Exactly. Right now, this is exactly the position that every remaining changeling is in.  As of right now, for all they know, none of them will ever have children, and they are the LAST generation of changelings."
        "Oh."
        "Now put this pack on. We have to get off this crab and get moving."