Strange Bedfellows

-Land smack dab on my ass. "Ow!" I exclaim loudly as I rub my now-tenderized hindquarters, then remember what had just transpired "Whoa... I... I had no idea..." I state quietly as I try to stand up, only to fail terribly as my encased leg refuses to bend and my ribs stab at my insides viciously. "Forgot about that..." I mumble quietly.

Chrysalis runs the three steps over to me and helps me up with her magic, "Are you okay, are you hurt at all?" she asks in a tone that sounds much more worried then it should be.

"I'm hunky dori, now get out of my bubble." I say irritably and hobble a few steps away, then I hear a funny joke and (Understandably) laugh. "You hear that?" I say as I turn back to her.

She had a hoof to her mouth like she was laughing, but her face was one of shock, "Yes I did... but how did you?" I look at her funny and point at my ears. "It wasn't said... it was thought"

"Wait... One second..." I say to her with one finger raised, then I close my eyes and think out a simple sentence: Pineapples are delicious. Nothing happened for a moment, the buzzing in my ears never lessened, nor did anything else increase... and then.

"Where did that come from?" Three Forty Seven asks loudly.

"Umm... it was just a test?" I "say" meekly as I tap my for fingers together like a nervous eight year old.

"Who is this?" He asks suspiciously, "I don't recognize your "voice"."

"Who? Me? Oh I'm just a regular old guy, new to the whole Hive Mind business... Say, how do you guys sleep with this running through your head all the time?"

"What?" He says in an alarmed tone, "Queen Chrysalis! there is an-"

"Calm down, Three Forty Seven, it's just our guest..." She gives me a sideways look of curious confusion, "Somehow..."

"Wait... THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!?" I yell at her loudly, then I look down at my chest and see a familiar looking gem LODGED in the center of my chest, my shirt sporting a new burn spot right where the gem sat that still smoulders as I watch. "What?" I said with a calm I didn't feel as I touched it lightly, I instinctively pull my hand away when I felt that it was warm, and pulsing. "The fuck?"

I look up at Chrysalis, and find her staring at my chest with a look that would have made a statue look emotive. "This is... concerning... " She said in a light buzzing voice.

"WHAT?!" I yell as my calm shatters again, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN "CONCERNING"?!" AM I GOING TO IGNITE OR SOMETHING?!" I look myself over for any others smolders or other sources that will entice further panic.

"You can understand our tongue?" Chrysalis ask in a surprised voice, I give her a look that would have withered Yggdrasil and she shifted uncomfortably under my stare, "Yes... Yes you can..."

I look back at the Stone, twisting my head like a raven to get a good look at it before I close my hand around it and go to pull. STOP! The command froze me in place, I could see Chrysalis' hooves enter my vision, and then a tug pulled my hand open and away from the gem as I feel my body come under my control once more. "That may kill you rather painfully, or do nothing at all... I, nor any other Changling for that matter, have seen anything like this before."

I roll my eyes at her, "Really?" I throw my good hand in the air, "The human just HAPPENS to entice an atypical reaction from a magic rock." I wave my arm in the air, "Oh mah gawd!" My arm drops to my side loudly and my face follows suite.

Chrysalis just raises an eyebrow at me, "I think your overreacting, calm down and take some deep breaths." she walks over hand places a hoof on my shoulder, I follow her advice and breath deeply, but it doesn't help.

"I just need to lay down..." I say dejectedly, "Can I just go back to my room... cave... thing?" She nods and Three Forty Seven walks into the throne room with a serious look on his face, I wave at him and say "Hello, Three Forty Seven, how are you today?" His eyes go wide and he reels back in confusion, "Calm down, you pussy, just take me to my room." I add loudly as I hobble towards him.

*-*

I twirl my arm around as the cast that had imprisoned it for so long bubbles and slides off. I didn't even mind that Two Eighty Nine had to spit on the cast to take it off... Well... "spit" is as close as I could come to describing it anyways; it was more like a shotgun blast of clear mucus that emanating from the jaw, It was a little gross.

I continue to rotate my arm and test if it still hurt with my other hand: it didn't! I almost squeal in pleasure, but catching sight of Chrysalis stops me... barely. "Glad to see your enjoying your new freedom." she says happily as I hug the "Nurse-ling".

"Yup, and my ribs don't hurt anymore either!" I respond giddily, the euphoria is absolutely intoxicating.

"Your leg looks much better as well."

My smile drops a little as I look down at the still encased leg as I tap it with my newly freed arm, "It does look alot better, and it feels better... but..." I just tap the cast again to emphasize my point.

The Queen nods her head knowingly as she adds soothingly, "It will only be for a few more days, if the rest of your body is any indication."

My smile returned in full force as I explode into words, "But that's the best part, Where I come from NO ONE recovers this fast!" I hop off of the bed and grab my three day old crutch and hop over to her like a happy crippled kid. "It must be the Stone..." Then I give her a sly look as I nudge her with an elbow "Or maybe it's your fine ass that guides me to better health." Chrysalis stutters loudly as she blushes bright enough to produce several lumins. "Ha! I'm just fuckin' with you, it's the Stone... I can tell somehow..." I add as I touch the slightly pulsing stone through my shirt. It was still kind of a weird feeling to had a solid chunk of rock beat like a second heart in my chest, but I was getting used to it.

We walk towards the mess hall, and about half way there Chrysalis asks, "How have the memories been?" I shake my head as I try to look for the words to describe... It.

"Well they seem to mostly come in my sleep, as I told you before, but sometimes they show up when I'm in the middle of eating, or walking, or other less... public activities..." It was very disorienting to get the memories of a Changling spying on a Pony wedding when you were on the crapper. "Hell, just yesterday I was walking down the hall to get dinner and got lost because the memory of some childre- sorry, Foals, were playing in a completely different part of the Hive a few hundred years ago." Chrysalis tried to hide her laughter but failed miserably as we entered the Mess Hall.

Her laughter subsided as her face changed to one of stern considerations "I still don't understand why it's happening this way," We sat at the same seat as we did every other time, "Every other time we have used the Stone it imparted the knowledge instantly..."

"... And didn't get fused to their sternum," She seemed to suddenly find something on the roof to be extremely interesting, "I'm a special case, being the only one of my kind to have even met your people..." A serious look crossed my face as I look at the one who saved my life as I say quietly, "I think I may have a theory on why it is doing this..." She looks at me with a look that tells me that I have her undivided attention... it was kind of creepy... "You said my mind wasn't fit to house the addition if even one mind, correct?" She nods as a pained look crosses her face for a moment, "Don't worry about it, anyway, This lets me have a connection to the whole Hive at once and not even have a slight ache..." I hold my hands up and cup them and add "Well, If we picture my brain as a tub hanging above some... paper or something." I take me left hand and put it near the top of the "Tub" and say "Well, If my "Tub" is three quarters full all of the time..." I move my hand to about half again the height of the tub, "Well if you add another mind, it over flows," I wiggle my hand and spider it over the the other one, "Then the paper get damaged."

Chrysalis nods uncertainly as she asks, "But how does the Stone stop that?"

I shrug and respond with; "I don't know, but my theory is that it acts like a" -I move my hands around each other, not really symbolizing anything- "series of pipes that drain and add as needed, never letting it over flow, yet never dropping it below three quarters..." Then I add with another shrug "I guess... It's only a theory."

Chrysalis nods her head slowly at first, then speeds up as a smile spreads across her lips, "I think I get it, though I think if you said it was like a "Jump Drive" for one of those "Computers" you like so much, It might have painted a better picture" I raised a finger in protest, only to realize that she was completely right, I forgot that she got my memories as well.

"Fuck... Lets just eat something so I can hide the shame..." My standing order of "surprise me" seem to have stuck as I found myself staring at a pile of... stuff, it was rather gray and nondescript in almost every way. "The fuck is this?"

Chrysalis almost chokes on her pork stew as she laughs, "It's a new dish... It's called "Surprise me", the chefs want to see if you like it."

"Smart asses..." I stick my fork into the pile and pull up on it, it pulls out a semi-solid chunk that was only slightly larger then the fork, I look at it from all the angles I can before I shrug and put it in my mouth. It was... chewy... and it tasted like... My eyes went the size of serving trays as I spewed it out and scraped my tongue of all it's foul traces, Chrysalis' eyes were almost as wide as mine as I almost lot the war with my gag reflex. "THE FUCK IT THIS SHIT?!" I shout in disgust, "It tasted like... LIKE..." I trailed off uncertainly, then Chrysalis stuck her floating fork in it and, to my horror, stuck it in her mouth.

She chewed on it thoughtfully for a moment, before a slightly grossed out look cross her face as she swallows and says "The chefs and I are going to have a nice long talk..."

"W- Wh- What?" I sputter out in exasperation, How the flying fuck could she respond so coolly to such a DISGUSTING taste?

"It tastes like depression... I think the Chef may be quite sad about something, even if they do not know it."

My stomach flipped, "That's what feelings taste like?" I say in a displeased voice as I shove my plate as far as I can reach. She nods as she stands up and walks to the kitchen as I mutter "Eww."

*-*

I fly through the mist as the Hive buzzes with energy, I swell with pride for my Changlings. After all we have had to deal with, all the hardships we have suffered, they still refuse to fall into depression and sorrow... for the most part anyways, As with all rules there are exceptions. I drop my altitude till I'm just a few feet above the river that had cut this gorge over the millennia, then I drop and let my hooves cut through the water, giggling as the water tickles me as it passes through the holes in my legs. I spend the next few minutes just skimming the surface of the river, letting the fish nibble my hooves and scaring away the ducks that drift lazily in the current. I soar back up into the sky and the urge to sing struck me, as I opened my mouth to sing something slammed into my back and drove us both into the river.

I flail for a moment before the thing slides off of my back and I frantically kick my way back to the surface, then I scan the river's surface for what had attacked me and I see a wooden shaft protrude from the surface a few feet down the river, I swim over to it as Three Forty Seven and Two Eighty One show up.

"My Queen, are you alright?" Three Forty Seven asks loudly as he scanned the air for threats.

"I am alright, just a little bruised..." Then I dive and wrap my hooves around the creature that was slowly sinking, and pulled it's head above the surface. I gasp at the sight I am greeted with: It was white, like the snow, it's eyes were shut lightly and it was coughing up red tinted water. "It needs help..." I tell myself quietly, then I shout out to the two circling Changlings, "I need you to take this... thing to Two Eighty Nine right away!" Then I haul it's sopping wet body above the water enough for the two Changlings to grab it and take off as I notice the spear protruding from it's right leg and the same side's arm sticking out at an odd angle, then they fade into the mist. I swim to the closest rock and climb it, then I shake the water off of my wings and notice the cut in my rear left leg: it was shallow, long and went through one of the holes in it. "It is a mere inconvenience." I tell myself quietly and I take off after the mysterious "Ghost" that had almost killed me.

*-*

I shake my head as I come to my senses and notice that the cast was finally off of my leg, but I wasn't dancing just yet. I stood up and thanked the nurse as I hobbled over to my crutch, I would need to work my leg to get it's strength back. I look up at the door and see that Chrysalis wasn't there this time, "She's just busy, she is a queen after all." I walk into the hall and make my way to the exit, I haven't even seen the sun in over... how long was it? "Bah!" I humbug as I test the strength in my leg; I could hold my weight, but I wouldn't be running anytime soon.

I make it outside after what seemed like ages, "Ah..." I moan quietly as I blink painfully in the sudden brightness and notice that I was in clearing surrounded by trees, there was a calm and clear pond in the middle, and it was about noon... if the time here worked the same as at home... Home... I walk over to a tree and sit heavily on a knee high root. Home, I miss it... My apartment, my freeloading roommate, and my cat... It's not much to have, but it was mine... I sigh loudly as I place my head in my hands, "I miss my little ball of fluffy death..." After a few minutes of sitting there I sigh and stand up, intent on trying to work on strengthening my leg by walking around and doing light exercises, the uneven ground made it hard; but I liked that, it took my mind off of the things I didn't want to think about. After a minutes and only slightly fewer falls I decide to sit down again, but in front of the pond and look at my reflection in the water.

What I see staring back at me was a ghost with silver hair and red eyes: his shirt was tattered, a dark blue and had a hole in the center of his chest that looked like it belonged in a Table top RPG, and he wore dark green cargo pants that had more pockets them most thieves picked in their whole lives, we shook our heads in unison and a shadow popped up beside him. "I see your leg is working fine." Chrysalis said with a smile, that smile I knocked off before she saved me.

"I..." I manage to croak out, the tears weren't just there for show. Chrysalis moves a little closer as I start again, "I wanted to thank you... I saw how we... met earlier." She blinks a few times as I carry on, "You saved my life three times in the span of five minutes, and even more times after that..." I stand up suddenly and wrap my arms around her neck "Thank you... So much..." and I squeezed harder. We stood that way for a lot longer then I would have like to admit, I let go and wipe  my eyes as I step back. "I'm sorry about that..."

"Don't be." She said as she placed a hoof on my shoulder, then our eyes met and I saw that she had tears in her eyes. Then my mind kicked in and I step back quickly, then fall over and smack my head lightly.

"Gah... I'm going to need to work on that..." I state as I rub the back of my head, then we look at each other again, except this time we both burst out laughing and the tension breaks like a crisp carrot.

I manage to stand up as chuckles still wrack my body, "I was wondering if you would join me for lunch" Chrysalis asks regally, I extend my arm out and she slides one of her fore hooves through it as I say:

"As long as I don't get another fuckin' "Surprise Me"."