//------------------------------//
// Asking Around 
// Story: Pinkie's Surprise Quest 
// by Shaded Changeling 
//------------------------------//

	The morning went as well as Surprise could expect it to, he woke up with Gummy attached to his tail, and a light rumbling in his stomach. He climbed off the bed and in a flash of yellow flame, donned his disguise before heading down the stairs, Gummy still attached to his tail.
“Morning, Mrs. Cake.” He said as he walked into the sweet shop below. “How are you today?”
“Oh I’m just fine. Do you feel any better?”
Surprise nodded. “Much better. I’m sorry for smearing frosting on the wall…”
Mrs. Cake nodded. “It’s hardly the worst thing we’ve had happen around here. No harm done, I promise you.”
“Where’s Pinkie?” Surprise asked, looking around and seeing no sign of the pink pony.
“I asked her to head to the market and pick up a few things for me, we have a request for a wedding cake, we will need to get started on it soon, I’m just hoping that Pinkie can stop herself from eating it. Do you have any plans today, dearie?”
“Oh… Nothing really, I’m just going to go and walk around a bit. Get a bit more acquainted with some ponies.”
“Well I hope you have a good day. Pinkie will find you if we need you.” Mrs. Cake said.
“Alright Mrs. Cake, I’ll be back in a bit.” He waved back to her before walking out of the sweet shop, looking out at his home. He took a deep breath and sighed. “Okay… First is Twilight’s…”
Surprise opened his wings, but then closed them, deciding instead to walk, his legs could use a little exercise. As he began to walk towards the Library Tree, Would it still be a building if it was grown? Would it be called a Growing? He began to say hello to many of the Ponies that he knew. Pinkie had been steadily introducing him to a number of the residents of Ponyville, some of whom were more than happy to have another Changeling in the town, others not so much.
Usually Pinkie would try to explain the situation to those that were less than pleased to have Surprise around, but by that point Surprise had already dashed out of the house, climbed a nearby tree, hid himself in the leaves, and was shaking in fear. He was also occasionally a squirrel.
In fact, his first meeting with many of Pinkie’s sisters followed almost the same, specifically with Limestone. Though do to a lack of trees, he opted instead to climb halfway up the chimney and stay there, until a rather soot covered Pinkie with a chimney sweep managed to get him out.
Meeting Marble went rather well, as both of them were essentially looking at each other and not saying a word until Pinkie pulled both of them into an equally uncomfortable hug for both of them.
Maud had been rather… difficult. Despite Pinkie’s constant saying that Maud was happy to have him, he couldn’t help but feel slightly on edge. She just kept staring at him. Surprise felt like she was judging his every move, so that in case he did anything wrong she could kick him across the sky like that one rock. Every time she spoke with that monotone voice, he thought she would scorn him and then possibly hurt him.
However her parents were the two that Surprise were the most scared to meet, Pinkie told him they were rather traditional, and they could easily just forbid him from ever returning or even seeing Pinkie. Let alone allowing him into their family, he thought for sure he was going to pass out when he finally met them. Surprise wasn’t sure whether it was them being all right with him, or the fact he was shaking terribly that made him almost pass out.
The fact that they were allowing him into the family was quite the unexpected turn, but it did help alleviate a lot of fear that he had, as well as a majority of the ways the meetings would turn out.
It was rather strange that once Surprise cooled down, that he saw just how much they cared for each other, and Maud had been rather… oral about how she felt, so in hindsight, he didn’t really have too much to worry about.
As he continued to walk through the town, he went through his mental list again. First I go to Twilight’s … Then to see Haze, maybe Antenna, then if all else fails… He took a deep breath as he turned down the street to Twilight’s. As he caught sight of the Tree, he began to slow down.
What if she is busy? I mean she is the student of Celestia… I’m sure she has much bigger problems to deal with…
“Or she could have nothing going on.”
But she…
“You said we would do this.”
But… She might be…
“We won’t know if we don’t try.”
Surprise sighed. “You’re right, Brain…”
“And I’ve kept you alive for these past twenty some years, so don’t forget it. By the way, you really need to see somepony about this.”
“I know…” Surprise groaned. “I’m doing it again…” He shook his head and took a deep breath before walking up to the door. He raised his hoof and lightly knocked on the door. After a few seconds he turned around and tried to walk away.
“Surprise…”
“What? They aren’t…”
“Public library… I doubt they heard you.”
Surprise took another deep breath before turning around and walking back up to the door, he slowly pushed the door open and peeked in. Not seeing Twilight or Spike around, he pushed the door open more. “Twilight?” He asked, looking around.
“Good afternoon, Surprise.” Surprise looked up to see the Lavender Unicorn walk down the stairs, her saddlebags over her back, each one full of writing supplies. “How was the trip to Pinkie’s family home?”
“Oh… It was… Fine.” He said, shrinking back a bit. “Twilight, can I talk to you about something… Kind of personal.” He asked, looking back at her Saddlebags. “I mean if you need to go somewhere, I can always ask some other time…” He sighed. “Actually, never mind. I’ll just…” He began to turn back to the door, but Twilight’s voice caught his ears.
“Surprise, I have plenty of time. What do you need?”
Surprise sighed and closed the door before he was covered in a yellow flame and dropped his disguise. “It’s… Changeling related… and… You’ve been going to the Hives so I was wondering… Have you seen any others… Like me?” Surprise began tapping his front hooves together. “I mean… If you haven’t that’s fine but I…”
Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry, Surprise.” His ears fell against his head. “I haven’t seen any other Changelings with your coloration. I promise that I will tell you if I find anything.”
Surprise sighed. “Oh… alright…” He sat down on the ground and looked down at the ground.
“How long have you been thinking about this?” Twilight asked.
“Well… I’ve been thinking about it since I got welcomed… But I’ve been meaning to ask for…” The sound of a door caught his attention, and he looked towards the basement door to see Spike, the young purple dragon, walking up and looking at a small pocket watch, he walked up to Twilight, showing her the watch.
“Twilight, we need to get to the station if you want to get to Canterlot by…”
Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked at the watch. “Oh NO!” She quickly pulled Spike onto her back as she quickly headed to the door. “Sorry, Surprise. I need to catch a train. I wanted to ask Queen Chrysalis a few things before heading off to Prance. Hope everything goes well!”
Twilight ran past Surprise as he waved back at her. As she ran down the streets, Surprise let out a sigh. “That’s one down…”
“Come on, cheer up. Don’t let it get you down…”
“But that was one of the best ideas I had…” Surprise said as he sat down. “I don’t know how much the others really know about my Hive…”
“Well there is no way to know unless we ask. So where to next?”
Surprise sighed. “To see Haze…” He stood back up and donned his disguise once again before walking out of the library and heading towards the house that was owned by the Changeling couple. Despite his rather poor first impression, Haze and Lockup had been willing to help him learn the small things he didn’t know fully about being a Changeling.
In fact, he had to learn quite a lot by himself, the first being transformation. After his… ‘Escape’ via a bear. Surprise began thinking a lot about the Guards, the way their armor reflected the light, the way their coat was all white as opposed to his black sleek body. So it came as some surprise to him when he looked down and suddenly found his body replaced with the white fur of a pony. He squealed and flailed for a bit before his body returned to normal.
From there he started thinking back to them, after the next time he had a freak out within his little makeshift cave-home for him to realize he was the one doing it. After a few more tries to make a pony form, he was happy to say that he knew that he could do it… But knew nothing else.
He first began to head towards a pony village to test out his new abilities, all things considered it went pretty well. He was only found out by one pony… Who later met him in his little home. Leading to his first, and pretty much only, real teacher.
Surprise sighed as he looked back at his wings, remembering the Pegasus that had taught him so much of what he would need later in his life. As he looked up, he saw the small building that belonged to the couple. He walked up to the house and knocked on it.
A few seconds passed and the door was opened by a small Changeling with bright pink-eyes. “Hi, Mr. Surprise!” The young Changeling said.
“Hello, Zakon. Are your mom and dad here?”
“Mom is here. Dad had to go to work.” Zakon replied.
“Can I come in? I just need to talk to your mom.” Surprise said.
“Okay!” Zakon ran back into the house as Surprise walked in. Surprise looked around the room, pictures hung up of both Haze and Lockup in their disguises. Lockup, a gray Earth Pony with BonBon, a crème colored earth pony with a swirled pink and blue mane. A few of them were pictures of them as Changelings, Lockup’s horn and wings still intact in a majority of them. One family picture was visible, with both of them, a smaller Changeling, and a young nymph in Haze’s hooves.
“That’s the last photo before he was exiled.” Surprise hopped into the air a bit before turning to see Haze standing there, a small smile on her face. “He was a great Soldier for the Hive. Helped put away twenty enemies of Equestria or criminals in general. He was on the task force that helped liberate some of Ovi’s Changelings from the Slave rings.” She sighed. “It was unbelievable what he did…”
Surprise cocked his head. “What did he do exactly? I never heard… Unless you don’t want to talk about it. Actually… We don’t need to talk if you don’t want to… I just thought that you might be able to help given how old you are…” Surprise’s eyes widened. “Not that I’m saying you’re old… I was just…”
Haze snickered a bit. “It’s alright, Surprise. I understand. Now what did you want to ask me? I was going to meet up with BonBon to talk about some… things…” Haze sighed. “It’s not important. What were you asking?”
Surprise looked around the room again, then picked up the family picture and sighed. “I was wondering… Did you know anything about my Hive?”
Haze’s ears fell. “Surprise… Come here. I’ll make you some tea… Or something. We can talk about it in the living room.”
Surprise nodded. “That would be great… Thank you…” He walked into the small living room, a minute or two later, Haze came in and sat down, she placed the two cups of tea on the table.
“So, how long has this been bothering you?”
Surprise let out a sigh. “Since I entered Acari’s Hive…”
Haze tapped her chin. “That was your very first visit into a Hive, wasn’t it?”
Surprise nodded. “And seeing all those Changelings flying around, being part of a family and working together… It made me start thinking about my own Hive… A family I never met, and… Maybe they are still out there somewhere… Just waiting for me…”
Haze nodded. “I’ve met quite a few Exiles in my work with Queen Acari, not including my husband and Spine, each and every one of them refused to believe it had happened. The Hivemind becomes a major part of our lives, and suddenly being cut off from it can be disastrous. We are naturally more social creatures than Ponies, even if we don’t realize it. The Hivemind is a major part of our lives. To be honest, I’m surprised that you weren’t driven insane by the lack of communication over your life.”
“Who’s saying he didn’t?”
Surprise was about to talk back to his brain, but realized it would look rather strange. “I have my ways…”
“Well, hopefully that doesn’t make it difficult to interact with others.” Haze replied, lifting the cup to her lips and taking a sip from it. “Well, I’m sorry to say this Surprise… But I don’t know anything about Eupha’s Hive vanishing.”
“But… You must have been around when it happened.” Surprise replied.
Haze nodded as she took another sip. “I was, but I’m not sure how good of a resource I will be.”
“Why’s that?” Surprise asked, picking up his own tea and drinking it quickly.
“Well, I was only five at the time. I didn’t even notice it was happening until a couple years later. By the time I was grown up, the Queens had kept only a few Changelings on the case. They had scoured all of Equestria in an attempt to find them, turning up nothing. Then Chrysalis began to change and cut herself off for a bit. Things got kind of hectic in those last few years, then everything turned udder’s up with the invasion.” Haze sighed. “You know how that went.”
Surprise nodded and sighed. “So… Do you have any ideas on where they might be?”
Haze sighed. “So far… The only place we haven’t checked is the Frozen North, but Eupha wouldn’t be caught dead up there. Not enough going on, she would get bored from what I’ve heard about her.”
“And… What have you heard?” Surprise asked.
Haze hummed through some tea. Once she swallowed it, she replied. “Oh, I’ve heard she can be quite the hoof full, at times she could be calm and collected. Other times she is bouncing off the wall and only a containment spell would make her stop moving. She could always confuse the other Queens, yet was smart enough to know quite a bit the other Queens didn’t.”
Surprise looked down at the empty cup in his hooves. “What did… My Hive do?”
Haze took another sip. “Sorry, Surprise. I’m not sure. I know it had to do with the ponies’ celebrations. I just don’t know how…” Surprise’s ears fell. “Though, maybe Antenna would know, she is older than me after all. She may have been old enough to remember the event differently.”
Surprise sighed. “Yeah… Do you think she is busy?”
Haze tapped her chin. “I don’t think so… She didn’t seem like she had much going on, and I’m sure she would be happy to help.”
Surprise sighed. “Okay… Thank you for the suggestion.”
“Sorry I couldn’t be much help. I can ask Queen Acari to see if she has anything.”
“No… It’s all right; I wouldn’t want to bother her. She’s probably really busy, dealing with laws and stuff… I don’t want to distract her because I’m feeling lonely…” Surprise sighed. “Thanks for the concern.”
Haze nodded. “Feel free to tell me if you find anything.”
Surprise nodded as he walked out of the room and back out onto the street, he took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “I really hope Antenna has some idea…”
“Come on, you aren’t going to give up if it turns out otherwise are you?”
“What other choices do I have?” Surprise asked himself. “I can’t tell Pinkie…  You made that very clear…”
“But Antenna might know something, and if not her, than perhaps Ortho.”
Surprise sighed. “I don’t think Ortho knows anything about them… She would be busy with her studies…”
“True… So, what do you plan to do after Antenna?”
“I don’t know…” Surprise replied. “Maybe I’ll look through the Library for clues or something…”
“You have no idea what you are looking for. How would that work?”
“I don’t know!” Surprise said loudly, before slamming his hoof over his mouth. “Nopony heard that right?”
“Sure…”
“Don’t be sarcastic…” Surprise replied, beginning to walk down the street towards the edge of the town, where Darkblaze had set up his home when he first arrived five years ago. It was close to the forest in case he was found out, but not too far from anything too important.
Surprise’s mind continued to wander as he walked, transitioning back to his first meeting with his teacher.

He had still been young at the time, and had just returned from the pony village, which was a rather embarrassing event. He had been doing well, but the fact he couldn’t talk very well, had no idea what was normal, and tried to climb up a building eventually gave him away to one of the ponies. But before they had the chance to call for a guard, Surprise had already dashed out of the town.
He had taken a rather roundabout way of getting back to his cave, hoping that the ponies wouldn’t have followed him, so he was rather shocked when he entered his cave to see one of the ponies standing there, waiting for him.
His first response was to try and get out of the cave, but the pony spoke to him. “You are a long way from the Hives, Nymph.” He said, quickly covered in a green flame and being replaced by another of… Him, only with blue eyes, and a blue back. “How did you get out here?”
Surprise stood there and looked at the blue version of him for a few moments before the other Changeling walked up and lay down in front of him. “Well?”
Surprise blinked again. Opening his mouth to let out a little chirp.
“Can you understand me?” The Changeling asked. “Nod your head if yes, shake if no. Or don’t do anything if no…”
Surprise nodded.
“Can you talk?”
Surprise shook his head and the Changeling sighed. “Then I guess that’s first.”
The Changeling stood up and held out a hoof. “My name is Ardent Mind, I’m here to teach you everything you’ll need to survive out here.”
Surprise looked at the hoof curiously, then looked back at Ardent, noticing he didn’t have any wings. Ardent looked back at where his wings should be. “Long story, kid. I’ve been on my own out here for thirty years, if you listen to me, I promise you won’t get caught. Deal?”
Surprise looked at the hoof again and reached up to touch it, nodding as he did.
“Good, first things first, let’s work on your vocab.”
Surprise had spent another few years getting taught by Ardent, learning about Equestria, Ponies, but he mostly learned about Changelings. What he ate, what he could do, the structure of the Hives, the more important laws and codes he was supposed to keep, even without the Hives.
“You are never to reveal yourself, the only reason you should is if it saves others. Even to other Changelings, keep yourself hidden.”
“Why?” Surprise asked.
“It is best for everyone if you don’t, no telling where ponies are watching or listening, keep your head down if you must. Keep your personal feelings away from your food, you may feel bad for replacing somepony, but it is either that or starvation.”
“But… What if I befriend a pony?”
Ardent sighed. “Listen, you need to remember something very important,” he knelt down in front of Surprise.  “You are vulnerable out there. One pony is all it takes to turn your life around, you can have the best life imaginable, but getting too close to one can have terrible consequences.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Surprise asked.
Ardent looked back at the small stubs he had instead of wings, the muscles making them vibrate. “In a way… The ponies will not understand what you are; other Changelings tend to care more for Hives than Changelings like us. It’s best to keep away from them, and do just what I taught you. Once you find your niche, don’t let it go. I made the mistake of thinking it wouldn’t matter…”
Surprise looked at the small fire in the middle of the cave. “Will… I ever be able to be myself?”
Ardent shook his head. “Listen, kid, I can’t speak for you. Maybe later in life everything calms down, but for the time being, I just don’t see it happening.” Ardent sighed. “I’ll miss you, kid. Promise me if you find that niche, you’ll come give old Ardent a visit.”
Surprise hugged Ardent. “I’ll miss you… Are you sure you can’t come with me?”
Ardent shook his head. “I’m sorry, kid, I’ve got a better life here, I’m getting old, and I’d only slow you down. I’ve enjoyed these past three years. I hope that I’ll see you when you grow up, maybe you’ll become something like personal jester the Princess.”
Surprise snickered. “If I do, then I’ll come with gifts.”
“It wouldn’t matter, so long as I know you are still kicking. Make me proud out there.”
Surprise nodded. “I’ll try.”
Ardent nodded. “I’ve got to head back to my home. The others will wonder where I went.” He hugged Surprise again. “I’ll see you around, kid.” He let go of the hug and walked towards the cave exit, he looked back towards Surprise, the saddlebags Ardent packed before leaving his home sitting next to the young Changeling. “Remember what I taught you, all of it will save your life.”
Surprise nodded as Ardent walked out of the cave and began heading back towards the town, after a few minutes, Surprise picked up the saddlebags and walked out of the cave. Taking a look around before being covered in a yellow flame and taking off from the ground, flying towards one of the nearby towns.

Surprise had followed Ardent’s training almost his whole life. He had taken places of ponies for a day, fed off emotion, and then left the town. He only had a few small mess-ups, a name here, a mark here. But he always managed to get away before they ever caught him. A few times he had run away before they even thought about it. His nerves making him think the worst.
He eventually found the enjoyment of ponies making him feel stronger than just love, and modified his plans accordingly, it wasn’t long until he could spend longer looking for targets, and less time feeding for more energy. He lasted nearly his whole life without many difficulties after that, until the Invasion…
Surprise sighed. “I wonder if Ardent is still alive…”
“You think they found out?”
“I don’t know… I really hope not… I would hate to see him die… I wanted to show him how much better my life is…”
“Once we find them, we’ll tell him.”
Surprise sighed. “If we find them…”
“What did I say about being negative?”
“Shh.” Surprise said as he walked up to the house, he raised his hoof and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door was opened by a blue unicorn with a pink curly mane.
“Surprise! What a... unexpected visit.” Candy Floss said, smiling nervously before letting out a sigh. “Sorry… I’m trying to get better at not putting your name and the noun in the same sentence. It just feels weird.”
“You wouldn’t believe how much I get that.” Surprise replied, snickering a bit.
“So, how are you doing? I heard that you went to Pinkie’s foalhood home. What was that like?”
“Oh… You know… Rock Farms…” Surprise said. “Can I talk to you about something… Kind of important?”
Candy Floss nodded. “Come on in, I’m sure Darkblaze wouldn’t mind. I’m just keeping an eye on Echo.”
“How is she doing?” Surprise asked.
“She’s been fine, though I am more curious about you. You were so nervous about meeting her parents before.”
Surprise nodded. “Yeah, turns out it was just me being… Well, afraid of the worst…”
“And since you are still here, I assume everything went well. Is there anything I can get you? Water, coffee, Love?”
“No, thank you. I’m fine for now.”
Candy Floss was covered in a green flame and replaced with the older Changeling. “Why don’t we go and see the little Nymph, I’m sure she’d be happy to see you.”
“Okay… But I do need to talk to you.”
“Sure.” Antenna led Surprise into the living room, in front of the couch; a small Changeling nymph was holding a crayon in her mouth and scribbling on a blank piece of paper. As Surprise walked in, the Nymph looked up and dropped the crayon. “Surprise!” The Changeling waved at the Pegasus. “Look, I’m drawing a picture of Twilight.” The young Changeling turned the paper around so that Surprise could see the picture of the purple Unicorn, as far as child drawings went, it was what he would have expected.
“That’s great, Echo. Are you going to show Twilight when it’s done?”
“Uh-huh.” Echo picked up the crayon again and began scribbling on the page.
“She’s been working at it all day.” Antenna said. “Now remember, Echo, only a little longer before we go outside and play.”
“Okay, Mrs. Antenna.” Echo said cheerily, going back to her drawing.
“She really enjoys drawing, not as much as she enjoys running around, but it is one of her preferred activities.” Antenna sat down in a chair next to the couch, allowing Surprise to sit on the couch. “So, what did you want to ask me?”
Surprise sighed. “Well, I really wanted to ask you about… My Hive…”
Antenna’s mouth fell a little. “Is this about visiting Pinkie’s family?”
Surprise nodded. “I tried to ask Twilight and Haze, but neither of them had any ideas… So I thought I could come to you… Because you might have some ideas… Or at least be able to tell me a little bit about them.”
Antenna fidgeted a little. “Surprise… I…”
“No… It’s alright, it was a silly idea anyway, I’m sorry to disturb you…”
Surprise began getting up, but Antenna spoke up. “Surprise, I will answer anything I can, but I want to know why.”
Surprise sighed. “I… I just want to know. I’ve been on my own so long… I just want to know…” Surprise let out a sniffle and felt a hoof on his shoulder he looked up at Antenna.
“Of course I’ll help you, to the best of my abilities. What do you want to know?”
Surprise rubbed his eyes before replying. “What did we do?”
Antenna sat down. “The Joyous Hive…” Antenna said. “Well, they were responsible for the various celebrations, including the birthdays and anniversaries for the Queens. Not only that, but they were expert builders.”
Surprise’s ears straightened. “Really? Builders?”
Antenna nodded. “Yes, not only were they entertainers, but builders. Every collection of Hives has a technology based Hive, your Queen was named Eupha, though I’m sure that you were told this by Haze.”
Surprise nodded. “What did we build?”
Antenna let out a sigh. “I… Believe you specialized in weaponry… Cannons and the like, but I do remember they made some delicious cakes…” She tapped her chin. “After that… I’m… Having a bit of trouble… I haven’t thought about Queen Eupha for nearly twenty years…”
“Okay…” Surprise replied. “But… Do you remember anything else?”
Antenna tapped her chin. “Well… I think she was working on… Some kind of… Cake making thing… I’m sorry, I was only a teen last time she came to the Hive. Do you have any other questions?”
“What… What do you think happened?”
Antenna blinked. “Well…” Antenna rubbed the back of her head. “There were a lot of theories… They got killed, they moved to another nation… Personally…” She tapped her hooves together. “I thought they all went to the Badlands… I learned they didn’t later…”
Surprise sighed. “Do you have… Anything else you can tell me?”
Antenna tapped her chin. “I… Think I have something else I could tell you. Eupha and the Hive are amazing actors. You can’t even trust your emotional sense; they can manipulate their emotions more than most other Hives. Eupha herself is very good at this, including keeping her energy down if she needs to.”
“Okay… I… Guess that helps…”
Antenna sighed. “I’m sorry, that doesn’t help…“
Surprise’s ears laid against his head. “It’s all right… It was just a stupid dream…”
Antenna looked at Surprise, how his wings relaxed, how he hung his head. She sighed. “Surprise, the Queens have been looking for her for years, I don’t know if we can find her until she wants to reveal herself… But… If you really want to help, I’m sure they could always use it.”
Surprise sniffed. “Okay…”
Antenna looked at Surprise. “Are you alright?”
Echo looked over at Surprise. “Surprise?”
Surprise shuddered a bit. “I’m fine… I just… Need to be alone for a bit…” Surprise turned and started to walk back towards the door. His head hung as he continued to walk. Antenna walked up to him, “I’m sure you’ll see them… And… Please, I’m sorry if I said something…”
“No, it’s alright… I just… Need to be alone.”
Antenna stopped. “Surprise, if I can help, just let me know. Alright?”
Surprise nodded before walking out of the door, heading back to Sugar Cube Corner, a couple tears working inside his eyes as he sniffled a few times.

When he arrived back at the Bakery, he told Mr. and Mrs. Cake that he was going to need to be alone before walking up the stairs. He turned back into his natural form, walking over to his bed and sitting down on it, looking out at the area beyond the town. Thinking about the idea of an entire Hive, there, but just out of his reach, almost like taunting him.
He remained there until the sun went down, only occasionally taking time to walk around the room. He didn’t even look over when Pinkie walked up the stairs. “Surprise? What are you doing up here?  All the food is downstairs.”
Surprise just let out a sigh. “I’m not feeling very hungry, Pinkie.” He said with almost no energy.
“Surprise? Is something wrong?” Pinkie asked.
“Yes… But I don’t think even you could help me, Pinkie…”
Pinkie put her hoof over Surprise’s shoulders. “Hey, why not tell me exactly what’s bothering you. I’m sure there is something I can do. You know me.”
“I want to find my Hive…”
Pinkie blinked. “Well we can just ask one of the…”
“No… We can’t…”
“What?” Pinkie asked. “The Queens would be more than happy to…”
“They don’t know where they are either…” Surprise replied. “The entire Hive is gone, and I have no clue where they went. But I know they are out there… I just… Don’t know where to look.”
Pinkie watched as Surprise picked up the small crystal by his bed and spun it on the windowsill. “All I have is this… And the small amounts of information I’ve gotten from the others.”
Pinkie stroked her chin. “Sooo…. You know they are certainly in Equestria…”
“As far as I know…”
“But you just don’t know where…”
Surprise nodded. “And I have no clue where to start… And I would prefer to be left alone for a while, Pinkie. Is that alright?”
“Of course! I’ll be super quiet you won’t even know I’m here. Goodnight, Surprise.”
She walked backwards down the stairs, making sure to not make a sound as she did so. When she was gone, Surprise looked back out towards the hills and back to the spinning sphere. “I want to find them… But how am I going to…”



Downstairs, Pinkie was backing up into the room where Mr. and Mrs. Cake were sitting around a table. “Is Surprise coming down for dinner?”
“No, he’s feeling a little Hive-sick.” Pinkie replied.
“Oh, poor dear.” Mrs. Cake said. “I do hope it gets easier for him.”
“He sounded like he was pretty down in the dumps. I don’t know how soon he will get better.” Mr. Cake replied.
“Oh don’t worry.” Pinkie said. “I have a plan…” She wrung her hooves together in a dastardly motion and both Mr. and Mrs. Cake looked at each other in slight fear towards whatever it is Pinkie was planning.