A small groan could be heard throughout the quiet library. Slight twitching of the wings illuminated the room from the quietness, which was much more quiet than you would think. The changeling strapped to the table couldn't see anything, just like yesterday. But was it tomorrow yet? Judging by the silence, he could only think that it was still either very early in the morning or still somewhere around midnight. It was too quiet. But then again, he wasn't so sure where he was in the first place. The only hint he got was somewhere called 'Ponytown.' He's never heard of such a place on the map. But then again, he hasn't heard lots of things from the world. The silence was invaded once more, as hoofsteps were heard approaching.
Twilight yawned loudly to herself, rubbing her eyes to adjust to the darkness around her. Couldn't really help since it was completely pitch black. To change this, her horn fizzled in the darkness before the slam echoed throughout the tree house. She squinted at the sudden light, rubbing her eyes once more to adjust to the sudden entry of the blinding sun. She wasn't wearing her lab coat this time. It was probably hung upstairs, along with her goggles. She looked like any other pony without clothes. After a few moments, Twilight looked at her surroundings, still noting that everything had been in place. Even the Changeling.
This was starting to frighten her. The Changeling hasn't made one move to try and escape yet. It was almost as if it was just waiting for something to happen. Like it was planning something. If she were to be in the position, she would be fighting to get out of the strapped prison. But that's her. It was a good idea to give the Changeling a paralyzing effect mixture for the horn. Without it, she wouldn't know what would happen.
"Good morning," Twilight greeted. "I hope you slept well. I know it's not a very comfy table or anything, but I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with it for a while. For all I know, the princess could just step on in at any moment."
The Changeling didn't say anything. If anything, it gave the blank stare once more. Every so often it would blink, but it would hide the amazing blue-bugged eyes that were plastered on it's face. That was one thing Twilight couldn't seem to understand. They were just so.. pretty. But enough of that. Back to the experiment. Twilight was going to have to try and figure out what the Changeling could eat other than love. She didn't have anything to provide it at the time, so surely they had to have something else to eat. But what? If only it would give her the answers, then she would be glad to serve it a meal! You can't experiment something on an empty stomach!
Twilight noticed that she had been staring at the Changeling for quite some time now, and she quickly shook her head to get out of the trance. "Right! I'll fetch you something to eat!" She said with enthusiasm, even though she didn't even know what to serve.
The Changeling watched as Twilight disappeared into the kitchen, and this gave it time to take one more look at its surroundings. The room hadn't changed a bit, which was expected. The thought of trying to escape was piercing its mind, but there was something that wouldn't make him leave. He had been treated nice so far from this pony. Perhaps he could use her to his advantage if he played his cards right. But then again, he really shouldn't hurt this pony. Or Twilight, as she said.
This particular Changeling wasn't like most that were born in the hive. Most of them were born as fighters, or main instinctual behavior was to feed off of love. As corny as it sounds, he wasn't born that way. It wasn't that it was a birth defect, but he understood the world around him. He knew what he was becoming into if he followed the rules of the Hive. During the attack on Canterlot, he mostly stayed out of sight, making sure that Chrysalis wasn't watching him. He knew that this was wrong.
"Here you are!" The voice called out, which caused the Changeling to turn his head towards Twilight who had just exited the kitchen.
"I made you some hayfries, if that's alright! I mean, it's not really a breakfast thing, but it's really all I have at the moment. And I hope you understand that I can't take you outside because... Nevermind. Here," she said as she put the plate next to him on the table.
The Changeling looked at the plate with a confused expression, raising it's brow while looking at Twilight. Was she seriously toying with him?
Twilight got confused and just stared back at him. "What?" She asked, "Do you not enjoy hayfries?" After a few moments, it clicked in her head. Gazing down at the fries, she looked at the Changeling's hooves that were still strapped on the table and she put her hoof on her face. "Oh Celestia, I'm such an idiot." She gave an awkward smile, picking up the plate once more. "Sorry about that.. I forgot about this whole ordeal you're in. But um, how are you going to..." She left the question hanging as she considered the possibilities.
There was only one that stuck out to her. If she couldn't release the bug, she just would have to do it herself. Picking up the hayfry with her magic, Twilight slowly moved it over towards the Changeling's mouth, still smiling a little bit awkwardly from the situation.
Oh, this was the game that was being played, was it? The Changeling raised a brow at her, feeling like a foal for doing this. He scrunched at the fry, smelling it slightly in order to know at least what it might be like. And, as expected from Twilight, he turned his head away in disgust.
"What? Do you think I poisoned it or something? You won't know until you try it," Twilight said to him. If this was going to be a force feeding, then so be it. But he had to eat! The rule of keeping subjects in good condition was essential for a good experiment test!
The bug looked back over to the fry suspiciously, still not up to the idea of tasting the weird substance being fed to him. Snorting through his nose, he slowly tilted his head over towards the fry before taking a very tiny bite out of it. Almost immediately, the Changeling spit out the crunched up remains of the food. Twilight could be heard groaning very silently.
"Look, you're going to have to eat something. You won't tell me what you want to eat, and all we can assume is that you feed on love. Sadly, I don't have anything like that to give you, so you're going to have to make due with what you have." Twilight said quite harshly, but not out of line. She wanted to at least get the point across. She waited impatiently as the Changeling didn't make another move towards the hayfry, and it just scrunched its nose away from it.
Twilight gave one final groan, "Fine. Here." She set the plate on his chest, backing away from the table. "I'll live this here if you want to continue eating. If you won't eat it, then I'm sorry. I can't help you. Now if you excuse me, I'm off to eat something myself. We'll continue this momentarily." With that said, Twilight faced the opposite direction and trotted towards the kitchen before leaving the sight of the Changeling.
The hole-filled creature tried to keep his head away from the plate as much as possible. This was torture! How dare she! Rolling its eyes, he set his head back on the table and stared up at the ceiling. She was right. This was going to be a long day.