Cimmerian's night was spent doing nothing but relaxing on the beach. Luna stopped by, asked him how he was doing, but otherwise it was the former human's night off. No feeding changelings, no dream walking, just dozing in a dream. If that wasn't restful, nothing was. Still, all good things must end and eventually his alicorn alarm clock stopped by once more. Luna poked him a few times, rousing and alerting him to the fact that it was breakfast time.
Just as Luna was turning to leave, oddly enough feeling the need to walk away as she left the dream, Cimmerian returned to his human form. It took him a moment to remember the differences between his birth and current forms, but just before Luna escaped he nabbed her, lifting her off of the ground with a squeak of surprise.
"Buh! Cimmerian, what the hay are you doing?" she yelped, before her eyes widened in shock. Not a minute later the alicorn was a melted pile of contentment in his lap, his fingers dancing all over her form. Scratching behind her ears, both sides of her neck at the same time, her barrel and stomach, even rubbing down her legs and running his fingers through her mane. Sure it wasn't Luna's real body, but the sensations were there all the same and apparently Luna was a sucker for a good rub down.
"Bleh, you must do this to Tia. She'd love you forever. You need to open her dreams once more, by the way. I wish to strike her upside the head for her stupidity, as is my sisterly duty."
Giving her adequate time to recover, he sent her on her way while he himself left the dream realm. Yawning, the alicorn rose from his bed and instantly the world spun sideways as a strong sense of vertigo hit him. He fell off of his bed and onto his face nearly shattering the small nightstand that sat by his bed. He groaned in pain, peeling himself off the floor as his sense of balance returned.
'Right, it's been a while since I've used a different form. Different balance, different size, different shape. Waking up and trying to jump up like I've been doing was probably a stupid idea.'
After making sure his facial features bore no major damage the alicorn made his way to the dining hall, many residents either already present or leaving. He filled a plate from the buffet and made his way to his usual table. Queen Pandinus was already sitting next to his seat, a large plate of various foods piled up high in front of her as she stared off into the distance. She was eating in an almost mechanical manner; odd considering her species ate such things for pleasure.
Taking a seat next to her, he bumped her with a wing, drawing her attention. "What's wrong, Pandinus? You're acting strange."
She blinked a few times before turning to him. "I'm that out of it? Something's bothering me about this clutch. I'll be talking to Mist and Mirage after breakfast."
"That's good, but I was talking about the amount of food you grabbed. Since when do you go for a full plate?" he asked her, pointing at the plate with a wing even as he floated some scrambled eggs onto his toast.
"I was just feeling hungry, that's all. Didn't eat much last night." She replied, once more zoning out.
Cimmerian nodded, remembering skipping dinner to watch the sunset, then getting interrupted by the griffons. He never did make it back to the dining hall, opting to retire early. Just as he was about to take a bite of his eggs and toast he stopped, the queen's wording striking him as odd.
"What do you mean you didn't eat much last night?" he inquired, worry leaking into his voice. "The reserves are still there right?"
The queen blinked, cocking her head in thought before nodding. "Yea it's still there, still lots of emotion, but I've had a taste for this stuff lately. Just hungry, that's all."
The alicorn stared at her. "Din, you told me you don't gain anything from this food. Why would you eat it if your hungry? Why not go grab some of the stored emotions?"
Pandinus opened her mouth to retort but stopped, looking down as if noticing the plate before her for the first time. She stared at it for nearly a full minute before turning back to him, eyes wide. "I-I don't know, I mean I never, why did I not notice... I'm having them check me now!" She shouted, nearly throwing her chair back and storming out of the hall.
Cimmerian was after her a second later, stopping only to request a large platter be saved and sent to the war room for later. He arrived in the infirmary to find the Din already laying on her side on one of the mattresses as the changeling nurses performed their examination. Mirage's horn lit up, a scanning spell going over the queen. Even as Mist was continuing the physical examination, Mirage was in a state of absolute panic. She pulled the stallion aside, speaking to him in harsh whispers.
"Whatever it is you do to keep breaking the laws of the world, stop it!"
"Mirage, what are you talking about? What's wrong with-"
"She's pregnant, that's what!" the mare nearly screeched. "That shouldn't be news to you, but I can't detect the eggs, just the nymphs themselves! They're developing like pony foals, not changeling nymphs. I could already pinpoint their heartbeats! Nymphs don't develop that far until they've been laid, and she still hasn't said anything about a desire to lay them. This shouldn't be possible, but why the buzz not, you seem to like shattering everything we know about the world, don't you?!? Changelings. Lay. Eggs." the mare told him, each word punctuated with a harsh shove of her hoof against his leg. "Whether they mate with ponies, griffons, thestrals, what have you, they lay eggs. I don't even know if it's possible for her to go through with live birth! It's never been done before!"
The changeling took a moment to calm herself down, breathing deeply. "I'll explain it to her, but you're going to have to keep her calm. This is so far out of left field, I can't do anything for her. We're going to need a pony doctor for this. Griffons won't be much help, as they lay eggs as well."
The smaller shape shifter led him back to the bed currently occupied by his, well, technically Cimmerian supposed she was his wife in all but official documentation at the moment. Mist was just finishing her inspection when they returned to the bed.
"Your abdomen feels a bit strange right where the eggs should be, but other than that, I can't find anything wrong. We're going to have to go by the scan. Mirage?"
The changeling braced herself, "Nothing's wrong as far as I could tell. I found three developing nymphs, foals, whatever they'd be considered in this case, and I didn't find anything wrong with them." The queen breathed a sigh of relief at the news. "In fact, before you know it, you'll be giving birth to three foals, nymphs, hybrids, or whatever they'd be classified as."
"Well, if noth-" the queens words died on her lips. "Did you say "giving birth"? As in the thing ponies do? With the fully developed nymph coming out instead of an egg?"
Mirage nodded, looking at Cimmerian expectantly. Meanwhile, Pandinus' eyes were dilated, her breathing coming in quick spurts. "T-that doesn't make sense, I mean queens lay eggs, we don't carry them around for, how long do pony pregnancies last?"
As if in answer to the question, Blur was carried in on the back of Sleight, the pegasus looking like she'd lost a fight with a wood chipper. Or possibly in this case, lost a few fights with the infiltrator. Cimmerian saw it as an opportunity and waved the changeling over.
"Good morning Father, is there something you need? I was just about to leave Blur with the medics after her weekly sparring session." the changeling told him.
"I had a question for her, actually. Since most of the medical staff here are either griffon or changeling, I was going to ask her what the usual length of a pony pregnancy is." Cimmerian told the changeling. "But I suppose she's not going to be answering that question, is she? I know you're training her, but why does she look like she walked through a swarm of reavers?"
"Well, we don't have any wolves in the area, so I have to make do." Sleight answered.
"Wolves? Why, why would you do that to her?" the alicorn asked in shock.
"Well, that's how my master taught me," Sleight responded, obviously seeing nothing wrong with her teaching methods. She then adopted an air of superiority. "After all, 'A martial artist's life is fraught with peril.' If she can't handle this, how will she react to the speed swimming? Silver sharks are nowhere near as forgiving as reavers."
The stallion stared at the changeling for a good minute hoping she was joking when Pandinus, despite her panic, stepped in, "Sleight, put her into the medical pod, and report to Amald for guard duty. I don't want you overseeing any more training. What on Equis are you thinking? You're giving her a little survival training, not training her to be a mare among mares."
As the changeling carried the insensate pegasus away, a new voice interjected into the conversation. "I'd ask what that was about, but seeing how bad Blur looks, it may be better if I remain ignorant," Gleam stated as she approached the group. "After the two of you left in a hurry, I followed along to see what it was about. I heard something about pony pregnancy length. It's around eleven months, why?"
"We have reason to believe that Queen Pandinus may not be laying eggs this time." Mirage explained. "The scanning spell looked strange, and the young already have heartbeats. That's not supposed to happen until the clutch has been laid. Granted, we're dealing with mister 'I break the universe every time I yawn' over there, but I thought there were some things that would remain normal. I'm kind of worried about gravity at this point."
Gleam giggled while moving closer to the queen. "I know it's a bit late since we've known you were expecting for a while, but I was going to wait until they hatched before saying this. Congratulations, Queen Pandinus. Mirage, one thing you forget is that while things tend to get a bit silly around Cimmerian, it always works out for the best. It may be a bit strange, and possibly uncomfortable, but if you can alter your physical shape, I'm certain you can manage the changes every live-bearing female goes through just fine."
"U-uncomfortable?" the queen asked cautiously? "What do you mean uncomfortable. I don't feel much when I lay my eggs, just a little pressure."
Gleam caught herself too late, the changelings all looking at her for more information on live birth. "W-well, as the foal develops, there are several things that can happen. First there may be cravings. My mother tol-"
"That's why I've been wanting to eat pony food?!?" Din shouted at the mare.
"They've started this late? Well, I suppose being a different species will throw some things off. It also begs the question of just what they'll look like if they're requiring actual foods." The unicorn hypothesized. "I'd say it's a good sign. If your body can adapt to such a major change for them, there shouldn't be any major issues. The next biggest thing is morning sickness. Sometimes a mare will feel nauseous, or strangely tired at odd times of the day."
Healing mist buried her muzzle in her hooves at this point, growling "We spent hours checking her stomachs for parasites over the course of several days when she got sick. What a buzzin' waste of time."
"R-right." the unicorn said, shifting uneasily at the sight of several grumbling changelings. "The biggest thing about live births is the fact that they'll reach a decent size while you're carrying them. They're usually about this big at birth, though yours may be larger given their parentage." She spread her hooves apart, giving a rough estimate of a newborn foal's size. "Finally, uh, oh dear how do I say this. When they reach that size, they have to come out. The process is usually messy and painful, so we try to make sure there's a doctor nearby in case of complications."
That was it for the queen. Her pupils dilated and she began panicking. "P-Painful? Eggs aren't painful, it's a normal process! I lay them and make sure they're saturated with emotion. You're telling me I'm going to have something growing inside of me, to that size? The only time that happens is if something's wrong, and the queen it happens to dies!" She suddenly glared at the stallion. "You! This is your fault. You and that damnable seed of yours! You had to be different, couldn't be normal like every other creature queens have mated with over the centuries!"
Lestidae chittered something at Din from across the room before bursting into laughter, earning a glare from the nurselings and a sputtering exclamation from the healthy queen.
"Weak!?! I'm not weak, I'm the strongest queen here; possibly the strongest on the planet! This won't change anything, I'm still, I mean I'll still be, even during this I'll..." The larger queen's anger petered out, devolving into confused whimpering as she curled into a ball on the bed.
'And of course, they also bring about mood swings.' Cimmerian thought to himself as he stepped closer. The queen was sobbing uncontrollably by the time he actually reached her, which wasn't more than a few moments. The drones were at a loss, while Gleam tried speaking reassuringly to the larger mare. Turning to Mirage, he whispered "Is there anything actually wrong with her, besides the oddity of the pregnancy?"
The drone shook her head, and he continued on with his plan, lifting the queen off the bed and pulling her into a tight hug. The queen started pushing away the second she noticed what was going on.
"Don't touch me, that's how this mess started! I don't wammph!" he interrupted her rant with a kiss while wrapping his wings around her, attempting to reassure the frazzled queen. Seeing as she stopped flailing, he lifted her in his aura and set her on his back while addressing the females by Din's bed.
"We'll be in my room if you need anything. I'll meet you in the war room later on, Gleam. And Lestidae?" he called over to the still giggling queen "You may see this as a weakness, but all of these changes are only going to solidify and strengthen my attachment to Pandinus. If I thought Pandinus was injured or sick out there in the jungle, I'd burn the whole thing down to find her. It's another benefit of this kind of relationship; she doesn't need to be strong all of the time. What would happen to you if you were left in a similar situation?"
The older queen's giggling cut off, her mind currently processing his statement. Confusion broke out over her face moments later, but the stallion wasn't interested in explaining himself to her. Having said his piece he left them and walked out the door, making his way to his own bedroom.
It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense to the Queen Pandinus at the moment. The pregnancy, the sensations, the desires and needs. Even worse was the alicorn's increase in love and concern. She was not well, she would become worse, she would be weak. Why then was the amount of love he radiated increasing at her weakness?
The stallion gently placed her on his own bed, wrapping her in his still warm blankets before turning around and walking back out, stopping only long enough to tell her he was going to grab something. The gentleness was almost insulting to her. He was acting like she'd break if he didn't treat her like glass. A sudden wave of panic washed over her; he knew more about live-birth foals than she did, was it possible they could be damaged if she wasn't careful?
Looking around the room, her mind began assessing everything for danger. A mirror that could shatter and cut her, a chair could collapse under her weight and puncture her barrel. A decorative blade suddenly became a guillotine waiting for her to pass under it. Even the stalactites in the caves that she'd normally dismiss was suddenly a spear just waiting for her appearance. Her breathing began to pick up and she curled deeper into the blankets. Even her own room was suddenly dangerous, the amount of drones with bladed horns suddenly becoming very important.
The door swung open once more and the alicorn walked back in. She would have jumped up and clung to him if she wasn't worried about something inside her being jostled. Would even her walking harm them? In that case she couldn't move. She'd be stuck here or where ever the others left her for several months, unable to do anything else. Pandinus hated this feeling. She wanted to be rid of the damnable things, but the second she thought of inflicting any harm upon the young, her instincts became protective again rendering her incapable of such a thing. It left her confused, terrified, and most of all, absolutely miserable.
She was distracted from her spiral by the shifting of the bed. Cimmerian was gently settling himself down next to her, gently laying a wing over her and pulling her in closer. Her ears perked up, the scent of something catching her attention. Smiling at her, he revealed a large platter filled with various foods from the dining hall.
"I didn't get a chance to eat, so I had some food sent to the war room. Help yourself," he told her, taking a bite of a buttered pancake.
That was all the encouragement she needed. Her body was craving this food, telling her she needed it as much as if not more than emotions. Why though? She never needed it before, nor did she ever hear of any other queens going through a similar thing. She nibbled on some breakfast sausage for a moment before snapping the thing down in one go, her hunger finally driving her to dive into the plate. She shoved him when he laughed at her, but otherwise focused on her meal. It was easier to deal with than this insanity. If she ate, she'd be full, if she was full, she'd stop craving this strange food. If she stopped craving this strange food, she could pretend everything was normal again for a while.
After the food was gone, she relaxed in the covers for a while, the wards keeping the constant construction outside the Temple from intruding despite the open window. There were so many things she should have noticed that were wrong besides the length of time since her last clutch, but she missed them. Tartarus, she wasn't producing half as much processed waste as she should have been, considering how much she was eating. That left the question of how her body managed to make the changes necessary to digest the food without her realizing the changes had occurred. She breathed deeply, enjoying the scent of her mate surrounding her. His blankets, his bed, him laying right beside her. Another oddity; his scent calmed her. He was already her warm/safe/food/mate, now even the slightest hint of his presence seemed to help. Maybe that was another part of this illness that had taken her.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked her, managing to draw her from her thoughts.
"No. I'm a mess, I feel like anything could end up harming me or my hatchlings, if I can even call them that, and my own body is acting in ways it shouldn't. I'm just terribly confused right now," she responded with a dispassionate voice. "I'm still blaming you for this."
Cimmerian chuckled at her accusation, pulling her closer into his side. "Relax, Din. As I told Lestidae, you're not in a normal hive. If something goes wrong, I can name at least seven people here besides myself who would jump to help you. That's not including those of your hive, many of whom are comfortable for the first time in who knows how long."
"Why? Why is it when I was in the medical room, being told how weak I'll get, your emotions became more intense?" the queen shouted at him in frustration. "I'm going to be a weak, bloated, helpless mess. Why would you want me anywhere near you?"
"The reason is because that's what usually happens to females as I know them. To you it's weird and scary, but to me? My own mother birthed me that way, and I was expecting my mate, whoever she ended up being, to experience the same thing. The egg thing was actually a bit scary to me but I got over it."
The alicorn stroked her barrel, just below her ribs. "As it stands this is what I expect when I hear about reproduction, so of course I'll have no issue with it. It just means there will be more of you to love for a while. After that, you'll deflate to your old size and we'll have three kids running around the place, most likely keeping us up at odd hours, making messes, and generally being pests. It's also kind of exciting. The pregnancy is different, so what else will be different? Will they produce emotions like other species do, or have a connection to the hive like changelings? Will they be hybrids or changelings or alicorns? There's no way to know right now, but since your body's already adjusting, I'm not worried too much about complications. If you can change that much, I'm sure you'll be fine. And don't worry about not being able to move around. Equine and human females aren't restricted by their pregnancies for the entirety of the ordeal; it's only at the tail end of it that you may have issues moving around, if any. I've heard of women working right up until the end. Shape shifting may be a bit tougher, or maybe even inaccessible for a bit though."
The last bit of information caused her panic to flare again, a wave of smokey fire washing over her body. Her appearance was still similarly sized, form now that of her favorite body to tease the alicorn, but she couldn't help but notice even her altered form looked just a tad pudgy. Another thought struck her. Would it be easier to stay like this, in the form of a female alicorn, until the illness had passed? It would be difficult, certainly, but maybe it would make some things easier?
Her thoughts were temporarily put on hold as he moved away, leaving her wrapped in the covers. "I'm going to hit the paperwork again, you just enjoy your day. I'll see you tonight, and I suggest you stock up on love. I'm going to be heading to Zarris to meet up with the Thestral rep tomorrow."
The queen watched him leave, some part of her wishing he'd wave off the work and just stay with her. Maybe he was right, and she was panicking over something that wouldn't actually harm her. It wouldn't be the first time he turned out to be correct, even regarding something he understood nothing about. Her eyes were drawn to a small jar sitting on his dresser, displayed right beside a large scale and an even larger fang.
'There's no way he kept that, I mean why would he? It was a failed attempt to...'
It was the jar of love she'd tried to give him, her own love that she'd managed to create in an attempt to separate it from her being. The ordeal still left a twinge of phantom pain, her muscles clenching at the memory of the complications she'd run into after the incident. Actually, to say it was unpleasant didn't do it justice, it was one of the most horrible things she'd ever experienced. Why did she ever think that was a good idea?
Granted, it turned out to be worth it in the end, and it had given her his undivided attention for a while as well as helped them understand each other more, but that didn't explain why he kept it. Ponies, or in this case non-changelings, were beyond strange.
'I could ask him about it, I suppose.' she contemplated. A second thought crossed her mind a moment later. She had an expert in pony thinking a link away! Sure the little alicorn might wet herself at the contact, but such were the tribulations of being in a queen's hive. She'd just make sure she wasn't doing anything dangerous and, ah ha! Amare was still with her. A quick check of the nymphs active memories told her the pink pony was currently staring out over the town from the top of the Temple. The hatchling, realizing what the she was about to do, relayed the queen's desire to speak to the pony verbally, knowing she still wasn't comfortable with the link. Before Cadance could start to head to her nest however, the queen made a gentle brush against the alicorn's connection to the link.
A jar of emotion, the basics of what had happened, and a simple inquiry as to why were slowly filtered to the pink pony, the queen still remaining alert enough to understand a flood may scare her. Panic was the first response, followed by a concerted effort to reign in her fear. It took some time, but the queen was eventually able to transmit the information in a way Cadance could understand, and she could feel the pony processing the information. The answer came suddenly, the small alicorn's thought focusing around a single word when thinking of the jar.
Gift.
'Not good gift, failed gift. Why keep?' Pandinus sent, attempting to keep the thoughts simple.
The response was difficult to read, the pony's thought not meant for this kind of interaction. 'First gift, thing first given, pretty cloud, first proof of devotion, when's dinner?, first is always important us, miss him,' the images soon started to devolve into memories of her imprisonment. Din exerted a bit of her control over the link, dragging the line of thought away from such dark things, the alicorn's mind flooding with relief at the quick derailment of her train of thought. The queen was certain most would be furious at such an intrusion. In the meantime though, she had a few queens to mess with.
'Meet in infirmary. Will be funny.' With those thoughts, she cut the connection. The pony was doing surprisingly well. Her mind was still a mess, but it was to be expected with the images she sometimes broadcasted over the link as she slept. Thankfully they only reached Pandinus and not the hatchlings, otherwise the nymphs may start avoiding sleep as the pony had once done.
The mare looked around the quiet room one last time. She'd made plans now, but she was still comfortably lodged within her stallion's bedding. Maybe she'd keep some of his blankets in her nest when he left? Sure his scent was already present in her nest, but a little more comfort wouldn't hurt. She'd also send some infiltrators with him. They wouldn't be able to physically do anything he couldn't, but she'd be damned before she left him with only the mercenaries to watch him.
<-(0)->
Ted sat back on his personal beach, a frown plastered on his face. The same one that had been present since earlier. The same one that stemmed from the news Din had delivered upon their retiring to his dream. He was sitting on the beach in human form, testing the effectiveness of multiple digits on changeling chitin for, you know, science, when the queen had decided to inform him of her earlier shenanigans.
It started out simple enough, the simple memory image of her entering the infirmary, Cadance already present with Amare. The queen had then watched the other two as she opened the connection between the pony and the queens while prompting the smaller alicorn to try to mentally greet them. Zelus had promptly sputtered gibbering about impossibilities and how it shouldn't be possible, while Lestidae...
Lestidae was very quiet, staring at the pony like it was ablaze. She giggled lightly, then again. Not a happy giggle though. The queen soon gave in to raucous laughter, laughter that left Din smiling and Cadance feeling more than a little uncomfortable. It turned out the long line of shocks was finally breaking the older queen. Cadance was the last straw, and Lestidae's grip on reality was temporarily snapped.
He'd wanted to be there to see their reactions, and she'd brought it to their attention while he was working on the latest reports. Sure he could see it as it had occurred thanks to memory viewing in the dream realm, but he wanted to enjoy it personally. instead, he'd had to resort to enjoying the queen's reaction to his stating she'd have to let him watch when they found another queen to link to the hive. It wasn't as good as what he'd missed, but it would sate him for now.
The queen, having stopped ranting about half an hour ago by his count, was currently slumped over him, her head resting on his chest as he worked his fingers through her mane. Judging by the purring, he'd have to hazard a guess that the treatment was just as effective on lightly armored changelings as it was on alicorns. His mood was damaged even further when the queen finally found the strength to speak despite his best efforts.
"By the way, Cimmerian. I'm sending drones with you. You're not making this trip alone."
"What makes you think I'll need guards?" He asked her, his tone one of slight annoyance.
"Celestia had guards, Luna had guards, Cadance had guards, every queen I learned of had guards, even my own mother had her own personal guards. You're too important not to have them. In fact, if Zelus was fully recovered I'd be sending her with you. Even then, the moment she's recovered she's going to be training you in combat and guarding you or I when we leave the Temple. In this case though, I'm only sending a squad with you. They've been supplied with enough provisions to last them a week of strenuous activity, and have enough medical supplies to keep you patched up for that same week."
The queen opened her eyes, staring at him and leaving him no room to maneuver. "I'm not backing down on this, you're too important to us, too important to me to take any chances. Just don't risk yourself needlessly," she finished, laying her head back on his chest.
The male actually hadn't thought of that. Maybe it was more to give them extra warning, or just to have backup? Either way, he was feeling a bit silly dismissing the idea of guards as meaningless. He didn't have to dismiss every tradition, and if he was going to throw them away, he should at least make sure they were as useless as he thought they were. Cimmerian smiled, scratching both sides of the changelings neck. She may not feel love the way he did, but she was certainly sounding more and more like a proper female each day. Next thing he knew, she'd be complaining about which way the toilet paper was facing. His smile flipped momentarily at a stray memory. He'd meant to pick something up for the queen last time he was in Zarris but was distracted by the blood rage incident. Maybe he could find her something nice after the meeting? That thought led to another, the horribly lost being contemplating whether certain types of gifts were truly universal or not.
'Do changelings actually wear jewelry?'