New Family

by awesomesauce4

Chapter 9

They parted ways, Chrysalis following him back up to the secret hallway where the humans and former villains were staying. As he opened the door to his room, Jeremy was pleasantly surprised to find that moonlight once more shone through the window, a soft white compared to the harsh yellow of the daytime.

“Perfect,” Jeremy complimented. “But where’s Nightmare Moon?”

They looked around, checking the bathroom and even the closet – Nightmare Moon was nowhere in sight.

“Maybe she’s talking with the other humans?” Chrysalis guessed. Shrugging, Jeremy went out into the corridor again.

They eventually found Nightmare Moon being, of all things, petted by the rest of the humans, all of whom were in Sam’s room. Avery was rubbing a hand along her belly, while Cory and Kylie were fussing around with her hair. Kylie appeared to be attempting to braid her ethereal mane, while Cory was simply playing with it, running his fingers through it in curiosity. Nick was examining one of her wings, the ebony-black appendage tentatively outstretched as Nick rubbed a finger along one of Nightmare Moon’s feathers. Brayden appeared to be massaging Nightmare Moon’s flanks, his softball-sized hands kneading her muscles with surprising gentleness. Sam was the only one not petting the dream demon, looking pleased as he watched the others. As Jeremy walked into the room, everyone stopped and looked at him.

“I’m not even sure where to start here,” Jeremy began sternly. “Is it the fact that for once, Sam’s not the one whose unreal levels of hair are being touched? Is it that Kylie’s trying to braid hair that’s made of magic? Or is it that all of you began cuddling Nightmare Moon... and didn’t invite me?”

Sam burst out laughing. “You weren’t here!” he pointed out, as Jeremy and Chrysalis took seats on either side of Nightmare Moon, scratching behind her ear and rubbing her neck respectively as Nightmare hummed contentedly.

“So, how’s it going, you two?” Brayden asked.

“It’s going fine,” Chrysalis answered distractedly.

“Changelings doing alright?” Sam added.

“I… haven’t checked,” Jeremy realized with a sense of worry.

“It’s only been a day, Jeremy. They can handle themselves without you,” Chrysalis dismissed.

“Yeah, but…” Jeremy trailed off. This would be a great time for a ‘hilarious’ episode of ponies discovering changelings in the caves, he pointed out.

Chrysalis looked uneasy. “…On second thought, they have missed you lately,” she hastily amended. Jeremy stood up, reluctantly pulling his hand away from Nightmare Moon’s head, where she regarded his fingers with a dismayed frown.

“So soon?” she pouted.

“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll be back later to make up for it,” Jeremy promised. That said, he exited the room, hurriedly heading for Canterlot.

Only when he was out of the palace, down the steps, and outside the drawbridge did Jeremy remember that he had no idea where the caves were. When she had used them, Chrysalis had not bothered to use an entrance or exit, simply causing Twilight to sink through the ground with her magic. So, logically speaking, the caves were right under his feet – he just had to find an access point.

Jeremy roamed the streets of Canterlot, ponies barely giving him a glance as he searched high and low for a possible entrance to the caves. A fall breeze blustered around him, rattling papers and sending leaves skittering as he drew his arms around himself, shivering slightly. He suspected that he might have to traverse down the mountain, so he made his way for the very edge of the city, precariously overlooking Equestria from its perch on the mountaintop. There was no way down except by falling, and something told Jeremy he wouldn’t survive falling off a mountain. Reluctantly, he headed back, wondering where he could find them.

To his surprise, there appeared to be something of a gathering outside a particular shop, a few blocks down.

“Mommy, I wanted to go to the caves today!” a nearby foal whined. The mother pointed at the gathering.

“It’s closed, dear – there are changelings in there. Sorry… but maybe another day.”

The foal looked down dejectedly, then spotted Jeremy, giant as he was compared to the rest of the ponies. “Mommy, mommy! That’s the king! The king of the changelings!” the foal shouted, and Jeremy looked over.

“Hush, it’s rude to point!” the mother scolded. She gave Jeremy an apologetic look. “Sorry about that,” she called over nervously.

“It’s fine,” Jeremy called back, walking over. “But what’s this about the caves?”

The mare appeared slightly nervous, and he crouched down to face her at eye level, taking a seat on the dusty road.

“Well, since your… kind moved in yesterday, a local business of cave tours isn’t able to offer any of their normal attractions,” she explained.

Jeremy nodded in understanding. “Then I shall have to see what I can do,” he announced, and the foal beamed at him.

“Will you let us go on tours again?” the tiny colt asked excitedly, hopping in place.

Jeremy grinned at him. “With a face like that, how could I not?” A renewed purpose in his step, he strode over to the crowd to find a very tired-looking mare with a megaphone, giving some sort of announcement.

“-am sorry, but we are not authorized to resume tours through the caves at this time,” the megaphone blared. As Jeremy neared the crowd, sensing that this was the opportunity he had been looking for, some eyes turned to him.

“It’s the changeling king!” a pony shouted out, and ponies close to him quickly bowed, fearful looks in their eyes. Feeling nervous, Jeremy continued forward, the ponies parting like the Red Sea as he made it to the pony with the megaphone.

“Sorry about this, I didn’t know we’d be interrupting local business. I’ll see what I can do about getting your business back up and running,” he offered.

The mare looked at him in shock for a moment, then slumped over in relief. “Thank you,” she murmured, barely audible over the din of the gathered crowd.

“Mind if I make an announcement?” he asked, and she gladly passed him the megaphone. “Attention, everyone!” Jeremy spoke, loud enough to cause the crowd to immediately fall silent. “I apologize for the delay. I will go down and see what I can do with my changelings to get tours running again as quickly as possible. There may be a slight further delay as we work out the details, but I promise you will be able to go on tours again by tomorrow, if not today. Any questions?” he asked.

Silence from the crowd.

“Alrighty then. See you in a bit!” he finished, handing the megaphone back to the mare as he turned to make his way into the store.

Cluttered knick-knacks, fossils, and minerals littered the shelves, with books on geology and archaeology stacked haphazardly on a single, massive bookshelf. Jeremy looked back as the door chime tinkled again, signaling that the mare from earlier had entered the store.

“I figured I should go with you, so you know where to stay out of,” the mare explained.

“Fair enough. What’s your name?” Jeremy asked.

“Cave Hollows. I run a few mining operations and touring businesses throughout Equestria, but this is our most popular one,” the mare explained.

“Nice to meet you, Cave Hollows. My name is Jeremy,” he returned.

Cave Hollows raised an eyebrow. “Just ‘Jeremy?’ Not ‘King Jeremy?’” she questioned.

Jeremy shrugged. “I’m not too big on titles. Just ‘Jeremy’ is fine,” he agreed.

Cave opened a door near the back of the shop, which led to a carved-out area in the mountainside with a cave opening in the middle. “Right through here, and watch your head,” she warned, grabbing a hard hat and jamming it on with a practiced air as she disappeared into the dark cave.

Jeremy followed, considering and quickly dismissing grabbing a hard hat of his own. They were clearly designed for ponies, for one thing, and he hated wearing hats of any kind. Besides, it wasn’t like he had to fear critical injury. Unless of course you’re creating alternate timelines, and the Cave Hollows of this timeline will have to explain to Chrysalis how you managed to die from a rock to the skull, an inner voice snidely pointed out. Jeremy stifled those thoughts, unwilling to even focus on them, and stubbornly continued forward.

Cave Hollows turned on her mining light, the hiss of acetylene gas sounding as she lit it with a match struck against the cave wall.

“You use acetylene mining lights in Equestria?” Jeremy asked curiously.

“Not in ‘modern times,’ we don’t. This is just for show,” Cave explained with a grin.

“Oh. Heh, I guess it does kind of sell that ‘old-school’ mining feel,” Jeremy agreed with a smile.

“You ever been in a cave before?” she asked curiously.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Depends. Does Tartarus count as a ‘cave?’” he smugly inquired, and Cave Hollows’ jaw dropped.

“You were in Tartarus?” she questioned incredulously.

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, for a while at least. Don’t worry, I’m not an evil monster bent on destroying all that ponies hold dear,” he sardonically added, rolling his eyes.

“So it’s true, then. You really did… escape that place,” Cave muttered. She fell silent for a moment. “What’s it like, down there? Like, what are the mineral formations?” she asked hopefully.

Jeremy thought hard. “Plenty of red sandstone – there seems to be some kind of outcrop of it through the whole mountain. There was a room absolutely full of gems and crystals, but I think that was faked to contain Sombra. Um… Yeah, it really was just sandstone, concrete and magma,” he concluded with a shrug.

“Sandstone? Really?” Cave asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Right? It’s weird. I don’t know of any other mineral that’s bright red, though. Unless it was an odd form of hematite, or chert, or something,” Jeremy thought.

“Are you a mineralogist, by any chance?” Cave asked, sounding mildly impressed.

“Just a fossicker, actually. I wish I had a degree in mineralogy, that would come in handy,” Jeremy mused. Cave Hollows immediately beamed at him.

“Nobody knows what ‘fossicker’ even means anymore! Everypony else just calls us ‘rock collectors’ or ‘gem hunters!’” she excitedly replied.

Jeremy laughed. “Same on my planet. It’s a pretty archaic term at this point. So, what’s down here?” he asked curiously. Cave Hollows thought for a moment.

“The upper portion of the mountain is mostly dolomite, calcite and quartz, so nothing special there. Deeper in the caves you can find smithsonite, gem forms of quartz like amethyst, rose quartz, and smoky quartz, and if you’re really lucky, some small outcrops of native bismuth and silver.”

Jeremy nodded, fascinated. “Are silver and gold… more common here? I seem to remember some ponies walking around with gold coins, and it was hard to tell if they were real gold or brass from the distance,” he explained.

Cave Hollows snorted. “They’re real gold. Gold’s super common here, we use it for all sorts of stuff. Platinum’s a bit less common, and silver’s really rare.”

Jeremy nodded again in understanding. “Kind of the opposite of my planet, then. Silver’s the most common of the three, followed by gold, and platinum is the most rare.”

Cave Hollows looked at him, intrigued. “What about gemstones?” she asked.

“Diamond’s the rarest, followed by emerald, followed by topaz, followed by ruby, sapphire, and the rest. Amethyst is the least rare gemstone to still be considered a high-class gem,” Jeremy listed.

Cave Hollows snorted louder. “Don’t let Celestia catch you saying that. It’s her favorite one,” she ribbed. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be making fun of her jewelry preferences anytime soon. Besides, my crown apparently has green fluorite set into it, so I can hardly complain,” he snorted, motioning to his black-and green crown.

Cave Hollows looked at him, wide-eyed. “Green fluorite? That’s the rarest kind!” she exclaimed, rearing up to try and get a better look at his crown in the dim torchlight.

Jeremy laughed. “Fluorite’s an uncommon mineral back home, and the green variety is its most common form. It’s not quite a gemstone, but definitely not an ordinary mineral.”

Cave Hollows considered this, falling back onto four legs as she resumed directing him down the series of tunnels. “…Your planet is weird,” she muttered. Jeremy burst out laughing, his mirth echoing off the cave walls into the murky distance.

They walked along in silence for a moment, Cave Hollows starting to appear anxious as she frequently looked around.

“Trying to glimpse a changeling?” Jeremy wondered aloud.

Startled, Cave hastily looked forward again. “Well… yeah…” she trailed off uncertainly.

Jeremy snorted. “Don’t bother. They’ll hear us coming from a mile away, and transform into something inanimate. A drop of water, or a tiny pebble, or even an insect smaller than you can see.”

Cave Hollows shivered slightly. “B-but… changelings are g-good, right? They won’t… w-won’t hurt us,” she nervously stammered.

Jeremy caught on, and quickly shot her an apologetic look. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you with that. Yeah, we’re friendly, though changelings can get a little defensive if our young or queen are threatened. But you shouldn’t have to worry about that, not with me here.”

Cave Hollows nodded mutely, and Jeremy continued walking along, the pause stretching into an awkward silence.

“You know, if a changeling ever does attack you for any reason… your best bet is being nice to them. It’ll throw them off guard,” Jeremy spoke up after a while.

“What?” Cave Hollows queried, sounding lost.

“Yeah. A big part of our culture up until recently was… well, you know what it was like. If you try to make them your friend, they won’t attack you because they won’t know how to respond,” Jeremy explained.

“You sound like you’ve used this strategy before,” Cave shrewdly observed, her ear flicking as a drop of water landed on it.

Jeremy chuckled quietly. “Not on changelings, but… yeah. I have.”

Cave looked at him curiously. “On who, then?” she asked.

“Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Lord Tirek, and…” Jeremy stopped suddenly, a slightly bitter taste in his mouth.

“…Princess Celestia?” Cave Hollows finished quietly.

Jeremy remained silent, looking away. It occurred to him that Celestia, lost in depression as she was, had been right about one thing: These ponies idolized her. To them, she embodied perfection, and the thought that she might be imperfect could be a dangerous one.

A second awkward silence, more oppressive than the first, fell over them as they continued making their way through the damp tunnels of the cave.

“Are you mad at me?” Jeremy asked quietly after they hopped down from a ledge, his body audibly cracking as his bones adjusted position.

Cave, startled that he had spoken, glanced over at him. “…No,” she finally decided. “I’m not.”

Jeremy simply looked at her, waiting for an explanation that seemed unlikely to come in the face of the recent conversation.

To his surprise, Cave Hollows did speak. “It’s just… we really looked up to Celestia, you know? She was… she was the best. And to think that the best could go and do something like that…” Cave Hollows sighed, ears drooping.

Jeremy sighed as well. “Anyone can fall that far, Cave. Believe me, I would know. And it’s a terrifying thought, isn’t it? To look your enemy, or your fallen friend in the eye and realize that they are not so different than you. That they only made a few different choices. But… it becomes worse, by far, when you refuse to recognize that. When you demonize them, without thinking about why they did what they did. That’s… part of why I’m a pacifist,” he admitted, realizing it just as he spoke it aloud.

“But if anyone can fall that far, then… is there no such thing as ‘good’? Is it all just… relative?” Cave Hollows wondered.

Jeremy shrugged. “Maybe there isn’t a one true definition of ‘good.’ Some people might say it’s me. But to some others, my actions probably seem patronizing, if not blatantly naïve. But… does it really matter? When everyone knows you are only trying to help, your actions become less important than the reasoning behind them. If people took a moment to realize that… then maybe we’d get along a little better.”

Cave pondered this for a moment. “That was… a lot to think about,” she observed.

Jeremy laughed softly. “Yeah… normally I’m not this philosophical. So… how far down are we?” Cave looked around for a moment.

“We’re reaching the end of the official tour. I haven’t seen anything that would concern me yet, but if what you said earlier is right, then I wouldn’t be able to.”

Jeremy shrugged. “Even if my changelings were inanimate objects, I would be able to sense them, I think. We have a… well, a mental connection, of sorts.”

Cave Hollows looked at him strangely. “Really? Can you tell where they are now?” she asked.

“I don’t know, it’s pretty new to me… I’ll try,” Jeremy offered, closing his eyes and stopping a moment as he reached out through his crown. To his surprise, he felt their presence nearby, drawn to it like a magnet. “They’re that way,” he said, pointing at a patch of cave wall. “And fairly close,” he added after a moment.

Cave thought hard. “The only way they could be over there is if…” she muttered to herself, walking back the way they came. Curious, Jeremy followed her.

They came to a branch in the cave that Jeremy had not noticed before, ensconced as he was in his moral ruminations. It was quite small, barely large enough to fit him, but reasonably sized for a pony to crawl through.

“Through here… if you can fit,” Cave instructed, disappearing as she crawled in.

Jeremy followed Cave into the darkness, the crawling through the cave feeling eerily familiar to how he had first woken up in this strange land.

He emerged into an intense green glare, burning his eyes. All around him were changelings, some looking lost and confused, others slowly settling into holes and crevices in the walls of this tunnel. The tunnel itself was more akin to a wide atrium than a snaking path, with seemingly plenty of space for his changelings to stay. As soon as the ones nearby caught sight of him, their faces broke into smiles.

“The King!” they chorused, and the shout was echoed all through the cave as changelings stopped what they were doing to look at him.

“Hello, everyone,” Jeremy greeted, already beaming at the happy looks on his subjects’ faces.

Immediately, he was tackled to the floor by every changeling nearest to him, and he spluttered and laughed as they hugged and kissed him happily.

“Alright, alright, enough!” he got out, still laughing, and they immediately backed off, cringing slightly. Noticing their sudden change of expression, Jeremy gave them an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but I have to take care of some things first while I’m here. Then we can get back to hugging and stuff. Alright?” he offered.

The changelings who had been hugging him looked at each other, muttering something unintelligible. “…Of course, my King,” one finally answered.

“Thank you. Sorry I had to interrupt… this won’t take long,” Jeremy answered as kindly as he could. That said, he turned to Cave Hollows. “Do ponies come this way?” he asked curiously.

Cave shook her head. “Not as part of the tour, no. I think we should patch up that tunnel just in case a little foal decides to ‘adventure,’ though.”

One of the changelings looked at her curiously. “But why are ponies coming through here, my King?” he asked, flinching as Jeremy’s gaze flickered over to him.

“Are you okay?” Jeremy asked, noticing its reaction.

“I… I know you won’t hurt me, but we aren’t supposed to question the King’s orders…” he whispered shakily, trembling like a leaf in the wind as he scrunched up his eyes.

Jeremy gently tapped him on a foreleg, and he opened his eyes to find Jeremy holding his arms open. Slowly, hesitantly, the changeling made his way forward, and Jeremy enclosed him in as gentle of a hug as he possibly could.

“You are very brave, for defying what he made you think,” Jeremy whispered, smiling down at the still-terrified changeling. “But… I need you to ask me questions. To call me out if you think I’m wrong, or if you don’t know what I’m doing… because I’m not always right. I don’t know everything, and I’ll never know all the things you do, even if we do share a hive mind. So don’t be afraid to ask me anything, alright? I’ll never be angry at you for being curious,” Jeremy promised.

The changeling nuzzled into his sweater, relaxing slightly. “Thank you, my King,” he murmured.

“So, about your question. The reason ponies are coming through here is because this mare, named Cave Hollows, runs a touring business here. Ponies come down occasionally and look at all the cool stalactites and rock formations, and then they return to the surface. They won’t be coming into this cave specifically, but there is a nearby tunnel that connects the path they take to here. Cave Hollows is worried that some of the smaller ponies might decide to go through this tunnel and get separated from the rest of the group, so she wishes to cut off that entrance,” Jeremy explained.

“Oh… that makes sense, I think,” the changeling in his arms replied.

“But… aren’t we supposed to be proving to ponies we’re friendly?” another changeling hesitantly spoke up.

Jeremy, surprised, nodded in her direction. “We are, and we will. But allowing foals to stray off beyond the protection of their parents is not the way we should go about it, I think,” he gently rebutted.

“…Okay…” the changeling conceded.

“So, um… how long do you think it will take to block this place off?” Cave Hollows asked, interrupting.

Jeremy passed the question off with a glance at his followers. “Well? Who can do it the most quickly?” he asked. Instantly, hundreds of pairs of hooves were raised, and Jeremy laughed in surprise at his changelings’ enthusiasm. “Alright, you, you, and… you,” he chose, pointing at three changelings at random. “The rest of you can return to what you were doing before.” The three changelings he had chosen bounded forward eagerly, and Jeremy smiled as he got up, gently setting the changelings in his arms down on the floor.

“What about me?” he asked, looking up at Jeremy curiously.

“You can stay here,” Jeremy decided. “Too many workers would get in the way of each other, I think.” The changeling nodded obediently, and returned to the shallow pit he had been digging, a hint of a smile on his face.

Jeremy and Cave Hollows curiously watched as the three changelings debated how to close the hole, huddling up with each other. Jeremy, who was partially following the conversation mentally, caught hints of thoughts like too gross? and works well anyway… Finally, they made their choice, and the one in the middle sauntered over to the hole, head held high. She breathed in, and a moment later expelled a viscous green fluid, which sailed through the air and hit the hole with a wet smack. Cave Hollows cringed, and Jeremy did his best to avoid doing the same, looking on with fascination. The other two had by now joined the first, and were patting the gel-like material with their hooves, smoothing it over the entrance it had come through as it slowly hardened. Finally, when they couldn’t move it any more, the first one lit her horn, the hardened gel glowing green before adopting the same texture and apparent properties as the rest of the cave wall.

“Wow,” Jeremy complimented, while Cave looked slightly green herself.

“That, um… okay… well, whatever… works…” Cave Hollows falteringly complimented.

“Are you okay?” one of the changelings asked her, raising an eyebrow.

“Y-yeah, I’ll be fine,” Cave stuttered, swallowing hard.

“Yeah, we know, it’s kinda gross. But it gets the job done,” another changeling explained.

Cave laughed, and her tension was broken as the other three changelings laughed with her.

“So, is that everything?” Jeremy asked, turning to Cave Hollows.

“Yeah… that should do it,” Cave agreed. She looked as though she wanted to say something else, so Jeremy politely waited as she scuffed the cave floor with a hoof. She glanced at his polite smile, and seemed to decide something. “You’re… a very strange king, Jeremy,” she began.

Immediately, some nearby changelings began bristling, and Jeremy caught thoughts like just what is that supposed to mean? and Rude! He gave the changelings behind him a quelling glance, and they fell silent again.

“You… you aren’t high and mighty. You aren’t regal, or wise, or anything I thought a king would be like. You’re just… like a regular pony, aren’t you? The only difference is that you have a crown on your head,” Cave mused.

Jeremy remained silent for a moment. Then, a giggle forced its way past his lips. Then another. Finally, he burst out laughing, his peals of mirth echoing through the cavern. Cave Hollows and a few of the changelings looked at him strangely, and he could feel his changelings wondering why he was so happy. As his laughter died down, he wiped the tears away from his face. “That’s the nicest compliment anyone has ever given me… thank you, Cave Hollows,” he replied, still beaming with amusement.

“Wh-wait, what?” Cave wondered, incredulous.

“That was always my plan for being a King! I never took up this job because I wanted to be regal, or even wise. I became King because I wanted to be someone who my subjects could trust. Someone they could ask anything of, no matter how personal or how difficult. Someone that they didn’t see as ‘above them’ in any way. Just… just a normal guy, with a crown on his head,” Jeremy echoed, smiling at her.

Cave Hollows smiled back, and for the first time she didn’t appear to be afraid. “You could teach Celestia a thing or two,” she joked, and Jeremy chuckled.

“Oh, I plan on it,” he agreed.

“So… how do we get out of here?” Cave wondered, looking around. Immediately, a nearby changeling stepped forward.

“I can escort you to the surface, if you’d like…?” she offered.

“Oh! Sure… Jeremy, want to come with?” Cave asked.

Jeremy considered for a brief moment. “I’d better,” he agreed. “After all, I’m going to have to know how to enter this place properly for later.” Cave Hollows laughed, and Jeremy stood up, stretching out his limbs.

“Alright. I’ll be back soon, everyone… and then we can start hugging and playing again,” Jeremy announced to the Hive at large. Cheerful buzzes of agreement sounded all over the caverns in reply, and Jeremy nodded as he followed Cave Hollows and the other changeling to the surface.

To his surprise, it was not very far away – down just one tunnel, he could see daylight. Immediately, Jeremy was assaulted by a memory of a sandstone pit, the same one he had woken up in. This cave wasn’t red, and he was going out instead of coming in, but that shaft of sunlight was unmistakably familiar to him. He smiled, feeling an odd sense of completion as he stepped out onto the mountainside.

“You okay?” Cave Hollows asked, looking at him.

Jeremy realized his eyes were watery, and hurriedly made to clear them. “Yeah… just remembering something,” he answered, looking around.

Below them, the mountain loomed, thousands of feet of sheer drop signaling the altitude they were at. A blustery breeze blew around them, loudly whipping around Jeremy’s sweater and giving him a refreshing chill. Birds chirped happily in the autumn sunlight, flying about as they prepared for the coming winter. The mountain face itself was of a slight purple tint, distinctly alien to Jeremy even as it resembled normal mountain rock. The cave mouth opened onto a lone, thin path that led upwards and to their left, a rotting wooden fence all that prevented ponies from falling off the mountain. The sun shone brightly overhead, though the color was a more muted yellow-orange as it was back home in the autumn.

“Oh, this is where this goes?” Cave realized, a surprised tone in her voice as she too looked around. “I’ve never taken this path, I always thought it was closed off or something. Well, thank you for escorting me, but I know the rest of the way,” she informed the changeling, who nodded politely. That said, Cave turned to Jeremy. “Thank you for helping me. Most Kings wouldn’t have even cared, or had their subordinates deal with it… but I like your way of doing things better.”

Jeremy simply smiled in response, and Cave nodded, smiling herself.

“Good-bye! I might come visit sometime!” she called over her shoulder as she started up the path to Canterlot.

“Good-bye!” Jeremy and the changeling called back, smiling and waving.

Finally, when Cave Hollows was out of sight, the changeling turned to Jeremy. “Did I do good? Queen Chrysalis said to be really polite when escorting ponies,” she asked.

Jeremy beamed at her. “You did wonderfully. I couldn’t have asked for better,” he complimented. She laughed and looked away, blushing slightly. They turned to make their way back into the cave, and Jeremy’s foot caught on a rock as he once again flashed back to the entrance of Tartarus he had fallen into.

“Are you okay?” the changeling worried as he caught himself, evening his stride out once more.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Heh. Every time I enter a cave, I’m going to be thinking of my time in Tartarus... it's just a memory now, though,” he explained, quirking his mouth slightly.

The changeling stared at him a moment longer, then smiled back. “If you say so, my King.”

They walked onward in silence, Jeremy looking around at the cave walls as he hoped to spot an outcrop of gemstone. “You know… Queen Chrysalis always asks herself why you like us so much. Ponies scream and run at the sight of us, and most other species at least regard us with suspicion, or sometimes disgust. So… why do you like us?” the changeling asked bluntly.

Caught by surprise, Jeremy snorted with laughter. “It’s partially because changelings are adorable. At least, to humans, they are. We’re culturally trained to regard anything with big eyes and your body proportions to be cute.”

She looked at him strangely. “So… it’s just because we’re cute?” she wondered.

Jeremy shook his head. “That’s only part of it. Honestly, before… all this, I didn’t really have anyone to give my love to. I didn’t have a whole lot of friends… Sam aside, and I hadn’t even seen Sam in a few years. I’d forgotten how good it felt just to hug someone, or hold them close, or see them smile because of something you did for them. It’s… nice,” Jeremy pondered.

“I noticed that too, when I tried it! It feels strangely… good to share love. Like it’s what we’re supposed to do,” the changeling agreed.

Jeremy chuckled. “You might be on to something… and something tells me Queen Hespera would agree. It is what we’re supposed to do,” he agreed.

They returned to the atrium cavern to find a gaggle of younger changelings waiting for them.

“Is King Daddy ready to play?” squeaked one. Jeremy instantly beamed, reminded that the younger ones tended to think of him as their father – because Chrysalis was their biological mother, naturally.

“Of course!” he agreed, and took a seat right there as the younger ones swarmed over him, hugging him and booping his nose and playing with his hair.

“Up!” a particularly small one squealed excitedly, and Jeremy laughed and picked it up, holding it high in the air before it jumped down, falling like a feather as it buzzed its wings.

“Very good!” Jeremy complimented it. “Soon you’ll be able to fly around for real!”

The baby changeling jumped up and down ecstatically before happily nuzzling his leg, babbling wordlessly in agreement. Satisfied, Jeremy returned his attention to a certain troublemaker who was trying to hang off of his hair by their teeth, chuckling even as he cringed. Kids. No matter what species, they’re always the same, he thought contentedly.

Some time later, he became aware that a lone, young changeling had not joined the playtime. They were in the corner, scratching and scribbling on a torn and yellowed sheet of paper with an old quill and some ink. The rest of the changeling children were asleep, so Jeremy curiously got up and wandered over to look at what they were drawing. To his surprise, it appeared to be a drawing of himself, if the human-shaped stick figure was anything to go by. He surmised the stick figure next to it was Chrysalis, judging by the hair, and they appeared to be smiling at each other. All around them, smiling stick-figure changelings were looking at them, seemingly in approval. At the top, the words ‘Our Future’ were written, and underlined twice. Immediately, Jeremy felt a surge of affection and emotion for this child. Seemingly noticing, the changeling whirled around, looking slightly guilty.

“Oh! Hi, Dad!” they greeted, their voice the same as a scratchy, genderless ten-year-old human’s would be.

“Hey, kiddo. I like your drawing!” Jeremy complimented, taking a seat by them.

“I, um… thanks…” the changeling replied, though their ears were drooping.

“Is something wrong?” Jeremy asked in concern, wondering if he had said something incorrectly.

“D-dad… do you promise not to be mad at me?” the child asked.

“Of course. I promise not to be angry, no matter what,” Jeremy immediately answered, though he could not deny his curiosity.

“I… I wanted to draw something, so I… I went into Mom’s room, and… I took this drawing stuff,” they admitted, lip quivering.

Jeremy wondered how best to treat this situation. “Well… you shouldn’t have stolen. Stealing someone else’s stuff is wrong, and you know that,” he began. “But…” he trailed off.

“B-but?” the child replied, a glimmer of hope in their wet eyes.

“You shouldn’t be punished for wanting to create something, either. Besides, those drawing materials look really old – Mom probably had them for a while. Let’s go get you some proper tools,” Jeremy offered.

Instantly, the child’s face lit up as though Jeremy had announced a new Christmas just for them. “R-really?!” they yelled excitedly, beaming.

“Of course! This way, you won’t have to steal anything,” Jeremy agreed, picking them up and putting them on his shoulder. Just as they were about to leave, Jeremy noticed the drawing, still lying on the floor. He picked it up, and held it up to the changeling on his shoulder.

“Do you mind if I show Mom this? I think she’d love to see it,” he asked.

“Will she be mad at me for taking her stuff?” the child asked.

Jeremy thought for a moment. “I think she won’t be. After all… it’s a wonderful drawing,” he answered, smiling slightly.

Does anyone have any money? I want to buy something for this child, he asked the Hive at large. A changeling a ways up on the wall dived into the hole they had carved out the moment he had finished, rustling around. They popped out a moment later, carrying a small bag in their mouth, which they flew over and promptly held out to him.

“Oh! That was fast, thank you,” Jeremy complimented.

“I got it a long time ago for working at a pony restaurant,” the changeling explained. “I never really knew what to do with it, but ponies kept insisting that it was very important, so I held on to it.”

Jeremy chuckled, reminded of the conversation he and Chrysalis had had a week and a half ago about the purpose of money. “They were right, in a sense. Money’s very important in this day and age. After all, we need it to obtain useful things from Equestrians.”

The changeling cocked their head. “I still don’t get that… but alright, my King. It is yours to use,” they declared, bowing.

Jeremy smiled. “Thanks again. See you later!” he concluded, heading for the exit.

They stepped out into the afternoon sunlight, the diminutive changeling on Jeremy’s shoulder grunting and adjusting to the glare.

“Where are we going?” it asked, looking around curiously at the outside world.

“I'm going to try and find an art store, or perhaps a library,” Jeremy explained. “They both would have paper and drawing tools for you to use.”

The changeling on his shoulder blushed and looked away. “Thank’oo, Daddy,” they mumbled.

Jeremy laughed. “You're very welcome!” A thought occurred to him, and he paused for a moment, wondering how best to word his sudden query.

“Do you have a name, by the way?” he asked.

The changeling shook their head. “Momma didn’t give me one… she said I’m not old enough yet,” they sadly answered.

Jeremy reached up and patted them on the head. “Well, that just means you get to look forward to it, right? You’re going to have a great name, I can just feel it.”

He finally reached Canterlot proper, puffing slightly as he stepped onto flat ground instead of a sloping trail.

“Is this the place Momma in-vay-ded?” the tiny changeling asked.

Jeremy made a noncommittal sound. “…Yeah,” he answered after a moment. “But that was just… a misunderstanding.” The changeling on his shoulder remained silent for a while, as Jeremy searched the city of Canterlot for an art shop.

He finally found one in the form of ‘Colora’s Colors,’ an expensive-looking art shop relatively far away from Celestia’s palace. The bell chimed as he walked in the door, ducking his head to avoid hitting the doorframe. The shop itself was an absolute mess, paints and canvases everywhere in no particular arrangement. The shelves were so loosely sorted that Jeremy had a hard time telling if there even was any organization to them, and the front desk was equally covered in various projects and jars of oil paint.

“Oh, hello! What can I do for you today!” the owner asked, trotting up. She was an alabaster-colored pegasus similar to Rarity… or so Jeremy thought. Her coat was so smeared with paints, marker, pigments, and various other forms of coloring tools that it was hard to tell just what color she was supposed to be. She made Rainbow Dash look boring and plain with how vibrant the splotches of color on her were.

“Wow. Did your entire gallery explode?” Jeremy joked, and she giggled slightly.

“I get that a lot. No, I did this to myself on purpose. Now I’m a work of art!” she explained, and Jeremy nodded approvingly.

“Anyway, we’re here to get this little one some proper drawing supplies,” he replied, and the mare straightened up immediately, an excited smile plastered on her face.

“I’m always happy to introduce little ones to the wonders of artistry! Hold on, I know just what to get.” She disappeared into the depths of the cluttered shop, art supplies clinking as she rustled around.

A moment later, she returned with a small, wooden box, holding it in her mouth and evidently intending Jeremy take it.

He did, glancing at the label inscribed on the box. “Student’s Kit?” he asked, curious.

“I put these together a while back for my art students. It’s a little of everything – oil and watercolor paints, quills and ink, charcoal, and a rubber eraser. And you’ll also need some paper…” she muttered, vanishing into the clutter again as she hunted down some un-painted on paper.

“Yeah, this oughta be right!” she proclaimed a moment later. There was a small thump as she set down a stack of papers of various sizes on the front desk, knocking over a thankfully closed jar of paint as she did so. “And one more…” she added, poking around on said desk until she whipped out a book.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Art,” Jeremy read.

“Yep! I wrote it. So, all this will be fifty-three bits,” Colora finished. Jeremy fished around in the sack of money he had been given. The larger gold coins, he discovered, were worth fifty bits, and there was a smaller gold one that was just five bits, so he plucked out one of each and handed them over.

“Fifty-five, change is two…” Colora muttered as she ducked below her desk, the clinking of metal indicating she was rustling about in a money tin. “Here’s your change! Let me know if you need any more help,” she promised as she handed him two small silver coins.

“Thank you, this is a really good start already!” Jeremy replied happily.

“Thank’oo, Miss Colora!” the changeling on his shoulder called out as they left the shop.

They made their way back to the Hive, Jeremy still smiling. “So, do you think this will be enough?” he asked.

The changeling looked down at the somewhat heavy pile of stuff he was carrying, and beamed. “This is so much… thank you, Dad. I make you proud!” they proclaimed, puffing their chest out adorably.

Jeremy chuckled. “That said, you’ll probably spend a lot of time learning how to draw correctly, so don’t be afraid to use all of it. We can always just go buy more,” he offered.

They hugged him, or rather, his face, nuzzling his cheek gently. “You’re the best, dad,” they murmured, and Jeremy’s heart nearly broke in two from the amount of cute contained in the tiny changeling.

They returned to the Hive to find that the other children had woken up, and were playing once more.

“Dad!” one called out, and they all turned to face him with smiles.

“Hello again, everyone! I was out getting some art supplies for this child here. Be careful not to tear the paper or spill the paint,” Jeremy warned. He set the paints, paper, book, and drawing kit down where the changeling on his shoulder had been drawing before, and finally let them off his shoulder, a slight ache letting him know just how long they had been sitting there.

“Woww…” the other changelings breathed as they gazed upon the things Jeremy had bought.

“Now, remember,” he began, addressing the child that had just been on his shoulder. They looked up at him curiously. “If another person asks you to use your art supplies, you should share them. After all, creating things together is much more fun than creating them alone,” Jeremy lectured, trying to sound like a proper dad.

“Okay, Daddy,” the changeling agreed, smiling at him.

Jeremy smiled back. “Thanks, kiddo. Anyway, I’d better go find Mom. It’s been two whole hours and I haven’t hugged her yet,” he joked, to the surrounding changelings’ laughter.

“Bye, Daddy!” they chorused, and Jeremy beamed as he once more made for the surface. It felt like Chrysalis was aboveground, somewhere…

Comments

[Razzy]

D'awwww~ Just d'awwww.

Now I wonder why they didn't just use tiny kid changelings for conquest... Though I suppose it's difficult to get love from ponies who died of a cuteness-induced heart attack. >.>

The changelings in the caves could totally create an awesome haunted ride down there.

*watches NMM get petted* Ferocious dream demon, everyone.

[Fireeaters]

Nice.