Trials of Ivy

“I’m glad you like it, Ivy.” Rose said with a smile. “Now, once we get to the cave I will start teaching you.”

“O-Okay Miss Rose.” Ivy stated, trying to keep up. “What will y-you be teaching me?”

“Mainly survival techniques, like finding water and how to absorb Love Energy that’s not directed at you.” Rose looks over her shoulder to make sure they’re not being followed. “You must be careful Ivy. Being an exile you are not aloud this close to the Hive. I also need to teach you how to stay hidden.”

“Okay, I will tell you a few things that should help you out later.” Said Rose at the entrance to the cave. “We can stay here for now, but after I tell you a few things you will need to go deeper into the cave.” Ivy makes a whimpering sound when she hears she must go deeper in the cave. “First of all, when hiding you need to stay quiet, no matter what is happening.” Rose went on to explain a few tricks on staying hidden. She goes on to talk about ways she might be able to improve her Transforming skills. However, before she could finish her lecture the sun started to set. “It’s getting late, let’s go inside.”

Ivy nods as they enter the cave. “M-Miss Rose? Are you g-going to stay here with me?” Ivy asked with a fearful look.

“No, I must return to the Hive, I am sorry Little Ivy.” Rose used her magic to light a small fire in the cave. The fire continued to burn, despite not having anything to burn. “This fire should last until tomorrow. Also, you should put on the socks I placed in your bag, the fire plus the socks should keep you worm for tonight.” Rose than gave Ivy a big hug. “I had always hoped that this wouldn’t happen, but it has, and I feel as if I must keep you alive.” Rose lets go and walks towards the entrance of the cave. “I will be back around mid day tomorrow. Please don’t leave the cave.” Rose disappears.

“O-Okay. I w-wont.” Ivy says with a sigh, watching Rose leave. “B-But what will I do until t-than?”

Ivy started to panic after a few minuets, she has NEVER been alone before in her life. She didn’t know what to do, she looks through the bag that Rose left her. Inside is two bottles of water, a book about survival, a story book, a med-kit, and a small folding knife that was taped shut.

“M-Maybe I should try to r-read something.” She says to herself putting everything but the story book in her bag. Ivy starts to read aloud, it’s a simple story book about a Changeling rising to the call of the Queen, saving it’s hive. She struggles on some of the bigger words, and every little noise scares her so she keeps lousing her place. After getting half way through the book she gives up and puts it away.

“I w-wish I had somepony t-to talk to at least.” She said slowly walking around the fire. “Maybe I c-can make a friend.” Ivy stated as she ran around the cave, looking for anything she could use to make a new friend. To her surprise, it looks like somepony stayed deeper in the cave at one point, she found a small fire pit with some grass bedding near by, as well as some rope and a few peaces of fabric. She took a chuck of burnt wood form the pit, the rope, and the bedding with the fabric on it. She tied a few rocks together using the rope and drew a face on the bigger rock using the burnt wood like a charcoal stick.

“Done.” she smiles at the doll she just made. “N-Now what‘s your n-name?” She looks at the doll for a moment. “Jade? That’s a lovely n-name. It’s nice to m-meet you Jade, my n-name’s Ivy.” She continued to talk to the doll until she was about to fall asleep. She took it and placed it on the grass bedding, and she snuggled up next to it. “G-Good night Jade.” She said to the stone doll before falling asleep.

********

After leaving Ivy in the cave, Rose returned to the hive. She was met by Lady Cactus’ Aid at the entrance.

“What took you so long?” said the Aid.

“I had to make sure it wouldn’t get captured, so I had to teach it how to hide itself without transforming.”

“You should have just killed it. Would have been much easier.” The Aid retorted with a chuckle

Rose hid her utter disgust at the Aids remark. Ever since Rose took to caring for the Runt she finds herself disliking the way the other Changelings think and deal with problems more and more, a cold and more often than not violent answer. She is ashamed in herself, because she was the same way.

“Well, in any case, the Lady has orders for you, directly from the Queen.” The Aid informed her. “She told me to take you to her.”

Rose followed the Aid to Lady Cactus’ office. “You wished to see me my Lady?”

“Yes, as my Aid told you, I have a mission for you.” Cactus picked up a scroll and tossed it to Rose. “She wants you to scout out a Pony city called Canterlot. As far as I know it’s the capital of this country.”

“Wont one of the others be sufficient?” Rose asked. “After all, we are a hive specialized in making scouts.”

“No, Queen Chrysalis said to send our best.” Cactus shouted. “You have three days to prepare. This is going to be a long mission. The Queen informed me that they plan on invading Canterlot in a years time.”

“Very well. I shall start preparations imminently.” Rose bowed and turns to leave, but Cactus called out to her.

“Tell me, where did you hide the Runt?” Cactus got a sinister grin on her face. “I saw how sad you looked when I exiled her.”

“I didn’t hide her. I thought her how to hide herself.” Rose turned around. “The Runt might not be able to transform fully yet, but she has the potential to lead the whole collective. As a teacher and as a Changeling I just can’t look the other way without giving her the best chance I could.”

“Fine, fine.” Cactus said wavering her hoof. “I don’t care what you do with it, just don’t let me catch it near the hive, or it will be exterminated.”

Rose gave her a slight glair, than returned to her home to prepare for he mission, as well as gather a few things for Ivy.

After a few hours Rose stopped and looked around her home. Her expression grew sadder as she scanned the living area. “It’s only been a few hours, yet I feel like I haven’t seen her in years.” She said to herself. “I hope she’s okay.”

*****

The next day Rose left the hive once again. When asked she said it was to see if the Runt was still around. The guards aloud her to leave, as long as she doesn’t take all day to return. She walked straight to the cave. Entering the cave she finds Ivy still asleep, hugging a crudely made rock doll.

“Ivy,” she said lightly tapping the sleeping runts shoulder to wake her. “Ivy, it’s time to wake up.”

Ivy slowly awakes. “G-Good morning Miss R-Rose.” She smiles up at her teacher, than picks up the doll “Good m-morning Jade.”

“Jade? You mean that rock doll?” Rose inquired. “Ivy, I know you’re lonely, but you can’t just make dolls out of whatever you find.”

“W-Why not? Jade h-helps me feel l-like I’m not alone.” Ivy says clutching the doll tighter.

“Carrying a heavy doll like that around will just tire you out, I can get you an actual doll. One made out of fabric, and other light weight materials.” Rose sits down next to her. “I’m not trying to upset you, I just want you to survive. I know a doll will help you, in fact, I was planning on surprising you with one tomorrow.”

Ivy takes a small rock out of the middle of her doll. “C-Can you put Jades h-heart in it? S-So it will still be Jade.”

Rose takes the small rock and places it in her bag. “Of coarse.” She hugs Ivy tightly. “Okay, now I need to give you a couple more things.” Rose takes several vales of pink liquid out of her bag. “This is pure Love Ivy. One sip of this and you wont have to feed for at least a couple days. I want you to only use these for emergencies okay?”

“O-Okay Miss Rose.” She takes the vales. “Where d-did you get these?”

“The Changeling in charge of making new tools for out scouts owes me a few favors.” She giggled. “I covered for him a few times.” Rose got up. “Okay, now down to business. I need to teach you a few more tricks to survive and I don’t have much time to do so.”

“D-Did you get a mission?”

“Yes, I need to scout out a City to the south of here called Canterlot. It’s the capital of this country so it might be an exultant source of Love Energy.”

They spent the rest of the morning and a part of the afternoon practicing survival techniques. Ivy seems to have them down, so Rose says her goodbyes and returns to the Hive. Ivy, now feeling much better after spending one night alone, spends most of her night reading the story book and the survival guide. The next day Rose brings her a doll and tells her that she needs to leave for her mission.

“Ivy, I must worn you.” Rose says before she leaves for her mission. “The others from the Hive have orders to kill you if they see you near it, so you need to leave this cave. I don’t know where you should go, I don’t know if I will ever see you again, but please stay alive.” Rose hugged Ivy tightly, and tried not to cry. “Goodbye Ivy.”