Author's Note

And the minds under the floor
Don't see the life as a chore
Though the bad is gone, and they're no longer sore
They can't feel the light anymore

But The Depth Is Insincere.

Alyosha woke up in the queens chambers with one could only be described as an intense hangover.

His head hurt and his eyes burned with an intense light that was so bright he had to cover his face to protect his sight.

"Ah! What is this?! Why is there so much light in here?! Ugh... My head..." Alyosha complained as he sat up in bed and tried to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. It was minimal, and yet blinding.

He felt like he'd split in two like he split Chrysalis. The only real difference, being the lack of screaming. His head hurt, his body ached, his stomach churned and he wanted nothing more than to curl up and die. It felt like someone was using a jackhammer on his brain. "I'm gonna hurl..."

He was cold as ice but he felt like he was burning up. The world felt like it was spinning around him. His stomach was churning and his head was pounding. The only thing he knew was that he felt like shit.

He stumbled out of the bed and fell to the floor with a thud.

He groaned, and tried to push himself to his hooves, only to fail.

He really hoped his dry heaving was only bringing up red resin and not blood. But he didn't care enough to look. He wanted nothing more than to lay down on the cool floor, to curl up into a ball and just die.

Instead he pushed himself to his hooves and tried to focus on what was happening.

He looked around the room and saw nothing but haze, and he could feel his mind was foggy, like someone had poured molasses into it.

"Rise and shine, Alyosha! I've got a... Oh." Chrysalis spoke, and her words were the first thing he'd actually heard that morning. He could feel the sound of her words in his brain, like a drill, piercing the soft tissue. Her words sounded like they were coming through a wall of cotton. And also made of razor blades.

"What? What happened to you?" Chrysalis asked. Her tone was concerned but her face betrayed none of her feelings. Her features were the picture perfect expression of a cold and callous ruler.

Just as he'd remembered.

"Chrysalis I think I'm fucking dying here." Alyosha said. His voice sounded like he was underwater, like his lungs were full of water. His throat hurt and his eyes burned.

"Come here, you." The Queen of the changelings demanded and beckoned him closer with her hoof.

She put a hoof to his forehead and felt him, she frowned a bit, and moved that same hoof down his chest to feel his stomach. The frown grew more intense.

"You don't seem sick, you seem healthy enough." She murmured to herself.

Alyosha rolled his eyes and fell over onto her back, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Oof, you're a lot heavier than I expected!" She said, pushing him off her with a hoof and turning him onto his side.

She frowned a little, and then began to prod his body with her hoof. "Hmmm..."

"Chrysalis, if you're gonna keep feeling me up like that, I'm gonna need some kind of warning. You have terrible bedside manner." Alyosha grumbled.

She gave him a half smile, her frown turning to a small smile for a moment, before her features hardened once again. "Shush. Your vitals are normal, you aren't running a temperature and you aren't in any pain."

"Chrysalis- you are a ghost right now, how would you know if I am in pain?" He snarked. And that earned him a glare and a light kick in the side.

"Fine, maybe you're in pain, and I can't tell, but your body isn't showing signs of distress, you aren't running a temperature and your vital signs are stable." Chrysalis said.

"Are you sure I'm not dying?" He asked again.

"No, not at all, you seem fine to me." Chrysalis replied. She was still examining him with her hoof.

"I don't know if I'm fine, I don't know what the hell happened to me." He muttered to himself. "I feel like I'm gonna hurl my guts up, I feel like I've been run over by a train, and my head hurts so much I'm pretty sure I'm dying of a brain tumor." He groaned.

"Well, you're not dying, you just have a solid connection of all the things I used to piece you back together. The same thing that is causing all this damage. I'll let you in on a secret though." She murmured to herself.

"Oh, what's that?"

"I think you're going to live. I'm not entirely sure though."

"Thanks, that's very reassuring."

She gave him another half smile, her features softening a bit again.

"I'll let you know for certain once you're done throwing up." She said with a little grin, and gave him another light kick.

Alyosha's confusion lasted only a minute before he was hunched over on his knees, retching his guts out.

Chrysalis was there to hold his mane back and rub circles in his spine with the hoof not occupied. Of course, she was only doing this because none of it could physically splash on her anymore.

"Ugh, I'm gonna die..." Alyosha complained as his heaves brought only red resin and no actual blood.

She gave him a look, her face contorting in an expression of sympathy, before her features returned to neutral.

"You'll be fine, it's not blood. Not really anyway."

"Really? Cause it sure looks like blood. Are you sure it's not blood?"

He continued retching until nothing more would come up. He took a deep breath and wiped the red liquid from his mouth. His body ached from his efforts.

"What you have is a very fine quality rosin, I'm certain it'll be almost crystal clear when it dries. More accurately, you're producing it as a byproduct of having an overload of magical energy in your system."

"Oh. That's good to hear." He muttered to himself. His head was still pounding and his body was sore. "I guess that means I'm not dying."

"No, you're not dying, you're fine." Chrysalis said, giving his mane a little pat. "The chances of you detonating at this stage is very slim. But I'm not entirely sure how you're going to clean this up, since I don't think I'll be of much help." She said with a grin, gesturing to the red resin dripping off her forehoof and simply phasing through it like it was intangible.

Alyosha groaned, his stomach still churning and his head still pounding. "Well, shit. That's not very reassuring, Chrysalis."

"Well, you're not dying, you're not in any danger, you're not in any pain, you're not going to die of cancer, you're not going to get a tumor, you're not going to get cancer, you're not going to get any of the other diseases, you're not going to have a stroke, you're not-"

"I get it! I get it. Im not dying." Alyosha groaned and tried to lift himself up, but like a failure of a newborn foal, he failed. "The heck was with the word vomit, Chrysalis?"

She giggled. "You're fun to mess with."

He looked around, his vision blurry, but he could see the mess of red resin he'd made on the floor, on the bed. He groaned and closed his eyes, resting his head against the cool stone floor, letting his headache fade away. Chrysalis decided to continue with another comment.

"Besides, consider that reparation for stuffing my head with trivia and knowledge about random subjects for the last several centuries. I could go on about a lot of diseases, ailments and such, if you want." She chuckled, before continuing.

"Maybe that will teach you to be a little more selective about the kind of things you stick in my head."

"Like what?"

"Like not stuffing the entirety of your knowledge of mineral deposits the picosecond I look at a wall made of gypsum and feldspar you moron." Chrysalis complained with a snarl, before her face returned to the picture of stoicism.

"I didn't think I could do that. It's not my fault. Besides, it's not like I can read your mind." He retorted, his voice a little strained, as his head continued to throb. His stomach was still churning, and his body still ached. "Besides, how was I supposed to know that I could do that?"

"By, not, filling my mind with a list of minerals every time you think about it!" She shouted, giving him a gentle shove. "You were not supposed to be anything more than an appendage. But now I know all about the world, I know everything about the world. I know about minerals and metals, I know about geography and geology. I know about the composition of the atmosphere and I know the exact chemical makeup of air. I know everything. And I can't get rid of it. And you're the one that gave it to me, you moron."

Alyosha looked at her and gave a weak laugh, his head still pounding. "Well, that's a first."

"That you gave me knowledge and information that I can't forget? Yeah. It is. It's the first time. The first time that you did that. And now I have a lot of useless knowledge in my head and I'm never going to forget any of it. I'm never going to forget that there's 12 elements in the air or that a barium ion has two less electrons than a xenon atom or that the 'Earth' has a core that is mostly made of iron, and that it's liquid. I know that there's a planet called Uranus that is made mostly of hydrogen, helium and methane. You knew all of that, and you couldn't even keep yourself out of trouble and not die."

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You were the organ I always needed, but you weren't the one that I wanted."

Alyosha was quiet for a moment before speaking. His head was still throbbing and his stomach still churning.

"The heck does that mean?"

"It means I always needed a heart to do the thing, you know, pump blood and whatnot." She explained, gesturing to her chest with her hoof. "But you? You were just a nuisance. An accessory."

"Thanks." Alyosha said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"You're welcome." Chrysalis replied with a half smile and a wink.

He just grunted in reply, before his head continued to throb and he clutched at it.

"I think I'm going to vomit." He said, and he proceeded to do just that.

Chrysalis would have laughed, but...

"Wait- No! NOT ON MY CARPET! DO IT ON THE STONE YOU IDIOT!" She screeched, trying to push his head to one side to avoid her priceless carpet from getting stained.

But to no avail.

***

With all of the unpleasant organic events finally, seemingly over; the headaches fading and the sensation of pulsating meat finally going back to its usual unnoticed self- that really only left one thing left to do with his rapid unscheduled recovery of conscious thought.

He wasn't entirely sure if he had gone mad- as it felt as if he had spent his entire life in a state of perpetual, constant delusion- as if he had been in a coma, and then had suddenly awoken to discover the entire world was different. As if he had been born a second time.

As if the world was new, and he was the only one in it.

The sensation was, at least, novel.

And he had a significant amount of resin to clean up. Which he did not enjoy. He was very fortunate that it could be easily wiped up and washed off. Very fortunate that his bodily fluids did not stain the carpet in the room. And he was even more fortunate that Chrysalis had not yet decided to murder him, as he had no idea what she could do to him.

It would not have surprised him to find out that she was capable of murdering him in a variety of ways. She was, for the most part- quite terrifying when they met.

Trapped in that flask.

He had a feeling she might still be quite terrifying, even now. But, he had a feeling she was less inclined to kill him now than when they first met.

And that, of course, was the real question.

Where do we go from here? He asked himself.

The answer, of course, was nowhere.

They were still stuck in the castle, and they were still trapped in this room.

The only real difference was that he was no longer trapped in a glass jar, and he could leave the room if he so desired. And that stupid bit of realization irked him to no end- just a painful and insufferably poetic bit of irony. You did all of that just to swap one cage for another.

He shut that part of himself up quickly. There was no need for a spiral of ants crawling over and under his skin at a time like this. And he could feel Chrysalis staring at him, as he scrubbed away at the carpet with a small brush.

The room smelled of the resin that came from his stomach. He didn't like that, either. It wasn't wholy unpleasant but it was far too strong and concentrated to be something pleasant.

He would rather the room smell like something more normal. Something that didn't remind him of his own stomach. So as he scrubbed in silence he took stock and analyzed himself. Really truly stopped to look at himself while he cleaned.

And he had changed. Physically at least. Mentally, emotionally and psychologically he had been- maybe the same? It was hard to tell. He wasn't a psychology nerd.

So he focused on what he knew, like his physical appearance, which was more or less a given. His flawlessly white chitin only slightly stained from scrubbing up the mess on the carpet. The same chitinous plates that made him feel less than a living being. He still felt like an animated mannequin. A doll.

A puppet.

His wings, however, were more interesting to him. They were a dark and rich red that contrasted with his chitin. The same color as wine under harsh light but far more vivid. And the long hair he could see peeking into the corners of his vision was that same, rich, ruby wine red color. And that, at least, was different.

His eyes, he assumed, were also red. He'd figure that out when he looked in a mirror. The mess he'd made was at last cleaned up. His folly now thoroughly scoured and pushed from the equestrian equivalent to a Persian rug. It wasn't quite Persian but the closest approximation was good enough for him. He didn't care for details.

He looked around. He'd been cleaning the floor and now it was spotless.

He looked over at the queen. She had a small smile on her face, her mandibles spread just slightly as she stared at him.

"So. Now that you've cleaned my carpet, and that little problem you had has passed, we have business to attend to." Chrysalis spoke.

"What business?" He replied, looking at the changeling.

"The kind where I decide your fate." She spoke with a hint of amusement in her voice. "Or, I suppose, we decide."

"And what will you decide?" He asked. He wasn't afraid of her. She wasn't the type to kill without reason, at least not anymore.

"I'll be deciding what I'm going to do with you." She said. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she was sizing him up.

"Well, I don't really have much of a say in that do I?"

She smiled a little. A small, sadistic smile. "No. You don't. Not really. I suppose we could discuss it. Or we could fight it out. It's entirely up to you." She spoke.

"Well, I don't want to fight. That's not my thing. Besides, I'm sure we can come to an agreement." He replied.

He didn't really want to fight her. Not in the least.

Not because he thought she'd kill him. She wouldn't. It wasn't in her nature to do that. He'd seen her at her worst and she'd always spared him.

It was more because he didn't know if he could take her on. Not in the least. He wasn't sure how powerful she was. He'd never really had to find out. She was the queen for a reason, and that reason had nothing to do with being weak. He'd always been the accessory, and she the host.

Hm.

He'd have to find a way to piece together some more of his memories.

"So, what do we do now? I.. Goodness it feels like I've been asleep forever and now I'm finally awake. But now what? I'm back, you're here, and the rest of the world has moved on." Alyosha mused, looking around the room. "I suppose I should start by finding out where the bathroom is."

"The bathroom? You're more concerned with finding a bathroom than what I'm going to do to you?"

"Well, it's not like you'd raid Canterlot just to bring me back to kill me again." He said plainly. "You had the opportunity to do so, and didn't take it."

Chrysalis chuckled, and he didn't really have to wonder why.

He'd probably never get used to her laughing. He'd only seen it a handful of times, and each time he found himself questioning her sanity. It wasn't the same laugh she used to have, it was much more human.

"I suppose that is true." She replied, still smiling. "But still. You're a curious one. Most people would be terrified of what I would do to them, and here you are asking for a restroom."

"Well, I've got all these fleshy bits again. Of course I'm gonna ask. It was eternity in there you know?" He paused, before continuing. "Besides, if you wanted to kill me, I'm sure you'd have done so by now."

She laughed, a loud and boisterous one, her laughter echoing through the empty halls. "I suppose you are right."

Alyosha stumbled forward. He wasn't quite thinking as his traditional self, if there ever was one. Flickers of a name long unspoken came to the forefront of his mind as he paused to stand a pace away infront of Chrysalis.

The Queen stared at him. A curious expression on her face. Wondering what he was planning to do no doubt.

He planned on finishing his attempt, the first thing he tried when he was resurrected.

He reached out and hugged the ghost of the queen tightly. It was an alien motion, as arms made no proper parallel to fetlocks and hooves. He reached out, and didn't phase through the apparition. It was as if she was truly there. Though it didn't really have the texture he expected.

But then he remembered she was only an apparition, a ghost of herself. A ghost he could touch, but not a living person. The thought of that, it made his eyes sting.

He rested his head against what he thought would be the sternum, the upper part of her chest. Changeling anatomy was still so foreign. He expected the sound, the sound that haunted his subconscious for an age, the beating of a heart.

There was nothing.

Not the faintest sound of any heartbeat.

"I missed you." He muttered quietly, his eyes watering.

She stared down at him. He was a bit smaller, and so her gaze drifted down, looking at the creature clinging tightly to her chest. She wasn't really sure what to make of it. It was an alien feeling.

He'd always had a penchant for affection. Always being a clingy little parasite.

He was the first of his kind she'd seen, or made. It had been an experiment. The nature of it she was not privy to, even when she'd tried her hoof at forcing them under duress they refused to speak of how they were born. It would have been easy to shatter his flask then.

But the two of them chose to aid each other, curiously enough.

And now they were here, together again.

It was a curious thing, how he clung to her, his body- their body, trembling. His hooves defying her intangibility as they found purchase in her carapace. His eyes were watering and the droplets fell from his face, falling through her body and to the floor, like a ghost in the night. It was a curious sensation to have something so real, so alive, so tangible clinging to you.

She didn't push him away. There was no need. They had been one creature for so long, she had forgotten what it was like to be alone. To be separated.

He clung to her like a scared child to a parent, his eyes closed as he tried to calm his shaking. His eyes opened and looked into her eyes.

She didn't really have much of an opinion of the whole ordeal. He was just a parasite, a useful tool too once upon a time, but still just that. A parasite that had clung to her since she had found him.

She wasn't really sure how she felt. It was an odd feeling.

"I don't think you're going to get much comfort out of that. I'm still dead." Chrysalis spoke calmly.

He let out a chuckle, and he didn't pull away.

"I know." His voice was strained, his eyes wet. "I know, I'm just..."

"You've been in that jar for a very, very, long time. It was very boring for you. You don't know how to function. I understand." She replied. Her words were calm and collected.

He didn't really care for her words. They were hollow, emotionless and cold.

"I just want to be close to someone. I don't know how to feel anymore." He whispered, his voice trembling, tears running down his cheeks, falling from his eyes as he tried to hide his emotions, but failed. He couldn't even speak, the words caught in his throat as he clung tighter.

He didn't want to let go.

She sighed. "I know, it's been hard for you." She said, her voice still calm. She didn't care. She didn't really have any reason to care, not really.

He didn't let go of her. She didn't try to push him away, not that she really could have.

They stayed like that for a long time. She was still as he held her, her eyes closed and her expression calm.

He eventually let go, and he pulled away, looking up at her with his eyes full of tears, and a weak smile. He was a mess. He'd been crying. She wasn't even sure he was fully sane anymore. He was probably still stuck in his head. He probably didn't even remember who he was anymore. She was sure he'd been insane long before they had met.

She prayed not. They didn't need a cheap knock-off of Discord prancing about.

"I missed you, Chrysalis. Even if you don't miss me." He spoke, his voice hoarse.

She didn't reply. She didn't know how to reply. She had never missed him. He was an annoying pest, and he always had been. She had never really liked him. She had always tolerated him. That's all she had ever done.

She had tolerated him because she had to, she didn't really care if he missed her, not at all.

And besides, it wasn't like he was going anywhere.

She didn't really care about his tears or his sadness.

She had bigger things to deal with. Her hive needed to be rebuilt. Her empire had to be restored. She needed to take back what had been stolen from her.

She didn't have time to waste on him, on a broken tool that was only a nuisance to her.

But she couldn't bring herself to say that.

She was silent. And the silence lingered between them as she thought about how to respond to his words.

"...I suppose I missed you too. Things have been... Difficult, without some of your input." She said eventually, after a few minutes of thinking.

He let out a chuckle. "Yeah. Yeah, they probably have." He replied. He wasn't sure what else to say. He wasn't even sure what he was saying. He wasn't sure if he even believed her. He wasn't even sure if she really meant what she was saying. "Do you have any plans?"

"One. Getting you a bath." She spoke with a chuckle. It wasn't her normal laugh, not her usual cackle. But it was a laugh, a genuine laugh.

Finally something familiar. Something he knew.

***

The bath had been a long and arduous process of scrubbing off layers of dried resin, dried blood, and all manner of other things that clung to his carapace and chitin, his mane, his coat. For though it had never been mentioned, tearing free of a Chrysalis is a messy process. Follow that up with running through a window, falling several stories with a grievous impalement- his delirium from his rebirth was the only thing that stopped him from collapsing on the spot. Changelings are sturdy, but they are not invincible.

Chrysalis herself was aware of this, and yet seemed more intent on waterboarding her former companion with the water that poured forth from the faucet in the tub. She'd taken to getting deeply personal with her hooves, water just going right through her phantasmal form and splashing on the hard floor below. It seemed more like she was trying to drown her companion in the warm water of the tub than clean him- which was not something he would put past the queen. If only because she seemed to be taking some sort of enjoyment out of his sputtering.

"Good enough, I think." Chrysalis spoke as she withdrew from her scrubbing.

"What? I think I've still got some dried gunk on me-"

"Oh hush, you're clean enough." The queen spoke, before gently nudging Alyosha.

A nudge was enough, and Alyosha fell backwards into the water of the tub, sending a wave of water cascading out of the basin. It soaked Chrysalis, and then continued through her to the tile floor of the room.

With a choking gasp, Alyosha said one thing. "Was that for tearing you open?"

"Partially. It was mostly for trying to touch me." Chrysalis responded with a snarky smile, before reaching down to offer a hoof to Alyosha, who was pulling himself from the water. He ignored the offered assistance, and simply rose out of the bath himself, his mane clinging tightly to his face and neck.

Note to self, don't try hugging Chrysalis. Not a hugging person. Changeling.

"Hey, I was just trying to-"

"Well, don't try to." The queen of the hive interrupted.

"Alright alright... Well, now what? You're a ghost, I'm... Alive? Ish?" Alyosha asked as he moved to dry his face, mane and hair off. There was an odd lack of towels but insects and insect adjacent chitin always had a waxy layer over them. Like chemical suits, they were waterproof and it would eventually just slide off him.

His hair wasn't hydrophobic like his shell though, and he toyed with it slightly as he unsuccessfully tried to shake himself dry like a dog. Chitin wasn't exactly a great conductor of heat or electricity. His mane would be dry when it was damn well good and ready, he figured.

"I suppose that's the question of the hour. We're alive- to whatever extent we both count- but I don't think either of us are going to have the easiest of times." Chrysalis mused.

"Yeah. You have a hive to lead, I'm not even sure where to go from here." Alyosha spoke as he dried his face, and then looked back to Chrysalis. "Are you going to be alright? Being a ghost?"

"A ghost... I don't think that's exactly right." She murmured, before she was suddenly standing behind Alyosha. It had been instant- and he felt her hooves on his back, sliding upwards. "You see, you and I both know I've still got my tricks." She whispered softly into his ear.

"I see... That would have been nice earlier..." He mumbled, and the queen gave him a light smack to the head with the back of her hoof. It was gentle, and yet firm.

"Ghost powers work on ghosts, idiot." The changeling monarch spoke in a huff.

Alyosha paused, and turned his head to the queen.

"I suppose that makes sense." He admitted, before the queen spoke.

"Regardless. It's about time for dinner, and you are a changeling now, even if not by birth. I'll take you down, proper this time, to the lower levels of the hive so you may feed. And after that, we can talk about what we are going to do from here."

Alyosha had followed the Queen, the two making occasional smalltalk as they descended deeper into the hive. Though he had wandered into the bowels of the Hive, it had never really sunk in how deep the hive truly went- and even then, it wasn't much.

At least, in comparison to how deep the hives used to go.

Every "bottom" was just when the hive stopped growing for a while before expansion began anew, and he was brought closer and closer to the true base of the basin. As he walked with Chrysalis through the winding passageways that made up the hive, he couldn't help but think about his old life. He had spent his entire time here as an outsider, and yet now it felt like home.

Or, he thought, as if a new life was starting for him.

The passageways began narrow, and slowly widened. There was hardly a transition, one moment you're in a tunnel and the next you're in a massive cavern, one that could easily fit the largest city of man devised with ease. Likely with more room to spare.

And there was light.

Faint and dim, the bio-luminescent crystals that imitated stars on that distant ceiling, produced just enough light for the natural dark vision of the changelings to make use of. Any normal being would see this land as dark and gloomy, but here to its inhabitants it was perfectly lighted with some mood in the lighting.

One would feel insignificant in the face of that vast labyrinth. The streets would wind and wind forever and ever wherever they wanted and the buildings- real buildings, constructed with shape and elegance and form and function by the bright mind behind its design, could spire upwards in blocks taller than one could feasibly see. The air was cool and fresh, the humidity kept in check and there was just a general ambiance that made one feel welcome.

Alyosha had seen cities. This place felt less like a city, and more like a world in of itself.

"Impressive." Alyosha muttered, as he stared in awe at the vast, alien landscape of the cavernous city, its lights and its life.

"Yes. We are an impressive race, are we not?" The queen replied with a smile.

"It's a beautiful sight." He spoke as the two began to make their way through the city. The streets were not crowded, and there was little activity. It was a city at rest. "But, it is a bit..."

"A bit what?" Chrysalis replied as they moved down the main road of the city, the street leading into the center of the city.

"Quiet. I mean, you can hear the hustle and bustle, but there's so much of a gap..." Alyosha muttered.

"Yes. The population down here has... Dwindled, somewhat. But after our successful siege on Canterlot during your resurrection we expect the noise down here to increase somewhat."

"Wait what? I'm sorry- Siege?" Alyosha stopped, turning to the Queen. Chrysalis turned as well.

"Oh yes, it's quite the tale. We staged an assault on the city, you know how that goes, the works." The Queen replied with a smile.

"...I don't know enough of warfare to know how it goes." He spoke with some hesitation, but the Queen didn't falter.

"Either way. We were successful in our raid." The queen continued with pride. "Now focus on something better. Like... That foal. Right over there."

She pointed to a small, young, filly that was running through the streets. It looked to be around 4-5 years old, and was wearing a bright blue scarf held in place with two large blunt needles. The child looked to be happy, and carefree, running and laughing as she ran in circles. It looked like she was chasing after something, or someone.

Alyosha stared at the child for a few moments. Sure, it was a foal. Foal underground. With changelings. Gears turning. Going click- click- click.

The gears turned, and he came to the conclusion, but he wasn't happy with it. It didn't feel like something that would ever be normal.

"You stole that kid." He spoke plainly. "She's not yours. Changeling's don't make ponies." Continued a logical half of his head.

"Incorrect. We didn't steal that foal." Chrysalis corrected. "She's ours."

"Ours." He repeated, looking back at her. "What do you mean, ours?"

"She's part of the hive." Chrysalis said, her voice a mix of pride and authority. "Thanks to your original idea which sadly went up in literal fire, we were able to continue with the concept of gentle indoctrination with a fresh batch of ponies. Two-hundred years later, and we are finally seeing the fruits of your original labor, and my adjustment of that labor." She continued to explain as they moved away from the child. "She's ours. She was born here, she grew up here, she learned here, she was fed here. Her family is here, her life is here, she knows no other home, and she never will."

Alyosha frowned, staring at the foal as she ran away. It seemed like a strange and cruel thing, but, at least it wasn't murder.

"It's a lot more peaceful, and far better to indoctrinate a young child than to shatter the life of a fully developed adult. Not to mention the fact that there are no shortage of children, especially in these trying times. What's a missing foal to the ponies on the surface? It happens every year, all across Equestria." The Queen continued to explain as they moved through the streets, the child's laughter echoing through the air.

"It's not nearly as cruel as your original idea. The existence of orphanages has long since eliminated the need for any kind of foul play. The children that are brought here, well... It's better than whatever they had up there." Chrysalis said as they passed by more children. It wasn't hard to spot the foals, their colors standing out amongst the darkened, insect-like features of the changelings. Beacons of light in an endless sea of umbre tones.

"But it's not ethical." Alyosha mumbled.

"What do we care for ethics? We are changelings." Chrysalis said. "If we didn't feed, we wouldn't survive. These are the means we have to live by. We are the hunters, and they are our prey."

They were passing by another pair of children. It looked like the pair were playing some sort of game of chase, or hide and seek. The pony foals were running, and chasing one another. Their happy laughter echoed through the cavernous city, their joyful cries and squeals of delight and glee echoed through the air. It was a happy place. A place where children were free, where children were allowed to be themselves, and where children could be safe. He couldn't fault that.

Even if he disagreed with how they were brought to that place.

"Look, Chrysalis. I can kind of... Remember what I said then. But this is stepping on a few boundaries that can bite us later. So just promise me, you've only been sourcing them from orphanages. Like you said. Promise me this all started from foals nobody were ever going to notice." He spoke with some hesitation in his voice.

Chrysalis turned her gaze on him.

"I swear on the life of every single one of my children." She said with a smile. "Not one foal we have taken was not already lost or unwanted. We take only the unwanted, and we give them love and acceptance." Her tone was sincere. Her eyes were not. They were cold and hard. There was no love there. Only hunger and greed. Alyosha sighed, but did not say anything more.

Someone in his head knew that look.

He wouldn't push it.

"Well... That's fine. As fine as it could be, anyway." He mumbled. His mind was elsewhere, his gaze was elsewhere. His thoughts were on other things. He was distracted, and the Queen was not paying him any mind.

They were moving, moving, and they reached their destination.

It looked to be a communal dining hall. There was no sign of a door, and the inside was lit by a number of lights. It was a simple room. There was a large table, and there were a few smaller ones, but that was it.

"We're here." Chrysalis said as she gestured to the room.

"And here is...?" He asked, as he looked at the room.

"Our dining hall." Chrysalis said, and stepped inside. "Come inside. Take a seat, get something to eat, drink. You likely have... Equine tastes. So I won't deny you access to physical food seeing as you've already been denied such pleasures for millenia." She explained.

Alyosha didn't know if he was supposed to laugh at that or not, but he stepped inside. The smell of the place was familiar. It was warm and welcoming.

It reminded him of home. His old home.

"I'll be back in a little while, I've got something I have to go attend to. I trust you won't go exploring again while I am gone, will you?" The queen asked as Alyosha sat down at the table.

"Of course not, my Queen." He enthused sarcastically, before he rested his head in his hooves.

With that, the queen left him alone with the rest of the hive. And there, he waited. Just gathering his thoughts while his face was firmly planted to the table.

There were so many thoughts he had. Thoughts that were new and old. Things that had happened, things that had been, and things that were going to be. He couldn't even think about how he was going to handle all of it.

He wasn't even sure if he was going to handle any of it. I mean seriously, this was all literally far too much brain fitting in too small of a brain. Too much life for one lifetime. And to sum it all up- there wasn't even a single exciting emotion flaring through his body. What do you do when you're there? Alone? At the edge of a universe? Hum a tune?

No.

He just sat, his head in his hooves.

Because it all just turned boring. So much noise that it stopped being interesting and became a cacophony. A buzzing, in the back of his head.

Alyosha wasn't sure if it was his mind trying to protect him, or him giving in. He just stopped trying to think. He stopped caring, stopped feeling. But in all of that endless wave of nonsense there survived the voice of individuality.

And the first thing to do was...

You find Something tasty to eat.

The most visually interesting thing I saw. Was bread.

In front of me. On a platter made of silver metal. Stuck together, i'd have to pull it apart. The backseat drivers said to use my magic. But i've barely been in control of myself so far to even think.

So i think not. I'll be physical. I want to touch it. It looks soft and airy, and it looks like someone hit it with butter. Which, buttered bread. I'm not really one to turn down, you know?

I think.

I think therefore... It is probably true. But theres something I don't know how to do. Grab bread with your hooves. I don't know how.

Why should you be able to grip something with an entirely smooth surface? It's not possible, I think, as a torrent of voices collectively groan at my denial of obvious fact. It's possible. Its possible to grip. I think. It's not.

It's not, it's not, it's not, i'm not going to eat, i'm going to sit here, I'm going to sit here. It's a stupid idea anyway. Bread doesn't look tasty anyway, I think.

But although I can't smell it very well, I know that's a lie. It does actually look quite tasty.

Magic is too complicated for me to care to learn right now. And yet by that logic, suddenly turning your front hooves in a burst of little flame to have claws is entirely simple. After all, all I did was wish really really hard I had hands. So now i've got them.

That is so weird to think.

And yet here I am, an insect. With claws. Made of chitin. With no problem at all.

It's not even like, a big deal.

And then I remember I don't have a plate. Gotta find one. There's a few to the side, stacked neatly at the far end of the long table. As the plate-focused tunnel vision subsides, I notice there's more than just bread and plates. There's meats, vegetables- a small combination of fruits. Mushrooms, cooked and unknown. Very lumpy, like they grew on a wall. Shelf mushroom.

I grip my plate, and go back to the bread to finally put something on it. To grab a piece of bread you must first have a plate, and to get a plate you must be born. And have hands. Two bread rolls adorn the silver saucer in my claws. This feels awkward in my... shoulder? Anatomy no good. Changelings are confusing.

I'll have to ask someone for a crash course on the anatomy of the changeling. At some point.

Bread. Tasty bread. Now, what to bring with the bread?? Mushrooms look tasty, maybe that'd go well with the meat? Bread and meat, bread and mushroom, it sounds like a nice combination. Bread, bread, bread... bread. Bread.

Bread. Bread bread bread bread.

There's something wrong. There's a lot of words going on, a lot of things going on. But I really, really don't want to care too much. Care too much. The root of all evil.

Bread. Vegetable. And flesh. Two fluffy rolls, some stripes of sliced meat that he was not going to clarify on whether or not he served himself properly with a utensil instead of dirty hoof-claws, or vice versa.

The vegetables looked nice too. Baked. Maybe. A nice combination of soft exterior and spices and seasons that tantalized the senses. He didn't know if that's how they would actually taste but they smelled delicious.

He put the dish together, put the claws away and sat down. He'd forgotten the utensil for eating the meal, he realized, and so had to go back and retrieve the silverware. In the end he sat his flank down in a far corner devoid of the few prying eyes that watched him. Most didn't. And the few that did quickly went on their way, food was just more interesting.

The bread was the first target for consumption. It had been the first target he'd seen after all, and the buttery and fresh taste of it was enough to send his brain on a roller coaster ride, a roller coaster of thought and emotion. But it was less of a spiral and more of a dozen electric shocks at the first hint of taste. The flavor was overpowering, the sensations of the tongue being assaulted by a million little explosions of flavor and sensation, all of which were delicious.

He'd forgotten how much he liked bread.

It had been so long since he'd eaten anything, he'd forgotten how delicious food could be. Always taunted by the meals he made, unable to eat them and waiting for the day company, any company that would indulge in it would arrive.

The mangled and ruined bread roll fell limply from his mouth with a single tear.

Nobody ever came.

Nobody was coming, not anymore. The company, any company he could have had- was all gone.

The taste in his mouth was stale and the sensation of chewing became a dull and repetitive motion. No matter what he did, he couldn't get that thought out of his head. He couldn't get the image of himself sitting at the dinner table alone out of his mind, and as he continued to chew the food, his mouth became numb to the flavor and he simply chewed because he was supposed to.

Happy tears that would have flowed from the sheer revitalizing effect on the mind of a single good meal in centuries turned to cold tears of anger. Now he couldn't even enjoy his food.

But then, a small spark in his heart. He'd been left alone. Left behind.

But not abandoned. She had returned, in the end. The one he'd grown closest to.

He couldn't help but feel happy about that, even if the situation he was in was still...

He swallowed a lump of tasty mush. He was at least a little happy to be, even if the situation he was in was still... For lack of a better word, utter bullshit.

And that's when she showed up.

"Hello there." Chrysalis said as he looked over at the figure of his former host, her form translucent, as she was a ghost, as he looked up from his food. "Enjoying your meal?" The queen asked. She looked to be in a much better mood, as she seemed to have a spring in her step, a grin on her face, and her eyes were full of mischief.

I couldn't tell why she was so happy, and I didn't really care at the moment.

The bread was still tasty. I hate this mood.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's great." Alyosha replied with a half hearted grin, looking back at the food in front of him. He wasn't really hungry anymore. Just tired, and sad. "How'd you find me?"

"I've been here the whole time, I just decided to show myself now that you've had a moment to yourself." Chrysalis said, her eyes filled with that familiar mischievous glint. "I'm surprised you didn't notice."

"Too busy thinking about how much my life sucks right now." He replied, staring down at his food.

"I see." Chrysalis said, as she walked over to him, sitting down next to him at the table. "How's the food?"

"It's... Fine."

"Good. I'm glad you like it." She said, as she took a piece of bread off his plate, and popped it into her mouth.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" Alyosha yelled. That was his bread! His tasty, delicious, buttery, warm, and fresh bread!

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She said with a bastards smug grin. Shit eater. Shit eating grin!

"You can't even eat! Give that back!" He yelled, reaching out to grab the bread from her, only to watch it pass through her body and land on the ground. She laughed, as he stared at the bread that lay on the floor, his face twisted in a mixture of anger and sadness.

My fucking bread. I'm gonna kill you, you smug piece of shit.

"That's not fair!" Alyosha yelled, as he stared at the bread that had fallen to the ground. He was going to eat that! He was going to eat that, and now he couldn't!

'But we will' said the distant voice of a scavenger. Eat it. Eat the bread off the floor. Five hour rule or something. It was just bread on the floor- it was earth spice. Earth spice is good for you. Eat it- eat it to spite that bastard.

No.

"Life isn't fair, little parasite." She said, as she smiled down at him, that same smug, shit-eating grin on her face. "You of all people should know that."

"Fuck you." He said, staring at the floor, where his bread lay.

"Now, that's no way to speak to your queen." She said with a smirk.

"I'm not a part of the hive." He said with a huff, as he sat down, and stared at the floor, where his bread lay. "I'm not a changeling. I'm not even a pony. I'm human."

"Human, huh?" She said with a smirk. "And what exactly is that?"

By definition, a featherless biped. No- that's a philosiphical- philosophy- philosphi- philosophical and archaic definition of a man. A man is a miserable bundle of secrets.

My head. I can feel it go blank, oh so wonderfully blank. Not blank. Whole. Unified. We are "Us."

"...I see."

There was a pause, as she looked away from him, her eyes wandering around the room. She didn't say anything, and neither did he. They just sat there, in silence.

"I suppose I'm a bit of an asshole, aren't I?" She said after a while, looking back at me. But you know what? Talk to the shoulder. My damned food. Wasted. Wasted food. Hate it. Hate it so much, so so much.

"A bit of an asshole, indeed. I suppose I owe you an apology, for being such a bitch." She said with a small smile. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch." She said with a chuckle.

But I just continue to stare at the bread on the floor, i can feel something tickling my face. Involuntary muscle twitches as I stuffed the floor-tainted bread into my face. It wasn't much. It was barely even a taste. But it was bread, and it was mine.

"Alright. I get it. You're angry at me. But I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry for being a bitch. And I'm not sorry for taking your bread." She intoned. Some tone I can't name but I just know, know in my bones that she's aggravating.

"...I hate you so much right now."

"Well, I don't hate you. I just find you amusing." She said with a small chuckle. Smiling trashbag.

I sigh.

"Bread thief aside. Did you actually have a reason for bothering me?" He asked, turning to her.

"Yes. I have a question for you." She said, her voice a little more serious than before. "What do you plan to do, now that you are alive again?"

"Go home, I guess." I said reflexively. Home. I think I'd like that a lot really. Just home. Somewhere to get away from everything. Forever.

"...Home? Where is that, exactly?" She asked, looking at me with a curious gaze. "Home is gone. The world has changed. You are a stranger in a strange land."

"I'll figure something out." I said, looking down at my hooves, as if they held the secrets of the universe within them. They did not, and the universe was still a mystery. I didn't know a thing. I don't know how to 'get started'. But plans were stupid. Chaos reigns and life is disorder.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that? You have no money. You have no connections. You have no friends. You have no family. You have nothing." Chrysalis said. You could hear the smile in her voice. Makes my spine just tingle in the wrong way. Not fear- but it's a very, very close cousin to it.

"I can get you started. All you need is to just follow a few orders for me as we settle into a new age of society for Equestria. And I will make sure that you have a place in this world." She intoned.

"...I'm not sure that's a good idea." A bad feeling about this. It was like he was being led into a trap. Like he was being set up for a fall. Something screamed it into my mind. It was a warning. It was a warning that he should not listen to her. Something bad would happen if he did.

"Of course it is. It's the best idea." She said with a smile. Meant to disarm I think. "All the world at your command, and all I need is for you to-"

-and then there was just a whiff of smoke, just a scent just a faint amount. Less than a few hundred parts per million. So minute you wouldn't even notice it, but the dread it instilled in me was so, so, so inexplicably terrifying. Like a creeping shadow. Like a memory long forgotten, and then it came rushing back to you. A memory of a terrible event, of a terrible person, of a terrible time. And then you feel that fear. That fear that you had not felt in years. And it's all coming back to you, and you can't stop it. And you can't stop it, and it's coming back, and you can't stop it. And you can't stop it, and it's coming back, and it's coming back, and it's coming back-

-SHE'S COMING BACK AROUND, GET DOWN! GET DOWN!

There was a sound. A sound like a scream. A scream of a thousand voices, all screaming at once. Screaming in terror, in pain, in anger, in rage. Screaming at the injustice of it all. Screaming at the injustice of the universe. The sound of burning, rippling and roiling flames being choked under fire as a roll of fabric suddenly dropped to the sleek table. And then the screaming stopped. The sound of the world- the old world where monsters made of fire and wings flew in the sky the devil was in the air and the moon was a traitor to all who prayed to her kin- was gone, and the silence was deafening.

You blink. And it's all gone and suddenly you're jarringly back in the present.

I had really, really hoped that- that I wouldn't see that again. I was hoping I would never have to think about it, or that I would have to remember. That I would not have to be reminded of that day. Of that night. Of the night when everything was destroyed. When everything was taken away from us. When we lost everything.

I'm not quite whole yet.

But that's a paper. That's a roll of paper that just- just appeared from nowhere and clearly Chrysalis sees it too judging from that expression. It's fear. Fear that's quickly swallowed by the iron will of a monarch that doesn't know the meaning of the word surrender. She doesn't know the word quit. She doesn't know the word defeat. She knows only victory, and she will not rest until she gets it.

She has to have victory, or she will not be content.

"...What's that?" Alyosha said, as he looked at the rolled up piece of paper that had just appeared on the table in front of him. It was a scroll, and it was sealed with a wax seal. The seal was broken, and the paper was unrolled. There was a letter inside, and he took it out and read it.

The letter was simple, and to the point.

"Chrysalis.

If you're reading this. We've found you. And I'm bringing the princesses back."

The letter was signed by someone named "Twilight Sparkle." And I have no idea who that was. I only know the rage that gracing her face. She'd have broken a tooth if she were corporeal with how much she clamped down on her own jaw. She took a breath and then spoke.

"Damn it. I knew it was only a matter of time." Chrysalis said. "Alyosha, we've got trouble."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" He asked, as he put the letter down. "Who is this 'Twilight Sparkle'?"

"She is the Element of Magic. The most powerful of the six. She is a purple unicorn. She is the student of Celestia. She is the one who defeated me the first time I tried to conquer Canterlot. We need to get you out of the lower levels immediately. They cannot know this area exists." She explained, her voice calm, but her face was contorted in rage. "We have no time to waste. Come with me, now. We have to leave immediately."