Settled
"Wait," Sweetie Belle looked at the crystal pony in confusion, "what made me full just now?" She looked up at the pony. "Was that wubs?"
Shining lifted a hoof up and clopped it against her forehead, realizing as she did that it didn't save her from seeing the scene unfold further. "Sweetie, we are not—"
"Vamponies!" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shrieked together. Each nymph looked at the other, as if seeing their new fangs and faces for the first time.
If Shining Armor could lift both forehooves up and thump herself in the head, she would have. 'If I was lucky I might knock myself out.' "So what did she feed on?"
"Love." Bright Hope smiled at Sweetie's worried look. "It is given freely, so is pure and sweet. Small amounts—like what little nymphs need—isn't a strain. But big and bitter bugs can consume quite a bit if they are fresh back from a long trip away."
Sweetie Belle blushed a little, a green glow entering her cheeks. "It… it was tasty…" Turning on a dime, the nymph bolted to hide behind Thorax.
Looking to Sweetie with a little consternation, Shining realized she thought of Thorax as a "guardian" too, and it riled her a little. 'She's part of the problem, she is trying to brainwash us!'
"Hey, it's our turn." Apple Bloom walked up to Shining. "If we are turnin' into vamponies, at least you can show us how it is done." She leaned in and gave Shining a hug.
"Yeah, I am not sure if these are… if they are the same kind of vampony as I was." 'Now they have me doing this. It is kinda cute though.' Shining gave Apple Bloom a hug back. "Hey, Scootaloo, you wanna learn how a real vampony drinks wubs?" Shining let go of Apple Bloom and marched over to the crystal pony.
"Well, a vampony huh?" Bright saw a level of "leadership" in Shining and smirked. "Well, I guess the way changelings eat is sort-of like that, but completely different. So, close your eyes, open your mouth, and smell."
Shining checked to make sure Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were beside her before closing her eyes as instructed. Inhaling, she caught an odd scent. "Sweet, but with… well, a touch of vinegar." She scrunched her nose and took another deep breath. Before she could add more, she was cut off by a laugh behind her. Turning, she saw Thorax and Glimmer Wing snorting to themselves. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, but you hit the mark for Bright. He was meant to be made a changeling last year, but got turned down because we really need the food." Thorax waved a hoof at Bright. "But word is he will be getting his wish soon. The Queen needs more drones, and is finally giving in to his request."
"She is?" Bright's attention was focused on Thorax.
On a hunch, Shining inhaled again and smelled the bitterness had gone, replaced by sweetness and extra spice. Without thinking about it, she followed the instructions from earlier, closed her eyes and leaned in to take a bite. A rush of sensation poured through Shining, she opened her eyes wide at how good it tasted. Unlike Sweetie, she had eaten oats, but the fullness inside was now infinitely better than just the dry grain. "Wow."
"Bet he is sweeter now." Glimmer laughed, then realized she was close to Thorax and backed off soberly.
"Sweet, with some odd spice. It tasted…" Shining blushed a little. "It tasted really good." She sniffed again, smelling the wonderful scent more. "Do all ponies smell that good?" 'What am I thinking? Ponies aren't food, they are ponies. Is… is this what I have to do for the rest of my life?' The jokes about "vamponies" seemed to mock Shining then.
"Almost like zap-apples." Apple Bloom tried it out for herself, slowly nibbling at Bright's aura. "But sweeter. Wow that tastes good!" She nibbled more and laughed. "Really good."
"A gourmand are you?" Bright reached a hoof up to ruffled Apple Bloom's crest. "Different nymphs eat differently. Your friend there liked to take a huge bite," he pointed at Shining, "but you are like a little filly with spaghetti, slurping and nibbling over and over."
Scootaloo didn't like the idea of biting, she mentally squinted at the problem. As the smell of sweet-spice rolled over her, she remembered back to something that she loved to do. Imagining a straw in her mouth, Scootaloo slurped up the wonderful tasting… wubs.
"What… what did you do?!" Bright Hope's voice was raised and he was staring at Scootaloo. "I have never felt a single changeling feed like that, it… smooth, slow, but really odd. You have to tell me what you did!"
Shining couldn't help herself, she moved between the crystal pony and Scootaloo, glaring at the former. "Be nice, I am sure she didn't mean it!" She was surprised when she realized Thorax had moved up, and was shielding Scootaloo from the other side.
"Just because some nymph imagines their feeding a little different doesn't mean you can interrogate her, Bright." Thorax turned to the two nymphs at her side. "Make some room for Glimmer's nymphs."
Feeling a little more disposed to liking Thorax, Shining took the command without railing against it. "Come on Scootaloo." She lowered her head and bumped the other nymph in the shoulder to get her walking. "You worked out how to do it, right?"
"Yeah, no thanks to him." Scootaloo gave a little harrumph and trotted back to her friends. "Thanks for that, Vinyl. S-Sorry I kept making fun of you for being a vampony."
Shining blinked a moment, realizing that the other three nymphs didn't know of her secret. "That's okay, it was all—"
"Yeah, being a vampony is a whole lot better than being a changeling." Apple Bloom's grin was a mile wide, showing off all her sharp teeth. "And you are pretty cool, for a vampony."
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, emotion vamponies!" Scootaloo raised a hoof, followed immediately by two more, and finally by Shining's.
"What are you four yelling about?" Thorax trotted after the four nymphs in their pledge. "Sorry about Bright, he thinks he has seen everything. What did you do to him?" She leaned down and brushed her cheek against Scootaloo as she drew alongside the nymphs.
Scootaloo felt a warmth from the touch; a glowing sensation inside that was like the feeding, but a lot smaller. "I didn't like the idea of biting, nibbling, or gulping. So I imagined a straw and sucked through it."
"Ha, that old coot doesn't know what a straw is. They live down here…" Thorax's tone turned a little melancholy. "That doesn't matter. I have something we need to talk about in private, but you need to help me with something else, first." She noticed she had all four nymphs' attention.
'This sounds interesting. I wonder what Thorax wants from us?' Shining felt more comfortable, relaxed, with the changeling now. "What do you need us to do?"
"Simple. I need you to persuade her to sleep in your cave tomorrow." Thorax closed her eyes a moment and shivered in excitement. "I promise you won't get in trouble; if anybuggy does, it will be me."
" 'Anybuggy'?" Sweetie Belle giggled and turned to her friends. "What do you think, girls? Should we help Thorax woo her special somepony?"
"Wait!" Thorax froze in shock. "I didn't mean we—"
"Give up, you can't change their minds." Shining might have hated the situation they were in, and hated the "changelings" as an institution, but Thorax seemed mostly okay. "You will be lucky if they don't make you a picnic, and lay out a pair of bound ponies for you to drink from."
"No, I really mean it, we aren't like that." Thorax turned from Shining to the nymphs, loss and worry etching into her features. "We aren't special some… buggies. Glimmer Wing is… she is the pony I came from. She is my twin." A sudden squeezing pulled her from her negative emotions; four nymphs were hugging her, squeezing for all they were worth.
"Ah can hear me, the other me, when Ah'm asleep. She is confused and lost, so Ah talked to her." Apple Bloom sniffed loudly.
"The other me is just as afraid for Rarity as I am." Sweetie Belle remembered crying in her dreams, cuddling the other filly, crying with her.
"I have a sister." Scootaloo's voice was the softer of the three, but had no less emotion. "For the first time in my life I have a family."
"I…" Shining was on the edge, on the verge of saying what she was, what "he" was. "She supports me. She tells me to buck-up and be myself. She reminds me of me and my little sister combined…"
"That is more of what we need to talk about." Thorax squeezed the nymphs tightly. "Come on, let's get back to the pail so you can finish the day off learning." The moment Thorax finished talking all four nymphs gave sighs of disappointment. "Hey, don't be like that. Pretty soon the learning will be over and real fun can begin." She tapped the side of her snout with one hoof.
Implications swirled in Shining's head, and she found herself grabbing on to each one and filing them away for later inspection. "Bleh, class is stupid, what are we doing today?"
"Lying again, I think. It's not a terrible skill to have for a changeling." Thorax gestured to a wall, that opened up a fraction of a second later to show the classroom filling up. "Go on, in you go." She raised her voice so Articulate could hear her. "Woke up hungry and not wanting grain anymore."
"Oh?" Articulate actually let some real happiness escape his demeanor. "We have some real changelings joining us. Who was their first?" He gestured the nymphs into the room.
"Bright Hope, even stumped the old glitter-plot with how one drank. Ask them how to do it." Thorax chirped her wings and waved to the class moments before the wall closed up again. As soon as it was closed, she let out a sigh. "I hope I can trust them…"
Shining slumped into her seat and looked up at the teacher. More lying lessons. Closing her eyes, she focused on the words Thorax had used, and ran over the implications of what had been said. 'Either this is all smoke and mirrors to get us to give in to the programming further, or she really is as nice as she seems, and she wants to really help.'
"Ah, now, Floating High, how goes the search for a mare?" Articulate's words cut straight to Shining, causing the nymph's head to jerk up.
"There's this one filly, by Celestia she has the sweetest plot you have ever seen! I started to hang around where she works, but you know how unicorns can be. Anyway, long story short, I used the bump-and-apologize trick; it worked! We have a date next week." Shining's brain just leapt into action, the teaching causing her mouth to open and the perfect ramble of a stallion with looser morals and a desire for company coming to her lips.
"What's her wings like, surely you felt her feathers as you bumped her." Articulate gave his student a look that could be read as either interest, or a complete lack thereof.
Shining crinkled her brow, or at least she would have if her features weren't a lot more chitinous than normal. "Might want to check your ears, sir. I said unicorn, and by the sun I could lick her horn all day…"
"Very good, what about you, Light Speed? How is that job going in Cloudsdale?" Articulate turned and looked at Scootaloo.
"So much cooler than last week, I got a raise for doing such perfect clouds… and then lost it when I accidentally put lightning bolts in one. How was I meant to know those stupid weatherponies wouldn't check to see if a 'nimbus was loaded?" Scootaloo waved a hoof in the air dismissively. "You should have seen them run, a bolt hit that fancy flier right in the plot!"
Articulate didn't have any questions for Scootaloo, and looked to Apple Bloom. "And you, Braided Lace?"
"How uncouth. My name's Beaded Lace. My sister is Braided." Apple Bloom gestured to Sweetie Belle. "And I will have you know, young colt, that my day is absolutely none of your business."
"Such terrible manners in the youth these days." Sweetie Belle slipped into her character, ignoring the teacher and looking to Apple Bloom. "Oh, and he is still there. Perhaps if we ignore him completely he will just go away."
"Everyling, this is how it is done. Each of them played to their role, each took an entirely different speech pattern than normal, some even a different gender. Great work." Articulate beamed with pride.
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Scootaloo's lie was a bit over the top. But I guess people would assume she was exaggerating the details and not making up the whole thing.
7994704 Exactly, in case it wasn't obvious enough, she was trying to emulate Rainbow Dash's bragging style, taken to a higher degree.
Well this was interesting to see Shining/Vinyl realizing that he the indoctrination make him/her create a bond with Thorax. I wander how the group will deal with the other grubs. I would have thought that the class that they have should be better called drama class, as it's basically the same.
Feeling neck ache today giving me a headache but happy with this chapter.
orig01.deviantart.net/baef/f/2016/328/9/4/lynx_approves_3_by_lynx318-dapiq59.jpg
We're convinced that Thorax, even though she's not being completely forthcoming, is an important pony. She seems to be investing a lot into this...
Her other half? Are we reading too much into that, or is there going to be a soul-splitting in by near future?
So after learning is.... Training? Actually getting to use that new body? Changeling puberty?
To Glimmer: do you still hold hope?
Keep going! ;)
GASP.