The Changeling of Illusions

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Wasp's ears were ringing, head pounding from the sheer volume she'd just been subjected to. The force of the shout had shoved her backwards, scraping the chain and her chitin across the stone floor. When her vision refocuses, she sees the angry changeling moving his mouth, but can't hear him over the continuous noise her ears are subjecting her to. She observed Aurelic's face shift from rage to angry disappointment, probably because she couldn't hear anything he was saying. His horn ignited, then she could hear again, a dull tone still lingering.

"I'll ask again. Who the fuck are you, and why the hell are you here?" Aurelic says in a stern, restrained tone.

Wasp just glares at him, struggling against her chains.

Aurelic steps closer, pointing right at her horn before flicking it. "Inhibitor ring, prevents you using any magic, even your shapeshifting. Those chains are woven through your legs too, so you won't be going anywhere."

Wasp hisses at Aurelic, baring her fangs and scowling.

"Your situation won't change until you cooperate." Aurelic says coldly, leaning down closer to her face. "So I'd suggest you answer me."

"Then what? You'll just drain my love when I'm not useful anymore!" Wasp accuses, hissing again.

Aurelic cringes at the thought. "No, actually. That's barbaric as fuck, Christ." He steps back.

Wasp's stomach grumbles, and she hisses again.

"You hiss too much." Aurelic says, levitating over a vial of the pink pills, taking three out. "Here, this should help."

As Aurelic puts the pills to Wasp's muzzle, she clamps it shut, refusing to accept them.

Aurelic withdraws, putting the pills back. "Fine, go ahead and starve."

"You're just trying to drug me again!" Wasp yells.

"You overdosed on the fumes from a concentrated vial. The concentrate is for easier storage, then I dilute it to safe levels for the pills. If I hadn't cleaned up the spilled substance, you'd still be comatose right now." Aurelic explains.

Wasp continues to glare daggers his way.

Aurelic proceeds to take the pills in front of her. "Like I said, go ahead and starve. At least, for now. I won't let you die on my watch."

Wasp crinkles her nose in disgust. "So you're going to have your way with me? Is that what you're playing at?"

It was Aurelic's turn to be disgusted. "No! I'm not like that at all! What the fuck is wrong with you!?"

Wasp huffs, looking away.

Aurelic shakes his head. "Well, happy Hearth's Warming." He says, teleporting away.

Wasp lies there in her chains, unable to do anything but look around. "Damn inhibitor ring! And damn you Aurelic!"

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Aurelic flops onto his bed, unsure if he's making the right call. "Was leaving her there too cruel? I don't know what else to do, for now. She won't cooperate, and I can't make her talk. Ugh, fuck you random changeling bitch. I'll deal with you in the morning. For now, I need sleep." He thinks, slipping into bed.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Aurelic shows up to the castle bright and early, finding a sleeping Wasp, still bound, and in the same spot she was in the night before. He knows his task, making sure she doesn't die from starvation. Uncorking a vial, Aurelic levitates out three pills, right into the open mouth of Wasp. Not wanting to chance her spitting them out, he levitates them further down, carefully past her tongue, through her esophagus, and into her stomach directly. As soon as she's fed, Aurelic flashes a light briefly in front of her closed eyes, startling her awake.

"Morning sunshine, how are you feeling?" Aurelic asks, stepping back from Wasp.

Wasp hisses angrily, scowling hard. "I feel... not as hungry. WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

"Fed you, and not in the sexual way either. Gave you some of the dopamine pills. I said I wouldn't let you starve."

"You gave me pills when I was asleep!?" Wasp yells.

"I... yeah, that sounds bad. But it was for your health. I'm not a savage like you seem to believe." Aurelic says, walking over to the vials.

"Your drugs, why do you make them? Why did you force them on me?" Wasp asks.

"I, never thought of it like that. I guess it is a drug, like the pharmaceutical kind. Anyway, I actually didn't know how we ate emotions, until I figured it out. Other beings eat food for sustenance, and it provides energy for their body to use. So how would something nebulous like emotions factor in? Then I remembered, emotions are a biological process, and the main chemical love and other positive emotions have in common is dopamine. I think serotonin is another factor, though I haven't started testing that yet. The way us changelings consume dopamine involves a spell that turns the chemical of dopamine into a gaseous form that we consume when we feed directly. And since most beings produce dopamine in the brain, I made some normal neurons in my hoof for easy production, and made my own dopamine concentrate. I use it to quell the anger vomit I tend to get a lot these days. But for changelings without friendship bonds, it can serve as a source of food. There's nothing else in those pills aside from some sugar water I add to dilute the amount of dopamine in each pill. As I learned from you, the smell of the concentrate serves as a powerful aphrodisiac for changelings. I always disabled my olfactory senses when making my concentrate for safety reasons, and i never planned on testing unethically on others. Yet, you did it for me. Now that I've answered your question, you answer mine. Who are you?" Aurelic finishes, looking directly into Wasp's eyes.

"My name, is Wasp." She says reluctantly, looking away from Aurelic afterwards.

"Well then, no wonder we don't get along. I have a burning hatred for wasps, they're the absolute worst. Then again, it's only a name for you. And I don't hate you, believe me, I have to have a good reason to hate. You're not on my good side either though, seeing as you were spying on me." Aurelic says with a glare.

Wasp's eyes widen. "H-how!?"

Aurelic rolls his eyes. "Please, you were alone in this castle, snooping around in my stuff, it's not that hard to figure out. Your refusal to talk before was the biggest giveaway, it's something you'd be trained to do."

"So now what? What are you going to do to me?" Wasp sneers.

"Nothing. Like I said. To be honest, I have no idea how to proceed. Letting you go would just put us back at square one. I'm not going to kill you either. The least abhorrent option is to just leave you bound for now, until I know what I should do." Aurelic nods matter-of-factly.

Wasp's temper flares. "You're just going to keep me bound!? I KNEW it! You ARE going to use-"

"NO!"

Aurelic cut her off with the shout akin to the Royal Canterlot Voice™, then takes a moment to take some of his pink pills.

"You're just dead-set on that aren't you? Is it like, a kink of yours or something? Because holy SHIT you won't SHUT UP about it!" Aurelic yells, giving Wasp his own scowl this time.

Wasp remains silent, ears splayed back as she stared at the ground.

"I'll be back to check on you regularly. I'd say don't go anywhere, but uh... Okay bye now." Aurelic quickly says, teleporting in a flash of light.

Wasp sighs, preparing herself for boredom. She starts by re-counting the cracks in the floor.

-<>~--*--~<>-<

Disguising himself, Forge opens his bedroom door. To his mild surprise, he spotted two gifts right in front of the door. Scooping each one up, he takes them back into his room, closing the door. He decides to open the gift from Celestia first, saving Luna's for the ~~extremely close~~ finale. Forge tears through the stark white, gold patterned paper, opening the box to find... another, slightly smaller box. Forge narrows his eyes, opening the second box to find... a third box. Then, he opens the third, fourth, fifth boxes. He gets to box number six, staring at it. He opens the sixth box, picking up the note.

I hope you enjoyed the gift wrapping, it just keeps on giving! All jokes aside, I hope you like the gift too, I enchanted it myself!

Happy Hearth's Warming!

Sincerely, Princess Celestia

Forge pulls a monocle out of the box. Curious, he holds it up to his eye, not noticing anything different, until he looks where his enchanted items are, seeing glowing auras around each of them.

"Sweet! I can see whether or not things are enchanted now! You may be a troll, but damn you know how to give good gifts Sunbutt." Forge thinks, tucking away the monocle.

Moving on, he began unwrapping Luna's gift, lime paper with white patterns. Thankfully, it was one box. Forge picked the note up first.

Dearest Aurelic, we I hope this gift conveys even a fraction of our my gratitude to you for helping me to get more accustomed to modern life. After 1000 years, it seems like a foreign world to us me.

Have a happy Hearth's Warming!

Eternally grateful, Princess Luna

Forge pulled a lunar ensign out of the box. "An ensign? I wonder what I'd need to use this for... So many possibilities, thank you Moonpie. I'm sure this will be extremely useful."

With that, Forge tucks the ensign away, preparing to go out for Hearth's Warming Day.