Even after Straight Face asked the question, both Surprise and Pinkie sat there for a few second, just looking blankly. Surprise had so many questions he wanted to ask: Why they left? Where they went? Why they never looked for him? But the thing that he wanted the most was to actually see his Queen.
“Can… We actually see you?” Surprise asked.
Straight Face nodded. “I guess it’s fair. You are the first in around fifty years to find me. Though I will admit, it feels nice to not have to be a distancing businesspony. Just give me a moment.”
She hopped off of the chair and walked to a cleared section of the room as a yellow flame started below her shortened tail, causing her tail to become longer, easily reaching the floor. The flame spread as her shortened gray tail changed to a light honey color as it continued to grow. When the flame reached her flanks, they were replaced with the black carapace, as her body grew taller. The flames reached her legs, causing holes to form in the tall legs. Two butterscotch colored wings spread out of her back, right next to the amber backplate. Her pinned mane was let free as it extended down her tall neck, changing to a honey color. As the Transformation climbed up to her head, her tall horn became visible, along with her small fangs. As the transformation finished, Eupha opened her mouth as a party blower unfurled and made the common sound before furling back into her mouth and bursting into yellow flame to be replaced with her tongue.
Surprise stared at his Queen in amazement. This was his first time ever seeing her, and it was glorious. “M-My Queen…”
“It’s great to finally meet you!” She reached over and pulled Surprise into a tight hug. “You know, I heard about a Lost-ling around Manehatten before, but I never thought that you would come to me. But first I am going to apologize to you for you being on your own for all those years. I should have noticed, but I was busy trying to get everything worked out and everypony coordinated. I didn’t have the time to find you.”
Surprise looked at the Queen, the fact that she was acting like this was unexpected to say the least. The other Queens were at least somewhat professional, especially Acari, who was on duty probably ninety percent of the time. Where as here, the Queen had turned her tongue into a party blower and was now hugging him.
“Um… Queen Eupha… Can you please put me down…”
“Of course.” She let go of the hug, letting Surprise fall to the ground as she stood up and walked over to Pinkie. “You continue to impress me, Pinkie, that party in Canterlot was really something, an not only that, but you managed to find me. You really are one amazing Earth Pony.”
“Aww… It was nothing.” She said, waving her hoof. “Just helping cheer up, Surprise.”
Surprise picked himself up and removed his disguise, as he did, Eupha looked over at him and gasped. “You!”
Surprise tilted his head. “Me?”
“You were here before, back when we were first setting up the company. I had to keep Crystals all over the city so that we wouldn’t be found by any of the search teams, you were the one that ate one of the crystals that one time.”
Surprise’s ears fell against his head as he smiled nervously. “I-I was hungry…”
“Oh don’t worry about it. I was more worried when my Scouts told me there was an unconnected Nymph running around.” Eupha replied. “I was worried you would be found or die or even lead the other Queens to us.”
“Oh…” Surprise replied.
“Well, not that we weren’t worried, I had a couple of my Scouts looking out for you. But we never found you, so I had them transferred out to the Badlands to watch over the development of a few of the cannons until we could clear out the Hive… Though now I kind of want to build one nearby…” She rubbed her chin. “Do you think I could get building rights for under the city?”
“I’m not sure…” Pinkie replied. “I’d think they would have something against that… But then again it is your home technically so maybe they could change the sewers.”
Surprise looked between the two. “Um… My Queen?”
“Oh, just call me Eupha, Surprise. I enjoy a little bit more informal than most other Queens. Speaking of which, how did Chryssie enjoy the Party Hat Poppers?”
“We didn’t ask…” Surprise replied. “But um… Eupha, can I ask why you did abandon the Hive?”
Eupha gasped. “Abandon!” Surprise shrunk back.
“I-I didn’t mean to say that you did and that you were a bad Queen, not that you are, a bad Queen that is, you aren’t a bad Queen… I just…”
Eupha flipped her mane. “Well, first, I didn’t abandon anypony, I took the whole Hive with me. Even what few Cakes I had done! We gathered up all the eggs, all the pupa, a bunch of food, and I sent them all out in groups to make sure it seemed like we all left at once. It was super hard since we had to not only get everypony out and undercover, but we had to keep the production up, wit ha Skeleton crew at one point. That’s ten Changelings running around the Hive trying to keep everything in order for a week before I managed to get everything set up for us to leave.”
Surprise walked behind Pinkie. “I-I didn’t mean to say that you were a bad Queen… o-or that you ab-abandoned them…” Surprise shivered a bit. “B-but why did you have to leave the H-Hive?”
Eupha sighed. “A lot actually. Though the biggest one was probably our previous location.”
“What was wrong with it?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, I’m sure Pupa told you we used to live in a swamp…” Eupha replied. “That swamp happened to be the most disgusting and leaky place I have ever lived. You would not believe how many ovens and microwaves we lost to the water. Not only that, but the cakes we lost…” She shook her head. “My mother re-established a Hive there, and… Well, it wasn’t as swampy back then…”
“Well, what happened?” Pinkie asked.
“Lets just say that my Mother wasn’t the best at long term planning, and she was kind of bull-headed. So… She decided to build one in the area… Granted it wasn’t a swamp, it started up a couple centuries after she set up the Hive. A lot of rain started falling, and it all collected in the forest they built in… Then the flooding started…” Eupha sighed. “I’ll probably talk to Twilight more about it later.” She reached under her desk. “Cake?”
“Uh… No thanks…” Surprise replied.
“Sure!” Pinkie replied.
Eupha smiled as she pulled a small cake from under her desk, a quarter of the circular cake gone. She pulled a knife from her desk drawer and sliced a piece, giving it to Pinkie. Who quickly stuffed it into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
“Mmm… Sugary.” Pinkie replied.
“Yes, I whipped it up quickly, used a bunch of frosting. I keep it in case I need to have them relax, I say that one of my employees gave it to me, leftovers from a birthday party.”
“Does that work?” Surprise asked.
“Yup. It’s always worked.” She cut another piece of cake, and pulling a fork out of her mane, before putting the rest of the cake away. “Any other questions?” She cut the piece of cake and put a bit into her mouth.
“Well…” Pinkie replied. “I have always wondered about where you got the name PBI?”
Eupha swallowed and tapped her chin. “Well… Party Ballistics Incorporated was my idea. I tried to find what the best possible way to get emotions was while using our engineering potential. Then I thought about Parties! And later I thought about the cannons we were producing for everyone. Then I thought, ‘what if I combined the two?’ And after much discussion with my Hive, we decided to call it Party Ballistics Incorporated.”
“Huh… I thought it was going to be a bigger story than that…”
“Oh, it is. You wouldn’t believe how much we tried to get it past some of the Equestrian divisions. They kept raising their eyebrow and looking at the name a few times before trying to ask if it was a joke and why it was and all that. It was kind of fun, since Giggle Trousers was eccentric and just a wee bit insane.” She winked. “Anyway, I’m guessing you have a question you’ve been holding in.”
Surprise sighed. “Yeah…” He scratched the back of his head. “Why… Why didn’t you look for me?”
Eupha, who just put another piece of cake into her mouth, had her eyes widen. She let out a small sigh and pulled the fork from her mouth, placing it down on the desk
“I’m sorry, Surprise… I didn’t honestly know at first.” Eupha replied. “Getting everypony out of the Hive was stressful on all of us… and a few got lost, but they all found their ways back. I gave everypony a map… Though I guess some of them lost you… What happened to the Caretakers?”
Surprise tapped his hooves together. “Um… I don’t know…”
Eupha raised an eyebrow. “Weren’t you hatched with a Caretaker? I thought I told all of them to carry the eggs. I figured they died some time after you hatched…”
“Umm… I hatched in a forest… alone…”
Eupha’s jaw dropped, and her eye started to twitch. “A-Alone… Out in the…” Se sighed. “Going to have to check on that…” She mumbled, taking a piece of paper and writing on it with a pen she had lying on her desk. “Though, I will admit, I heard about you after the Ceymi incident.”
Surprise’s ears perked up. “Then… Why didn’t you come and tell me?”
Eupha moved her head back and forth before responding. “I… found out where you were staying… Nothing against Ponyville, but it is just a little bit too crazy for me.” She replied. “I mean… You had the spirit of Chaos controlling the town for a bit. How much crazier can you get?”
Surprise looked over at Pinkie in shock. “You had Discord in Ponyville?”
“Only for a bit… and yeah, there was a the whole soap roads thing, but it rained Chocolate Milk from Cotton Candy Clouds!”
“Umm… Pinkie… I don’t…”
“Let me say it again… Chocolate Milk from Cotton Candy Clouds! But without any Whipped cream! Not that you need whipped cream with chocolate milk but it would have made it so much better if he had Whipped Cream Whirlwinds.” She gasped. “That would be amazing!”
“Hmm…” Eupha tapped her chin. “Need to write that one down…” She took out a pad. “Whipped… Cream…” She closed the pad and put it back inside of her desk. “Do you mind if I ask you a couple of things?”
Surprise looked up at the Queen and shook his head.
“Right, well, I’m curious. If you didn’t learn from a caretaker… Then who taught you to transform and such?”
“I learned from an Exiled Changeling… His name was Ardent Mind, and he found me when I first went to a pony town. He taught me everything I knew… How to speak, how to transform… He was basically like my father…”
Eupha nodded. “Well, I need to send him something then, I can’t just expect him to help you and not get something…” She tapped her chin. “Maybe a nice pie… Do you know what kind he likes?”
Surprise shook his head. “Did… You want to know anything else?”
Eupha tapped her hooves together. “Would you like to meet the rest of the Hive?”
Surprise blinked. “Um… I don’t know if I have the time… That’s a lot of Changelings…”
Eupha giggled. “Oh, I didn’t mean like that.” She tapped her head. “Would you like to be connected to my Mind?”
Surprise’s eyes widened. It was a huge step for him, he had never been connected to another Changeling. Was he able to take an entire Hive? Would it be painful to connect? He remembered Shade talking about a couple times where he was connected and he said it was incredibly painful, but he also mentioned that was the point at the time…
“I…I don’t know…” Surprise said. “I-is it going to hurt?”
Eupha blinked. “Not that I think… It’s just like somepony talking through your mind. It’s natural for us… If you want, I can connect you to the Caretakers first, they are usually the first ones that Nymphs connect to. I promise I’ll stop if you don’t want to be connected.”
“O-Okay… I’ve never been connected… But I’ll try…”
Eupha nodded. “Sorry, Pinkie, but this is a Changeling only event.”
Pinkie nodded. “I understand. You just do your Changeling thing. I’ll wait.” She pulled out a notebook and began drawing on it.
Eupha’s horn lit up. “Are you ready, Surprise?”
Surprise took a deep breath. “Yes… I-I think so…”
Eupha nodded as the glow from her horn began to flow over Surprise’s horn, as he watched the glow slowly crawl over his horn, he closed his eyes and began to hope that it wouldn’t be painful.
A few seconds later, Surprise heard… No. Felt, someone talking to him.
“Hello?” The voice said. Surprise opened his eyes to see Eupha still sitting in her chair. She smiled at him and nodded.
“Hi…” he relied, it was quite a strange feeling. Really difficult to explain too, it was as though he could hear the voice, but it didn’t come from his ears, it was like it was coming from the back of his skull, yet he could hear it so clear. “This is really weird…” Surprise raised his hoof to touch the back of his head.
“Pardon?” The voice asked.
Surprise straightened his back. “Oh sorry, I diddn’t think that was going to be audible… I just thought it and I wasn’t sure if…”
“He’s new, Egg.” Eupha’s voice said, Surprise looked over at the Queen to see that she had placed another bit of cake into her mouth. Despite that, her voice was clear as crystal. “Remember that Lost-Ling from around twenty years ago?”
“Yes?”
“That’s him. This is his first time being connected and… He’s staring at me like I grew another head.” Surprise blinked as he realized he was staring at Eupha his mouth slightly open and his head cocked to one side.
When he realized what he was doing he fixed himself before saying: “Sorry, Queen Eupha… She must think I’m such an idiot…”
“I can still hear you.” Eupha replied in a sing-song voice.
Surprise facehoofed. “Please tell me this isn’t as difficult later…”
Eupha swallowed. “Nope, it gets easier. Your instincts should take over soon.”
“My Queen, is something wrong?” Egg asked.
“Nope, everything is fine here. Just filling Surprise here with everything he needs to know. By the way, great job on that cover-up a few days ago, wish I could have seen it.”
“I’m so confused…” Surprise thought.
Eupha giggled. “It’s all right, Surprise. This is your first time. I’ll tell you what. I want to make up for not trying to find you before, and not really being the greatest Queen in the world, by helping you learn the ins and outs of the Hive Mind.”
“I… Don’t know…” Surprise said, tapping his hooves together. “W-would that take long? I-I don’t want to be away from my new family that long…”
Eupha looked over at Pinkie. “Ah…”
Pinkie looked over at the two. “Yup, he’s part of the Pie family now. Well, not officially, since we need to fill out all that paperwork but he’ll be part of the family before he knows it.”
Eupha nodded. “Well, I don’t expect it to take you very long. Probably only a week, maybe even a few days if you can do it fast enough… I would just have to assign you a teacher.”
Surprise tapped his hooves together, on one hoof, he would finally be attached to the Hive Mind and be a part of the Hive like he always wanted to be, but on the other, it might get really crowded with all the voices in his head.
“I’m… I’m not sure… I kind of like keeping my thoughts to myself.”
Eupha nodded. “All Changelings can separate their own thoughts from the Hive, I promise we can teach you everything and if I can’t find you a teacher, I’ll teach you myself.”
Surprise’s eyes widened. “Y-you would do that?”
“It’s the least I can do to help out. I feel like I owe you for all those years you were on your own…”
Pinkie put down her notebook. “So… Does that mean I have to head back to Ponyville by myself?”
Surprise’s ears fell. “Oh… I… I guess…”
Pinkie hugged Surprise. “Don’t you worry your pretty buggy head, Surprise. I can survive for a few days, but you have to promise to send me letters every day. I’ll even have a special party for you when you come back. You just have fun learning about your Hive.”
“Speaking of which!” Eupha pointed her hoof into the air, opening a drawer and pulling out a letter. “I’ve heard some things about the Librarian in Ponyville, so I want you to give her this, and tell her that I want to meet with her. The destination and things needed are in the letter.”
“What about the other Queens?” Surprise asked.
“Oh… Right…” Eupha replied. “I’ll tell them that I’m coming out of hiding. Or you can tell them on the way back to Ponyville if you want. Just make sure they know that I want it kept a secret for a little bit. Ease the ponies into the fact I make cannons. That could end horribly if it got out.”
Pinkie nodded and took the note, placing it into her saddlebag. She looked over at Surprise and pulled him into a hug. “I’ll see you back in Ponyville. I’ll be expecting your letters while you’re there.”
Surprise hugged her back. “I’ll write to you as soon as I get there.”
Pinkie nodded as she squeezed Surprise a little more before releasing the hug. “I’ve got to get on the train if I want to get back to Ponyville to meet up with Twilight when she gets back.” Pinkie got up and walked over to the door.
“Miss Pie!” Eupha said as Pinkie reached for the door, causing her to turn back. “Your Cannon is being overseen personally. You should receive it within the week.”
Pinkie smiled and nodded, walking out of the room as the door closed, Surprise could have sworn that he heard a high-pitched shriek and the sound of a particular pony bouncing off the walls.
“So…” Eupha said as Surprise turned back to look at her. “Is there anypony you want to see before you and I head to the Hive?”
Surprise smiled a little. “Actually… There is one pony I’d like to see…”