Shock Therapy
The first days were the most difficult. Left to her own devices, Topaz would simply stand, or lay about, staring into nothingness. It took constant pressure to get her to walk, and after looping a rope about her shoulders and hauling her along for a few miles, I realized how devastating her silence was. I tried making idle chatter, briefly asking her about her family, her position at this ‘CSGU’ and anything else that crossed my mind. Her flat, simple answers only made matters worse.
“Fine. I study bugs. I’m not a unicorn.”
The last seemed an odd distinction to make, but I paid it no heed until I felt more resistance on the rope. Careless of where she was putting her hooves, Topaz had stepped into a hole and was clearly having difficulty pulling her hoof free until we adjusted her to not be pulling at such an odd angle. It was becoming apparent to me that this was possibly more crippling to ponykind, who were used to having access to their own emotions, as opposed to my kind who usually actively suppressed them.
It did, however, also bring to mind that others would likely question the rope and Topaz’s state should we encounter anyone, be they pony, griffin, or diamond dog. A member of my own kind would surely recognize her state, and though they would recognize it… they would very likely see my attempts as foolish. The most a husk could expect was for the Queen herself to set them to rest, but it was far more likely for them to simply continue on until they collapsed of exhaustion and died. In the few I’d seen personally and could still remember, it had not taken more than a few days.
The thought brought me up short. I did not really know how hearty I was compared to Topaz. I could travel for several days without food, yes, but I was not sure that I understood how limited ponies were. Or if they were capable of lasting longer than a changeling could, though I doubted it. More importantly, I had to preserve Topaz’s health until I could get her help. It would not do if she were physically damaged as well as emotionally when I returned her to her home. I wanted her to recover. I wanted to talk more about my hive, to determine more about who I was. In mere days, she had helped me… become someone.
It did not help, for that matter, that I wasn’t entirely sure which way we were going. Getting Topaz to Canterlot quickly seemed wise, but her thoughts were muddled. Asking her for directions was difficult. The sheer apathy she displayed towards the situation was disturbing, and she seemed quite content to lay in a shallow ditch all night if I did not roll her sleeping bag out. Getting her out in the mornings was a nightmare, requiring much cajoling and in one case I was forced to upend the bag and dump her unceremoniously on the ground.
The next morning, however, was of greater concern. My rationing of our food had left her hungrier than usual, so the protestations of her stomach woke her before myself… and led her to devour the entirety of our stock of food. I had expected it, but not so soon. The husks tended to live in the moment; she was very hungry, that meant she should eat to make that pain go away. There was food for several days; she would get hungry less if she ate it all now. Thankfully our supply had not been greater; husks had been known to eat until their bellies ached, then regurgitate to alleviate the new pain. Out of fear for the trouble she might get into should I leave her to forage food, I elected to go hungry for another day of our painfully slow pace.
When next we stopped, I found myself nosing through her own packs, looking to see if Topaz had brought any emergency rations of her own, as she stared dully at the night sky with those uncaring eyes that I had begun to dread. A few pouches seemed hopeful. One contained ground coffee beans, which I imagined to be simply a more efficient way to store them. Two of the others I could not recognize, the one emitting an odd spicy scent, and the other… I could not describe it more than ‘vastly unpleasant’ and to my chagrin, when I recoiled from the pouch, it fell from my grasp and scattered the powder everywhere, lost to the wind.
Topaz’s sudden heavy breathing startled me, and I spun to see her looking about with growing panic. “It’s back, it’s back, it’s here, it’s here it’s here it’s here it’s here!” Then she gave a little wail of fright… and took off into the night. I stared after her for what seemed like a long time, trying to parse what had been meant. Then it clicked. Topaz had… recovered? How? Was there some cure in this bag? Her fear had been so sudden that I hadn’t even felt it, though now I could feel it like a beacon of raw terror. I hesitated, unsure if my presence would make matters worse or better. Was it me she feared? She hadn’t bothered to look at me, so it seemed unlikely. Nonetheless, she’d left her saddlebags. Even if she wanted nothing more to do with me, I would return her belongings. Perhaps we could part ways and remain friends.
Finding her was embarrassingly easy. I just had to find the bush that was quivering the most.
Approaching only made her soft whimpers of “Please, make it go away…” more heartrending, and I set her bags down a ways away.
“Topaz? I have left your saddlebags here. I… I apologize, I did not mean to-”
“Get in here you buggy idiot, it’s back!” She snapped, sounding desperate, frightened, and now a little angry.
“It? What it? There’s nothing else out here.” I peered about, unsure as to what she might have seen.
“Just get in! The manticore, it’s back, it must have followed us, can’t you smell it-“
I did not dive into the bush with her. Changelings do not dive into bushes. I may have entered hastily, but the distinction is important.
“I can’t smell anything over this powder.” I sneezed, annoyed.
“Shhh! It reeks of that repellant I threw on it and… powder?” Confusion warred with terror on her face. Then began to fade.
In panic, I tried to continue, to keep her emotional. “Yes, from your bag. It was the red bag. It stank, I dropped it while trying to put it away, it was-. Oh. Probably your repellant. It is good that I did not try to consume it then-” There was a wave of anger from Topaz, and then a hoof collided with my face.
Around half an hour later, a very emotionally confused Topaz and I had a mostly silent dinner consisting of several hastily gathered roots, ferns, and assorted berries. I was having minor trouble with depth perception.
“…I’m sorry. About the eye. It doesn’t look so bad.” She mumbled, nosing around at a large strawberry we’d found.
My eye, as it had turned out, had valiantly done its part to deflect Topaz’s anger-driven blow. She had let loose a string of profanities that would have made Rough Shod blush, then stumbled about and fell on her haunches, breathing heavily as her emotions began to even out, anger and fear giving way as her other complex emotions began to recover. My eye evened out to what I understand to be a lovely shade of violet. It also hurt, as they say, like Tartarus.
“It feels bad.” I offered, trying to be helpful. “You have a good hoof.”
“Yeah, well. Dad’s an earth pony. I shouldn’t have hit you.”
“It is fine. I should not have drained you emotionally.”
She scowled at that. “No. You shouldn’t have.”
And for that I had no answer. We sat in silence for a few more minutes.
“…how… how bad was that? From the outside. I don’t… I can’t really understand what I was thinking, everything was so… right now.”
“It was bad.” I admitted, sighing and shifting my hooves. “Within our hives, the only cure is understood to be death. You become a danger to yourself and others.”
“Then why? Why would you do that to me? I thought we were getting along!”
“It was an accident. I did not… I have never done that before. With changelings, we can feel if one is draining emotion from us. If we take too much, the other will stop us. I did not consider that ponies would not be able to.”
Her glare softened. “…Right, right. Not a gatherer.” She fixed me with it again. “You still shouldn’t have been drinking that much. Not without permission, at least.”
“I apologize again. I was hungry, and we have been traveling. Most of what I had stored before was lost with the manticore attack. You have been offering, so I did not think it would be problematic.”
She considered, then rubbed a hoof on her chin. “…Alright. If we’re going to keep traveling together, we’re going to need to establish some boundaries.”
“Boundaries? You… you wish to continue traveling together?”
She fixed me with a look. “After all that, you bet your telson I’m keeping an eye on you, mister. Besides, I think you owe me enough to let me do my research.”
I had to concede the point. “Fair enough. I shall not feed upon you again.” After a moment, I had to ask. “My… what?”
“I’m not actually sure you have one, it’s really more of a scorpion and sea-spider sort of thing, and hold on just a second. I’m not going to starve you, that’s not going to do anypony any good. We just need to… you know. Boundaries. Establish minimum limits. Maybe put some floodgates in.”
“Floodgates?”
“You know…. Something to keep you from… what, husking anypony again?”
“I understand the intent, but not the term.”
She sighed, then rolled a shoulder. “Can you… I don’t know, do something to make it so you only absorb strong emotions that flow from someone else?”
I hesitated, not liking this idea. “I… might?”
“While still drinking in the ambient emotions, you know, the general feelings.”
“…I am not sure. Even if I can, my ability to read emotions may dampen. I don’t think I would like that.” She gave me a look of clear disapproval. “It would be like blinding myself.”
“Well not permanently, just… you know. A little barricade, so when you’re out among ponies you aren’t accidentally taking too much. Again.”
I winced. “I don’t know how to start, but I’ll try.”
“I’ll help. Besides, you shouldn’t be reading people the way you do anyways. You’re too good at it, it can make ponies a little nervous.”
“I honestly do not think another pony will pay me so much attention as you have recently. That may have been part of it.”
“Yeah, well… okay, I get too into my studies. You are fascinating, you know. A hidden culture of Equestrians, it’s just sort of wild.”
“Indeed. We are truly a thrillseeking, danger loving people.” I stated, attempting to be even more bland than normal. Topaz cracked a smile and chuckled, shaking her head as she settled down, still chewing the last piece of root she’d gathered. “…I am glad to have you back.”
She swallowed, giving me a tired smile. “I know. And I’m glad to be back. Just… give me a little time to stop being jumpy about all this. It’s not every day you turn into a zompony. Or back to normal.” Her tired smile turned into a wolfish grin. “And now I can write down a first person perspective, and you better believe I’m getting your version of this written down too. Maybe, just maaaaybe we’ll start calling it even after that.”
“Bargain struck, Topaz.” I yawned, using a phrase Zaimare had proven fond of, feeling settled again, and once more allowing myself hope for the future. “Bargain struck.”
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No questions, just a hearty "whew" for Topaz.
Perhaps ponies are able to recover from husking where Changelings can't because ponies generate emotional energy of their own, whereas a Changeling would need to actively feed - and once they're husked, they lose interest in feeding?
Oh, a question, I guess. :)
Onward... to Canterlot!
"Canterlot!"
"Canterlot!"
"Canterlot!"
"It's only a model."
"Shhh!"
"but I was not sure understood how limited"
Missing word?
well that's good news
5104049 Heh. Fixed?
5104026 I think that the complete loss of empathy would cause a changeling to stop sensing energy from those around them. They'd have to be forcefed, and the lack of empathy might lead them to consume far more than their allowance. Plus, it's just more efficient to let them die. Why fix something broken if you can just replace it with new? As for Topaz's recovery... she had a good catalyst.
5104114
Aye, looks like it.
5104048 On second thought let's not go there, 'tis a silly place
This Ship Will Sail Yet!
A fun and nice chapter, thanks for a lovely update.
5104048 Hehehe.
5104773 Full steam ahead!
*heartwarming increases*
Ok, that was cute. Topaz continues to be awesome. They're going to have to be pen-pals or something when they separate. Now we just need to see how Idol handles several thousand ponies at once.
5105494
I LOVE YOU.
I would appreciate it if you didn't include character tags that are not in the story yet. But apart from that it has been an enjoyable read.
So very glad to see Topaz recover.
Nor did he scream like a little filly. Just to clarify.
One more chapter.
One more chapter.
One more chapter.
5466777 I know that feeling too well!
SHE'S BACK!!!! I admit you had me worried for a little bit there. When she first recovered, it seemed like she was only capable of anger and fear. Great story so far, I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
5104285
Pff. Equestria is a silly place. We go there anyways.
Whew! Glad to see she's alright.
I find the idea that emotionally-drained ponies become zomponies to be a fascinating one.
5104048 They do routines and chorus scenes with footwork impecc-able! It fits so well with Heartsongs!
Pity that the Grail got destroyed chapters ago...
Idol just told a decent joke!
gonna be honest would have found it more interesting if her recovery was not so final. what i wanted was limited emotional states until a full cure could be found or just more time.
So it would seem that the cure for "husking" is to stimulate an overwhelming emotion. Did I read all that right?
6957944 I gather It's kinda similar to what discord did to the main six. he didn't drain them of all emotion, he Drained them of their most powerful ones.
She wasn't emotionless but was drained completely of any and all curiosity, the resulting imbalance caused a similar personality flip, she went from curious, upbeat and inquisitive, to uncaring, melancholy and disinterested.
Therefor The cure was yes a burst of powerful emotion, something to shock the system. Twilights spell reminding them each of their own passions and loves worked for discords more powerful magic, but in this case a strong but simple Fear response or something similar was enough to kinda reboot he.
I am filled with infinite relief.
Bargain struck... I love it.
Heheheh, wow... I love this little friendship, its epic saucy~
heehee, what a joke Sandy... or Idol, heeh
Poor Topaz, don't know why but thought of this silly bit...but not that second tag line!...
Might not be good Manticore repellent, but should patent it as emotional smelling salts!
Telson? ...ohhhh arthropod tail !!
U...U you ! (said in silly voice)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telson
Glad we'll be reaching Canterlot soon, and that Topaz recovered so quickly.
I'm a little unsure though...since Idol mentions that husking is generally seen as having only death as an outcome in Changelings, is there a reason why Topaz was able to just...regain her emotion? Is that maybe explained later and I'm silly for asking the question now?
9620805
Perhaps it takes a strong emotion to snap someone out of that state, and Changelings just don't tend to feel so strongly? They're not really feeling it, in other words?
...
Yeah, he dove into the bush with her.
He cracked a joke! On purpose! I’m so proud!
9922560
Pony Steve Irwin: "Here we find the clueless protagonist in his natural habitat. Found by others in awkward situations with one or more females. I'm gonna poke it with a stick."
To be fair, if he didnt save her in the first place he wouldnt be so drained in the first place. I think they are even... BUT that agreement is better for there friendship.
Chrysalis is surprisingly inexperienced and miss informed if Husking can't be undone. Her stagnation will cost her Hive eventually.
I do hope Topaz stays for a while, I like her.
welp at least sandy wont be alone from now on