The learning curve

POV Luke Jennigan

The things had lead him across miles of terrain. Most of it was more dead woodland, but sometimes they would take him through a cave. They seemed to know where they were going.

They had been practically silent though. They hadnt talked much, if at all. And it was really creepy. The whole situation was creepy. Waking up in a forest covered in ash from a volcanic eruption that the news somehow managed to miss still baffled him to no end. And that's not to mention that somehow, the two inch wide hole in his chest had just dissapeared for no reason.

He was mindfucked to say the least. He was also equally confused about the creatures that were leading him off to their hive.

How the hell does a thing like this exist without being discovered? We would have noticed big colonies of deadly looking horse-insects hanging around. It's just not something that you would miss. In fact...

He turned to the 'changeling' walking at his left, if he could remember rightly, this one spoke English. At least he thought it was that one. They were all the same, and he had forgotten which one it was. So he turned back to the front to avoid awkwardness.

"You guys aren't much for talking, are you?"

"There was never any need to talk." Said the bug on his right.

"So...you don't talk unless it is required?"

"We are drones. We perform actions out of necessity. If there is no need to do anything, we won't do anything."

"I see. So what do you do if there are no tasks to do in your hive?"

"Most of the time an idle drone would patrol the hive and make sure everything is as it should be."

"Do you have social lives?"

"Changelings share information between themselves through the 'hive mind'. But nothing more than that, unless other communication is required."

The hive mind? Other than being a Dead Space boss, he really didn't know what that meant. He figured now was a good time to find out.

"What's the 'hive mind'?"

"A bond between all changelings. We can share information with individual changelings, or the whole hive mind."

"What sort of information?"

The creature was silent for a second. Luke glanced over to it to see if it was otherwise occupied. It looked at the ground, appearing to be thinking about its answer.

"Mostly simple information. Numbers, objects, events, locations, that sort of thing."

They arrived at a cave opening at the foot of a mountain. Inside it was pitch black. It was a little concerning, as there was no way that he would be able to see inside.

"Er, my species can't see in the dark. Is there any way of producing light...at all?"

The talking changeling nodded, and its horn lit up a deep green. As the group headed on inside, the darkness slowly enveloped them. Creeping as close to the small area of light that the creature was producing.

As they ventured deeper into the cave, small luminous blue mushrooms sprouted from the ground. They gave off just enough light to be easily visible, but not enough to light up their surroundings, which gave a strange atmosphere to the place.

The twisting tunnel eventually gave way into a large opening, that was lined with the glowing blue eyes of changelings. A chill ran down Luke's spine, as he glanced around from place to place. The blue orbs tracked him as he walked further into the hive, accompanied by his escort. This place stirred up a primal fear inside of him. And it burned away at his brain, yelling at him to turn back and run.

But he would never be able to see where he was going, no matter escape. Besides, he had played into the... Hooves of these changelings for too long to turn back now. So he kept walking.

The path led along the side of the large opening. The sound of a gentle buzzing with the occasional crackle or whine resonated of the walls, producing a deathly orchestra of echoes.

As the lead changelings light only lit up about three metres ahead of him, Luke had no clue what lay ahead. At last they came to another tunnel. This one was wider. And sets of blue orbs buzzed by, commuting from one end to another.

This place was making him really paranoid. Sometimes there was just silence, and others the sounds were ominous. He could feel his heart rate slowly climbing and his breathing becoming irregular. So he calmed himself down and tried to think positively.

The tunnel went on for at least two hundred metres. It had a gentle descent to it, leading them further down into the creatures home. Ahead the confines opened up into another chamber. This one had a similar vibe, but with a slightly different tone to it.

Again, the path they followed skirted around the side of the chamber. To the right there was a source of gentle light. It was enough for Luke to see what was in the chamber. It wasn't quite as large as the one before, but it was at least as large as a football stadium. The source of light was a strange mist, that glowed. There were pillars that dotted the chamber, covered in condensation.

In the bottom of the chamber, Luke could see small objects about the size of laptop sitting in the pool of glowing mist. Some of them writhed about and chirped. It was a sound similar to that of a bird, except it was more prolonged and defined. He saw one of the object open its eyes and yawn. It made a chirping sound and a changeling tended to it.

Are those... Larvae? No, they're more like nymphs. They are nymphs, this chamber is a hatchery.

He turned back to his light emitting guide.

"I bet these take some tending to." He said in a quiet and soft tone.

"There where seven hundred and fifty two nymphs in the hatching pools this spring. We have more than enough drones to cater for them."

Luke thought about that for a second.

Seven hundred and fifty two. Geez...

"Is that a high or low figure?"

"It is low. The hive is overpopulated, and not all breeding pairs have the energy to raise offspring at the moment."

"How many changelings are there in the hive?"

"Eleven thousand, two hundred and eighty six. Not including the nymphs."

Luke's eyes widened and he spluttered out a surprised response.

"What!?"

The group stopped and gave him an intimidating stare.

"Please keep your voice down, the nymphs are not accustomed to foreign noises and might panic."

Luke shifted on one leg and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, erm... Sorry. I was just surprised by the statistic." He moved back to his gentle voice.

"Very well then. We shall continue."

They walked through the hatcheries in silence. Time continued to stroll by slowly, and although they had walked out of the hatcheries in mere seconds, Luke felt like it had been at least a minute.

They entered a new tunnel. This one, just like the tunnel connecting the two chambers before, was wider that the cave that led them in. More of the luminescent blue shrooms dotted the walls. This tunnel had less traveling changelings in it, and those that were walking or flying through we're larger than the ones making up his escort.

He noticed one changeling that walked by had some sort of strange green tattoo that snaked around its entire. It looked similar to the tribal tattoos that were available back in human civilisation. Why would a hive creature have a tattoo? Maybe it wasn't a drone, and was a kind of changeling that was born with markings, God knows.

At the end of the corridor, they arrived at an entrance to a smaller chamber that seemed devoid of changelings. His group stopped at the entrance and he frowned at them.

"We have nymphs to tend to. Our queen is waiting for you inside her chamber ahead of you."

Luke looked confused as his escort began to head away, back into the darkness.

"Wait!" He called to them but they didn't respond.

He was left by himself, in the dark. He looked down at the hard rocky ground. His shadow was barely visible on the ground, it spiked up around the dark grey floor that he stood on.

Wait, his shadow?

He turned around to see a changeling casting a strong light around its chamber. Enough to be compared with that of a dim streetlight. He could now make out features on the walls and see some details in his surroundings.

The changeling looked nothing like the drones. It was tall, very tall. He estimated it stood at about six and a half feet from hoof to the tip of its horn. A section of its abdomen glowed green and it had four wings, each of which were a translucent blue. It's head stood atop a long but reasonably thick neck, and contained two large eyes sat above its fanged nozzle. It had catlike diamond pupils that lay within green irises, and the whites of its eyes were tinted turquoise. It had long draping blue hair that  embodied small holes, similar to its hooves. And its tail was the same.

Luke observed the changeling observing him. They stood in silence for a few moments before the changeling finally spoke up.

"Greetings. You may enter."

He walked inside the dimly lit chamber and looked around. Not much different from the rest of the place. Blackish grey walls, dull feature, the only thing that was different was that this chamber seemed to be artificially symmetrical. Somebody had taken care to ensure that both sides were identical.

Some parts of the walls had thin trickles of water flowing down them into a stream, which travelled behind a wall to an unknown location. A bed of soft fungi was built up in one corner which he presumed was a literal taking of the word, 'bed'.

"I am Chrysalis, Queen of this hive. What is your name, creature?"

"My name is Luke Jennigan. My species is know as 'Human'."

The changeling queen frowned.

"Your people have a strange way of naming their kin."

"To be honest, I could say the same thing to you, Queen Chrysalis."

"I suppose you could. Now then, Luke. I have brought you here to speak with you because I believe you can help me."

Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. What is it?"

"Nearly three years ago, I invaded a country known as Equestria to allow my hive to expand, and so that my people could feed from its inhabitants..."

Luke looked a little worried.

"I don't like where this is going."

"... You may not like it, but I need your help. My hive is outgrowing our feeding sources, and I need help before my people begin to starve."

"Fine, continue."

"Anyway, I have had infiltrators and recon units in place watching Equestria for a while now. Recently, a certain character from your species has shown up. So far, he has become a personal security guard for a princess that personally, I want my hooves on."

"Okay. So what do you want me to do about it?"

"I want you to be my new infiltrator. In two days, this princess called 'Twilight Sparkle' will be travelling to to a place known as the 'Crystal Empire' to meet her brother and sister in law, her new security guard will be with her. I believe that you can obtain as much information as possible about her new bodyguard as possible before that time."

"Okay, that doesn't sound too bad. What exactly do you need to know about him?"

"I need to know his name, where he lives, what sort of weaponry he's packing, and other personal details."

"And you need as much as I can get in two days?"

"Yes. I have a correspondent in the town of Ponyville who runs by the alias of 'Lyra Heartstrings'. She will come to see you when you make yourself known. The code word is 'home'. She will reply 'sweet home' if she can contact you without being noticed. She will brief you on the situation."

"I can do that, I think..."

"You 'think'? I need confidence!"

"Yes! I'll get it done."

The queen smiled.

"Welcome to the hive, Luke. I'll teleport you close to Ponyville. Oh, and the injuries are just to make you look helpless, it'll help. Trust me."

Luke's eyes widened.

"Wait, what!? Wha'd'ya mean about-"

Her horn flashed green and Luke felt like he had been struck by lightning. His muscles tensed up, trying to refuse the weird shit that Queen Chrysalis had done. The world flashed white and his ears were deafened by a wave of pressure flooding over them. This continued for a few seconds before the white flash subsided, and he appeared in a meadow, suspended in the air. He dropped to the ground, letting his ears stop ringing.

But as he did so, he began to feel a splitting pain running up his left calf. It slowly intensified until suddenly, it multiplied and he fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

The injuries are to make you look helpless. It'll help, trust me...