Love, not War

Chapters

Chapter 1 - It's Raining Aliens
Chapter 2 - Safe and Orderly Conduct
Chapter 3 - Diplomatic Immunity
Chapter 4 - Temporal Shenanigans
Chapter 5 - The Survivor
Chapter 6 - Aftermath

Chapter 1 - It's Raining Aliens

Isaac Gabriel Leeson woke up in the morning with the feeling that something was off. Was it the pile of used clothing on the floor? No, that was quite normal, as Isaac had never been too fond of cleanliness. It was next to godliness, after all. Was it the curtains over his bedroom window, that had been manufactured with just the right materials to allow light to annoy him and semi-rouse him from sleep for the past three hours? No, it couldn’t be that, that was normal too. So what was it? Isaac wondered, as he blearily got dressed, scratching his black stubble of a beard. Oh, that was it, it was the sound. Screams could be heard all around him, the cacophony somehow having failed to rouse him before now. What was going on? He wondered, as he strode downstairs to meet his parents and ask them for a debriefing. During his trip down the stairs, Isaac just barely remembered to be smart enough to look out the window, and discovered the problem. Ah, yes, of course.

Aliens.

There was a massive ship in the sky, all black and seemingly as pockmarked as the Moon, though Isaac couldn’t quite spot it from here. It was surrounded by smaller ships, which were as small as flies if the mothership could be compared to a watermelon. Isaac thought he saw some similarities, but overall the resemblance was easily disputed. Somewhat surprised by the turn of events his morning was taking, he noticed his parents walking over from the kitchen to talk with him. Well, at least he could fondly remember this as the second strangest thing to happen in his life – the aliens, that was, not his parents speaking with him. They did that quite a lot – too much, in Isaac’s humble opinion.

His father, a tall, thin man with graying black hair and blue eyes, put a hand on his shoulder. Isaac’s adopted father was normally a jovial man, but today he was as somber as a funeral. Isaac’s adoptive mother was close behind, her stout, thickly built frame, pursed lips, and shoulder-length brown hair all set to her usual expression: Griping. Isaac’s adoptive Mom was a very negative woman, who always nitpicked and never had a bright outlook on life. Consequently, Isaac took it upon himself to ignore her at most times. However, something about her expression was causing him to pay attention for once in his life. “Isaac… you’ve watched the show ‘My Little Pony’, right?” she asked, and Isaac stared at her, an eyebrow furrowing in disbelief. Was she serious? God, no, not this again. He'd escaped this nonsense once already.

Cautiously, he nodded – he had been one of those ‘in-the-closet’ bronies, not talking to anyone save those in the fandom, and he'd certainly never told his parents. Honestly, he didn't actually like the show, he just watched to... keep up, he supposed. Know thine enemy and all that. Isaac’s mother motioned him back over to the kitchen table, where her laptop was open to a news site depicting a strikingly familiar creature. Outlined in green, glossy armor, a changeling from the show in question was snarling at them, with the headline “BREAKING NEWS : Fictional Characters Invade Earth” in great bold black letters underneath it. Isaac took ahold of the mouse, growing increasingly dismayed as he skimmed the subheaders. Lauren Faust had been taken in for questioning? The United Nations had already passed a unanimous vote to initiate hostilities? Rick Astley was making a comeback? Wait, no, he’d misread that last one. As Isaac continued to read the news, he reflected on his own fandom preferences. He was a massive changeling apologist, arguing that if they could just work out something peaceful, then everything would have been fine. According to this article, the changelings had been sending out individual ships all night, the ships somehow immune to anti-aircraft missiles and whatever else the United States had been throwing at them. However, wherever the changelings had landed, there were no confirmed casualties, and in fact the changelings seemed to-

He was about to read more, but there was a great echoing ‘CRASH’ right outside their house. Isaac, now somewhat concerned for his safety, went and grabbed a butcher’s knife from the kitchen. He peered outside through a small window next to the front door, to find a very disturbing sight. A changeling, its armor glinting in the morning light, was cheerfully waving at him, an amicable smile present on its otherwise fearsome features.

“Hello!” It called through the door, a distinctly British accent permeating the glass, and Isaac was taken aback – so it was true, then. Ponies and other equines spoke English.

“H… hello?” Isaac replied, cocking an eyebrow at the invader and keeping the door firmly closed. The changeling’s expression brightened further, if that were possible, and it bounded right up to the door, causing Isaac to stumble backwards in alarm and his parents to clutch at the respective wall fixtures they had been holding onto as though lifelines.

“Great! Good, good, you understand me, I was thinking I’d ended up in the wrong country for a second, you’re the first ones to actually reply!” the changeling continued, still speaking in a British accent. Isaac would have almost found this funny, had he not still been attempting to process that he was spending the morning talking to aliens.

The changeling shuffled around, poking a hoof through its armor to reveal a bundle of papers stashed inside, somewhat sticky. Isaac didn’t really want to know why they were sticky, so he politely looked away until the changeling had finished. Once it had taken out the paper it apparently wanted, it put the rest back and coughed loudly, snapping Isaac’s attention back onto it. “Okay. Um. According to this, I am supposed to speak with… ‘Gabrielle Clarke’. Do you know where she is?” it asked, looking up at him innocently. Now this, at least, made some sense to Isaac. Gabrielle Clarke was one of their state representatives, a small-town political figure who prided herself on progressive and innovative viewpoints. Isaac never really checked to see if her viewpoints actually were progressive or innovative, but that’s what everyone had said when he had asked. He presumed the changeling either wanted to seek audience with a political figure, or disguise itself as her and replace her – and besides, if the latter was the case, why would it have revealed itself to the entire neighborhood? At any rate, she was in town: She'd been visiting his county as part of some political move or other.

“Yeah, she’s…” Isaac trailed off, wondering how he could give directions to an alien from another world. Really, the polite thing to do would be to take the changeling there in person, but did Isaac really want to risk being alone in a car with a potentially hostile alien? Well, that was a stupid question, of course he did. What was life without a bit of fun?

“Tell you what, I’ll just take you there,” Isaac replied, to the audible shock of his parents. Ignoring them, he went and grabbed his car keys, and cautiously opened the door.

“Oh, that’s a… that’s a big knife,” the changeling remarked nervously. Isaac smiled, looking down at the alien next to him.

“It is rather nice to be prepared,” he replied, and the changeling nodded, still looking up at the foot-long butcher’s knife with an extremely frightened expression on his face.

They got into the car, the changeling figuring out after some struggle where he was supposed to sit. Isaac showed him how to use the seat buckle, and the changeling reluctantly did so. “This, uh… this isn’t some kind of trap, is it? Where I strap myself into this thing, and you use that knife to, um…” the changeling trailed off, swallowing and shaking slightly. Isaac looked over, concerned and slightly amused.

“Not at all,” he replied. “To undo those straps, simply press that red thing where I connected them. As for the knife, it’s in case you hurt one of us,” he briefly explained as he started up the car, his parents still looking on in shock.

“Oh! Well, that’s – that’s good. Fine by me, in fact, I never really planned to hurt anyone anyway – not to imply that I’d do so under other circumstances, mind you, that’s-“ the babbling changeling was silenced by a look from Isaac. “Right,” the changeling muttered under his breath, seemingly composing himself.

A few minutes later, they were on the highway, the changeling looking excitedly at all the cars zooming by. “Keep your head low, I don’t want others trying to crash this car,” Isaac warned after noticing this. The changeling immediately vanished from sight, turning invisible and causing Isaac to jerk the car in surprise, barely avoiding a neighboring car going at quite a faster speed than he was. “Wha – where are you?” he demanded, now somewhat nervous himself.

To his relief, the changeling responded immediately. “Oh. Uh, still here, still in this seat – I mean, you can see that, right, these belt straps are visible even when I’m not?” the changeling asked. Isaac spared a second to look over, and true enough, the straps were still there, outlining the invisible changeling’s contours.

“…Okay,” Isaac muttered after a second. They drove on in silence, Isaac wondering what he should say. Fortunately, this changeling was a much better talker than he was.

“Never did get your name, by the way. Mine’s Burning Ash – all my… what’s the word you use? ‘Parents’? Yes, those, were glassblowers, and they wanted me to join the family… s’too bad I never had any talent at glassblowing, really,” the changeling petered off quietly.

“Isaac,” Isaac simply responded, unable to think of anything interesting to say about himself.

Still invisible, Burning Ash gave a grunt next to him, and Isaac thought the changeling might’ve been smiling. “Nice to meet you, Isaac.”

Just over an hour later, they drove into the parking space for the City Council building, which was unsurprisingly crammed with reporters, protesters, police, and the like. “My advice to you? Keep your head pointed straight ahead, and if anyone asks you anything, say you’re here on official business,” Isaac counseled, unsure if he really even should be helping.

Burning Ash turned visible again, smiling at him. “You know, that’s exactly what my supervisor said, word for word – well, not verbatim, obviously, because that would be-“ Isaac once again silenced him with a look, and Ash got the hint, standing up tall and pointing his compound eyes roughly forward. However, as soon as the crowd spotted the changeling, they immediately ran forward, and Isaac pushed Burning Ash off to the side. "Nevermind, run!" Isaac cried, and they sprinted around the building. Up ahead, Isaac spotted a loading dock, and motioned for Ash to follow. "S'cuse us!" Isaac called out, bounding through, and Ash gave them a sheepish grin as he followed. Finally, they made their way to the main atrium of the building, and headed towards the stairs to find Mrs. Clarke's office. However, just as they were about to take the first step, a team of four policemen appeared at the top of the stairs, blocking their way.

“Hooves in the air, changeling," one of them said, and pointed a pistol at the changeling, who immediately backed away, shakily raising his hooves into the air and somehow keeping balance. Isaac, who also had a gun pointed at him, was surprisingly calm. He knew just what to do.

“Guns don't work on changelings, they have very hard exoskeletons," he called up to them. "Besides, we're here on peaceful terms only, so let us through," he added after a moment's thought.

The police officer looked at the others, and they huddled up for a round of whispering. Well, it was probably actually just regular inside voices, but it might as well have been whispering for all Isaac could make out over the noise of the crowd. Finally, the officers broke apart, and held open the doors for them. “If he tries anything, we have grenades,” the officer Isaac had spoken to warned, and Isaac grimly nodded, wondering what the hell he was doing with his life.

As soon as they were inside, Isaac motioned Ash over to the nearest restroom, locking them inside as soon as Ash closed the door. “Now what’s this all about, huh, I don’t have to use this place, I don’t even have the organs required to-“ Ash was once again silenced as Isaac put a finger to his lips. The human took a seat on the floor, moving his knife out of a potentially painful position as he glared at Ash.

“Before I get into trouble for allowing you to do something that is quite possibly a war crime, would you like to tell me just what it is you intend to do once you find Mrs. Clarke?” he asked.

Ash rubbed his forehead awkwardly. “Well, it’s – it’s classified,” he bluffed, but stiffened once he saw that Isaac had taken out his knife. “Okay, okay! Once I meet Mrs. Clarke, I am to tell her that the changeling queendom wishes to enter peaceful – you heard me, okay, peaceful – negotiations with the planet “Earth”. And I’m not supposed to say this out loud, but you’re pointing a knife at me, so here goes: We are starving. Okay? We’re all going to die of hunger, unless we start draining the love of you Earth humans. And before you kill me, I just wanted to say that we would do this voluntarily. No mind control, no magic, nothing to make you humans alarmed in the slightest. Just good, old-fashioned dating, and hugs, and whatever else passes for romance among your kind. Okay? Is that… is that good?” Burning Ash asked, as Isaac glared at him.

Finally, the human looked away, putting his knife back in his pocket. “Alright, that seems fine. But one wrong step-“ he began, and this time was surprisingly interrupted by an irate Ash.

“-And I’ll die, yes, I’m aware. Honestly, what is it with you humans and killing people?” Burning Ash questioned, reaching up to unlock the door with his hoof. He struggled with the lock for a moment, until Isaac reached out and unlocked the door, pushing it open.

Isaac chuckled to that. “What’s with the British accent?” he retorted as they continued making their way towards the office, and Ash looked up at him.

“Well, actually, it’s not my real voice, as you can probably imagine. My real voice sounds something like-“ here he demonstrated a series of clicks and hisses “-but we chose this ‘English’ accent because it sounded like it would be well received. No tricks, or any of that, mind you, but we’d rather not scare you by yelling incomprehensible things at you, even if they are polite.” Isaac nodded, as this made sense to him, and they made their way to Mrs. Clarke’s door.

Isaac was unsure of whether or not to knock, but decided to do so anyway. “We’re busy at the moment, thank you, now please wait until Mrs. Clarke has finished,” an annoyed, elderly female voice replied.

“Busy enough to not speak with the changeling right outside her door?” Isaac snarkily responded, and there was a moment of silence. The door was opened to reveal Mrs. Clarke’s secretary, looking at the pair of them with the utmost shock on her face.

“A – a changeling? Here? But, why are you-“ Isaac held up a hand to stop her.

“He is here on behalf of his nation, for diplomatic negotiation. I am here as… his counselor.” Isaac had made it up on the spot, but he felt that that was effectively his role when dealing with Ash: In exchange for Ash not going postal and biting someone, he, Isaac was entrusted with the responsibility of explaining Earth customs to Ash to avoid a potential fiasco.

A dark-skinned man with a news camera was ushered out of the room as soon as they entered. “-Later, we’ll finish this discussion later,” the other occupant of the room pressed. As soon as the door had closed, they looked at each other, Isaac sizing up Mrs. Gabrielle Clarke in person. She was rather shorter than he had expected, but he wasn’t exactly the tallest person around himself. Mrs. Clarke, on the other hand, was staring down at Ash, her mouth forming into a small “o”. “So…” Mrs. Clarke trailed off, unsure what to do.

“Should we sit?” Isaac prompted, and this at last spurred Mrs. Clarke into action, as she pulled out seats for the both of them. Finally, she took a seat at her desk, across from the two, and Ash cleared his throat officially.

“The Royal Queen Mimica would like to extend her formal greetings and salutations to Gabrielle Clarke. She has sent this changeling-“ here Ash stopped his surprisingly businesslike tone to point a hoof at himself – “in order to express the following: We changelings would like to enter peaceful negotiations with the planet Earth, in order to further relationships between changelings and humans. Our eventual goal is to work out a stable supply of love, readily available on your planet, so that we may continue to thrive as a species. This would only be done with the express, enthusiastic and continual consent of all parties involved, to prevent any hostilities from arising between our two races. Your role in this partnership, should you accept it, is simply to write to your state representative to please call off the threats of armed hostilities that have been made clear in the past day. If you do not consent to this action or the future implications of this action, please state so at this or any future time and we will peacefully withdraw from your place of residence.” Having finished, Burning Ash looked up at Mrs. Clarke, who had managed to calm down significantly. “Does that sound fair?” he asked, and Mrs. Clarke smiled before nodding.

“That does sound rather alright… but how do I know you’re telling the truth?” she asked, pointing an accusatory finger at Burning Ash. Burning Ash stiffened and was about to issue a retort, before Isaac stopped him.

“Mrs. Clarke,” he began carefully, “Burning Ash here has shown nothing but the utmost politeness and respect when dealing with humans. His story is plausible, given… our knowledge on the subject, and I am willing to give peace a chance. Are you?” he asked.

Chapter 2 - Safe and Orderly Conduct

Mrs. Clarke took a minute to steady herself, eyes closed, seemingly thinking. “Well,” she said, “if I am to be hoodwinked, at the very least I made the right choice in doing so. Very well, I shall forward the message.”

Burning Ash politely nodded, and made as though to get up. Unfortunately, part of his armor caught on the chair, and he toppled forward, stifling a yelp as he crashed to the floor.

“You okay?” Isaac queried as the changeling shakily got to his feet.

“Yep. Fine, fine. Ah… that concludes our meeting. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, and… I hope you have a wonderful day!” Burning Ash concluded, hastily exiting the conference room.

Once he was out, making sure no one was around, he buried his face in his hooves. “Right at the end, I was doing so well,” he whined.

“Relax, you did fine,” Isaac soothed. “If anything, you’re more likable to her now.”

The changeling sniffled a little. “You’re just saying that,” he mumbled, and Isaac motioned for him to follow.

“No, I’m not. Really, you did really well. I’m pretty impressed,” Isaac continued, and Ash smiled.

“Well, at least I’ve got your vote of approval, the Queen can’t really complain if I got that much, can she?” he asked, and Isaac shrugged, feeling as though the Queen very much could complain.

“Never met her, so no idea. Speaking of which… what happens now?” he asked, and Burning Ash tugged at his armor.

“Well, I have to report back to the mothership, now that my job is done, so, um… I guess this is goodbye,” he replied, giving an embarrassed grin. Part of Isaac was reluctant to leave the changeling, as this had been the nicest alien he’d ever spoken to.

“Well, alright. Should I escort you back to your ship, or do you know where it is?” Isaac asked.

Burning Ash whipped out his wings, and began flying, a faint buzzing noise accompanying him. “I know where it is, I’ve got a tracker bug on it. Thanks again for your help, Isaac!” Burning Ash called as he flew away, forgetting that he’d never thanked Isaac in the first place. Isaac chuckled, and turned back to Mrs. Clarke’s door – he could hear muttering on the other side. Cautiously, Isaac put an ear to the door.

“Mr. President. The bio-bomb is a wonderful idea, but let's change who we're aiming at. We're trying to avoid the inevitable, not cause it...” she trailed off, and Isaac paled. Bio-bomb? He’d heard rumors about such technology – explosive shockwaves designed to only destroy animal cells. However, the complexity of the technology involved made such missiles almost impossible to propel - they would have to be dropped. If the United States had figured out a way to launch one at the changelings… the results could be disastrous. He had to warn them! Carefully, so as not to alert Mrs. Clarke, Isaac tiptoed away, making sure he was out of earshot before breaking into a mad dash for his car.

His whole plan relied on Burning Ash being a slow flier – which, from the few seconds Isaac had seen him flying, could well be true. He sped off along the highway, hoping he could reach his neighborhood in time. Ash had crashed the ship in his neighborhood, right? He thought he remembered the crashing noises to be really close, but hadn’t investigated. He drove in silence, becoming steadily more nervous as he failed to spot Burning Ash in the skies above.

Finally turning into his neighborhood, he spotted one of the black ships rising above the treetops just a few yards away from his house. Isaac hurriedly stopped the car, got out, and started waving. “HEY!” he yelled. “WAIT! STOP!” To his amazement, Burning Ash heard him, lowering the ship back down.

The front popped open in a rush of steam, and Ash poked his head out. “What? Did I forget something?” he asked indignantly.

“No, it’s not that! I listened at the door after you left, and Mrs. Clarke lied to us! She was talking to the President, and they’re planning to launch a bio-bomb at your ship! We need to warn them!” he hurriedly informed the changeling.

Burning Ash stared at him for a moment, then patted a space beside him in the cramped ship. “Hop in,” the changeling ordered, and Isaac obediently climbed in, curling himself around a toolkit in the diminutive space. The floor of the cockpit was carpeted, surprisingly, and Isaac felt strangely comforted by the familiar texture.

“You better not be lying about this, Isaac. And I’m not just saying that to intimidate you, okay? The Queen is a scary good lie detector. If she finds out you’re making this up, and I brought you all the way up here… I dunno what she’d do to you, but it wouldn’t be pleasant.” Isaac nodded.

“I’m not lying, so I have nothing to worry about,” he replied, and Burning Ash grinned.

“Heh. Let's hope so,” he chuckled, and pushed a joystick forward. The ship roared to life, and sprang off the ground, Isaac watching intently as they soared off into the sky.

A few minutes later, and Isaac was getting dizzy with vertigo. He was so high up, he could see the curvature of the Earth, and he was starting to hyperventilate. Noticing this, Ash looked back at him. “You alright? You seem a little pale, are you not getting enough oxygen?” the changeling queried, and Isaac stared at him, wanting nothing more than to be off this ship.

“I… I’m afraid of heights…” Isaac mumbled, and Burning Ash stared back for a moment before turning back to his console.

Isaac could almost see the lightbulb going off in the changeling’s head as he tapped at buttons and dials with his hoof. Finally, the transparent screen faded to black, and two words flashed: Autopilot set. “There!” Ash proudly announced. “If you can’t see that we’re high up, you won’t be afraid anymore, right? Just pretend we’re in a really small room.”

Isaac gave a weak chuckle. “Right…” he mumbled, trying to find a more comfortable position before giving up and laying back on the floor. He already did feel better, now that he couldn’t see outside their little ship. “Are all changelings as nice as you?” he asked, mainly to further take his mind off of things.

Burning Ash blushed green, and looked away. “Well, I mean, yeah, we’re all mostly pretty good, uh, in fact, I think a lot of the other changelings are nicer, and smarter, and flat out better than I am-“ Isaac stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No matter what anyone says, you’re the friendliest changeling I’ve ever met. Don’t think of yourself as any less,” he finished. It was the longest sentence he’d said to the changeling since they met, and for a moment it was silent in the cockpit.

“…Thank you,” Ash quietly whispered.

They traveled on, talking about anything and everything they could. Isaac learned quite a bit about changelings: That most of them had no set gender, their societal structure was mostly hive-based but not hive-minded, and that ‘love’ constituted anything from a hug and a kiss to warm feelings in their general vicinity. “Seriously? If someone so much as feels good around you, you can feed off of that?” he asked at the last one, cocking an eyebrow.

Ash eagerly nodded. “Yep! It’s like… we can smell it, or something, I don’t know how to describe it properly. But yeah, any feeling of attachment in our general area – that’s a viable food source. Mind you, I’m not saying we just go around feeding on every good feeling, because actual love – that’s the stuff. It’s like – it’s like the difference between a prince’s meal and a pauper’s, you know?”

Isaac laughed. “Fair enough. So, how does a… well, I don’t think ‘victim’ would be the right word. How does it feel to get fed off of?” he asked.

Burning Ash shrugged. “We changelings don’t feel anything, except we get hungry if our partner takes too much. From what I hear of those of us who were around when we left our home planet, it doesn’t feel like much of anything – though, it’s been a while since then, so maybe something got lost in the retelling? I dunno…” Ash trailed off, lost in thought.

“So, it’s not magical love or anything?” Isaac asked.

Ash looked over at him. “Of course it’s magic, all love requires magic, that’s how it works. Didn’t you humans learn anything?”

Isaac furrowed his eyebrows. “Not saying magic’s fake, but I’ve never seen any evidence of it on my planet. I don’t think it’s really a thing.”

Burning Ash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right, that’d be the day. A magic-less species – ridiculous. You’ve probably got some magic, it’s just hidden, or something,” he rebutted, and Isaac decided to drop the issue.

Thirty minutes later, both Burning Ash and Isaac were half-asleep from boredom. “Man, this is taking forever,” Isaac yawned.

“Yeah… autopilot can be pretty slow, it has to play everything safe…” Ash mumbled in response. “Hey, Isaac?” the changeling asked.

“Yeah?” Isaac replied.

“I heard from some of the higher-ups that we changelings were already known before we got here, like we were in a book, or something… is that true?”

Isaac went wide awake. “Uh…” he faltered. Did he really want to tell the truth? Well, lying would only get him in trouble. “Alright,” he sighed. “Truth is, there was a TV show called “My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic” that’s been on the air for a while, and you guys appeared in it. Some changeling named ‘Queen Chrysalis’ hijacked a wedding in order to feed on the love of the groom of Equestria’s Princess of Love, Princess Cadance, and invaded the city the wedding was being held in with an army of changelings. Long story short, you guys… were the bad guys. That’s probably why everyone back home is freaking out,” Isaac finished.

By this time, Burning Ash was now wide awake as well, and looking at him. “D’ya think… I’m evil?” he asked quietly.

Isaac viciously shook his head. “Dude, you’re nicer than a decent portion of humans. You’re not evil at all.”

Burning Ash smiled at him. “So, uh, if you did meet this ‘Chrysalis’, hypothetically speaking, and she, ah, didn’t do those things… would you still be mad at her?” he asked, and Isaac looked at him askance.

“If she didn’t do the crime, I can’t punish her for it. Besides, some of those ponies totally deserved it. That Princess Celestia, for one? Should’ve been punched way more. She’s… she’s a nightmare,” Isaac shuddered.

Ash stared at him. “So, wait, this ‘Princess Celestia’… she a tall, white pony, with wings and a horn?”

Isaac nodded. “That’s the one. Never liked her.”

Ash made a thoughtful hum, buzzing his wings in tune. “You sound like you’ve met her,” he observed shrewdly.

Isaac, taken aback, stared at him. “…Alright, I have,” he muttered. “I don’t want to talk about it, alright?” he added, seeing that Ash was about to ask something else.

“Okay, okay, not talking about it. Got it. Can do,” Ash hurriedly answered.

A few minutes later, a red light flashed on the console screen, and Ash hurriedly sat up. “We’re here!” he announced, and Isaac shifted himself into a vaguely sitting position, head bumping against the ceiling of the cockpit. “I’m going to turn the visuals back on, if you don’t mind, we should be close enough to the queenship that you won’t feel too dizzy,” Ash warned Isaac, who nodded.

The screen cleared, and Isaac stared around at the expanse of stars. “Wow…” he breathed. He was in space.

“Feeling alright?” Burning Ash asked, and Isaac nodded.

“Much better, thanks,” he answered as the changeling mothership got closer.

Up close, it was even more impressive: No seams or junctures were present, the whole ship looking like one smooth piece. Ash brought the ship into one of the pockmarks, which immediately closed up around them, surrounding them in pitch darkness. “This is normal, just so, um, you know,” Ash spoke, startling Isaac.

There was the sound of rushing air, and Ash looked over to the left. Following his gaze, Isaac was surprised to see another hole opening in the odd area they were currently in, the light shining through it reminding him of the exit to a long, dark tunnel into warm sunshine. “Alright, everything’s decompressed, we can come out now,” Ash chirped, and opened the cockpit. Isaac was instantly greeted with air that smelled as though it belonged in a mountainous valley, not in a spaceship.

“Nice air quality,” he complimented, and Ash chuckled.

“Yeah, not like the awful stuff you have down on your planet. Seriously, what’ve you been putting in your air? Kerosene?” the changeling asked, and it was Isaac’s turn to chuckle.

“Not… quite,” he answered, and Burning Ash looked at him curiously before deciding to drop it.

“Okay, so, the other changelings are going to be pretty nervous to see you, at first. But, um, I think if we explain to them why you’re here, they’ll let you through,” Burning Ash instructed, and Isaac nodded. He could only hope that the changelings would receive his warning in time.

They exited the hangar to find a series of corridors, steel doors lining the walls and even the ceiling. Strangely, gravity was in full effect here, though Isaac was surprised to find that it was slightly less than what he was used to. The whole thing was decorated with pulsing green tubes that occasionally flashed with some color: Sometimes blue, sometimes green, and most of the time red or pink. “Those transport emotional magic around the ship. Quick way of remembering which emotions are which colors: Blue’s bad, yellow’s good, green’s a mix, and red’s strong,” Burning Ash informed him, noticing where Isaac was looking.

Of course, the first few changelings who saw him screamed and ran. “Hey, wait! He’s friendly!” Burning Ash bellowed after them, but they were already gone.

“…Let’s just get to wherever your queen is, so we can tell her,” Isaac sighed.

“Right. Well… this way,” Burning Ash directed, setting off down a corridor.

“So, what’s this ship made of?” Isaac asked along the way, mainly to make conversation.

Burning Ash shrugged. “Dunno, but it keeps out the missiles, so I can’t complain.” As if to check whether his statement still held true, Ash looked out a nearby window at planet Earth. Isaac turned to look as well, taking in the breathtakingly blue-and-green sight before him. “Nice place, isn’t it?” Ash remarked, noticing his stare.

“Yeah…” Isaac breathed, barely able to form a sentence. It wasn't every day you saw stuff like this, after all.

“Hey… what’s that little black dot there?” Ash asked, pointing out the dot in question. Isaac squinted at it. It was centered over what looked to be New Mexico, and slowly getting bigger.

“Is that…” Isaac began, but was unable to finish his sentence as a green alarm began flashing. Intercoms sounded, the harsh electrical crackle permeating the blaring of the alarms as a monotone, sybilline whispering voice gave what appeared to be instructions.

Burning Ash’s eyes went wide as he listened, and he promptly ran for it, yelling over his shoulder “I’ll be right back! Stay there!”

Isaac looked back and forth, unsure of what to do. Ash had told him to stay there, but that missile was getting awfully close… The intercom continued to issue instructions of some type, and Isaac thought he detected a note of panic in its voice, despite the linguistic differences. As Isaac anxiously watched out the window, a bright blue force field expanded around the ship, getting closer and closer to the incoming missile…

Which phased right through as though it weren’t there.

“Screw it, I’m outta here,” Isaac proclaimed, panicking as he ran down the corridor in what he presumed was the direction to the far end of the ship. Hopefully, he could either make it back to the hangar in time to pilot a drone ship, or maybe just get far enough across the ship that he’d be in a safe area.

Of course, he never made it. There was a great echoing BOOM, and the hallway behind him shook as though caught in a massive earthquake. With the screech of tearing metal, the space behind him collapsed, pinning Isaac to the floor with a chunk of debris. As the ringing slowly faded from Isaac’s ears, the last thing he was aware of was the grayish-black, tiled floor below him. The last thought that flashed through Isaac’s mind was how clean it was.

And Isaac knew no more.

Chapter 3 - Diplomatic Immunity

Isaac woke up surprisingly painless. Okay, systems check, he thought to himself, trying to quell his already rising panic. Oxygen? Yes, so I must be in a safe part of the ship. Vitals? Nothing seems to be leaking... though my leg's trapped. Hostiles?... “Hello?” Isaac called out quietly. There was no response, so he shifted himself into a sitting position. “Hello? Is anyone there?” he called again, louder this time. Only silence greeted his words. Shuffling and grunting, Isaac managed to move the piece of metal and strange organic architecture off himself, and shakily got to his feet. He tried to put some weight on the formerly-trapped leg, only to find it barely supported him – that probably meant it was either sprained, or broken someplace. He’d need to find medical attention. He still couldn’t quite see anything, as wherever he was, it was very dark, and the green glow that lit the corridors had long since disappeared

Grunting with pain, Isaac slowly shuffled along the dark corridor, wishing he at least had a light source. Wait… did his phone still work? Isaac carefully leaned against the wall, before quickly giving up and sitting down. He took out his cellphone, which amazingly still had battery power. Isaac flipped through his apps, squinting at the brightness of his phone compared to the darkness of everything else. Unsurprised at the lack of wifi, he turned on the Flashlight app. Immediately, a single, bright white LED flooded the room with light, and Isaac shielded his eyes as his vision slowly adjusted to the sudden glare. Casting the light around, Isaac found that he was in the exact same corridor he’d been in when that missile had hit. The tubes he’d noticed earlier were empty of emotional magic, and the fresh smell that had once impressed Isaac so was gone as well, the corridors now smelling vaguely sweet. Isaac had heard somewhere that sweet-smelling gases could only be bad for you, and this didn’t make him feel much better. Then again, he had no trouble breathing, so maybe it was alright?

He walked through the darkness, stepping more confidently now that he could see where he was going. Whenever he could, he paused to take a look out a window, either pointed at Earth or outer space – and what he saw wasn’t pretty. The once-intact ship had chunks taken out of it, drifting around it in some sort of odd orbit as drone ships frantically worked to bring them back in. “Shit, this is like something out of a sci-fi movie,” Isaac remarked, watching them work for a while. Still, he had a job to do. Isaac made to walk onward, and as he did so, his shoe kicked against something clearly liquid. Looking down, Isaac spotted the source: A pipe that had been set into the wall had burst, and was leaking… something. It smelled the same as the sweet smell from earlier, and Isaac was finally able to place where he had smelled it before: Antifreeze. So, that explained that.

As Isaac limped along the corridor, the eerie silence punctuated by an occasional groan of pain as he put weight on his injured foot, he tried to connect the dots. Had the bio-bomb already hit, and the changelings somehow survived? Not to mention him, as the last time he checked, he was still very much alive. And in a considerable amount of pain. Maybe that was just a regular missile, then? Whatever it was, it had somehow managed to punch through the changelings’ defenses like they weren’t even there. Maybe it had some advanced circuitry on it that allowed it to do so? Whatever had happened, the United States hadn’t fired anything since: Maybe they believed the changelings had been destroyed? Shrugging, Isaac limped on.

Half an hour of walking later, he was ecstatic to discover a corridor that had lights on. Ignoring the pain in his ankle, he walked at a faster pace in an attempt to discover if there were any changelings who could point him in the direction of the Queen. “Hello?” he called out, after some minutes of fruitless searching. “I’m looking for the Queen, I need to warn her about something!”

At first, there was no response. Then, one of the doors at the very end of the hallway creaked open. “You need to see the Queen?” a voice answered, a clearly false deep pitch accompanying the vaguely female cadances. Isaac shuffled his way over, so that he was standing right outside this door.

“Yeah, it’s important! The humans are planning to send a bio-bomb this way and kill everyone here!” There was a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the door, and then…

“Drone, why are you speaking their language?” the changeling on the other end of the door asked.

“I… I’m not a drone, I’m a human. Please, it’s an emergency!” Isaac pleaded.

To his surprise, there was a frightened squeak on the other end of the door, and what sounded like furniture being moved. “I can’t help you! Find another changeling! …Go away!” the voice hurriedly answered, the deep tone it had been using earlier now replaced by what Isaac presumed to be its normal voice.

It still sounded female, and Isaac hazarded a guess that this was the changeling equivalent of a teenager. More important than the mysterious occupant’s age, however, was what Isaac was thinking at the moment: He was sick and tired of being treated as hostile. “I’m friendly, okay?!” he shouted at the door. “I don’t know why you changelings are afraid of me, I’m just trying to help! I just want the both of our races to live peacefully, isn’t that what you guys want too?!” There was no response. Isaac put a hand to his head and groaned. “Fine. If you won’t listen to me, then I guess I’ll just have to try somewhere else. Thanks a lot, whoever you are…” he grumbled as he made his way towards the next corridor. The steel door opened behind him, and he whipped around. Whatever sharp retort he had been about to make got lost in his mouth, as he beheld the sight before him.

It was Queen Chrysalis, but… younger. She was the size of a regular changeling, though significantly less bulky, and her hair only reached the bottom of her jawline. Her fangs were tiny little nubs that just barely stuck out of her mouth, and her horn was more rounded and smooth, not the sharply bent version that her other self had had. But most changed of all were her eyes: They completely lacked the additional iris, featuring solely the dark green inner iris and her usual catlike pupils. She was missing her odd crown, and her wings looked oddly small – too small to even support her weight, Isaac supposed. Realizing that he was staring at her, Isaac averted his eyes, not wishing to either appear rude or get mind-controlled.

“So… is your name…” he tried to ask, and Chrysalis sighed.

“Yes, I’m Chrysalis. But I’m not that Chrysalis! The one your people keep talking about, who’s absolutely crazy… I’m not her, okay? Please believe me!” she begged.

Isaac held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I believe you! You don’t… look like her, at any rate,” he commented, and Chrysalis blew a strand of hair off her face in exasperation.

“I’m younger than her. Way younger. So, if you want to kill me to save the cute little ponies, or whatever…”

Isaac shook his head. “No, I really don’t. They deserve what they get.” Chrysalis looked at him curiously, but didn’t comment. “Besides, wouldn’t that cause a paradox?” he asked, and Chrysalis glumly nodded.

“Not that most humans would consider it. After all, if you could go back in time and kill Mussolini, wouldn’t you?” she asked, and now it was Isaac’s turn to look at her.

“How d’you know about Mussolini?” he asked. Chrysalis flattened her ears against the sides of her head.

“I’ve been studying up on human history, using all the radio signals your planet keeps sending out. I was going to impress your race with what I’d learned… but then this happened,” she sighed, gesturing out the window.

Isaac tiredly nodded. “So, are you the queen, then?” he asked, and Chrysalis chuckled.

“Not yet, at any rate. I’m still a nymph, I can’t be Queen until my mom dies. Which probably isn’t going to be any time soon… well, maybe. Depends on if your species succeeds,” she sadly remarked. They began walking, Chrysalis leading him presumably to the Queen.

As the pieces clicked together in Isaac’s head, he began to feel sorry for the poor changeling girl next to him. She’d been vilified for something she’d never even done, according to Burning Ash and herself, and now she would never be able to live it down. Worse, that same vilification had caused this entire mess, as humans now believed that all changelings were evil love-sucking parasites.

“I can feel that,” Chrysalis stated, interrupting his thoughts.

“Huh?” Isaac replied intelligently.

“That pity, you’re feeling. Are you feeling sorry for your fellow humans?” she inquired. Isaac shook his head, unsure of how to answer. “Changelings, then? You mentioned something about that,” Chrysalis pressed. Isaac shook his head again. “Then who were you feeling sorry for?” Chrysalis asked, and Isaac sighed.

“I was feeling sorry… for you,” he finally answered, and Chrysalis looked taken aback.

“For… me? Whatever for?” she asked, and Isaac looked away, feeling embarrassed.

“Because… you’ve gotten such a bad deal in life. Apparently, you’ve never even done the stuff we thought you did, and now, because of that TV show, an entire planet wants you dead, not to mention your family. Sounds pretty awful to me,” Isaac explained.

Chrysalis furrowed her eyes in thought, as though she’d never seen it that way before. “Now that you mention it, that’s what I’ve been feeling too… But I wasn’t able to put it into words,” she muttered. Isaac gave a short chuckle, and lapsed into silence, Chrysalis directing him through a maze of corridors.

“So… what’s your story?” Chrysalis asked Isaac, after the umpteenth corridor had disappeared far into the distance. Isaac looked at her, confused.

“My story?” he asked, wondering what she meant. Did she want his whole life? Recent events? The fanfiction he’d been writing?

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Why are you friendly, when every other human isn’t?” she clarified.

Isaac scratched his head. “Well, this changeling named Burning Ash crashed his ship outside my neighborhood, asking to speak with our local government representative.” Chrysalis nodded, as if she’d heard this sort of thing before. “He seemed nice, and I didn’t get any sense of malicious intent off of him – in fact, he was scared of me,” Isaac continued, a small smile coming to his face. “So, we went to the local representative, who acted really nice, and promised to forward his message of peace up the grapevine. But I listened at the door after Ash left, and it turned out she was telling the President himself to launch a ‘bio-bomb’ at your ship. So, I raced home, and managed to stop Burning Ash just in time. He offered me a ride up here so I could warn the rest of you, but we got separated upon arrival. Then the missile hit, and I… blacked out for a while,” Isaac finished.

“Then what?” Chrysalis asked.

Isaac shrugged. “Then… I woke up, made my way through the dark part of the ship, and found you,” he added, unsure of what else to say.

“Oh,” was Chrysalis’ only reply.

They walked on in silence, Chrysalis looking at him every once in a while. Isaac was beginning to think he’d seen these corridors before, but it wasn’t easy to tell – after all, everything looked the exact same. How changelings made their way through this ship without getting lost, Isaac would never know.

“Do all humans walk so funny?” Chrysalis asked, after Isaac thought he just might go insane from the silence.

“Hm?” Isaac replied, looking down at his legs as though they were doing something without his knowledge.

“Where you put one foot way ahead of the other, and then step really quickly on the other foot. Are you carrying something heavy on that foot?” Chrysalis asked, and Isaac chuckled, the chuckle becoming a pained grimace as he was suddenly reminded of how much his foot hurt.

“No, that’s because my leg got pinned down by a chunk of the ship when the missile hit. Not gonna lie, it hurts,” he answered.

“Oh,” Chrysalis replied, suddenly looking extremely guilty for some reason.

Her comment about carrying things reminded Isaac of something important, and he got her attention with a look. “Okay, I don’t mean to alarm you, but I did bring a knife up here in case something horrible happened. If you want to confiscate it from me, go ahead,” Isaac informed her, holding out the butcher’s knife he’d picked up so long ago.

“…Okay…” Chrysalis answered, reluctantly taking the knife. She looked down at it, then at him, then seemingly made a decision. “This way, the Queen’s room is just up ahead,” she called, and Isaac looked up in surprise. They made a single turn around a corridor, and there it was: a larger steel door, big enough to fit a car through and marked with unintelligible symbols.

“Wow, this ship must be big,” Isaac noted.

“Not… not really,” Chrysalis quietly answered.

She tapped the door rapidly, in a musical pattern of knocks that seemed to go on for almost an entire minute. When no response was forthcoming, she chittered and hissed at the door, and it whirred to life, the horizontal steel slabs sliding upward and downward into the ceiling and floor smoothly.

Isaac was greeted with an entire room packed to the brim with changelings, all of whom were staring at him. Sure he was blushing, he coughed nervously. “Is, ah, the… Queen here? I need to tell her something,” he announced after a moment’s silence. The crowd remained quiet, until Isaac spotted a few of them parting to reveal a single, taller changeling that was walking towards him. She was taller than Princess Celestia, standing at roughly seven feet, and carried an imposing presence, as changelings bowed whenever she passed by. Her emerald green hair was perfectly combed and parted, and an ornate black tiara with green gemstones was sitting atop her head, winking in the artificial lights of the ship. When she stopped in front of him, Isaac bowed low, deciding that this would be the best course of action.

“Rise, human,” she gently intoned, and Isaac stood up straight, trying to hide how nervous he was – it was like meeting her all over again. “I am Queen Mimica, ruler of the changelings. I see you have found my daughter, which I thank you for. Now… Chrysalis? Why do you have a knife?” she asked, looking at Chrysalis suspiciously.

Chrysalis stiffened, refusing to meet her mother’s eye. “It, um… I found it,” she answered, eyes shifting from left to right. Isaac would have laughed, if he weren’t so terrified: This version of Chrysalis was clearly an awful liar.

Queen Mimica, as Burning Ash predicted, wasn’t fooled in the slightest. “You ‘found it’? Where, might I ask?” she sternly replied, staring down at the smaller nymph. Isaac decided to intervene.

“It was mine,” he asserted, to the audible gasps of several changelings in the room.

Queen Mimica stared at him. “…And why, exactly, did you wield a knife in my daughter’s presence?” she asked coldly, any hint of politeness gone. Chrysalis frantically hissed something to her mother, which Isaac fervently hoped was some sort of explanation, but Queen Mimica cut her short with a hiss of her own. She turned back to Isaac imperiously. “Well?” the changeling queen demanded.

“I grabbed it when I first met up with a changeling on Earth, his name was Burning Ash. I didn’t know if he was truly friendly or not, so I took it for my own protection, and did not use it on him. After things sort of… spiraled, I forgot I had it, until she reminded me,” Isaac explained, pointing at Chrysalis. “So, to avoid looking like I wished undue harm upon the changelings, I gave it to her,” he finished.

Queen Mimica’s expression had softened notably by the time he had finished, although there was still a dangerous glint to her evergreen eyes. “Burning Ash? Come here, please,” she announced, loudly enough to be heard by the entire room. The familiar changeling slowly made his way to the front, pushing and shoving his way through a variety of others before clumsily standing at attention.

“Burning Ash, reporting for duty!” he proudly asserted, saluting, and every changeling within earshot snickered.

“Is what this human says true?” Queen Mimica asked, without preamble.

Burning Ash hastily nodded. “Yep, one hundred percent true, my Majesty – uh, I mean, your Majesty…” he trailed off, embarrassed.

By now, the audience of changelings was having trouble holding back their laughter, and even Isaac suppressed a chuckle at the changeling’s antics. Queen Mimica was smiling at this point as well, though she was significantly more polite about it. “Thank you, Burning Ash, you may go,” she concluded, and Burning Ash gratefully fled back into the crowd of changelings, giving Isaac one last thankful look before disappearing.

”Very well, this all seems in order,” Queen Mimica declared. She turned back to look at Isaac. “Now, I believe you had something to tell me?” she asked, back to her polite tone once more.

Isaac nodded, glad that the distraction had ended. “I came to tell you that my planet plans on launching a ‘bio-bomb’ at your ship,” he announced. There was confused muttering among the changelings, many turning to the changeling next to them and having quick, whispered discussions.

“A ‘bio-bomb’? What, pray tell, does this do?” Queen Mimica asked curiously.

“According to some rumors I heard a while back, it can destroy any living, organic matter. And I noticed that not only is your race organic, your ship is as well,” Isaac continued. Queen Mimica’s eyes went wide as the implications hit her.

“Prepare my personal ship for passage to Earth,” she instructed to a team of nearby drones. She turned back to Isaac, a noticeable hint of worry on her face. “You, human, come with me. Chrysalis, you too,” she called to the nymph, who was attempting to slink away unnoticed.

“But why do I have to come?” Chrysalis whined.

“No time for arguing, I have a plan,” Queen Mimica answered, gesturing for them to follow.

Chapter 4 - Temporal Shenanigans

Isaac was ushered by a group of changelings back to the hangar, led by Queen Mimica and with Chrysalis in tow.

“Mom, I don’t wanna go! They all hate me!” Chrysalis complained, trying to break free of the group.

“Chrysalis, please trust me. Everything will work out in the end,” Queen Mimica answered, outwardly calm.

They approached Queen Mimica’s personal ship, which was significantly larger than the drone ship Isaac had flown in on – he hoped he’d have enough room this time.

Thankfully, his spatial prayers were answered – the cabin of the ship did, in fact, have seats just large enough for him to sit up in. Two drones accompanied him, the Queen, and Chrysalis into the ship, immediately taking up their posts as pilots in the front seats.

“So… what’s the plan?” Isaac asked.

Queen Mimica shifted nervously. “Get to the United Nations council, and… beg for mercy,” she admitted quietly.

Chrysalis stared at her, openmouthed. “And why am I here?” the younger changeling demanded. “We all know the second any human catches sight of me, they’ll never accept the offer!”

Queen Mimica smiled down at her daughter. “A fair judgement given the circumstances, my dear, but I have hopes that these politicians can yet be swayed by logic and reason.” Isaac almost felt as if he should object to that, given his experience, but perhaps she had a point.

They made their way around the mothership and towards Earth, Isaac once again captivated by the beauty of the blue-green sphere he called home. Queen Mimica, noticing his stare, chuckled.

“A beauty, isn’t it? Not quite as colorful as our home planet… but that only makes it all the more appealing, in my opinion,” she remarked, now gazing out at the planet herself.

Isaac could only nod. Chrysalis, too, was watching their descent, though Isaac thought he noted a hint of trepidation in her expression.

“It’ll be fine,” he consoled her. “Once they realize you’re younger than your TV counterpart, and haven’t done anything, they can’t possibly have a reason to hate you.”

Chrysalis glared at him. “You know what your kind is like. Do they need a reason?” Isaac fell silent, and this time Queen Mimica spoke up.

“Chrysalis! Not all humans are so judgmental, and there is no reason to stoop to the level of those that are by making such generalizations.”

Chrysalis looked as though she were about to argue, but then dropped her gaze. “Sorry,” she muttered in Isaac’s general direction.

“It’s alright,” Isaac replied, and the group fell silent.

“Isaac, do you have family on Earth?” Queen Mimica asked after a pause.

Isaac nodded. “Yeah… they’re probably wondering where I am,” he answered, now lost in thought. They’d probably seen him leave his car behind and get in the ship… Maybe they were waiting for him.

“What are they like?” Queen Mimica continued.

Isaac thought. “Well, my adoptive mom is… strict. She always wanted me to become something that paid well, like a doctor, or a lawyer… instead I chose a degree in engineering.” He allowed himself a small smile. “It wasn’t the worst type of job, so she ended up accepting in the end. She was a business major, herself, and helped me a lot with the college selection process – handling the paperwork, and all that. My adopted dad is a software engineer. He was pretty okay with what I ended up doing, though he of course insisted on teaching me how to program.”

From the expressions on Queen Mimica’s and Chrysalis’ faces, Isaac suspected that at least half of this was flying over their heads. “So… you went to college?” Queen Mimica asked, after nothing else was forthcoming.

Isaac nodded. “California Institute of Technology. According to most of the United States, it’s the single hardest engineering college there is. They’re not wrong,” Isaac remarked, chuckling as he recalled many sleepless nights.

Chrysalis was staring at him. “You said you were adopted?” she asked, and Isaac nodded again.

“I never knew my real parents. I guess… I guess they didn’t want me,” he admitted, looking away. It was not the grief of being abandoned that had caused him to do so, no, he had gotten over that a long time ago. It was what came next: Those looks of pity, those kind words that never meant anything beyond “I’m glad I’m not you”. Sure enough, when he chanced a look back, the Queen was looking at him with the utmost sympathy. Isaac held up a hand, forestalling the conversation he was sure was about to start. “I don’t want to talk about it, and I’ve gotten over it,” he asserted, and Queen Mimica went silent.

Earth slowly grew larger in the ship’s viewport, and Isaac felt the familiar sensation of gravity begin to overtake him. Stubbornly, he looked away, refusing to acknowledge his slowly accelerating heart rate or his already shaky breathing.

“Are you alright?” Chrysalis asked.

“I don’t like heights,” was Isaac’s only answer.

“Close your eyes, and pretend you’re somewhere else?” Chrysalis suggested.

Isaac grumbled, but did as instructed. He pretended he was in his room, studying for the test he was supposed to be taking tomorrow. As mathematical formulae and definitions swirled in his head, Isaac slowly began to relax, losing track of time.

It seemed only a few minutes later that the ship touched down on Earth with a jarring thump. “We’re here. The United Nations Headquarters, New York City,” Queen Mimica announced.

Isaac looked up, surprised to see that they had landed right on top of the building in question: The East River was visible to his left, and the rest of NYC on his right. He climbed out, assisted by one of the changeling pilots, and the group stood at the edge of the roof, overlooking the city. Isaac could have sworn he saw another changeling ship in the distance, but perhaps it had been a trick of the light.

“How do we get down?” Isaac wondered.

A changeling snickered in response, but was quelled by a look from the Queen.

“I had forgotten you didn’t possess wings, my mistake,” she smoothly answered. “Would you like to ride on my back as a means of getting down?”

Isaac raised an eyebrow. “…Alright,” he answered, as the assorted other changelings stared at their Queen in surprise. Isaac was surprised as well: She would have never done that.

Queen Mimica laid down on the roof, a gesture from her hoof indicating that Isaac should climb on. Hesitantly, he did so, and she stood up slowly, making sure he was comfortable before spreading out her wings. Not bothering to flap or ‘buzz’ her wings, she glided down to the nearby grass, landing as gently as she could before laying down once more.

“Thanks,” Isaac said as he dismounted, unable to hide his surprise at her politeness.

“Just being helpful,” Queen Mimica smiled.

They hurried around to the entrance of the building, passersby staring in shock and horror. “We all ready?” Isaac asked, pushing open a door.

“As ever,” Queen Mimica answered, striding in and thanking him as he held the door open for the rest of the changelings.

The inside of the main lobby was, as to be expected, very grandly-decorated and spacious. Clean, white-and-gray alternating marble tiles decorated the floor, and the walls were painted a vaguely off-white color to accent the yellowish lights and give the place a warmer feel than it would otherwise suggest. Of course, the place was once again packed with reporters, who went silent at the sight of the unlikely group. Feeling brave, Isaac stepped forward. “Which way to the Meeting Room?” he asked, and a nearby journalist shakingly pointed to a door all the way across the room. “Thank you,” Isaac replied, and the group quickly made their way to the door in question, the mass of news media associates politely parting so that they could move forward. Isaac wasn’t sure why they were being so polite, but it wasn’t until he found a man who was backing away as they passed by that he discerned a possible reason: They were terrified of the changelings. Mentally shrugging at their cowardice, Isaac strode forward and opened the door to the United Nations Conference Room.

Unlike the lobby, the Conference Room had brown wood and blue carpet accents to offset the stark white walls that were prevalent seemingly everywhere in the building. However, it still clearly gave off an aura of cold, hard business. The hundreds of men who were in the room had been arguing furiously about something, and they almost comically fell silent as Queen Mimica entered the room. Nonplussed by the sudden quiescence, Queen Mimica cleared her throat, addressing the room as a whole. “I am Queen Mimica of the changelings. I come in peace.”

There was shocked silence for a moment, then the entire United Nations burst into uproar. The Chairman, a burly, mustachioed man Isaac recognized as Ze’ev Johnsen, immediately shouted for quiet, and only after thirty solid seconds of yelling did anyone pay attention to him. It was another minute and a half before everyone had calmed down enough, and Queen Mimica kept a polite smile on her face throughout the whole spectacle. Isaac, meanwhile, had been unable to take the hilarity of the stereotypically dramatic arguing in front of him, and had collapsed against a wall with a hand to his face, trying desperately to keep himself from bursting into laughter and ruining everything.

Finally, the entire group had once again calmed down.

“Why are you here?” The Chairman asked, addressing Mimica directly.

Some of the changelings shifted from his brusque tone, but a look from Mimica quelled them instantly. She stepped forward, adopting a regal tone. “I am here to protest the upcoming launch of a biotechnological weapon at my ship and children. We changelings mean no harm, and… we will accede to any demands you wish. Please do not commit the xenocide of our race.”

The Chairman stared at her for a moment, then began laughing. His laugh filled the spacious chamber, reverberating off of the walls until most everyone in the room was staring at him as though afraid for his sanity. “Yes, that would be what you expected, wouldn’t it?” Mr. Johnsen asked, unable to contain his mirth. “Only – you, boy, you might have heard of this – we couldn’t figure out a way to propel the bomb at the ship in time. Too heavy or something, I forget the details.” He strode forward, a devious grin on his face. Isaac noticed a familiar visage in the periphery of his vision, but was too distracted to concentrate on it at the moment. “So instead, we went for the next best thing: If we couldn’t end you directly…” Mr. Johnsen drawled, smirking.

“No…” Isaac whispered. They couldn’t be that stupid.

“We’d get rid of all your food and ours, and leave you to starve! If there are no humans on the planet, there will be no love for you to feed on! You'll die with us!” The Chairman announced, whipping out a walkie-talkie and thumbing the button once, before laughing and coughing maniacally.

Isaac was about to object, to say something, maybe to tackle the man in front of him in some desperate attempt to reverse what had just happened, but somebody else had already beaten him to it: Gabrielle Clarke, who had somehow arrived on the scene, had tackled the Chairman to the ground.

“What – no – get off me!” Mr. Johnsen spluttered, evidently as surprised as Isaac was at his attacker. Finding her prize, Mrs. Clarke snatched it off of him and held up the walkie-talkie, hurriedly punching in buttons.

“This is Gabrielle Clarke of the United States Senate, and you will call off that bomb!” she shouted into the walkie-talkie, her untidy hair giving her a quite demented look. Another senator stood up, and Isaac looked over and did a double take: Gabrielle Clarke was standing there too, her hair in a quite orderly bun.

“But… I’m Gabrielle Clarke,” she began slowly. “I’ve been here the whole time, visiting my relatives, but who are…” she immediately quailed under the look her double was giving her.

“I am not an impostor, before you ask! I am you. I’m from the future, a future which this idiot created by killing everyone, and I will not let him do so again!” the other Mrs. Clarke declared, before pulling out a gun and shooting Ze’ev Johnsen directly in the face.

There was a shocked silence in the Conference Room. Even Queen Mimica was staring, slack-jawed, at the spectacle that had played out before her. Her pupils shrunk in fear as the duplicate Mrs. Clarke turned to face her, gun pointed at the changeling queen and breathing as heavily as though she had just ran a marathon.

“At first… I thought… it was you, who did this…” she breathed, gun hand twitching erratically. “But no… no, we did this to ourselves… But then why…” she trailed off, muttering incoherently.

“Mrs… Mrs. Clarke?” Isaac asked. She looked at him, eyes clouded and watery with exhaustion and humiliation.

“Yeah, kid?” she asked, any trace of formalities gone.

“What happens now?” Isaac asked, unsure of quite what else to say.

“Well, we wait for a response,” she sighed, holding up the walkie-talkie. “Hopefully they’ll call off the bomb. If not… Well, I guess I do this all over again,” she muttered. She straightened up and addressed her double.

“Gabrielle… go to the abandoned warehouse, it’s about 2 miles north of here. You won’t miss it, it’s big, and red, and they’ll set you up.” Her past self nodded, looking frightened, and ran from the room.

Barely a minute later, there was the crackle of static, and the older Mrs. Clarke held up the walkie-talkie to her ear. “Yes?” she asked, forgoing what Isaac assumed was standard radio protocol. He couldn’t make out the response, but judging from Mrs. Clarke’s impressively pale face, it wasn’t anything good.

“Get ready to run,” Isaac whispered to Queen Mimica and Chrysalis, who both stiffened and cautiously nodded. The transmission ended, and Mrs. Clarke stared around at them, eyes wide.

“WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!” she bellowed. “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

There was, of course, an immediate mass panic. National representatives stampeded to escape the room, though Isaac didn’t know where they thought they were going. After all, it sounded like the older Mrs. Clarke had returned from a post-apocalyptic Earth, which meant the bomb had apparently managed to destroy all life on the planet. Where, then, would they flee to? He was distracted from his musings by the approach of Mrs. Clarke, her hair frazzled and her eyes more tired than Isaac had ever seen them.

“Well, you tried,” Isaac sadly remarked.

Mrs. Clarke glared at him. “Oh, hell no. I did not play that game and lose just to see humanity destroyed. Kid, get off this planet, and get back to the changeling ship.” When Isaac stared, confused, Mrs. Clarke shook him by the shoulders. “NOW!” she screamed, and Isaac stumbled back.

“Okay, okay!” he replied hastily, turning around to look at the changelings.

To his surprise, they had already left, and Isaac couldn’t see them. “Hey – hey, wait up!” Isaac called, forgetting about Mrs. Clarke as he ran after them.

He ran to the outside of the building, looking up – but of course he couldn’t make them out from here. “Chrysalis!” he yelled to the open air. “Queen Mimica?! Don’t leave me!” he pleaded. He was the only one with a ticket off this planet, and they’d already left! “Shit, shit, shit!” Isaac swore under his breath. Maybe he could hitch a ride to NASA, or something? No, he didn't know where it was, and the United Nations members would probably already have commandeered any available shuttles. Isaac faintly heard his name being called in the distance, and sprang up again. “Hello?!” he called back, over the din of the crowds . Finally, Chrysalis revealed herself, having been invisible just feet away from him. The oncoming rush of people immediately avoided her, some actually screaming in fear.

“Climb on!” she ordered, and turned around. Forgoing any hesitations he might have had about her ability to support his weight, Isaac climbed onto her back and she sprang up, somehow still flying despite being half his size.

“Wasn’t expecting you – did your mom okay this?” Isaac asked joyfully over the rush of air and the shouting crowd.

“No! You saved my people – I’m going to save you!” Chrysalis declared, struggling to stay airborne. Evidently she wasn’t used to carrying his weight, but sheer desperation kept her aloft as she reached the roof of the building. Isaac was tempted to object that, in fact, he might have doomed her and her mother by forcing them to be on Earth when the bomb hit. However, he elected to remain silent, because he was already very high up and didn't want to be dropped by an irate changeling nymph.

Chrysalis ran to the spot where the ship would be, only to find an empty patch of roof: Evidently, Queen Mimica had already escaped. “NO!” she yelled up at the sky. “Dammit, I don’t believe this – they left without me!” she cried.

“Chrysalis…” Isaac began.

“I mean, I escaped as they were pulling out, but I thought they’d come back, at least!” she continued, beginning to heave choking sobs as she laid down and buried her face in her hooves.

“Chrysalis!” Isaac shouted, interrupting her.

“Wha-“ Chrysalis said as she lifted her head to stare at the newcomer to the rooftop. A changeling ship had just arrived, and while it wasn't the Queen's ship, Isaac found it very familiar.

“All right there, gents?” Burning Ash asked as the cockpit of his ship slid open. Isaac and Chrysalis quickly clambered inside, Isaac actually cheering as he did so. “Next stop – not this place!” Burning Ash declared, and Chrysalis joyfully hugged him as Burning Ash gunned the throttle, the ship rocketing upward at speeds that would have made Isaac dizzy had he not already been so confused by recent events.

“What made you come back?” Isaac asked, his voice still far too loud from being outside – Burning Ash winced, but grinned back at him.

“T’be honest? I wanted to watch Queen Mimica. Y’know, just in case she… needed a valiant savior,” the changeling admitted, blushing.

“You have a crush on my mom?” Chrysalis asked, and Burning Ash blushed even further.

“H-hey, I didn’t mean-“ he was cut off by Chrysalis’ hoof on his lips.

“You’re enough of a savior for me,” she answered, and Burning Ash stared at her, mouth tightly closed and his whole face turning green from embarrassment. Chrysalis turned to face Isaac, who had been watching the spectacle with amusement. “You too, Isaac,” she quietly added, actually kissing him on the cheek. Isaac immediately went bright red – he hadn’t been expecting that.

Mrs. Clarke calmly sat, alone in the United Nations Conference Room, as the end of the world approached. "One kid," she kept muttering under her breath. "Just one, little kid... Well? At least I saved something this time. And to think, all I did was go to some backwater county and talk to a kid and a changeling..." She pulled out a photograph, faded yellow with age. It appeared to be of a younger her, outfitted all in red, making a two-fingered salute and holding up the deceased corpse of a monster that was like something out of a video game. Mrs. Clarke read the inscription, a single tear coming to her eye.

"Better luck next time..."

Chapter 5 - The Survivor

Burning Ash chuckled at Isaac’s mortified face, and he pressed a button. Queen Mimica’s face appeared on screen, and she did not look happy.

“Burning Ash?! What are you doing in your ship, when I ordered you to stay on the Hiveship? And why do you dare to contact me at such a time?!” she half-shouted, surprising all of them.

“I, uh… just wanted to let you know that I have your daughter safe,” Burning Ash nervously replied, sounding terrified at seeing his queen lose her cool.

For a moment, Queen Mimica was openmouthed in astonishment, as Chrysalis and Isaac nervously waved at her from behind Burning Ash’s seat. “C-Chrysalis, you’re okay? Oh, thank the Elders…” Queen Mimica said, before collapsing into sobs. Isaac anxiously tugged at the collar of his shirt, still unnerved by seeing the normally poker-faced queen so emotional.

“M-Mom… Chrysalis muttered, embarrassed.

Finally, after some minutes, Queen Mimica had calmed down. “Daughter… your motives were noble… but please don’t ever do that to me again,” she addressed Chrysalis, who glared at her.

“I’ll do what I want, Mom. I didn’t see any of you going back for him!” she rebutted.

Queen Mimica guiltily looked away, while Isaac raised an eyebrow at Chrysalis – while she had a point, her mother was being rather polite about the whole thing. “Isaac… I’m sorry I didn’t try to rescue you. I got a bit panicked, and I hope you can forgive me,” Mimica pleaded.

Isaac politely nodded. “Understandable,” he simply replied.

Queen Mimica smiled, but this quickly turned into a grimace as she glanced up. “Burning Ash, you may wish to turn off the viewpoint,” she ordered, and Burning Ash glanced at her, confused.

“But why – oh, holy Hive,” he exclaimed. Isaac stared out the viewpoint, and just before Burning Ash slammed his hoof down on the console and turned the screen black, he caught a glimpse of Earth, the entire planet engulfed in a wave of fiery white. “Ehehe… nothing to see, there, just a bit of… space debris…” the changeling mumbled. Chrysalis made no comment, and Isaac elected to remain silent. Maybe he’d seen something different. Maybe everyone else was still alive. Maybe…

They traveled the rest of the way in silence again, Queen Mimica having signed off and returned to the ‘Hiveship’. Without so much as a word, Isaac got out of Burning Ash’s ship, and immediately strode down the corridor. He had to check. He had to.

Of course, Burning Ash and Chrysalis immediately caught up with him, asking questions on why he hadn’t said anything the whole trip and what he was doing walking around on his own and many other things. At a glance from him they fell silent: They, too, had caught on. “Isaac… maybe it’s better if you don’t see,” Chrysalis uncertainly said. Isaac ignored her, finding a suitable window and heading over. He stared out at Earth. It didn’t look any different, to his surprise – still green and blue, still pretty from this far out in space. But he had a nagging feeling, no, more than that. He dreaded what he was about to see. But Isaac had to know. He had to...

“Does anyone have a telescope?” he asked, a few passing changelings overhearing him.

Chrysalis swallowed nervously. “N-no…” she hesitantly answered.

Isaac turned to stare at her. “Where is it,” he stated flatly.

It was less of a question and more of a demand, and he could tell Chrysalis was taking at as such. “I – I – uh…” she stammered, shaking slightly as she attempted to respond. When nothing came, she looked at Burning Ash pleadingly, who looked to the floor.

“Okay, mate,” he answered, not daring to look at Isaac. “But promise me… Just promise me you won’t hold it against us.”

He reached a hoof up to the window and tapped it a few times, the transparent view suddenly and drastically zooming in to a section of Earth – some city, in the middle of the U.S.A. Isaac stared at a top-down view of a few skyscrapers. There were plenty of cars in the streets, and for a brief, fleeting moment, Isaac thought he saw them moving. But then he realized that they were merely continuing due to momentum, bumping into other cars, buildings, trees, and everything else before coming to a halt, their engines still idling. The streets were empty, devoid of all people, pets, and even birds. The bio-bomb had done its work well: There was no more animal life on Earth.

Isaac slumped to the floor, falling to his knees as though about to pray a sermon worthy of the Flagellants. He was the last human alive, the very last one standing. The lone survivor of the apocalypse. Chrysalis put a hoof on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. To anyone else, this might have been a comforting gesture. To Isaac, it was one more reminder of what he had lost, one more thing that he had once regarded as distinctly human in nature. He brushed the hoof off, and got to his feet, Chrysalis giving him a shocked and hurt stare. She can deal with it, the prick, Isaac viciously thought, though his face never betrayed his feelings. Thinking she can empathize with me… Has she watched her own species die? He began to move, though he was unsure where he was going. Maybe he could find an airlock or something, finish the job his species started. Or maybe he’d just collapse on the floor and lose track of time for a while. Isaac really had no preference. A choked sob made its way out his throat just as he rounded the corner, and he caught the two changelings' guilty expressions.

Changelings quickly vanished from his view, those few that had to cross his path giving him an apologetic look and a wide berth. Perhaps they thought he blamed them for the fate of his species. Isaac didn’t know whether they were right or not, when it came to that. He didn’t know who to blame. The stupid governments for overreacting, the changelings for showing up in the first place, himself for failing to save anybody… oh, God. His parents. They’d been waiting for him to come back, to say that everything was alright… Isaac sat down, and buried his face in his hands, heaving racking sobs that made his whole body shake like a tree in a strong wind. It had finally hit him, fully and truly: Everyone else, everyone he’d ever met, every human he’d ever loved and hated and befriended and fought, was dead.

It was hours, or it seemed like hours, before he sat up again. Upon doing so, he immediately noticed where he had ended up: The blocked-off corridor, where his leg had been trapped. Looking around, Isaac spotted the chunk of ship that had pinned him to the floor, and was tempted to attack it just to take out his temper. His rational side won out, though, successfully convincing him that he’d only get hurt for no good reason. Isaac sat down by the odd thing, staring up at the ceiling with such an unblinking intensity that he thought he might actually win the staring contest with the light panel he was gazing at. He felt strangely numb, as though he’d been exsanguinated of everything save his mind and body.

Another unknown amount of time passed, and Isaac finally blinked and looked away, feeling as though he had lost some contest. No changelings had come for him in the time he’d been here, down a deserted corridor in a spaceship. Isaac gave a half-amused chuckle that sounded more like a cough. He was in a spaceship, with fictional aliens from another dimension. If someone had told him two days ago that this was his future, he’d have laughed himself silly. But here he was, the last human alive, off to do… something. What was he even doing? Isaac didn’t know, and he was pretty sure the changelings didn’t either. Was there anything for him to do, now that humanity was dead? Well… he could just go back down to Earth and go crazy. Loot stores, break things, all the stuff he was never legally allowed to do was now open to him. Isaac had almost convinced himself that this would be fun, when he remembered the drawback to being the last human alive: Nobody but him would bear witness to all the fun he would have. Him and the changelings, that is…

Isaac traipsed into the main throne room a few minutes later, red circles under his eyes and looking exhausted.

“Oh, there you are. Feeling better?” Queen Mimica asked. Isaac gave no response, merely giving her a dull, half-lidded stare.

“…Oh, Isaac,” Queen Mimica sighed. “If there was any way I could undo this, bring them all back, I’d do so in a heartbeat, you know I would. Sadly, I cannot.”

Once again, Isaac remained silent. He knew someone who could help. She’d had experience in time travel, after all. But going anywhere near the one sentient being who might stand a chance of undoing all this would mean he’d be in proximity of… Her. Just the thought of it made Isaac’s skin crawl. But did he have any other option? Wait... The one who’d gotten him out, all those years back. He was a time traveler as well. But Isaac had no idea how to contact or find him, not without directly asking Her, at any rate – a move that was liable to simply result in a repetition of what he’d endured all those years ago.

Isaac zoned back into the conversation to find that Burning Ash had shown up, and was saying something. “Isaac… you there, mate?” Ash asked, hovering in front of him and waving a forehoof in front of his face.

“Yeah… spaced out a bit. What’s up?” Isaac replied tonelessly.

“Well, here’s the thing… now that you’re the last human in existence, we wanted to ask you if it was okay to colonize Earth. You know, make places for changelings to live, and so on?” Burning Ash hesitantly continued, not meeting his eye. Isaac raised an eyebrow. They were asking his permission? Then again, he supposed he’d be the only one able to give it.

“Sure, whatever, go ahead,” he answered, and Queen Mimica smartly nodded. She trotted over to a nearby console, and tapped a few buttons before clearing her throat. Once again, her sybilline hissing filled the spacious chambers, and Isaac was sure it was echoing in the rooms and corridors of the ship as well. Almost immediately, huge amounts of changelings began leaving in the direction of the hangar, once again giving Isaac a wide berth.

By the time the last one had exited, muttering something under its breath, the throne room of the ship was deserted except for Isaac, Queen Mimica, and surprisingly, Chrysalis. She had been off in a corner, and now she turned to her mother indignantly. “Mom, I was in the middle of a conversation!” she complained, but a glare from her mother caused her to fall silent.

“You know as well as I do the importance of colonizing the planet quickly, Chrysalis. Humans left many useful resources on their planet, and the least we could do is not let such things go to waste,” Queen Mimica admonished, and Isaac flinched. They were talking about humans in the past tense. Not exactly a surprise, but it was still a shock to him – he felt like they were discussing an ancient civilization, instead of a culture which had killed itself mere hours ago.

Chrysalis grumbled, but took the point, then turned to Isaac. She had been about to say something, but her annoyed expression died as soon as she was looking at him. What? Was there something on his face? Isaac quickly became aware that he was still glaring, and shifted his features into something more neutral.

“Hi,” he greeted.

“…Hello,” Chrysalis returned the greeting, biting her lip. “So…” Chrysalis trailed off. “Would you like to see my room?” she asked.

Isaac shrugged – it was something to do, at least. “Sure,” he replied, and Chrysalis led him down a series of corridors to her own room.

To Isaac’s surprise, it was not the room he’d seen her in, the first time they met. It was sparsely decorated, with a large, cocoon-like structure filled with green slime in the corner. A small tiara was lying on the floor next to it, as was a book. Curious, Isaac picked up the book, and smiled slightly as he read the cover.

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” he read aloud. “Where’d you get this?”

Chrysalis shifted slightly. “Uh… I may have snuck down to Earth while all the diplomatic negotiations were going on… It’s not stealing if it’s for interspecies cultural relations, right?” she asked, giving him a pleading look.

“Nobody’s around to judge, so sure,” Isaac laughed, relieved that he was still able to joke around. “Have you read it yet?” he asked, and Chrysalis shook her head.

Isaac took a seat by the wall, and opened the book, motioning for her to sit beside him. “I used to read these aloud with friends. We’d have a lot of fun doing the silliest voices we could for each character,” Isaac explained.

Chrysalis smiled. “I can do a lot of voices,” she answered, in a perfectly stereotypical Scottish accent.

Isaac laughed, surprised by the gruff tone to her voice, and Chrysalis joined in the laughter. Once they had calmed down, Isaac returned to the book. “Okay, okay,” he chortled, slowly calming down. “Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

When Isaac next looked up, it felt as though hours had passed. He was never sure how much time had elapsed on this spaceship, as changelings didn’t seem to see the need for clocks, and there was no other way he knew of to measure time in space. Chrysalis, meanwhile, was still giggling about a joke he had made earlier. Mentally shrugging, he returned to the book, to read the last sentence.

“I’m going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer,” Isaac proclaimed in a laid-back surfer voice, and Chrysalis giggled louder.

Isaac closed the book, and turned to Chrysalis. “You know, that’s a seven-part series,” he informed her, and Chrysalis’ face lit up as though Isaac had just announced there would be ten Christmases tomorrow.

“Can we get them all?” she squeaked delightedly, and Isaac smiled.

“Sure. I can introduce you to a few other fiction series, too. That is, if you want,” he added, and Chrysalis rapidly nodded.

It was at this point that Queen Mimica chose to poke her head around the door, smiling the moment she spotted Isaac’s happy grin. “Having fun, you two?” she asked cheerfully, and Isaac nodded, carefully nudging the book out of sight.

“Just talking,” he answered. “Say, is Earth safe to go back to?” Isaac asked, trying to make the question sound more casual than it really was.

Unfortunately, Mimica seemed to pick up on what he was trying to get at. “Well… yes, it should be safe. Just to be sure, though, I’ve sent a few scouts down there ahead of the colonizing drones, to test radiation levels and such. Wouldn’t want my daughter’s first date to end in the hospital,” Queen Mimica remarked offhandedly.

Chrysalis blushed emerald green, and squeaked “Mum!”, to which Queen Mimica laughed.

“I’m only joking!” she assuaged, and Isaac held back a snicker at Chrysalis’ petulant expression. “Isaac, dear, would you mind coming with me for a moment?” Queen Mimica asked suddenly, a strange expression on her face. Isaac, unsure what she wanted, stretched and got to his feet. “Sure, I guess,” he answered, waving goodbye to Chrysalis as Mimica ushered him into the corridor.

“So, I see you and my daughter are getting along well,” Mimica began as they made their way to her throne room.

“Yeah…” Isaac trailed off as the implications of her statement hit him.

Did she think they were really dating? …Were they? It was far too early, Isaac thought, for anything like that. He was still coping with the loss of his species, did he really want to think about romance mere hours after that? Isaac turned to look at Mimica, a small smile adorning her face.

“Anyway, that is not what I wished to discuss. Burning Ash claims you told him that your race was completely non-magical, and I wished to ascertain whether this was the case. Will you allow me to perform a spell to check? All it does is return a number comparing your magical ability to mine, and the process is not harmful or invasive whatsoever.” Isaac shrugged – she didn’t sound like she was lying, at any rate.

“Sure,” he answered, and Queen Mimica smiled wider as she lit her oddly-shaped horn, the teal-blue aura enveloping Isaac’s entire body. The changeling queen’s smile quickly faltered, her face screwing up in concentration.

“Odd… this usually doesn’t take this much power,” Mimica grunted as she fought to keep the spell running.

Finally, a swirling ball of magic detached itself from the mass surrounding Isaac’s body, reconfiguring itself into the shape of a number - none Isaac recognized, so he assumed it was changeling language.

“Zero…” Queen Mimica whispered. Without another word, she dashed off, leaving Isaac alone in the corridor. As the magic around him dissipated into the atmosphere, Isaac took a moment to wonder what had just happened.

He didn’t have long to wait, however, as Queen Mimica came sprinting down the corridor, somehow still graceful despite her speed. Following close behind was a team of changelings, outfitted in green, hardened slime that somehow covered their whole body while still allowing them to move.

“Isaac, these are my top scientists. Liquid Crystal, this is our resident human, Isaac,” Queen Mimica introduced, and the lead scientist stepped forward.

Isaac assumed this was Liquid Crystal, and his assumption was confirmed when the changeling held out a hoof to shake. “A pleasure to meet you, Isaac,” Liquid Crystal greeted, his voice sounding surprisingly soft.

“Nice to meet you as well,” Isaac returned formally.

“Isaac, will you allow Liquid Crystal to repeat the spell I used on you?” Queen Mimica asked, and Isaac nodded.

Liquid Crystal lit his smaller, curved horn, and Isaac was once again enveloped in a glow, this time of a more greenish hue. The other changelings lit their horns, and the glow around Isaac grew stronger. It was only a few seconds this time before the swirling ball of magic detached and formed another “zero” – Isaac suspected this was due to the additional changelings lending their magical strength. As the zero dissipated once again into nothing, Isaac noticed the changelings muttering and hissing to one another. Finally, one turned to Mimica, and hissed something to her, to which she replied with some sharp hissing of her own.

Liquid Crystal turned to Isaac. “Well, this is a good day for thaumaturgy. Or, perhaps, a bad day, depending on your perspective.”

Amused, Isaac raised an eyebrow, and Liquid Crystal continued. “You see, when a changeling feeds on a subject, we rely on two things: Their emotion, and their magic. Long ago, we worked out the equations for how much love we absorb based on both of these variables, and what we found was that the magic term… was in the denominator of the equation,” Liquid Crystal informed him.

Isaac attempted to process this. So, if they tried to feed off of him, and he had zero magic, they’d be… “Dividing by zero,” Isaac realized aloud.

“Precisely. If a changeling were to attempt to feed off of you, they would find that you would never run out of love to give them – essentially, infinite food,” Liquid Crystal excitedly continued.

“Wait, wait. If I have infinite emotion or whatever, wouldn’t the changeling just blow up or get overloaded when they tried to feed?” Isaac asked. Liquid Crystal grinned, and shook his head.

“The rate of absorption is determined by your emotional state at the time – the more intense, the faster it is. Your magic has nothing to do with that, so any changeling can safely feed off of you.”

Isaac nodded – they’d probably gotten that from the derivative of their feeding equation. Made sense – to him, at least.

Queen Mimica smiled down at him. “Isaac, I know we shouldn’t be asking things of you. You owe us nothing, and in fact we are in your debt. But… Will you consent to be our source of food?”

Chapter 6 - Aftermath

Isaac stared, taken aback at the offer. They were asking him to be their food? “What exactly… would that mean?” he carefully asked.

Queen Mimica smiled. “You would simply have to form and maintain a positive relationship with a changeling. We would take care of the rest, and you’d never feel a thing.”

Isaac considered this, deep in thought. “And there’d be no mind control?” he asked.

Queen Mimica raised an eyebrow. “That is actually something I wished to discuss as well – changelings are incapable of ‘mind control’. It is true we feed on emotions, but we cannot take away the free will of others – hence our reliance on taking the forms of others. It is another form of deception, yes, but I think you will agree it is a necessary one.”

Isaac nodded. “Alright, I accept,” he announced, to the excited cheers of the other changelings in the room.

“Splendid! We shall start right away,” Mimica announced. The changeling scientists left the corridor, leaving Isaac and Mimica once again alone.

“So, which changeling am I going to be forming a ‘positive relationship’ with?” Isaac asked, putting the two words in as many air quotes as he could muster.

Queen Mimica laughed. “Whomever you so desire. Burning Ash would be a good candidate… as would my daughter.” Isaac stared at her, and she leveled her gaze at him. “You think I haven’t been paying attention? You two are friends already, yes?” she asked, and Isaac carefully nodded. Mimica grinned. “Well, if you decide to be more than friends… you have my full approval.” With that, she cantered off, leaving Isaac alone with his thoughts.

Some time later, it occurred to him that he should probably go do something. If he was going to be living with changelings for the extent of the known future, he should work on learning their language. Or customs. Or anything, really. Isaac made his way back towards Chrysalis’ room, and pulled open the door. Unsurprisingly, the room was empty: Chrysalis must have gone off to do something else. Isaac put a finger to his chin in thought. He could always find Burning Ash, and do something with him. Or… maybe he could arrange to get back to Earth? Might as well…

Isaac wandered around the ship, wondering where he might find his two friends. So far, he’d encountered the hangar, the throne room, and the corridors between – he’d never explored the other end of the ship. Curious, he wandered to the other end of the throne room, under the watchful eye of Queen Mimica, and opened the door.

He was greeted with what appeared to be a refectory, with changelings actually serving out plates of a strange pink substance, rather like strawberry Jell-O in appearance. Isaac presumed this was the edible form of ‘love’, however that worked. Spotting Chrysalis and Burning Ash deep in conversation, he sauntered over, aware that a good portion of the changelings in the room were staring at him. Chrysalis was saying something in changeling language, but Ash tapped her on the shoulder, motioning at Isaac, who wordlessly took a seat next to them. Chrysalis stiffened, before putting on a smile.

“Oh, hello, Isaac,” she greeted in English.

“Hey. What’s up?” Isaac asked.

Chrysalis shrugged. “Not much, just waiting to go down to Earth. So far, the scouts have reported back ‘all clear’, but they’re still running some last-minute tests.”

Isaac nodded. “Sounds good. I figured while I was here, I’d start learning about changeling language and customs – any idea where I could get started on that?”

Chrysalis shrugged, grimacing. “Talk to my mom, I suck at teaching.”

Burning Ash, on the other hand, brightened considerably. “Well, I’m great at teaching! I’d love to help!”

Isaac dropped him a nod, smiling slightly. “Awesome, when do we get started?” he asked, and Burning Ash shrugged.

“Whenever, I guess, doesn’t really matter to me.” A changeling trotted by their table, and quickly stopped to whisper something in Burning Ash’s ear. He blushed green, and the changeling chittered with laughter as it trotted away.

“What’d they want?” Isaac asked curiously. Chrysalis snickered.

“Uh… N-nothing…” Burning Ash answered, still blushing horribly.

“Got asked out?” Isaac shrewdly continued, and Burning Ash made a small “meep” sound as he nodded. "They asked if I could... 'give them a private lesson'," he mumbled in embarrassment. This was too much for Chrysalis, who ducked under the table so they wouldn’t see her laughing, and even Isaac repressed a chuckle at the mortified changeling.

“Okay. First off, this is what you’d refer to as an ‘a’. Not an ‘ah’, mind you, that has a different symbol,” Burning Ash instructed, drawing a letter with his ink-coated horn. Isaac watched carefully as Burning Ash traced out what he presumed was the rest of the changeling alphabet.

“Okay…” Isaac muttered, copying it down with a bit of steel wire from a torn part of the ship and an inkwell.

“Nicely done!” Burning Ash complimented, looking over his work. “Careful with that tail on the ‘srr’, though, I almost mistook that for a ‘shs’.” Isaac crossed out the offending letter, and sighed wistfully as he yearned for a pencil. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s only one mistake! I’m sure you’ll be fluent in our language before long,” Burning Ash remarked, mistaking his sigh for one of frustration. Isaac chuckled shortly before returning to his studies.

A few hours later, he sat alone in a room Mimica had picked out for him, reviewing his notes as he sat on the odd ‘bed’ they had constructed for him. It was made of a sealed-off, reshaped cocoon ‘mattress’ and a sheet of foam insulation, and was about as comfortable as Isaac would expect. Not that he’d complain, as it was better than nothing. Ignoring the scratchy feeling of the makeshift blanket, Isaac returned to his studies. He’d had a lot of difficulty pronouncing most of the changeling noises, as his mouth wasn’t exactly designed to hiss, shriek or chitter. The written language, to his dismay, was even worse: Over a hundred sounds comprised the subtle nuances of changeling language, each with its own symbol. To aid him, Burning Ash had given Isaac a wriggler’s book of common words, much like those ‘A to Z’ books back home.

“Sss – no, ssth..a…ae…sthaena?” Isaac tried, looking at the word for ‘water’.

“It’s pronounced ‘stheena’,” a voice behind him corrected, and Isaac jumped. Chrysalis was there, leaning against the door casually.

“How long have you been there?” Isaac asked irritably, after taking a moment to compose himself.

“About two seconds. Can I come in?” Chrysalis asked, and Isaac nodded. Chrysalis walked in, took a seat by his side and glanced down at the book he was reading.

“I had to start somewhere,” Isaac defended, noticing her smirking at the simple pictures.

“No, no, it wasn’t that. I just found the picture funny,” Chrysalis hastily assuaged. Isaac examined the picture. It was a single changeling, swimming underwater with an adorably scrunched-up expression on its face.

“Why does it look like it’s smelled something bad?” Isaac asked, and Chrysalis stifled a giggle.

“Changelings don’t much like water,” she answered. “Most of us aren’t good at swimming, and it tends to clog up the rest of our useful abilities.” Isaac nodded, and Chrysalis looked down at the book some more, in silence.

“So… just got word from the scouts on Earth, everything’s good,” Chrysalis spoke up, after a few minutes of silent reading. Isaac, who had been worrying about the pause in conversation, gave a relieved smile.

“Glad to hear it. What took them so long, anyway?” he asked, and Chrysalis shrugged.

“No idea. You’re right, it shouldn’t take nearly that long, but Mom wouldn’t tell me what the delay was for.” Isaac gave a disgruntled sigh and returned to his book – he supposed they’d find out eventually. “So, is this what they gave you as a ‘bed’?” Chrysalis asked, looking at the makeshift contraption.

Isaac nodded. “Better than nothing,” he replied, echoing his earlier thoughts.

Chrysalis grimaced. “Not by much, from the looks of things. I’ll see about getting you a real bed when we go down there.” Isaac gave an appreciative grunt.

“You're not... still mad at me, are you?” Chrysalis asked. Isaac looked up at her.

“No, not at all, it’s nothing like that,” he soothed. “I’m just a little annoyed at how much I suck at this.” He gestured at the book, and Chrysalis gave a small ‘hmph’.

“Everyone takes a while to learn a new language, let alone an entire new culture. Don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually,” she admonished, and Isaac slowly nodded.

The night was a sleepless one, consisting of much tossing and turning. Isaac couldn’t quite get himself into a position that wasn’t cold somewhere, be it his toes or his shoulders. He checked his phone often, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as he more and more fervently wished that ‘morning’ would come. He vaguely wondered what life had been like before this seemingly eternal hell of waiting, and only thoughts of seeing Earth once more carried him through the night.

Isaac checked his phone for what seemed to be the millionth time, and sighed in relief as ‘7:00’ flashed on the screen. Now he could officially get up without having to make an excuse. He got out of his ‘bed’, groaning and stretching as his joints popped back into reasonable positions. Shuffling around his tiny room, it took him a moment to realize that today he and Chrysalis were going back to Earth. Once this fact did penetrate his mind, Isaac stopped moving around his room, staring at the wall in shock. Would the planet be what he had seen? Was it radioactive? Maybe there were some humans somewhere, and Queen Mimica had just missed them? A barrage of questions assaulted his mind, each more urgent than the last, and after a few seconds he shook his head angrily. He’d just have to go down and see for himself.

Walking into the throne room, he was surprised to see Chrysalis in what appeared to be a gown, translucent green and shimmering.

“Nice dress,” he complimented, and Chrysalis gave him a fanged grin.

“Thought I’d wear something nice today,” she explained, and Isaac nodded, feeling more out of place than ever before in his t-shirt and jeans.

She led him to the hangar, where Queen Mimica and Burning Ash were waiting over by the only two ships present. “Just got the final all-clear this morning. Are you two ready?” Queen Mimica asked, and both Chrysalis and Isaac mutely nodded. To their surprise, Queen Mimica gestured for them to join Burning Ash’s ship, which was larger than Isaac remembered. “I’ll be off doing my duty to my changelings – wouldn’t want to interrupt, after all. Have fun, you two!” Mimica called, before the glass windshield slid over her face, blocking her from view. Isaac looked at Chrysalis, who shrugged and flew into Burning Ash’s ship. Isaac climbed up with some difficulty before taking a seat on the floor. Burning Ash chuckled at his expression, before starting up the ship and flying out of the hangar.

"Didn’t look like a lot of changelings were overseeing the Hiveship,” Isaac commented after a few minutes of space travel.

“It can oversee itself,” Burning Ash answered. “Way back when it was designed, the architect made it to be self-maintaining. All that damage from a few days ago is probably repairing itself as we speak.” Chrysalis was gazing out the window, her expression a combination of distraction and boredom.

They landed just half an hour later, and Isaac climbed out with a relieved expression on his face. “Gah, I’ll never get used to that…” he muttered. Anything he had been about to say after that stopped on his lips as he beheld his surroundings.

Not much had changed, really. They’d landed in a field just outside what looked to be a once-populous city, the endless golden sea of wheat waving slightly in the breeze. What struck Isaac wasn’t the lack of human population, or animal for that matter. What really left him reeling was the silence. There were no birds chattering, no cars honking or doors closing or any of that background noise. All that was left was the rustling of the wheat stalks in the wind, an eerie reminder that all animal life on Earth had been extinguished. Chrysalis and Burning Ash looked at Isaac anxiously, and after a while of staring he turned to them. “This is creepy… let’s get going, huh?” Isaac remarked, and the two eagerly followed him into the city.

From a nearby billboard, Isaac determined that he was currently in Oklahoma City. Well, at least that told him what state he was in. To his surprise, he spotted a few changelings off in the distance, though Isaac couldn’t tell what they were doing from so far away.

“What’re they up to?” he asked Burning Ash, who followed his gaze.

“I think… they’re maintenance drones. They were assigned to figure out and keep the power, water, and ‘gas’ running for this city. But why are they starting so early? We were supposed to start all that in about a week or so, right?” Burning Ash wondered out loud, giving Chrysalis an inquiring look.

Chrysalis shrugged. “Maybe… oh, for cocoon’s sakes. I know what they’re up to,” she sighed, and Isaac looked at her expectantly. “They’re keeping this place running just for us, for today. Mom’s orders, probably,” Chrysalis grumbled, and Isaac raised an eyebrow. Huh, that’s nice of them, he thought. He said as much, and Chrysalis shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Still…” she trailed off, leaving Isaac confused. Was she mad because her mother was doing something nice for her? Changelings were weird.

They stopped in a restaurant, a Mexican one judging by the décor and vaguely upbeat Spanish music softly emanating from the speakers on the storefront and inside. Isaac noted with some surprise that the door was still open – but of course, the staff wouldn’t have had time to close down. They wouldn’t have had time to do much of anything, besides vaporize – No. Focus. Don’t think about it, Isaac furiously thought, stifling any inner monologues to the contrary.

Chrysalis gave him a surprised look when Isaac stepped behind the counter and began to search through the supplies. To his surprise, the meat was still there - Isaac had suspected it wouldn't, due to the bio-bombs targeting animal cells, but he supposed the walk-in freezer had been just airtight enough to avoid the shock wave. “So, what may I make for you?” Isaac asked the two changelings, who looked at each other in confusion.

“You… can make the food here?” Chrysalis asked, eyeing a menu on a nearby table. Isaac nodded.

“Worked at a different restaurant for a few years, I know the basics,” Isaac explained, and continued looking through the ingredients. The truth was, he had only worked at a fast food place, but he figured the experiences were pretty similar – and besides, he enjoyed the surprised look on Chrysalis’ face. “You can eat this stuff, right?” Isaac asked, and Burning Ash nodded.

“’Regular’ food just gets converted to nutrient slime, or other types of slime depending on the breed of changeling,” he answered. Isaac laughed and nodded. Nutrient slime. Why not? Isaac supposed it was a bit like honey, or something.

A few minutes later, he’d taken their orders and was busily dancing around the kitchen. Burning Ash had wanted to try a burrito, but had settled with a vegetarian-themed one after Isaac reminded him of the meat content - as it turned out, changelings didn't do meat. Chrysalis, after looking at the menu as though it was written in a foreign language, had eventually decided to have the same thing – Isaac suspected that she hadn’t gotten the chance to study human cuisine. Speaking of Chrysalis, she was watching him work with a curious fascination – Isaac suspected it had something to do with the fact that he was smiling. Sure, every human was dead, and he was serving burritos to aliens. But the fact of the matter remained: He was making food. Isaac had finally re-entered something resembling his comfort zone, and after the panic and rapid-fire sequence of events that had dominated the past few days, this was a very welcome change in his life.

“Order up!” Isaac announced, placing two steaming plates of vegetarian goodness in front of his changeling friends. He’d had to replace the meat with onions, mushrooms and peppers, but he though overall the thing he had created was pretty tasty.

Burning Ash eagerly took a bite out of the odd creation, and smiled at Isaac. “Good!” he complimented.

Chrysalis poked at the burrito, and hesitantly nibbled on the corner. Apparently finding it passable, she continued to take dainty, small bites. Just then, Isaac’s own stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything for several hours - and he, unlike his changeling friends, definitely wanted something red-blooded and juicy.

“Be right back, you two,” Isaac declared, disappearing once more into the kitchen area.