Queens Light and Chrysalis join forces, both having new rounds of eggs. One from each hive. however. complicate their plans as the two grubs have actively made a plan to turn Equestria into their own hive.
Queen Light hasn't expanded her hive in years, and her changelings' supply of love is running out as she has eggs ready to hatch, so she goes to Queen Chrysalis, who's also hatching eggs, to join forces to expand both hives. What they don't notice is that the newest grub of each hive might stand in the way. One day, Hatch, of Queen Light's hive, stumbles upon Queen Chrysalis' only egg that hasn't been split. She needs a hive of her own as she's been deprived of love from her queen. The result is Hatch and Gac going beyond the northern borders to turn Equestria into their own hive, facing adversities along the way, and forming an unlikely but good example for other hives to follow.
Queen Chrysalis looks out the hole close to her throne to see a meteor like path forming with a tint of yellow on the front.
“What the-”
“Queen CHRYSALIS!!!”
“Get over here! I fear nopony!”
Suddenly, the path and the queen make contact. The landing reveals said path to be another queen.
“What- where... who are you?!?”
“Queen Light, at your service.”
Chrysalis chuckles.
“It seems that the feeling is mutual.”
“Chrysalis, it needs to be.”
“But, why?”
“We have to join forces!”
“Join forces?!? A hive stands alone. You need another hive not.”
“Crysalis, you misunderstand. It’s an emergency! The growing population of my hive needs love!”
“Unusual you should say that now of all times. The population in my hive grows as well. You too have ready to split eggs?”
“Yes. The remaining love from the last invasion, years ago, is not enough to supply with eggs on the verge of splitting.”
“Then let’s join forces. Your hive can’t invade when grubs are on the way. Soon, we will conquer Equestria and feed on all of its love unlike ever before by joining forces!”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
-=-
I tunnel through the hive and wander around. Looking back at the eggs, every one is split. Continuing to tunnel, I find that my tunnelling hasn’t found another room in the hive for five minutes straight. Somehow, when I find another room, finally, I see another nursery hive. However, this one has been devoid of all of its grubs except for one egg.
Studying it, the egg is very still. Suddenly, a roaring voice startles me.
“Grub! What is your name?”
“I take it you want a Hatch?”
“Hatch... hey, aren’t you one of the grubs from Queen Light’s hive? No one has ever tunneled into the nursery hive from where you are. No matter. I will let you explore the nursery hive as Queen Light and I have joined forces to conquer Equestria together. You were even the one who saw this egg first now. All the other grubs have joined my drones in preparation. Perhaps I will show you the way with the new grub?”
“So, does that mean I will get the love I never had?”
I start looking at all the eggs in the nursery hive.
“Sorry, but no. You need to get back to Queen Light’s hive soon. Come with me for now, though. The grub will join us as we head for the drones. Queen Light isn’t going to lead our invasion upon Equestria herself.”
“Okay. I’ll come then.”
And with that, Queen Chrysalis begins leading me to the crowd while we leave the egg sitting, us unaware of what will happen to it.
-=-
“Welcome, drones and grubs alike! A very important mission rests upon both of our hives! Today, we start our invasion upon Equestria!”
All the changelings start cheering at Queen Light before she continues her speech.
“To begin with, we must be outside of the hives to map out where we should start and expand from there. We must replace 15 beloved figures of Equestria before we invade, which is day two. Finally, we will replace every single important pony by the end of the first week.”
Once again, the changelings cheer. Afterwards, Queen Chrysalis steps upfront.
“We ALL thought too small last time! We’ll head for more than Canterlot! Let’s show Equestria just how powerful changelings can be! With this plan, we will be able feed on Equestria’s love for GENERATIONS!!!”
One last time, the changelings cheer at their plans.
“Whoever has anything against these plans, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”
I sink in the back and huddle to the ground.
“Now then, let’s go.”
All of the changelings finally disperse out of the room, leaving me and Queens Light and Chrysalis as the only ones left. Finally, I decide to head back home.
“Hatch. Light and I would like to have a word with you.”
“Yes?”
“Any idea why you were ducking?”
“Ducking? I actually don’t know. I just had some feeling nagging in my mind, but I didn’t know what it was.”
Queen Light comes to me.
“Well, in any case, who do you feel like replacing?”
“Replacing? I don’t know.”
“Well, you have today to prepare. Perhaps you could go to an area that even Queen Chrysalis and I don’t know about.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
Small buzzing comes into hearing range, seconds after revealing to be the last grub to split his egg.
“Gac, reporting for the queens’ speech!”
“Gac? Is that name an abbreviation?”
“I... DON’T... know.”
Suddenly, Gac starts cheering hysterically.
“I take it his name means to be amused?”
“It’s not to be amused; it’s to be amazing!”
I shoot a look at Chrysalis as Gac begins bouncing on his head, still hysterically cheering.
-=-
As Gac and I leave the hive to embark on a journey onto territory unvisited by any changeling, I look around me.
“Okay, Gac. The journey begins now. Let us make a brand new hive as we travel where no changeling has ever gone before.”
“I’ll sing us the Brand New Hive song now.”
Brand New Hive, Brand New Hive New Hive, New Hive Brand New Hive, Brand New Hive New Hive, New Hive...
6 Moons Later...
...Brand New Hive, Brand New Hive New Hive, New Hive...
“Gac... would you please... stop... singing? It’s no wonder our destination is unknown.”
Looking ahead, I see a village, in a valley, with two rows of houses with a tree at the end, and I gasp.
“Gac! We’re here at last!”
...New Hive, New Hive-
“Ooh! What’s that?!?”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
So, Gac and I race down the hill before the town, staying as quiet as possible. After walking a little ways, we spot ponies just like any other town.
“Well, that was disappointing. Gac, quick. What’s your observation on this village?”
“I see ponies...”
I turn to Gac in confusion.
“They sing in our town!”
Gac proceeds to march in a circle.
“Focus, Gac! We have to come up with some disguises!”
“I wanna be a dog.”
“Sh!”
I close my eyes to concentrate on changing my form. After a few flames, I found that a filly would be the only good option. A cat as large as me would look kind of fishy, and so would a tortoise. Gac is kind of lucky. He gets to be any pet his size, as long as he doesn’t say a word. So, what does Gac decide to roll with? A dog disguise.
“Hmm. Something is still off though.”
“Ooh! Hatch and Gac! Hatch and Gac!”
“Gac! Can’t y-”
I gasp, realizing what was missing.
“Names! Gac, you’re a genius! Hmm. Ponies normally have two words in their names. But they can still be accepted with one word as long as it has nothing to do with a changeling or a bug. Hmm. I think my pony name will be Catcher. What about you? You’ve changed into a pet. So...”
“Brown is EVERYwhere. Even-on-me...”
Gac starts looking at his disguise with amusement.
“Okay then. Brown it is. Ever learned to bark yet?”
“Ooh! I get you yell! Yaa-”
“Not THAT kind of bark! No yelling, no trees. It’s how a dog speaks! Just think of “arc” cut short.”
“Ar- Ar-”
“Yeah! Just like that! Now, let’s get a move on to where we can make our new hive.”
-=-
Finally entering the town, much of the population greets us with a simple exclamation of “welcome”. Then, a white and a blue stallion both spot, and trot up to, us, the white one the first to speak.
“Welcome, little filly. What’s your name?”
“I’m Catcher, and this is my pet dog, Brown.”
“Great names, you two. I’m Party Favor, and this is Double Diamond.”
“I admit that I feel the same with yours.”
“So Catcher, what brings you to town?” Double Diamond, the white stallion, asks.
“I came from Canterlot. And I heard how this town was founded. No matter though. I just want a tour of the town and around.”
“Well, Party Favor and I could do that!”
“Perfect.”
“So, where do you want to start?” Party Favor inquires, his smile starting to creep me out now. I do feel positive enthusiasm though, so I let it slide.
“Inside the town I guess. I never really stopped to think about what its name was.”
“No worries. It’s called Our Town."
Party Favor's response stuns me briefly.
“Our town? That’s the name?”
I think for a second, then gasp.
“OH! Hour Town? Like as in how a lot of progress is to be had in an hour?”
“No, not like that."
Party Favor rubs the back of his head with his right forehoof.
“It’s more of a passion thing from when Starlight was around.”
Okay, Double Diamond is creeping me out now. And who’s Starlight? Thankfully, he misses my confusion as I try and continue with the facade.
“Oh. Okay. I know what you’re saying. Hmm. Our Town... I’m gonna get used to saying that.”
-=-
Finally! I thought Gac and I would never get to see the surrounding area. Luckily, I was patient. Another ten minutes, and I would’ve thrown in the towel. So, apparently, there’s a path that Double Diamond and Party Favor along with 8 others travelled down to stop this Starlight character. Best of all, the whole chase ended near a cave, a perfect place to make a hive. There’s just one problem. Gac and I would have to start our journey to the cave tonight, when we will be likely to be unnoticed.
Throughout the tour, Party Favor acts suspicious around me, like I did something wrong. Well, I didn’t DO anything wrong. But I did get creeped out twice and confused once. Maybe that’s why he’s very uneasy with me. However, the more I pieced together about the ponies chasing out Starlight, the more I find what actually happened. The only thing is why was Starlight chased out of Our Town?
Well no matter. At least Gac and I found the perfect place to make our hive. It nears sunset when the tour is finished. We will have to stay up past the sun to get to the caves. Finally, when it turns dark, still in our disguises, Gac and I exit the town.
“Okay, Gac. Once we are in, we’ll have to find a particularly spacious area in the cave to make the hive.”
“Ooh! Brand new cave! Brand new cave!”
“Shh! We can’t blow our cover. Now, COME on.”
I set Gac over my back, hovering faster afterwards. After about a minute, we see the cave we needed to go to, the outside looking even more like a hive setup goldmine, a goldmine I start to faint in joy about.
When I wake up, Gac is hovering over me.
“Hatch! Are you okay?!?”
“Yes. I feel well, thank you very much. That must have been some huge doze off I was in. I had a dream, a dream where we found a cave at night. But how could you be in Queen L-”
I stop, looking around me. I gasp at what I’m closely looking at. It’s the cave.
“THE CAVE!!! How did you drag me inside in such little time?!?
“I didn’t.”
“You didn’t?!? How long did it take?!?”
“I dragged you in until noon.”
“Noon?”
I walk for a while until I find daylight, spotting the landscape to be grassy instead of rocky and snowy.
“Gac, what part of the network of caves did you take me?”
“To the other opposite side of where you fainted.”
“Oh, gougers! We’ll never find our way back to Our Town! But now, I have to ask. WHAT IS PAST THIS MOAT?!? It’s like six liquids perfectly separated, hard on the eyes and ears as they land on the clouds!! It’s giving me a migraine!!!”
“Hmm. No! Let me guess. Uh. Rainbow... Water?”
“Please, Gac. No town could be more generic than Our Town. Rainbow Water doesn’t even remotely have any meaning to it.”
“Choo choo! I see a tourist, Hatch!”
“Tourist?”
When I look at my hoof, I see it holey instead of whole.
“Ah! My disguise!”
I change back into my Catcher disguise, worried that the “tourist” walking by would see me. As it appears, the “tourist” doesn’t look until the next few seconds.
“Oh my gosh! Is that a dog?!? Whoa!!!”
The filly Gac had pointed as a tourist falls into the moat, then comes up to me and Gac’s side of it.
“Say, what’s your name?”
“You may call me Catcher. And this is my pet dog, Brown.”
“Brown? Not a bad name!”
“So, what is yours?”
“Diamond Tiara. I came here in Rainbow Falls to-”
“Rainbow FALLS?!? That’s really the name?!? YOU’RE LYING!!! That’s worse of a name than Our Town! Our Town may’ve been a generic name, but at least it had meaning!!”
“Hey!! I didn’t name either!”
“Then I demand the presence of whoever named this “Rainbow Falls” location as such!! I desire to speak with him (or her) now!”
“Look, they aren’t around right now. So, settle down. What’s your situation?”
“I was at the other side of the network of caves inside that mountain behind me and I need the way in there back to Our Town.”
“Our town? You don’t need a cave to head back to Ponyville.”
“I’m not talking about- okay seriously, who named all these towns? Anyway, I wasn’t talking about ‘Ponyville’. I was talking about Our Town You know. The town I used to compare with ‘Rainbow Falls’.”
“Our town...”
Diamond Tiara gasps.
“OH!! Our Town! Okay. Okay. Whatever surrounds ‘Our Town’, look through the caves and until you find that. I can go with you if you want.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever. Come on, G- um Brown.”
So, after barking happily a couple of times, Gac tags along my walk back into the cave, Diamond Tiara following suit. After about an hour after entering the caves, the three of us find the right path out.
“Diamond Tiara, I congratulate you for a job well done on helping us find our way to Our Town. You may go back to your ways as I won’t require your services any longer.”
“Well, thanks, Catcher. Actually, I want to see what this town has to offer before I go back to my vacation at Rainbow Falls.”
“What?”
“I just want to look at the town. I can go alone. It’s right over there.”
“Very well then. You may do that. Farewell, Diamond Tiara. I wish you the best of luck.”
“Bye, Catcher. You may be quirky, but you have a wide vocab for a filly your age. See you later! Bye, Brown!”
Moments later, Diamond Tiara disappears from sight, queuing me and Gac to step out of our disguises. Gac does, but I can’t at the moment as I start itching at the fur, with my right back hoof, before I drop the disguise.
“Ugh! How can you stay in that for so long?!? I nearly blew my own cover staying in that for so long the itching was that bad! Rahit hunur duru!”
Gac just stares at me and blinks twice. I briefly hang my head and sigh.
“Sorry about that. Let’s head to the caves.”
-=-
Gac and I have been digging higher into the cave ceiling for the past couple of hours, and we’re still going. That is until we hear a familiar voice.
“Hello? Catcher?”
Oh no! Party Favor! I levitate Gac and myself, trying as hard as we can to avoid getting caught without our disguises. The cave echoes too much to make any sound, so we have no other option but to stay as we currently are, changelings.
“Catcher? Brown? Where are you? Wait a second. I didn’t know those two had flashlights on them! I guess the two are mining or something.”
Wait a minute. How can Party Favor see in these caves? I mean, it’s a given that- oh. So, that’s how. It’s because of our eyes. Hun! I guess that means that we can’t close our eyes, as it would make the cave dark for Party Favor.
“Oh well, I’ll just leave them to their business.”
So, after a minute and a half of Party Favor’s hooves clipping onto the hard rocky cave floor, the echo finally leaves me and Gac’s ears. Both of us sigh in relief, wiping our foreheads.
“That... was a close, close call. Now, how about we keep working on making that hive, Gac?”
“I’m in!”
“Great! Then let’s roll.”
And with that, the two of us continue to dig upwards until we finally come back down.
So, it seems that Our Town is just like Ponyville. Three different kinds of ponies. The only difference is that these ponies are authentic as none of the eyes glow green at any point. This is completely undiscovered territory, so of course the ponies here are authentic. Suddenly, I see Brown coming from the caves.
“Ar- ar- ar- ar- ar-!”
I gasp.
“Brown? What’re you doing here alone? Where’s Catcher?”
Brown barks one more time.
“That’s it. We have no time to lose. We’ve got to get that filly before the changelings do. And I might know where she went. Somewhere only she could think to hide.”
And with that, Brown and I run to the cave in search for Catcher.
-=-
I look past Our Town and see Diamond Tiara and Gac enter the area leading to the cave.
“Yes, Gac. You’re doing great. Diamond Tiara will be a great start to the hive. With this new hive, Gac and I will feed on love we have never had in our old hive. Diamond Tiara is not part of Our Town. She’s just from Ponyville, a place I have NO relevance to! I must blend in as Diamond Tiara from now until our hive is at a sustainable status. For the first time, Gac, you have made my mission just that much easier.”
So, I change into Diamond Tiara and walk down the valley and hide in the rocks for about a minute. When I come into Our Town, people recognize me as who I’m disguised as.
“Ah! Diamond Tiara! I thought you went with Brown!”
“Well, it was a quick search, Double Diamond. It was just to see if Catcher was at the front of the cave. Brown went searching into the caves without me.”
Suddenly, Party Favor joins the conversation.
“Hey Diamond Tiara, can I see you in the bakery basement?”
Right, Party Favor is rather suspicious about me. And he must’ve seen the real Diamond Tiara in the surrounding area that led to the new hive.
“Okay, Party Favor. I’ll be there. Bring all your tools.”
Suddenly, Party Favor and Double Diamond get confused.
“I read some book moons ago. I don’t remember the title.”
Party Favor laughs.
“Oh. Okay. I see. Just come down when you’re ready then. Okay?”
“Alright.”
I wave goodbye to Party Favor as he goes into the bakery past the tables.
-=-
As I enter the basement, I get something weird about the area. It’s like Party Favor intentionally left the lights low. Suddenly, I perk up from hanging my head in front of me.
“There you are. Glad you could make it. I just have one question. Are you the real Diamond Tiara?”
I snort in amusement.
“That’s a weird question.”
“Just answer it, okay?”
“Yes. I am. I mean, why would I end up here in this desert-like area if I was trying to vacate to Rainbow Falls?”
I’m going to have to be careful on names. I almost said Gac in front of Diamond Tiara instead of Brown.
“Wait. Catcher never told you about Our Town’s history?”
“She never mentioned it.”
“Oh, come on! There has to be something that you don’t know. Where were you before Rainbow Falls?”
“Ponyville. Everyone there’s been replaced there.”
“Everyone?!? Even the Princess of Friendship?!?”
“Yes! Even her! Alright? I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, I could understand that if you were the real Diamond Tiara. But-”
“Look. Party Favor, was it? I’d love to talk to you about what goes on in my life, but I have to get back to Rainbow Falls,the last remaining open place with authentic ponies, just to have a normal life again.”
“Very well then. It seems that you have convinced me, ‘Diamond Tiara’. Good luck on your journey.”
-=-
That night, I sleep near the top of the mountain, seeing a view from Rainbow Falls and Our Town to the east coast and this crystal looking place with surrounding tundra. Looking at Our Town, one by one the lights turn off. Finally, when the last one shuts off, I drop to the cave entrance I was in front of earlier after Party Favor’s interrogation. Entering the cave, I see Gac near the top of the ceiling with a cocoon containing Diamond Tiara, who looks like she was asleep while it happened.
“Gac. I’m impressed. How’d you do that?”
“I made a chrysalis.”
“I see that. But no one ever taught you that before.”
Gac starts whimpering.
“I hope I did it right.”
“Well, it turns out you did do it correctly. Now, we just have the ponies of Our Town to worry about, especially Party Favor.”
“What’s he doin’?”
“Interrogation. When I posed as Diamond Tiara, Party Favor decided to have me meet with him in the bakery basement, and try to find out the truth of what’s going on. It’s a good thing I talked to Diamond Tiara, or else I would’ve been found out. Now when we go in as Catcher and Brown, beware of Party Favor. That pony is smart, so keep your eyes peeled for the all blue stallion. Tomorrow, we finally break Party Favor.”
Gac and I come back to Our Town, keeping an eye out for Party Favor.
“Hello, Catcher.”
Rahit Duru! Speak of Cadence. I turn around to face Party Favor.
“Hello, Party Favor. Look, I don’t see what’s going on that you’re seeing. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but lighten up. Your name is Party Favor. That’s a particularly positive name for somepony who’s overly skeptical about me.”
“Catcher, we need to talk. I have a bit of a hunch. Perhaps we could discuss this hunch in the bakery basement.”
“Whatever it takes to convince you you have nothing to fear. Is Brown needed as well?”
“Yes.”
“Alright... I don’t see how he would help matters. But you probably know what you’re doing.”
“Of course I know what I’m doing. See you in the basement, just you, me and Brown.”
Party Favor... why?!? Why do you do this to me? It’s like you’re trying to make me crazy.
-=-
So, when I come to the basement, I see Party Favor approach me.
“Good thing you could make it. I’m going to the Canterlot Archives to find a very cool stone that I think you should see.”
“Okay. See you when you get back. So, what does this stone do? Reveal a secret about me?”
“Wait. You know? How?!?”
“You’ve been uneasy about me. Diamond Tiara was interrogated because she became associated with me.”
“I interrogated ‘Diamond Tiara’ because she could never have snuck up behind me so quickly if she was headed to the caves with Brown.”
“Give her a break. Diamond Tiara just wanted to keep from getting replaced, so she went to Rainbow Falls to live a safe life. I don’t blame her, and she won’t be likely to visit this place after the talk with her you had.”
“Eh. That would make sense. But how do you know about Diamond Tiara’s interrogation?”
“I said it earlier; Diamond Tiara’s associated with me now. She knows me, and she’s told me everything about it. She’s fully aware you’re suspicious about me, so she filled me in on the missing information. Fortunately, I’m open for any questions or concerns you have.”
“And I have one before going to Canterlot. Where were you while I talked with Diamond Tiara?”
“I went to the outskirts of Rainbow Falls on the other side of the mountain to find a way to get to Our Town without using the mountain.”
“Well, perhaps when I get back, you can show me where this alternate path to Rainbow Falls is.”
-=-
In my disguise, I wait, at the edge of Our Town as the sun sets, for Party Favor. As the time drags on, I begin feeling droopy. Sunset, civil, nautical, astronomical, Party Favor never comes. Suddenly, I feel a tap on the shoulder. Turning around, I see none other than the subject I’ve been waiting for.
“Huh? Oh. Party Favor, it’s you.”
“Yup.”
“Why would you come at this time? It’s past my resting time. I knew it took awhile to get here, but this long?”
“Look at it this way though. I got the stone I was talking about. Earlier today.”
“Okay. I can try it on.”
“It’s the same color as the road from Wonderbolt Academy.”
“Road colored?”
That can’t be good.
“Yes.”
“You think this would fit me well?!?”
“Yes.”
“No, you lie! YOU LIE!!! I can’t go around looking like a BEE!!! I’ll look horrible!”
“Oh, you won’t look like a bee. Trust me.”
So, as it turns out, the stone is put into a necklace as Party Favor puts it around me. The result of a white that I experience. I briefly lose my vision. Recovering is like getting kicked in the torso after losing wings, discovering that I lost my disguise to wearing the necklace. Party Favor gasps.
“YOU!!!”
“Talk like an upright bobcat all you want! But I have a special place I can put you in for turning me into a changeling! Before you do though, I’ve always wondered what using magic could do.”
So, using my horn, I turn Party Favor unconscious as he faints in front of my hooves, facing behind me. Levitating Party Favor, I head to the caves to get to Gac.
“Gac! Put Party Favor into a cocoon and take this cursed necklace off of me! If we don’t hurry, I can’t disguise myself anymore! Or even worse. Party Favor might wake up!”
Gac proceeds to levitate the necklace off of me, changing me back into Catcher. Then, he levitates the slumbering Party Favor and swiftly circles the unconscious pony. Finally, the cocoon starts forming from the middle and touches the ceiling as it wraps around Party Favor. The final result is a second cocoon. Now, what would Party Favor do now that he’d revealed what I truly am and I didn’t do anything about it? If I did such a thing, I would only mention it if I was explicitly asked what happened. But in the meantime, I would definitely feel lifted out of weight. So, that’s the expression I should show if I pose as Party Favor.
“Gac, I have a plan. I have to pose as Party Favor and act like I accomplished an age spell. Wait here for the day tomorrow, okay?”
Finally, it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for. The first day that I could make the hive without worry. When ponies notice my Party Favor disguise, they gawk, but not for long. But then comes Double Diamond.
“Party Favor?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to you?”
“Eh. Age spells.”
I scoff.
“I can handle it.”
“Age spells? Do you mean, from the Canterlot archives?!?”
“Mhm.”
“Huh. Never saw you as the magical type.”
“Well, I originally intended to snatch some sort of stone, but I accidentally grabbed the wrong spell.”
“A stone? For what?”
“To give to Catcher. I figured I’d welcome her with a gift. The spell I intended was to neutralize the enchantment.”
“So, what happened?”
“I gave it to her, and she loved it.”
“Well, that’s good. Hope everything else goes well with you.”
“Okay. See you around?”
Double Diamond nods and walks away. I sigh my relief inside. That was close. I thought I wouldn’t really be able to do Party Favor, with never getting a chance to interact with him like I did with Diamond Tiara, but I guess it didn’t matter how; all that mattered was that I did interact.
-=-
About an hour after my conversation with Double Diamond, I teleport from inside a house from Our Town to where in the cave that Gac is waiting.
“Alright, Gac. We can finally- um... Gac?”
“Yes?”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Or something?”
“Oh, I’m just making room for the cocoons.”
“You know, there’s already plenty of room for the two, right?”
“I’m talking about future reference.”
“Future reference? Are you sure you’re not thinking too far ahead?”
“Yes... wait a minute... no.”
“Eggs aren’t on the way yet, Gac. I have an idea though. I’ll travel to Rainbow Falls twice, first time around trying to make observations under its brutal studying conditions.”
“Are you going to get some love?”
“Love? Gac, I’m only going to Rainbow Falls to study before coming back here to let you know which percentage of its emotional contents is love; feeding on whatever love it has will be saved for the second trip.”
“Who’re you going as?”
“Just my initial disguise.”
“Okay, Catcher.”
“Making this hive is going to be a breeze from here on. No pony un-cocooned has ever seen past my disguise.”
“Wait, Hatch! How are you going to avoid feeding off of love?”
“Hmm. I guess I never considered that. Cocoons do give a changeling access to a subject’s memory. Perhaps I could look through Party Favor’s memory before I go and see what spells he came across when in Canterlot.”
I fly up to Party Favor’s cocoon and use my horn to see his perspective on all the scrolls he found. The first object, obviously is the stone that he used to reveal what I really am. The second object is of a scroll, one that is to the stone. What it reveals is that the stone actually came from Chrysalis’ hive, not from “Wonderbolt Academy”. A few more scrolls pop up, like one for time travel, relec reconstitution, and dietary deviation. After that, none of the memories relevate to Canterlot.
Well, I came close to finding a spell that will prevent me from instinctively feeding off of love, only feeding when I consciously do so.
“I guess I will go out of my way to try to avoid feeding off of love.”
-=-
As Catcher, I walk over to the Rainbow Falls Train Station, ignoring the loud landing of the liquids onto the clouds. It seems that nopony has been out for a while, which is strange because I saw ponies out when I met Diamond Tiara back three days ago. Suddenly, one of the residents walks up to me.
“Why, hello there. Where’re your parents?”
“Home. I was just roaming the surrounding area. Perhaps I could get a tour of Rainbow Falls?”
“Unfortunately, I’m not the pony that gives out the tours here. That would be the mayor.”
“Okay. I’ll go to him (or her) for the tour, then.”
“Alright, need anything?”
“No.”
“Okay. Carry on.”
And with that the resident leaves.
So, throughout my first visit to Rainbow Falls, I come across a wide variety of differences between that and Our Town. First off all, I can actually distinguish what is residential, and commercial. However, I also notice a few familiar ponies walking in and out of the select few stores that are present. I remember seeing said ponies in Our Town, so my assumption is that they come here in order to get the supplies they need to use or to make a given product that they sell, be it sugar, fabric, flour, chalk, a pen, a quill, or a wrench.
Our Town, from my experience, is a pretty welcoming place in the case of emotion contents. Nearly all of the emotional components are positive, like happiness, relief, hope, faith, and celebration. However, I don’t nearly have a tough time avoiding feeding on positive emotions in Rainbow Falls like I did with Our Town. I never considered until now having to evade instinctively feeding. So, it’s completely new to me.
Back into the caves, I meet up with Gac yet again.
“Gac, we might need to feed by force.”
“How do I do that?”
“I’ll show you when we get back to Rainbow Falls.”
Upon the change of plans, I decide to head back to Our Town before going back to Rainbow Falls, still as Catcher. Going around Our Town the day after my first real Rainbow Falls visit, I start getting a feeling in my stomach as if I ate something at Rainbow Falls. For a while, I pay no mind to it. What’s even weirder is that all around town, there are reward posters, stating that Party Favor’s gone missing, and whoever finds him practically becomes a millionaire. Suddenly, a pegasus comes to me.
“Hey Catcher. What’s up?”
“Just taking a walk around town.”
“Sad, isn’t it?”
“What’s sad?”
“Party Favor?”
“I’ve read about it. Night Glider, is it?”
The pegasus nods.
“Kind of coincidental. It’s almost as if my gut knows about it.”
“What about your gut?”
“It’s felt strange lately.”
Suddenly, I feel a burn in my throat as something rises into my mouth, making me cough it out, turning out to be what looks like spit.
“You okay?”
“Not sure, but I think I’ll be fine.”
“I sure hope so. Perhaps you could help find him. If you do that, you’d be RICH!!!”
“Only if I needed to buy something high quality would I really want to do that.”
“Well, okay. We won’t force you. I just thought I’d mention it.”
“That’s okay. It makes sense that the ponies of Our Town have reported Party Favor as missing. I talked with him the night he went missing. Recently, he’s been uneasy about me, I thought we could talk things out But things got bitter and I-”
Suddenly, I spit again, away from Night Glider.
“Catcher, are you sure you’re going to be alright? You could go to our medical facility.”
“I’ll be fine, really. It’s just spit.”
The pegasus examines the places that I spit.
“That doesn’t smell like spit. You need to go to the medical facility.”
“But wait; I don’t have any real symptoms! Ponies spit at some point.”
“That wasn’t spit.”
-=-
So, once we make it to the closest cottage to the cliff, a nurse comes to us.
“So, let’s see what’s going on.”
“Catcher has been spitting out something that looks like saliva, but seriously isn’t by scent.”
The nurse gives me a cup without further speech, just at the same time that I have another need to spit. Now with what I spit out in the cup, the nurse has all she needs to see what’s going on.
“So, what is it?!?”
“I... don’t know, Night Glider. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The liquid is so clear... even more so than any bodily fluid I’ve ever seen.”
“Wait a minute. Where do I know this liquid from?”
Night Glider pauses and shrugs.
“Eh. It’s probably going to blow over by tomorrow if you take care of it right.”
-=-
Throughout the course of the day, I find myself more drowsy after each time I have to spit. I decide to head to the caves early tonight.
“Gac! My form has limped!”
“What’s wrong, Hatch?”
“I have fallen a tire today from my visit to Our Town! Take me upstairs, shall you?”
“Yes, Hatch!”
And with that, I get a view of Party Favor and Diamond Tiara’s cocoons when Gac lands. Soon, I fall fast asleep out of my disguise while Gac scats, lively as ever. Suddenly, my slumbers are interrupted all too quickly when my stomach starts aching. I blink and groan in agony.
“Gac... Gac!”
“Yes, Hatch!”
“I am in no condition to travel to Rainbow Falls. Can you retrieve love from there?”
“If you can’t travel, what’s wrong?”
“I am experiencing abdominal agony. That’s irrelevant to your current condition. Simply answer. Are you well enough to retrieve love from Rainbow Falls?”
“Not without you. I’m staying here.”
“Are you in pain?”
“Yes. I’m in pain, that is without you.”
“Gac, what are you talking about?”
“We have been trying to start making our hive for six days. I have helped you the best that I can in reaching that goal. I don’t want you to be alone like this.”
Wait a minute. Gac has actually been trying to help me? He was doing everything he can to contribute to making my hive, or as he calls it, “our hive”? Our hive... I gasp in realization, tears starting to stream through my cheeks.
“Oh, Gac. I’ve been so ungrateful about you. You introduced me to Diamond Tiara, made two cocoons without any problem, helped me out of that stupid necklace, and even pointed out that I would’ve had to avoid feeding off of love the first time visiting Rainbow Falls. And I never gave you any thanks for it. I deeply apologize that I ever did that to you. You deserve a break. Stay with me until I wake up, okay?”
Gac proceeds to hug me as I feel too feeble with abdominal pain to return the hug. With Gac comforting me, I am ready to fall asleep again.
Waking back up, I find myself in the same spot from when I apologized to Gac as I wake up. Surrounding me are grubs about half of my size. Counting them all, there are seventeen. One of them looks at me, realizing that I woke up. The grub flutters its wings, notifying the others of my comeback. Finally, all the others buzz their wings in front of me, possibly in respect and reaction that I have arisen to a comfortable position. I try getting up, but I feel unstable in the legs, which can only mean one thing. Me and Gac’s hive has officially started.
I lie back down to let my legs heal. Looking up, I see Gac standing on the ceiling.
“Hey, Hatch! I saw the whole thing!”
“What whole thing?”
“Your chaaaaangelings.”
“My changelings?”
“They’re crawling all over the cave!”
“Uh oh. Gac, neither Night Glider, Double Diamond, nor any other resident of Our Town may enter this cave for any reason. They have likely developed a search party for Party Favor. It appears that I cannot walk with much stability, so you’ll have to take guard. I would greatly appreciate it.”
“I can do even better!”
“Okay. Surprise me then.”
Throughout the rest of the day, I grow used to the chittery sounds of dozens upon dozens of grubs, possibly enough to replace the entirety of Our Town, echoing throughout the caves. By the time my drowsiness kicks in yet again, however, the chittering suddenly stops, replaced with clipping onto the hard cave floor.
-=-
“Finally! Night time!”
I point to Our Town for the grubs that have come with me. Counting them, I see about twenty. The group starts advancing without me, so I study the town near the horizon.
“Wait up, little grubs. The lights aren’t off yet. When darkness is in all of the houses, we can get to said houses. Do any of you know how to fly?”
Most if not all of the grubs look at me in confusion. One jumps, thinking he or she understands, buzzing his or her wings, desperate to stay off the ground. However, a few seconds later, the grub lands, tired out. Finally, the group follows the little grub’s example to little success on their part. So, I decide to lift off the ground to show how easy it is.
“I see the error in how that one grub was doing it. You only have to pay enough attention to your wings to enjoy whatever view you get from it. Not too much. Not too little.”
So, another individual grub tries out my tip and manages to stay up three times as long as the first time and actually lands quite safely. I flutter my wings in excitement.
“Yes! You’re getting it!”
The rest of the group follows the second grub’s example and manages to stay in flight for more than twenty seconds, just as a test flight.
“PERFECT!!! And now that the lights are off, let’s move! Only the moonlight can truly guide us to Our Town now.”
-=-
When the twenty or so of us arrive at Our Town, we are hovering high into the air. I reminisce about counting the ponies outside, seeing that there was thirty ponies that populate Our Town. It sure is a small town. Okay. Hatch and I will have twelve grubs out of the initial twenty I dragged out that will come back. So, there wasn’t as many that was needed as I thought.
So, eight of the grubs land on top of the roofs of all the unlabeled structures. Then, they hide behind the houses to search for the windows of the rooms that the fillies and colts are in. Finally, once each of them find the window showing a foal, they teleport into the room, posing as them. That’s when I go to each house to snag the fillies and colts, levitating each one I collect before I return to the cave to cocoon them all.
-=-
Still resting up, I hear buzzing coming from where Gac went. I pull myself to the edge of the makeshift cliff to see that twelve grubs are hovering with Gac following suit.
“Hello, Gac. How did guard duty fare?”
“It went well, Hatch! A lot was done! How’re you legs?”
I try to stand. My legs don’t shake as much as they did when I first saw the grubs around me. But they’re still shaking nonetheless, so I lie back down.
“Well, better than earlier.”
Gac starts snickering.
“I can’t wait to see the looks on the ponies’ faces when they see what we all did!”
“What... did you do? Show me!”
“Not now, silly!”
“Oh right. My legs.”
“Well, that and it’s past our time to get to sleep.”
“Okay.”
-=-
“So Hatch! How do we do this?”
“I have to come up with a winged disguise so that I don’t get noticed. I’ll watch from a bird’s eye view. Someone has to stay here and watch the grubs, so I need to have you stay here.”
“Yes, Hatch!”
“Now, I know the way to Our Town, but I can only do so well, if any one pony is headed to the cave, so watching the grubs means guarding the cave entrance from Our Town.”
“Yes, Hatch! Will do!”
“I trust you. And I know you can do it.”
“Yes, Hatch!”
So, I fly straight off the ground over to Our Town to keep my legs rested. On the way, I change into a pegasus with reminiscence of Double Diamond. I find a cloud to drag overhead of Our Town and watch below it. What I don’t expect is the entire town in a small crowd, Double Diamond, Night Glider, and one unicorn facing all the others.
“Uh oh. That certainly can’t be good. What in Queen Light’s name did you do, Gac?”
After taking one final look at Our Town, I glide down and land in front of the crowd of ponies. I recognize Double Diamond and Night Glider, but the third pony is a unicorn that I don’t know. At least I know what she does based on the apron. Might as well call her a baker.
“Double Diamond! Night Glider! What’s going on?”
“Who’re you? You sound familiar.”
“No time, Night Glider. What’s going on here?”
“Ponies here are in an uproar, but we don’t know why! And how did you know about Double Diamond and Night Glider?”
“I’ll touch on that later, baker. Why are the ponies of Our Town angry?”
“They’re saying that the fillies and colts here have been replaced!”
“Double Diamond is right! Our children are not like themselves!”
I turn to the interruptor.
“Okay. What is your name?”
“Actually, what’s yours?” she inquires.
“Uh... Cloud Slide. Yeah, now I remember.”
“Okay. I’m Faith Slope.”
“Would you accept me taking on this case, Fatih Slope?”
“Yes. I’ll accept anypony doing that as long as we get our children back.”
“Will do. I’ll get the mastermind behind this.”
I turn to the aproned unicorn.
“So, you’re the baker of Our Town, right?”
She nods.
“Sugar Belle, at your service. Where’d you come from?”
“Ponyville. I have to go find the one behind the replaced fillies and colts now, okay?”
“Okay. Bye, Cloud Slide!”
“Bye, Sugar Belle!”
I fly off to the caves and find Gac in front of it.
“Gac! When I said surprise me, I didn’t mean cause an uproar! This seems to be more of a delicate and ambitious mission than we thought!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Gac, we both are. I should know this stuff. I didn’t realize the ponies would form a mob because their foals don’t act like themselves.”
“What’s gonna happen now?”
“We have to wait for a few days unless for the ponies in Our Town to calm down unless they come to these caves. If that happens, you will have to talk with them.”
“Ooh! I like ponies!”
“Well, that actually helps quite a bit. If the ponies do come here, I’ll put on my new disguise and you can stay as you are now. If things get ugly, do not worry!! FOR I HAVE A PLAN!!!”
“Ooh! What kind of plan?”
“I think it’s time I surprised you. This is possibly just another obstacle in making our hive.”
-=-
Near sunset, after I vague gave Gac my plan, Gac and I hear angry chatter. As I face the loft entrance, my left ear is picking more of the chatter up than my right. That can only mean possibility... Our Town. I change back into Cloud Slide and head for the Our Town entrance of the cave network. Many of the complaints I can’t make out that well. But I do recognize a few of the ponies. Suddenly, Night Glider jumps up.
“STOP!!!”
“Thanks, Night Glider! Ponies of Our Town, what seems to be the problem?”
“We figured you’d be here! We thought you’d find the culprit HOURS ago! Have you?!?”
“Um, why yes, Sugar Belle. I did find who was behind the foals’ strange behaviors.”
Gac comes into the ponies’ views undisguised, causing them to gasp.
“A changeling did this?!?”
Double Diamond points to Gac for his emphasis.
“Yes. Why would I need to lie? This grub is behind your foals’ replacements. He has done good though as he had nursed my legs back to a stable condition.”
“Then why would he spare you and not any of the other fillies and colts?”
My eyes turn to the angry Night Glider.
“I’m not sure, actually.”
“And why do you sound like Catcher, Cloud Slide?!?”
“Catcher?!? Double Diamond, who’s Catcher?!?”
“How did you know about me and Double Diamond when you first came to Our Town?!? And where did you hear of Our To-”
“ENOUGH!!!”
My shout silences the mob in front of me and Gac, said mob looking in shock.
“Everypony! I don’t have every answer for you right now! If you just let us breathe for a second, I can collect your concerns more efficiently! Okay?!?”
The pony furthest to my right stamps his hoof on the ground.
“You know what? No more questions! Attack!!!”
“Wait! STOP!!!”
My second shout is unsuccessful as the mob moves past me and begins taking Gac down a route I’ve never had to take before, one that doesn’t lead to Our Town or Rainbow Falls, one that leads closer to the center of Equestria.
“HATCH!!! HELP!!!”
I have no choice. I have to make the surprise rescue. But for now, I might as well drop my disguise.
“I will help you, Gac. And I know just the way to do it. After all this time that you’ve helped me, it is time that I helped you. My grubs, I have to go back to Our Town and grab the foals that have been rumored to have been replaced. When I get to Canterlot I will need another different disguise.”
And with that, I get out of the cave, leaving the grubs to themselves as I head to Our Town. Gac, I’m coming for you.
Today, it is my mission to retrieve Gac and put an end to the very obstacle that an single hoofed-ly stop the development of me and Gac’s hive. So, when I call and round up the grubs, I tell them my plan.
“Okay, little ones. Gac has been captured and carried south into the center of Equestria. But no fret will sound under my ears. FOR I HAVE A PLAN to rescue Gac. I will find exactly where Gac is held in Equestria. Then, all twenty nine of you will be led by me to bail Gac in any way that we can. You will only need to replace ponies if there are guards, but no bail, and after I cast a comatic spell on said guards as a unicorn. It is imperative for us to find those replaced foals and for them to join us.”
And with my speech, the grubs cheer for the plan that I laid out. However, I feel something is missing. Uh oh. Diamond Tiara stated that Ponyville’s entire population was replaced, and that’s a town I don’t even relevate to. I even told Party Favor this well before cocooning him. I remember WAY back when Queens Chrysalis and Light said that they’d take over Equestria. That was about seven moons ago. Now I interpret it as “every known part of Equestria”. Well, I have to get going with my grubs, so it’s time to get to Our Town before the ponies come back.
-=-
After getting the eight additional grubs from Our Town, we finally travel to where my horn locates Gac for the next four days. The nearest town to where Gac apparently is is on the side of a mountain. I don’t know what is this town’s name is. I do know though that another town neighbors the mountain to the south. At this point, I disguise myself as a unicorn, the same color as my initial disguise first coming to Our Town.
Up the mountain, the hum on my horn is strongest just a little higher than the town on the mountain’s side. Looking closer at that point, I find unnatural cracks within the mountain above said city.
“Grubs, this has to be where Gac is. My horn’s humming like crazy over here where the cracks are. Come on. Let’s dig.”
Five minutes in, our progress becomes halted when two alicorns approach us into the air. One white with a rainbow mane and tail, one all blue. Both of the manes and tails flow magnificently.
“Hello, little unicorn. I see you have some new grubs with you.”
I get confused for a split second about what the white alicorn says.
“What? Oh yeah. I’m not from here.”
“Of course you’re not. I presume you were raised inside a hive?”
“Wait. Blue one, how did you know. Excuse me for not knowing your names.”
“Oh, you’ll recognize us soon enough.”
“But white one, I don’t understand. Why do you say that?”
“Here’s a hint. The sun has the most of this natural resource for us.”
“Light. Wait a minute. Blue one, are you two...?”
At this moment, the white alicorn and the blue alicorn transform into the all too familiar changeling queens, Light and Chrysalis respectively.
“Queen Light?!? Queen Chrysalis?!? Why are you here?!?”
“Hatch... where is my Gac? I noticed that you and your grubs were causing damage to Canterlot.”
I change back to myself to answer Queen Chrysalis.
“He has to be inside this mountain.”
“Gac?!? Inside of here?!? Chrysalis and I know geology like the skin of our hive, and we know for a fact that this mountain has always been none other than solid.”
I point to the untouched part of the cracks.
“Then, what are these cracks doing here? Locating him, my horn was humming the loudest over here. The ponies of Our Town must’ve hollowed the mountain out the top. Why else would my horn have been going crazy here?”
Queens Chrysalis and Light start getting confused.
“Um, what are you talking about, my Hatch? You know full well that-”
“HEEEEEELP!!!”
All forty of us (yes, there are thirty seven grubs with me) freeze, hearing the cry from within the mountain.
“GAC?!?”
“Gac!!! What’re you doing in there?!? What’ve those residents done to you?!?”
“Hatch?!? Is that you?!?”
“Together! We need to blast a hole into the mountain together to free Gac!!!”
“My Hatch! Do you even know how much POWER that would take?!?”
“Queen Light, if I can cast a comatic spell, then I can break a hole into a mountain!”
And with that, the two queens and I shoo away five of the grubs in the way before preparing to open the mountain. With that, our combined efforts show a hollow portion of the mountain that I had predicted would be there and contain Gac in. Looking behind me, all three dozen grubs are holding each other, scared of the power that all three of us had wielded together. I look back at Hatch before he comes over to hug me.
“HATCH!!!”
“Gac! How did you end up in there?!?”
“I was seeking refuge.”
“What?!? So, none of the ponies put you in there?!?”
Gac shakes his head. Suddenly, to his shock, he sees the two queens.
“Queen Chrysalis?!? Queen Light?!?”
“Hello, my Gac. It’s been seven moons since I’ve seen you. Too long for a queen to wait after a successful invasion. Tell you what. You two can stay in my hive until those ponies stop looking for Gac. We’ll take your grubs back.”
“Gac and I would humbly accept that offer Queen Chrysalis. See you back at the hive.”
When Queens Light and Chrysalis guide the grubs “home”, Gac looks worried as he sees the queens traveling south instead of north as they move away from the mountain.
“Um. We should tell them.”
“Yeah, Gac. Let’s go.”
The two of us quickly fly down to the queens
“QUEENS!!! Wait!!!”
The two queens stop to look at the two of us behind all thirty seven grubs in response to my call.
“What is it, Hatch?” Queen Chrysalis inquires.
“Do you two have any idea where Our Town is?!?”
“‘Hives’, my Hatch. We are taking your grubs to “our hives”, are we not?”
“Queen Light, listen!!! We reside near an actual village called Our Town!!! It’s up NORTH, not south!!! Now, before you say anything, yes that name is generic, but it does have meaning!”
“Fine!! Take your grubs!! It will affect neither me nor Chrysalis in the slightest!!”
And with that, the two queens continue walking toward their hive, leaving the grubs to us. One of the grubs looks away from the queens, unlike the rest, over to me.
“Queen Hatch, why is Light so crazy?”
I sigh.
“Let’s all just get home, my grubs.”
-=-
A day after starting the journey back to the cave neighboring Our Town, one of the grubs notices my complete silence.
“Q-queen Hatch? A-are you alright?”
“I’m fine... thanks for asking.”
“Queen Hatch, I’m so sorry about Light yelling at you.”
“There’s no need to be. You didn’t do anything.”
“I know. But... but we haven’t seen you this silent before. We feel like we’d done wrong for not speaking up for you. What’s wrong, our queen?”
I sigh in appeasement, stopping to sit down, every grub, even Gac, noticing and stopping on their own.
“I was once part of Queen Light’s hive. I wanted to make my own hive to rid myself of the memory of love deprivation. I thought those memories would be gone forever, never to resurface, but I was wrong.”
The grub next to me comes up in front of and hugs me, to which I return the hug.
“Oh, Queen Hatch, we don’t want to see you depressed.”
“There’s no need to worry about it now. Talking with you had taken my mind off of those memories. I think I will be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I do my best to retrieve love not just for me, but for the whole hive. I would let you grubs know if I were in no condition to do so. I am glad to have started my hive when I did. Our Town is filled with love and I’m glad to have been to that place.”
Suddenly, Gac taps my back.
“Um, when we get to the caves, can I talk to you?”
“Do you remember why I stayed with you before you woke up to the thirty seven grubs?”
“Um, because I was in pain?”
“Well, in a way, yes. I was there for you because you needed me to be, even if you didn’t realize it. So why did you say the hive was yours at the last iteration of said hive?”
“Gac, I apologize about that. I guess I haven’t completely broken my old habits. I’ll be more careful from now on with my wording. I will make sure this is everyone’s hive, thus I’m only the hive’s founder and queen.”
“So, if you’re the founder of the hive, then could we possibly call you Creator Hatch?”
“Now now, Gac. We can’t go too far with the whole praise about me. Adoration is for all of us after all.”
Gac chuckles.
“Right.”
“Well Gac, let’s see if the ponies of Our Town have returned.”
“Okay.”
-=-
In our disguises, and the wake of arriving at our destination, Gac and I see that no one’s outside. Then we take a good search of the thirteen houses, including the one that doesn’t line up with the rest. Each of the lined up houses is completely empty of even a single pony, and all of them are in livable shape. But then, there’s the unlined house. On the outside, it looks just fine, minus the lack of a door. But then, the inside... holes and hives, the inside... It’s like vandals had trashed the place.
The door is fallen inward with a good distance apart from its frame, there is some broken vase on the floor, there’s a fallen bookshelf that needs to be thrown out, and the table to the right is on its side. And because of the displaced door, the carpet near the entrance looks terrible possibly from snow in the past. Upstairs, the bed is completely displaced into the corner of the bedroom with its mattress sitting by. Throughout the house, there was also some fallen paintings with glass around them.
“Um, how long has it been since the ponies took you, Gac?”
“Half a moon?”
“Does that mean that those ponies abandoned Our Town?!?”
“I guess that’s what it means, Hatch.”
“Uh oh. This can’t be good. This seriously can’t be good.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Now we have to go to Rainbow Falls to retrieve love for our hive!”
Hatch starts to hyperventilate when we find out we only have ponies to replace in Rainbow Falls.
“So what? Now we have a place to-”
“Are you thinking too far ahead again?!? The hive depends on us getting more love by having ponies to replace!! For a place named Rainbow Falls, it sure is accurate to what its named... only at the cost of being able to concentrate!! When we first met Diamond Tiara, I got a bad headache from the rainbow colored water falling onto the clouds and ponds!”
“What if we don’t need to?”
“Why do you say that Gac?”
“Because the ponies left all their love behind.”
“That love isn’t fresh... now PAY ATTENTION!!! FOR I HAVE A PLAN to make it possible to successfully give the grubs the freshest love from Rainbow Falls to feed off of!”
“And what’s that?”
“We will study the relationships of the top five poorest villagers of the town, and whoever is friends with those top five will be replaced. We won’t replace the top five poorest villagers though, so we have to be a little careful about who we replace. Do you have that?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. After studying their relationships, we have to assign some of the grubs to the villagers’ friends so that they could study and later properly pose as said friends. Tonight, you and I will cast comatic spells onto the fillies and colts there so that the grubs can replace the foals.”
“So, could we put those foals into cocoons after that?”
“Yes. Now, let’s move out, Gac!”
“Yes, Queen Hatch!”
-=-
Going through the caves is a synch, but when we enter near Rainbow Falls with all of our grubs in tow, no one expects that Rainbow Falls would look like a ghost town, unlike Our Town. One grub tugs my wing, beside me.
“Queen Hatch, why is the town empty?”
“I don’t know. Maybe one of the changelings from either Queen Chrysalis or Queen Light’s hive came here already. If that’s the case, then that can’t be good.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Gac and I should check it out first since we came up with disguises in the first place, and pose as Catcher and Brown.”
When Gac and I jump over the moat, we are finally in Rainbow Falls once again.
“Look everypony!! It’s Catcher and her dog!!”
Because of the stallion and his outburst, the entire town surrounds me and Gac, giving us the impression that they’re relying on us somehow.
“What’s going on here? Why am I suddenly famous here?”
“You’ve come to find him yet again!!”
“Him?!? Okay, this is genuinely confusing, young colt.”
“You know Gac, right?!? Do you?!?”
“Little filly, what are you talking about? Is it about the changeling that found me? Isn’t he gone now?”
“Exactly, Catcher! He escaped the ponies of Our Town!!! Where is he now?!?”
The stallion from earlier bites the tip of his hoof as he comes up to me.
“I don’t know. I do know though that the ponies of Our Town went further south into Equestria to get him.”
Then, a pegasus mare comes to me.
“That’ll have to do. What should we look for?”
“Any unnatural form of land.”
“Come on then, everypony! Let’s go!!!”
When I look at the place the grubs previously were, they all move into the caves to avoid losing stealth. And so, the pegasus mare I’d just talked to leads the rest of the entire town, including all the fillies and colts, to move south. Leaving over the moat, all the pegasi help the earth ponies over to the other side. Half of the unicorns levitate themselves, surprisingly, while the other half needs help from the pegasi to move south. Finally, the entirety of Rainbow Falls’ population disappears from view.
I facehoof.
“Rahit... hunur... duru!”
“What’s going on, Hatch?”
“We lost it, Gac. We lost our chance of getting more love for the hive.”
“No we didn’t. The ponies just left.”
“Don’t you understand, Gac? Love doesn’t last- wait... what?!?”
“I just said that the ponies just left in search for me.”
“Yeah, okay. There’s still fresh love here. But it won’t last forever.”
“At least we still have an open area to make our hive now.”
“Wait. What town?”
“Our Town.”
“Okay, true, Gac. So, what other town should we try now that both Our Town and Rainbow Falls are abandoned?”
“No town for now.”
“Oh. Well, looks like it’s time to get some leftovers then.”
So, for the time being, we go through every single house in the area and gather all of its love for the grubs to eat, stored inside our horns. Finally, when we get to our area in the cave, we light our horns to let the grubs see us.
“My grubs, we’re home!”
And just like that the grubs gather around me and Gac, just waiting for the love we stored to satisfy them as we lend said love to them. Afterwards, the grubs hug me and Gac, sharing their love with us. I turn to Gac, smiling, while Gac does the same.
“Well Gac, I think it’s time that we sat down and relaxed. Enough traveling for while.”
As the grubs finish feeding on the love that we gave them, I decide to take a small nap on the loft. Taking in the view, Gac and the grubs make me feel like the size of a gouger. When I look near the ceiling, I see the cocoons. There are ten of them altogether. Eight of them are of fillies and colts I don’t recognize aside from them being from Our Town. The other two I know right away. Party Favor and Diamond Tiara. For a time, I think for a bit, afterwards sighing in depression.
Diamond Tiara was a pony that was just trying to vacate from changelings that had invaded Ponyville. And I encouraged Gac to do the very thing that she feared. I can’t believe how inconsiderate I was to her.
Party Favor was a unicorn that kept my plan from progressing this fast. And Gac cocooned him. I considered it to be the only choice at the time since he accidentally revealed that I was a changeling. I don’t think it’ll ever be the same without him. Nothing too much I can do about it now.
When I wake up from my nap, the first thing I hear is yelling, new voices I haven’t heard before. They certainly aren’t changelings. They sound like authentic ponies, as if they’re from Our Town, Rainbow Falls, or any other town that hadn’t been taken over by Queen Light or Queen Chrysalis. That can only mean one thing. I have to disguise myself now. Then I recognize two of the voices, leading me to look at the cocoons, which have all been completely decapitated and freed of each subject. I change into Catcher and clear my throat.
“Wait!!!”
“Huh?!?”
When I look down, I see that there are three new ponies added to the formerly cocooned ones. All three of the new ones are fillies, each with a blank flank. The three are coated as, from left to right, tan, yellow, then white. All thirteen ponies look up where they heard me yell. I jump down to where the ponies are.
“What’s going on here?”
“Oh... hello there... Catcher.”
I raise my eyes in response to the yellow blank flank’s greeting.
“Um... who are you three? Are you from Rainbow Falls? I do know that town’s more populated than Our Town.”
“Actually, no. We’re from Ponyville. Ah heard some pretty strange things ‘bout y’all.”
“Wait. Party Favor told you about me?”
“Wah yes. Ah heard y’all were a changeling.”
“Uh...”
“Sweetie Belle...”
And with that, the white blank flank, I assume to be Sweetie Belle, carries a familiar necklace, it coming closer to my eyes. I back off.
“No... what’re you doing?!? If you put that necklace on me, it could get ugly here!!!”
“Perhaps because of its effects...?”
“Sweetie Belle!!! Do NOT drop that necklace!!!”
“Oh, I won’t drop it. That would actually hurt; wouldn’t it?”
“Well, when you put it that way, I guess.”
Finally, Sweetie Belle’s horn lowers the necklace onto my neck, completely obliterating my disguise, revealing my true form. Diamond Tiara and the fillies and colts from Our Town gasp.
“Catcher?!? You’re a changeling?!?”
“Now that Party Favor has passed his knowledge onto these three fillies, fessing up is the only option, Diamond Tiara. I am a changeling... a changeling that wishes to come in peace. Is there any one pony that wishes to accept my offer of peace?”
Right away, the ponies start chattering angrily, meaning it’s the views of a hive of thirty nine against the views of eleven ponies. However, when I look at the eleven ponies, I see that one of them, Diamond Tiara, is looking to the ground, disappointed with no anger.
“Why, Catcher? Why didn’t you tell me you were a changeling grub? Why did I wake up in that cocoon with that one other changeling? It certainly couldn’t have been you, Catcher.”
“You’re right, Diamond Tiara. I didn’t cocoon you. That was Gac. He was trying to help me make our hive, but I wasn’t the changeling that I am now. I hid my identity to hide my initial intentions. Those intentions are gone now. I seriously doubt that they’ll resurface and I apologize for whatever trauma we may’ve put you, Party Favor and the fillies through and the lack of consideration for you.”
“I was only initially due to the lack of love that I had back in my old hive, also possibly due to Queen Light’s influence. Gac, my grubs, and I will let you stay at Rainbow Falls.”
“Don’t worry Catcher. I forgive you. I sure hope your name’s still Catcher.”
“No need to worry. You can call me that if you want. An alternative would be Hatch, my real name, if you don’t want to call me Catcher anymore.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
Diamond Tiara turns around to face the three new fillies, then to Party Favor.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders, I truly understand why you didn’t get your cutie marks in changeling revelation. And I will let you off the hook if you touch no part of any chitin in this cave. As for you, Party Favor, you’ll be hearing a word from me for revealing Catcher’s true identity the way you did.”
As the “Cutie Mark Crusaders” sigh relief, Party Favor puts a hoof to his mouth in nervousness.
The eleven ponies gather around me and Party Favor after we all walk outside, waiting to hear what I have to say.
“So, Party Favor, do you see what you did wrong?”
“Wha-what are you talking about?”
“The stone necklace? The revelation? The Cutie Mark Crusaders?”
“I’m afraid I still don’t read you. What are you walking about?”
“I had targeted three ponies once before all of Ponyville got replaced. Those three were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Back then, I’d acted particularly rotten to them. I can’t make up for what I did, but I realized, after I traveled to Rainbow Falls that one day, those very fillies could have been in real danger of getting replaced. I thought there was nothing to do about it except for starting a new life. But that revelation today showed me how wrong I was to bully the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And even when I did, I never traveled for hours on end to someplace and back just to target them. And I certainly didn’t need anypony I didn’t know to boot.”
I wait for ten seconds before Party Favor responds.
“You bullied WHO NOW?!?”
I snort at his question that made it obvious that his thoughts got messed up during my speech.
“Come on, Party Favor; everypony’s waiting on you. Catcher has changed. Don’t you want to accept that she has better intentions now than when she first came to Our Town?”
“I seriously doubt that Hatch has changed. You know how changelings are.”
“But she chose to leave her hive to find a higher amount of love! Let’s give her a chance!”
“Okay. As long as she never drove the ponies of Our Town away, I’ll accept the fact as true.”
-=-
I pace around the cave in nothing but pure thought, with Gac and the thirty seven other grubs looking at me.
“Ugh! What are we going to do?!? Diamond Tiara was quick to accept me, but Party Favor had his suspicions since the very beginning!”
“Who knows, Hatch? Maybe we-”
“You...”
Uh oh, Party Favor...
“Hatch... what did you do to Our Town?”
“Party Favor, what are you talking about?!? The entire population ran Gac out of town, and I went to rescue him! It was a good thing he hollowed out the top of a mountain to hide! So, what are you blaming me for?!?”
“Replacing the fillies and colts?”
“I’m telling you! I have changed! Regretting my lack of consideration for Diamond Tiara is proof enough! What else would I have to prove to you? Now take this wretched necklace off me! It’s driving me crazy, rubbing up against my chest!”
“Hmm... no.”
“What?!? NO?!? Why?!?”
“Running the town’s entire population of ponies out of the area is worse than putting all of the town’s cutie marks in a vault.”
“A vault?!?”
“Remember... the tour?”
“Right... I remember that. However, THAT’S NO EXCUSE TO SIMPLY REFUSE TO TAKE OFF AN ACCESSORY!!!”
“Hatch, calm down.”
“Calm down?!? I didn’t hurt a single pony from Our Town, and you’re saying that’s worse than stealing cutie marks?!? They chose to keep searching for Gac!!! They ran him out of town, Light darn it!!!”
“You DID hurt the ponies of Our Town! The fillies and colts! You cocooned them! You put me in a coma and cocooned me!”
“Even disregarding how you getting cocooned was before I changed, comatic spells still don’t do any harm to a pony! And those cocoons were capsulation cocoons! They have a material that pretty much nothing dissolves in, so in a way, Gac raised you and Diamond Tiara’s life expectancies by an extra moon!”
“Wait... Hatch, how’s that possible?”
“How’s what possible?”
“The extra moon thing.”
“Oh, the capsulation cocoon. It’s because of the material inside. Changelings normally use that as a means of food during the first few days after the egg splits. That’s why we tend to live longer than most animals from what the drones from my old hive told me.”
“Hmm... I don’t see that much a use in getting cocooned.”
“I could see that in a pony’s point of view, but it really does give you everything you need, not to mention that the cocooning process is completely painless.”
“Okay. If you want me to, I’ll tell the others that we could form a hybridized herd.”
“Hmm. I guess it sounds plausible. Okay. You have my approval, Party Favor. Come on, grubs. Let’s go properly meet the foals.”
-=-
When Party Favor, myself, and the hive get to where the foals are, they all pay Party Favor attention.
“Well, fillies and colts, we have finally made an agreement. Hatch and I-”
“Queen Hatch...” one of the grubs corrects to Party Favor, who clears his throat.
“Queen Hatch and I have both decided to form a herd hive hybrid. That means that there will be fifty two of us altogether.”
And with that, the twelve foals cheer, one of them stopping and coming to me, which is Diamond Tiara.
“Thanks for talking to Party Favor, Hatch. I don’t know what would’ve happened if things turned sour.”
Today, I have requested my grubs to begin building the actual hive at Our Town now that the formation of the hive population is practically complete. Meanwhile, I decide to walk with Party Favor through the cave.
“So, Hatch...”
“Yeah, Party Favor?”
“Do you know of any other towns that were abandoned while I was cocooned?”
“Heh. I may’ve told the ponies of Rainbow Falls that Gac was being chased down south by the ponies of Our Town.”
“Funny you should say that. I’m going there for the next Traders’ Exchange. So, have the ponies been gone long?”
“No. They left the other day. I doubt they’ll be back by the end of next week, but they could come back. Certainly not in time for the event that you’re going to though.”
“So, no Traders’ Exchange?”
“Nope.”
“Aw, Favor senses!”
“Wait. What was that? I know your name is Party Favor, so did you swear upon yourself?”
Party Favor nods.
“Heh. At least that’s better than whatever I say, which all translate to something... unkind. Although I’d say one of them is rather justified if I do say its translation.”
“What? Do you swear upon the queen of your old hive?”
“Eh, it bounces between that and changeling race as a... hole.”
In response, Party Favor starts laughing harder and harder.
“Wow, Hatch! I guess I never got to truly know you... and this is the new you?!? Why weren’t you like this in the first place?”
“I guess deep down, although I didn’t consciously know it, hiding my initial intentions was a good thing.”
“So, about the whole interrogation with Diamond Tiara... was that you?”
“Mhm.”
“Wow. Now that I think about it... everything you said as her... comparing that with what Diamond Tiara said at and after the revelation, stating those events... it matches up so tightly.”
“I know. I have regrets about having Gac cocoon her. I have my bets that that would’ve been the thing she feared the most. I guess the reason for your perception of my accuracy of Diamond Tiara was because I personally know her, back then and now.”
“So, do you remember Starlight Glimmer?”
“Hmm. I remember you mentioning Starlight... is Glimmer the rest of this pony’s name?”
“Yes.”
“Was she the one who stole an entire town’s cutie marks? I remember you saying that she was around for a little while before you and the others chased her out of town. Wait a minute. Could the whole cutie mark stealing... thing... be the reason she was chased out?”
“That’s exactly why... had Twilight and her friends not come here, I would still have that pesky equality cutie mark to this day.”
“Equality cutie mark? What’s that like? Is it like an equal sign?”
“Well, yes. So, tell me about this whole ponies run Gac out of town thing.”
“Oh. Okay. So, when we cocooned the eight fillies and colts, the town got up and legs about it. I tried to assure them that I’d ‘find the mastermind’ behind the replaced fillies and colts, but the ponies seemed to be impatient about what I told them I’d be doing. The second I met the whole town, they ended up practically saying ‘scratch it’ and taking Gac away. Me and my grubs went down the same route the ponies of Our Town took him down. Luckily, he managed to quickly hollow out a mountain before we found him. So, to this day, the ponies are still searching south, and so are the ponies of Rainbow Falls.”
“Wow. Those ponies have to be careful now. You said all of Ponyville got replaced.”
“Yes. I actually have the guess that most of known Equestria has been replaced. Both Queen Light and Queen Chrysalis had egg rounds rather recently, and considering they’re both about ten times my size, there may’ve been up to a thousand new grubs.”
“Well, how long do you live?”
“Seventy seven years is our life expectancy. The oldest changeling lived to be a hundred and ninety six.”
“Then most likely, Light and Chrysalis may’ve come too short to replace at least one town.. How many changelings would the entirety of the two hives make up?”
“That would be about a hundred and thirty thousand changelings altogether.”
“Well, then there would be enough ponies left to make a decent sized city. Ooh, I think I see Rainbow Falls over there.”
-=-
“Sunlight! Sweet sunlight! No offense on your glowing eyes that guided me through the cave though.”
“None taken Party Favor.”
“Come on, let’s see who’s left in this water noisy town.”
“You got that right.”
Party Favor and his unfamiliarly, distortedly voiced and seeming friend finally come into view. Upon that view, I instantly recognize the species. The kind of Party Favor’s apparent friend has been everywhere in Equestria. But I guess Our Town was established after the failed invasion of Canterlot that was spread all over the nation.
Darn it! I guess the voice alone didn’t give it away to me. Oh well. I guess it’s good to see a real pony for once. The two seem to be having fun.
“Ooh boy, it sure doesn’t seem so good to be back to the location of my demise. I guess it will have to do. Our Town will finally be mine once again. After a while of these changelings... I see a refreshment of my kind. Too bad I have to enact Plan B.”
I make my into the cave by crudely landing in front of it and continuing on as if nothing happened, trotting about the cave rather quickly in the familiar passageway to Our Town.
“That... was unbelievable! Weird and unbelievable! How could a pony possibly be friends with a changeling?!? Shouldn’t there have been a rivalry between the two?!? Ugh! I don’t understand any of this. And I’m the one who founded Our Town in the first place. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now. I am going back to Our Town anyway. I’m sure that I could just let the town go about its days while I just stay inside my house. Just how badly would the town fare without me? ...hmm. I’m not entirely sure, but I doubt it would be that badly.”
Finally getting to the path I rejected that sentimental nonsense that Princess Twilight spewed, I take a hard look at where Our Town is supposed to be. The actual town is still there, but something is in the middle of the town that towers over it.
“Whoa. I wonder what got into them.”
Walking closer to the town I begin seeing the tower in progressively more detail. It’s particularly thin for its height, and has holes leading inside all around, some of them opening and closing without assistance. Uh oh. I know this kind of structure. However, becoming visible at last, the twelve foals in front of it seem to point otherwise.
“Ugh! This is so confusing! Do I have a lot of catching up to do or what?”
Finally next the entrance to the smaller cave, I go inside to lead myself to my house. Upstairs, the bed’s exactly where I left it. However, not only have all the frames fallen and broken, but I smell something musty. When I look past the front, I see all of the foals of Our Town, plus four new fillies. I go downstairs to find that the place is absolutely trashed at this point, and that the smell from upstairs is even worse down here. The bookcase is fallen and ruined, the table is turned, and a vase I had valued so dearly living here has shatter into pieces.
Suddenly, I see something on the floor near the main entrance. Just to make sure I’m wrong though, I go upstairs and check the floor by putting the bed back where it belongs, via levitation, and checking under there. The floor looks just fine over here, so I go back down, and I look everywhere but the entrance, seeing that the floor looks fine in the areas besides the entrance. I examine the floor near the entrance by removing the carpet now, disturbing the few shards of glass there is along with dust as I get a closer look. And the look of the floor explains the scent to a T. Like a triangle, the exposed floor shows the look of black mold.
I teleport back to where I entered the cave before and see Party Favor with that changeling again as the two walk back towards the cave.
-=-
So, Party Favor and I have finally finished looking through the houses. Suddenly, I notice a pony of Party Favor’s race that has Sugar Belle’s coat with a banged purple mane as we walk back to the remains of Our Town. I tap Party Favor on the shoulder with my hoof.
“What is it, Hatch?”
“Who is that pony standing idly atop the entrance of the cave?”
Party Favor looks up to the entrance.
“Wait a minute. Hatch, I know this mare.”
“Who is it? Is it Starlight?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, Starlight somehow floats down in front of the entrance.
“Hello, Party Favor.”
“Starlight...”
“What are you doing here? And why are you with that thing?!?”
I walk up between Party Favor and Starlight.
“Ahem. Hello. You must be Starlight Glimmer. Is that correct?”
“Uh yeah. Why do you ask?”
“Party Favor’s told me quite a bit about your accomplishment and your downfall.”
“My what? Oh, the chase. Yes. I have come back to live my own life back in the very town I founded. I wouldn’t really bother Party Favor otherwise, but he has to come with me to my old home. It’s a complete disaster on the first floor.”
“Hmm. That bookcase needed be thrown out anyway, as well as that carpet.”
“It doesn’t just have to do with what needs to be tossed. The entire house needs to come down. Party Favor, I’m going to need help from all of Our Town in order to rebuild my old house, so you have to come with me.”
“But why do you need me, or all of Our Town for that matter. All the ponies there had been in search for Gac.”
“No more funny names, party planner. Now let’s go!”
“Should I join you? You and Party Favor headed to Our Town anyway.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.”
Was Starlight even paying attention?!? Oh well. I can finally get to see how the hive’s doing. When the two stop after arriving at the entrance to a smaller cave, I look back as I slowly continue.
“Would you mind if I ran off for a little bit while you two are looking at the house?”
“Wait. Why did you come here?”
“Because you said I could, Starlight.”
“I never said that.”
“Nah, you’re lying. You just weren’t paying attention when you said it.”
“Well, whatever it takes to get you out of my mane!”
