Title:           AiE: Welcome To the Swarm [Part 17]
Author:          TheUnbr0ny
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/jauxkEn1
First Edit:      Wednesday 19th of September 2012 07:49:21 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Wednesday 19th of September 2012 07:49:21 PM CDT

>The decision was tough, but you had to make it.
>You were sure your family missed you, but you had new responsibilities, and those included Chrysalis.
>Besides, this was more exciting than moving boxes around all day.
 
“No. I have new responsibilities here and now. To the swarm. To you.”
 
>Thank fully she seemed content with that answer.
>Bullet dodged, life saved.
>”Come along,” she commands.
>You stand and shrug, gathering your wallet and following her.
 
“Where are we going?”
 
>You ask.
>”Isn’t it obvious? That pitiful little room isn’t fit for a king. You’re sharing with me now.”
>Oh.
>Wait, what?
>Well it isn’t like you two are strangers.
>You should have seen this coming.
>You follow into a massive room with what appears to be furniture.
>It’s mostly mismatched, stolen you guess, but it’s real furniture.
 
“Impressive. Definitely a step up from the rest of the hive.”
 
>”Please. You don’t expect ME to live like the drones, do you?”
>Well, no, you didn’t.
>Stupid comment, smartass answer you suppose.
>The bedsheets are white, with a blanket the same color as the Queen’s hair over them.
>Must have taken a while to pilfer.
>”Since all you have is that thing, you can leave it over here.” She nods to a nearby nightstand.
>You set your sole belonging on the thing.
>”It grows late, and I am weary. Let us retire.”
>The bed is overly large.
>Some rich pony probably got gipped out of this bed.
>That’s good, as two five foot tall changelings take up quite a bit of space.
 
>Next morning.
>You wake up with Chrysalis’s back pressed against your stomach- abdomen- thorax- whatever.
>Your front legs are draped around her upper body.
>You slowly slip away, smirking as she snores loudly.
>Okay, anon. Time to try that hive-mind thing again. See what’s going down in Ponyville.
>You close your eyes and feel out for the ten specific changelings and go through their minds one by one.
>Despite being away from the hive, they operate together.
>Right now they were apparently fixing the missteps of a clumsy gray Pegasus.
>When offered aid, they ignored it, preferring to work alone, something that the cyan Pegasus offering help decided was fine with her.
>Good, you think, they’re getting along okay.
>Ironically the bunch aren’t that social, despite being part of a hive.
>Funny, but somewhat understandable.
>You aren’t sure how Chrysalis would take it, but you send a command.
 
“Relax. Befriend. Integrate.”
 
>You murmur.
>This prompts the ten insects, now finished with their task, to converge on the blue pony, who steps back, nervous.
>You facehoof.
 
“Not what I meant.”
 
>You scan over their ranks and find the highest ranked one.
 
“Offer to shake… hooves.”
 
>You hope that works.
>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.
>MAN this is disorienting.
>Blue pony hesitates but cautiously returns the gesture.
 
“Good.”
 
>You break the direct connection and leave them to their devices.
>You hear a groan behind you as Chrysalis awakens.
 
“Good morning.”
 
>”It’s mid-afternoon,” she points out.
 
“I didn’t want to say anything,”
 
>You reply.
 
“Checked up on the squad we sent to Ponyville. So far so good. No casualties, either side.”
 
>”Good. Now get over here; I’m hungry.”
>You understand what she means.
>You head back over and join her for some more bugpone sexytimes.
 
>A quickie later she’s satisfied.
>It technically was breakfast after all, so you weren’t too surprised that’s all she wanted.
>This is the point where you go about your separate ways.
>You head to the watering hole and Chrysalis goes to do something with that Spirit Emerald.
>You don’t know what.
>As you drink you start to think back on how you had to command the changeling to shake hooves.
>Certainly there must be a way to give them SOME problem solving skills.
>You reach out to the Changeling next to you.
>What do you know, it’s the one you talked to when you got here.
>You dig into its mind and find what appear to be locks of some kind on its higher thought processes.
>After some careful exploring you find out what blocks what, and find the problem-solving one.
>You could unblock it in just this changeling and see about testing it.
>Then again you might anger Chrysalis with this, as she seems to value her control.