“In the typical changeling hive there is a vast maze of empty tunnels to nowhere. This is to confuse any intruders. If one enters a hive without knowledge of its layout or a guide then the risk of getting lost forever in the dark is staggering.” —excerpt from the habitat chapter in On Changelings by Musty Tome
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Patrolling the tunnels is useless busywork, Drone 124 thought, listening to his steps as they echoed in the dark, Something the less intelligent drones did to feel useful or something done to punish incompetence by way of mind-numbing boredom.
“Why am I doing this?” he asked the empty air, somehow forgetting that he had botched his first two infiltration jobs.
If the hive was anywhere near a pack of diamond dogs then this might be interesting. It seems like we’re always fighting for underground positioning with those damn mutts, the drone thought. The closest pack is miles away though, which basically ensures that absolutely nothing could possibly happen.
…
Come on, universe. That’s your cue. I said something wouldn’t happen, so now something has to happen.
…
Please? Something? Anything?
…
Fuck…
The sound of faint, ragged breathing hit the drone’s ear. He couldn’t see the source, even with his night vision.
By the hive, excitement! the drone thought just before his body tensed up, That breathing sounds pretty intimidating … . It might be some sort of monster… .
The drone scampered through the dark tunnels of his hive back towards his superiors. “Maybe it’s best I get backup first.”
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“Sir! I heard strange breathing in the tunn—” Drone 124 started before jolting in surprise at the unexpected sight of his queen, who was speaking with his superior, and dropped into a reflexive bow. His speedy bow resulted in a meaty smack as his muzzle collided with the floor. Green blood oozed out from under where his now-injured snout pressed against the floor.
“You abandoned your patrol simply because you heard a noise in the tunnel?” the changeling monarch asked. A motherly smile masked the severity of her irritation.
If he was patrolling the tunnels then he’s probably an idiot, she sneered internally. I shouldn’t expect any competence from such an incompetent fool.
“Er—yes my Queen, I heard ragged breathing,” Drone 124 answered, his face hovering centimeters above the floor. A small puddle was forming from his bleeding face.
“Do you suppose I’d be sufficient backup to deal with this ‘noise,’ Drone?” Chrysalis asked, enjoying the sight of the drone’s now trembling prostrated figure.
“Uh, my queen would be m-more than sufficient,” Drone 124 stuttered and didn’t lift this head, “Uh, perhaps even t-too sufficient. My queen should not trouble herself with one as lowly as I.”
The drone’s superior officer was mentally calculating how long his subordinate had to live.
“You would dare to give orders to your queen?” Chrysalis asked. The drone’s shaking stopped as his legs gave out. His face remained pressed to the floor.
“I-I—uh, I—” the drone trembled, his horn scratching on the floor.
He’s going to drown in his own blood at this rate, Chrysalis thought. “Show me to where you heard your ‘noise,’ and pray you aren’t wasting my time,” Chrysalis replied. She began walking in the direction he had come from.
“Y-Yes Ma’am,” Drone 124 managed to finally spit out. He raced to catch up to her and slinked past her, keeping his head down and hoped walking in front of his queen wouldn’t make her mad again.
“Would you like a bigger escort, my queen?” the superior officer asked before the pair got too far away.
“That won’t be necessary,” Chrysalis answered, not bothering to look back.
The breathing became audible after only a minute of walking. The queen stopped, eyes narrowing as she lowered her horn and spread her legs a bit wider in preparation of a potential confrontation. This was a different spot than the first time the drone had heard it. The breathing was much more labored than before. Whatever the source was, it was alive and capable of movement. The big question was how good its night vision was. Since whatever it had ventured down so deep in the tunnels, assuming it had eyes at all, it probably would have night vision. Which meant it was clear what her first attack should be if it came down to fighting.
“Is this the noise that troubled you, drone?” Chrysalis asked calmly.
“Y—Yes, my queen.”
“I will admit, I assumed you mistook a draft in the tunnels to be breathing,” the queen told the drone after turning to look him in his eyes, “I thought that I’d simply be walking you out into the tunnels and punishing you for wasting my time.”
The drone opened and shut his mouth, unable to find a response.
“But this noise is no draft, it still remains to be seen whether or not you have wasted my time.” Chrysalis turned and began stalking towards the sound once again.
Drone 124 followed without a word.
The source of the breathing was close. Chrysalis used her magic to cast an illumination spell and sent a ball of light down the tunnel to illuminate it. She didn’t bother warning the drone, his hooves shot towards his eyes in vain, half because the damage had already been done and the other half being that his hole-filled hooves didn’t block out light very well.
The ball of light hit and stuck to the curve in the tunnel ahead of them, illuminating the the dimpled walls that had been carved out by changeling magic. The source of the breathing couldn’t be seen yet, but it sounded rather close. It was probably just around the corner.
The sound of something being dragged greeted Chrysalis’s ear. The drone took a step back and both changelings braced for whatever was heading their way.
Some kind of creature dragged itself around the corner into view. It was small and wearing a striped garment. Its hairless face was flushed red, beads of sweat upon its forehead. Chrysalis could taste its anguish even from the distance which separated her and the garmented creature. She pondered putting the poor, feverish creature out of its misery, but curiosity got the better of her. It was barely the size of an adolescent drone and quite pathetic looking. She began a steady, yet cautious approach.
“M-My queen?” the drone whispered.
Chrysalis silenced him with a hiss and continued her approach. Once she was about five feet away, she stopped. The creature met her eyes.
“Did I go to the bad place mommy talked about?” the creature asked before breaking into a coughing fit.
Chrysalis stood silent for a moment and simply examined the pathetic display of life before her. This creature is far too curious to leave behind.
“Carry it on your back, drone,” she commanded. The drone’s eyes widened and out of his throat came an involuntary strangled whine. “If you so desire, I can just kill you and call for another drone.”
Drone 124 hesitantly walked over to the creature, fully expecting it to lunge at him and tear his throat out, but the creature was unconscious by the time Drone 124 reached it. After managing to drape it across his back he followed the queen, who was already walking back to the inhabited tunnels.
The creature was not feigning unconsciousness and did not, in fact, kill Drone 124. It latched onto the drones back by hugging him after being picked up, which was enough to almost make the drone scream.
Chrysalis could feel the creature’s emotions swirling. Is it dreaming? There was a slightest tinge of love magic that shot out of the creature sporadically, so small it was doubtful the drone could even taste it.
They arrived at the dim red glow of the luminous moss that lit infirmary and main tunnels, the eyes of all the physicians and patients on them.
As a rule, changelings usually have decent poker faces, but when the queen walked in, followed by a drone carrying a some sort of mutant-minotaur-diamond-dog-monkey-hybrid thing more than a few were unable to hide their surprise.
“The best doctor among you, step forward,” Chrysalis commanded.
Two changelings rushed over and stood in front of the Queen. Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed, one of the changelings gave a nervous glance towards her colleague to find him staring at her with a smug smirk on his face. The glancing changeling looked down and shuffled away back to her patients.
“I am at your service, my queen,” the remaining changeling said while bowing.
Chrysalis sneered. “Do not state the obvious, drone.”
The smile that the changeling had vanished in fear. He kept his eyes on his queen’s hooves and awaited his orders.
“Heal this animal,” Chrysalis ordered, “If it dies then so shall you.”
The changeling doctor stood there, mouth agape, while Chrysalis ordered Done 124 to lay the creature down on one of the unoccupied beds, which took some effort since the creature was still hugging him. The drone suddenly regretted being the hive’s most confident doctor.
The doctor frantically examined the creature. It appeared to be feverish, but there was no baseline to compare its temperature to. A cool rag to the head and making it drink water was all he could think of. He didn’t know which herbs would affect it, nor how. If he picked the wrong one it might kill the thing. There wasn’t any safe options. The doctor struggled to hold back his tears of frustration.
Several other doctors tried examining the creature, more out of sympathy than anything else, but they were all experts on changelings. This creature’s anatomy was unknown, which therefore meant that most of the treatments would be shots in the dark. There was only one doctor who specialized in exotic species..
“Illusion, please,” The changeling doctor spoke to the other doctor who ran up with him in front of the queen, “This is your area of expertise.”
“Dito, you’re the best doctor, I’m sure you can handle it,” Illusion shot back, sneering.
“I’m sorry, I messed up and was a jerk,” Dito pleaded, “Are you really going to let me die over this?”
“If I help you, then you’ll just steal the credit like you always do,” Illusion replied, turning her back to him.
“Illusion, you’re not this petty,” Dito begged, running around to Illusion’s front, “You wouldn’t let me die over something like this.”
“Maybe I will. All you’ve ever done is steal my accomplishments and pretend that you’re some sort of big shot,” Illusion glared at him, “Now you’re in over your head and you’re gonna get what you deserve.”
Dito stared into space, pondering her words.
“Please, Illusion,” he said finally. “I’ll tell the queen and give you credit for the creature’s recovery if you help me fix it.”
She glared at him. The rest of the room’s occupants watched the exchange silently, wondering if she would fall for Dito’s tricks again.
“I’m sorry, Dito, I can’t trust you.”
His eyes widened as he watched her turn away yet again. He had but one angle left.
“You’d condemn this innocent creature to die because of your petty squabble with me?”
Illusion’s confident facade broke for a split-second. Fortunately, she wasn’t facing Dito, so he didn’t catch it. “I—I will be needing some sort of proof for your proposal,” Illusion replied, turning to look him in the eye, “for your oath is as empty as the holes in your hooves.”
Dito smirked at the olden changeling insult. “I’ve nothing to give you as collateral.”
Illusion smirked back. “I guess you better find something then.”
Dito’s brow furrowed. She was getting better, but she still was a bit too soft. This might hurt, but if it worked, he wouldn’t have to worry about the queen killing him.. “If you want to throw around old-timey insults, then I assume you follow the old-timey traditions as well.” Illusion’s eyes widened and Dito steeled himself.
“Wait—,” Illusion tried to speak but Dito had already turned his head back and bit down on his wing. A hearty tug and a muffled scream followed.
Dito writhed on the ground. A couple of the other doctors rushed over and injected a painkiller into him. “We need to get this wing reattached ASAP,” one of them said. All eyes went to Illusion—all the other doctors would stay true to tradition and not treat him until his promise to Illusion was complete.
Drat, Illusion thought, If I give in and treat this creature, he can blame it all on me if the poor thing dies.
Illusion looked from the feeble form of Dito to the feebler form of the creature. Panic painted plainly on her face.
If I do nothing then Dito will lose his wing. I mean, he’s an asshole, but I don’t want him crippled.
Illusion grimaced and glared at the creature. It was some sort of primate, probably, a little light on the hair but the form fits the bill, young but almost the body mass of a small changeling. It looks like it had previously been healthy, or at least it not malnourished. It might have even come from a decadent lifestyle based upon how it is fully clothed in unknown fabrics.
If I manage to save this thing then I might earn the queen’s favor, and if Dito tried to steal the credit then he wouldn’t get his wing back. There’s no way he’s that dumb.
Illusion decided to try a couple tests like some of the previous doctors had done. A fever could mean any number of things, it would take too long to test its blood or a sample from the creature’s digestive tract. Illusion placed a holed hoof on the creatures forehead.
This is peculiar, she thought.
Illusion had worked with many different species. None had magic levels so low. Then again, a fever wasn’t a symptom of dangerously low magic levels for any of the species she knew of. No wonder this creature was stumping everyone. Everything was backwards. A high fever is a symptom for magical overdose in most primates, not that any of the other doctors would know that, but the amount of magic in the creature was incredibly small.
Something’s not right, Illusion thought. There has to be something I’m missing.
An unknown creature, wearing unknown fabrics, with dangerously low magic levels, but showing symptoms of magical overdose.
The answer feels like it’s on the tip of my tongue, Illusion thought. With all these factors this creature must—
“Have you figured anything out?” one of her colleagues asked.
Illusion winced. Dammit! I lost my train of thought.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t,” her colleague continued. “This alien is one tough patient.”
Illusion’s eyes widened and she quickly asked, “What did you say?”
“I said this alien—”
“That’s it!” Illusion exclaimed.
“What?” her colleague asked, but Illusion was already rushing away.
“I need magic suppressors,” Illusion yelled. “Stat!”
The resident alchemist rolled his eyes at her outburst, but complied with her request. He came back with a vial of sludge. “You should really just let the poor thing die so you don’t have to worry about Dito throwing you under the carriage again,” he said.
“I’d rather everyone gets out of this alive, Camo,” Illusion replied with a smile as she took the vial.
“I suppose it’s your life,” Camo said while shaking his head. “I’ll miss you if you fail.”
“Same,” Illusion said, rushing back to the creature.
She returned to the bedside of the creature. Feeding it this magic suppressor would be tricky while it was unconscious. It’d be a shame for her to go through all this trouble for it to drown on its medicine.
“Um,” Illusion prodded the thoroughly unconscious creature with her hoof. “Wakey wakey, time for you to take your medicine.”
The creature seemed determined to be bothersome and stay unconscious.
I’m not sure what I expected, she thought.
The medical bay had been out of feeding tubes for almost a year. One could only wash and reuse those things so many times before it became unethical. Illusion opened the creature’s mouth and peered inside. She couldn’t see anything helpful.
Illusion sighed. I guess I’ll just have to dump this stuff in its mouth and hope for the best.
She held the creature’s mouth open and tilted the vial to begin pouring.
Only to find the cork was still in.
A frantic voice erupted beside her. “What are you doing!?!” Camo grabbed the vial and continued in a low voice, “This. Is. A. Lotion. Not a potion.”
“Oh …” Illusion’s eyes widened, “I almost …”
“It’s fine, I stopped you in time,” Camo interrupted. “Let’s just get this lotion applied and—”
“I almost killed the poor thing,” Illusion whispered. “Then Dito would have blamed everything on me and then I’d have gotten—”
“I can’t hear you when you whisper,” Camo interrupted again, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “It doesn’t matter though, I have your back.”
Illusion sniffed. “Thanks, you’re a good friend.”
“Yeah ...” Camo noticed the room was dead quiet, and all eyes were on him and Illusion. “Okay, you’ve all got your daily dose of drama, maybe you should try doing your damn jobs now.”
The spectators all dispersed and returned to their various tasks. When Camo turned around, Illusion was already lifting the creature’s clothes and applying the lotion.
“Well, I’m going to head back then,” Camo said as he turned to leave.
A flurry of hoofsteps followed him. “Thanks again,” Illusion said while nuzzling him.
A sheepish smile crossed Camo’s face. “Try not to almost kill the poor thing again while I’m gone.”
Camo flinched when he realized what he had said. Illusion smirked and replied, “I’ll be sure to do my best.” She turned back to the creature, leaving Camo to thank the hive he didn’t accidentally set her off again.
Illusion returned to applying the magic suppressor to the creature’s chest. She should have asked Camo how long the lotion would take to work while he was over here. The creature didn’t have much magic so it would probably be quick, then again Camo probably didn’t know how little magic the creature had and he might have made the suppressor too strong which would mean Illusion was probably using too—
Shit! Illusion thought. She stopped applying and felt for the creature’s magic. It was even fainter than before, which hopefully was a good thing. The creature did, at least, look a little less terrible. Now all there is left to do is keep it hydrated and hope it doesn’t die.
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It could speak. Never before seen animals were discovered now and again, but they were almost always just that, animals. This creature was capable of speech and somehow ended up lost and in a near-death state in the tunnels of the Hive. Unanswered questions were much too abundant.
There was love in this creature—it was faint, but it was definitely there. Since this creature was unknown, it might be an easy, though rather small, source of love. Every little bit helps after all. How might the creature react to such a situation? Its abilities were unknown. It looks harmless enough, but then again, so had the ponies, and failing to take into account their feelings on being enslaved came back to bite them in the end.
I can’t imagine the ponies would be happy if they ever found out we hoarded a new species and used it for food, Chrysalis thought. She paced around her empty throne chamber. After the disaster that was Canterlot, training soldier drones was forbidden by the treaty the hive was forced into by that damnable Celestia. Since no new soldiers could be trained and the old ones were slowly dying off, the combat capabilities of the changelings were dwindling by the day. In addition to that, this creature wasn’t really a food source worth defending.
The safer option would be handing this creature over to Celestia, she cringed at that thought. It might garner some small amount of favor, but nothing that would change the current situation. More likely than not, Celestia would assume correctly that the creature wasn’t worth keeping and take the gesture with a grain of salt.
This is all assuming the doctor didn’t kill it. The doctor that stepped up had no experience with non-changelings. That was plain to see by his face when she gave her order..
His dismay was rather amusing, Chrysalis thought. Perhaps, when he kills the creature, I’ll only take his wings and not his life. Such a mercy was sure to foster loyalty. Unless it didn’t, and resentment was probably a more likely outcome. It would be better to just play it safe.
Proper planning cannot begin until all these assumptions are verified. Chrysalis made her way back to the infirmary. The tunnels were sparsely populated with drones that tried to look busy once they caught sight of her. She would have to straighten them out later.
She strode into the infirmary and scanned for the panicked looks, not the normal ones the drones got when she entered a room, ones where they knew someone had messed up and was going to die. She had a promise to keep after all.
No one noticed that she had entered. All of the drones were crowded around some other drone congratulating them. Chrysalis moved close to the crowd and cleared her throat. Ah, there they are, she thought as the drones panicked at her sight. “What is the meaning of this celebrating?” Chrysalis asked, staring down at the drone, who were all doing their best to look small.
Illusion stepped up, though she kept her eyes to the floor. “The creature is stable, my queen.” The group of drones waited silently for their queen’s approval.
“You are not the drone I assigned to the creature?” Chrysalis asked, eyes narrowing, “Where is he?”
“He is over here, my queen,” one of the doctors answered. “He is currently being sedated so he might be a little …” Chrysalis didn’t bother to listen to anything after her question’s answer and made her way towards the bed the “best” changeling doctor was in.
“I congratulate you on your successful treatment of the creature,” Chrysalis droned before a glint appeared in her eye. “Now, what happened to your wing?”
Dito looked dazed, but the fear in his eyes shone through, “ I—uh, I …” he tried to find his words. He’d had time to mentally plan his groveling, but the combination of the sedatives and the Queen’s gaze emptied his mind. The nervous sweats and fidgeting began.
“It’s really a simple question, drone.” The Queen grinned. “Do you have something to share about your treatment of the creature?”
Dito couldn’t meet her gaze. He could feel the weight of every eye in the room on him. “Well—uh, my queen, I— “
“Personally, I can only think of one way you’d get your wing torn off like that.” Chrysalis glared directly into his eyes. “On one hoof, it was rather funny that you’d invoke such outdated practices, on the other, you disobeyed me and did not treat the creature.”
“My Queen, I— I tried but—but they attacked me,” Dito’s voice wobbled. “They wanted the credit so—so—”
“Who is they, drone?” Chrysalis’s amusement was waning. “Are you saying the other doctors conspired against you?
“Yes—er, no—Yes!—I …” Dito struggled to find consistency, he seemed to be looking in every direction, save the queen’s, for his scattered thoughts.
“This is getting pathetic,”Chrysalis commented, now frowning. “Guard, is this drone lying to me?”
A changeling, who had been watching silently the whole time, stood at attention, though Chrysalis didn’t bother looking at him. “The drone lies, my queen.”
“Oh how unfortunate.” The Queen’s voice was monotone as she rolled her eyes. “Take him away and prep him for banishment.”
A couple more guards entered the room. Dito was catatonic. The rest of the room, save the guards removing him, was fairly similar.
“Now for more important things, which drone was it that oversaw the creature’s stabilization?” Chrysalis asked, her tone now cheery.
All eyes went to Illusion as she came forward, her eyes down admiring the floor, “I—It was me, my queen.”
“What do we know about this creature, drone?”
Illusion’s head came up slightly, “It seems to be some sort of primate affected by magical overdose,” Illusion replied. “A magic suppressing lotion was administered and that seemed to bring its fever down.”
“The creature had very little magic when I found it,” Chrysalis said in a matter-of-fact tone., “How did you get the idea that it was overdosing?”
“I made the jump based in its unknown appearance and the fact that its magic levels were slightly lower than what’s in the air.” Illusion’s eyes shot to the floor once again. “Did you wish to hear some of my other speculations or was your interest solely on its condition?”
“Tell me everything you think is useful, drone.” She smirked. “I’ll let you know afterwards if it interested me.”
Illusion’s eyes widened. “I— I believe the creature to be quite young, based on the lack of any sort of wear on its skin or nails,” Illusion noticed the queen’s raised brow. “It could also be a pampered pet of some sort.”
“It can speak, so I doubt that it’s a pet,” Chrysalis thought aloud. “It also uses the term ‘mommy’ still, so young age is a definite possibility.” She frowned. “Then again. it could just be stupid.” She noticed the audience the drone and she were accruing. “On the subject of stupid, every drone I’m not talking to will get back to work.”
Everyone suddenly looked quite busy.
The revelation that it could speak troubled Illusion. If it could speak, then it could probably think. If it could think, then it could probably love. And if it could love … well, Illusion didn’t think this rare creature would be best suited for feeding this dying hive. Maybe it has love we can’t feed on, Illusion thought. I can’t feel any sort of love right now at least. It would better to not to leave this issue alone and try to nudge the queen towards giving it to the ponies. “My Queen,” Illusion began, “If I may make a sugges—”
“Drone, cease all magic suppressing treatment,” Chrysalis ordered. I know I could feel its emotions when I first found it, she thought. Now I feel nothing. The queen noticed the look of shock the drone was giving her. “Do you have something to say?
Illusion came to her senses and hid her emotions once more. The order had thrown her off guard. What could she be planning? Illusion found her voice, “No, my queen, I have nothing to say.”
The creature stirred in its bed, bringing the room’s attention from the queen to itself.