Chapter XI - Encounter
My mouth flapped open soundlessly as I stared at the occupants of the cells.
Changelings.
Between the few stone and iron cells, there must have been roughly twenty of them. My first reaction was to demand where they had come from, but I stopped when I noticed the smell of disease. In each mass of huddling chitin, I could make out grievous injuries. Cracks and dents mapped across their carapaces, which were flecked with blood. I felt my chest seize up as I saw a changeling with one of her lenses nearly shattered over her left eye. It was barely covered by puffy eyelids. For that to have happened, she must have been hit hard, very hard. To put it into perspective, I’ve been hit by the rebound of a hammer on one of my lenses whilst working, and it had left me with barely a hairline crack.
“Who did this to them?” I demanded furiously.
“We do not know, Amethyst. When they were brought to us, they were already injured ” Celestia said.
“Brought!” I almost shouted. “Who brought them to you?”
“They were brought to us by ponies following the royal proclamation, who hadn’t yet heard of our change.”
“You said you got rid of that, and now you still reward them?!” I spat. I’d known, but the fact still stung. Had their promise really meant that little to them?
“Peace, Amethyst,” Luna said calmly. “We did not reward them, but explained to them why the order had been rescinded. However, we still granted them a small measure of compensation for their trouble.”
“Did you bother to ask how they were injured?” I growled, gesturing to the changelings. “Did you think to check if those ponies were responsible before rewarding them?”
“Transporting thirty-four changelings is not work of a single pony,” she offered. “The ponies were of sound character, and we doubt they committed such an act. In light of our explanation, they offered their apologies and accepted what we offered them.”
Wait... Thirty-four? But that would mean...
Quickly casting my eyes to the cells, I swiftly counted the number, reaching a verdict just as Celestia spoke once more.
“From the moment they saw us, they were utterly terrified,” Celestia explained, indicating the confined changelings. “It took scarcely a minute for them to break free of their constraints and try to escape after their custody was handed to the guard. While normally, they wouldn’t have made it far, with the reduced guard, it wasn’t the case.”
The dots finally connected in my mind, offering somewhat of an explanation. “Wait, so you’re saying the reason no one helped us last night was because of the attempted escape?”
Both princesses nodded in unison, “The guards were so busy trying to capture them, no one noticed the signal Corporal Starlight sent,” Celestia said. “Even in spite of the efforts of the guard, eleven changelings escaped into the city, or are hiding somewhere in the castle. Our searches have turned up nothing yet.”
“But surely someone must have seen it,” I nearly pleaded. That couldn’t be all. It wouldn’t make sense if it was.
“Wrought Iron, one of the tower guards, saw the flare, but by the time he had descended the stairs and reported it, the beacon had long since faded. The pegasi we sent to investigate returned shortly after you arrived at the castle, or so we were informed.”
Sighing, I felt some of the anger leave me. Oh, don’t worry, I still held them responsible for Marmalade’s home burning, but with what had happened I suppose I could see how events played out like they did. As much as I wanted to, there was no sense lingering on the topic when there were more pressing matters to worry about.
“Can you let me in that cell?” I asked, pointing to the one I desired open. That female’s shattered lens looked serious, but more importantly, she looked like the one in charge here, now that I had a chance to look at her again. Beyond her eye, the mare was a touch larger than the others, and in possession of a long cerulean-blue mane and a tail. This meant that she’d been receiving quite a bit of excess emotion. Teacher once explained to me that in a hive, this generally only happened to those who are essentially celebrities, or those in command.
“For what purpose?” Luna asked.
“Just to talk to her,” I pleaded. “Trust me.” A moment after those words left my mouth, I realized how foolish they sounded.
Luna raised an eyebrow, questioning me, but ultimately opened the cell door. Almost the instant I stepped through two changeling leapt up, hissing at me threateningly. Let’s hope my lessons with Mirra paid off. Though for many years she had tried to drill the changeling language into my head, I had never been particularly eager in picking it up given my circumstances. My grasp of the language was at best primitive.
“<I mean you no harm,>” I said in changeling language, the name of which could be roughly translated as ‘cries of the heart’. At least, that’s what I think I said,. My words seemed to pacify the two long enough for their... leader, or at least the changeling they respected, to reach a decision.
“<It is alright>,” she said softly. her voice trembling with pain.
The left of the two changelings confronting me started to say something, but caught himself. “<Are you sure? Whoever he is, we cannot trust; he is from–>” The rest of the sentence escaped me, but I caught the name of a hive...
“<I’m standing right here, you know.>” I commented dryly, stumbling over the beginning of the sentence as I adjusted the tone of my remark. “<Can I ask you something?>”
“<What is it?>”
“<Do you know Equestrian? I’m really not comfortable speaking like this.>”
“Amethyst, can you please tell us what you are telling them?” Celestia asked from behind me. No doubt her face was deadpan.
Ignoring the Princess, I awaited the changeling’s response. My statement seemed to surprise her, “<What do you mean? Are you not from the–>” Again, I lost the rest of the sentence, but that didn’t stop a bubble of envy from building up in my chest at the ease in which she spoke. It took me a moment to realize she was asking which hive I was from. More than once, I had asked Mirra where she and all the other changelings lived. She had told me that changeling cities were called hives, and the name of her hive was Irqtous. However, despite my constant pestering, she refused to give the location.
“<Oh, that’s what you mean. I’m not from any hive.>” I told them. “<My name is Amethyst.> Er... Amethyst.” I corrected, realizing I had given the literal translation of the material itself. Never was quite sure what happened with pony names.
Just as before, my statement brought about another bout of mumbling amongst one another. “<So you are not from a hive,>” she said, carefully neutral, after a moment.
“<No. Raised by ponies, taught ‘cries of the heart’ by my teacher Mirra.>” I paused to piece together the next phrase in my head. “<Never quite picked it up perfectly, so if you could, could you speak Equestrian? Or anyone of you for that matter?>”
I had to wait again, as she conversed with the other two with her. “<Apologies, but none of us can.>”
“<Can I at least have your name?>”
She fell silent, contemplating her response. “<Cytri,>” she said.
I had a hunch that it was a false name, or that she was hiding something, but that wasn’t important right now. “<I’ll see if I can’t all of you out of here, and into your own room. Alright?>”
“<Thank you,>” she said, nodding her head.
“So Celestia,” I called out, pacing towards her and out of the cell, “I think I’ve found your problem. They don’t understand Equestrian. No wonder they were so scared.”
“What do you mean?” Luna asked, her voice betraying that was already assembling the answer in her mind.
“You are captured, put in chains and cannot use your magic. You dragged many kilometres without being fed, because no one believes you eat food, and you’re brought into a city whose residents hurl abuse and celebrate your capture. Finally, you are brought to the center of the government and before their rulers. You have no idea what they want with you, and you cannot defend yourself even with speech. The only thing you are sure of is that they are treating you as a criminal. Get the picture?”
“Amethyst, they barely set hoof in the throne room before they broke free,” Celestia informed me. “We had no idea–”
“No, of course not,” I interrupted. “Otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.”
“What would you suggest we do, Amethyst? What would you have done in our situation, given what we know?”
She had something of a point. I absolutely hated admitting that.
“We had taken care of them to the best of our abilities, but they have refused to speak to us, and rejected our offers of medical treatment,” she elaborated. “We had hoped you would be able to reach them, but I am sure you’ll understand that we couldn’t just let them roam free as you did without knowing for sure.”
Alright, so it was my fault that Cytri and the others had spent the night in a cell. Given what I know now, though, I’m not sure I would have done anything differently. While their injuries appeared painful, Cytri’s looking to be the worst among them, none were life threatening. I’m not sure how much I could have done last night with the state of mind I was in, and certainly my utter lack of energy for casting spells.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Cytri watching us. When I glanced at her, she looked away quickly, embarrassed she had been caught. No, that wasn’t the right word, it was more like she was...
Worried?
Well, this was getting more and more interesting. I’d bet my locket against an acorn that she had just lied to my face about not being able to speak Equestrian. Considering that teacher had once said that all changelings learn a variety of languages, Cytri’s claim just didn’t feel right. Especially when there were so many changelings here. However, there was probably a reason for that lie, and I wasn’t about to crucify her over it.
“I suppose,” I sighed reluctantly. “By the way, can you get them all a room, or better yet, a few connected ones? None of them were involved in the invasion.”
“How can you be certain?” Luna asked dubiously.
“Trust me, alright? Besides, didn’t I read somewhere that those changelings spoke Equestrian?” I added, remembering the brief newspaper article.
“Very well, Amethyst. We will have quarters prepared for them. However, for the moment they will have to remain here.”
“Alright, but could I speak to Cytri in private?”
“Who?” Celestia questioned.
I point to the injured changeling behind me. “I’d like to get the chance to look at her eye, see if there is anything I could do.”
“Sergeant, I trust you shall keep an eye on them?” she addressed Ocean Wind.
“Of course, Princess.”
“I shall leave you in charge, then. We have business to attend to elsewhere.”
“And what would that be?” I questioned. “If it is talking to more pompous pricks, I can’t see that as ‘business’.”
“Goodbye, Amethyst,” she said, pointedly ignoring me.
“Yeah, screw you too,” I muttered as they walked away. “<Cytri, you catch all that?>”
“<What?>” she blurted, a touch quickly.
“<You can drop the act, I know you speak Equestrian.>” She shuffled her hooves uncomfortably, confirming my gut feeling. “<If I am going to stick my neck out for you, I want to know what you are really doing here.>”
“<But I–>”
“<Listen. Quite frankly it doesn’t matter if you choose to tell me, but it makes it a lot easier for me if you do, and, honestly, I’m not going to take the chance if I can’t trust you. If you want my help, you need to tell me everything.>”
One of the changelings in with her sought to protest, evidently not favouring my choice of words. “<Why should we trust....>” -he said a few words I couldn’t understand- “<Cytri. When–>”
Cytri interrupted, chittering something in reply, but I gleaned a few fragments.
“<If you are sure–>” he choked on a word. “<If you are sure, Cytri.>”
“<Alright, let’s go somewhere quiet. I think I know something to help with your eye as well.>"
“<Ocean, is there anywhere we can go so we can speak in private?>” I asked the sergeant.
He nodded and gestured for me to follow. I opened the door for Cytri and waited for her to pass before leaving the cell myself. The door closed with a heavy thud as I tugged it shut behind me. The changelings who had previously huddled at the rear of their cells now were pressed up against the bars, asking me where I was taking her, demanding to know what I was going to do to her. I would have told them, had they given me the chance to speak. As it was, I offered no answer as we walked out of the dungeon.
Very quickly, I found myself staring at Cytri, thankful I was behind her, not alongside her. No, I’m not trying to be a creep. I’ve only ever seen one other changeling before today: my teacher. Apart from her, the only pictures I had seen were the ones from books. Did I mention that the majority of these pictures were from the same books Luna didn’t let me burn?
I suppose it was a bit of a blow to my pride to realize I was shorter than her, but then again, I could see how that would have been the case. She obviously meant a lot to those changelings, judging by their reactions. Unlike my own chitin- which was scuffed and dirty- hers was almost shining, save for a series of scratches. Her own hair, despite her obvious capture made my mane and tail look utterly filthy. At that point I felt self-conscious of my own battered appearance. I hadn’t even spared the time for a shower since the fire. Breathing in gently, I felt a tinge of carefully masked nervousness from her slipping through the cracks.
“This will do,” Ocean Wind said, scanning the empty hall he chose. Besides some stacked tables in the corner, the room was entirely empty.
“Is there some sort of spell that you could cast on the room so no one can eavesdrop on us?” I asked Starlight.
She shook her head definitively. “I couldn’t even lift my spoon this morning. I do know one, but it’s a little beyond me at the moment.”
I guess the doors and curtains would have to do. “Just wait out here for me,” I said. “She would like a little privacy.”
They took their places on either side of the door, shutting them behind us once we had entered.
“Alright, let’s talk,” I began, taking a seat on the floor. “We can start anytime you like.”
“<I don’t–>” she tried to start in ‘cries of the heart’.
I waved a hoof, cutting her off. “Equestrian. I know you can speak it.”
She fidgeted uncomfortably, staring at the ground. It took a second to realize I was rather putting her on the spot.
“Icebreaker, then” I suggested. “You can ask me any question you want, if you will answer one of mine.”
She was silent for a moment, tracing circles on the ground with a hoof. “Alright,” she said softly, her voice gentle. It was almost surreal, the difference from the harsh clicks, rasps and other sounds of the changeling language. Still, she hit some of the consonants a little hard. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” I asked in reply, momentarily stunned by her voice.
“Why come here? You said you were raised by ponies, so why aren’t you with them?” she expanded.
And she just had to go right for it, didn’t she? “Cytri, my parents are dead. Some ponies burnt down my home with them inside after the changeling invasion, just because they had cared for me all those years. I came here to get answers.”
Mouth falling open in a horrified gasp, Cytri just stared at me. “I... I’m so sorry,” she brought herself to say. “I... I...”
Now that I’d met someone whose first reaction was genuine sympathy, oddly, I wouldn’t have it. “It’s not your fault, Cytri.”
“But I–”
“I’m not hearing any of it. So how did that happen?” I asked, pointing to her eye. “And more importantly, who did it to you.”
“Celestia, I guess.”
My jaw clenched in anger at her name. Of course it was her. Who else would it be? I had been naive enough to even suspect the ponies who brought her in, when the true culprit should have been obvious. “What did she do to you?” I demanded, venom dripping from my words.
Cytri’s uninjured eye widened in realization. “Oh no, it’s not what you think! She was only defending herself!”
“From who!”
“Me.”
The admission caught me off guard. “What?” I managed.
“When we got free, I attacked her to buy the others time to escape. She kicked me in panic, and caught me here,” she said, holding a hoof over the swollen area. “Please don’t blame her!” she pleaded. “It is my fault.”
“Alright,” I relented. “Your turn to ask a question.”
The next half hour we spent answer each other’s questions, responding to the other’s inquiry as best we could. By their words, Cytri and the other changelings had not been involved in the invasion in the slightest. They had been halfway across Equestria collecting plants for their hive when they had been attacked. It had been their attackers that did this to them, not the second group they were passed over to in exchange for the lion’s share of the reward. Apparently, the ponies who had brought them here had acted well enough, all things considered. However, when I came to ask where her hive was, she refused to answer.
In turn, she learned a few things from me, but after a while she was asking questions just to continue to the conversation.
“How about we get something for your eye?” I offered.
“Oh no, you don’t have to trouble yourself.”
“It’s alright, I’m headed to the infirmary anyway.” I needed to check in on Flare. Frankly, I was worried for him. I thought Flare had hurt himself far worse than he had let on. Kicking out the roof had barely phased him, but not being able to walk?
“Alright, then.”
“Remember not to say anything,” I said. ‘They still think you can’t speak Equestrian.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Look, for the last time, I’m a friend!” I shouted at the nurse. She stood in front of the doors, trembling slightly, but refusing to budge. Admirable bravery, but at that moment I couldn’t care less. After what I had done to Celestia, and of course the other obvious factor, they wanted nothing to do with me.
“Can’t you do something?” I asked Ocean Wind.
He shook his head. “The guard doesn’t have any authority over the decisions of the medical staff.”
I was sick of ponies telling me what I could and couldn’t do. Following their wishes has gotten me and my companions hurt, and more than one person had lost a home over it. Calling upon a bit of my magic, I lifted the nurse out of the way and pushed through the doors.
“Amethyst!” Starlight exclaimed.
“Not listening; don’t care.”
A few of the nurses and doctors gave panicked shouts when they saw me, calming down slightly when they saw Ocean Wind and Starlight behind me. In turn, Cytri followed them, shirking her head slightly at the hostile stares she was receiving. Managing to dredge the brothers’ location from one of the orderlies, we quickly arrived at Flare’s room.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I came around the corner and saw Boulder slumped in a chair, shoulder drooping. He simply radiated exhaustion and numb despair. Flare was nowhere in sight.
Still, he felt my eyes on him, and he looked up, giving me a tired smile. “Hey, Amethyst.” There was not even an attempt to hide the defeat in his voice.
I took a seat alongside him as a chill ran down my back, and his head swung back down to stare at the floor. “Flare?” I asked, quietly.
“They’re still operating on him,” he replied, barely audible.
“Operating?” I repeated, my heart sinking in my chest.
Boulder nodded in admission. “When he kicked out the ceiling, he had driven splinters of wood up into his hooves. Probably on the first kick.”
I blanched in horror. “Wait. Does that mean–”
“Every kick he took, he was driving them further in,” he finished for me.
My jaw hung open in shock. I couldn’t say anything. A flame lit in my heart as I stood there, unable to understand why Boulder had done it. Why any of them had done it. Why did they have to protect me, when I had did nothing to earn this? If I had just handed myself over, I could have prevented not one, but possibly three lives from being ruined. Just as on the night of my parent’s death, I had sat there, unable to take action and protect those protecting me.
The flame became an inferno.
Why was I unable to protect or sacrifice for those who cared for me? Was I doomed to watch my family and friends give up their lives, their dreams, maybe even their souls? All the while, being forced to endure their pain as my own?
“Masters’ dammit!” I roared, spinning around, and kicking a chair down the hall. Even the resounding crack of the chair striking the wall did nothing to sate my anger.
“What the hec-” Boulder started.
“Shut up!” I shouted, fuming in rage. “You should have just given me to them!”
“Who?” he asked in confusion.
“Think for a moment,”I snarled. “Who do you think! The ponies at the inn maybe, anyone who would rather see me dead, that hatted fuck, the-”
A hoof rocketed out and snapped my head to the right. “Sit down, and shut up,” Boulder growled, rising to meet my gaze. “Don’t even try to blame yourself for our decisions!”
“But look what’s happened to you, look where you are now!”
“If I know my brother and cousin, they would do it again in a heartbeat, even knowing what they know now,” he countered stubbornly. “Even if the cost was twice what it was now, they’d do it!”
“But-”
As if he anticipated what I was going to say, he firmly shook his head. “I don’t care what you may think, our decisions were ours and ours alone.”
“Listen to what they say, Amethyst,” Cytri added carefully, stepping from behind Starlight and Ocean Wind.
Boulder look past me in a trance of shock. “Amethyst...” he trailed off. “What? Who is this?”
If he wasn’t going to bother to understand what I was saying, I wasn’t going to waste my breath trying to say it. He was too pig-headed and stubborn to admit I was right, so I let the matter go. “Boulder, this is Cytri, she and the other changelings were the reason no one came to help us.” For show, I switched to the changeling language, and addressed her. “<Cytri, this is Boulder.>”
“<Pleasure to meet you,>” she replied, bowing slightly.
“What did she say?
I repeated the response, stumbling over the language. Simply put, her reply was basically the translation I gave, but in actuality, it was more of a formal greeting, meant to lesser yourself in front of another. Basically... it was an apology? My respect for Cytri grew at that revelation; she was apologizing when she had no need to, or at very least, little to apologize for.
“Pleasure to meet you as well,” Boulder offered in reply. I could smell no ill feelings stirring in him. Or, at least, he buried them well.
I set about explaining what had happened to her last night, and he took it all rather well. In fact, he seemed almost satisfied with the answer, My guess was that any doubts that he may have had about Celestia and suspicions of her betrayal were settled.
Still, as all good things must come to an end, so too did my conversation with him. Just as I was nearing the events earlier this morning, four guards came running in. They ground to a halt when they saw me. Ocean Wind stepped in front of me, putting himself before them.
“Something you need?” he asked the guards.
“We were told two changelings entered here forcibly,” one of them said, his eyes narrowing as they fell on Cytri.
Forcibly my ass! If lifting a nurse out of the way was considered forcibly, then patting someone on the shoulder was bloody assault. Seriously, I’m a changeling, get over it.
“We have it under control,” Ocean shot back.
“Then why didn’t you apprehend them?”
“They were both under our watch at the time,” he retorted. “Amethyst wanted to get something for Cytri’s eye, something which the princesses were aware of, and had permitted, yet the nurse refused us entry. Amethyst became fed up with her repeated refusal and moved her out the way gently, hardly the story you’ve seemed to have received.”
“It sure doesn’t look like you are doing what you said you came here to do,” the guard sneered.
“Yes, because they were talking with me,” Boulder spoke up, rising from his chair and stepping around us. “Is there a problem with that?” he asked, looking the guard straight in the eye.
“Yes,” the guard confirmed. “That changeling has committed–”
“I don’t care about ‘that changeling’,” Boulder growled in reply. The venom in his voice was unmistakable, likely furthered by his own exhaustion. “I was speaking with my friend: Amethyst. He is a citizen of Equestria and doesn’t deserve what you, or anyone has been giving him He’s done nothing wrong coming to see me, and if you dare try to say otherwise.”
He didn’t take kindly to Boulder’s words. “He’s not even a pony, how–”
Once more, Boulder interrupted. “Would it make any difference? If he was a zebra of a minotaur would you be making this fuss?”
“A changeling is not a–”
“If you keep on with that, I’ll buck your teeth in,” he threatened dangerously. “I’m at the end of my patience, exhausted, and in a really foul mood. Piss off you idiots. I’m sure the princesses would just love to hear all about this.”
To his credit, he did manage to leave with at least some of his dignity intact. Boulder, meanwhile, glared after the group of guards until they had disappeared around the corner. Sighing, realizing his temper, he returned to his chair, slumping heavily into it.
“Fuck, Amethyst, but I’m not sure I can talk with you anymore. I can barely think straight.”
The poor stallion was exhausted. “Just try and get some rest, alright?” I suggested.
Boulder nodded tiredly, leaning heavily into his hoof, his eyelids barely hanging open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“<Let me take a look at that,>” I said to Cytri, pulling the ice pack away from her eye. It had been about ten minutes now, and the swelling was dissipating slightly. She could now blink, albeit painfully, but there wasn’t much more I could do. I had managed to find a mild painkiller, one which wouldn’t give her hallucinations or have other side effects –trust me, I learned from experience– but it would be awhile before she began to notice.
“<How is it?>” she asked.
“<Looking better, but just keep that there. Could you hold it while we walk?>” I questioned, stumbling at the clicking noise I had to make. One of the difficulties of the changeling language was that many of the sounds were unique to the language alone, such as hard clicks and snaps. Heck, you could use your wings to modify sentences by using them to create sounds. I hope she could forgive me for slaughtering our language, as I was doing right now.
“<I think so.>”
With that, we headed back to the cells. The bottle of painkillers was tucked under my wing for the other changelings. When we got there, there was no one to greet us, the cells devoid of changelings. It took all but a moment for Ocean Wind to ask the guard stationed there to tell us where they had been taken. Apparently, Celestia had already had the rooms made up, even diverting servants from other areas to have them ready as quickly as possible. Surprisingly good of her. It took another few minutes, but we arrived at the room. Four guards had been stationed in the hallway, but I suspect several more could respond in a moment’s notice should something happen.
When I had first met the other changelings, I knew they really didn’t like me. Don’t know why, but it was just the way it was. With that in mind, we left Cyri at the door, not sticking around to play a meet and greet. Besides, there was somepony else who I needed to check up on. I just hope Marmalade had managed to get it together a little. The walk back to my room was quiet, as there was nothing really to talk about. Ocean Wind and Starlight trusted my judgement far enough not to question it, but also, none of us were really in the mood for small talk.
I was puzzled to see the door to my room standing ajar. Before I could begin worrying, I heard Marmalade’s voice along with someone else’s. Curious, I nudged the door open and looked inside. To my surprise, the other voice was none other than Pastel, the mare who had shown me around the castle when I had first broke in. She sat, back to me, across the table from Marmalade. When Marmalade saw me, she gave me a somewhat warm smile, simultaneously that infernal buzzing started in my head. Following her gaze, Pastel turned around in her seat, flinching when she saw me. The surprise rapidly turned into a scowl.
Trouble brewed.
“Oh, Pastel,” Marmalade said cheerfully –I sighed in thankful relief–, “this is Amethyst.”
I don’t know whether she missed the look the named mare was giving me on purpose or by accident.
“We have already met,” she replied disapprovingly.
Oh, right... That’s why she wasn’t pleased to see me. Knowing the way rumors spread, it wouldn’t have taken her long to find out the true story.
“Pastel, if it’s alright with you, could I speak with him alone?”
The purple mare stood, setting down her teacup. “Probably should be heading back to work anyway.” Walking past me, she paused. Her voice was barely a whisper. “Don’t you dare go hurting her.”
And then she was gone, leaving the door open behind her tail. Blinking in bewildered, I strolled over to the door, shutting in, while thinking over what she had said. My furrowed brow softened as I turned back to Marmalade, seeing her warm smile.
“Doing better?” I asked, taking Pastel’s seat as my own. With a pot of tea and a spare cup, I helped myself to the cooling drink. Wouldn’t be long before you could call it lukewarm. Taking a sip at it, I grimaced as the buzzing in my head intensified ever so slightly. Must be caffeine in this stuff; it always gave me headaches.
“Much,” she replied.
I nodded approvingly, even if the incident was still heavy on her mind, it was wonderful to see her smiling, as small as it may be. “What were you and Pastel talking about?”
Her gaze slowly drifted away from mine to her teacup. “She came in here to do some cleaning around noon. When she saw me, she got me out of bed and cleaned up. We’ve been talking since then. Amethyst, I...” she cut off abruptly, not sure of her words. Taking a sip of her tea to think it over, she tried again. “Amethyst... Thank you for last night.”
I blinked, puzzled. “What? You mean letting you use my bed?”
“No, later.”
Later... But what?... I felt my face flush as I realized what she meant. She rose from her side of the table, and came around to sit next to me– very close next to me. The ache in my head grew slowly as I took another sip of the tea, setting down the cup with a slightly trembling hoof.
“Thank you for that, you don’t know how bad it was,” she murmured.
I had some idea, but I wasn’t... I lost hold on that thought as she leaned into me, nesting her head beneath my own. What had been a dull murmur before, erupted into a deafening screech inside my mind. The realization of what that noise truly was struck me with sheer horror.
Oh no. Masters please no!
Recoiling, I stared into Marmalade’s eyes, searching the depths. Inside those pale brown orbs, a flicker of amethyst fire burned, colouring her perception of the world: a filter of my own creation. Fighting against what my body was screaming, I made for the door, barely managing a drawn out trot. I needed to get away from her before I no longer could.
I rushed to tear the door open, but stopped as I felt someone behind me. Panicking, I turned. Marmalade leapt at me, knocking me bodily into the door. Pressing me up against the portal, she met my mouth in a deep kiss. I tried to fight it, but the the small part of my mind which still fought for me, was lost in the noise and bliss. Pressing back, I wrapped my legs around her, embracing her tightly. I returned her passion in full.
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O_P ok....great...chapter...
MORE!
2732749 My guess is it is some kind of passive changling magic that helps them gain love from others
>>>“Never quite picked it up perfectly, so if you could, could you speak Equestrian? Or anyone of you for that matter?”
I had to wait again, as she conversed with the other two with her. “Apologies, but none of us can.”>>>
Well, that's going to make their shape-shifting skills rather useless. Easy to tell a foreigner when they can't understand a word you're saying.
Which of course means they're lying through their fangs.
I'm a very good interrogator.
nice chapter homie , something tells me everyone is going to get super butthurt over all that accidental enchanting though.
OK, clearly she loves him, but...
"...a flicker of amethyst fire burned, colouring her perception of the world: a filter of my own creation"
What is this? Just a sign of her love, a relic of being fed upon, unintentional mind control, what?
2735628
Very close with the last one.
To give a hint....
th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/093/e/e/shining_armor_by_aaronmk-d4uw1o7.png
2735956
My thoughts exactly, what with Amethyst favoring purple over green. But he certainly didn't intend to mind-control the girl, so...
More!!!!Plzzz!!.......
may I ask when I could see some more of this shit?
2766925
About 2000 words into the next chapter, so probably near the end of the week if everything goes well.
2766947
2733571 Who says they were all infiltrators? I'm sure that every hive needs maintenance, and you don't need language to fix things.
2768942 But you never know when infiltrators will need to be replaced. Not to mention, it's simply a useful skill to possess when your race relies entirely on subterfuge to survive.
you should fix this. <> were used to signify the changeling language, If amethyst spoke to ocean in the changeling language, theres no way he would understand.