//------------------------------// // Act 1 - The Old Lady // Story: The Locust Hive: Maternal Madness // by Petro Beherha //------------------------------// When they returned to the hive, Scratt and Chitin informed Queen Erranda about the old lady giving away pies at her shed. At first, she was skeptical, assuming it to be more whining and excuses. But after some reasoning with her, Queen Erranda decided bring the hive to investigate. A few minutes later, the Locust Hive arrived close to the decorated kitchen-shed. Indeed the old lady was still there, humming a tune as she rolled a ball of dough on the counter. Everypony hid behind the bushes disguised as birds, squirrels and other creatures. Chitin and Scratt used their crow forms on either side of Erranda, who shapeshifted into a red-tailed hawk. Erranda was especially intrigued, as nopony has ever seen anything like her before. The closest beings that could match her appearance - as far as she and her hive knew - were the somewhat bipedal diamond dogs. So what you say is true. I've never seen this type of creature before! But what would she be doing here in the middle of the woods? Beats me, Scratt shrugged. Erranda turned to Chitin, and you said that she fed animals with her food, correct? Yes, my queen, he confirmed. That's not surprising, the queen mused. Animals would take from just about anypony. Upon watching the old lady finish rolling her dough, she pulled out her wooden spoon and headed for a bowl. The changelings were surprised to see magic pink wisps swirl around the spoon, causing the bowl to levitate towards her and slowly touch down next to the rolled dough. She- she knows magic! Chitin exclaimed. Then that would explain how she baked all those pies! Scratt commented next. Well, let's see if she has enough. Erranda turned to her right and commanded, Fangs! Sneak over to that building and find the number of pies she has. Do not let her see you! Go! Fangs, taking the form of a raccoon gave her a proud salute before crawling stealthily over. After a several long minutes, he finally returned with an excited message. "M-my queen! You're not gonna believe this!" Go on, Erranda said hopefully. I don't know how she's making all those pies, but there's like loads and loads of them! This should be enough for many of us! Wo-o-o-oah! That many? Scratt smacked his beak again, and started to shift around excitedly. Oh boy, I can't wait! Very well, Queen Erranda began, and just to make sure all of us are filled to the brim - and that everypony shares their food this time! We shall perform one more raid on that shed, build an outpost, and rest our stomachs here. Am I clear? "Yes, my queen," Chitin nodded. Everypony else followed. Good. Scratt, the queen turned to him. But he was gone! They turned their heads around looking for Scratt, her feathers raised like goose bumps. She demanded, Scratt! Where did you head off to?! "Oohhh... hello there, sweetie!" When they turned to the sound, they were shocked to see Scratt near a fresh pie and the old lady in front of him. "Have you come to have one of Mother's pies?" She grinned cheerfully, "it's made with love!" An alarmed Chitin called out so loudly that he cawed in his crow form, Scratt, darn you! Get away from there! Chitin quickly spread his wings and flew towards Scratt! Chitin, wait! The queen groaned and quickly flew to him as well. Upon seeing the three changelings rush forth, the rest of the hive got confused over whether they should start another raid, try to help them, or to stay put. They all moved their hiding place at the same time, resulting in over a hundred animals coming out of the bushes and stampeding for the shed! The old lady suddenly heard a loud caw from outside, but it wasn't from the crow about to eat her pie (Scratt). They turned to the noise to see another crow (Chitin) charging towards them! Scratt was caught by surprise, Chitin?! He swooped down at Scratt with his talons, knocking them off the table and into the kitchen. The old lady was shocked, "what in the name of?!" When she looked back outside, she saw yet another bird, this time it was a hawk (Erranda) hovering frantically in front her, followed by hordes of small animals popping out from the bushes and scrambling in front of her shed! The old lady demanded, "what is this...?!" An orange light flashed behind her accompanied by a peculiar sound. She turned back behind her to see Scratt and Chitin wrestling around and arguing with each other. "You were supposed to stay put until our queen gives the signal, not blow our cover!" Chitin scolded him sternly. "Wha-at? I couldn't resist, okay?!" Scratt whined. "Now just what is going on here?!" Now she was feeling vexed, "and why are you two boys fighting in my kitchen?!" The two changelings stopped and stared at the lady, feeling exposed like deer in the headlights. Chitin cursed, "forget about this, Scratt. Let's get the heck out of here!" So, they changed into crows again and then darted their way past the old lady and out the window, only to be met with the whole hive exposed and scrambling trying to figure out what to do. The queen tried to bring them into order by shouting, Stand down! Everypony stand d- I said stand down!! with little success. Finally, the old lady had enough, "and just what is this racket all about?!" She thundered so loudly that everypony, including Erranda, froze on their tracks and turned to her. After a brief silence, each of the changelings started revealing themselves from their disguises in orange ripples of magic! Even Erranda herself went to her true form, revealing a daunted expression. While she normally had more success at leading her changelings, her efforts started to wane over the last few weeks. And this old woman, whose species she hardly knows about, managed to get things back on track just like that. It might not be wise to underestimate her, she concluded, what with her knowledge of magic and possibly being very powerful. If she was to feed her drones without endangering them, Erranda would have to take a more diplomatic approach. "You must forgive us for barging in to your home like this." Erranda apologized to the old cook, hoping to calm her down. "We only wanted to... we were curious of your activities here." The lady paused, and then dropped her glare back into her usual cheerful expression with a chuckle. "There is no need to worry, sweeties." The queen sighed in relief, and thought to herself, wow, that didn't take long. "After all," the lady continued, "it's fairly obvious you're here for my pies, correct?" "Umm..." Queen Erranda's eyes shifted a few places as she thought of things to say. While it was true that they were after the pies, she didn't want to sound like they are invading the elderly woman like they planned earlier, so Erranda decided to just tell what she needed to know. "Yes," the queen answered. "My children thought they smelled something, so we came here to find out what it was. We had not suspected it was you, madam. A few of us even saw you feed the animals a while ago." "Why, that is delightful!" The rotund woman clasped her small hands by her cheek, "I never expected my pies to be so popular in so little time!" "I see. Now," Erranda straightened her self up while her drones fidgeted in anticipation. "Shall we have some of your pies, madam?" "Hmm..." she rubbed her chin in thought, "I'll have to think about that. I was going to sell my pies in the future, but I don't want to let your children go hungry." "I will let you think about it. And while we wait, I must ask you a question," Queen Erranda added. "Who are you?" "Oh," the lady giggled again, apparently at either herself or the situation. "Where are my manners? My name is Mae-Eye, Mother Mae-Eye. And you are?" "Umm... Erranda... of the Locust Hive changelings. We are pleased to meet you, Mother Mae-Eye," the queen uttered flatly, not wanting to give away too much information, fearing that it could be used against her hive. She was still intrigued that the old woman called her self Mother Mae-Eye, and then thought about how she herself is a mother to her children. "And you said your name was Mother Mae-Eye. Do you have children of your own, or is it merely a title?" Mother Mae-Eye's smile faded. "Well," her voice lowered, "I did have kids at one point. But... not anymore." Mother Mae-Eye sounded more resentful than morose when she said that, making Queen Erranda even more suspicious. Did the old crone really enjoy having children? Who in Equestria could be so passionless to her kids leaving, or whatever happened to them? Did they not like her, perhaps? But now's not the time to linger, she thought. She should probably ask more questions before letting her drones dive in on her pies. Erranda asked another question. "So, where do you come from? We've been to many places, but we've never seen any one of you before." "Oh!" Mae-Eye answered, "I came here from a far away place. Certainly farther than you've traveled by the looks of it." "Well, that may be true. But..." the queen trailed off. Queen Erranda still felt uncomfortable with the situation, for Mother Mae-Eye's perpetually cheery demeanor felt somehow wrong to her. And there was also the bizarre fact that she set up a house, making pies with magic in the middle of the forest, a wild area where dangerous creatures could wreck her house. In her experiences in urban areas, the inhabitants would set up these shops similar to Mae-Eye's kitchen-shed where they gave away items, especially baked goods, in exchange for something called "money" (the Locusts never understood how money works or why it exists). The wilderness was no place for a shop, since there were no ponies to sell the pies to. With a raised eyebrow, she asked, "what are you doing here selling pies in the middle of the forest? It's not like you're gonna meet anypony here." Mae-Eye laughed again. "I'm not selling the pies here, silly! At least, not yet. Besides," Mae-Eye added, "this is my home. I'm just here baking pies before I sell them in the town nearby. It's very busy there, you know." "Then what about those animals you fed?" Erranda went on, "why didn't you just save more pies to sell?" "A simple act of love, my young queen. And speaking of love, do you love your little workers over there?" Mae-Eye pointed with her spoon. The drones exchanged uneasy glances with each other as they asked each other questions about how whether or not their queen/mother really loved them even after becoming so despotic. Erranda turned to them behind her. While they do annoy her at times, and though she was still frazzled by their unyielding behavior lately, she was not one to leave them to die in some wasteland. Not by a long shot. "Yes, I do." She turned back to Mother Mae-Eye, "they are my responsibility. If I don't take care of them, our whole troupe dies." "I ask you this, because you don't look like the type that would love her own minions." Mae-Eye eyed the queen critically while she put her knuckles on her hips. Erranda glared in protest, "what do you mean?" "When they were scrambling around my shed, you were all snappy-whappy with your children, and that's not how children grow. If you really love them, you would ask them politely." "I was telling them to come to their senses, Mae-Eye!" Erranda reasoned, "they did not know what to do, so I told them to calm down! Forgive me, but I saw no other way at the time..." Mae-Eye didn't look convinced. "Well that's fine, young lady." She gestured with a finger on her temple, "but you gotta think about this if you don't want them to hate you." I don't like to admit this, Erranda thought. But she does have a good point. The changelings' attention went back to the elderly cook apprehensively. "Don't you worry, dear children," Mother Mae-Eye announced as she finally approached the door next to the kitchen, and grabbed the knob. "There's plenty of pie for everyone!" When she finally opened the door at the word "everyone", they burst with joy when they saw a record number of pies - easily hundreds - in a huge room. Tall, expertly-stacked columns of pies were arranged in rows in two sections, with a road-like gap in between. "W-w-w-w-w-WOWZERS!" One changeling screamed excitedly, "check this out, everypony! We found us a mother-load!" "Yeah, let's eat you guys!" Another declared. "Bonzai!" The entire hive zoomed through the door like a raging river, and then they feasted into Mae-Eye's pies. When all the changelings are inside the room, Queen Erranda called out, "don't forget to share!" The queen couldn't help but smile in delight at the sight of her drones feeding. Queen Erranda thought about Mae-Eye's rather bright personality, which made her suspect a lot of love inside her. She knew that those with that much love naturally give to others, like Mae-Eye letting the drones eat the food she made. Perhaps, she thought, she misjudged the old crone. But could she be so sure? Because of their notable ability to feed on love for nourishment and power, Changelings have a natural ability to detect the amount of love in a person within close range, or in an entire area from its inhabitants. So, Erranda decided it would be wise to use this ability on Mae-Eye to look into her love supply. Not consume, just to look. To her horror however, she found there no love at all on Mother Mae-Eye! A chill ran through her body when she instead discovered a terrible, empty void hungrily awaiting to consume anything that entered. Only then did she realize it could only mean one thing. An emotion eater. What have they gotten themselves into? "Are you quite alright, deary?" Mae-Eye's voice brought her back into reality. "Yes, I am fine." Erranda told her. The elderly woman rubbed her own chin as she contemplated on something. "That is good, deary. Now please excuse me, I need to get working." She passed the changeling queen as she went through the door. "It's going to be a very busy day tomorrow." Queen Erranda waited until Mae-Eye was out of earshot when she warns her children, and once that was done, she darted into the door and entered the elongated room, where the changelings feasted on the pies like a swarm of bees to a jar of honey. "Everypony, you must listen to me!" Some of the little drones looked at their queen in confusion. Erranda continued, "you must stop eating those pies!" "What, why?!" One of them complained in shock. "I ran an analysis on Mother Mae-Eye," she warned. "She is a vampire, and there is no love in her! She may be using the pies as bait to steal the energy from our emotions! We have to leave as soon as possible!" "Oh c'mon, queenie!" Another whined, "you worry about everything! And you said we could eat the pies if we share, and that's what we're doing! She was kind enough to give'em to us, and now you're saying we have to leave?!" "Yes! As for the sharing, that's great, that's exactly what I want from you. But what I'm asking you is different! The reason I let her give you the pies was because I was ignorant about her true nature! Now please, stop what you are doing and let's get going! We will feed somewhere else!" Their curious faces broke into disapproving frowns when they crossed their arms and pouted. "You know what? You're just jealous that she's a much nicer mother than you! Ever since that last season, you hounded and hounded us on what to do and what not to do and all that stuff! You didn't like us anymore! So from now on, we're not listening to you! Mae-Eye's our new mother!" They returned to their feeding in a snap. Erranda was thunderstruck. "What... but..." she barely let out. She couldn't understand why her drones rejected her like that. Then, a vengeful anger welled up into her mind. This anger was familiar to her, she had known it for a good long time, but now it began taking over her being and showed into her face. "You..." she uttered. "...you ungrateful currs! How dare you disobey me after all that I have done for you, how I kept you crawling for as long as you breathed, and now you would rather die at the hands of that witch than to love your own mother?! Well, guess what! I...!" She was thunderstruck a second time. "I..." I can't believe I said that... to my own children... The drones apparently ignored her outburst, because they were too busy devouring all those pies. She drooped her head down shamefully to the floor, and a small sob could be heard underneath her mane, which covered her face. "...n- ...nevermind," her voice was barely audible. "...take what you will." She left the door and dragged towards the edge of the clearing, while Mother Mae-Eye grinned as she watched from the kitchen window. Queen Erranda crouched by one of the trees nearby, where she reflected about herself. I can't believe they would do this to me. I mean, how could they disown me for Mother Mae-Eye, and why? How would they do without me, their queen? I was trying to warn them about her. I felt it, that nothingness, that hunger, that evil; she's even worse than Queen Chrysalis. I didn't want them to get sucked by her, so I had to save them. I had to! But, were they right about me? Was I really so horrible to them? Am I horrible? She remembered what one of her changelings said, You're just jealous that she's a much nicer mother than you! Ever since that last season, you hounded and hounded us on what to do and what not to do and all that stuff! You didn't like us anymore! Maybe I am. Maybe I am such a foal to my children. In fact, do I really deserve to be a mother? What is a mother, anyway? A mother is the parent to her children, parents are supposed to feed, teach, and allow their children to grow until they are ready to live by themselves. I am the Queen of the Locust live, and mother to my changelings, like every queen is a mother to hers. A queen's responsibility is to run, maintain, and make decisions for her hive. Maybe being a mother is not just a job title; it's part of a family, and we are family. They are my kids, after all. ...which means. She slowly lifted her head up to see the cedar tree in front of her. No, I am not gonna leave them like this! Not to anyone, not even Mae-Eye! I am their mother, and Queen of the Locust Hive, and it's my job to care for them! I don't care what they think about me anymore, it's not important. What matters is that we are family, and our love for one another is what allows us to survive. No, to live. To grow. To be happy. And I can teach them that! Queen Erranda stood up into a bold stature as her form beamed with resolve. No more messing around, it's time I make some changes! I'll start by figuring out this whole mess. A bulky shadow loomed over the queen as Mother Mae-eye walked up to her from behind. "Oh, young lady. Why so glum? You should be happy that your children are all fed and happy. Here, have a pie." She pulled out one of her pies with her magic, "maybe it'll wash those nasty sorrows away." There was silence. "You know, Mae-Eye." Queen Erranda began, "I thank you for offering me food, and my children with them. It is very noble of you to think of others that way. But why do you do it? For what purpose? If you are not acting out of love - genuine love - for those you care about, then it's not worth doing. It'd be better to do nothing than to not have a good purpose behind it." Mae-Eye fell silent. Whether it was at awe with that she was saying or something else was hard to tell. "I... that is a good point. What's worth doing if you don't do it out of love? And now that you mention it, let me do the same. Now please, let's get back to my kitchen so you can have some pie. I insist." The queen didn't say anything; she just followed Mae-Eye back to where they came. As the two went back to the building, Erranda's drones still flew around the shed eating the pies. She was disturbed when she saw their eyes changed color, from the normal orange to a very unnatural pink color. Their faces were lethargic with heavy-lidded eyes, and weak smiles whose rims were smothered with red, sugary paste, saliva, and small bits of crust. "Well, here we are," Mother Mae-Eye announced. "As you can see, our little munchkins here are enjoying my pies. It's a terrible shame you scolded them so, you should be nice when someone does something for you. But don't you worry, I'm sure you'll be rejoining with your family soon. Now please, stand right over here." Queen Erranda stood by the table as told, Mother Mae-Eye magically set the pie by her, quickly brought an old-fashioned fork that resembled a miniature pitchfork, and set it on one side. Erranda looked calculatingly at the pie, and then at Mae-Eye. "So why don't you join them in this glorious feast? They are your children, after all. Isn't that right, Erranda?" An orange glow surrounded her horn, while an aura of the same color surrounded the pie. With her magic, Queen Erranda slowly lifted the pie to her face, and then used the fork to scrape out a heap of it. She held the piece close to her, and opened her mouth to take a bite. She paused, and the next thing that happened, POW!!! Mae-Eye screamed as the pie struck her face so hard she almost fell over, splattering the frosty paste and crumbs everywhere before the bowl dropped into the grass. Queen Erranda had a furious look as her pupils narrowed into cat-like slits, her fanged teeth bared so much her gums could almost be seen. The orange aura still surrounded her horn as she kept holding the fork from earlier. She softened up, though still maintaining her bold posture. She dropped the fork into the dirt with the pie landing first. The drones froze in midair and dropped their jaws when they saw what happened, while Mae-Eye struggled to rub the pie off her eyes. "You figured it out, haven't you?" Mother Mae-Eye finally wiped the pie off, revealing an uncharacteristically vicious scowl. Something was amiss. She suddenly changed into something much more monstrous. She now resembled a type of stereotypical, fairy-tale witch. Her wrinkled pale skin became acid green with wide lesions on her cheeks. What were small blue eyes turned yellow with narrow, black, slit pupils, as well as a third eye on her forehead. The pink and white colors of her attire turned into more of a Nightmare Night theme, with the red and white color scheme replaced by dark purple and black. The round eye on her purple apron became a much more frightening orange eye similar to her own with a bold, black border, while the same thing appeared on her large cotton hat. Her small button nose was also much larger and more hooked, and sported a giant wart at the bridge. Whenever her dry, cracked mouth grinned, whatever was left of her teeth were blunt and diseased. Queen Erranda's heart leaped hard as she gasped, and stepped back cautiously. Now this explains everything! Her knowledge of magic, having so many pies in one space, and that void inside her! That happy-go-lucky nature was just a cover to trick us! Uhgh! I knew I shouldn't have trusted her! "Well, what you haven't figured out is that they these children are not yours anymore, especially after how bad you treated them. You see, Erranda. These wonderful little darlings... ARE NOW MINE!!" Erranda's mind and heart raced at what was happening to her, while Mother Mae-Eye laughed triumphantly against her foe.