Altered Visage

I was back in the cavernous basement of Nutcase’s Everfree abode, locked securely behind the bars of my all too familiar cage. I lay on the floor, barely more than a mangled corpse. Another day or two, and I truly would be a corpse. The others were in worse shape than I, not even conscious anymore. Surely some would die soon. Maybe some already had.

Malicious, green eyes stared down upon me from up high, but not the eyes of Nutcase. I pleaded for help, but the eyes ignored my request, instead choosing to leave me to my fate while the pain and weariness caused my vision to fade to black.

A strange feeling greeted my senses as I slowly regained consciousness, something I hadn’t experienced a lot of since my arrival in Equestria: warmth and comfort. As my eyes flicked open, I was greeted by the sight of a pillow and the edge of a mattress. To say I was disoriented at first would be an understatement. It took me a lot longer than I’d like to admit to realize that I had been dreaming and was now lying on my side, tucked safely into a bed.

I had been in this world for a week, maybe longer, and in all that time I had never once been in a bed. Well, except for....never mind. I shuddered as I tried to not to think about it. There are those camels again. Still gotta figure out if camels are sentient in this world. I had more important questions to answer, though, like where was I?

Then memories of the changelings raiding Nutcase’s underground laboratory resurfaced and I began to panic. I struggled against the blankets covering me, trying to shake them off with my four awkward limbs and only succeeding in falling out of bed tangled in them instead. I froze up, fearing that my new captors would hear and come to stop me, but nothing happened. I let out a tense breath and tried to calm myself down so that I could examine my surroundings.

The room was small and simple, and I could sense a blended atmosphere of sadness and loving care. A low bed stood beside me, now missing its simple, patchwork blanket and pillow which had both followed me onto the floor. Hanging from the ceiling were several clear crystalline structures that gave off a white light. A basin was in a corner sitting next to a small, gray table with a mirror on it. There was one doorway leading out of the room, though not so much a door as a sheet of orange cloth hanging from the top of the opening. The floor that I had just landed on, and indeed the entire room, appeared to be carved directly from rock.

Taking it slowly so as to not entangle myself even worse, I separated myself from the bedding and rose to my hooves. I approached the basin and noticed it was filled with water. The table next to it appeared to be carved from the stone much like the rest of the room had been. The stone was surprisingly smooth and I couldn’t help but wonder if the changelings used magic or tools to shape the room. Whichever one, it looked like they were masters of their craft.

There was a wash cloth on the table, and I noticed that I was feeling very grimy from sweat. I wasn’t covered in dirt, blood, or any other unpleasant substances. I guessed that I had been bathed while I was unconscious. That was an awfully nice thing for my captors to do. As was putting me in an actual bed, and leaving me seemingly unguarded in a room with only a flimsy piece of cloth covering my escape route. There were probably guards outside the door or something.

I stared at the wash cloth for a few moments, painfully aware of how gross my sweating made me feel. I looked at my raised hoof momentarily, thinking of how odd it was to be able to lift things without fingers, and then reached out for the cloth. Trying to concentrate on exactly what I was doing as I manipulated objects, I was disappointed to find that I couldn’t lift the cloth at all.

I growled lightly at the annoying piece of fabric that refused to stick to my hooves. I had used my hooves to pick up stuff before hadn’t I? I had manipulated that map from earlier multiple times without even thinking about it, why couldn’t I lift a simple wash cloth now? I placed my hoof on my jaw as I absently thought of what I had been doing differently and jumped when I felt a rough fabric contact my face. Apparently whatever magic I use to lift things with hooves had a sense of humour. Either that or thinking about it too much leads to difficulty performing.

I washed off as much of my sweat as I could, which admittedly wasn’t as much as I would have liked. I couldn’t reach several locations on my body with my hooves. Perhaps if I knew how to use my horn properly I could actually take care of myself a little better. Though if I had my way, I wouldn’t be a changeling long enough to do so. Staring into my dark reflection in the basin, I lamented that I likely didn’t have much say in the matter.

I chided myself, there was no time for self pity. Now that I was somewhat cleaner and more comfortable than before, it was time to find out just where I was. Cautiously, I approached the doorway and stuck my head out past the hanging, orange cloth that covered it. Beyond it was another room carved from the stone and lit with the same hanging crystals, a rather large room with at least a dozen doorways just like mine. There were many shelves lining the walls, or more accurately carved out of the stone walls. A quick look at one shelf next to my door revealed a variety of medical supplies such as bandages, syringes, medicine bottles and the like. It appeared that I was in some kind of hospital or infirmary of some kind.

The most apparent thing was sitting at a desk in the center of the room with his face buried in a book. As far as I could tell, he hadn’t noticed me yet. I tensed up instinctively at the sight of him. I may have woken up in relative comfort, but I still remembered how I was assaulted and forced to come here. They had brought me here to give over to Chrysalis, and there’s no telling what would happen to me then.

“Relax, you’re safe here. Nopony is going to harm you, young one.”

The reading changeling spoke out to me with a reassuring, feminine tone, not even bothering to look away from her book. She sounded older than the other changelings I had heard. I blinked a few times in surprise. The reading one gave a lighthearted chuckle which caused me in turn to feel rather uncomfortable.

“You’re not very good at shielding your emotions.” She finally put down her book and looked directly at me with shockingly bright orange eyes. “Are you going to finish coming out, or am I going to have to continue talking to a head sticking out from a curtain?”

“Your eyes,” I stepped out from my room, unable to take my eyes away from hers, “why are they orange? I thought all changelings had blue eyes.”

“Hmm? Oh, right, I forgot. You're the changeling who’s not a changeling, Visage. Or not Visage as the case may be. Chance if I remember what the others told me.” I slowly nodded. She already knew, I doubted that I could convince her otherwise even if she didn’t have the ability to read my emotions.

“Come closer, I’ll show you something.” I hesitated at her invitation. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite. Not my patients anyway.”

I approached her warily, ready to bolt at the slightest hint of trouble. Not that I knew where I’d go, I’d probably just run into more changelings and get caught again. I stopped in front of the desk, making sure to keep that bulky piece of furniture between us. She seemed to deem the distance I had approached acceptable as she leant forward and closed her eyes. She said nothing as she just sat there with her eyes shut and soon the silence was growing rather awkward.

“Umm....what are you-“

“Boo!” She opened her eyes and waved her forelegs in an effort to startle me. I would like to state for the record that she most certainly did not succeed. I definitely did not scream like a little girl or fall to the ground in fear. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.

“Jesus Christ! What the hell?!” I shouted at the now giggling changeling in front of me. “Why would you do that? Wait....are your eyes blue now?”

“Yes. Most changelings have blue as their natural eye colour, though there are some exceptions. Some are green, such as the Queen herself. There are some other colours, such as reds, yellows and such, but they are exceptionally rare.”

“What about orange?”

“Not in this hive. Maybe in some other, but there doesn’t seem to be any history of orange eyes here. My eyes are as you see now, naturally blue.”

“Then why-“

“Were my eyes orange?” She interrupted me again, while simultaneously switching her eyes back to orange. “I’m Doctor Dew-Drop. As I’m sure you discovered in your previous... accommodations, we are shape shifters. Changing little details about ourselves is a good way to distinguish between each other at a glance, or more accurately to distinguish between different professions. Orange is the colour of those in the medical field.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” I admitted. “You’re name seems a little, uh, different.”

“How do you mean?” She tilted her head quizzically.

“Well all the other changelings have had names related somehow to bugs, I think, like Pupa, or Webber. Well, I’m not sure what Drymanid is, and my name is Visage. Er... my body’s name? My predecessor’s name? You know what I mean.”

“Oh. Well, first of all, I suspect Dryma was named after a kind of cockroach. It’s not the same as the bug’s name, but it’s close enough.”

“That just makes your name stand out all the more.” I scrunched up my face in annoyance.

“And yours too, though to be fair, yours is more traditional than mine. I think you’ll find that we changelings are rather diverse with our naming conventions. Sure, many parents prefer going with the classic names, but spending a lot of time disguised and living among other species tends to cause many to warm up to names of all sorts.”

While this explanation also made sense, there was one more thing that was bothering me about naming conventions of changelings. Something that struck me as completely contradictory. Something that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

“Why would changelings name their children after bugs and bug related things when calling a changeling a bug is considered offensive?”

“That’s a question for the ages.” Doctor Dew-Drop shrugged at my question.

Now with a lack of shiny new topics being dangled in front of me like a pair of keys, my mind wandered back to the situation I probably shouldn’t have ignored from the start. I had been brought there against my will because Chrysalis wanted to see the freak that I am. A heavy sigh from Dew-Drop broke through the silence that had arisen between us.

“What are you so worried about now? I try to relax you with a bit of small talk and by answering your questions and you’re right back to being terrified. I don’t even need to be an emotion reader to tell.” She began to rub her temple with a hoof.

“What are you going to do to me?”

“Heal you. It’s what doctors do, despite how some novels portray us.” She said coldly. She didn’t seem to like being accused of having ulterior motives and wanted me to think her innocent. I wasn’t buying it, though.

“I was forced here against my will. I was attacked by your so called rescue team, put to sleep and then dragged here to be brought in front of Chrysalis. What are you going to do to me?” I tried to keep my voice level, though found it increasingly difficult as my irritation grew.

“I told you. I only want to heal-“

“Bullshit!” I interrupted, causing the doctor to flinch. “Since my arrival in Equestria, nobody has just been kind to me. Everyone has run away from me, attacked me, kept me prisoner, experimented on me or used me as a toy for their own pleasure! Now you expect me to believe that changelings, those monsters that invaded Equestria to try and steal away all their love, just want to help me?!”

“So just because I’m a changeling you think I want to hurt you? You’re just like all the ponies out there.”

“No, I’m nothing like them. I want nothing to do with them, either. I just want to go home.” I forced the last bit through clenched teeth. Dew-Drop looked about to respond when we were interrupted by a small cough. We both swiveled our head towards the source of the sound.

“Is something wrong?” The voice stopped to cough. “Are we being attacked?”

It was a little changeling foal standing just outside one of the doors lining the walls, a girl I think. She was trembling with fright, eyes wide and darting between the two fighting adults in the room and coughing with alarming frequency. I suspected her fear was agitating her throat and causing the coughs to become worse than normal. Feeling the fear radiating off of her immediately cooled the fires in both the Doctor and I. I stood there dumbly while Dew-Drop ran to the child.

“Shhh...it’s okay. We’re not under attack. We were just having a misunderstanding.” Dew-Drop cooed to the frightened foal, hugging her close and rubbing her back with a hoof. “Now go back to sleep. You can’t heal up if you don’t rest, okay sweetie?” The child nodded, having visibly calmed at the comforting of the older mare and trudged back into her room beyond the hanging orange cloth.

I looked over the room to see where I would go if I wanted to escape. Unfortunately, every doorway was covered in what seemed to be the same orange cloth, which I now suspected was that colour specifically to indicate the medical nature of the place.

“The exit is that one.” I jumped at the melancholic voice that suddenly appeared right next to me. “You can leave if you’d like, I won’t stop you. You seem to be physically healthy now.”

I looked over to the door she had indicated, then back to where the little filly had gone through. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She has the flu. That and she’s scared. She’ll be okay.”

“Does this place get attacked often?” I prodded, somewhat afraid of the answer. Dew-Drop sat beside me, stared vacantly into space and slowly nodded.

“Her father was killed in an attack a month back. Some ponies looking for revenge over the invasion forced their way in and started killing. Her father was a stone carver. He spent his life carving out the stone so that we’d always have space to call home. He was a good changeling. He deserved better.” I sat down beside her and contemplated the information she had just revealed in silence.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb the sick.” I finally offered in the hopes of garnering some peace between at least the two of us.

“It’s not your fault.” Dew-Drop shook her head. “Not fully your fault anyway. I read the report, you’ve had a very rough time. It’s easy to forget you don’t really know anything about changelings.”

“I know some stuff.” I argued, to which she snorted.

“You know about as much as ponies do, maybe less. The rescue team didn’t attack you, you attacked them. Doppelganger’s report said that you were overcome with the despair that permeated the area after they removed the inhibitor from you. You were terrified and tried to run away, knocking over two changelings, one of whom was injured. They put you to sleep for their safety and your own. That is how it happened, right?”

I thought back to the events of that day and realized that what she said was true. I had lashed out first, and the others responded in a relatively humane fashion, subduing me while causing minimal damage. I nodded sheepishly in response.

“You felt it right now, too, when Silver Cloud came in here. That’s her name, by the way. We both felt it. A properly trained changeling can shield their own emotions so that others can’t feel them, as well as put up barriers to prevent themselves from being influenced by strong outside sources of emotion, but an untrained one such as yourself is vulnerable to them. Not only are you unable to ignore the emotions of others, particularly strong emotions can actually overpower your own, either by having you take on the sensed emotion, or by responding to it with a new one. That’s why you were affected by the despair in that place while the others seemed to be okay.”

“Why did they want to bring me here? Why would Chrysalis want to see me?”

"She has her reasons." She responded unhelpfully, as if evading the question. I narrowed my eyes out of annoyance.

"LIke...?" I prompted her to elaborate.

“Well, as an alien stuck in a changeling’s body you’re unusual, and the Queen is interested in unusual things. She’s asked to be informed immediately upon your full recovery."

"So I'm just a curiosity to her?"

"No, it’s not just that." She paused as if to figure out how to word what she was about to say. "You are alone in this world. You’ve been mistreated and don’t know the first thing about being a changeling. Here at the hive, we could teach you how to survive, show you how to block out the emotions of others and to shield your own, teach you proper magic and give you a home where you won’t be judged because of what you are. We know what it’s like to not be in your own skin. It doesn’t matter that you’re some alien from another world. You’re one of us now and we protect our own.”

I bit my lip, uncertain whether or not I could believe her words. It sounded too good to be true.

“Here, let me show you.” With those words, I felt a sudden surge of emotion coming from the mare beside me. It was a heady mixture of caring, sympathy and familial love. I’m not sure how I could tell what kind of love it was, but I could. It was, for lack of a better word, delicious. It energized me for several seconds until Dew-Drop cut off the flow. It was an intoxicating sensation and left me swaying a little with a goofy grin on my face.

“Liked that did you?” Dew-Drop chuckled. “I purposely channeled my emotions into you. Do you believe me now?” I nodded as the sensation began to fade away, leaving me with more or less the same energy levels as before, albeit with a much calmer demeanor.

“Whenever I...fed before, the energy I gained always lasted awhile. Why isn’t this?” Well, there went my better mood, reminding myself of being fed and all.

“Another question for the ages. For some reason, feeding off of other changelings has drastically less effect than feeding on other sentient creatures. It works well enough for feeding our foals, but the energy barely lasts beyond the feeding in adults. It’s why we infiltrate the other species out there.

“If you can’t feed off each other, then how does a city of changelings work? Wouldn’t they all starve?”

“Well....we have some prisoners that we can feed off of.” I looked at her uncomfortably at this revelation. “Don’t be like that. Every society has prisoners, we’re no exceptions. For example, those ponies who attacked us a month ago are among them. In battle we usually try to avoid killing, though sometimes it is unavoidable or just too impractical. We much prefer to keep our enemies alive so that we can feed off of them. In addition to prisoners, we have love gathering parties spread all over Equestria helping to keep us fed. Love from other creatures can be transferred between changelings if you know what you’re doing.”

“What about changeling criminals? Are they kept prisoner too?” I pushed.

“Well, no. We can’t feed off of them, and we can’t afford to feed them. We try to reintegrate them into society for all but the greatest offences. Those who aren’t are banished, unless it is believed they’d be a greater threat to us if we did so. Executions are very rare.”

“So you send your worst criminals into the open world for other to deal with?” I asked incredulously.

“What would you have us do? We don’t want to kill our own unless absolutely necessary, and we can’t afford to feed them. We can barely feed everypony as is, hunger is rampant here. It’s why the Queen tried to invade Equestria, to try and feed us all.” Dew-Drop countered.

“You’re starving here?”

“We get by." She responded vaguely. I got the sense that she was understating the problem to make me feel better. "I know this place doesn’t sound that great with the hunger and the attacks, and you don’t necessarily like how we do things, but trust me when I say this is the best place for you to be. For every changeling to die in the attacks here, ten die out there. You can be protected from those who hate you and can be with family here.”

I reflected on the feelings I sensed when the doctor had let me catch a glimpse of her actual emotions. It was the most comforting sensation I had felt since coming to Equestria. It far outstripped even my fondest memories involving Pinkie Pie, or kissing Rainbow Dash. Looking back, that one probably would have counted as me forcefully feeding off of her. The realization made me feel sick.

Then I thought back on the life I had left behind when I was forced into this world. I remembered my little brother, David, still living with our parents as he went to college to earn a political science degree. I think he wanted to be a politician or something. And my parents, who were probably worried sick about me by now. Other little things flashed through my mind as I reminisced, such as my computer where I spent most of my free time, my comfy bed, the food in my fridge that I could actually taste thanks to my human taste buds. My hands that I could properly grasp things with no matter how much or little I was thinking about it. Oh god, I missed my hands. I let out a long, sad sigh.

Going to the land of My Little Pony might sound like a dream to a lot of bronies, but I had been thoroughly and utterly disillusioned by my experiences. Early on I may have actually been excited to be here beneath the fears I felt, and maybe even wanted to stay once I could clear up the misunderstandings, but not anymore.

“I just want to go home.” I hung my head as I vocalized my desire.

“I understand.” Dew-Drop nodded at my confession, rubbing my back in a comforting manner much like she had done with that foal earlier. “You know, Queen Chrysalis is one of the most powerful beings in the world. If anypony can help you get back, it would be her.”

I mulled this over momentarily before responding.

“When can I see her?”

______________________

The Hive was massive. Unlike what I had imagined, it wasn’t just a bunch of large labyrinthine corridors carved from stone either, though there were some of those too. There were grand rooms with soaring ceilings, park like areas filled with beautifully carved statues, fountains, and a variety of subterranean plants and fungi, some of which gave off an eerily beautiful glow. My favourite park that we passed was filled with tons different mushrooms of all sorts that glowed in a startling array of colours. We passed by an underground lake where changelings with their foals were swimming and playing, much like any human beach I had ever seen, except underground. Though I had little doubt I would soon miss the sun if I stayed here, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the hive. It must have taken generations to build.

I know I should have expected it, but there were changelings everywhere going about their daily business. Though I got the general sense that the populace was a little worn down by something, the ones who noticed us were rather pleasant. A few of them had waved, smiled or gave some other cordial greeting to us. Occasionally one would give a knowing smile my way, probably because I still couldn’t hide my emotions over what I was seeing. Some had noticed Dew-Drop’s orange eyes and had approached us asking for medical advice or to set up an appointment for check-ups. The Doctor politely listened to their requests, then equally politely told them that she had urgent business with Queen Chrysalis and urged them to come visit her at her office later that day or the next.

I had been so absorbed in gawking at the beauty of this place that I hadn’t noticed we had reached our destination until Dew-Drop casually used her magic to stop me from walking past a comically large double door that had a pair of stone faced changeling guards flanking either side of it.

“We’re here.” Dew-Drop confirmed as she nodded towards the metal doors which loomed over me and made me feel very small. Once again remembering the things that Chrysalis had done in the show, I began to tremble nervously. “It’s okay, don’t worry. She won't harm you.” She reassured me

I took some deep, steadying breaths as my companion conversed with one of the guards. They were wearing what looked like armour shaped from emerald. It was incredibly fancy and I suspected was more for ceremonial use than it was for combat, and was perhaps used only for the Queen’s personal guards. When one of them noticed me staring at him, he blinked a couple times and then bowed his head politely at me. I decided to try and ignore them and watched the changelings that were passing us.

They didn’t really do much of interest, most of them just walked by. Occasionally some would give me a reassuring smile as they passed, likely sensing my unease. That’s actually starting to get annoying. If I can’t get back home I really need to learn how to block off my emotions from other changelings.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doors being opened and one of the guards indicating that we should follow him. After taking another calming breath, I did as he indicated. We stepped through the long, corridor that was lined with many more emerald armour clad guards standing as stoically as any of the royal guards from the show. The plush, green carpet beneath us felt amazing on my hooves. We approached the end of this hallway and reached another oversized set of double doors which were promptly opened by the guard escorting us.

The throne room that lay before us was luxurious. The carpeting that had covered the corridor leading up to here covered the entire floor of this room. There were paintings hung on the walls depicting various changelings, most looking similar to Chrysalis, and all wearing the same little crown. Larger than life stone carved statues with glowing gemstones for eyes lined the walls of the room, many of them appearing to be regal depictions of the royalty in the portraits and painted to be as lifelike as possible. At least two of them were of Chrysalis herself. Chandeliers made of glowing crystals hung from the ceiling high above us, lighting everything brightly with their radiance. Between portraits and statues were tapestries, each one depicting some sort of momentous occasion. Coronations, mighty battles, grand victories, and various other feats and accomplishments adorned these fabrics.

The throne sat at the back of the room next to a couple of doors made of metal. The throne itself was made of wood, something I didn’t remember seeing at all anywhere else in the hive. It was large, looking more like a grand sized sofa rather than a royal chair, and it was draped with plush fabrics and pillows of emerald green. It was also accentuated with a variety of gemstones coloured green, red and orange. Beside it stood an official looking changeling with green eyes and a rigid frown. A tickling in the back of my mind said he looked familiar, but I couldn't place my nonexistent finger on it.

I, however, noticed very little of this at first. What caught my eye, and caught my breath in my throat, was a tall, thin changeling queen seated stiffly upon that opulent throne. Her mane and tail were that frustrating shade somewhere between green and blue that I could never fully decide which side it fell on. Her horn was long and jagged, looking almost like it could have been a normal, though oversized, horn that was given its gnarled appearance by being as full of holes as the rest of her extremities. She had dazzlingly appealing green eyes, with actual irises unlike every other changeling I had seen before, and slitted pupils that gave her a sinister appearance. Queen Chrysalis’ stared right at me from her seated position. There was curiosity in her eyes, and a hint of excitement.

I froze in place as the others bowed their heads deeply to their monarch. I shouldn't have come here. This was a bad idea. This was a very bad idea.

“This is Chance, my Queen. She’s the alien from another world.” Dew-Drop offered respectfully.

“I know who she is. Leave us. I wish to speak with her in private.”

The Queen’s gentle smile did little to comfort me as the guards and the green eyed changeling followed her orders. Doctor Dew-Drop put a reassuring hoof on my shoulder before following the guard out of the room. The resounding clunk of the doors closing behind me cut me off from the outside world and left me alone with one of the most dangerous beings in existence. Chrysalis noticeably relaxed as she rose from her throne and stretched casually, causing a couple of loud cracks to come from her back along the way. She sighed contentedly and approached me with a wispy smile.

“What’s your name, my child.”

That was the second time today that a changeling had referred to me as young. I couldn’t help but wonder if my new form really was that child like, or if the Doctor and Queen were just old. I swallowed a lump in my throat and resolved myself to answer her questions honestly as possible. If she really did mean me no harm and could help me, she should know everything. If she was a psychopath on the verge of killing me at the slightest provocation, then I couldn’t afford to piss off an emotion reading monster by lying to her.

“Victor. My name is Victor Mills.” I forced out.

“Tell me, Victor,” she clicked her tongue after saying my name and rubbed the top of my head affectionately with one of her forehooves, "if you are from an alien world, why are you so frightened of me? It’s more than me being royalty, I know that kind of fear and you’re exuding something considerably more potent. I would think a foreigner like yourself wouldn’t know enough to fear me. Is there something you're not telling me?”

“Oh, umm...well....” I stammered.

“Take your time, it’s okay little one. I won't be mad.” She cooed at me.

“I’m human.” I blurted out.

“Yes, the report said as much. Is it the same humans as can be found through that mirror locked away in the Crystal Empire? The ones that are mirrored versions of the inhabitants of this world?”

“You know about the mirror?” I asked mouth agape.

“Of course I do,” Chrysalis chuckled lightly at my surprise, “I have spies everywhere, including in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle’s report on the human world was a fascinating read. We have yet to send anypony through the mirror due to the limited time frame it remains active, but I do know of it. I ask again, is that where you are from?”

“Well, no. At least I don’t think so. I’m not completely certain.”

“And why is that?” She raised an eyebrow, urging me to continue.

“Well, in my world we have a cartoon, uh, a story-”

“I know what a cartoon is. This world does have film, though it is not widely used.”

I half expected her to be annoyed at me for assuming she didn’t know what a cartoon was, but her tone and expression were gentle and caring, just as they had been for the entirety of our conversation so far.

“Er...right. Anyway, we have a cartoon called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It....well, it shows this world, mostly from the eyes of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They show the mirror world at one point and it looks similar to my world in many ways, but incredibly different in others.” Chrysalis leaned towards me curiously at my revelation.

“And this cartoon is how you know of me? This isn’t just a prank on your part?” Her tone sounded hopeful.

“Yes.” She kept staring at me, her body tense as she waited for further clarification. I took a deep breath and obeyed. “I mean yes to the cartoon part. It showed the wedding between Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. In it you abducted Cadance, mind controlled Shining Armor and fed off of him, turned Twilight’s friends against her, abducted Twilight, then you had your armies invade Canterlot. Had you just killed Cadance or Twilight instead of imprisoning them you probably would have won, too.” For a moment, Chrysalis seemed disappointed in my response, but she quickly recovered.

“They were both my prisoners, and we do not kill our prisoners. Besides, if I had killed Cadance there is little doubt that I would not have been able to defeat Celestia.” Chrysalis defended her actions.

I thought it was rather odd that of all the species in the My Little Pony world, it was the changelings that had such a strong stance against killing. Rainbow Dash and Nutcase certainly didn’t seem to have any qualms about potentially killing me.

“You were feeding off of Cadance? They didn’t show that in the show.”

“Of course I was feeding off of her. She is the alicorn of love, a veritable buffet for a changeling. I suspect there’s a lot that your cartoon doesn’t show you.”

“Well, yeah. They don’t show any blood, or swearing, or sex, or even sexual innuendos. It’s kind of tame compared to the real thing.” I listed off several of the things I had seen since coming to this land.

“You make it sound like this cartoon is for foals.”

“Well, actually, it is.” I admitted.

Chrysalis brought a hoof up to her mouth in an effort to hide her laughter, but soon gave up on such a pretense as her mirth grew. I chuckled nervously along with her, not quite sure what I should be doing. Eventually, her fit of giggling petered out and she watched me, her eyes sparkling with merriment.

“Did this foal’s cartoon tell you that we invaded Equestria so that we could feed ourselves?”

“I think so. It was at least heavily implied if it wasn’t stated outright.”

“Then I hope you can see that our attack wasn’t completely unjustified.” I averted my eyes as I contemplated her words. I was having a hard time matching this changeling in front of me with the monster I had seen in the show. She just seemed so gentle and caring. “Anyway, I think by now you’ve seen how ponies react to changelings during your stay here. The invasion is not the start of their mistreatment of us. Let me be the first to properly welcome you to our world. You may be a monster out there, but here you are one of us. I hope you choose to make your home here in the hive.”

To my surprise, I was very tempted by her offer. Everyone here had been so kind to me, from the Queen and Dew-Drop to random changelings that we had passed that day who had given a friendly greeting, or offered looks of support or reassurance when I was nervous. And the aesthetics of the hive, to put it simply, were gorgeous. However, I couldn’t just abandon my life back home. I missed the technology. I missed my little one bedroom apartment. I had family, friends and a job to go back to. Well, maybe not a job seeing how I had disappeared for over a week without any explanation, but I still had friends and family. I turned my eyes to face Chrysalis again.

“I am happy to hear your offer, I truly am, but...I want to go home. There are people I left behind, and I really want to see them again. Doctor Dew-Drop said that you might be able to help me go back.” Chrysalis nodded sadly before responding.

“I understand. I can’t promise that I will be able to get you home to your friends and family, but I can promise to try my best to find a way. In the meantime, I hope you will come to accept me as your family, at least for awhile.”

“Thank you.” Tears of joy were streaming down my face, which Chrysalis gently wiped away with a hoof.

“Now then, since you’re stuck as a changeling until I can get you back, I think it’s time for some lessons on how to be one. First lesson: proper feeding.”

_______________________

Chrysalis had taken me through the hive and to the dungeons below, descending considerably deeper into the ground than I had been before. Many changelings were present here, both guards in more normal looking metallic armour keeping the place safe and ordinary citizens dropping by to get their daily ration of love. I thought uncomfortably on how that was the reason I was here too. It felt wrong to exploit people like this, and I had voiced my objections to Chrysalis, but she just gave a knowing smile.

I had thought that I had been feeding off of love just fine up to this point, but apparently what I was doing was only passive feeding. What Chrysalis wanted to teach me was active feeding, using my magic to draw out the love from within a sentient creature much like what she had done to Shining Armor and Cadance before. It was apparently something that mothers taught their foals at a young age. Given that I had no mother of my own, she took it upon herself to take on that role.

Passive feeding was enough to survive on, but active feeding was much more efficient and would allow for frequent use of magic beyond simply transforming. There was a definite downside, though. The ones you feed from would be physically and emotionally drained. If you fed without restraint, the person you were feeding on could become what is known as a ‘shell’, at which point they’d be an emotionless husk in a very permanent sort of way and rendered useless for future feeding. Chrysalis assured me that it would require an intentional, extended effort to reach such a stage and that I wasn’t about to accidentally turn some poor pony into a vegetable. If the general assurances weren't enough for me, the guards here kept a very close eye on their prisoners and ensured they weren't overdrawn by those feeding off them.

“So, do you understand the process, little one?” Chrysalis asked me after demonstrating on some poor blue pony stallion kept wrapped up in a cocoon like the ones seen in the episodes starring the changelings. I had just watched her pull out a large amount of glowing, green, energy from him and inhale it. The stallion didn’t look so good. I didn’t feel so good.

“I think so. Do I really need to do this?” I asked uneasily. Chrysalis rolled her eyes at me.

“Remind me to teach you how to shield your emotions later, you are too easy to read like this. Do not feel pity for him, he and his friends attacked us not too long ago, killing some of our guards and several innocents.” She explained.

“Do I have to do it to him? He looks ready to collapse. I really don’t want to be responsible for destroying somebody’s mind.” I pointed to the whimpering pony in the cocoon in the hopes of emphasizing my point.

“Hmph. He’s fine. He is not the one you will feed on, though. I had a different pony in mind for you. I think you’ll find it to be quite the treat.” She smiled warmly and indicated that I should follow her as she left the cell, so I stepped along behind her.

As we went along, she asked me questions about my home, saying that the more she knows the easier it will be for her to find a way back and the less likely that she’ll transport me to the wrong world. She seemed eager to get to know me as much as possible. While she did question me on general things such as the political structures of my world, nations, trade and the like, but she gave special focus to personal questions such as my friends and family, dreams and ambitions, and any romantic relationships I had in the past. She seemed rather distressed by the answer to that last question, almost seeming angry. A smile came to my face as I momentarily entertained the thought of Chrysalis showing up at my ex's door. As the conversation continued, she was intrigued to discover that my world had no true magic, at least none that I knew of, and that humans were the only intelligent species.

I answered her questions as best I could, but I found myself distracted by the emotions of the prisoners permeating the place. Now that I knew exactly what such feelings of sorrow and anger were and why I could sense them, it was easier to not let them affect me. Not easy, mind you, just easier. I was still rather uncomfortable in the place. As I looked into the face of another guard standing at attention, I wondered how they could stand to be exposed to the prisoners’ pain all the time.

As we moved further into the dungeons, I began to pick out a different sensation in the mix of emotions. It grew stronger as we continued until eventually it was overpowering the despair of the place. It was love. I’m not sure how I could tell, but it was definitely love. I slowed to a stop at a heavily guarded door and stared at it, curiosity and desire overcoming my discomfort. What would love be doing in a dungeon? Why do I care about the reasons? Forget about that, I wanted that love for myself. Part of my mind suspected that this is what a moth felt like when faced with a flame. The rest of my brain dismissed moths and flames as being unimportant, all that mattered was the love. I failed to even notice that Queen Chrysalis had come back and was standing beside me until she cleared her throat to get my attention.

“That door leads to a special wing of the dungeon where important prisoners are kept. As enticing as it may be, that is not our destination. Come along.” She gave a gentle, understanding smile and pulled me away with a leg draped over my shoulders. I gradually came back to my senses as the intense emotion began to fade. I was filled with embarrassment when I realized that I had let the residual emotions of the area control me again. Chrysalis chuckled at my new emotional output, which only exacerbated the sense of shame.

“Here we are.”

Chrysalis announced as we stopped in front of a door. A guard opened it with his magic and Chrysalis stepped inside. I sighed and followed after her. I didn’t want to do this, but I doubted she would let me get away with declining. She was standing in front of the prisoner with an exaggerated grin on her face.

“Normally we keep our prisoners encased in a magic dampening cocoon, but given the circumstances I thought you would appreciate something a little different. Allow me to present to you: your dinner.”

Chrysalis gave an embellished bow to me that seemed very out of place for royalty, especially royalty as scary as her, and stepped to the side to reveal my ‘dinner’.

A battered unicorn lay chained before me. Creamy orange fur, greenish yellow eyes, brownish orange mane and a box filled with almonds for a cutie mark.

Recognition was instantaneous for both parties. Fear reflected in the mare’s eyes, rage burned in mine.

“Nutcase!” I spat out with bared fangs.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

Tears flowed down Nutcase’s face. How many times had I begged and pleaded with those exact same words only to have her ignore them? The magical inhibitor stood out on her horn and for a moment I saw myself in her place. I would be just as bad as her if I stooped to getting revenge. She'd become another victim in the endless cycle of violence. A good person would not do this. I had always thought of myself as a good person.

Queen Chrysalis smiled proudly as I descended upon my victim.