Wretched Hive 3: The Gray Pony

The changeling opened his eyes to a familiar bed. But it wasn’t his. He looked around the room for some clue as to where he was.

“Well, look who’s awake and ready for their life in the new hive?” a familiar voice eagerly greeted Kernel.

He turned to find Compassion sitting on a bed opposite of his. It didn’t strike him odd at first. Memories came to his mind and he realized that Compassion had taken the outsider’s body correctly and had come back to the wretched hive to bring him back. It was a lot to process, but his mind had almost no doubts. Almost.

“We’re going to have so much fun with you back home at last, Kernel!” the changeling chuckled. “Foresight’s not here anymore, so we each get a bunch of--”

“I can’t,” Kernel interrupted. “I forgot something back with Advantage.”

Compassion’s grin disappeared. “You do realize how long it took me to get you here, right? If you go back to that wretched hive, then you can’t come back here.”

Kernel looked around the room. All the hopes for the fun the two would have slowly faded away. Finally, he nodded. “I made a promise.” He sighed. “I have to do this.”

“Are you sure?” Compassion asked one last time.

The changeling nodded and trotted out of the room. He traversed the interior of Chrysalis’s hive as though he remembered exactly what its interior looked like. Finally, he made his way outside and took flight. He closed his eyes as the the wind blew over his body.

The changeling opened his eyes to Advantage’s sanctum. Silence stood at the end of the room, staring into a mirror. His head down to his waist was changeling flesh, while the rest was still that shimmering pony coat. On the mirror were scratched the words “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, Kernel!” Duplicity’s voice echoed from beyond where Silence stood. She appeared at her friend’s side with an orb of some kind in her hooves. The orb shifted between shades of blue and green. She turned from Kernel with the orb in hoof and trotted deeper into the hive. “This way! Come on!”

The path took twists and turns that were unfamiliar to Kernel. Finally they reached a door not unlike the one’s from Chrysalis’s hive.

“She’s waiting inside.” Duplicity pushed the door open with her free hoof and ushered him in.

Kernel nodded in an empty understanding. He trotted through the door. “I promised I was going to do this,” he thought to himself aloud. “And now I’m finally doing it.”

The Oasis glowed in the darkness before him. Captivated by how the waters swirled, he didn’t realize the room was melting into blackness. The light of the waters dimmed.

Reality knocked on Kernel’s tired eyes and aching head. He flinched enough to gain the realization that he was back in his bed in the wretched hive. But his eyes were still closed.

The changeling opened his eyes to the concerned look of a fellow wretcher.

Its head was crooked. “You alright?”

Kernel picked himself up from his bed and rubbed the soreness on the back of his head. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Bad dream?”

Kernel shrugged. “I’ve had worse.” He looked for the inner sanctum. “I think I need to talk to Advantage about something.” Pain made him cringe and rub the back of his head.

“He’s a real bastard, that Foresight.”

Kernel’s hoof dropped back to his side. “What?”

Its head wasn’t crooked anymore. “Rescue saw him knock you unconscious.” The wretcher glanced toward another resident in the distance. Kernel turned in time to see the changeling cower behind a turn in the cave. The wretcher chuckled. “Yeah. Rescue waited until Foresight was gone, then dragged you into your bed and acted like nothing was wrong.”

Kernel didn't smile.

“Oh, don't look so concerned.” The wretcher chuckled. “He's got good intentions.” It gestured around the hive. “That's what all this was made for: Good intentions.”

Kernel nodded on the outside. He rubbed his sore spot again.

“I'm Percy, by the way,” the wretcher introduced herself.

“Percy?” Kernel repeated, confused. “What kind of name is that?”

“It's short for Perception,” Percy explained. “I used to have a third eye right here!” She gestured excitedly to her forehead, then slowly lowered her hoof. “But after the Oasis incident I lost it.” Percy sighed. “Advantage says it might grow back but I shouldn't hope too hard.” The smile returned to her snout. “Oh look at me, not even giving you time to tell me your name!”

The changeling let out a nervous chuckle. “I'm Kernel.”

“And you thought Percy was a funny name? What does Kernel mean?”

“Oh...” The changeling’s mind blanked. “Ummm...” He decided against talking about “carnal.” “It's just a name. It just kinda came to me.”

Percy’s eyes widened. “Advantage didn't name you?!”

“Is... Is that bad?”

She smiled. “That's actually amazing! That you think well enough of yourself to make your own name... Good for you!” Percy glanced to either side real quick. “You don't tell each wretch a different name, do you?”

Kernel scoffed. “Nooo... I'm Kernel, I swear.”

Percy nodded. “Good. Nice to meet someone who can make up their own name and be a good person.” The wretch got up from its seat. “Well, I'll keep an eye out for you, Kernel!” Percy chuckled.

“See you around, Percy,” he replied, nodding it off.

Kernel turned from the chuckling wretcher toward the inner sanctum. The wallop from Foresight had eased its painful grip on his head. He got up from his bed and trotted deeper into the hive.

Advantage paced the sanctum rhythmically. Upon seeing Kernel, they trotted back to their usual spot and nodded both their heads in acknowledgment.

“Back after seven hours?” the female head started.
“Why so soon, Kernel? The sun has just set.”

“Advantage, what happened to Bubbles?”

“You’ve had nightmares of her, yes?” the female had asked him.

Kernel sighed and shook his head. “Not recently. I just saw the Oasis in my dream and I think it’s a sign that I need to check on her.”

Their eyes widened. “Really?” They smiled. A large hoof gestured to a familiar looking door in the darkest part of the inner sanctum. “She’s through there. Just be careful, though.”

He nodded. “I will.” Something about how Advantage had stayed so stoic disturbed a part of him. He couldn’t suppress the question. “Didn’t you two used to flinch before switching heads?”

“You’re never too old to heal,” the female head explained.
“We’ll separate too. Just give us the time.” The heads smiled and looked at each other.

Kernel turned from them, unsure what he expected. He trotted up to the shady door. His changeling hooves pushed the door open and he went inside. The only light source now was the haunting aura around the glowing green pond that was the Oasis. Kernel took a deep breath and approached it. Strands of the goo lifted toward the ceiling like tentacles, swaying gently back and forth in an unfelt breeze.

Kernel gulped down his anxieties. “Hello?”

Something sloshed within the green soup. A clawed hoof reached up from the depths. It pulled up an almost familiar face. Kernel had seen this strange creature in his dream, he was sure. But the real thing was missing an eye and its lower jaw.

Kernel found his throat gripped by an unfamiliar emotion. It definitely wasn’t fear. “What happened to you?”

The strands fell into the pool, regrouping to the edge that Bubbles was trying to surface from. They restrained her.

He shook his head. “You don’t have to do this to yourself.”

A strange, echoing hiss answered him. It was too dark to tell, but he was sure that it wasn’t coming from what was left of her mouth.

The emotion gripped his chest as he watched Bubbles struggle against her own bindings. Words poured from his mouth without thought. “You’re not perfect.” He shook his head. “That’s not to say that you can’t be. It’s just a fact. Perfection isn’t something that’s achieved by knowing what you want to be.” He chuckled. “It’s by forgetting what you are. It’s by throwing away the shackles of your past and letting the unlimited potential inside you breathe carefree.” He shook himself out the trance. “Wow, I sound like Foresight...”

The strands retched and retreated from Bubbles’s body. She crawled her way out of the goop until only her webbed tail remained submerged. She looked him over with her remaining eye. One the strands began to make its way up her tail and crawl up her back.

Kernel put his hoof out to her. “I guess, what I mean to say is... I think you’re cool. And I want to be friends.”

The eye twitched as it witnessed the gesture. The hiss returned, lower this time. Bubbles looked him in the eye and reached a claw towards him.

The strand spread into a tentacle, sliding effortlessly around and off her claw. It lunged at Kernel’s face. It dug into his eye, filling his head with too much pain to bear. The light of the Oasis died. Now, the only sensations were darkness and pain.