Everything moved in a blur; Irradiance felt hooves against him and some strange substance preventing his ability to fight back, but the stallion was frozen. There was no thought about fighting back present in his mind. As the other three ponies around him fought until they were completely restrained, Irradiance silently accepted the capture.

How could he have been so foolish? After ten years alone in the forest, his only interactions with other creatures being the arrival of traders and the rare visit to Canterlot shops, the cursed stallion had learned not to trust others. After the betrayal of Moonshine and Sunny Daze at such a young age, he’d learned that ponies weren’t to be trusted. And yet, here he was, putting all of his trust in Emerald Shield, only to discover that wasn’t who he was at all.

The Red Hive, or rather, the Sacrificial Hive as they were known to explorers that had mapped the hive, was known for its feeding off of magic energy. Ponies, or other creatures, would be lured in and then sucked dry of their magic until they were slaves to do work around the hive, or dead.

Irradiance didn’t know where the hive was, but he did know it existed. Its leader, Queen Lilith, was a hungry succubus who had lured in plenty of stallions with her appearance, disguised as a pony or otherwise. Her son, Prince Leviathan, seemed to be following in her footsteps, Irradiance thought.

It was only last night that the pair had shared a quiet night and slept under the covers together. Was it foolish to think romance was in the cards? Of course, Irradiance thought mirthlessly, Leviathan was only doing what he needed to lure Irradiance back to the hive.

After his run-in with the tree so long ago, Irradiance had absorbed all of its magic. He was the prime target for Queen Lilith! How could he be so stupid as to follow the prince all the way here?

“-ce! Irradiance! Please, you need to talk to me!” Someone was calling his name but the stallion was still numb. Shock from the betrayal and a panicked shut-down had silenced him for the time being. The scenery was changing, he noticed slowly. The swampy marsh had shifted to a hollow, grey hive, where red and black creatures watched the four ponies as they were dragged into their new prisons.

What would be his fate? Would Irradiance succumb to the sweet release of death? Or would he be stuck in limbo, forever fed off of, never released?

“Irradiance, please!” Oh, he was in a proper cage now. Looking up, the stallion slowly took in his new surroundings: a pocket in the wall of the hive, overlooking a steep drop where likely thousands more of these small pockets lined the walls. His was shut with black bars, keeping the purple stallion trapped until he was freed, likely for whenever Lilith decided she was hungry. Outside the prison was a black pony with a crimson mane, and holes in his legs, crying heavy tears as he looked at the trapped pony.

“Emerald?”

“Irradiance!” Relief flooded the Changeling’s face. “I’m so sorry, please, you have to believe me!”

“Dearest! Away from dinner!” A syrupy voice chimed, and Queen Lilith soon appeared before Irradiance’s cage. He couldn’t hear or see any of his other companions, Amber, or Marigold. Had they already been eaten?

“Where is everyone else?” Irradiance slowly asked, face expressionless. He watched Emerald– no, Leviathan– cry harder. Sobs wracked his frail frame and the stallion almost felt pity. It was a pathetic sight, really.

Lilith just scoffed, lifting a hoof to cover her skinny mouth as she cackled, “No need to worry about that, pet! You just stay here until the hive grows hungry again!” She had a wicked aura. “Leviathan, darling, you really must return to your chambers. You’ve clearly become infected with these ponies’ emotions!”

The shorter Changeling sniffled, wiping his eyes as he nodded in response, “Yes, Mother.”

The pair disappeared, flying down in the hive, likely toward their chambers, if Irradiance had to guess. He continued to stand, frozen in place, before realizing it wasn’t his own choice to stand there; there was a red substance gluing him to the ground, preventing any movement. The same material covered his horn, preventing magic spells.

Finally alone, the stallion allowed himself release. Face twisting up in anger, eyes welling up in frustration, Irradiance began to sob. He shook in place, unable to comfortably sit down and wallow in his pain. He cried loud, ugly cries, eyes shut tight as tears streamed down his face and fell upon the floor below, staining the grey into a deeper black.

He had made it so far. He’d been a companion, no, a friend to these ponies. He’d allowed Cobalt and Hibiscus to join him on this journey (which was futile! There was never a cure! Which made him cry harder), had been fine when Amber captured and subsequently followed the ponies on their quest, and he’d even welcomed Marigold in! He was the one to empathize with the Earth Pony and apologize for invading her home, resulting in the wondrous night with Emerald–

“Oh, Celestia,” Irradiance cried, voice watery as he recounted all the mistakes he’d made to get where he was now. Trusting ponies was stupid. He had encountered Changelings before! He knew what they acted like! He’d never encountered a Changeling Prince before, though. Maybe that was the issue. Leviathan had been charming and teasing and funny and kind. Clearly, he had been trained to use any trick necessary to achieve the goal he had been sent to do. Luring a pony with the promise of a cure for a curse he’d been trying to cure for a decade? That was low, even for a villain.

Slowly calming down, Irradiance tried to find comfort in standing as he felt fatigue start to overtake him. With no one to talk to and nothing to do but wait, in addition to the fact he’d just cried years' worth of tears, Irradiance fell asleep standing up.

“Hey!” An angry voice shouted, accompanied by a slam against the bars that trapped Irradiance in his prison. “Dinner.” There was a platter of the most horrendous-looking food tossed into his cage, landing in front of him with a loud noise.

The purple stallion stared at the Changeling guard flatly, “I can’t eat that.”

The Changeling scoffed, “What, are ponies too good for our food? I can just not feed you, you know!”

“No,” Irradiance groaned, “I can’t bend over and reach it. I can’t lift it up, either. No magic.”

“Oh,” The Changeling said, dumbly. Opening the cage and allowing himself in, the Changeling scooted the platter closer to the stallion to the point where he could eat it if he bent over far enough, “There.”

The Changeling exited the cage and shut the bars once more, leaving Irradiance alone with his disgusting meal. Not yet hungry, he left it untouched.

Once more alone with his thoughts, the stallion let his mind wander, curious about where his friends were and what they were thinking. Would Hibiscus keep fighting, cursing at her captors? Would Cobalt use his larger frame to attack? Would Marigold have a similar reaction as Irradiance? Nothing was certain apart from where Irradiance was now and how he was feeling (spoiler: that feeling was not good).

Murmurs throughout the hive were heard, a soft buzz in the background of Irradiance’s solitude. After so long alone, the lack of ponies around him was strangely unwelcome. He let out a breathy chuckle at the realization. It had only been, what, three days? And already Irradiance was missing the closeness he had felt; the community. It was nothing like with Moonshine and Sunny Daze all those years ago.

Where were they, Irradiance thought? Did Moonshine and Sunny Daze go on to be successful students now without the “Wingless Alicorn” out of the way? Or did they face consequences for outright harming a fellow pony, forcing him to disappear for all eternity? Likeliness of the latter was higher, Irradiance thought, eyes darting around as he let his mind continue to dwell on all his mistakes of the past. Both of the Unicorns’ parents were too high-ranking to result in any real punishment. Nepotism at its finest.

Once more, Irradiance’s mind was drawn to the dreadful prince of the hive. Emerald Shield had been such a kind character; was it all a ruse? Was it stupid to think part of that persona had been a real reflection of the pony beneath?

“...be careful, okay? I heard ponies can be dangerous!” There was a voice slowly approaching Irradiance’s cage and he tensed up in preparation of yet another Changeling visitor, likely with more gross food (or to retrieve what he didn’t eat).

“Thank you, Abbadon. I’ll be careful,” Irradiance knew that voice. As the first voice, Abbadon, likely flew away if the buzzing of wings fading out signaled anything, the second grew closer, greeting the purple stallion with the view of his captor.

“Emerald,” Irradiance hissed, face twisted into a snarl, “What do you want?”

The black Changeling before him winced at the name, avoiding eye contact as he greeted the other pony, “Irradiance, hey.”

“What do you want?”

The Changeling’s eyes flickered around the cage, eyes traveling over the red keeping Irradiance stuck to the floor, the tray of uneaten slop in front of him, saddening at the reality of the situation sat before him. Irradiance felt a sick form of victory overtake him for a moment. Yes, he thought to himself, still frowning at the pony before him, you did this. You stole me from my home and presented me and our friends on a silver platter to your mother. Is this what you wanted?

“I’m sorry,” Leviathan breathed, expression fallen, eyes filled with sorrow.

“What?” Irradiance stuttered, not expecting the response.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this to happen and I had no idea how my mother knew where we were.”

“You didn’t tell her?” Irradiance scoffed in disbelief.

“No,” Leviathan insisted, shaking his head at the idea. His face morphed into some sort of guilt for a moment, “I had this way of speaking with her. She’d call me each night–”

“That’s where you’d disappear to each night?” Leviathan nodded slowly, looking away. His red hair covered his eyes slightly. Irradiance would call the sight before him handsome if he wasn’t feeling so betrayed already. “I can’t believe you!”

“It activated in the middle of a conversation,” Leviathan continued, not yet reacting to the purple stallion’s outrage, “She must have picked up on the fact I didn’t want to keep going. She came and got you while you were all calling me a Changeling.”

“And we were right!” Irradiance snapped, nearly foaming at the mouth with rage. The gall of Emerald or Leviathan or whatever his name was to come and try to apologize! “I can’t believe I trusted you! A cure? Really? What’s your problem?!”

“I’m not perfect, okay?” Leviathan shouted back, losing his composure. “My mother asked me to do something for the good of my home and so I said yes! Wouldn’t you do the same?” Irradiance was silent. “I didn’t know what would happen along the way. You were kind of mean, initially.”

“Sorry living alone in the forest for a decade made me untrusting,” Irradiance muttered defensively.

Tears welled in the red Changeling’s eyes as he continued to respond, “No, I’m sorry, Irradiance. These feelings are new and I didn’t know what to do with them and now I don’t even know how to fix it!”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes!” Full-on sobs were coming from the black stallion. Irradiance’s anger started to diminish, feeling sorry for the pony before him. “I didn’t mean for this to happen! Once I got to know you I didn’t want to keep bringing you here but I didn’t know what to do! I wasn’t lying when I said this was new for me, Irradiance! I’ve never felt like this!” His defenses devolved into heartbreaking sobs as Leviathan remained before the purple stallion’s prison, crying in guilt or confliction, or some other emotion Irradiance couldn’t place.

Feeling unsure of how to react, Irradiance turned away, taking a few deep breaths as he thought about what to do. This didn’t feel or look like mock guilt. Leviathan was actively crying, apologizing desperately in front of the other stallion as he tried to explain that he truly didn’t know what else to do.

Composing himself after a couple of breaths, Leviathan continued, “I don’t know what to do. I came here to tell you because you’re a smart pony. You did realize I was a Changeling and you’ve been living alone for years. If anyone could come up with a plan to get out of this, I think it would be you.”

“Where’s everyone else?” Irradiance ignored the unspoken question, still looking away. Leviathan sighed.

“Marigold is on the lower floor, Cobalt is above her and Hibiscus is right below you. Prisoners are kept in order of magic level from lowest floor to highest.”

Irradiance scoffed, “Am I the most magical?” Leviathan nodded. “When are you going to kill me?”

The Changeling flinched, “We don’t kill ponies,” He specified, “We feed. Less magic means a lower likelihood of survival. Mother wants to save you for last since you have the greatest amount of magic.”

The purple stallion’s eyes widened as he realized what that might mean, “Who’s first?” Leviathan just stared, brows pressed together. Irradiance’s stomach dropped. “Marigold?”

“Everyone’s satiated for now but Mother declared the first feed to be tomorrow morning.”

“What time is it now?”

“Time isn’t normal here. No windows. I’d say it’s late afternoon. You slept for a long time.”

Irradiance cursed to himself, unsure what to do next. He was trapped in his cell above everyone else with no way of flying down safely thanks to the lack of any wings. His only hope was Leviathan. Inhaling deeply before letting it out slowly, he turned to look at the Changeling Prince with a stern look, “Will you help?”

Finally the expression on the prince from sadness to eagerness. “Yes! Of course I’ll help!”

The pair was silent for a moment as a buzz overtook the hive. “You said the feed was tomorrow morning?” Irradiance confirmed. Leviathan nodded, red eyes wide.

“Yeah. This is just evening rounds starting up; we comb the nearby forest for any other, uh. Food.”

“Wow,” Irradiance deadpanned.

“We have to eat, okay? I want to help and I want you all to be freed and I want to not feed off of your magic!” Leviathan was growing angry, hollow hooves stamping on the ground. “If you want me to help then you need to get over the grudge. At least for the time being. I betrayed you, I get it, but I didn’t want to. Had my mother not found us, I would have turned things around and sent you back home.”

Irradiance scoffed, rolling his eyes. Had he been free to walk around, he would have turned away, “Yeah, right.”

“I like you, Irradiance. I think you’re wonderful and once we’re out of here I will do what I can to look for a cure but I think your curse is enchanting. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met before,” Leviathan’s voice tapered off at the end, giving up on his defense. “I’ll be back in a little with better food than that. We can plan what to do then.” With a buzzing as his wings began to flap, Leviathan flew off. Irradiance was alone.

Author's Note

these chapters (10-12) are so sad :( betrayal sucks when you didn't mean to betray someone :( also is the slow burn romance coming through???? i think it works well. it picks up at the very end but i tried to keep it minimal until then!!!