Disconnected
Evening came quicker than the queen had expected. The moon had risen high into the sky just before sunset, when only a fleeting chunk of twilight colors remained on the edge of the horizon. The timberwolves howled and the tooth-and-spear manticores left their dens and home territories in search of food as the night’s veil fell over the land. The adventurers three left for the mountain with haste.
It was a fierce trek through the Everfree's unnatural amenities. Many times Roseluck had found herself in a variety of sticky situations, sometimes quite literally, in a few uneasy and uncomfortable ways. From quicksand to hidden bogs and even the dank, unforgiving darkness beneath the undergrowth, the elements buffeted them and continuously impeded their progress, throwing the group off track too many times to count. Tinges of frustration and arrogance kept the mare in their clutches despite the queen's many warnings and subtle hints of nearby hazards, but it was through their suffering that, at long last, they reached the base of Smoky Mountain and began the arduous task of scaling up its spiral pass.
"Uggh, why does nature always have to be so cruel?" Roseluck pouted, looking up the face of the mountain they ascended in hopes of discovering the open mouth of the old cave, the end of their journey, leading to failure. An unnerving feeling constantly clung to her body, or rather her once so plush coat, where dollops of green muck and damp, dirty stains of bog water sullied it so that it would put the rear end of a backwoods mule to shame. The very much unwanted levels of filth felt inexpressibly foreign, for she was usually such a well-groomed mare, but she had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the first time she wished so desperately to be shaved bare.
"If you believe that was nature's worst..." Chrysalis chuckled while adjusting Ditto's position on her back, where the little prince peacefully napped away without so much as a care in the world. "You haven't seen anything yet."
"Yippee..." Roseluck groaned. "If it can't work with hydras, manticores, giant wasps, and killer flowers...uggh, and snakes of all things -the spiteful demons of any proper garden- then who knows what could be next. Are you sure that dragon's long gone? I haven't heard anything about it and the last thing I remember is that its smoke covered all of Ponyville!"
"Oh, I'm sure of it. I've taken your words to heart, Roseluck. That cave is but a cold, barren den. Not even the flies bother to pay it a visit."
The trail steadily grew shorter and thinner the further it went up, and after clambering over the remnants of a past rock slide and stepping over to an adjacent landing, their trek was soon coming to an end when the cave entrance came into view.
"Ah, there it is!" Chrysalis exclaimed, quickening her pace until she became the first to arrive. Roseluck nervously followed suit, eying the cave and the promenade it sat on as if it were a boneyard plucked straight out of the Griffin Kingdom. "A charming little place, isn't it?"
"Well..." Roseluck sighed, "It sure beats green, green, and more green..."
"I think it sticks out rather well from all that dreary foliage, but enough gawking at it. Now, the map..."
From within the timeless conundrum that was the laws of the mystic and the magical, Chrysalis reached out with her changeling magic and conjured her ancient tablet from the void, allowing it to float before her eyes suspended by her aura.
"And...how is going in there going to aid us on our little quest again?"
"I...don't know, to be honest, but the map definitely outlines its significance," the queen paused, taking occasional glances back and forth between the tablet and the gaping entrance.
"Great. The first spot on the map and we don't even know why we're here."
"Don't give up so easily, Roseluck. There's got to be more to this. In fact," Chrysalis started forward, slowly approaching the earthbound gullet. "Our answer may lie within."
"No." Roseluck sternly growled, "Not until we know it's completely and totally safe. Dragon or no dragon."
Knowing that she wasn't going to win Roseluck's brief little war on safety and all things unreliable, Chrysalis looked to the ground around her until she eyed a fairly large stone spared to the side. She lifted it into the air and took aim before chucking it forward. It soared gracefully into the cave's mouth, its bounces and clangs resounding outward into the night air. The pair put their ears to the alert, waiting and listening for any tell-tale signs of trouble, but none came to be when the rock made its last bounce onto the cold, dark floor. The sound woke Ditto from his slumber, cooing and purring as he opened his eyes.
Expecting the calm before the storm, Roseluck remained on alert, but only just so, lifting her guard up for just a few proverbial seconds when all seemed as quiet as could be.
Chrysalis on the other hoof couldn't have looked happier. She felt as if she accomplished something big after taking caution for the first time in a while too long ago needed.
"There," Chrysalis poshly retorted, smirking. "There's your bid of reassurance that you will live to see another day. Now then--"
From within the cave's dark reaches, shrill squeaks and chirps echoed into the night, catching the queen off guard. She along with Roseluck looked to the entrance with shock in their eyes, catching sight of two red, glowing eyes peering menacingly at their own, followed by another, then followed by dozens, leading up to hundreds of devilish glares with roots known only to horror movies.
Only moments after Roseluck's heart slowed to a crawl, the beasts within charged into the night, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny brown bats screeching as they barreled en mass out of the cave and headed straight for the intruders.
"Bats!" Roseluck screamed, turning tail and fleeing from the horde with her tail between her legs as they engulfed the standstill bodies of endangered royalty. A short while later, the mistakenly bothered staple wave of horror reached its end, and while Roseluck ran about like a chicken with its head cut off, Chrysalis remained where she stood with the addition of an unamused and tireless glare.
Just then, she felt something strange moving about in her tangled mess of a mane, her curiosity to be fulfilled by the head of a small bat left behind of its ascending party peeking out of it. They stared at each other in confusion until Ditto got his tiny hooves on him, pulling it into a neck hug so tight that would make even a stuffed teddy bear cry uncle. Still, Chrysalis could only roll her eyes elatedly at his antics and politely free the bat from his clutches, letting it soar off to catch up with its brethren.
Finding the appearance of a shaking boulder to be as common as a timberwolf with lipstick, Chrysalis casually strolled over to said boulder and magically lifted it into the air with ease. To no surprise, Roseluck lay curled up into a ball, shaking like a leaf, mortified.
"Feeling safe enough, Roseluck?" Chrysalis joked smugly, snickering along with Ditto who pointed and laughed at her in jest.
"Shut up! I wasn't scared! Stop accusing me!" Roseluck hastily spat out her words like venom with cheeks full of blush, darting her eyes left and right.
"I never said you were scared." Chrysalis chuckled, stepping behind her. "But, seeing how you're so very spry when it comes to our future safety, perhaps you would like to go ahead of us."
Chrysalis gave a soft, but sudden kick to Roseluck's flanks. The mare yelped in astonishment after being forced closer to the cave entrance, her hooves practically digging trenches into the ground as she backpedaled only to bump into the queen's spongy frontal carapace.
"Well? Go on!" Chrysalis jokingly encouraged her whilst trying her best to hold back a grin.
"W-Well, hehe... Y-You! Yes, you!" Roseluck exclaimed, darting around Chrysalis and nudging her ahead. "You have the map! You know where to go so...lead on!" Roseluck grinned sheepishly, hoping that the queen would take the bait.
"Surely one can't get lost in a bowl can they, Roseluck?" Chrysalis smarmed, giggling. "But, if you insist...and are that afraid of a few flying rodents..."
"I'm not afraid of them!" Roseluck snapped, haughtily pulling back from her remark to explain. "I just think they're some of the vilest creatures in the world, getting into other pony's gardens and scaring the living daylights out of anypony they come across." Roseluck then whinnied, shivering for a moment.
"Oh, you poor, sensitive ponies. How devastated your world would be without proper gardens," Chrysalis snorted once more, starting forward into the cave. Roseluck soon trailed behind her, crossing the threshold between light and shadow after keeping a constant field of vision trained hard on the moonlit skies above.
The interior of the once-hoarded cave of a dragon so large and daunting wasn't much to look forward to. Granted, a few piles of rocks weren't much in the ways of Grade A entertainment, but it certainly wasn't up there with the fictional route of Daring Do. No golden temples or mystical shrines here. Just trickling stalactites and the sticky, smelly excess of hundreds upon hundreds of the once-resident bats that speckled the cave floor.
A soft, but vivid glow from the tip of the queen's horn bathed the dark and damp walls in an eerie green light, but it wasn't long before they hit a back wall. Their foray into the den of many mights and strong-jawed powers had reached its end with nothing but dampness and rot to permeate their senses. A quick look over the shoulder revealed that the entrance wasn't far behind. To Roseluck, the open, vulnerable air appeared more merciful by this point.
"Ack! It smells like a pigsty in here!" Roseluck exclaimed, looked around with her nose scrunched up. "Well, at least we're finally here, and what better sight than a dead end..."
Chrysalis bowed her head and furthered her magical drive, strengthening her magic and brightening up the cavern, covering everything in her glow whose reach extended far up the monolithic rise.
"Quit your whining and help me look," Chrysalis ordered, staring at her tablet and what little hope for aid it gave her while Ditto gazed up in wonder toward the ceiling. "There's bound to be something here that will aid us in revealing Mariposa's location...I hope."
"Yeah, it's just a stone's throw away..." Not even a dry chuckle escaped Roseluck after her wide-open shot at a clever pun. Even Chrysalis was unfazed by her words, though she doubted the medieval insectoid to even have a mind as to what a pun was or its significance to humor.
"I hope you're not being serious." Chrysalis furrowed her brow at the blatant misinformation, turning and trotting over to a varied grouping of stalagmites and inspecting them closely, circling them. "Just look everywhere you can. Up or down - it doesn't matter. If you see anything out of the ordinary then let me know."
"'Admiring the decor' isn't going to help us. There's got to be a something secretive here..." Roseluck stepped up to the wall, standing on her hind legs and feeling around the cold, hard surface with her fore hooves. "Maybe a pressure plate? A hidden door or a button or...anything? Jeez, at least that's how the movies do it. If the floor of a one-thousand year old castle just collapsed right under our hooves before then what could be next?"
It was in that moment that Ditto started to become restless. He wiggled around on his mother's back and even tugged her hair a few times to garner her attention. Chrysalis happily responded by nuzzling the crook behind his closest ear and allowing him to slide backward off of her posterior and onto the floor.
"Don't stray too far, little one..." Chrysalis whispered into his ear, pecking it lovingly and inciting a soft giggle from him.
"Would you give me a hoof over here and stop staring at those spiky rock things or whatever they're called?" asked Roseluck with a sigh. "I think I may be on to something here..."
Chrysalis looked up and happily trotted over, delighted by the news of a potential discovery.
Once again Ditto was left to his own ventures, and rightfully so. There was much to see and do in this strange, new environment, dirt to roll around in and whatnot. All he needed was a place to begin, and the cursory glance of a seemingly tasty morsel in a shape similar to that of a fat, green worm slowly crawling its way along the hard ground put a devious smile, and a slimy forked tongue, on his lips.
Like the fearsome predator he was, the forecoming prince of the changelings dug deep into the roots of his species' past, emerging with spirit of a tiger, the hunting ability of a tree-bound panther, and the acute likeness of a beady-eyed filly snuggling with a teddy bear in a blanket. No more perfect of a definition existed.
His drive to hunt for prey was primed and set, and it was with a mighty butt wiggle that he took his first majestic pounce high into the air, landing with a soft thump crouched low and on all fours just shy of the chubby crawler's equally chubby hindquarters. From what his instincts told him as he watched it slowly inch its way forward, it was now time for patience, for a perfect predator needed the perfect moment to strike. It was with a pair of sharp eyes and a tiny rear end raised that Ditto's breaths naturally slowed to a crawl, for the intensity of a hunt so thrilling and heart-pumping was too much to take in all at once.
"I...fail to see what you're trying to do," Chrysalis admitted after having observed Roseluck push and pull on a thin but tall stalagmite only to see her give up and let go of it.
"Great, no levers either." Roseluck panted, wiping her brow. "Are you sure we're on the right mountain?"
"Yes, I'm certain!" Chrysalis floated the stone tablet out in front of her. "It says it right here in--"
"Gimme' that!" Roseluck snapped, swiping the slab from the air and falling onto her plot. Chrysalis rolled her eyes incredulously, disliking how she was the only one forced to change for the better of things. As if she was the only one with "issues" around here that didn't require a stern, hopefully verbally violent intervention.
The mare studied the otherworldly glyphs as if she were a scientist of great merit. Or perhaps less impressively, Roseluck was a scientist to what a grouchy, drunken, one-eyed mule was in deciphering a doctor's name by use of their signature: fruitless, unclever, and not in the least bit academical. She turned the precious stone plaque about in her hooves like a wheel in well wishes that she would be able to make out some form of recognizable calligraphy amidst all the clutter.
She muttered to herself constantly as if her bare bones knowledge were completely life-changing. Such disuse of an ancient relic from a prosperous past was an embarrassment to the changelings themselves, unless anything lesser could be said beforehand, like her dishonorable but necessary place in the hivemind. A few laughable moments passed by when an interested hum, a raised eyebrow, or an old-fashioned rubbing of the chin came around, but it ultimately left the mare floored.
"Yeah... I've got nothing." Roseluck huffed in irritation, looking up and tossing the tablet above her head as to allow the queen to catch it with her magic. "Really? Is there really nothing here besides a few piles of rocks and bat poop?! What does the tablet say, Chrysalis? What are its exact words? Just give em' to me for Celestia's sake!"
"I told you. They're not words...but they’re not images either," Chrysalis started with nervousness and confusion in her voice. "Truly, it's too complicated to explain in a one-off manner. You must understand Roseluck that I can perceive them only because my mother taught me about them centuries ago."
Through manipulation of wisps formed out of the very essence of her magic, Chrysalis began to stroke alien markings and swatches in the air in front of them of a darker shade of green than her aural lamp, utilizing the tip of her jagged horn as a tool. The way they were formed did not differ as much as a pony would write in normal Equestrian. It appeared as if most of what made up the markings was purely aesthetic. She drafted them swiftly, and the resulting motifs floated aimlessly where they were created. It was then she went at ease, continuing immediately.
"Think of them as real, embodied thoughts, bit by bit assembled so that only a select group of individuals can interpret them through gestures that only our linked minds could distinguish. They are very much unique. Long ago, when we were of greater number and far better connected to one another, this used to serve as our own written language of sorts, according to my mother anyway. As the lifespan of an average changeling declined it became pointless, and our wants, needs, and ruthless desires were communicated through either primal means or direct messages through a brittle, but unified hivemind...but it all came down to nothing but cries of hunger, pain, and the gnashing of tooth and fang."
"...wow." Roseluck murmured, feeling as if she was actually touched by such a vivid recollection of what may have been the most gratifying age in changeling history. Thoughts of tribal-like merriment and even togetherness appeared in her imagination, but that was it. Thoughts they were and so they shall remain. No happiness could be pulled up when one’s life is measured by the weight of each breath you take. "That's really sad, Chry-- Hey look!"
Perhaps "touched" needed to be reiterated in a similar manner as well. It was more of a gentle poke than anything, and it was with another poke, this one of abrupt interest, derived from a large, flat rock that caused Roseluck to dash up to it, leaving Chrysalis behind to stare daggers into the back of her head.
"Oh, how could I have been so foolish?" Roseluck bonked herself on the side of the head, chuckling. "I've seen this in the movies all the time! There's almost always a button or a trapdoor hidden underneath a fake rock with a flat bottom! This has to be it!"
Standing on her hind legs again, Roseluck gripped an exposed lip near the bottom of the stone, putting all of her strength into lifting it upward. She felt confused by the need for such weight to be applied to a fake piece of scenery. She grunted and groaned, grinding her teeth together slightly as her meager strength finally heaved it onto its side. When it was sufficiently out of the way, Roseluck took a break and sighed peacefully with a smile, keeping the rock held up as she took a peak through her legs.
Her pupils caved in, and the hairs on her coat poked out and upward. Before her eyes were a multitude of cave beetles scampering out from beneath their hidey home. It sounded as if the whole world was coming down around their ears when Roseluck let out an intense shriek. She slammed the rock down and turned tail, running in blind, rampant circles.
"Aaah! Get them off me! Get them off me!" Roseluck yelled and screamed repeatedly.
She bucked and kicked into the air like a rodeo pony, only instead a rider upon her back there sat many beetles and various insects being violently thrown off and landing next to scattered havens of shadow where they hastily retreated to.
Meanwhile, opposite the terror, a terrifyingly dramatic buildup was taking place. This lowly creature, this powerless being had just taken its last breath and slinked its last inch forward before the fearsomely adorable warrior prince of the Everfree, for this would be his first true kill.
It was easily admitted that, for its size, it was rather...uninspiring for the likes of future generations, but he hath defeated many a foe before the few times his mother wasn't around, like the daunting Elephant Ear leaf, stomping its titanic exterior into the cold, hard dirt, and the ruthless pine cones! Oh, the horror of that day! Nettles and fragments everywhere! The big and the small, all slain, they're once heavily fortified interior curb-stomped into twisted, mangled husks and thrown off to the side like the worthless shells they were. Never again will he trek through that no man's land. The risk for needly boo-boos was too great, and kisses and warm huggies healed all scars...save the mental. Both of these were only unforeseen ambushes, falling from the sky and surrounding him with a yearning for blood. He just knew that was what they were after, which is why it had to come to such a strenuous outcome.
This was to be his first and greatest true kill, for now it was he who was on the hunt.
Ditto's tail flicked to the side, and then suddenly, he leapt! Assisted by his underpowered yet maneuverable wings he rose a few good feet off the ground and prepared to bring the thunder with a capital T.
But it can't be too loud. Thunder scared him.
Yet, with as mighty of a strike as he could deliver, he swooped down from the air and slammed his hooves onto the ground, crushing his prey like a grape under the weight of his right forehoof with a light squelch. He had done it! With a grin oh so wide with pride, he lifted his hoof and gauged his performance, finding a small glob of sticky green goop to indicate a critical success.
But just then, from somewhere up ahead, came the gnarling growls of an unseen force. And, for a moment, the warrior did not feel so brave.
"Wait, did you hear that?" asked Chrysalis, looking past her shoulder and back towards the cave entrance, where a soft, but shrill whirring noise came in from the outside.
Still in the heat of a battle of her own, Roseluck hurriedly swiped the last of the creepy crawlies from her vaguely cream-colored coat.
"Oof! Get off of me!" Roseluck whined, flicking a cockroach off of her tail like a whip and watching it sail off into the distance. "Filthy, filthy wretches! Every one of you! Just look what you brutes did to my mane!"
"Roseluck! Silence!" Chrysalis exclaimed with a sharp whisper. "Listen..."
It soon became evident that the heightening noise was that of wind. It bellowed as it entered the cave, as if a sudden, aimless spirit had wandered its way in with the current to then arrive at a most peculiar of places, almost as if it had been here before. It soon found its way to the cavern's end, hitting them dead on and sending light plumes of dust and old soot into the air, through their manes, and along the back wall. They were forced into an abrupt fit of coughing, for the dust began to settle as quickly as the winds did.
"Well, that was...uneventful." Roseluck commented, wiping some excess dust from her shoulder after having settled down. "Or does your tablet say otherwise, Chrysalis?"
"No..." Chrysalis replied, looking away and putting a hoof to her forehead. "I...I-I don't feel well..."
"Huh?" Roseluck came closer, frowning worriedly. "What's wrong?"
The queen looked back towards the entrance, rising to her hooves whilst rubbing her forehead some more. Roseluck could tell she was in pain when her eyes caught sight of her slender legs and tail twitching with even a faint hint of wobbling.
"Roseluck...get Ditto...hurry." said Chrysalis, starting forward after securing the tablet on her back.
"Hey, wait! What about--!" Roseluck stopped speaking when she noticed the dark of the cave lapping at her hooves as her only light source began to move away. She took a tertiary glance at the wall behind her, but could see nothing. It was then she hurriedly trotted after her, reaching Ditto's side in seconds and lifting him onto her back. Thankfully, she spotted the remains of his kill and side-stepped them, sickeningly staring at them for a moment on her way to catch up with Chrysalis. "So...what? We're gonna leave just like that? What happened?"
"N-No...this is...the winds came and I suddenly feel so lightheaded. B-But there was something in there and..." Chrysalis stopped for a moment, shaking her head in self-disgust before continuing forward at a much quicker pace.
"W-Wait! And what? And what?!" Roseluck called out as she gave chase, only to be left without an answer until they reached the entrance and stepped out into the night. The air was cold and dry, and the nocturnal bards of the forest, those that chirped, squeaked, and whistled had fallen eerily silent.
Chrysalis looked to the cloudless skies above, gazing up high at an enlarged full moon nestled among the stars. Her face told a story of some inner sorrow that could not be purged, not even through Ditto's cheerful smiles.
"Are you...ok, Chrysalis?" Roseluck calmly asked, stepping up to her side.
"...no." Chrysalis responded with a voice just barely audible. Then, she strolled over to the edge of the cave's rocky balcony, looking down over the edge where she noticed that a thick layer of grey fog had settled over the whole of the forest, treetops and all, with only a few exceptions poking out just shy of the shrouded landscape. "Something isn't right...I...Roseluck...my children...I can't sense my children anymore..."
"Your...children?"
"The ones I sent away in hopes of saving our species... Before, I could hear them. They called to each other through me, through the central hive, but now it's as if they were suddenly...silenced." Chrysalis pulled herself away from the edge, trotting towards the opposite edge of the adjacent promenade. "Something has gone terribly wrong. We must return to the central hive at once!"
"As much as I like the sound of heading back, what if the manticores are back from hunting? We'll be torn to shreds for sure unless we take the long way around!"
"Then we'll have to move quickly. They're excellent predators, that's for sure, but we can outmaneuver them in the dense groupings of trees. I know a few shortcuts as well. We'll just follow those until we reach the hive. Understand?"
"Then...maybe you should take Ditto," Roseluck gestured to the infant on her back. "You're much faster than I am anyway."
"No. Keep him for now. I don't want him to get hurt should we run into trouble. Just stay behind me and all will be well."
Much to her displeasure, Roseluck nodded in agreement, though her thoughts misplaced themselves and formed into a terrible ambush scenario. What if the manticores could track their scent even through all of the smelly bogs they would traverse through again? They would be overwhelmed for sure. Even so, it was their best option, and she could only prepare herself mentally for the worst of what the Everfree had to throw at her. She made sure of it that Ditto was secure atop her back and even gave him a short length of her mane to hold on to.
"Th-There we go...we're ready."
"Wait..." said Chrysalis, looking away with eyes bulging, a cold, beaming stare directed straight into her very soul. "I sense...something else. One of my children is still linked. They're in pain...pain like they've never felt before. But I sense their presence within the central hive itself. That can't be right! They can't return on their own, not without a great deal of sustenance to carry their weight through great distances."
"Maybe they got...I don't know. Homesick? What if they reconsidered migrating?"
"No. All of my children knew what was at stake. Returning would only be a show of cowardice...wait...Roseluck."
Chrysalis turned to face the clueless mare, speaking lowly with a voice so very petrified when an impromptu realization reared its ugly head.
"Where is the commander?"
Well, as the story stands so far, this has been one roller coaster with a few too many turns and not enough WHEEEEE! moments. But, then again, seeing how far we've come, through help of both the mental and the social, who am I to complain?
So, here it is, fellas. Another chapter done and another batch of well-wishing readers who I can't get enough of raring to tear into it. I'm sure I (or my lovely editor) have missed a few things grammar-wise so just let nature take its course should you will it to and point out whatever you can!
"ASHDJHGKLASDH" -Zaphod/Serene Breeze, 2013
"quatation marks" - Hivemind, 2013
That should give you a good idea of how profitable the revision/editing process was.
Oh? What's this you say? Likes, you call them? We're nearing 1,000 of them and I never noticed?
(he lied)
Well, skin me alive because this is just wonderful! Heck, seeing story views hit the roof at over 2,500 on the previous chapter update was staggeringly amazing enough, but this? I almost had to check if the stars were aligned properly. As much as it pains me to say it, while I do very, very much appreciate the thought of seeing this story skyrocket into those four digit ranks, I may be unavailable to do/create anything special for the lot of you as much as you deeply deserve it, for my ability to reward is limited by a crushing mixture of implanted morals that not a soul outside of my friendly circle gives a toss about, but know that it is the mere sight of your bright, cheery, and colorful profile picture faces that aid me in the keep-on throughout the many days and nights!
Strap yourselves in, boys, because where we're goin' there's no such thing as down.
Well, then again... *cough* No big promises.
-Hivemind 
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You aired bits of our conversation for the world to see?! These are private discussions! Now I'm gonna be hounded by the paparazzi until I eventually snap and shave my head like Miley Cyrus
Also, butt wiggles. Because
great chapter
WHAT IS GOING ON!? i hope the changelings are ok
2977733
I feel.... Like I have stuck my head in a hole under a rock,
and have many beetles worth of private conversations crawling all over my body....
It's extremely weird.
I also am privy to the sight of the oddest looking hill in front of me... It's shaking back and forth..
I feel dirty....
yet I know not why.
It must have been the swamp mud I've waded through to get my email.... yes.. that must be it.
Sweet, an update
Ditto your too cute!
Daaaawww da cute wittle Ditto made his fwirst kill.
(we need a daww or Hnng emoticon)
also, I predict that the ponies are layig a trap for dear chryssy. For Roseluck!
Ive been seeing this for quite some time now, but never knew whether or not I should read it. What should I expect upon setting down this path?
Oh Roseluck, you're so silly.
Tempted to read it, but the description threw me off and away. You use way too many commas in just one sentence. I'm kind of afraid to see what your punctuation will be like in the actual story. For now, to the read later list it goes.
2977826
Silence can only mean they stopped thinking which is bad.
this is looking good
Darn cliffhangers...
How I feel about this chapter:
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On another note...
images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35000000/MLP-Memes-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-35005724-398-206.jpg
2979351 Yeah, the fact that they've stopped thinking can mean only one thing...
They've all signed contracts to become reality TV stars.
3003101
Oh god, anything but Reality TV. I can feel the stupidity rotting away my mind just thinking about it.
I think you meant "peek."
Ditto is freaking adorable. He's like a kitten. A tiny little bug-pony-kitten with such childlike imagination that reminds me of a way of looking at the world that I haven't personally experienced in over twenty years. And to top it all off he is very bright and well-behaved for his age. I can clearly understand how such a creature could melt the heart of Chrysalis, and remind her of her younger, innocent self.
And so we finally get to leave that boring old hive and follow our protagonists on a proper adventure, only for an emergency to call them back to home base. This little taste of adventure left me thinking of how awesome it would be if they went on an epic journey together. I know that their quest is unlikely to be anywhere near that scale, and isn't the point of this story, but I can't help but wonder "what if."
I'm wondering about the exact significance of Ditto's scene in the cave. At first I misread it and thought that his prey was the one with the forked tongue. I thought he was going to try to take on a snake while Chrysalis and Rose were busy searching the cave, and was worried that their inattentiveness would put him in a truly dangerous situation. I'm still wondering if there was more to that bit than a glance into his adorable little mind though. What was a caterpillar or whatever it was doing in a cave high up on a mountain far from any vegetation? Was it somehow magical or cursed, and was it really just coincidence that its death was immediately followed by an ominous wind and a great disturbance in the force?
I'm anxious to know what happened. The changelings had broken into groups and spread out. It would be unfortunate, but not unlikely, for one or two of the cells to meet a disastrous end. What could have possibly silenced all of them at the same time? Were they all killed somehow, or did something happen with the hivemind? Are Chrysalis, Ditto, and possibly the commander the last remaining changelings? How will Chrysalis and Rose react when the adrenaline wears off and the severity of their situation sinks in? I can hardly wait for what the next chapter has in store.
great chappie and luv ditto's lil huntin scene; uber cute
i hope t hive's ok and that damn (pardon my french) commander isn't rebelin or somethin 
also rose needs to tak a chill pill even thou her fear is understandable 
2988177
A lot of people condemn those
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Yep.
more is need will...have...WITHDRAWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great chapter.
Commander...
Oh I hope he isn't dead.
And the commander was the bug Ditto killed.