//------------------------------// // Fear is the Mind Killer // Story: The New Hive // by ArtichokeLust //------------------------------// Andres trotted over to the pile of yawning and stretching changelings at the mouth of the cave. Well, maybe five of them were yawning and stretching; most of them were still sound asleep. Five was more than enough though. Andres trotted over with a hop in his step and a smirk on his face— wait a minute, he needed to be convincing. What did his boss look like when he talked about serious things? Andres trotted over in a manner that could almost be described as stomping as he forced his face into a hard grimace. When his hooves finally reached the group of changelings, everyone awake could hear him thumping against the ground. He stared back at the small group of perturbed bugs, watching for a moment as they each leaned away from his intimidating gaze. And then, he sighed. “Finally,” Andres said, “you’re awake.” He took a deep breath. “I know all of you must be pretty confused right now, but unfortunately there are more important things we have to worry about.” He nudged his head towards the greenery behind him. “In that forest, there are monsters...” And then he couldn’t think of what else to say. The group stared at each other. They all looked a little worried, but they seemed much more confused by his long pause. Ah, now he thought of something. If he could paint Chrysalis as one of those monsters, then his trust would be proven and Chrysalis would be taken care of. “One of those monsters looks almost like we do now, she’s just a little bit larger,” Andres said. “She?” One of the changelings asked. Andres glared at the changeling for a second before continuing. “Yes, she. She is one of the most dangerous monsters there is. She seems fine at first, like she’s only doing everything she can to be your best friend in this weird hell hole. That is, until you’re alone with her, and then she tears you apart, piece by piece, smiling all the while.” He stomped toward the nearest changeling. “I ran over when I heard a friend of mine’s choked screams, and when I finally got there, that monster was covered in his blood and guts, grinning like a fucking psychopath.” Every one of the changelings was now paying full attention. “I’m lucky she didn’t see me. She seemed far too...” He paused. “Involved with what she was doing to look my way.” “That’s terrible...” Another changeling muttered. Andres nodded. “Unfortunately, this isn’t a story about how I defeated that terrible monster. She left of her own accord, probably to terrorize some other group. But now I’m afraid she’s coming back.” Meanwhile, in an equally insane part of the forest, Pinkie Pie was standing on top of Discord’s head while Spike happily walked alongside the draconequus, enjoying his view of the forest. Spike enjoyed his stroll to the fullest, right up until he saw some snakes with legs doing… something unspeakable... to a sleeping gazelle. It was sleeping, right? Well, it looked like he had his share of forest watching for today. “Hey,” Spike spoke up, “how much longer do you think it’ll be until we reach these ponies?” From atop Discord’s head, Pinkie stroked her chin. “Hmm...” she thought long and hard. After half a second though, she gave up. “I dunno.” She shrugged, then crawled down onto the face of her carrier. “Hey Discord, are we there yet?” Discord didn’t answer. “Discooord...” Pinkie waved her hooves in front of Discord’s face. “Discy.” Despite all her efforts, there was no response save for his continued walking. She had only one option left. Slowly, she leaned forward, stuck her tongue out, and pressed it against his eyeball. It tasted like… glass? ‘Discord’ continued walking in the same direction while Pinkie went back to sitting on his head and tilted her own, until she realized that Discord was about to walk right into a— “W— Watch out!” Pinkie dove out of the way of the tree Discord somehow didn’t see. Discord walked right into the tree, bounced off, fell to the side, and continued moving his legs in a rhythmic motion. “What the?” Spike looked over. Immediately, he noticed the wind up toy mechanism sticking out of the supposed Discord’s back. “Hey! He ditched us!” Pinkie leveled her eyes. It was just like Discord to suddenly disappear. That meaniepants. Meanwhile, in a third part of the forest... “T— Twilight...” Discord coughed. “Is that you?” He looked up from the forest floor at the purple blur, his wings, legs, and arms long gone. “Discord?” Twilight peered down at the draconequus turned snake, her eyes wide. “Are you—” “Okay?” Discord interrupted, coiling up and peering down at her. “No Twilight,” he cried, “I am most certainly not okay.” “I was gonna say—” Twilight tried— “They took my limbs Twilight!” Discord practically yelled, levitating into the air. “Not just one or two, but all of them—” “Discord!” Twilight yelled. “Why are you sleeping when you should be protecting Pinkie and Spike!?” “Sleeping!?” Discord repeated, outraged, his limbs popping back into reality all over his body as he pointed a claw at Twilight. “I’ll have you know that those little monsters made short work of me. I mean, just look at these battle scars!” Discord pulled out a book labeled ‘How to draw Anime’ and flipped to the section on scars. Twilight couldn’t help but notice one of Fluttershy’s bookmarks in said book. Twilight pushed the book out of the way, keeping her same annoyed stare pointed at Discord. “Stop messing around! We need to make sure Spike and Pinkie are safe!” “Oh, and what about yourself, princess?” Discord crossed his arms. “You’re the one that’s going against the map’s whims, and I remember you explaining just how dangerous that was. I bet, now that we’re together, any second now, a changeling’s going to jump out of the forest and—” Twilight gasped. Discord was right! Any second, Pinkie and Spike would be attacked by a changeling! Then, Pinkie would freeze up like she did with the hydra at Froggy Bottom Bog, and then she’d have her love drained, and Pinkie’s love would make any changeling strong enough to fight Spike no matter what Spike tried. She had to act now! She lit her horn. Discord vanished in a flash of purple light. With Discord back to where he was supposed to be, Twilight raced towards the place the map told everyone but her to go. She knew how that map worked. She had to be there to keep her friends safe. Discord popped into space and fell onto a strange black rock next to Pinkie and Spike. “Give me a warning, why don’t you.” He picked himself up and dusted himself off. “Discord!” Pinkie yelled, suddenly right up in Discord’s face. “You ditched us again you ditchy ditcher!” “Hey now!” Discord grabbed Pinkie’s tail and pulled her off his face. “It’s not ditching if I leave you with a going away present. And who wouldn’t want a wind-up toy of me?” Pinkie frowned. “That’s true...” “Hey,” Spike spoke up, “why did you run off anyway? You’re not scared, are you?” Discord scowled. “I am nothing of the sort. I’m just a little… uncomfortable about the fact that we’re walking towards a bunch of changelings.” “Ch— Ch— Changelings!?” Pinkie and Spike exclaimed in horror. “Where!? Are they here?” Pinkie added, hopping around and inspecting every blade of glass, “last time they were everywhere!” Her eyes fell on Spike. Spike withered under her suddenly scrutinous glare. “Spike!” She grabbed his face. “I need you to be one hundred percent, super duper serious with me. Do you think you can be that serious?” “I— I think so?” Spike nodded hesitantly. Pinkie pulled him even closer, squinting. “Are you, or are you not, a changeling?” Caught up in the panic, Spike looked over his body for reassurance. “I don’t think so.” But that didn’t seem to satisfy Pinkie. What could he do to prove he wasn’t a changeling? Was he a changeling? ”I— I don’t know!” He answered, staring, slack jawed, at his claws. “Am I?” He looked back at Pinkie. “Are you!?” “Huh?” Pinkie dropped Spike. “Am I what?” “A changeling!” Spike nearly screamed. Pinkie’s eyes went wide. She looked down at her hooves like they were somepony else’s. No, somebug else’s. “I— I don’t know what I am anymore!” Discord smiled at the duo. It was fun to watch chaos evolve right in front of his eyes without him having to do anything. He was Discord; of course he was enjoying it. However, these were his friends, and he was the responsible one if his recent time helping Twilight was anything to go by, so it was his job to calm things down. After all, they couldn’t all be changelings. All the changelings were up ahead. It’s not like they’d be hanging out in the forest to replace random passers by, right? Just to be sure, he reached behind his back and pulled out what he thought was a mirror from one of his pocket dimensions. But when he brought it in front of him, instead of his own beautiful face, he only saw that of a changeling. “AAAAAAAaaaaaaahhh!!!” He screamed in a dignified and totally not girly and high-pitched at all way as he threw the ‘mirror’ away. “We’ve all become changelings! The end times have come!” All three of them screamed together. Then, as one, Discord, Pinkie, and Spike turned and ran face first into a tree, a draconequus, and a large rock respectively. While the crazy trio was recovering from their panic attacks, Chrysalis was holding one of Mii Tool’s wings in her hooves. “No, see, you have to tilt your wings forward, not your body.” She quickly but carefully pressed his wing forward with her hooves. ”About this far should be good.” Mii Tool yanked his wing back in surprise. “Your hooves are hot!” He warbled about in the air, a sleeping Isaac barely managing to stay on his back. Once he managed to stabilize himself, he muttered something,  “I spent so long doing mental calculations when I could’ve just taken a measurement...” “Huh?” Chrysalis tilted her head. That would explain all his mumbling and intense gazing off into the distance when she was trying to teach him something as simple as flight. But… wait, did he mean hot as in very warm, or hot as in attractive? It was a bit weird for him to say her hooves were attractive, and she didn’t know of any calculations that dealt with attractiveness, yet, but her hooves were no warmer than they always were. “What do you mean?” She asked. “Just what I said,” Mii Tool responded. “Your hooves are burning hot.” He looked at her hooves with a worried frown. Chrysalis touched her face with her hooves, just to double check. Nope, not hot. “My hooves are completely fine.” She turned to look at him, her head still tilted. “Is this some kind of practical joke? Because I’m afraid I don’t really know how those work.” That was hard for her to say. Lying to her changelings was weird. Truthfully, she experienced practical jokes several times when she was disguised as different ponies. She just didn’t think Mii Tool would appreciate her… disproportionate responses. But Mii Tool merely shook his head. “I’m not joking. Your hooves are really hot, and I think it’s from flying too fast.” He looked over her body like a doctor would look over a patient. “How fast were you going?” Chrysalis shrugged. She was getting a little worried now. “That weird air explosion happened twice when I went fast enough.” Mii Tool nearly fell as he started staring at the forest below. “Could it be?” He muttered. “No… wait.” He turned back to Chrysalis. “I think that means you were going at mach one for a while, then slowed down, then sped up to mach one again. But heating from adiabatic compression would put your temperature at 70 degrees Celsius. I don’t think that’s healthy. Also, the compressed air and the airflow would mean more friction and heat transfer...” As he trailed off, his worried look only worsened. Now he was looking at Chrysalis like she had a terminal illness. Chrysalis blinked. “But I don’t feel hot at all.” “Ugh...” She heard a female voice from her back. It sounded like her passenger was finally waking up. Now she’d have somebug to throw a wrench in Mii Tool’s little prank. “You are hot,” She heard Blush say. “I feel like I slept on a radiator.” Wait, what? Nevermind. They had probably planned this before somehow, and Blush being awake was more important than some planned prank. “Hey, Blush!” Chrysalis greeted happily. “What’s your new name, now that you’re awake?” Blush answered lazily. “Anna,” she half groaned, “but I prefer Blush.” “Hmm, that’s an interesting na—” Chrysalis’ entire body perked up. “Wait, really? You prefer your old name?” Mii Tool tilted his head. “Old name? What are you talking about?” Chrysalis was vaguely aware of something practically jumping off her back. It was strange how numb it felt though. “Chrysalis!” Blush yelped from above her. “You’re hot!” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. She might as well have fun with this. “Why yes, I know...” She held her hoof against her cheek and posed, as if she were laying on a couch in midair. “This is serious!” Blush yelled. “You not feeling heat could mean your nerve endings were burned! We need to— I should—” She panicked, holding her head and glancing around the forest for… something. Now Chrysalis was starting to freak out. She didn’t feel any heat at all, but her changelings really didn’t seem like they were lying either. Wait, now that she concentrated, could she feel some heat? Okay, it wasn’t really heat that she was feeling. It was more like tiny ants were crawling all over her body, and It was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. “There!” Blush, shouted, pointing to a nearby lake. She then pushed Chrysalis down towards it. Unlike pranks, this was a first for Chrysalis. Never before had she been bughandled by her changelings without her permission. She decided to go along with it. It seemed like they were trying to help her, whatever was wrong with her. Wait, did Blush remember Chrysalis’ name? As she pondered that thought, she heard a tired, “what’s going on…?” from Isaac, before she collided with the water that Blush had spotted. Now she felt the burning. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Spike turned his aching head towards the voice. He could’ve sworn that sounded just like… “Chrysalis!” He jumped. Why was she screaming. Was she screaming in rage? Was she coming to get them? “Who?” Discord asked as the tree he was stuck in grabbed his shoulders with its spindly branches and tried to push him out. “Ow.” Pinkie plugged her ears, cringing at Chrysalis’ pained shriek. “Somepony doesn’t sound happy.” “I know, right?” Spike trembled. “What if— what if she comes over here and takes all our love away?” Finally, the tree managed to push discord out of itself. Then it stood up and walked away, ‘arms’ crossed. Discord shook himself, flinging tree sap everywhere. “No, really, who is this ‘Chrysalis’?” “You don’t know?” Pinkie turned and eyed him inquisitively. “I thought you knew all about changelings. I mean, you knew their species name...” She paused, trying to think of something else. “Of course I know what changelings are.” Discord rolled his eyes. “They’re bugs that change color, kind of like ponies. I don’t know every single one of their names though.” Spike blinked. “But, Cadence’s wedding! Changelings were pouring in from the sky!” He threw his claws above his head and slowly brought them down, which somehow indicated ‘pouring in from the sky’. “How come you knew my friends’ names but not Chrysalis’” “Oh!” Discord perked up. “I remember that! Lot’s of chaos...” He grinned devilishly before he caught the glare of his companions. Then he raised an eyebrow. “Wait, those were changelings? Are you sure we’re talking about the same thing?” “I—” Spike started. “But you just said changelings were bugs that could change shape.” Discord frowned at Spike. “No, I said bugs that could change color. I suppose they could change shape too, given enough time, but that might be a bit painful. Besides, I’m sure ponies could do that too.” Spike just stared back at Discord, mouth agape and palm outstretched. After a couple moments, he closed his mouth and returned his arm to his side. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you. ” Discord blinked. “No, actually. I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, which really is a first—” “Hey guys!” Pinkie interrupted, carrying something on her back. Spike looked away, thankful for the interruption. “Hey Pinki— whoaahoa!” He toppled back before pointing at her. “Why are you carrying a changeling?” Pinkie shrugged. “Well, I found it lying on the ground where Discord threw it. It seemed kind of rude to just toss the changeling and leave it there.” She frowned. “I mean, they might’ve been super rude when they invaded during Cadence’s wedding, but that doesn’t mean we should be rude back.” Then, more quietly, she added, “I’ve seen where that leads...” Discord ignored his annoyance at being interrupted and walked over to the ‘changeling’ Pinkie was carrying. He had to do something about those Canterlot ‘changelings’ and their uniform appearance... “This is...” he stared down intently at the unconscious changeling, and, with a hardened resolve, snapped his talons. “...justice.” Suddenly, the changeling was dressed in a light blue hawaiian shirt and pink, plastic sunglasses. “Huh,” Spike commented. “It actually looks pretty good in it.” “See!?” Discord gestured at the changeling. “Chaos, can be beautiful.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Ooh!” Suddenly, Pinkie leapt through some trees and looked at something off in the distance. “I think I heard something! Oh, I think I see something!” She whispered back excitedly. Spike and Discord followed. It was hard to see, but off in the distance, there was a large gathering of black figures. Discord pulled out some binoculars and pushed them against his face. “Ooh! Looks like some changeling’s not too popular.” “Should—” Pinkie stammered, clearly flustered. “Should we help her?” Butterfly Feng received Chrysalis’ message to head towards Andres. She was a little confused about how to find him, but before she could ask, she somehow just felt where he was. It was a sense that didn’t need confirmation, like feeling hunger or pain. Without question, she knew exactly where she was relative to Andres. And even if she still wanted to question that feeling, she also wanted to discover if it was true on her own. As she followed it, it led her pretty far across the forest. She decided to spend her time traveling flying leisurely, in peace. Mitul was learning about flying with Chrysalis, so he wasn’t asking anything about computers or hardware. She simply took in the world around her as she flew, and she enjoyed the dark greens and browns of the forest in the fading afternoon light. But now she was close enough to Andres to see him and his group of changelings. It looked like there were about fifty of them up and about, and she had to admit, it looked like they were getting things done. From her view from the forest’s edge, she saw a massive cave, but the entrance was barred off by a giant half-built door with several spikes sticking out. It looked like the door was made out of interleaved logs, with holes for some that were carved to have sharp ends sticking out. It looked deadly. However, she remembered Chrysalis backhanding a lion thing through a few trees, so she wasn’t sure what purpose that door served. They might as well have been put up some menacing looking chunks of styrofoam. There were several open holes at the top too, so it wasn’t even a full door. Well, the door would probably be finished and upgraded later. Time to make a good first impression. Feng flew up to the nearest changeling in the fast moving group, landed, said “hello!” and waved to catch his attention, then offered a hoof for handshake. This technically was a workplace, but they didn’t seem formal at all—Chrysalis seemed much more formal than this group and their awkward, panicky movements—so she just greeted them as if she were at a park. The changeling jumped. It turned around with—not fear—but absolute terror on its face. It calmed down quickly when it saw her though. “O— Oh! Hello there!” he smiled back and took her hoof, shaking it a bit too roughly. “Sorry, we weren’t expecting any visitors.” ‘Wait, what?’ She frowned. That wasn’t right. “Really? Chrysalis told everyone to meet here, and I know that message was sent to everyone. Did that Andres guy not tell you?” For some reason, the changeling’s pupils shrunk in the middle of her speech. “Wait, Chrysalis?” Feng nodded. “Yes. So you have heard about her.” The changeling held a look of wide eyed terror as its voice now trembled. “Y— Yeah. She looks like us, but bigger, right?” Feng tilted her head. She thought the bug was acting strange, but she couldn’t quite put her nonexistent finger on what was wrong with it. “Yeah. She’s pretty nice when you get to know her. She’s a bit of a hugger though, so watch out.” The changeling just stared back at her for a moment. Then, without warning, he turned, galloped towards the rest of the group, and yelled, “Hey everyone! This person met with Chrysalis!” The entire group stopped mid-step. Changelings carrying or carving logs dropped their sticks and stones respectively, and turned around to look at her. They were now silent, save for some murmuring that often included a fearful uttering of “Chrysalis”. Suddenly, this didn’t feel like a safe haven. One bug in particular, sitting in one of the holes at the top of the door, flew down at her. But he stopped when he was above most of the crowd. “So, you made friends with Chrysalis?” He asked with a dangerous edge to his voice. Feng felt her instincts continue to tell her that this particular changeling was Andres. Strange. Why didn’t he come down and talk to her face to face like a normal person. “Yeah. She’s nice.” She said so the whole crowd could hear, then looked around warily when that crowd just stared back, each changeling at least a little scared for her. “Why is everyone acting so weird?” Andres flew a bit lower. “I have something to tell you.” If it were possible, his eyes became more dangerous looking. “The Chrysalis you know isn’t your friend, she’s a monster.” “W— What?” Feng shrank back. Now she was feeling incredibly uneasy. Why would this guy call her friend a monster? Chrysalis saved her from that lion thing, and she trusted him to host the meeting location, so he was obviously lying. Why in the world was he lying though? “Ch— Chrysalis isn’t a monster!” she yelled back loud enough for the crowd to hear, flustered. “She saved me from a monster! She saved my life!” The crowd started looking back and forth amongst itself. Up above, Andres was looking a little frustrated. He looked off into the distance, then opened his mouth and closed it like he was going to say something but… wait a minute, he was definitely lying! He was struggling to come up with a lie right in front of everyone. That fucking Spaniard! Her attention went back to the crazy Spaniard once he finally came up with a response. “She only saved you so she could have you for herself later. She wants to be the one to tear you apart, not some forest monster!” Andres yelled back, glaring at her. “Yeah!” Some people in the crowd shouted, albeit in a much more pleading tone than Andres’ near obvious rage. Many of the changelings still looked unsure though. But now Feng was mad. This Spaniard was insulting her best friend! “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” She turned to the crowd. “And you’re stupid for listening to this… this...”—she struggled to think of a proper insult for the traitor—“...this fucking Spaniard locust!” The crowd stepped back in shock. Andres frowned. “I’m Mexican,” he said. Feng stared back at the crowd, and her eyes widened when she realized her mistake. Oh, crap, she just insulted everyone, didn’t she? They didn’t look very happy. In fact, some looked more than ready to attack her. A few were slowly creeping towards her. Crap, she wasn’t ready for this! She took a few steps back. She needed to get away. She needed to warn Chrysalis. Chrysalis! She yelled into the link. Oh crap. She could see Andres’ eyes widening after her cry for help. He was furious. She needed to run— wait, she could fly! She crouched… What!? Chrysalis responded in an equally panicked tone. What is it!? Andres swooped down in an attempt to intercept Feng once she took off, but she flew above him. Chrysalis! She yelled again. This Andres guy is being a fucking Mexican and trying to take your job! Oh, snap! Mitul added helpfully. That’s how they say it, right? Quiet. Isaac said. I think this is serious. You bitch! Andres screamed over the link as he turned to chase her. Why don’t I insult your country, you fucking chinese… chink! Okay… Chrysalis’ exasperated voice came over the mind link while Andres chased Feng over the forest. What’s going on? Andres is trying to replace you! Feng screamed. He gathered a crowd and told them— Don’t listen to her lies! He interrupted. she’s just trying to— Andres. Chrysalis said. It was only one word, but the emotions behind it and the danger they implied was more than powerful enough to stop both changelings in their tracks. Chrysalis continued. Feng, tell me in detail about this attempt on my crown. Andres, do not interrupt again. Feng was more than ready to oblige. He gathered this crowd, Feng said, fear obvious in her mind’s voice as she hovered in place, and told them you were some sort of monst— “Gotcha!” A pair of hooves wrapped around her. Shit! She yelped into the link as she was pulled back despite her struggles. No matter what she did, he wouldn’t budge. This was it. She was going to die. She was going to get dragged back to that stupid mob, and then she was going to become a blood sacrifice to their sun god. That was what Mexicans did, right? A — nd-res! Even through her distress, Feng could feel Chrysalis’ deafening rage. St— op th— righ— ow! I sw—! But Andres just kept dragging her back. Soon, she was on the ground. After that, she was pressed up against one of the many logs while several terrified changelings frantically tied some vines around her. “Stop it!” she screamed. “It’s for your own good!” somebug from the crowd shouted back. Feng had given up. She was tied tightly against that log, and it was obvious that she couldn’t get out, so she stopped trying. Besides, she just had to wait until Chrysalis arrived. Hopefully Chrysalis could deal with that Mexican jerk. No, not hopefully, definitely. It was a little insulting that they left her outside though. Andres said that finishing the door was more important than getting the crazy lady inside. So she just lay there, tied on a log and left in the middle of a field. That was why when she finally craned her neck and saw Chrysalis flutter down, she felt a wave of relief. But then she noticed the state of her friend. Chrysalis was panting heavily. She had to be carried by two other changelings while another lay down on her back. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her skin looked redder than most changelings’. She looked like she already fought a great battle and barely made it out alive. She looked exhausted, like she would much rather be resting in a hospital bed. Yet, Chrysalis stepped forward, and the force of her step shook the earth. “Andres!” she called, her voice a bit raspy. The bug in question flew up to her in its favorite theatrical position, above everybug else. The pain in her voice couldn’t be disguised, but the wave of wrath that washed over every changeling in the area more than made up for it. “You lied to everybug, just so you could take my crown.” She looked past him. “You...” She clenched her teeth in rage. “You wasted all the wood we gathered on an ugly door that won’t stop anything.” Her body sagged, but she took another step forward. “You’ve terrified my changelings for no reason.” Then, gathering her breath, she yelled, “and you attacked Bu—” Chrysalis paused and looked over at the changeling in question. She sensed a wave of confusion and slight betrayal from Butterfly when she said her name. Hmm, perhaps names were only given to those that could be trusted. Well, if that was the case, it was only a little more annoying than not being allowed to say please. “You attacked another changeling, just because she wouldn’t agree with your blatant lies!” She crouched, steadied her battered body, and lit her horn. The air around all the changelings started picking up, and the space around Chrysalis seemed to twist and shred around her. Isaac, Blush, and Mitul slowly backed away. “She’s attacking!” Andres yelled as a green aura surrounded him. “She has some sort of weird power!” Chrysalis normally would have just clamped his muzzle shut and finished her spells, but the immense wave of fear from the crowd paralyzed her. Her horn went out as she backed up in shock. “What!? No!” she exclaimed, but the fear in the crowd was still strong. “You believe him?” She looked from changeling to changeling. “I was just going to tie him up so we could have a more sane—” “Lies!” Andres yelled. “I’ve seen you use that magic before. If the crowd didn’t scare you right now, I’d have been crushed.” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “See what I mean?” she spoke to the crowd. “I can’t even get a word in—” “Silence!” Andres yelled before turning back to the crowd. “Do you see what she’s trying to do? We have to kill her before she uses her insane powers to mind control us into liking her, right before she kills us one by one!” Chrysalis gaped at him. Did he really just say that? He would kill her? Was he stupid? There was a reason she didn’t kill ponies, and it wasn’t because she felt sorry for them, but for a changeling ruler to kill another changeling ruler? That would turn ruling into a lethal job. Heck, many species considered that to be one of the things that separated animals from sapients. The friends by her side gaped as well, but that was more shock than outrage. “Go!” Andress yelled and pointed at her, taking advantage of their surprise. But much to Andres’ surprise, the crowd didn’t budge. There were a few changelings that hesitantly moved forward, and there were a few changelings that were looking at Andres with increasing doubt, but most were just unsure of how to act. It was probably because, instead of a horrible monster like they expected, not only did they see a frustrated and slightly scared version of themselves, but also someone that looked like they were in no shape to fight them, let alone kill them. But, in addition to everything else, Chrysalis felt strangely familiar to all of them. “Go!” Andres repeated, frustrated. “Kill her!” The crowd started moving a bit more as a few bloodthirsty changelings galloped forward. But before anything could happen, one changeling in particular ran out in front of the crowd. Chrysalis instinctively raised a shield for the first time in her life, but she was relieved that she didn’t need it. Instead of attacking, the changeling in front of the crowd immediately turned and pointed at Andres. “That’s enough!” he bellowed. Everyone stopped. Chrysalis lowered her shield. The changeling sat down and addressed the crowd. “Look, I think Andres might be lying.” “See!?” Andress yelled. “She’s already acting on—” Suddenly, he went silent. Everybug looked up to see Andres stuck in a green sphere of magic. No matter how much he yelled or banged against it, neither he nor his interruptions came out. Looking back in front of them, they could see Chrysalis’ horn alight once again. “That should hold as long as I remember to keep it up,” Chrysalis said. Then, gesturing to the changeling in front, she added, “Now, please continue.” The changeling cleared his throat. “Okay...” He paused. “I— I’m sure you’ve all noticed Andres’ long pauses when talking about… important things, and how he makes a scene whenever anyone doubts him. And how the way he acts just seems… off.” He looked back at the crowd. Most of them still looked stressed more than anything else, but a few gave him some encouraging looks and a few more looked like they were thinking about things along with him. “Anyway,” he continued, “I don’t think we should kill this Chrysalis person just because...” He looked up at Andres smashing himself futilely against his shield. “Just because some guy with anger problems told us a story, and one that he had to constantly pause to think about.” He looked back to the crowd. “But, I don’t think we should risk just denying that story either, in case some parts of it are true.” He looked back at Chrysalis. If anything, she looked more curious than threatening, with her tilted head and doglike sitting posture… He didn’t know what to think of that one changeling with the scratch on its face trying to form a halo over Chrysalis’ head and smiling cheesily though. He turned back. “If we really want to figure out who’s right, we, uh, we should hold a court! Now, who should be the judge? Or the defense? Oh, and the prosecution?” “Oh awesome!” A voice was heard from the forest, “Live action court drama!” Everybug turned their head to see a small dinosaur next to a… pink cat-horse thing, which in turn was next to an abomination against nature. Next to all of them was a changeling wearing a hawaiian shirt and comically large pink sunglasses. “They spotted us!” the cat-horse yelled. “Run for it!” Before anyone else managed to react, another shield went up around the new species and floated up and over to Chrysalis, leaving the changeling of the group to gallop after it. Once the sphere floated in front of Chrysalis, her eyes widened like she was looking at an early christmas present. “You’re Discord, aren’t you? I read about you in one of the books I stole!” “Well,” Discord started, snapping his eagle talons. Chrysalis felt the creature’s magic surge forward against her shield. It was powerful, possibly more powerful than her own magic! But he was just trying to destroy her shield by poking a hole in it and then folding it into origami for some reason, like it was a just a ball of paper mache. That was a mistake. Chrysalis erected a second shield just as the first released along with all of the magical power she put into it. The crowd of changelings just stared at the floating bubble in confusion. To them, it looked like the abomination against nature just snapped its claws and made everything inside the shield explode into green smoke. Ms. Feng watched as all the changelings finished building their makeshift courtroom. Though, it was more just a bunch of logs laid on the ground where the seats and stands would be. She watched as the rest of the crowd all took their spots, whether it was in the prosecution, the defense, or the audience, and then promptly forgot about her, leaving her tied up in the dirt. “Hey!” she called, struggling with her bindings. “Don’t just leave me behind you stupid chrysanthemums! Untie me!” A few nearby changelings stopped and stared at her like deer caught in headlights. They stayed like that until Chrysalis yelled from behind the ‘defense stand’ she was now sitting in. “Untie her,” she glowered at the hesitating changelings. “Now.” Finally, the changelings ran up and pulled at her bindings. After a couple tugs, the vines fell to the floor and Feng flew up into the air. “Freedom!” she exclaimed before flying up and doing a nose dive over to the ‘defense stand’ where three worried changelings stood by a confused looking Chrysalis. “Now,” she heard a confident sounding near-whisper that must’ve been Isaac’s, “they’re gonna ask you a bunch of questions. Just let us answer most of them. It looks better if we defend you instead of you defending yourself.” Feng absent mindedly noted his slightly reddish skin and his swollen wings. While he wasn’t in as bad condition as Chrysalis, it still looked pretty painful, so she had to wonder why he wasn’t constantly wincing like Chrysalis was. “Oh awesome!” a changeling with a painful looking scratch on her face spoke up, breaking Feng from her thoughts. In front of the changeling that must’ve been Blush, there was a meal of several pink orbs, and Blush was having trouble talking between bites. “We’re sure to win if we’ve got someone who knows law on our side!” She picked up another one of the fishy smelling orbs and stuffed it in her face. “Actually”—Isaac rubbed the back of his neck—“I just played Phoenix Wright once or twice and read about some famous court cases.” “Ohh...” Blush cringed. “Well that’s… not nothing...” Just now noticing her arrival, the third changeling peered over the duo and waved at her. That must’ve been Mitul. She found herself smiling back before she trotted over. It wasn’t often that she found someone both so friendly and so curious about things that were actually interesting, in her opinion. “Hello! It’s me, Butterfly!” she held out her hoof, still smiling. “Hey, uh, Butt-er-fly.” He raised an eyebrow before he shrugged and took the offered hoof. ”Do you know much about flying?” “Oh yeah!” She smiled, letting go of his hoof and hovering into the air a little. Flying was fun! “I don’t think I could teach you though. You have to learn it by practice.” Mitul slumped. “Ah.” Aww, he looked all sad now. “I could help you practice,” Feng offered, smiling encouragingly. Just then, a loud banging interrupted their conversations. “Order!” The changeling in the ‘judge’ stand yelled. “Order in the court!” It looked like it was the bug that had been captured with the three other animals, since it wore the same ridiculous hawaiian shirt and pink sunglasses. “You only do that when the court’s acting up!” somebug from the crowd yelled. “Oh, really?” The ‘judge’ shrugged. “Whoops.” “Anyway,” he continued, “first, let’s start with the prosecution—” Discord shoved changeling, pony, and dragon alike behind him so he could have the first word. “Objection!” He threw his lion palm out at Chrysalis. “Of course she’s a monster! Just look at her holes! And her fangs!” Chrysalis absent mindedly observed one of her hole filled hooves before pressing it against one of her fangs. She cringed in pain once her now sensitive hoof pressed against her sharp teeth. “Ow.” “And just look how pitch black she is!” Discord continued. “Everypony knows that darker somebeing is, the more evil they are.” Every changeling stared at him like he had just insulted their race or something. It was a little unsettling. “Sheesh.” Discord crossed his arms and sulked. “You’d think I walked into the wrong neighborhood or something.” “Thank you Discord,” the ‘judge’ said. “You are now banned from prosecution, forever.” Discord frowned. “Oh, you’re just jealous of my good looks. I have half a mind to show you a prosecution so good that— Hey!” He didn’t have a chance to finish he statement before Pinkie and Spike both began shoving him out of the stand. “Why were the spies even allowed to participate in the first place?” Chrysalis muttered, rolling her eyes at the strange scene that just manifested itself in front of her. It turned out rolling her eyes was a bad idea, because now a sharp stinging pain forced her to close them. “Ow.” “Let’s try that again,” The judge held the bridge of his nose, chuckling. “Will the prosecution make an actual statement.” This time it was Spike that rushed forward. “I’ll give you an actual statement!” He pointed a claw at Chrysalis and gave her a glare one would usually reserve for monsters that sucked all the love out of ponies. “She’s such a monster that she invaded my brother’s wedding”—he held up one claw—”impersonated his fiance”—another claw went up—”and sucked out every last drop of his love!” Several changelings in the audience choked on whatever fish they were eating. Spike continued unperturbed, ”I’m just glad Shining was able to throw up his shield again before all you love suckers… I mean...” He stopped, noticing all the so called ‘love suckers’ staring right back at him. Though, they didn’t look as angry as he expected. “Yeah!” Pinkie added, not noticing the same stares as Spike. “If Shining and Cadence hadn’t summoned that shield, like bwooom!” She threw her hooves above her head. “—Then we’d probably be back in Canterlot with you bugs sucking all our love out with twisty straws. And then we wouldn’t be having this fun court drama in the woods!” She smiled. Everybug now turned their blank, confused stares to her. “What?” She looked back at them. “That’s what happened.” After a moment, the ‘judge’ sighed. “Pinkie, Spike,” he said, “This isn’t a play. We’re deciding someone’s fate here. You can make jokes some other time.” “B— But!” Pinkie stammered. “It’s true!” But several of the changelings that decided on prosecution started dragging her out of the stand. Suddenly, Chrysalis stepped forward. Feng could feel some turmoil from her, but she just chalked it up to the pensive look Chrysalis had. “Act— Haugck—” Chrysalis covered her mouth as she coughed. Holy crap, was that blood? “Actually,” Chrysalis continued like nothing happened. “She’s telling the truth.” The prosecution changelings let go of Pinkie. Chrysalis paused, looking to each and every changeling in the audience before she spoke again, “A couple days ago, I went through with a plan that I had dreamed about for years. A plan that would change things so you, my changelings, wouldn’t be constantly starving.” “That’s not true!” Pinkie yelled. “The changeling invasion was more than a year ago!” Chrysalis’ eyes bulged. “More than a year? That’s impossible.” She shook her head and glared at Pinkie. “Nevermind, I’ll find out the real date later.” She took a breath. From her composure and the pensive look still on her face, it was clear the things she was about to talk about weighed heavily on her mind. “Before and during the invasion, none of you had the ability to speak, let alone the ability to design these... amusing debates we’re having now.” She let out a tiny giggle as she looked at one of the logs near her. “Now”—she looked back up—”the reason for that is love starvation. I read about love starvation when I was back with my parents: If a changeling doesn’t absorb the life force, or ‘love’, of other beings, they begin to lose their magical strength, their eyes turn dull, they lose their intelligence, and finally they lose their physical strength. At the final stages, they lose the ability to move at all. Once that happens, you can either wait for another changeling to rescue you, or slowly die.” She closed her eyes, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before looking back up. “I hunted animals for food for I don’t know how many years, but I was barely keeping any of you from becoming catatonic. It was impossible to get enough food. I had to control every single one of you; I had to send changelings out who could barely tell the difference between up and down, and make sure you didn’t get hurt when you hunted animals much larger than you. I could never break up my attention between more than ten groups before I missed something. And when I inevitably made a small mistake and split my attention too much, it nearly cost one of you your lives.” She glanced at Blush. “So instead of hunting animals, I decided to attack the neighboring countries. They had so much food they were practically throwing it away!” She looked at Pinkie now. “The plan itself was a total war that started with me sending the declaration just as I replaced one of their rulers and… incapacitated the captain of their guard: regular decapitation strategy. Then, all of you handled the penetration and then the combined shock and awe and encirclement. After that, it was supposed to become a bellum se ipsum alet” —she rolled her hoof at the foreign phrase before wincing and putting it back down—”both from the food we’d gain, and the choke points we’d map out.” She smiled innocently, “It worked pretty well… Well, until we got blasted by a shield made out of food, but that’s still a pretty good outcome, right?” She stared at the crowd, hoping somebug would agree with her. Every being in the clearing was silent, except for Discord who was now snoring loudly. Many of the changelings had blank, thousand yard stares. Isaac had turned around and was now staring at Chrysalis with a look usually reserved for crazy people who ate their neighbor’s dogs because they were low on food. “So we are monsters!” somebug from the audience yelled. “How do you eat love?” another, more skeptical changeling called out. “Why didn’t you just ask for help?” The judge asked. Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “No species has ever helped changelings when they needed it.” “That’s not true!” Pinkie shouted. “I would totally have helped you guys if you asked nicely!” “Yeah right!” Chrysalis barked. “Back in my parents home I have generations worth of hate mail in response to my parent’s pleas for help. They insulted us while we starved!” “B— But!” Pinkie’s lips quivered. “That, can’t be true! Nopony could be that horrible!” Chrysalis was about to dismiss the crazy pink pony, but something about her seemed to pique Chrysalis’ interest. In fact, she was intrigued enough to jump out of her stand and fly over to Pinkie until they were practically muzzle to muzzle, despite the incredible pain in her wings. “Uh...” Isaac stared. “Should we stop her?” somebug from the crowd asked. “Oh yeah sure,” another bug added sarcastically, “she might eat her love. Are you actually following any of this?” Chrysalis ignored them while she inspected the pink pony from every angle, literally walking circles around the pony. Finally, she came to a conclusion and sat back on the ground in front of her. “What’s wrong with you?” Chrysalis asked. “I thought I could detect it when you were arguing with your friends, but now I can’t feel even a hint of hatred in you.” Pinkie looked over at Discord, and when she did so, there was a small amount of hatred, or at least distrust, coming out of her. But when she noticed Discord was using a changeling in the crowd as a headrest, her hatred went away without a trace at the adorable scene. When she saw Spike shivering and glaring at Chrysalis, her hatred spiked back up against Chrysalis, but when she noticed some changeling giving him a large leaf to use as a makeshift blanket, she started letting out a completely different emotion: trust. It was small, but it was definitely there. Chrysalis backed away slowly, eyes wide, even as the trust changed to confusion and compassion. As she scrambled back to the ‘defense stand’ and behind the changelings she trusted the most, she never felt another hint of hatred from the pink pony. Come to think of it, she didn’t feel any hatred between all three of those creatures, and Discord couldn’t have been casting his strange magic in his sleep since magic always required conscious effort. “You okay?” Isaac asked as Chrysalis continued staring at the pink pony. “I don’t think so,” Feng answered for her, “she seems all over the place.” Chrysalis put her hoof to her head as she tried to sort out everything. What she was sensing was impossible. Yet it was happening, so what could possibly explain it? Had the pony been faking? No, that was simply impossible, and it was even more impossible when she considered the dragon and draconequus. However, it was either that, or they all trusted each other, and that would blow a hole in everything she learned as a nymph. Wait! Another option was that the draconequus was only feigning sleep while it continued casting magic to confuse her. Well, there was only one way to find out for sure. Chrysalis flew over to the sleeping draconequus and quickly turned him over. Then she stomped down hard on his wing. Now she just had to observe him avoiding the attack, or feel the hatred from his group spike as his magic faltered. Instead, he just yelped in pain. The dragon and pony’s hatred only increased towards her, not Discord. And while the pink pony became shocked and angered, she only cried out, “Why did you do that!?” instead of attacking like Chrysalis would have expected. Also, she couldn’t really say the pink pony’s anger and distrust towards her meant much, because a lot of her changelings were throwing a lot more of those emotions at her right then. Uh… whoops?