//------------------------------// // The Shell Releases - 3 // Story: Pinkie's Lost Time // by Damaged //------------------------------// Pinkie stared at the shape. It looked big and kinda round. She looked up at the changeling beside her, opening her mouth. Of course she couldn't speak. "While you live here, this is all that matters to you." The words tingled in Pinkie's mind, the halter around her head seemed to pulse, each throb of the green gems pushing the words deeper. She snapped her attention to the round thing. "This is a queen egg, bigger than the rest, more important than everything. You are its food." "An egg? What is inside?" Pinkie lifted a hoof to the egg, at her side Pincer gasped. Touching the ovoid she felt an odd tingle, a warmth that trickled down her back. "It feels funny." "Pony, listen to me closely." Pincer turned to look at the little pony, hating what he was about to do. "You ready?" "Ready!" Pinkie giggled and gave a bad salute. The changeling's eyes began to glow softly, the glow echoing in the glow of the crystals of the halter. "Pinkie, you are happy, always happy. You love everypony. You want them to feel your happiness too." Pincer knew the halter was going to make that a life-long imprint. "Do you understand?" The pink filly practically flew at the changeling, throwing herself against him and hugging him tightly with her forelegs. "Of course I do, silly billy, you are my best friend!" Pincer watched, feeling almost oppressive waves of love and happiness rolling from the filly, as the egg started to hatch. A small head used its horn to break free, drawing Pinkie's attention. The filly giggled and turned back to sit and watch. Free of its egg, the larger than normal larvae could find its first meal, the meal that had woken it into the world. "It tickles!" Pinkie giggled and hugged the squirming little creature. "What is its name?" "That, is the next queen of the hive. Chrysalis." Pincer lowered his head, bowing to his future queen. "Chrysalis… he said Chrysalis, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie had found her voice released from the annoying restriction. "Do you think it was the same Queen Chrysalis that attacked Canterlot? She grew up to be a big meanie!" "Pinkie, this is amazing." Twilight carefully put the book down, trying not to smudge the page she had just written. "Do you think you can remember more now?" The other mare shook her head. "Maybe later?" "I only get the memories when I dream." Pinkie felt better than ever. The silly dreams might be real, but she didn't care, she was so happy to have them. "I could try to dream again…" "Yes… I mean no!" Twilight fought her desire for more knowledge with the care for her friend. "Food first." Their conversation was interrupted, perfectly on cue, by Pinkie's belly giving a loud grumbling rumble. The meal, lovingly cooked by Spike of course, proved just how right Twilight had been. Pinkie Pie slurped up the pancakes from her third plate and let out a loud burp. "That's much better!" She tilted her head and looked at the empty plate. "Twilight, do you think Chrysalis eats me at the end?" "You are remembering this, Pinkie. Of course she doesn't eat… well, she probably does nibble." Twilight had barely made it through one plate of food. Feeling a shudder run up her spine, the alicorn couldn't help adding, "Like she did to my brother." "I guess so, I can only remember her happy smile as she got loose of her eggy-weg, and when she saw me." Pinkie couldn't hold back a smile herself, although as she thought about the little larva more, she felt her memories grab hold of her again and after barely a blink, she was looking at the immature changeling queen. "And then I pulled out the nasty tomatoes!" Pinkie tilted her head. "There were a lot of them, and they put up a fight, but I managed to beat them… I think that is almost everything, your mom's friends brought me here after that… Oh! I almost forgot. On that last morning, Maud did my mane up, frizzy and fun." Chrysalis drank in every drop of information and love both. Her little mind grew at a rapid rate, and despite a part of her knowing that this pink thing was food, another part just wanted to cuddle up and use the first word she had ever heard, the one that had prompted her to break from her egg. "Friend…" It didn't sound right, even to the larva. Chrysalis thrashed around and bounced in Pinkie's grip. "Friend friend friend!" Each time she said the word, it sounded more and more like Pinkie said it. "Indeedie! I am your best friend!" Pinkie hugged the strange little creature. It felt good when it nuzzled in against her soft fur. But the wormy-thing was getting bigger by the day, and every day Pinkie could feel that trickling sensation, of her new best friend needing something, taking something. Something she was happy to give them. Pinkie fell asleep, with the squirmy-worm against her, but when she woke, there was a pony, just as big as her! "Wow, Squirmy… you got big! And cute!" Chrysalis looked up at the pony, her heart growing warm with the food she gave. She hugged Pinkie Pie tightly and got a great hug back. "Pinkie is friend." The words seemed to echo in Pinkie's head, she blinked and blinked, seeing and feeling those gems pulse. Chrysalis, her mind more clear now than a larva could ever have, instinctively knew what the thing on her friend was doing. "No, wrong!" The future queen lashed out, hooves and horn gashing at the halter that, to the little nymph's attacks seemed undamaged. Two legs tightened around her and Chrysalis struggled a moment, but finally gave up. "I will get it off you…" "It's okay, Squirmy. Just be careful and I will be okay." Pinkie smiled as she hugged her friend, she had no room for another emotion. "Now, let's start on history! A long time ago… I don't know how long, there was a pretty princess!" Pinkie woke, feeling a lot better. "I like Squishy more than I like Chrysalis." She saw Twilight sitting opposite her, still at the table. "Squishy?" Twilight woke up from her light doze, quill at the ready. "Tell me everything!" "It's hard, Squishy, working out what day it is." Pinkie trotted along with the bug-like pony that was now bigger than her. "Do you know how long we have been down here?" Chrysalis looked at the pony, halting. Every instinct told her to drink and drink and drain the pony of everything. But she wouldn't. "Pinkie, I could ask… Pincer might know." She flicked her wings, making a little buzzing sound. "I need to eat more, Pinkie…" Every time she felt the hunger that growing brought, the pink filly would lean in for a hug. They cuddled together for what felt like hours, but even at the end of it Pinkie felt no more depleted than when she had first drunk from her. "Are you feeling better now?" Pinkie looked up at her friend. "You can have more, I have plenty!" The moment she offered the feeling came again, the warm tingles up and down her spine. Pinkie giggled as the future queen drank and drank. Something in Chrysalis seemed to give way, it was unprecedented, in her experience. She was full. "You are too bright for here, Pinkie." Chrysalis was much larger now, she judged she would be almost the size of her mother. "Come on, it is time to go." Pinkie felt a little tired, but she widened her eyes when her friend told her the news. "Go? Home?" She was fully awake now, and bouncing. "Home home home home!" "Foolish nymph, she can't go home yet." Pinkie saw the meanie queen at the end of the hall. "Forget such nonsense and keep feeding, soon you will be ready to learn how a proper queen takes her hive in her hoof." Darkness moved before Pinkie. "Squishy, what are you doing?" She tried to trot around the big, dark pony. "Pinkie, find Pincer, tell him to take you home." Chrysalis looked at her perfect little friend. It tore at her to have to tell her only friend to leave, but this wasn't the place for such a bright light. "Pinkie, go now." The crystals pulsed and Pinkie felt the first resistance she had ever given to the halter grow. "But I want to take you home too!" Green light flared, a bolt of it lancing from the nasty poopy-queen. Pinkie felt another drain on her, the warm feeling of her friend drinking relaxed her, but she had to go and find Pincer. "You beat her up, Squishy!" Chrysalis couldn't relax, she had gotten her friend out of the way but now she had the fight of her life on her hooves. "This is my hive, now." Pinkie trotted down halls, calling out for Pincer, finally she found him. "Pincer! Squishy said I could go home now, and that you had to take me." She gave a cute little nod. "H-H-Home? Squishy… Chrysalis?" Pincer looked at the filly, shaking his head. "But… Come on!" He made up his mind. If Chrysalis lost, he would come back and face the consequences, but regardless, the filly would be out of this. "Come on, follow me." Her little hooves began to move and Pinkie found herself trotting after Pincer. "You can bring me back, right? When Squishy has told her mom she doesn't want to be unhappy?" Pincer spun on the filly, stopping her dead. She felt a trickle of that liquid and his horn glowed bright green. It built and built until it lanced out, barely missing Pinkie's head! "When you get home," Pincer looked down at the filly, pouring his magic into this one command, "you will forget about the hive, about everything from the moment I found you until then." Diving, she reached her hooves up to check and found the halter damaged. Giggling, realizing Pincer's intention, she yanked and pulled, dragging the nasty thing off and shaking her head. "Thank you!" She bounced over to the drone and hugged his leg. Her brain processed that things seemed green again, but that was okay, green was nice. The trip home was easy, Pinkie followed Pincer, she bounced the whole way again, despite not having hobbles on. She stopped, her tail jerking and back-leg kicking. "I'm home…" She looked around and started bouncing more. "Pincer! I'm home!" Pinkie spun around, but there was no sight of the changeling. "Huh? What…" It was hard to remember, really hard, there was green everywhere. Then something amazing happened. "The Sonic Rainboom!" Pinkie giggled. "Pincer didn't want me to come back, to search." She rocked around in her big stone throne, watching Twilight's quill finish writing. "How long were you in there?" Twilight looked at her friend, a few tears falling from her eyes at the ordeal she had been through as a filly. "The hive, I meant." "No clue!" Pinkie rocked a little more and felt something at her side, something she knew. "My cutie mark…" Both Twilight and Pinkie saw the balloons on the pink pony's plot pulsing. Both looked up, seeing the big map form the balloons over Ponyville, then move them south. "The… badlands?" Twilight blinked, she tilted her head to the side. "Pinkie, why would the castle want you to go to the badlands?" "Silly billy. I bet Squishy needs a hug." Pinkie rocked onto her hooves and bounced. "I will need to take a huuuugggeeeee cake!" She giggled and pronked off, leaving a shocked Princess Twilight behind. "Pinkie!" Twilight teleported and was in front of the bouncing earth pony. "You can't go, what if they catch you again?" A pink hoof lifted up and poked Twilight on the nose. "Twilight, I will hug them." Pinkie giggled. "I need to thank Pincer, too. I much prefer being happy all the time!"