//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Hunt for Books // by Convair //------------------------------// Scribe would consider himself the model changeling for everyone to look up too. Of course, despite the many skills and talents that both gave him his job as well as his name didn’t give him quite as much fame around the hive as he thought. He wasn’t hated, or bullied, or any number of nasty things that could happen to someling in the hive, but he was a bit of a recluse when he was not performing his duty as Her Majesties Royal Scribe. Very rarely did he go out into one of the more social areas of the hive such as the Great Chamber or one of the many restaurants or bars that dotted the hollowed out caverns that was the Hive. He didn’t do this on purpose, he just preferred to stay in his cozy little nook in the hive and read one of the few books that were contained within the Hives rather pitiful library. The library had so few books that it was not even considered important enough to get its own lavishly decorated room like just about everything else did, even the Royal Bathrooms were given the beautifying treatment of the Hives architects and decorators, while the library was left in its dusty little room, with no one besides Scribe even bothering to clean it. Now, this isn’t to say that changelings thought that reading and books were useless, they simply had higher priorities when teaching the young, such as the best ways to get love or how to disguise yourself, and as such only a special few were given the extra classes to become literate. Scribe was one of the few that was given this opportunity, and he took it very seriously, secretly giving some of his love rations to the Collectors in exchange for bringing him a book, or even a measly newspaper, all added to the Hives library curtsey of the obsessive entity known as Scribe. Even with the occasional book that was brought back from Equestria, the library only had around 300 books, though the majority of them were old and dusty tomes, very few of which had anything interesting in them. In addition to the tomes, there were also a few books about pony biology, some that were schoolbooks ‘borrowed’ from the Equestrians, which were used to educate the hives youth about the same things pony children were required to learn. The last section of the library was the part containing the fiction novels, ranging from a single Daring Doo book, to a handful of romance novels (which had been borrowed so many times they were starting to fall apart at the seams). It was these that Scribe loved the most, often finding himself whisked away on a journey through foreign lands, going on great quests and adventures, saving damsels in distress and fighting terrifying monsters. He secretly wished to be one of the characters, to be able to go where no changeling had gone before! What with the invasion of Canterlot in a few hours, it seemed that he might be able to get more of his greatest love at one of the ponies famed ‘book stores’. He had heard stories of shops that sold nothing but books, the great works of literature stacked and shelved, filling up entire rooms with their black and white wisdom. His wings twitched with excitement as he rode in Her Majesties chariot towards the great pony city. Soon he thought, Soon the Queen will defeat those infernal princesses and I will be able to take as many books as I want from the ponies! They don’t deserve to read them! I must find them and save them from their grubby hooves at once! “Can't this thing go any faster?”, he asked the driver. “Only if you want to show up with no army and a furious Queen when our presence gives our plans away to the ponies” he said dryly. All he got in response was an ‘Hrmph’ from his literate counterpart. Scowling, Scribe went back to his thoughts of all the books he was going to read once they defeated the ponies. Oh I bet I’ll get so many books I could fill my home to the brim with books! No that’s not good enough… he mused silently to himself. Perhaps if the Queen were to let him have one of the rich ponies outlandish mansions, he could fill it to the brim with books, and maybe even make the furniture out of books, if it would get a few more crammed in the mansion. It was with these thoughts that he slipped into the realm of sleep, dozing off with the rhythmic wing buzzing of the changelings pulling the chariot lulling him to a calm slumber. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Several hours later, Scribe woke with a start, something poking him in the side. His eyes fluttered open in annoyance and locked onto the changeling who had woken him. “Oh good; you’re awake” said the rather bony drone. “What did you wake me for?” “We have arrived in Canterlot and have begun operations.” “WHAT??? You started without me??” “Yes, the generals thought it more prudent to begin on schedule than spend time waking you, which is why I am here.” “OK. Has the shield been breached yet?” he asked. Suddenly the sound of glass shattering overwhelmed their conversation, making them both look out at the city below them. The shield protecting Canterlot had just been broken wide open by the thousands of changelings smashing against it, the majority of whom were now swarming into the defenseless city, wreaking terror on the citizens. The rest were making their way toward the palace to aid their Queen in defeating any remaining guards or other obstacles they may have put in place. Scribe watched in awe as the thousands of his brothers and sisters marched into the pony capital, said to be unbreakable, and did as they pleased with both its inhabitants and their property. “Wow.” Was all Scribe could say to describe the scene unfolding in front of him. His mind suddenly went back to the books just waiting to be found in the city, and said a quick “See ya” to the warrior next to him before taking off and flying down to the rooftops of the grand city. There were several ponies running through the streets, trying to evade the swarm, but it was all in vain for all but a lucky few who escaped into alleyways, away from the terrifying mass of chitin and fangs. Spying a filly and her mother gallop into the alley just below him, he put together how he would find the holy pieces of literacy he sought. With a sense of stealth that rivaled that of a seasoned Infiltrator, he flew down into the alley, putting the two ponies in between himself and a dead end. He cleared his throat to make his presence known, which may not have been the best idea considering the situation. Both ponies looked back and absolute terror made its way to their faces, though he could see and feel the determination to protect and love for the filly the mother was radiating, so decided to stay out of range for now, should she get the idea to buck him in the face. “H-hello ponies”, he stammered out. “Could you possibly tell me where the-“ before he could finish, the mother took it upon herself to make her opinion known. “I WONT HELP YOU! STAY AWAY FROM US YOU MONSTER!” Scribe was slightly taken aback by the hateful sound of the rage filled shout, but knew that the books he sought would be worth one unpleasant conversation. “I’m sorry if I am scaring you. I simply wanted to ask where I might find a book store in this fine city” Before the mother could reply with a particularly nasty compliment about how the city used to look nice when it was bug free, her daughter spoke up; “T-t-there’s a b-book st-store on S-solar Avenue” the filly shakily blurted out. Her mother looked at her, horrified that her daughter had told Scribe what he wanted, rather than make the invasion harder in whatever way they could. Grinning broadly, Scribe walked up to the duo, trying to be as unthreatening as possible. The mother pulled her daughter close to her while breaking into tears, fearing what the changeling would do to them now that it had the information it wanted. Rather than do any of the terrible things running through all of their minds, Scribe ignored these impulses and instead reared up onto his back legs and wrapped his forelegs around the hysterical mother and scared filly. They both flinched back from his touch, thinking he was going to hurt them, but quickly realized the contrary when he pulled them close to his chest, nuzzling them softly in thanks for the fillies help. “W-why are you h-h-hugging us?” the filly asked. “Because I want to thank you for helping me! A-and because your fur is really soft…” the changeling said, embarrassed at having told them how warm, soft and cuddly their fur made ponies, well that and it got him close enough to absorb some of their familial love, which was DELICIOUS by the way, but that was besides the point. “U-um thank you…I guess…are you going to let us g-go?” Hmm he thought to himself. If I let them go, there is a good chance that someling else will catch them and do some…unsavory things to get at their emotions. I could just cocoon them here I suppose, perhaps hide them so I can find them again later. His mind made up, he once again focused of the ponies in front of him. “Well, you may not particularly like me after this, but trust me it is better for me to do this now and put you in a safe place rather than let one of the others find you and do some rather…unpleasant things to you both.” “S-so what are you g-going to d-do with us?” the mare asked, growing teary at the thought of what the changeling could do to them. “I’m going to cocoon you, but don’t worry, it just puts you to sleep, a sort of stasis, nothing bad.” “P-please don’t hurt my daughter, do this to me but please let her be free!” the mare desperately tried to bargain. “Please don’t freak out. You will both be much safer in a cocoon than in the city right now. It is a painless process that only takes a few minutes. Its like being put to sleep at a hospital for a surgery, really.” This seemed to calm the mare a little, but she still seemed somewhat reluctant to let him do anything to her filly and herself, but at the same time she knew the bug-pony was right, being on the streets was far worse than being put to sleep in a cocoon with what he was implying would be done to them by his kin. “A-all right. Please let us out w-when it is safer Mr.…?” “Oh! My name is Scribe Miss…” “Derpy Hooves, and this is my daughter Dinky” “Ah. Well it’s been nice talking too you but I’m afraid we’ve no time to lose chatting. Please stand a little ways away from each other.” They did as they were told, standing a few feet from each other, shuffling their hooves nervously. Scribe decided it would be better to do the Dinky first, to show Derpy that there was nothing to be afraid of during the cocooning procedure. He approached the filly with a calm smile on his face, hoping that she would see his calm demeanor and copy it, and thankfully she did. Dinky stayed still as he stopped in front of her and began doing some rather confusing things. Scribe stuck his hooves on either side of his neck and began massaging it deeply. He did this for a few seconds until he felt the joints of his jaw pop and his concrete gland open itself. He then opened his mouth as wide as it would go and leant down towards Dinky, who was now very confused and somewhat frightened, but stayed still nonetheless. Scribe made a noise similar to a hacking cough, and an inch thick strand of Changeling Concrete in its pliable form flew out of his concrete gland, up and out of his throat until it left his mouth and stuck to Dinky's snout. He then gripped her body in his magic and spun her around slowly, the concrete continuing to come out as fast as his body could produce it and coiling around her. When the strand of changeling concrete touched the previous coil, it melted seamlessly with it, making a semitransparent shell filled inside with the gelatinous form of the changeling’s signature goo. After about 30 seconds Scribe had completely enveloped Dinky in the concrete, which had formed into the regular hard shell outside, with the sleeping filly in the gooey inside, the concrete going into her lungs to provide her with oxygen while she slept. He snapped his mouth shut, his razor-sharp teeth biting the gooey strand so that the end melted into the rest, leaving the filly encased in a perfect cocoon. “I-is that safe for her?” Derpy asked, fearing for her daughter’s wellbeing. “She is perfectly fine. The concrete brings oxygen from the outside and into the lungs. It may not be the most pleasant thing to cough out when you wake up, but it will definitely keep you alive, even keeping your muscles semi-active so you wont come out of it feeling weak or exhausted.” “O-Okay then.” With that, he repeated the process of Derpy, though it took around a minute to fully cocoon her due to her body being bigger than that of her filly. Once he was done, he swallowed the excess concrete, shuddering at the sweet taste it had, and marveled at his handiwork. Both ponies were now sleeping soundly in their green pods, the concrete tending to their bodily needs as they slumbered. Now he only needed to decide where to put them before he could resume his quest for books, but where to put them… he thought silently to himself. “Ooh I’ve got it!” he exclaimed, gripping the two cocoons in his magic, carrying them up with him as he flew back to the roof of one of the surrounding buildings. He went to one of the corners of the roof, the one that a pony must have been piling spare furniture or something of that caliber on and had left the tarp over them loosely tied down. Scribe quickly undid the knots and lifted the tarp, revealing a couch, chairs and a broken desk underneath. He put Dinky's smaller cocoon underneath the desk in a hollow area just the right size for hers. Derpy’s cocoon was placed gently on the couch in such a way that you could not see the obvious shape of a cocoon and only the outline of the couch. His work done, he retied the tarp over the furniture and ponies, giving it a quick once over to make sure noling would see the cocoons and ignore the tarp and it's contents, believing it to be just some random junk, though he knew eventually someling would get curious, so he vowed to come back for them as quickly as he could, not wanting any harm to come to the adorable duo. _________________________________________________________________________________________ His (relatively) good deed completed, Scribe made his way back to street level, though this time he was actually on the street. He walked up to one of the Soldier changelings who were organizing the movement of captured ponies. “Excuse me sir, but could you direct me to Solar Avenue?” he asked politely. “Huh? Oh, hey Scribe. I think Solar Ave is that way.” He said pointing to a large road going west, just like the path of the Sun, lined with a great many shops. There were some changelings walking their way, pulling several ponies with them, obviously taking their time, seeing as how they had already captured the city in a matter of minutes. Of course none of them knew that the situation in the Palace and the caverns below was deteriorating rapidly. “Thanks” and with that he way off, an excited blur of chitin rocketing down the street, searching for anything that looked like a shop that sold books. After a few minutes of flying down the lengthy street, passing stores that sold just about anything anyling could possibly want, he saw the store that he had dreamed about seeing for weeks now: the Canterlot Bookstore. His wings buzzed excitedly as he flew over to the building, stopping just short of the front door so that he could look inside. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw the shelves upon shelves of books inside of the building, though he also took notice of the four terrified ponies at the back of the shop, staring at him in pure horror. Well they’re not going to tell me which of the books are the best if they think I want to hurt them, he thought to himself. He walked into the store, the door swinging freely before it hit the bell mounted at the tom of the doorframe, sending a ringing throughout the store signaling his entrance. He stared in wonder at the piles upon piles of books around him; the sheer amount of books in this single shop was hundreds of times more than those in the Hive library. There must be thousands of them! He thought as he stared in wonder at the texts that he would normally have to sacrifice massive amounts of his share of love to attain. His thoughts were interrupted by a somewhat pathetic sounding whimper, originating from the back of the store, where he had seen the ponies huddling together. He forced his gaze away from the books lining the walls and instead focused on the shivering forms of four ponies hiding behind a cashiers counter with their eyes over the top of the table, staring at him. Or at least they were, until they noticed him looking and rapidly pulled their heads back down, hiding against the wooden counter. “Um, do you own this store?” he asked the ponies, hoping they would not be so afraid to block him out. “Y-y-y-y-yes w-w-we do” the stallion’s voice came from behind the wooden shield, stuttering horribly in his terror. “Oh um so could you possibly recommend some of your books to me? I’m not really sure which ones to pick! There’s just so many!” He said, his voice getting giddy with excitement by the time he stopped talking. “Y-you’re not going to k-kill us?” said the stallion, not believing what the changeling had said. “No, but could you please show me all of your books! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!!” “O-OKAY! Calm down please Mr. um…changeling and I’ll show you our best books, if that’s what you want.” “IT IS!!! ILOVEBOOKSSOMUCHYOUJUSTHAVETOSHOWMEALL OFYOURSWAITNOSHOWMETHEBESTONESFIRSTNOWAIT SHOWMEDARINGDOOFIRSTIREALLYWANTTOSEE WHATHAPPENSAFTERTHEFIRSTBOOKSOOOOOOOBADLY!!!!” He said, so fast that his words were all blurred together in a very Pinkie-like way, the stallion barely being able to understand him. “P-please calm down! I-I can get you the whole series if you want! Just please don’t h-hurt my family!” the stallion pleaded from behind the counter. “I won't.” Scribe said, intending on making his answer truthful. “O-okay then. Follow me please…” Scribe followed the brown coat and maned stallion to a door next to one of the many bookshelves. He opened the door and gestured down the single flight of stairs. “The whole series and a lot of our stock is down there. Feel free to read as much of it as you can. There’s a light switch at the bottom of the stairs.” So excited at the opportunity in front of him, Scribe didn’t waste another moment before rushing down the stairs, turning on the light and gazing in wonder at the piles of literature before him. He was so excited, he didn’t consider that there was a lock on the outside of the basement and certainly didn’t stop to consider weather or not the stallion would try to keep his family safe by locking him down there with both a physical lock as well as a magical one (as he was a unicorn) that would keep everything but a very high level unicorn or perhaps a bodybuilding minotaur inside of the basement until it was lifted. “Sorry.” Was the only warning Scribe got before the stallion slammed the door shut after him and used the aforementioned locks to seal all but air in the basement. “HEY!!! LET ME OUT!!!” Scribe screamed as he pounded on the basement door. He only received silence as an answer. He used his magic to probe at the wooden door, and found the magical wards as well as other lock that had been placed on it and knew it was futile to try forcing his way out. Crap. Well I guess it's better to be locked in a basement full of books instead of an empty one I guess… he thought to himself. He spent the next 20 minutes going through the piles of various books before he finally found the Daring Doo series. He let out a very Fluttershy like ‘eep’ and set himself upon beginning the second book. Scribe was just starting the second chapter when he felt a massive wave of pure love energy rocketing towards him. Unknown to him, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor had just touched their horns together, Cadence’s love combining with Shining’s shield spell to create a rapidly expanding bubble of love, flinging changelings off in every direction out of Canterlot. Of course, Scribe didn’t know this and was only aware of the massive wave of love, enough that it could power the entire hive for centuries. Rather than expel him from Canterlot, the love bubble passed over him though was close enough that he still got a massive dose of energy, making him dizzy. The power coursing through his veins felt good, no, more than that, it felt as if the purest of all things was coursing through his body, purifying him from within, and it felt wonderful. Rather than immediately dissipate after getting rid of the invading army, the massive amount of love stayed within the city, love bringing joy and happiness to all the ponies within the city walls. The lingering energy had a much different effect on Scribe though, as instead of his body stopping when it had absorbed enough love, it kept bringing in more and more, his energy levels increasing to dangerous. The love would eventually dissipate throughout the city over time, but at this moment all of the love in the area was drawn to Scribe, his body absorbing more energy than he should have ever been able to hold. His head was spinning, his vision getting blurred and his eyes had turned from their pale blue color to a deep and beautiful orange. "W-what’s happening to me?" Scribe asked himself. "This shouldn’t be happening! This is impossible! Only a Royal could hold this much love-" Suddenly, the reason he hadn’t already exploded clicked in his mind. There was a myth in the hive that when a normal changeling absorbed huge amounts of true love, the rarest and most precious of all, they could transform into a Royal, making them an heir to the current king or queen in power or at the very least a Noble. It was exceedingly rare as very few times during recorded history had there been an event where such powerful love was displayed, and even fewer times where the conditions had been perfect for a transformation. As unlikely and crazy as it seemed to him, Scribe had to admit that there was so much love in the air he would not have been surprised had every changeling in the city become more powerful. Sadly there were no other changelings currently in Canterlot to experience the overwhelming power he now felt, though he didn't know this. As much as he wanted to deny what was happening and believe it was a hallucination, it was the only thing that could explain how he was still alive after absorbing so much love. It was the only reasonable and somewhat logical reason he could think of how he hadn’t simply keeled over and died as he continued to absorb more and more of the sacred emotion. The last thing that Scribe remembered before he fell unconscious was wondering if he was going to grow to the size Royals were if he was in fact transforming. Most Royals were about the same size as Celestia or any other fully grown alicorn, some being a tad bigger, and some being a bit smaller. The last thing that went through his love-drunk mind (love had a very inebriating effect on changelings) as he slipped into Luna’s realm was: If I do grow as big as the Queen, I hope a certain limb grows with the rest of me.