//------------------------------//
// A New Day: 7 
// Story: Queen Chrysalis takes Manehattan 
// by Ponyess 
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	I had been introduced to my new home and hive.  Our former Queen, now known as Ruby handling a business in central manehattan.  I have a room and a bed in the basement, just fine by me.  I didn't want to live upstairs, maybe I shared more with my sisters than I had realised?

Then I had had a shower, dried myself off and slipped into a fresh skirt and top, before I had been served a small portion of the famous Love Soup Flames had prepared the day before.

I may still be a Changeling to the core, but I feel like a new girl.  I have a life.  A sense of security.  If only I realised the risks and dangers I was about to face?  I had been told to be careful while scratching, since I would run the risk of Intoxication.

“Can I really get that much Love from just a Scratching?” I enquired.

“Yes, you sure can.  I know from fresh experience.  You may look different, but you're not toothless.  You certainly haven't lost your fangs either, you'll see when you get to work.  It may sound like a free meal and in a way it is.  The only real problem is that you can get pretty messed up from the intoxication if you're not careful.  I know you have been out of the loop for a while, so you would be starving, until today!” Hitomi explained.

“Out of the loop?  Yeah, I guess you could call it that.  Just roaming the countryside alone.  I didn't have much to eat, and not much interest in feeding.  Flames just fixed that, now I have something to live for.  Ruby sure gave me a home!” I concluded.

“There is a reason why we chose to live down here.  As cosy as it may be to live downstairs, but it isn't the reason.  In a Megapolis like Manehattan, we're literally swamped with Love here.  We're safer down here.  With four full-time Scratchers, we can easily feed our Hive at current rate.  From what I felt the other day, we'll practically own the City Hands down.  We don't need to risk exposure or violence, they'll be eating out of our hands, you'll see!” Hitomi explained.

“Sounds as if Scratching is as easy as eating apples out of a barrel?  If it is my position, I'm happy to scratch, even if I don't know what I'll be doing yet.  From your expression, it sounds as if it is going to be a blast!” I responded.

“If you come with me, I'll give you an idea.  I can as well demonstrate how it works!” Hitomi suggested.

I followed her up, with expectancy shining in my eyes and a wide grin on my face.  The stairs was easy to handle as a biped, as opposed to how it would have been, had I been a regular Pony.

Once I got upstairs, the buzz of the City already was obvious, not so much in audible sounds as in the Love on the air as thin as it may be for a Changeling.  It isn't anywhere near enough to live off of, or even prolong the inevitable, but I can still sense a strong presence of the Love, once I reach the ground level.

“You noticed the change as we walked up the stairs, Hitomi?” I enquired curious to have confirmation on what I had felt.

“Yes, I noticed it instantly, from the first time I walked down there.  It is why I chose for us to have our beds in the basement.  It isn't enough to make an actual difference, but it bothers me, when I like to sleep!” Hitomi responded.

“This sure will be interesting!” I stated, as I hear her response.

“Certainly!” she confirmed.

“Could you fix a small portion of Daisy salad and a small portion of the Soup, Flames?” she then required.

“Coming right up, Hitomi!” Flames responded, as she set of to prepare the Salad.

“Have a seat, and I'll show you your new job!” Hitomi explained, pointing at a chair by the wall behind the kitchen.

“Thanks!” I responded as I sit down.

Then I could see how Flames was preparing my salad, pouring up the soup, before placing them all on a cart with fork and spoon, before she came to my table, serving the soup and salad.

“Thank you, Flames, the soup smells wonderful.  I had almost forgotten how great the soup is!” I thanked her, before she slipped back into the kitchen.

I could imagine every single Hive had their own way of making this soup, mixing in various ingredients, depending on where and when the hive was, but this is the soup Flames had been known for above and beyond everything.

She never had this fresh resources in such plenty before.  I don't know how to make it, or what went in to it, I just know how to enjoy it.  Yet, this was about to top that off by far.

I could see Hitomi picking up what had been referred to as a spoon.  It had clearly been created for this kind of things, which feels strange to me.  She simply hold the metal object in her right hand, scooping up a small amount of the soup in the spoon, then lifting it up to my mouth.

It had been ages since I had been feed as the little Changeling foal I had been back then.  I just couldn't have imagined to be back in this situation.  The thing that was the strangest is to have hands.  I look like the girl who was to be a Scratcher.  Even if I never had seen the original myself.

Now the moment was about to come upon me, what I have come here for.  She was to demonstrate and explain to me, the job and the duty I was about to pick up for myself.  A duty towards my new hive, such as it was at this point.

It was a very serious duty, one with a very great responsibility and challenges you may not perceive at the first glance.  I am to scratch the Ponies who come to our currently small establishment.  They were to choose which girl they wanted to scratch them, it is the privilege of the customers, since they were paying for the service in the first place.  I could see the point and wholeheartedly agree with it.

She will be known as the Scratcher by the name of Hitomi.  I am to be just another scratcher, just like her.  The one small difference is that I'm not Hitomi, just like I have a few small personal details to me.  One by one, we are to look the same, but when seen together, easily recognised as individuals.

Our differences will have no practical purpose, other than the comfort of the customers who come to have our services.  Optherwise, we are as similar as two deers or bunnies in the forest, who could see the differences to know the individuals, without seeing them side by side.

I may find her looks curious and even amusing.  Her long nails more so than the rest, even if the biped stance alone feels strange right now.  Yet, if it is what a scratcher looks like, what it felt like, being one, then I was to get used to it soon enough.  That is part of my Changeling heritage, after all.  Taking on the characteristics of others in order to blend in, where I could never have been in my original form as a Changeling.

I could see how she holds the spoon in her right hand, slowly moving it down to the bowl of soup, scoping up what was to be roughly a mouthful, before moving it up to my face.  I knew she had to do it, it is a part of the treat she was to teach me.  I need to master it, or I would fail.

Failing is no option, it had to be avoided at all cost.  In part, because I could reveal who I am, thus alerting the Manehattanites to our presence here.  They can not be allowed to know there are Changelings in their midst.  The one problem is that we couldn't afford to kill or even harm a single one of them in order to prevent the leak, if it was to happen.

Just seeing the grace with which she move the hand she is holding the spoon of Love soup in gave me a slight shiver momentarily.  No Pony could have handled it quite this way, not even with magic as aid.  I know magic, I'm just not quite the adept as a regular Unicorn is, just as I am never the equal of a Pegasus in flight either.

“Open up, time for your first spoon of soup!” Hitomi pointed out, just in time for me to comply, letting me know exactly when to do it.

With that I open my mouth in acceptance of the feed she offered me.  I guess it never have tasted quite this great, or quite like this before.  The problem is to find a supply of Love in a Changeling hive.  The rest is easy by comparison, as hard as some of the required ingredients may be to come by.  At least, it is the impression I had of it all.

Good thing I am not the cook, just like I never had been the one to gather these ingredients.  Maybe this was my lot in life all along.  It isn't as if I could complain, I had not been given an unimportant or easy task, it is an honour to have a task as important and challenging as this.  I could but raise to the occasion.

Once I feel the spoon on my tongue, I slowly close my mouth around it, slowly swallowing the content, just taking the time to savour the flavours and pleasure from her feeding me in this fashion.  I am to perform it soon enough, once the first Pony choose me.

Spoon by spoon, she slowly emptied my bowl, as I fill up on the love I require.  Then she finally did manage to slip the last of the soup up in the spoon.  At this point, I could but smile.  I had enjoyed the treat, this far, not knowing just how much I was to need the love, for when she had finished the demonstration.

She quietly placed the spoon in the bowl, slipping it before her, before pulling the salad closer, leaving it just a mere foot before me on the table, where she stood behind me, beside me, both physically and figuratively.  Where she stood, she supports me, giving me the one special feeling, as she picks the fork up.

Now I see her stabbing the vegetables in the new bowl of salad.

“This isn't commonly included in the service, though we do have soup on the menu as well.  How does this feel?” Hitoni enquired in a curious tone of voice, still the smile on her face.

I can't quite put words to the feeling.  You certainly did make me feel special though Hitomi!” I responded.

“Then it is time for the salad.  This is a common part of what you will be doing, from now on as a part of your job.  The salad is a common meal among Ponies, I have come to understand!” she merely explained as she moved the fork towards my mouth.

“Open your mouth!” she suggested, just in time for me to comply.

I closed my mouth around the fork and the vegetables she inserted into my mouth, feeling the fork slip out quietly, just as easy as the spoon had, while she feed me the soup, as late as a minute ago.  Slowly chewing the crisp vegetables of the salad Flames had prepared for me, enjoying the flavours.

While I chewed the first bite, she stabbed the next, lifting the fork up just in time for me to open my mouth and start chewing once more.  Slowly I chew, enjoying the treat.

Watching her stab more vegetables, again and again, slipping the fork into my mouth just in time I had chewed out.  If this is how they would feel, they were bound to come back for another.

Fork by fork, she filled me up, it may be a light salad, but she managed to take the time, making me enjoy it all the more, rather than rushing it over.  She still managed to make me special, not just a little fillie who needs help feeding.  In the end, she had stabbed the last of the salad, no more vegetables remaining in the bowl.  For a moment I was feeling disappointed, until I realised what was the main treat, the thing I had come for.  The meal a mere appetiser.

Once the meal was out of the way, I feel fresh and expectant, as to what she had promised.  What I was supposed to do for the customers, in the days to come.

The bowls pushed aside, standing before me, for but the time until they were carried out by the next girl, leaving us to the treat.

I noticed she had moved slightly, now standing directly behind me, lifting both her hands towards my head.  I feel her fingers slipping into my mane, her nails making contact with the sensitive skin.  Apparently, she started from the middle of my head.

What I had not expected and couldn't have anticipated, is the effect of her, scratching my head.  Little by little, I clearly feel the effect of the soup evaporating, like an ice cube on the street in the sun on an intensely warm day of summer.  Only it merely trickled away in a snail's pace, rather than just quickly disappearing.

Now her long nails slowly scratch the skin on my head, starting at the top, slowly moving down along the back, just as far as my mane went.  As long as her nails are, they would barely bend in the least.  Thick as they would feel, they are nothing like the hooves I had been born with, which made for a strange and curious contradiction I realised I would like to feel more of.

If this is how I feel, why wouldn't the Manhattan Ponies like to feel it too.  Even when I slowly started to feel the effect of dwindling effects from the meal, I still enjoy he sensations she elicited, using nothing but her nails, scratching slowly gently and very gracefully.

I felt, rather than saw her moving to the right, just before her hands moved to my left ear, where she started anew, scratching my ear.  Bit by bit, she covered my ear in delicious sensations as she kept up her work, even though she was slowly draining me of the love the meal had so recently filled me up on.

Methodically from the top, she worked it over, only to turn back up, then back down, covering a new patch on each turn.  She still managed to drag it out for several minutes by what I could say, though it could as well have taken her an hour.

I barely noticed it as she let go, moving to the other side of me, before she renewed her efforts, just as graceful as before.

Once she was done, I was exhausted.  If it is the excitement from the treat, or the dwindling love reserves in my body, who am I to say.  Maybe it is the combination of the two, even if there is the chance that the meal competed for the remainder of my now meagre energy reserves.  Either way, I was slumping noticeably in my chair as she had finished.

I did little to nothing, hiding how I feel, or the state in which I am in, at this time.  Why bother, it would merely be taxing me even further, even if it would not push me over.  Now it is still feeling good, as exhausted as I am.

“I think you need to go down to your room and rest.  I'll help you!” Hitomi offered in a concerned voice.

“Thanks, I may need that, Hitomi!” I responded in an uncharacteristically flat voice do to how I felt.

“Flames, would you fill a small cup of soup for her?  Seems I was a bit more enthusiastic in demonstrating her job!” Hitomi put forth.

“Sounds like a correct assessment of the situation!” Ruby confirmed in a warm voice.

“I'm on it!” Flames responded eagerly, only too happy to offer her services.

I barely heard Flames, as Hitomi leant me a shoulder to lean on, as she lead me down the stairs to my room, where the bed stood, waiting for me patiently.

While Hitomi was leading me down, Flames was already pouring me a cup of her soup.  Once I had reached the bed, she is slowly walking to the stairs, negotiating his way down.  A moment later, she presented the cup, handing it over to me, where I sit with Hitomi by my side.

Naturally I did accept the cup, slowly sipping the content.  Feeling myself returning to myself, yet still needing some rest from the experience.  Maybe the experience as such would require a moment of quiet contemplation as well.

I could see Flames walking back up with the cup to her kitchen, just as I finished sipping.  I slowly lie down on the bed, Hitomi silently staying by my side, merely sitting on the side, waiting for me.  Listening, observing, yet saying nothing.

While resting, my thoughts slowly worked out, what I had just experienced, what had drained me so heavily, without me even realising it as it happened.

“I wouldn't regret exchanging my fangs for my nails!” I then expressed weakly, as the realisation of the event sunk in.

“We are going to do well here.  Though it does feel strange to draw sustenance from such a treatment, rather than the way we used to in the past!” she responded with a warm smile, clearly taken aback by the situation, just as much as what had just been said.

Flames had cleaned up and done the dishes as he got back up from the basement.  Now she merely sits in the chair by the table with Ruby, quietly contemplating the situation, based on the latest event.