Creating A Hive

by Authora97

The Check-In

Lilac thought she was actually doing really well.

She was doing better with her weapons training. Guns and knives were an uphill climb, Lilac just couldn’t get the hang of them. Hand-to-Hand was mire her forte. Her mom and aunt write this off as Lilac’s dragon instinct, as her claws of course were more natural to use. But she wouldn’t be a dragon everywhere, so Lilac had to learn other weapons.

Aunt Killjoy was excited to see Lilac gaining skill in knives. Once Lilac worked with smaller forms of knives, she was getting skilled at it. Lilac was bursting with pride to hear the praise. All her work to getting this training was paying off. Killjoy kept telling jokes about ‘passing the torch’. Lilac was half convinced the phrase was fake. Her aunt was the type for that, and her mom would encourage any sort of pun.

Though whether it was a pun or not, it felt good to be included in the family business. Lilac had been included in some of her mother’s travels before: How To Train Your Dragon (at Lilac’s request), Rise of the Guardians, a few trips that were mainly because Lilac couldn’t be left home alone with Tracy, and a quick jaunt in Doctor Who. After that trip, her mom had benched Lilac.

Even though any danger Lilac had been in was from forces nobody had predicted. She had been useful! She wanted to be useful again. Lilac remembered that despite the dangers, there had been fun. Lilac had remembered how happy being there made her mom. Everything there was so stressful and panicked, but her mom had made it all fun. Lilac wanted to be more included in that. She wanted to see other times where her mom could smile, especially with her aunt and dad around.

If that meant Lilac had to learn hand-to-hand combat and knives, then she would learn it.

Manehatten was different from the rough human cities. Sure it was dangerous to live there alone, but it was easier. Cushy. Lilac remembered being taunted by other dragons, ten years ago. They had laughed at her for living the cushy life of a pony. Now Lilac was sitting in a tree, trying to live like a human.

She had gotten a pet bird out of it. The experience was worth it.

(Her mom kept making grandma jokes. Lilac hadn’t known that adopting a pet bird didn’t actually make her a mother, she was four!)

(Yes she kept Peewee’s birdhouse stocked with treats. What of it?)

Lilac was using the knife to slice skin off an apple. She was supposed to make a picture of something using the knife. Her aunt encouraged the knife as a brush. It was supposed to give Lilac practice on force.

‘Use enough force to cut, not to slice. Sometimes you gotta hold a knife against somebody until you take him down, or one of us comes to save you.’

Lilac didn’t like thinking about holding a knife to someone’s throat. She understood the necessity. She had watched her mom do it a few times. Once or twice, Lilac had a knife to her own throat. She wouldn’t want to make any mistakes with anybody.

And if Lilac couldn’t complete this assignment, her aunt would kick her ass in training. She was still sore from last time. Those dragons from a decade ago had tried/failed to make Lilac ‘tough’ like a dragon, Aunt Killjoy would make those dragons fun screaming back to their mamas. Pity that Lilac’s mama was always on Killjoy’s side.

Lilac twitched at the wrong moment. She sliced off a chunk of apple, ruining the picture. Damn it! Lilac angrily threw the apple aside. It fell from the tree, bouncing on the ground.

Double damn. Lilac would have to clean it before eating it. Had dirt gotten on the skinned part? That would use up some of her water.

She didn’t get the chance to use up said water. A figure came out from a bush, grabbing the apple from the ground. Lilac sat up, watching the pony shake off the dirt with their hoodie.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Lilac argued.

The pony darted off, taking the apple with them. Lilac had gotten training for this. She leapt off from the tree before giving chase.

The pony was small, smaller than Lilac. She could barely make out the pale yellow coat with a mane of two dark shades of brown, as the pony wore a gray hoodie and skirt. Ponies rarely wore clothing, except for the upper classes of Manehattan. Even then it was usually just a scarf or hat. Why would they wear a skirt too?

To hide a cutiemark or lack of one. Lilac reasoned.

The pony may be small like a foal but Lilac refused to be defeated. She chased the foal down. The foal hadn’t flown away or even tried, so she wasn’t a pegasus. She hadn’t tried using any magic either. An earth pony? Lilac should get prepared for that.

The foal cut into an alley. Lilac had to make the sharp turn.

There was a difficult block to get through in the middle of the alley. The foal escaped thanks to a small hole in the fence. Lilac couldn’t fit herself in it.

The foal didn’t get through unscatched. At first, Lilac thought a clump of the foal’s mane had fallen. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a scarf. A multi shaded brown scarf, caught on the fence.

Lilac picked up the scarf. The material was soft- something special. Lilac couldn’t find a tag or brand symbol on it. She could check in with Coco Pommel for where the scarf might’ve come from. She tucked the scarf into her bag.

Time to work for a living.

==CAH==

The fashionista was checking the scarf over, rubbing her hoof along the fabric. Lilac nervously fiddled with her claws.

Her mom had told Lilac it was important to build a network in these cities. People you could trust to hide you, or warn you of danger, or even to help you solve problems that you couldn’t handle alone. Lilac knew very little about fabrics, and it would take too long to ask Rarity. Coco Pommel was a great pony regardless- much better than a ‘second choice’ thing.

“Any idea who could’ve made it?” Lilac asked.

Coco lowered the scarf. She shook her head. “Sorry, Lilac. I have no idea who could have made this. It’s very pretty- somepony out a lot of work into it. Where did you find it?” She handed the scarf back over.

Lilac held it. “Somepony was running in the street, the scarf fell off.” She didn’t want to admit to having chased the foal until the scarf fell off. “It just feels really important.”

Coco gave Lilac an apologetic smile. Lilac wanted to shrug it off- say something her aunt or mom would’ve said, like the scarf was hers now. But Lilac disagreed. This scarf was cared for, it matched that foal’s mane and was too soft to have been a simple purchase.

Somepony put care into this article of clothing. Lilac wanted to find them before her dad came by later that day.

“Thanks for trying.” Lilac walked out of Coco’s office.

“Goodbye!” Coco waved.

Her next visit was to Babs Seed. The head of the Manehattan Cutie Mark Crusaders. Lilac had been using Babs Seed as a way of getting to know the city, the filly was already so rough and tumble that Lilac thought Babs would help Lilac get used to the city. So far, Babs was a great friend about it all.

Lilac explained the foal’s description to Babs. Babs was tapping her chin, trying to remember.

“Yeah...I think I know a filly like that.” Babs replied. “I tried approaching her for the CMC awhile ago but she said she already had a cutiemark.”

“She does?” Lilac asked. “I didn’t see it.”

“Yeah, that’s cuz of her skirt.” Babs explained with a roll of her eyes. “Nopony knows who she was before she was on the street. I did here some ponies calling her ‘VC’.”

There was something there. Lilac wanted to see, to figure out the mysteries around that filly.

==CAH==

Lilac sat in her tree- Central Park was still a perfect place to hide away.

She tried to think about how to find that filly. She had been wearing plain clothes, already making her a commodity in Equestria. The clothes were boring and gray, also dirty. This foal wasn’t somepony living in one of the nice apartments. They had to have a family, to get clothes at all, or fabric this soft.

Lilac wanted to give back the scarf. She hadn’t meant to take it...it had been an accident. Lilac shouldn’t have even made chase. It was just an apple. Lilac should’ve let it go. Now she had stolen a scarf. Clearly, she was the worst creature in Manehattan.

Yes she was counting her family that were already in town.

This weekend was Dad’s weekend to visit her. Lilac was excited- Dad made a point to go full tourist with Lilac, who could happily show him all the fun things to do here. Mom and Aunt Killjoy were giving a lecture at the Changeling Integration Meeting about blending in with ponies. Mom got Dad to cave in.

But that wasn’t the point. Dad would find out about the scarf, he’d tell Mom, then Mom would wanna know why, then Lilac would admit about the apple, her aunt would find out and then Lilac would have to do double training while her mom watched and her dad ate food at a crappy restaurant. Lilac hoped her grave had something nice on it.

“Hey!” A voice yelled. And it was angry too.

Lilac looked down from her perch. She had expected a pegasus- Lilac had chosen a good tree for naps and relaxing. Instead, she saw a yellow filly dressed in gray. It was VC. “You!”

“Yeah me!” VC snapped. “You took something that was mine, and I want it BACK!”

Lilac balled up the scarf. “Here you go.” She tossed it down.

VC caught it in an outstretched hoof. She turned her head from the scarf to Lilac. “Wait you just gave it back?”

“Yeah.”

“...I thought I’d have to fight you for it.” VC admitted.

Lilac tilted her head. “Why would I do that? It’s not mine.”

VC blinked. “You stole it from me earlier.”

“No. It got caught on the fence.” Lilac explained. “I didn’t want it getting torn, so I grabbed it. You were already so far away. I’d been searching for you for hours trying to return it.”

VC continued to stare at Lilac, her brown eyes full of confusion. Were the streets really so bad that this filly didn’t understand a simple gesture of kindness? “You were chasing me.”

“That was rude of me, yeah. I’m sorry.” Lilac apologized. “I should’ve just let it go.”

Nothing was making sense to this poor filly. “Dragons aren’t this nice. What- what did you do to it?”

Lilac winced. “Sorry- I’m different though. From them. I’m- I was raised by ponies.”

VC gave Lilac a side-eyed glance of disbelief. She gave Lilac a narrow stare. “Wait...I heard about you. Aren’t you the daughter of Princess Raspberry? What are you doing here in a tree?”

Lilac hopped down from the tree. VC flinched back. Lilac held up her claws. “Sorry- Mom says before I go on any adventures, I have to complete training. Living on the streets is a part of that. You- you ran off with my homework.”

VC was glaring at her now. “Your mom thinks living out here is a joke? Just something you can do for fun?”

“What- no!” Lilac insisted.

“Ponies like you are all the same! You think you can just do whatever you like and ignore how ponies around you feel! Whatever- I’m done with your type!” VC rolled her eyes, about to run off.

Well Lilac wasn’t going to let anypony talk about her mom like that. That wasn’t fair, or nice. “My mom knows how rough it is! My mom and aunt grew up alone, with no parents watching over them at all! They had to fight all the time for a bed or food. I grew up easy, I know I did. Mom put a roof over my head, and always made sure I had to eat. She knows what she does is dangerous too! If I wanna live that life with her, then I gotta be ready to fight the same fights she did. So I am really very sorry that I chased you after a single apple and took your scarf. Because I’ve been living like this for two months- I know how important it is to have something from home.”

“I’m not holding onto anything!” VC snapped, wrapping the scarf around her neck.

“Your scarf.” Lilac reminded her. “It looked really special. This bag is the same. My mom gave it to me. Who gave your scarf to you?”

VC held the ends of the scarf in her hoof. “...my dad. Before...well...”

Lilac settled herself at the tree’s roots. She patted the space beside her. The filly sat down. “Wanna talk about him, VC, if you don’t mind me calling you that?”

VC rubbed her hoodie sleeve. “...that’s fine...I mean...nopony likes talking to me about my problems.”

“I’m not a pony, I’m a dragon.”

Lilac sat beneath the tree. Together, she and VC talked the afternoon away.

==CAH==

Thorax was lost. He was secure enough as a male to know when he was lost. It didn’t make him feel better about being lost. That meant he had to ask for directions. The few Manehattan ponies he asked just rolled their eyes and grunted at him, so he was getting no help there.

After stumbling around the city he found a map that got him where he wanted to go. This tiny little cafe that Lilac recommended in her last letter.

Lilac was already in the cafe, happily petting a cat. Thorax walked in. He saw ponies drinking tea, cats lounging about everywhere they liked. Thorax waved at her to get her attention. Lilac looked up with a smile. “Dad!” She hopped up, running to him. The dad and daughter hugged. “So, you like it?”

“Yeah. What is this place again?” Thorax asked.

Lilac beamed. “It’s a cat cafe. You can sit around, and hang out with cats.”

Thorax watched the cats, hopping from post to post. “Cookie would love this one.”

“Yeah! I was thinking if you brought up the others, they would like to see.” Lilac explained. “They can meet VC too!”

Thorax tilted her head. “VC?”

Lilac pointed back towards her table. Thorax saw that same cat being petted by a yellow filly. “Get this- her name is Vanilla Cookie! Isn’t that funny? She said her parents were bakers, so they named her that. Only she wasn’t really a baker pony, she likes working on tech. Then it hit me. Cookie. Like the computer thing, not like our sister. Her parents didn’t get it or like so VC lives on the streets. She’s really cool.”

Looking back, Thorax should have known. This was a bad idea in the making. He could watch it all go down in real time.

For now, he had only this to say.

“I can no longer be mad at Raspberry.”

==CAH==

“And I’m telling you- we can’t listen to the Great Betrayer!” Pharynx yelled out in pain.

Darcy stood up, brushing her hand through her hair. “And I told you: interrupt again, get a knife in the shoulder!”

Morgan reached up. She put a hand on her sister’s arm. Darcy fell back to her sister’s side. “See? Things like that? Ponies don’t like it. They view knife throwing as impolite.”

The changelings all made appreciative noises. Some even wrote that down on notepads.

Morgan smiler appreciatively at the crowd. “With that, our time is up. Darcy, go retrieve your knife-” Pharynx threw it with a loud yell. Darcy grabbed the blade, stopping it from hitting her gut but getting a cut on her hand. “-Changelings, you have a great day in Manehattan.”

The changelings applauded for the twin humans. Morgan waved as they walked off the stage. Darcy was wrapping a bandage on her hand. Across the room, she gave Pharynx a nod. He glared back before nodding back. When they were off the stage Morgan’s bracelet glowed.

The humans shifted back into their Equestria forms. The bandage was wrapping on Killjoy’s hoof. She winced, lifting it.

Raspberry shrugged, nonchalant about her sister’s pain. “Should’ve let it go by.”

“I like that knife.” Killjoy replied. “Not a lot of things can get me. Thorax’s brother is way cooler than him.”

Thorax approached them, shaking his head. “Don’t tell him that.”

Raspberry stepped by his side, nuzzling his cheek. “Hey babe!”

“Hey.” Thorax happily returned the nuzzle.

Killjoy sought eye contact with Pharynx. When she had it, she nodded towards the couple then gagged.

“How’s our girl?” Raspberry asked. “I’m about to head over for training. Killjoy is gonna take it easy.”

“I can take her on with this.” Killjoy countered. “This is nothing.”

“Sure.” Raspberry replied, ignoring the argument. “But how is she?”

Thorax had a look on his face. The face of a man walking into hell. He was giving into the challenge ahead. This was a man who knew he would lose this fight, he was ready to die with honor. “She made a friend.”

“She has lots of friends.”

“This one was disowned by her parents.”

This has Raspberry and Killjoy’s attention. Killjoy suddenly matched Thorax’s look of dread. Raspberry had a glint in her eye. That going turned into a blaze when she saw that glint returned in Thorax’s eye.

“You can no longer make fun of me.” Raspberry told Thorax.

The changeling sighed. “I know.”

“I mean it. The others can. You just revoked that privilege.” Raspberry carried on. “You wouldn’t have told me unless you wanted to adopt her too.”

He whined.“She’s so tiny.” Thorax tried to excuse. That foal had been tiny beneath her gray hoodie and skirt, like she had been struggling on the streets for awhile.

“What was her name?”

“Vanilla Cookie.”

“That...is so sweet.”

“I know!”

Killjoy pulled her knife back out. “I could save all of Equestria by pushing this into her throat. I could do it. Stop the plague before it spreads. It’s the only path of justice.” She raised it.

Raspberry used her wing to knock it away. “So where’s the new kid?” The couple walked to the exit.

“With Lilac at your training space.” Thorax admitted. “Who do I write at social services?”

“I’m not sure who the Manehattan head is, I’ll check before I finish training.” Raspberry replied. They continued talking as they left the building.

Killjoy looked over towards Pharynx. The changeling’s shoulder was obviously bleeding. Pharynx showed no sign of wanting to get that fixed.

“You. Knife wielder.” Killjoy barely acknowledged him. “What are they talking about?” Pharynx asked.

“Our new niece.” Killjoy replied with a tired groan. Pharynx stared, wide eyed. “Yep. I’m gonna go make fun of both of them. I’d get that cut checked out- the knife was poisoned with bug spray.”

As Killjoy left, Pharynx hissed. Though he hated the idea he did go get medical attention.