The Hive
The Melody of the Heart
Chapter Three: The Hive
Written by Star Origin
As Melody Swiftsong continued bawling her eyes out, both Queen Occento and Star Blaze tried to calm her down. Occento attempted to do that by sitting on her stomach and silently placing a hoof on her shoulder. The queen began to sing the same lullaby her mother used to sing to her in the hopes it would appease Melody.
Still, the filly firmly believed that it was because of her that her life had taken a sudden turn. It was true that she had always liked changelings, and she was quite open about that fact, but she didn’t know what to think now that she was one inside a hive.
None of this was your fault, Melody. Don’t you dare believe that for even a second. Fate just had a different plan in store for us, Star Blaze told his sister firmly, and yet softly at the same time. I’ll always be there for you, little sister. But for now, I can’t follow you where you’re going, not in the state I am anyway. You need to have faith in Queen Occento. She’ll take care of you where I can’t physically anymore. You’ll see, she’s kind, especially towards younglings.
But she looks kind of scary. She looks exactly like Queen Chrysalis from when she invaded Canterlot, Melody retorted, bringing a valid point.
She may have the looks, but she told me they are nothing alike.
It was true. Apart from her mane, the shell on her back, her tail, and her eyes, Queen Occento and Queen Chrysalis had the same body structure. What really distinguished the two queens was that Occento’s mane and tail were done braids and her dark purple eyes. The shell on her back was golden and her overall gaze and facial expressions were usually calm, kind and peaceful.
But that was as far as their resemblances went. From what Melody had seen in the newspaper, Chrysalis looked more devious than anything she had seen from Occento. The queen that stood in front of her was merely looking at her, her long mane softly caressing Melody’s fore hooves, with her mesmerizing purple eyes.
I guess I can give her a chance.
That’s the spirit!
I’m sorry for intruding in your family moment, but I should probably mention that even though I am the queen of this hive, ripping a single conscience from the Voice consumes a considerable amount of energy. This is as long as I can drag Star Blaze until you get used to the Voice, Occento told the siblings.
Aw! Melody began, pursing her lips in a pout and furrowing her brow. Was that really all the time we had?
I’m afraid so, small one. Worry not, for before long, you’ll be able to freely access the Voice.
As Melody wiped her tears away, she let out a long yawn, surprising her all the while. A smile crept across Occento’s mouth. The queen let out a chuckle at the scene in front of her, simply choosing to ignite her horn and taking the filly to the bed she had asked to be brought to her chambers a month before.
“I’m sure today has been extremely draining for you emotionally speaking. You deserve a good night’s rest. Tomorrow, I’ll show you my hive. I promise you, you’ll like how it looks,” Occento told Melody.
The changeling queen leaned down and gave Melody a soft kiss on her forehead. The filly gave Occento an uncertain smile but otherwise seemed to now trust Occento. At least more than Melody did earlier. Queen Occento grasped the sheets of Melody’s bed with her telekinetic hold and pulled them over the filly before the former closed the lights and opened the doors of her chambers.
Occento cleared her throat and sweetly said, “Sweet dreams, little one.”
With that, Melody closed her golden eyes, squirming from one side to another in a quest to find a comfortable position on this new bed. About an hour had passed before exhaustion got to her and her world slowly faded away in the dreamscape.
That night, she would dream of herself playing in a large field with Star Blaze without a care in the world.
————
The next morning, Melody awoke slowly. She felt like pebbles were perched on her eyebrows so much it was difficult for her to open them. Fragments of her dream were floating around in her mind. She was about to call Star to see if he was going to respond.
Her ears fell flat against her head when she finally opened her eyes. She was in Queen Occento’s chambers. Somehow, the architectural patterns of her chambers had made Melody forget she was actually in an underground kingdom to begin with. The only other sound audible was a soft breathing, Occento’s if Melody had to guess.
Still, Occento’s soft breathing was relaxing enough for the filly. The only disadvantage she found with the hive right now was that she was unable to guess the time by looking outside. She looked around in hopes of finding something that could indicate her the time. When she could not find such an item, she pursed her lips in a pout and furrowed her brow.
Melody thought about asking Occento about the time, but just as she opened her mouth, the words coiled in her throat and she found herself unable to produce a single sound. She considered her options and eventually opted out for returning to sleep until Occento would be up too. After a few rolls in her bed, her mind drifted away again.
Melody was woken up a few hours later by the sound of somepony marching back and forth in the queen’s chambers. She had an easier time opening her eyes this time around. In front of her was Queen Occento, strolling back and forth nervously. Beads of sweat, barely noticeable against her smooth chitin, were making their way down her face and neck.
Her eyelids seemed nonexistent. Her pupils had shrunk to the size of peas and her pacing looked completely frantic. Melody was no expert in sensing distress, but it was more than clear that the queen in front of her was not taking things easy this morning.
“Umm,” Melody began, her voice sounding no louder than a whisper, “I don’t think I asked yesterday, but how should I call you? With you being queen around here, I mean.”
Occento was caught by surprise by Melody’s soft voice and she suddenly jumped a few inches off the ground. She looked at Melody, wide-eyed, and looked at herself in her mirror a moment later. Her mane was a mess. It was a mess and it was undone rather than in braids as she usually styled her mane.
“Oh dear. I want to clarify: I am not always like that in the mornings. I just received rather dire news upon waking up,” Occento explained carefully, her mouth barely keeping up with what she was saying. “As for your question, when it’s just us, you can call me Occento. I don’t mind. The only changelings you should address me by my title are the chancellors and my advisors. Every other changeling prefers to use my title before my name as a proof of respect. I also don’t plan on involving you in a lot of politics, little one.”
“Wha—” Melody began before she was interrupted by somepony knocking at the door,
“What is it? I thought I had specifically asked to not be disturbed for the moment.”
“My Queen, Crescere has just arrived,” the guard told Occento.
Occento’s warm smile faded away in a matter of seconds. The moment she heard those words, her entire facial expression became serious. She quickly processed the information, acknowledging it through a simple and brief now, and then replied, “Very well. Give me a few minutes to get prepared and I’ll be heading down there. No, actually, lead him into the palace and accommodate him in Room 225. Bring him some snacks as well and refine two love crystals from my personal reserve in case he’s been starved.”
“As you command, my Queen.”
A few hoofsteps were heard before they dissipated into the distance. After that was done, Occento ignited her horn and grabbed a brush standing on her overly large dressing table. With her magic, she caught several locks of hair from her mane and started weaving them together, lacing the first section of her braid.
“Occento, who’s this Crescere he was talking about?” Melody inquired from where she was sitting on her bed.
“Crescere is one of my changeling that left the hive to go live with his mate in the Crystal Empire. Apparently, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza found out that he was a changeling, interrogated him and obtained valuable information about our hive’s location. I was told they sent him back with an ultimatum: they want to meet with me. If I don’t come, the Crystal Empire will go to war against our hive and I have until the end of the week to give out an answer,” Occento explained slowly to allow the filly to understand everything and keep it simple altogether. “It seems Prince Shining Armor still holds a grudge against changelings after what Chrysalis did in Canterlot.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Melody asked, her head slightly craned to her right and her left hoof softly touching her lower lip.
“Well, if I go out there and meet with them to see what they actually want, things should be okay. Whatever the matter is, though, I will not let this hive go to war.”
“How come?”
“Because we can’t go to war. Apart from the few guards we have here in the palace and those patrolling the outskirts of the hive, we have no military organization. I disbanded those my mother had created a few decades ago. This hive is a peaceful one, despite what ponies may say about us,” Occento said, lacing the last locks of her mane into the final section of her braid and finishing it with a knot all the while.
“I still don’t understand most of it, but you don’t want your changelings to fight, right?” Melody inquired.
“I want to avoid so at all costs. Now come, we’re going to see Crescere.” When Occento saw that Melody seemed a bit uncomfortable with the idea of being near another changeling, she walked up to the filly and gently whispered, “Don’t worry, little one. He loves foals, on top of him having his own with his mate right now.”
“If you say so, Occento. When are we going?”
“Just as soon as I’m done with your mane; it’s all messed up. If I had to say, you roll in your sleep.”
Occento grabbed Melody in her telekinetic hold and brought her to her dressing table. There, she grabbed a smaller brush and she began straightening Melody’s mane, which looked like a tornado had gone through it.
The filly squirmed at the firm touch of the brush several times and complained that Occento was too rough. Sadly, her complaint went over Occento and the queen just kept brushing her mane with the same force. Finally, Melody’s torment ended when Occento put down the brush and began grabbing locks of hair from Melody’s mane, attaching ribbons to each lock and tying them in small ponytails, just the way Melody liked her mane.
“There, all done!” Occento let out, giggling all the while. “Now, are you ready?”
A nod from Melody was all that Occento needed to ignite her horn again, grabbing the door knobs and pushing open the doors to her chambers, Melody following behind.
————
“I do hope you feel comfortable, being back at the hive again, Crescere,” Occento began, once she had sat in front of the purple-eyed changeling.
“Of course, I do, Occento. I hope you don’t mind me using your name so casually,” Crescere told Occento, rubbing his hooves together. "I was planning on visiting and maybe present my wife to the hive, but recent events have made things tough for the both of us,
“So, I take it she has seen your natural form then?”
“Of course, she has! I showed it to her before we became engaged. You should see my daughter, she’s so cute, just like the little one over there,” Crescere said, glancing towards Melody, who shied away from his gaze. “Speaking of which, who is this little one right here, Occento?”
“This is Melody Swiftsong. She is the newest addition to the hive, although certainly not by her choice.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
Occento looked down at Melody and remained in silence until the filly gave a quick nod. Then, Occento explained, “She was with her brother in the Neighagra Falls region when they were attacked by slave traders and eventually left off to fight with a manticore. Her brother managed to ward off the manticore, although not before being mortally wounded. As for her, she was poisoned. Her brother cared more about her life than he did his, so I offered to integrate him within the Voice. I had no choice but to turn Melody into a changeling, but I didn’t want her to change her diet to love entirely. While I know pony food has a taste for us, it offers no nourishment for changelings so I attended her transformation as the songstress and only made her a hybrid. That way, she can live by eating both types of food: emotions and pony food.”
“I see. But what about her parents? Surely you’ve informed them of her current predicament. Now that I think about it, how long has she been here?”
“She was kept in stasis in a recovery pod for an entire year and only got out of her pod recently. As for her parents, they’re not exactly home very often.”
Unbeknownst to Melody, Occento linked her mind to Crescere through the Voice and blocked her out for what she was about to say.
They’re dead. They died in a magical incident in Manehattan. Apparently, they were researchers there.
The poor thing! Does she know about it, though?
Sadly, she does not. Her brother did not see it fit to tell her this information at her current age. Her happiness mattered over everything, and as long as she was happy, he ensured that things were kept that way.
“Moving on,” Occento continued, making Crescere and Melody’s ears jump to life, “you said you had a daughter. I was wondering when you’d finally get laid, you silly colt!”
Crescere’s chitin took a crimson tint as blood rushed to his cheeks. He rubbed his forelegs together and met with Queen Occento’s gaze, and said, “I… But… My Queen, there’s a child listening!”
“So it seems. Did you know that sex education helps prepare children for the future? Maybe you should give it a try with your daughter when she’s older,” Occento cooed, finishing with a giggle.
“What’s sex education?” Melody innocently asked, her eyes switching over from Crescere and Occento regularly.
“This is highly inappropriate, Occento! Can we focus on the reason we’re here to begin here?” Crescere asked Occento, his cheeks burning red.
“Killjoy,” Occento huffed, her lips pursed in a playful grin. “Very well, would you be willing to share your tale with us?”
Of course,” Crescere smoothly answered. “Allow me to begin with what happened last week. You see, after I had finished working, exactly a week ago from now, I started making my way home, but something felt… off. It felt like I was being followed. After a few minutes, I shrugged the feeling away, but once I arrived at my house and opened the front door, I found guards waiting for me instead of my loving wife.
“I asked them what the problem was, but just as I had finished my sentence, Prince Shining Armor came into view and told me to drop my disguise. I offered no resistance to his demand other than telling him I would not do it until I knew my wife was safe. He confronted me, saying that she was not my wife, and asked where her real husband was.”
“The nerve of that pony!”
“To that,”—Crescere took a deep breath, his gaze now on the ground—“I told him that he was standing right in front of him. He then ordered me to remove my disguise and so I did. Not long after I did, he let my wife come into the doorway, only to place me under arrest right in front of her. I mean, after what Chrysalis put him through, Prince Shining Armor’s hate towards changelings is justified, but what he did was utterly cruel. I could see my wife’s face as she tried to stop the guards from taking me away, but they never listened to her pleas.”
“As justified as it is, you had just received citizenship in Equestria. You were a legal citizen of the kingdom. Unless somepony ratted you out, in which case you could bring that somepony to court for invasion of privacy, there were no grounds on which the Royal Guards could have arrested you. I swear, I’m going to give Prince Shining Armor a piece of my mind,” Occento said, a stream of steam blowing out of her nostrils as her hindlegs stroke violently against the floor.
“R-right. As I was saying, when they locked me in the dungeons, I spent two days in solitary confinement before the guards came back to me, saying they had a few questions to ask me. When I said that I would not give out any information until I was sure of what they’d do with it, they just threw me back in my cell. I spent a few more days in there with only an uncomfortable bed and a bucket. They starved me until I gave in to their questions and told them about the location of our hive,” Crescere said, taking a long and well-deserved breath.
“It seems like there will be much to discuss when I will be meeting with Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. I will not tolerate actions of this kind against my changelings.”
“I’m sorry, Occento. I failed both you and the hive.”
“Don’t be. You did the right thing. If you had been one of the changelings following the old ways, I fear this matter may have escalated to a conflict between our hive and Equestria. I cannot blame you for choosing your life over pride,” Occento replied, her furious gaze betraying her comforting voice. “But rest assured that I will not tolerate this kind of actions against any changeling of mine.”
“What would you have us do in the meantime, then?” Crescere inquired, speaking his mind out loud.
“For now, you can rest in this room. I’ve ordered the guards to accommodate you as any other diplomatic guest would,” Occento answered calmly, despite her stern facial expression.
“I… Thank you, Occento!”
“It is of no importance, Crescere,” Occento replied, her facial expression slowly melting away. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I promised young Melody here I’d show her around the hive.”
Crescere nodded, still staring at Occento. He shook his head a bit, only to find Occento gazing in his direct with a smirk pursed up her lips. He gave her a puzzled look, and asked, “Is something the matter, Occento?”
“I was just wondering if the love my guards gave you was sufficient for your taste,” was her only answer.
“Of course, it was! In fact, it was delicious, if I do say so myself.”
“Good. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Occento said as she began closing the door after her. “By the way, those crystals were taken from my personal reserve.”
And with that, Occento closed the door, leaving Crescere to his own devices. The changeling’s eyes grew wide and had he possessed pupils they would be the size of a grain of salt. “I… Wha… Why… Thank you, my Queen!” Crescere let out after several seconds of incomprehensible stuttering.
————
Occento guided Melody through the sinuous halls of her palace, showing her the various sections of it, including the various storehouses where the hive’s love crystals were kept. Everything went fine during their tour of the palace, except for when Occento showed Melody the council room.
Whereas most changelings simply ignored Melody or greeted her respectfully, out of fear or genuine respect, the council members did nothing but glare daggers at Melody. When prompted of what kind of joke that was, Occento just scoffed and left the room, leaving the council members to themselves.
Their next destination was unknown to Melody. She had tried to inquire about where they were going, but Occento saw it fit to keep in silence for the time being. Melody kept on following Occento until the little changeling bumped into one of Occento’s hind legs, rubbing a foreleg against her head soon after.
“Why’d you stop?” Melody complained, still rubbing a foreleg on her head.
“You’ll see in a few moments, small one.”
In front of them was a pair of stone doors. A few symbols had been carved into the stone, none that Melody recognized. Her head was slightly tilted to the left, and she narrowed her eyes determinedly. Despite her efforts, those symbols remained unknown to her knowledge.
Occento looked down at Melody with a small smile. Melody just stared at the queen more than anything else, her head now tilted to her right. Occento chuckled at the filly’s mannerism, which served only to increase Melody’s confusion even more.
“Are you ready?” Occento asked the filly, igniting her horn in the process.
“Ready for what?” Melody quickly inquired, sending the question back at the queen.
Her question remained unanswered. Melody was taken by surprise when she heard and felt the stone doors in front of her move, as if by their own will. They caused a tremor that sent shivers down the filly’s spine.
Bright lights shone through the space between the two doors and blinded Melody. She instantly looked down at the ground, covering her eyes with her left leg all the while. She tried to watch the light and see what was behind the doors, but each time she tried, she found herself unable to look up.
When the tremors stopped, she raised her head and tried looking in the distance. She quickly found that the lights that had been blinding her a few seconds before had gone away. Instead, she caught the sight of a city in the distance. Her jaw dropped.
In front of her stood a proud city dominating the sights with both imposing and impressive architecture. The sight of flora found in the city, such as trees and various other types, also surprised the filly. How they had been able to grow underground was one of the many questions swirling in Melody’s mind. What really caught her attention, though, was the giant sphere standing high in the air in the middle of the city. Once she had seen it, Melody set her mind to find out what purpose it served.
“Ah, I see you’ve taken notice of our artificial sun,” Occento spoke, resulting in Melody giving her an incredulous look.
“You created a sun?!” Melody shouted in her high-pitched voice, eliciting a cringe from Occento.
“No, no. It doesn’t really work like that anyway, young one,” she replied, holding her tongue out and gazing at Melody with an amused look. Then, she got down on her knees and pointed a hoof at the rather large apparatus in the center of town. “I can imagine most Equestrian cities have clocks or skyscrapers in the place of what we have here and, surprisingly enough, this machine essentially is mostly decorative in the sense that it does take a lot of space, but it possesses enough utilities to be considered a rather beneficial part of this hive.”
Melody blinked a few times, switching her attention to the large tower on which a large sphere sat. Around said sphere were five rings that were currently in rotation, the loud sound of the gears grinding and doing their job filled the town with their melodies. She looked at it with curiosity as yet more questions filled her head.
As the rings ran around the surface of the orb, glimmers of light shone forth from multiple mirrors located around the mechanical apparatus. Light danced along the walls of the city, brightening the otherwise dark environment. With each rotation, that light grew larger and larger, consuming the void in the glass-like orb in its entirety until it became too bright to look at. And just like the actual sun, Melody could feel the warmth of the light was over her, a shiver running up her spine in astonishment.
She jumped in shock when a booming sound echoed around town, clutching a bit closer to Occento as if her life depended on it and gazed at the apparatus, her eyes seemingly glued to the scenery. With one last shockwave, she noticed that the last, and larger, ring stopped dead in its track to join the others in a perfect circle around the orb. She squinted her eyes to carefully steal a glance at the bright orb as it illuminated the whole of the hive.
She’s never seen something like that, not even all the things she saw on a daily basis back when she lived in Manehattan. Her curiosity consuming her every thought, she tore her eyes from the large tower-like building to look up at Occento, her gaze pleading for answers. Her lower lip quivered excitedly and she eventually managed to utter, “So… how does it work?”
Occento’s ears perked up and she craned her head to the side, looking at Melody with that same gentle smile, frowning for a moment. She looked back up at the artificial sun and shrugged.
“I wouldn’t be the best pony to ask that question, Melody. The staff at the research center would be in a better position to answer that question, so why don’t we make that a story for another day?”
“Sure… I guess?”
Occento beamed and grasped Melody with her magic, resulting in a shriek from the filly. She calmed down rather rapidly when she was delicately placed on Occento’s back and she just made herself comfortable against the chitin and shell, trying her best not to stretch those wings too much. She miserably failed when Occento missed a step and forced Melody to grasp a bit tighter against the queen’s back, her left hindleg slipping off and taking the monarch’s wing with her. Occento winced and stopped instantly to look at Melody messily hanging from her back. Sighing at the apologetic smile the filly gave her, Occento shook her head and used her magic to perch Melody against her back once more.
“Now then, I remember promising you I’d give you a tour of my hive, and I will keep it. Allow me to kindly welcome you to Serenus Melodia!” Occento cheerfully let out, taking a turn to stumble across a large street filled with changelings.
Stalls were installed and the idle chatter of vendors and customers filled the air. The exchange of bits rung in their ears with each purchase they witnessed. In front of Melody’s eye was not what she believed changelings to be. The changeling presents were not trying to harvest every ounce of love they could find. They lived as Equestrians did. Changeling foals ran in between passerby and giggled, squeaked and cried in amusement and hilarity. The one thing Melody was not used to was the constant chattering in her ears from the various hisses and clicks that came from the changelings down the street.
Melody eventually switched her attention from the busy street and instead placed it back on Occento, frowning a bit once more. She tilted her head to the side and said, “That name sounds weird. I’ve never heard those words in my life before.”
Occento whipped her head back and lit her horn once more, the deformed spire protruding from her forehead glittering with a neon green aura. With little effort, she got Melody on the ground and next to her. She shook her back a little bit, lifting her wings and making them buzz abruptly for a few moments, groaning at the sharp pain that rode through her body, sending shivers down her spine. They had been pulled too much, as she thought.
She flashed a warm smile at Melody upon seeing the filly’s concern and guilt in her eyes. She just gave a lazy wave of her hoof dismissively and said, “Don’t worry it’s fine. No muscle tear or anything. Just a bit sore from being pulled too hard.
“And as for your comment, I only find it natural you do not know of those words. They’re words in the dialect Equestria used before switching modern Equestrian. I guess the best way to refer to it is the Old Equestrian, but I digress. The words ‘serenus’ and ‘melodia’ stand for ‘tranquil’ and ‘melody’ in this particular context, so that roughly means my hive’s name is Tranquil Melody in modern Equestrian.”
Melody’s ear perked up and she looked up at Occento with her head tilted sideways and chirped, “That’s silly. Your hive has the same name as mine.”
Occento dismissed it as mere coincidence and prompted the filly to follow her, gesturing a few stalls and inquiring about her appetite. Noticing once more the curious glance upon her, Occento flashed her fangs at her and swept a hoof across her lips, urging the filly into silence.
“No questions for now, little one. Just follow my lead, and stay close to me.”
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I always didn't really like Shining. KNOW I HATE HIM!!!!
Finally you do it my friend
how do you pronounce occento?
5457302 Personally, I always pronunce her name as "Oh-Chen-Toh". However, classical latin would have her name pronunced as something like this: "Oh-Tchayn-toh".
Since latin pronunciation is really even more ambiguous than it was before because of the decrease in latin speakers in the last few decades, I can't tell which pronunciation is best, if there is one to begin with considering the massive amount of latin speakers all throughout the world in the last two milennia.
I could do some more extensive research when I'm back from my vacations, but for now, I think my mind will likely pronunce her name as "Oh-Chen-Toh". From what I read as well, "Oh-Tchayn-Toh" can be just as valid. I guess it depends on how you feel it is pronunced right since latin can be highly ambiguous.
5457990 ok
Ok....I'm liking it enough to keep reading, but I've got my concerns with the random grammar errors scattered throughout.
In particular, you need to clean up that section about the artificial sun. Its semi-technical nature means that any grammar errors impede reading comprehension, so the errors really, really stand out there.
6757560 Thank you for bringing that up to me. While I cannot excuse the sloppy correction I made of this chapter, I've already worked on getting most of the glaring mistakes out of the way from what I was able to spot, and I've partially reworked the final part of the chapter.
Truth be told, after rereading it, I also came to the conclusion it could have been written in a better way, and so I tried. And so, I really that you enjoy the rest of the story.
Wowowow, so you tell me your changelings have basicly an unterground city with a big ben with a sun sphere atop of it!? IT'S STEAMPUNK!
d2ws0xxnnorfdo.cloudfront.net/meme/351958
Clearly this is now Melody's hive. Pay tribute or get out, Occento!
Pony food eats changelings?! No wonder Chrysalis invaded!
Stamped? Stomped? Strode? Unless stroking the floor is just a weird changeling mannerism.
8741294
1) Context, Shachzy! Context!
2) Oooo, good catch! I'll get around to changing that to a more appropriate term as soon as I can because it is not a weird changeling mannerism. It's just me being dumb and distracted with words and whatnot (also false cognates)
Glad you're enjoying, though!
8744450
Well, I mean, when the word "for" is stuck into the phrase "[subject] has a taste for [object]," it means that the subject really likes the object. Most often in the context of eating it. Since "pony food" is in the subject location, and "changelings" are in the object position, the sentence reads that pony food likes to eat changelings.
I think you meant it in reverse. "While I know changelings have a taste for pony food, it offers no nourishment to us, so I attended her transformation as the songstress, and only made her a hybrid."