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AiE: Welcome To the Swarm [Part 17]

By: TheUnbr0ny on Sep 19th, 2012  |  syntax: None  |  size: 4.46 KB  |  hits: 87  |  expires: Never
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  1. >The decision was tough, but you had to make it.
  2. >You were sure your family missed you, but you had new responsibilities, and those included Chrysalis.
  3. >Besides, this was more exciting than moving boxes around all day.
  4.  
  5. “No. I have new responsibilities here and now. To the swarm. To you.”
  6.  
  7. >Thank fully she seemed content with that answer.
  8. >Bullet dodged, life saved.
  9. >”Come along,” she commands.
  10. >You stand and shrug, gathering your wallet and following her.
  11.  
  12. “Where are we going?”
  13.  
  14. >You ask.
  15. >”Isn’t it obvious? That pitiful little room isn’t fit for a king. You’re sharing with me now.”
  16. >Oh.
  17. >Wait, what?
  18. >Well it isn’t like you two are strangers.
  19. >You should have seen this coming.
  20. >You follow into a massive room with what appears to be furniture.
  21. >It’s mostly mismatched, stolen you guess, but it’s real furniture.
  22.  
  23. “Impressive. Definitely a step up from the rest of the hive.”
  24.  
  25. >”Please. You don’t expect ME to live like the drones, do you?”
  26. >Well, no, you didn’t.
  27. >Stupid comment, smartass answer you suppose.
  28. >The bedsheets are white, with a blanket the same color as the Queen’s hair over them.
  29. >Must have taken a while to pilfer.
  30. >”Since all you have is that thing, you can leave it over here.” She nods to a nearby nightstand.
  31. >You set your sole belonging on the thing.
  32. >”It grows late, and I am weary. Let us retire.”
  33. >The bed is overly large.
  34. >Some rich pony probably got gipped out of this bed.
  35. >That’s good, as two five foot tall changelings take up quite a bit of space.
  36.  
  37. >Next morning.
  38. >You wake up with Chrysalis’s back pressed against your stomach- abdomen- thorax- whatever.
  39. >Your front legs are draped around her upper body.
  40. >You slowly slip away, smirking as she snores loudly.
  41. >Okay, anon. Time to try that hive-mind thing again. See what’s going down in Ponyville.
  42. >You close your eyes and feel out for the ten specific changelings and go through their minds one by one.
  43. >Despite being away from the hive, they operate together.
  44. >Right now they were apparently fixing the missteps of a clumsy gray Pegasus.
  45. >When offered aid, they ignored it, preferring to work alone, something that the cyan Pegasus offering help decided was fine with her.
  46. >Good, you think, they’re getting along okay.
  47. >Ironically the bunch aren’t that social, despite being part of a hive.
  48. >Funny, but somewhat understandable.
  49. >You aren’t sure how Chrysalis would take it, but you send a command.
  50.  
  51. “Relax. Befriend. Integrate.”
  52.  
  53. >You murmur.
  54. >This prompts the ten insects, now finished with their task, to converge on the blue pony, who steps back, nervous.
  55. >You facehoof.
  56.  
  57. “Not what I meant.”
  58.  
  59. >You scan over their ranks and find the highest ranked one.
  60.  
  61. “Offer to shake… hooves.”
  62.  
  63. >You hope that works.
  64. >The lead changing, having more advanced armor, steps forward and offers a hoof, its expression not changing as you can see from the other changeling’s points of view.
  65. >MAN this is disorienting.
  66. >Blue pony hesitates but cautiously returns the gesture.
  67.  
  68. “Good.”
  69.  
  70. >You break the direct connection and leave them to their devices.
  71. >You hear a groan behind you as Chrysalis awakens.
  72.  
  73. “Good morning.”
  74.  
  75. >”It’s mid-afternoon,” she points out.
  76.  
  77. “I didn’t want to say anything,”
  78.  
  79. >You reply.
  80.  
  81. “Checked up on the squad we sent to Ponyville. So far so good. No casualties, either side.”
  82.  
  83. >”Good. Now get over here; I’m hungry.”
  84. >You understand what she means.
  85. >You head back over and join her for some more bugpone sexytimes.
  86.  
  87. >A quickie later she’s satisfied.
  88. >It technically was breakfast after all, so you weren’t too surprised that’s all she wanted.
  89. >This is the point where you go about your separate ways.
  90. >You head to the watering hole and Chrysalis goes to do something with that Spirit Emerald.
  91. >You don’t know what.
  92. >As you drink you start to think back on how you had to command the changeling to shake hooves.
  93. >Certainly there must be a way to give them SOME problem solving skills.
  94. >You reach out to the Changeling next to you.
  95. >What do you know, it’s the one you talked to when you got here.
  96. >You dig into its mind and find what appear to be locks of some kind on its higher thought processes.
  97. >After some careful exploring you find out what blocks what, and find the problem-solving one.
  98. >You could unblock it in just this changeling and see about testing it.
  99. >Then again you might anger Chrysalis with this, as she seems to value her control.
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