Creator Hatch

The eleven ponies gather around me and Party Favor after we all walk outside, waiting to hear what I have to say.

“So, Party Favor, do you see what you did wrong?”

“Wha-what are you talking about?”

“The stone necklace? The revelation? The Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“I’m afraid I still don’t read you. What are you walking about?”

“I had targeted three ponies once before all of Ponyville got replaced. Those three were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Back then, I’d acted particularly rotten to them. I can’t make up for what I did, but I realized, after I traveled to Rainbow Falls that one day, those very fillies could have been in real danger of getting replaced. I thought there was nothing to do about it except for starting a new life. But that revelation today showed me how wrong I was to bully the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And even when I did, I never traveled for hours on end to someplace and back just to target them. And I certainly didn’t need anypony I didn’t know to boot.”

I wait for ten seconds before Party Favor responds.

“You bullied WHO NOW?!?”

I snort at his question that made it obvious that his thoughts got messed up during my speech.

“Come on, Party Favor; everypony’s waiting on you. Catcher has changed. Don’t you want to accept that she has better intentions now than when she first came to Our Town?”

“I seriously doubt that Hatch has changed. You know how changelings are.”

“But she chose to leave her hive to find a higher amount of love! Let’s give her a chance!”

“Okay. As long as she never drove the ponies of Our Town away, I’ll accept the fact as true.”

-=-

I pace around the cave in nothing but pure thought, with Gac and the thirty seven other grubs looking at me.

“Ugh! What are we going to do?!? Diamond Tiara was quick to accept me, but Party Favor had his suspicions since the very beginning!”

“Who knows, Hatch? Maybe we-”

“You...”

Uh oh, Party Favor...

“Hatch... what did you do to Our Town?”

“Party Favor, what are you talking about?!? The entire population ran Gac out of town, and I went to rescue him! It was a good thing he hollowed out the top of a mountain to hide! So, what are you blaming me for?!?”

“Replacing the fillies and colts?”

“I’m telling you! I have changed! Regretting my lack of consideration for Diamond Tiara is proof enough! What else would I have to prove to you? Now take this wretched necklace off me! It’s driving me crazy, rubbing up against my chest!”

“Hmm... no.”

“What?!? NO?!? Why?!?”

“Running the town’s entire population of ponies out of the area is worse than putting all of the town’s cutie marks in a vault.”

“A vault?!?”

“Remember... the tour?”

“Right... I remember that. However, THAT’S NO EXCUSE TO SIMPLY REFUSE TO TAKE OFF AN ACCESSORY!!!”

“Hatch, calm down.”

“Calm down?!? I didn’t hurt a single pony from Our Town, and you’re saying that’s worse than stealing cutie marks?!? They chose to keep searching for Gac!!! They ran him out of town, Light darn it!!!”

“You DID hurt the ponies of Our Town! The fillies and colts! You cocooned them! You put me in a coma and cocooned me!”

“Even disregarding how you getting cocooned was before I changed, comatic spells still don’t do any harm to a pony! And those cocoons were capsulation cocoons! They have a material that pretty much nothing dissolves in, so in a way, Gac raised you and Diamond Tiara’s life expectancies by an extra moon!”

“Wait... Hatch, how’s that possible?”

“How’s what possible?”

“The extra moon thing.”

“Oh, the capsulation cocoon. It’s because of the material inside. Changelings normally use that as a means of food during the first few days after the egg splits. That’s why we tend to live longer than most animals from what the drones from my old hive told me.”

“Hmm... I don’t see that much a use in getting cocooned.”

“I could see that in a pony’s point of view, but it really does give you everything you need, not to mention that the cocooning process is completely painless.”

“Okay. If you want me to, I’ll tell the others that we could form a hybridized herd.”

“Hmm. I guess it sounds plausible. Okay. You have my approval, Party Favor. Come on, grubs. Let’s go properly meet the foals.”

-=-

When Party Favor, myself, and the hive get to where the foals are, they all pay Party Favor attention.

“Well, fillies and colts, we have finally made an agreement. Hatch and I-”

“Queen Hatch...” one of the grubs corrects to Party Favor, who clears his throat.

“Queen Hatch and I have both decided to form a herd hive hybrid. That means that there will be fifty two of us altogether.”

And with that, the twelve foals cheer, one of them stopping and coming to me, which is Diamond Tiara.

“Thanks for talking to Party Favor, Hatch. I don’t know what would’ve happened if things turned sour.”

“You wouldn’t want to.”

And with that, Diamond Tiara and I hug.