A New Home

by Shads

Ch. 13 - Answers Pt. 1

It was quiet. Deathly quiet. A little dark, too, but that was tolerable.

The window blinds had all been drawn to keep any wandering eyes out as Mane stayed in his natural form. Currently, he was at the stove preparing them all some tea. 'It helps me relax', he told them. While he did that, Cherry and Blue sat at the opposite side of the dining room table, silently waiting for their host to finish. He looked a bit silly, Cherry had to admit, as he stood there in changeling form with his work apron. It was surreal.

When the tea was finished, his horn glowed green before three cups were levitated over to him. That was another thing. He had a horn and could use magic. She wondered why he opted for a pegasus disguise over a unicorn and figured she would ask him later. They needed to get some things out of the way before-hoof.

With their cups filled, Mane walked towards the table and placed the cups in front of each of their chairs. He sat down and took a sip of his own before drawing in a breath, holding it, and then releasing it. He looked over to the two. "So, I know you both have a lot of questions. I'll try my best to answer them in whatever way I can."

Blue spoke up first. "Were you involved in the Battle of Canterlot?"

Mane sighed, knowing he was going to address the elephant in the room. "Yes, I was."

"Why?"

"Our hive was starving." At their somewhat-confused looks, he continued. "Every hive can process and digest emotions, but they each have a main emotion that they draw from for nutrition and hunger. A very long time ago, these main emotions were chosen by each hive's queens so that all the hives could co-exist. Over time, it got to be that we could only draw energy from those specific emotions."

"And what is yours?" Cherry piped in.

"Ours is love. We can feed off everything from familial love to lust." Blue was about to open his mouth before Mane continued. "And no, while you might feel a little drained after being fed on, it's relatively harmless." He paused to take another sip of his tea. "The plan was to foalnap the Princess of Love and keep her in a stasis pod for a couple days. Mother would replace her while she fed off of her love magic. After that, the princess would wake up in her bed with a few implanted memories and everything would continue on as normal."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Cherry asked. "Couldn't it get you in trouble?"

Mane halfheartedly laughed. "We're already in trouble. When the other queens found out what Mother had done, they banished her and our hive from the council and our homes. If the queens are trying to contact the princess, it's likely they've already told her what really happened."

Blue leaned forward. "What really happened?"

Mane leaned back in his chair, looking blankly at the roof. "Mother, she--" he croaked before clearing his throat. "She didn't realize how deep Princess Cadence's mana pool went. She just kept drinking and drinking." He sadly looked back down to them. "Love is like a bit like alcohol. Your first time, you'll get tipsy pretty easily. After a while, you might start building up a resistance to it. But there's always a limit before you get drunk off the stuff." He went to take another sip before realizing it was empty. His horn flashed green while he poured himself some more. "And that's what she did. No matter how much she pulled, Princess Cadence kept giving more and more love. Pretty soon, we started feeling it, too. We wanted to do anything to keep getting more of it."

"So you all got hammered?" Blue asked, his neutral face never shifting. Cherry was about to speak up but he interrupted her. "That's your justification for invading a city?"

"I'm not justifying anything," Mane growled, "I'm just telling you what happened. Believe me, if I could go back and stop her I would try my damnedest. But Mother isn't the kind of 'ling to listen to reason." Tears escaped his eyes but were quickly wiped away with his forehoof. "She's foolhardy and arrogant, but everything she does, she does for our hive, for us."

The room was quiet for a while after that. They had let everything sink in while Mane calmed back down, going back for another cup of tea.

"Well, I guess it's all out there now. You can go call the Royal Guard now."

Cherry tilted her head questioningly. "Now why would we go and do that?"

Now Mane was the one confused. "Uh, because I'm a criminal? An enemy of the state?"

"You said it yourself that you weren't entirely under control."

"Now, honey--" Blue tried to say.

"Answer me this." She leaned forward onto the table, giving him a steely glare. "Why did you stay here?"

Mane paused. His eyes shifted back and forth, searching for an answer. "I... suppose it's because I had nowhere else to go. Part of me just wanted to forget everything that happened and try to live like a pony. Figured that maybe after a while, I'd forget who I was and become something new."

Cherry continued to hold her glare while Mane looked back unassuredly. He could feel her looking into him. Even though she wasn't a unicorn, he could swear that she could read his mind if she tried hard enough. Kinda reminds me of that pink earth pony back at Canterlot...

After an awkward minute, her look softened with a smile. She looked back to her husband, still showing his infamous neutrality. "What do you think?"

Blue grumbled. "You lied to us. While I understand why, it doesn't change the fact that you lied." At Cherry's concerned look, he sighed. "Please, just let me finish. The truth is that I don't know what you want. I can't tell if you're genuinely looking to start over or you're just using this place to hide out hoping this whole thing blows over.

"But... part of me also believes that you were sincere, that this all wasn't just some act." He growled. "Ngh, this is annoying..."

"How about this," Cherry said, garnering their attention. "For now, we'll keep this just a secret between us. Despite what you may have done in the past, you've done nothing bad or harmful in your time here. In return, you'll live just like you already are, with a few exceptions."

"E-exceptions?"

"For one thing, I want you to be more honest with us. Show us more of the real Whitem--" Realization crossed her face. "Oh, I can't believe I forgot to ask! Dear, is Whitemane your real name?"

Mane's eyes widened. "Oh, no, it isn't. Hehe, in fact, I uh, kinda came up with it on the spot when I ran into both weeks ago. My real name is 8F-97-79. We kinda have a different naming system from other creatures, but it works for us." He saw their looks and gave a small laugh. "You can still call me Mane, though. It's kinda grown on me."

"Alright, Mane. Now, like I was saying, I'd like to see and hear more of the real you."

"I can do that. Though," he looked around his home, "it'll have to be someplace secluded. I'm not exactly comfortable with letting out my secret yet."

Cherry nodded. "Alright, but that's another thing. I think there's one other pony that should know about this."

Mane's eyes widened in surprise before he facehoofed. Ugh, I forgot all about him.

"Well... this should be fun."

Comments

[dawn seeker]

awesome first don't blame me if you looked

[jbwjr]

I ran into two weeks ago.

ran into you