To Serve the Hive

by Minds Eye

Chapter 4

Two brothers sat across the cavern, watching him in the same silence he watched them. He had recognized them both—a year ahead of him in the Hive, taller and lankier than he, but still not quite full grown—but none of the three had spoken. Their orders were to wait, so they waited.

Time had passed unmarked, dominated by the dull ache in his head. The pain threatened to engulf his mind with every breath, every itch of the tan fur and every infuriating tickle from the ends of the mane his magic had given him, but he held it down.

He followed his orders.

One of the brothers cocked his head, and the echo of footsteps reached the chamber. The three bowed as Chrysalis entered.

She paused, studying him. “How is he?”

“Unchanged, Your Majesty,” a brother said. “The transformation never slipped.”

“Good.” She circled him, running a hoof through his mane, and then brushing against his coat. “How do you feel?”

“Restless,” he admitted. “I still feel something in my head, and it won’t go away.”

Chrysalis tilted his chin up and looked into his eyes. “That is normal.” She turned his head. “The magic becomes our second skin. Unlike our first, we must choose to wear it. Only through experience will it feel natural. Stand up.”

He stood.

“You’re ready for the second phase.” She stepped back and looked to the brothers. “Attack.”

The two charged ahead and drove into him before he could react. He struggled in their grasp, but the pain in his head erupted. The two pinned him to the ground in short order.

“Well done,” Chrysalis said. “You held your transformation in the face of both surprise and a threat.” She stepped to the side and began to pace around the perimeter of the cavern. “The world, however, will not be as kind as your brothers. You must defend yourself.”

His brothers backed away, and he stood up.

The Queen’s hoofsteps sounded behind him. “Again.”

They charged, but he sprang to the side—sluggishly. His brothers were on him in an instant. He twisted, turned, dodged, but the gentle taps of their hooves fell like rain on him. His failure fell like rain on him. The pressure built in his head, until he reared up and shoved a brother with all his strength. The ache faded, and he saw his legs shift to black while they were in the air.

Something hot and powerful slammed into his side and threw him to the ground. He hissed and covered the burning spot of his hide with his hooves, looking over the Chrysalis.

A faint, green glow faded from her horn. “He is a monster,” she said in an even tone. “We must kill him and all who are like him.”

He focused on his magic, letting it spread through him and embracing the headache again.

Chrysalis bared her fangs in a smile. “Again.”

The two were on him immediately. He squirmed away and scrambled to his feet.

“Do you struggle to breathe while you fight, child?”

He twisted his body, letting one of his brothers race by him, and pounced on the other, dragging him to the ground.

“As I taught you to control your breathing, you must control your magic. It must be instinct.”

His hooves pounded uselessly on his brother’s forelegs as the pinned changeling covered up. He rolled away before the other could rush him from behind.

“You can’t afford to think, to divide your attention. Only one thing matters: your goal. If you lose your focus, you are lost.”

He seized the delay as the brother he escaped helped the other to stand, pushing away the ache to focus on replaying the fight in his mind. They wouldn’t risk attacking him one at a time again. He had to keep moving, keep one in front of the other so they couldn’t surround him. The one on the left favored—

A weight latched on to the back of his neck and dragged him down. His front hooves—black again—groped at the ring of magic until Chrysalis’ face sank into his view.

Her eyes bathed him in fire. “You. Cannot. Lose focus!”

He grunted as the ring dug into his flesh and shifted back.

“Again!”

---

The door of his hotel room nearly flew off its hinges from the force of his shove. It slapped against the wall and swung back to close, finishing its arc with the help of his kick.

He stormed away, seething through clenched teeth. The river of bodies ahead of him was nearly invisible behind the pink face in his mind, and her voice sang the word again.

Why?

“Out of my way!” he snarled. Some of the traffic stopped, and he shouldered his way through the rest, stepping onto the street. Hooves scraped the pavement as carts came to a stop before they hit him. He glowered at each driver before they spoke.

Only one held his gaze. “Oh, sure, be my guest. It’s not like you have wings, right?” The stallion spit at his hooves. “Chump.”

His stride staggered and his head cocked back for a heartbeat, but he continued on.

“Yeah, keep walking! Moron!”

Don’t lose focus.

He beat back his rage with each breath, each step as he walked away. Bloodshed would only draw attention, and some of the guards had seen his face. One stallion was not his concern.

Cherry Blossom—the mission—was what mattered now. She accepted the Dawnbreaker he showed her, and destroying that mask would only make things harder for him. It would only cost him more time. More time away from the survivors of the hive, preserving what future they had left. More time drowning in his hatred of this place, chasing the death of a goddess.

Why?

Because the Hive must be avenged. His brothers and sisters were depending on him. Chrysalis had trusted the task to him, and there was no one else to see it done.

Why?

Because the rest of the Hive was thrown to the wind. One sudden flash of brilliant purple sundered his life forever. He growled under his breath, cursing that day again.

Why?

Because the invasion failed. However long Chrysalis had coveted Canterlot, it was worthless to her now. She had failed.

Why?! His voice drowned out Cherry’s. Where was your focus?!

He slumped against a building on a street corner. Again, he reached out to Canterlot with his magic. Cherry’s candle was invisible to him, but the amount of power he could sense was undeniable; however, it lingered beyond his grasp. He endured the chill in his heart as it cried for warmth and tried to measure what he felt.

Even if the Hive had taken Canterlot’s love forcibly, even if every brother and sister had drank their fill, Chrysalis’ plan revealed them to their enemies. All of Equestria would fall on their heads, and the rest of the world would follow to make sure the monsters were destroyed. Their only hope would be to flee, to go back into hiding, but they would be hunted. The invasion destroyed the secret of their existence, and with it, their greatest protection.

And Chrysalis had made that decision. For Canterlot.

“Hey, look who it is, boys! Looks like wingnut had a rough night, huh?”

He sighed and let his magic fade. The three familiar unicorns from the alley leered over him. “And now I have these idiots.”

“What was that?” The yellow stallion dragged him to his feet, shoved him back to the wall, and leaned in, glaring. “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you down there. Did you have something to say?”

Red grinned and turned to shout at the crowd, clearing some room.

The blue one matched his leader’s look. “You gonna answer him, numbskull? The Boss don’t ask twice.”

He bared his teeth. “Except he just did.”

Boss slammed his hoof into the wall, barely missing his head. “You got a smart mouth, you know that? You think you can come into our town—”

He drove his shoulder into Boss’ chest. The unicorn crumpled over his body, gasping for air, and he glared at the other two. “If the three of you understood the first thing about strength, you would have attacked me from the start. I won’t make the same mistake.”

Their stunned expressions dropped into anger, and they charged.

He pushed forward, and their leader’s body toppled into them, dragging them down into a heap of legs and tails under a chorus of laughter from the crowd. “Run home, boys. If you have one.”

“You—” The yellow unicorn growled a guttural sound and wrapped his forelegs around his barrel.

“You’re holding up traffic,” he grunted, turning the corner. More ponies laughed behind him, and the normal chaos of hoofsteps resumed.

He passed by cross-streets, barely registering their numbers as they dwindled towards Ninth. I won’t make the same mistake. And yet he did. His enemies were down, and he spared them. He held back.

Because he had to.

Why?

He was too angry to laugh, too mindful to scream. His hooves moved on, carrying his impotent shell until it reached the right number. He looked down the street to the left and right for the building he couldn’t miss, and headed for the biggest one.

Cherry Blossom reared up above the crowd, forelegs folded to her chest, and her eyes flicked over the street before she staggered and sank back down.

His shoulders sagged, and he shook his head, catching a glimpse of his reflection in the glass beside him. The orange pegasus he saw trudged ahead aimlessly: defeated, dejected, and depressed. Useless. Wrong. She needed to see the mask, and the physical change was only a portion of that. He forced a smile before he reached her, using the last few steps to pick up his posture.

She returned his smile the instant she saw him. “Good morning, Dawn! Did you sleep well?”

“Not so much,” he admitted. “I had a lot on my mind.”

Cherry clicked her tongue. “So much that you forgot your saddlebags.” She rocked her hips, pushing her set up and down. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. They’ll have some inside you can borrow.” She pushed the door open. “Shall we?”

He stepped through the door and froze in mid-stride. Tables and booths littered the massive space inside, each one covered in something. He recognized a few fruits and vegetables, but they all dissolved into an array of colors as the room stretched on. Words died on his tongue, and he only snapped out it when a pair of wicker baskets fell over his back.

Cherry prodded them into place with a hoof. “This place is so ugly, isn’t it?”

“Ugly?” His voice barely rose above a whisper. What he saw could feed him for weeks, if not months, and he still didn’t believe he had seen half the store. “How could you scoff at this?”

“It’s just so confined. I’ve heard Ponyville has an open-air market, where everything is fresh from the farm. There’s... there’s no heart here.”

“I don’t think that matters when you’re hungry.”

She sighed. “You’re right. I guess that’s just the earth talking through me. There are a lot of ponies in this city to feed, and not enough space for luxury.” She looked around and motioned him to follow. “Come on.”

He followed, a step behind her. His eyes searched each aisle behind the row of cashiers as they passed. “How do they even have this much? Where does it come from?”

“Deliveries,” she deadpanned, looking back with a raised eyebrow. “I take it you didn’t have to worry about food very much in a noble house?”

He bit back a retort. “Food was a simple thing. We just ate what was available.”

“So... what does that mean? What do you like?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, shrugging. “What are you here for?”

“Food,” she said, also shrugging. “The castle servants keep a little kitchen for their own use. Guess whose turn it is to restock it this time.” She glanced up. “The apples are this way, at least. You can’t go wrong with a good apple!”

“You have a point. No peel or any trick to an apple is there? You just grab it and eat it.”

“Oh, you’re going to be loads of fun here, aren’t you?” She skirted around a stack of bananas. “Then we get by the oranges and grapefruits... there!” She waved a hoof in front of over a half-dozen stands. “What are you in the mood for?”

He didn’t trust himself to answer. When did they make green ones?

“I guess we’ll start simple.” Cherry snorted as she led him to one of the tables in the back, past all the greens and green-red combinations, to a tall pile of dark red fruit he had thought he recognized as apples. “And here we have some Red Delicious.” She started to circle the table. “But who are the delicious ones, I wonder?”

He blinked. “Who are you talking to?”

Her face contorted, but she failed to hold back another snort. “Do you think we’ve broken him already? Ah, but he doesn’t know your tricks.” She ran a hoof over the pile. “You all look so red and so good, but what’s on the inside? A-ha!” She rolled two of them to the edge of the table, balanced them on her snout, and let them fall into his basket. “Those will be good for an afternoon snack. Today.”

“What...?” He watched her pull a small pile into her bags. “What was that? You go through all that for two, and then just pile in?”

“I’m not shopping for myself, remember? If they want the good stuff, they can come get it themselves.” She nodded at another stand. “Speaking of the good stuff, you should try a Honeycrisp one day. Red Delicious are classic, but they’re not that sweet, you know?”

“But what were you—”

“Ooh, cantaloupes!” Cherry dashed ahead to a stand covered by the melons. A particularly green one, near the top of the stack, seemed to have her eye. She pressed her nose to it and took a long sniff.

“I...” He scoffed. “I don’t know as much as you, but I’m pretty sure green means bad.”

“No,” she said with a laugh, “green means not yet.” Cherry nosed the melon again, tipping it off its perch. She balanced it on her hoof and held it out to him. “Here, listen to it.”

He stared. “Listen to it.”

She smiled and nodded. “Listen to it!”

Again, his words died on his tongue. He studied her face, but he saw nothing but a gentle smile, nor did he detect any mockery in her tone. Sighing, he bowed his head and flicked an ear to the fruit.

Cherry giggled. “No, you have to tap it. Here, hold it to your head.” She waited until he had the melon pinned to his ear, and then she rapped her hoof against the rind.

The thump reverberated through his skull. He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Really? You can’t hear the magic?” She rapped it again.

“It... is a fruit, Cherry.” He pulled it away from his ear. “It doesn’t have any magic.”

“No? Then what do I hear singing?” She grinned and took the melon again. “I am an earth pony, Dawn. We know our territory, and just because something gets picked doesn’t mean it stops changing.” She put it in his basket. “In three days that is going to be delicious. Mark my words.”

He smirked. “Consider them marked.”

“Good!” Cherry rolled two more melons into her own bags. “I should make you share it with me, doubting me like that. Like the Royal Gardener doesn’t know her plants!” She laughed.

“What is there to know about them? Water, sun, done. You don’t see any growing in caves.” They passed a pile of overgrown nuts covered in brown hair. He sneered and stretched out a wing, tapping one as they went. “And what does fruit need magic for? If it’s here, it’s already off the tree. It’s useless.”

Her tail snapped under his chin. “That’s the problem with you pegasi. You’ve always got your heads in the clouds. What do you know about how everything works down here?”

He gaped at her, stunned. The sting on his jaw faded, and he hissed, “Try me.”

She turned back, the ghost of a smile fading from her face.

“Well? Make me understand.”

“A-alright.” She chewed her lip and glanced away, starting her walk again. “When you’re flying up in the sky, all you see when you look down is a green backdrop, the leaves and the grass. When was the last time you thought about how all that green felt? How it grew? When was the last time you realized everything was alive?”

His brow furrowed. “What does that have to do with anything? Food is food. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

She picked up a tomato. “This was attached to a vine, Dawn, just like apples and oranges are attached to trees. Vines and trees have their roots in the ground, and that’s the earth pony specialty! We use our magic to help take care of them, they use our magic to grow, and the food they provide keeps us full so we can give more magic.” She smiled and slipped the tomato into his bag. “And both of us depend on the pegasi for the rain. Everything has a role, Dawn. What’s so hard to understand about that?”

“Nothing!” he snapped, taking a step forward and sending Cherry back-peddling. “Of course I understand that! What do you think you know about me? What do you know about what I see and think and feel? Nothing!”

She flinched under his snarl, her mane falling over one of her eyes.

He clenched his teeth. “I know all about roles. That’s how my home works. That’s the only way things make sense! My brothers and sisters were raised to fill a role, and so was I! I was sent here to play that part, and you—!”

Her. The mission. He shrank away from her.

Cherry let go of her lip. “D-Dawn?”

Focus. He lost his focus, and now his image was shattered. His hooves shuffled backwards, and he looked away.

Something slipped under his chin and cradled his muzzle, pulling him back to face her.

Her leg stretched out to his face, and her worried eyes met his. “Are you alright?”

“Me?” He puzzled over her.

“Well... yes, you. What’s wrong?”

He swallowed, but his nerves didn’t sink. The truth. You won’t get a third chance. “I... I don’t belong here, Cherry.”

She tilted her head. “Who said that?”

“You did. Last night, when you asked why I was here.” He let out one mirthless laugh and picked his head up and out of her touch. “I spent the whole night asking myself that question. You ruined me.”

“Oh no.” She covered her mouth. “Dawn, I wasn’t trying—”

“I know, I know.” He sat down, looking away from her. “Thing is, I can’t answer that question. Still. After an entire night.” He met her eyes again. “I know my role, Cherry. My place is by my lady’s side, and I carry out the tasks she assigns me. But this one makes no sense.”

“You think she made a mistake.”

“She doesn’t make mistakes!” he snapped. “She can’t.”

Cherry opened her mouth, but paused. “Maybe. I don’t know her, but would you like to hear what I know about you?” She grinned and nodded her head down the aisle. “Come on. I’ll even answer one of your other questions.”

He watched her for a moment before he followed.

She stopped by a stand of carrots and ran a hoof over them. “My parents were gardeners too. They owned a little greenhouse where they grew flowers, but their real business was with the manors downtown. We were contracted all the time for seasonal work, some minor caretaking, just about everything.”

He picked up the three carrots she nudged over to him. “’We?’”

She smiled and pointed at their saddlebags. “More ponies can carry more of a load. Like I said, we were hired often, and sometimes I would run over to a Lord Something-Or-Other’s house after school to pitch in. Each garden was different. Each one had a new lesson for me to learn, and Mom and Dad made sure I learned them.” She looked around. “How about grains? Do you need any grains?”

He patted his stomach. “I’ve had plenty of bread this week. Still have a loaf back in my room.”

“Good.” She brushed a few strands of her mane out of her eyes. “So, one day, we get an offer for a huge job. A year long contract to get a manor ready for its centennial anniversary. For whatever reason, this unicorn decided the best way to celebrate his home was to completely renovate the place.”

“Renovate?”

“Renovate. Everything. He wanted his hedges torn out and regrown in this weird pattern he drew up. Parts of the house were getting torn down and rebuilt, so we had to work around that. He wanted a tree planted. A tree. Not a sapling, he wanted a full-grown tree in time for his party.”

His voice fell to a whisper. “The fool.”

“I know. A tree!” She shook her head and sorted through heads of lettuce. “Maybe an entire herd of us could make one grow that fast. Maybe. If we wanted to kill the poor thing.”

He took the one she passed to him. “Why? Why would anyone tear their home apart like that?”

“I don’t know.” Cherry hung her head and walked on. “A year, Dawn. We worked on that job for a year. Worse, his plans kept changing. He dropped a fountain in the space we cleared for the flower bed. He cut deals with his neighbors for slices of their land, so the hedges had to be regrown. Twice. And then there was the tree delivery.”

“Wait, delivery? How do you deliver a tree?”

“With money.” She sighed. “We had to stop everything else and focus solely on him to get the job done in time. He tossed us a few bits each month, but he made it clear that most of our pay would come when the job was done.” She stopped and looked back at him, expressionless. “On our last day, he said we had gone over budget with delivery costs and the price of all the new flowers and plants he ruined. He threw us out with nothing.”

So the noble was scum. Still, he failed to see how that fit into their discussion. “Why are you telling me all this?”

Her smile returned. “Because you asked why I put up with everything at the castle. Our business was done. After working for one stallion for a year, all the other manors that would hire us found other ponies for the job, and we certainly weren’t going to get any new offers with a reputation for going over budget. So, with nothing to lose, my father went to Celestia’s court and plead our case. She ordered that little lord to pay every last bit he owed us. And that, Dawn, is what I know about you.”

He snorted. “How do I figure into all that?”

“Thanks to Princess Celestia, my parents took their money, sold their greenhouse, and retired to Ponyville. She gave them—even me—a future again. I owed her. I still do.” She leaned in close to slip something else into his basket, but he didn’t look away from her face. “I know you feel the same way about your lady. Probably more, since she raised you. You won’t let her down.”

He bowed his head, silent.

“Chin up, Dawn. Yes, she sent you away, but you know what? That’s her loss.” Cherry dipped her muzzle under his and pulled it up. “You’re good company.” She smiled. “I think we have enough. Ready to go?”

He nodded dumbly and followed as she took the lead again, the ghost of her touch teasing his face. Meaning... what?

The store faded away, and he felt the ether again. The ether, but not the chill. Cherry’s candle had grown. It flickered warmly in his heart, and its scent remained tauntingly elusive. He held his magic and let the candle’s path guide his feet until he sensed a frost ahead.

A team of earth ponies in blue vests waited for them by the door. One of the mares smiled at them. “Together or separate?”

“Together,” Cherry said. “And he’ll need a couple bags to go.”

The mare glanced at his barrel. “You want the baskets for a bit? We just got a new delivery of ‘em anyway.”

“Yes, thank you.” Cherry pulled a small, purple pouch decorated with an image of the sun from her bag and dropped it in the mare’s hoof. “That would be great.”

The ponies milled around them, poking through their bags and calling out numbers. The mare counted coins from Cherry’s purse until they were finished and passed it back. “We appreciate your business. Come again!”

“I will!” Cherry smiled and led him outside. They fell in step with the crowd, retracing his path back to the main road. “So how was that?”

“Thank you,” he said.

She giggled. “I told you I knew how to make dinner up to you. So I’m still at four.”

He shook his head. “No, I meant what you said.” His ears flattened. “What I said. I should never have snapped like that.”

“That?” She bumped his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Dawn. You’re stressed. I’ve... never really lived anywhere but here, but I’m glad I could help out.”

“Still—”

“If you’re that hung up about it, we could just call it three.”

He grinned. “Three it is, then.”

“Progress!” she said with a happy bounce to her stride.

They laughed as they made their way towards the corner, but the word soon cut his levity short. He eyed the street corner, one road leading to the castle and another back to his solitude among the warehouses. Her feelings for him were growing, but the castle was still beyond his reach.

Each step brought them closer to parting. He turned to her as they reached the corner. “I—”

“We never finished that conversation, did we?”

“Er,” he started, and paused. “Which one?”

“About the plants. Their roles.” Cherry danced out of the way of the mob and sat down. “Would you like to talk about it some more?”

He looked around. “Here? Now?”

“I don’t think that’s an option,” she said, her face twisting to fight a laugh. “How about in the gardens? Would you like to see them?”

“The gardens...?” His eyes snapped open. “You mean your gardens? Inside the wall?”

Her smile grew, and she only nodded.

The windfall nearly left him breathless. “Can you even do that? What about the guards?”

“There aren’t that many eyes watching the gardens.” A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “The hard part is getting you inside. I have a few ideas, but I need some time to figure them out. It can’t be today.”

He smirked and spread his wings.

She laughed. “No good. They’ll see you coming a mile away.” She stood, looked back towards the castle, and then back to him. “Should I take that as a yes, then?”

“Yes! I mean, yes. Yes it is.” He sighed and shook his head. “Are you sure it can’t be today? It’s still only morning.”

She gave a firm nod. “I’m sure. Tell you what, meet me here this time tomorrow. I’ll think of something. Trust me, Dawn.”

He nodded and waited until she’d rounded a corner before turning away.

Comments

[goddamnAnimal]

I'm calling it, Cherry is a changeling.

[Minds Eye]

6291063
*hastily rewrites the entire story*

[Honeypunch91]

Amazing story so far

[Minds Eye]

6291198
Thank you!

[jbwjr]

ooohhh... I sense potential heartache in this mares future after reading that. not gonna lie I kinda how Dawn don't kill dear old Tia.

[JEFFERY8U]

WOW! I like where this is going.

[Scourge the yellow cat]

awesome story!