• Published 13th Nov 2018
  • 2,491 Views, 892 Comments

Halls of the Changeling King - Nameless Narrator



A little changeling drone couldn't make it for the big invasion. With the help of other desperate changelings, he avoided pony retribution as long as he could, but in the end, ponies found him. Now alone, he's just trying to survive.

  • ...
10
 892
 2,491

PreviousChapters Next
12: Boss of the lings: Fellowship of the ling

“Oh, ehm, well-” Topaz leans back in his chair, quickly downing the entirety of his mug. The evening has been going well, and suddenly way too well to believe, “By going to my place you mean, uhh, my place? On the first date?”

”Okay, I knew dwarves were prudish, but this is ridiculous. He looks around eighty, healthy, and apparently single because he sent you the get well iron bar. Well, another hurdle for you to jump, it seems,” Scream comments while sitting on the table and spreading her legs at the oblivious dwarf, much to Two’s annoyance.

“Yes,” Two flicks her head to get rid of a strand of mane from her eyes, “that’s exactly what I mean, and everything that’s supposed to go with it.”

”Look, mini bug, there’s being forward, and then there’s being you. What do you think you’re doing?”

”What the boss had to do - being honest.”

”You’re a changeling! That approach hasn’t worked for your kind for like over a EVERRRR.”

”Then I’ll make it work.”

”Look, I thought Five sorted your ego by punching you repeatedly in the schnoz. You’re an infiltrator! Honesty isn’t part of the job, kinda exactly the opposite.”

”This isn’t about ego. This is about what the boss wants.”

Scream facehoofs.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Topaz stops stuttering, leaving Two amused at how she took the soldier completely by surprise, “I’m happy- no, honored, but on the first date?”

”Physical contact is always good, right?” Two asks the now sulking alicorn.

”Generally, yes. Although it may freak some types out.”

Two leans over the table, softly booping Topaz.

“We are different, and we want different things. If you’re looking for someone who would spend their life with you, that won’t be me, Topaz. I want someone maybe for this evening, maybe more often, but let me be brutally honest, despite knowing it might screw me over-”

”Maybe you should reiterate that you’re like a week old. Most cultures have opinions on that kind of thing,” Scream jumps off of the table, because Two’s head is partly inside her.

”Not THAT kind of honest.”

“I’m a little lost here. What’s going on?” asks Topaz.

Two takes a deep breath.

“Do you know what we eat?”

“Uhh, grass, meat? Wait, no. I recall something about essence.”

“We eat love.”

“How does that work?” the dwarf furrows his brows.

“It’s like energy everyone makes when they, well, love someone else. Or when they get intimate.”

”Technically, the second part is lust, and as far as I recall, you changelings react in an amusingly frothy way to it.”

”Umm, what do you mean?”

”You’ll see. As long as you don’t go dragging dwarves into dark cellars afterwards, you’ll be okay-ish.”

”You’re not helping anything by scaring me.”

”On the contrary, I’m making sure you don’t get taken by surprise by your own body. Whether or not you’re able to win a fair fight against your instincts, now THAT is up to you, and will be my fun, especially if you fail to handle it.”

“But I heard you drank the entire royal tavern under the table,” Topaz objects, lost further and further in the metaphysics of love.

“I did feel super bloated afterwards, and spent a lot of time throwing up, hoping it won’t be literally explosive,” Two shrugs, “Anyway, we’re here, we’ve been talking for hours, I feel I can trust you, and there’s only one decision left to make. Do you spend the night alone, and do I spend it alone and hungry, or not?”

Topaz hesitates, bites his lip, then asks:

“Is biting involved?”

‘Living Armor’ smiles, lowering her eyelids, and feeling Scream trying to move things along through her as she whispers from unresisting changeling’s mouth:

“Only if you want it.”

***

”-UGGGHH, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!”

Groggy, I open my eyes. Everything was going fine, I wasn’t even having a nightmare, and suddenly I realized some furious muttering is waking me up. Come on, didn’t I do enough today? Can’t I get my sleep? Just a little shuteye, that’s all I want. Peeking from under the blanket, I see Scream pacing back and forth in the bedroom of my suite.

“No, not really. I was trying to sleep after few days of smoothing things out and worrying sick about Two, Six’s possible betrayal, and Five’s potential escape, all while trying to make sure the supporting council doesn’t deem me a threat to their city.”

I call the group of dwarves who are helping me steer things through change the supporting council - Granite, Iron Rose, Hard Hat, Geode, Black Soil, and Hard Reset, each representing a relevant section of the city’s population.

Scream jumps on me, pointing her foreleg in my face.

”YOU must do something about this!”

“Do I want to know about what? Seriously, is it even something I can do anything about?”

”Mini bug is BORING IN BED!”

“Patients recovering after having their chitin broken… everywhere, really, usually are.”

”No, she’s been out of the hospital since this evening, but that’s not important-”

“Not impo-?!”

”Not. Important. She’s finished banging that guard dwarf of yours, and I couldn’t even bear watching it! SHE. WAS. BORING.”

“Uhh, while I somewhat understand the implications of such thing for a changeling, I’m inclined to ask - do you ever question your priorities?”

”My priorities are honed to perfection by eons of life. Anyway, I’m not the problem, mini bug is the problem!”

“Okay, okay, stop grumbling. First, did you put Two up to having sex with Topaz or Siegbrau or whichever dwarf you’re talking about?”

”Topaz, and yes.”

No shame, seriously.

“Were they both disappointed by it? I mean, Two has no experience, same goes for Three and Six, so she has nothing to reach for in our hive mind, and if she tried the things Eight and One did to me, Topaz would need his own guards, a lot of pills, and likely a good psychiatrist. That, or a clean memory wipe.”

”I was disappointed by it! Who cares what the screaming and begging dwarf’s opinion was! Oh yes, and she definitely tried some stuff from your experience. Mares don’t do certain things on the first date if they want a second one. The dwarf passed out halfway through out of exhaustion and sensory overload, not that it stopped mini bug. Heheh, I’m kinda proud of her for that. That’s NOT THE POINT! She’s like a machine, just squeezing every last drop out of him.”

“Is that… a bad thing?” I’m still having trouble comprehending Scream’s insanity- I mean life experience.

”Well duh! She used every instinct and every even remote memory of yours to perfectly and precisely satisfy her partner to squeeze every bit of love and lust out of him.”

“Still not getting the issue here.”

”She’s not going with the flow, working her way around the power dynamic, no passion, nothing. She’s way too practical about it! Like a… like a… milking machine to a cow. She’s not even doing it for her own pleasure, which is the worst part. She just wants to feed you, and that makes it your fault.”

Uhh, how?

“You know, I’m sure all this makes sense to you somehow, Scream, but isn’t this your responsibility? I mean, I really can’t tell Two not to do things this way if she’s already managed to find her own way to feed properly, not just from eating scraps like before. If you don’t like how Two sleeps with dwarves, isn’t it your, I don’t know, job as the alicorn of Lust to teach her?”

”SHE DOESN’T LISTEN TO MEEEEE!”

Heheh, smart little cookie.

“Well, I’m not going to force her to obey you, that wouldn’t be fair. But I had a changeling before - Four, who had the hive’s number One, the top infiltrator, teach her, and while they disagreed on good and morality, they learned to work together. Shouldn’t you be the top of the top… lust experts? Surely you can find a way to make it work without resulting to blackmail, and in that even teach Two how to manipulate others and use her head instead of her hooves in and out of battle.”

Scream narrows her eyes, then cracks her neck.

”I will make mini bug into a passionate sex goddess, or my name isn’t Ecstatic Scream!” she disappears.

Hole yeah, I’m getting better at this ruling thing.

”Two, honey?” I softly touch the mental link now practically buzzing with energy.

”Yes, boss?”

”I’m glad you’re okay.”

”Thank you, boss. I’ll do my best not to fail you again, I promise.”

”No rushing head first into danger?”

”Now, boss, how would I grow without a challenge? Of course I will rush in head first, I just need to keep using my head instead of switching to my hooves on reflex when I’m already in danger. They don’t know what’s good for me.”

”That makes me a little scared, but I believe you’re smart enough to have learned from the last incident. Anyway, Scream’s going to be pestering you again, and I believe she can be a very useful source of advice, just don’t do anything evil. I don’t think she’s got any morals, and I want you to be better than that. If in doubt, just ask ‘What wouldn’t Three do?’.”

”I’ll wear a bracelet not to forget, boss.”

”So, how’s lust?”

”I feel like I can take on the whole world!”

”Don’t overdo it, and I can’t stress this enough,” I share the memories of dying changelings foaming at their mouths after we got them from Canterlot prison, ”Pure lust is a drug that makes you strong, and then drags you down, useful when you need a burst of power. Love is love, focus on that. The proper way to do it is to mix those two somehow, but I don’t know how to do that effectively, One used to.”

Two feels taken aback by the visions, and nods.

”I… I didn’t know that… I will keep that in mind. I do have an idea on using the lust I gained. It might be just a little… evil, but it won’t endanger us with the dwarves.”

”Two...”

”Boss, I love you more than anything, and I know you trust me, but there are things you can’t help me with, and I need to work with what primitive tools I’ve got. I won’t fail you… no, I will do my best not to fail you, and if I do fail you, I’ll get my ass up and fix it.”

”Nothing ‘too’ evil, you said?”

”Only a little evil, maybe a dash of bad with a sprinkle of villainous.”

”Remember, if you ever catch yourself laughing like this,” I recall pretty much any instance of One’s laughter, or Scream’s laughter really, ”Stop and look at your bracelet.”

”Will do, boss. Good night.”

”Good night, Two.”

***

“Roll over!”

Three obediently drops on his back while Six only tilts his head, staring at frowning Two who says:

“I told you the point was NOT to do what I say!”

Three rolls around, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

“This feels so gooood...”

“Wait, really?” Six raises an eyebrow, then plops on the ground too, rolling from side to side, “Wow! I can just feel all the tension from my back flowing away.”

Two facehoofs, the crack echoing through the main hall of the prison vault.

“Yeah, try it too, Two,” says grinning Three.

“No.”

“Alright, alright,” Three jumps back up, and walks behind Two, then digs his hooves into her back, and starts circling them around.

“Hey, stop that! We’ve got important business to- uuhhhnnnghhh...” Two’s eyelids droop as a relieved sigh leaves her mouth, the massage quickly melting all tension away.

Two gives up instantly. If you can’t beat them...

Unspecified amount of time later, Two snaps out of her warm trance, and shakes her head.

“A-hem!” Six and Three rolling on their backs still and again respectively sit up in response, “Well done on discovering this… technique, both of you. Mostly Three, though,” both drones beam at Two’s praise anyway, “But I still need your help, and it’s super important. So, one more time - I tell you to do something, and you resist doing it as much as you can.”

“Oh, so it ISN’T like a game of Chryssie says, I see,” Three nods wisely.

“Who’s Chryssie?” ask both Two and Six.

“Bad mom.”

“Like my mom?” Two furrows her brows.

“Nah, miss Eight’s awesome. She can punch things really hard!”

“Yeah, that’s all she can do apparently,” grumbles Two, clearly unimpressed with Three’s explanation.

“That’s not true! She can kick things really hard too!”

“And what if you can’t do what Chryssie says?” asks Six, suspicious.

“You go into the grinder.”

“Uhh… what’s a grinder?” two pairs of eyes look at Three again.

“Well… you know how Five beat both of you up? Now imagine thousand of those and they’re really mad. Then add acid.”

“Ouch,” winces Six.

“Back to the subject!” Two shakes her head, raising her voice, “Can you do what I want you to do?”

“You mean NOT do what you want us to do?”

At this point, Scream can’t handle it anymore and bursts out laughing, making Two’s eye twitch.

“Yes… exactly that,” Two breathes out, unsure whether she can actually strangle Three, but getting closer and closer to giving it a shot, “Now roll over!”

The drones sit there, unmoving.

Two grits her teeth.

“Roll over!”

Still nothing. Again, again, and again.

“She looks sad now,” whispers Three to Six, “Should I do it just to make her feel better?”

”Don’t you dare,” Scream hisses his way, ”This is gold!” out loud she says, ”Keep going, mini bug. You’re doing grea- well, you’re doing something.”

-SHUT UP!-

Everyone goes quiet as Two clutches her suddenly aching head.

”Oooh, I almost felt that one. Well, not really, but chatterbug and… hmm, what do we call the other one - disposable bug? Nah, too long.”

Neither Three nor Six are capable of answering, still under the effect of the successful mental command.

“Oh wow...” Three breathes out after few more seconds, “That was really cool! You’re like Four now… really angry Four, I mean, and without the tripping.”

“I- wh- I did it...” Two squees, beaming, “Ididit Ididit Ididit!” she bounces around.

”You know, getting lucky once doesn’t mean it’ll work again. All resemblance to your drinking thing and then getting punched to near-death events earlier intended,” Scream clears her throat.

“Right, right...” Two stops, “Okay, let’s give it few more shots so that I can be sure I can do it, at least when I’m not being kicked in the face. Okay, here goes - jump!”

Aaaand nothing.

“I don’t think it worked,” Three reports so very helpfully.

Two takes a deep breath, calms down, and tries to recall her exact feeling, the emotional power of the moment. As much as she hates to admit it, she does have a short fuse, and that order was tied to anger. Anger that almost got her killed before, and which got the boss revealed to the dwarves at large.

That won’t do. When she’s angry, she’ll fail. If she’s calm, she can bring an entire race under boss’ command. The mental order has nothing to do with what comes out of her mouth.

-Roll over!-

Both drones drop on their backs, being stationary for a second or two, then resuming Three’s self-massage method. Scream, mostly for giggles, does that too, wings spread.

”Hey, that’s not half bad. Good find, chatterbug!”

“Thank you, miss Scream,” answers Three.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Six stops, “Who’s the huge gold pony that the dwarves can’t see?”

“That’s Scream,” Two waves her hoof, “She knows a lot, but don’t let her talk you into things unless you’re absolutely sure you can get out once she kicks the chair from under you.”

“You mean if she kicks the chair under you?”

“Noooope!” Two grins sadistically.

”Cold...” pouts Scream.

“Accurate.”

”Not disputing that,” the alicorn shrugs, ”But still cold, and after all I did for you and boss bug...”

-Jump!-

Both drones bounce up instantly.

-And stop.-

Two’s final order is calm, collected, and most of all - effective.

“Thank you very much,” she pats Three and Six on the head, “I think I can do it if I have a moment to concentrate. The next part will be the difficult one, but I don’t need you two for that. Sorry for waking you up this early.”

“No problem, Two,” Three salutes, “Boss will be so happy to see what you learned.”

“I will show him at the right time, don’t worry. Let’s keep it a surprise, okay?”

“Okay, Two,” the drones are allowed out after pushing a button which lets the guards outside know that they want to leave. Two, however, stays, checking her love level.

”You know, I’m way too curious to stop you from doing what you want to do,” says Scream out of nowhere, ”But are you sure it’s a good idea?”

“It’s a good test,” Two doesn’t even try to hide anything from the alicorn.

”If I were you, I’d take some safety precautions, such as if you don’t return in an hour, the dwarves should go grab some mops and scrape your pulverized remains off of the floor.”

“I will leave a message in the hive mind, and clear it if things go alright. I checked her state as well as I could. If I made a glaring mistake which would lead to that, I don’t deserve to walk out of here anyway,” Two bites her lip, staring at the nearest closed and locked door, her breathing growing ragged, “She got inside before because we didn’t keep the whole building shut tight. She won’t get out.”

”And neither will you. Don’t take this as me trying to stop you. You’re the agent of your own destiny, to a miniscule degree, I’m just pointing out the potential splatter ending. If not for you, then for mini bug.”

“I thought I was mini bug again.”

”Nah, I can’t make up a nickname for Six. You’re relegated to smart bug on probation.”

“I need to burn some lust off. Do you know mind control magic?”

”Of course I do! And before you ask about other types of magic, I know those too. Aside from Magnus, I’m the best magic user in history.”

“Can you instruct me in something basic like you did with the boss and the ritual that gave Three a body?”

”I think you could handle some basic suggestion magic, but isn’t changeling stuff better anyway? By a LOT I mean.”

“I’ll be using that too.”

”Alright, the basic charging process is similar to what I did through you while casting the lightning spell before, that’s drawing on magic inside you, the spell itself feels like this-”

Two’s mind is assaulted by what can only be described by a mess of feelings and information, like reciting a book without ever reading it while being thrown into a whirlpool and trying not to drown because you don't know how to swim.

Thankfully, it’s short.

”-aaaand this is how the spell goes. It’s only basic, makes target a little more agreeable to listen. If they don’t want to, they most likely won’t anyway. The useful part is it being so weak it’s mostly invisible even to magical alarms.”

“Erlghbl...” Two blinks. Scream could swear she saw both her eyes turn completely blue with some white writing for a moment.

”Agreed.”

Two walks into the cell door.

“Eurllf...?”

She shakes her head, trying to open the massive door by pushing against it.

”Uhhh, are you okay?”

“Blrpbl?!” Two blinks again, and as if finally restarting, she looks at the string of her drool on the steel inner vault door, “Ow, my head!” with another breath to steady herself, “Let’s do this,” she opens the door correctly this time.

Five raises her head, slowly getting up on three legs and trying not to show pain. She’s taking the fact that her severed foreleg is hanging out of reach from the ceiling rather well. Two feels the warrior’s link, and taps into her head. She quickly finds the mental block, same as inside Six, but stops herself from pushing against it too hard. After all, boss’ orders were clear. Or were they?

“Don’t bother torturing me,” croaks Five, “I can’t tell you anything. But I might reconsider if you give me back my leg. I keep toppling over.”

“Well, boss doesn’t want a dribbling wreck on his hooves… yet,” Two grins, “Oh wait, that was true for Six.”

Five’s manages to stand straight, defiantly looking down at smaller Two. They both know, however, that while Five likely could hurt Two, she doesn’t have enough energy anymore to do anything else.

“Sit,” says Two.

“I serve only one master, and you’re not it,” answers Five.

-Sit!-

The warrior trembles, fighting her own body, before her remaining legs fold underneath her.

“One, two, three, four, five, six…” Two keeps counting under her breath until Five stands up, “eleven. Hmm, even as weak as she is, I can’t keep her down for long.”

-Tell me who sent you.-

“N-N-N-” Five clutches her head, and Two feels the warrior’s mind beating against the strange mental block inside her.

-Tell me who sent you!-

Five starts trembling, and gasping for breath. Two walks over, strengthening her fangs, and bites Five’s neck to release her weak venom into the warrior.

-Who sent you?-

“I-I-I-” Five’s mind resists, but a warrior isn’t built to rebel, only to obey orders, and the obedience trait is even stronger in Five for some reason, which Two picks up on, and her stubby horn starts glowing as she recreates Scream’s suggestive magic layered on top of everything else.

-OBEY ME!-

Five keels over, suddenly blank. A quick peek into her mind shows everything weirdly still, with the mental block remaining there, taunting Two’s lack of power and experience. Despite that, Two feels her command resonating within Five like a deep scar, not weakening at all.

“I won’t talk, I can’t, and it is as much due to respect as it is due to the block,” says Five with the same strange calm, “But I will obey.”

Two, shaking and gasping for breath more than Five before, blinks away tears and sweat. She leaves the warrior’s mind still burning with her command like a brand without signs of stopping.

”You know, while I’m impressed you made your first permanent slave,” Scream starts, and both Five and Two look at her, ”I’m absolutely certain boss bug’s gonna be pissed.”

***

I can’t stop myself from screaming when I look at the dejected and eerily peaceful warrior after Two explains what she did.

“Which part of IRREVERSIBLY ENSLAVING OTHER CHANGELINGS DIDN’T STRIKE YOU AS PURE FUCKING EVIL?! What wouldn’t Three do, wasn’t it? This definitely ISN’T something Three would do, IS IT?!”

”And you thought I was the bad guy,” Scream snickers.

Two lowers her head, her shoulders slumped and ears splayed back.

“...I’m sorry...” she whimpers.

“DON’T FUCKING APOLOGIZE TO ME! TURN FUCKING AROUND AND SAY THAT TO THE MENTALLY LOBOTOMIZED WARRIOR THERE!”

“May I say something?” Five raises her hoof.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Miss Two?” Five looks at her for confirmation.

“Yes. When boss says something, you do it.”

“I understand,” Five’s peaceful tone does little to soothe what I can only describe as FIERY FUCKING FURY, “I am not damaged as such, ‘boss’. I am aware of my situation, and I will obey anything miss Two orders. Her… deed robbed me of any freedom and overrides any orders I’ve had before, but I haven’t lost any of my skill or physical ability.”

“That’s not the point!” I stomp my hoof, finally able to lower my voice, “I don’t doubt your skill, I don’t doubt you physical ability. I don’t even really need to know who you freaking belong to! I don’t NEED any of that! I NEEDED YOU FREE! THAT’S what Two didn’t understand. I’ve known thousands of changelings like you - warrior slaves to the will of the infiltrators. Do you know where they are now? TWO, ESPECIALLY!”

“...no, boss...”

“They’re all dead. Vast majority of changelings died during a huge invasion under our uncaring queen Chrysalis. Everyone I gathered was happy not to be under Chrysalis anymore. I didn’t force anyone to do anything, they joined me because it helped them, which means out of their free will. Due to that invasion, ponies want us dead. EVERYONE wants us dead. The last thing we need is us hurting us. I wanted all changelings to be able to live as themselves, grow as themselves, and not have to steal others’ lives and scrounge for scraps of love as parasites,” I look at Five, “What do you want from life?”

“I have to serve Two.”

“What do you WANT?”

“I wanted to finish my task of killing Six for his failure and for being a weak link. His block can be destroyed, and information revealed. I am now in his position, I am the weak link.”

“No, Five. What do YOU want? Not what’s your task or anything. What do you want from life? What would you strive for if you were on your own.”

“I...” she stops, but I feel that she’s thinking about it, not that she’s refusing to answer, “I would still try to find someone to support with my skills. I don’t have goals of my own.”

I sigh. On the other hoof, I’m not in this situation for the first time.

“Five, you will serve Two, but don’t think of yourself as a tool, please. I hope you will have time and capacity to learn, but I’ve known a warrior called Nine. Well, we called him flower pot, because he was content with sitting and guarding my little hive. I can only hope Two didn’t ruin your life completely.”

“If her word goes against yours, I will obey her.”

“I know,” I nod.

“N-NO!” Two looks at Five, “I told you - you will obey the boss first!”

“I can’t-”

“No, she can’t. I can see it in her mind,” I say, “Whether you want it or not, you have personal responsibility now. Like I do with all of you, which is why I’m trying to let you grow, learn by making mistakes, and not being like Chrysalis and simply barking orders. Well, this is the result. I’m sorry, Five. I need to learn that there are orders I must enforce sometimes. I’m sorry you had to be the victim of my failure-”

“NO! It’s MY fault, boss,” Two squeaks, voice shaky and high-pitched, “You did nothing wrong! I just disobeyed-”

“Which is something that wouldn’t be allowed under Chrysalis, and which is something Five physically can’t do anymore. Think about that. You thought you had a good idea, you thought I was wrong and too soft, you thought you could do it. What if you weren’t even allowed to think that, not to mention actually try. You robbed a fellow changeling of that.”

“B- But she tried to kill Six, boss.”

“It was her choice to obey those orders, and she’s clearly in the wrong. I wanted to eventually make her understand, or discuss her reasons for it. If it was just orders, whoever is in charge can be talked to. I’m not defending Five, Two, I’m mad at you. Really, really mad.”

“...I know, boss...”

“Then make things right, that’s the best we can try to do. You’ve got your own warrior now, my order is that you make sure you can do good with her help, and that she doesn’t become a mindless tool of yours. It might help you with some self-control, Two, because some things become easy and soooo tempting with slaves.”

When did I become the adult in the room? Oh right…

Heh, come to think about it, Three’s the second oldest. Now that’s a mind-blowing realization.

I look at Two silently sitting in front of me, staring at the floor. What can I do now that the damage is done? I wish I knew how to fix everything.

Well, Chrysalis thought she knew how to fix everything. Memories of the hive rulers thought they knew how to fix everything. Maybe not knowing might actually work better…

“Five, do you actually want Six dead?” I ask.

“I dislike him for causing all this,” answers the warrior, “but if Two orders otherwise, I won’t go after him.”

“Good!” Two looks at her, “Then do that, or don’t do that I mean.”

“As you wish.”

“Well, Two, you’ve got a pet now. Don’t forget to pat and feed her, and if you don’t clean her litter box, she’s going back to the shelter,” I scratch confused Two under her chin, “Seriously now, don’t mess someone’s life worse than killing them outright would,” I clear my throat, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finally get some sleep before I have to explain to the dwarves why using flamethrowers as cigarette lighters is a really dumb idea, especially in areas filled with pockets of natural gas. You were in the hospital, Two. You must have seen that the leading cause of death here is stupidity.”

“Come on, Five,” the small infiltrator walks out just as Five easily accepts my link into our hive mind, and follows her outside.

”You know… I don’t really know what I expected, to be honest, but I like the result,” says Scream, looking at me with head tilted sideways.

“...I just want them to be happy...”

”Well, reuniting this city is a good start to make dwarves openly trust you and them.”

“...I’m just a changeling, Scream...”

”No, you’re the king, and if you don’t want your subjects to be your tools, then you have to use someone else. You can’t do it on your own.”

“I don’t want to throw them into danger.”

”Now here’s where we’ll keep disagreeing. While I know that you know that I don’t exactly care about your well-being, I also know way better than you that sheltered flowers don’t survive the first frost. To be honest, that’s something even Two gets, although she can always find the dumbest way to act on it.”

True…

“Good night, Scream.”

”I wouldn’t bet on it,” she chuckles.

“What do you-”

Someone knocks at the door.

”It’s already morning, boss bug. Rise and shine!”

FFFFffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccc-

Author's Note:

So, class, what have we learned today?
1) Two runs on Winbugs XP.
2) Three is bracelet-worthy.
3) I should add the profanity tag.
(...and maybe some more assumptions about the future and my credibility from the chapter name)

PreviousChapters Next