Chapter 29

12-30-13, 6:07 A.M.

Jeremy rubbed his eyes as he walked into the hive, anticipating an ambush at any second. He was therefore surprised to find Chrysalis speaking with another changeling, this one with green coloration only slightly more vibrant than Chrysalis’ own. It wasn’t from the hive, judging by the other changelings hissing as it passed by. As Chrysalis saw him, she motioned him over. “Good, good, just who I was looking for,” she said, switching to English. “Care to explain yourself to my resident psychotic murderer?” she asked the other changeling, who visibly shifted. Jeremy simply stared impassively, carefully not reacting to her comment – clearly it was meant to be a threat, but it hit home all the same.

“We’ve… moved up the day of the Trial,” he falteringly managed.

“When?” Jeremy asked, still feigning calm.

“It’s… today,” he mumbled, and promptly fled, Chrysalis’ changelings snickering. Jeremy looked at Chrysalis in outrage.

“Today?!” he exclaimed. Chrysalis shrugged.

“Hey, I don’t like it either, but it’s true. Apparently, this is an attempt to interrupt our training. They think you’ve got some sort of secret weapon, and were hoping to stop you from finishing it.” Jeremy groaned.

“Well, they succeeded – although, to be fair, they’ll be worse off from that decision than me,” he considered. Chrysalis smirked, using her magic to bring over two boxes. Jeremy stopped his internal musing to examine the larger one.  “The sleeper gun, right?” he asked.

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at him. “Not the name I would’ve chosen, but yes. Luna finished it early as soon as I told her, although it’s a prototype model, so it’s not quite stable.”

Jeremy frowned. “If it’s going to break on me midway through, that’s going to be problematic.” Chrysalis shook her head.

“We can use magic to fix it from afar, provided we’re close by.” Jeremy nodded understandingly. He opened the other box to find a second portal gun, as clean and smooth as the first.

“Aw yeah!” he enthusiastically commented. “I was beginning to miss this thing.” Chrysalis grinned.

“We made it harder for you to break – as useful as it was last time, I don’t think it would be very safe if you dropped it and it went nuclear.” Jeremy chuckled, and went back to focusing on the other gun, stashing the portal gun in his suit.

“Okay… well, this one's not the best,” he remarked as he picked the sleeper gun up. It was very lightweight – Jeremy felt like it would break if he so much as dropped it. “But it should be good enough. So… where is this ‘Trial’ taking place?” he asked. Chrysalis took him over to her room, where a massive map covered a large section of the wall. A huge red circle was marked off, and Jeremy noticed that it was mostly open terrain. “Lot of fields… not many places to hide… looks good to me,” he concluded.

“No, it isn’t. This is the overhead view – the arena itself is actually underground,” Chrysalis explained.

Jeremy stared at the map for a while, before uttering “Son of a dick.”

Chrysalis nodded sympathetically. “Thankfully, you’ve spent some time in caves – this should be much the same, only without all the crystal formations,” she reminded him. Oh yeah. That. Jeremy rolled his eyes as he remembered his short trek through the caves under Canterlot – he had been half dead from lack of food, and he had been rescuing Cadance on top of that. It wasn’t exactly an unpleasant memory, but Jeremy didn’t really like to remember any of those first few days in Equestria.

“Alright, so the arena’s in a cave, it’s starting today, and I have a working but unstable version of the sleeper gun,” he concluded. “Today is already terrible,” he finished under his breath.

“There is an upside,” Chrysalis mentioned. Jeremy raised an eyebrow at her, and she continued. “If – Once you get out of that arena, Luna mentioned she would have a portal back to Earth ready.” Jeremy smiled.

“That actually is an upside, thanks.” Chrysalis looked away, frowning. “…What?” Jeremy asked.

“It’s just… are you really so eager to go back to your home?” she asked.

“Um… yes? The portal would be constantly open, like that one,” he replied, pointing to the office portal.

“But I wouldn’t get to see you as much,” Chrysalis protested. Jeremy sighed.

“Hey, I don’t like it either, but I do have to get an education. I wouldn’t feel right otherwise,” he informed her. Chrysalis lowered her head, and Jeremy immediately felt terrible. Then he felt conflicted – he did have a right to educate himself, and she knew it. “I don’t know, maybe you could come with me or something,” he thought out loud.

“To… Earth?” Chrysalis asked, seemingly touched. Jeremy gave a single nod.

“We could hang out, and I could show you Earth stuff,” he mumbled. To his shock, Chrysalis hugged him.

“That sounds wonderful – count me in.” Jeremy patted her on her hair, still very confused about this turn of events.

Chrysalis had since left to make preparations for her delegation moving out to the arena, as well as to round up Luna, who was apparently staying up into the daytime now that she had heard. While they were gone, Jeremy reflected on Chrysalis’ drastic change in personality. She had started as the queen he had watched on the TV show, but quickly became more… happy. Upbeat, even. What was up with that? Jeremy decided he’d ask her once he got out.

12-30-13, 12:22 P.M.

The planning phase had finished, and it was time to move out. Fully dressed in his suit and helmet, Jeremy rode on the back of Luna as she flew to the meeting area. It hadn’t been the most convenient arrangement, and Luna complained about his weight more than once, but a half hour into the flight she seemed to have grown accustomed to his added mass.

"Jeremy, may we speak with you a moment?" Luna asked as she flew a short distance away from the rest of the hive.

"Sure I guess. Not like I have much choice in the matter," Jeremy joked. Luna smiled, but her amusement was quickly dampened.

"It's just... we feel... we feel jealous, Jeremy," Luna forlornly stated. Jeremy looked at her, surprised by her sudden change in demeanor.

"And why do you feel that way?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound like a moron. Luna looked down at the ground below, as though hoping to find her answer.

"Well... Tis' just... When we started this relationship with thee, we had never assumed it would expand. We had always assumed thou wouldst... only want us." Seeing the look on Jeremy's face, she hurriedly pressed on. "But we do not blame thee for thy choices, please do not think that! We're very happy that our sister and Queen Chrysalis hath found happiness in thee as well. But we're... I'm... afraid, too. Afraid that if I kept feeling this way and told nopony, I would turn back into the monster I was before..." she finished, head drooping. Jeremy immediately reached out and stroked her neck, trying to find the right words to say.

"Well... I'm glad you told me instead of keeping this bottled up. But... I don't know what to say, Luna. I love you, but I love them, too. Maybe you should talk to them about it?" he suggested, but Luna vigorously shook her head.

"Nay! They'd... they'd hate me!" she exclaimed, before covering up her mouth with her hooves - thankfully, the nearby changelings didn't seem to have heard.

"No they wouldn't!" Jeremy argued. "Celestia's your sister, she couldn't possibly hate you. And Chrysalis... she's not like that. And I want to respect your wishes here, and let you keep this to yourself, but I couldn't do that to you, Luna. You need to talk about this, it'll only get worse otherwise. So, please. Please let us help you through this," he finished. Luna bit her lip, and didn't respond for a few minutes.

"V-very well... we shall talk to them, if it makes you happy," Luna gave in. Jeremy hugged her warmly, and she gave him a half-smile as they flew back to the group. Chrysalis, who was leading the flight, looked over at them.

"Something happen?" she asked. "You two were talking for quite a while."

Jeremy shook his head. "Tell you later," he answered, and Chrysalis looked at him sharply before merely nodding.

They touched down in the middle of a sunny clearing deep in the Everfree Forest, next to a cave opening. Of course, it wasn’t sunny for long – in the first five minutes, as the other delegations began to arrive, the clouds quickly took over the sky, and it began raining. Groaning in dismay, the others retreated into the cave, and Jeremy reluctantly followed – it was the first time he had seen rain in Equestria, and it was actually rather enjoyable. Sensing his thoughts, Luna flashed him a smile, and he gave her one back through the suit before following into the mouth of the cave.

It was dark enough that Jeremy couldn’t see anything, until a blinding green glow lit the room. Night vision, Jeremy supposed as he looked around – some changelings from other hives were approaching him, evidently trying to scare him. Jeremy remained still – he didn’t want them to know he had night vision, after all – until they were right on top of them, then leaned forward and poked the first one square in the middle of the forehead. It jumped back, and after a bit of frantic hissing the others jumped back as well. Jeremy made sure his suit microphone was off before he chuckled – another useful feature he had discovered, and it was certainly better than a few air holes around the back of his neck.

The changelings gathered around Chrysalis, evidently expecting her to do something. Chrysalis began hissing in her own language, and Luna mentally translated for him. Welcome to the 342nd Trial, Chrysalis began. None of you will perish tonight – most of the changelings perked up at this, confused – if only because we have a much worse fate in store for you when I succeed. A changeling attempted to interrupt, and Chrysalis stopped her introduction to viciously bite him in the neck. The changeling fell to the floor, twitching slightly, and Jeremy and Luna exchanged an alarmed look before Chrysalis calmly continued. After this, there will be no more violence among our kind. We will feed forever, and live in peace, and be happy. Whether you like it or not. Seemingly finished, she stepped out of the circle, and it quickly disbanded back into the respective groups – Jeremy could only see green with his night vision, but he thought he counted no less than seven respective groups of changelings. He vaguely wondered what the color of their shells were.

Another changeling took her place, and Luna began translating again. Chrysalis, you must have hit your horn in that invasion, they started, and Jeremy glared at it. Allying with ponies? With aliens? Using their alien weapons instead of the advantages we changelings were given naturally? This ends now, Queen. Starting today, your insanity will be no longer tolerated. Jeremy crossed his arms, and Luna too glared at the speaker. Noticing this, the changeling orator directed his words at Jeremy directly. Alien, though I doubt you can understand me, you are no more worthy of being here than that moon princess, it stated, and Jeremy felt the brief urge to attempt to rip it in half before Luna sent a quelling gaze his way. The Trial has always been fought by changelings alone – and no matter how strong you think you are, Chrysalis’ hive was nothing compared to ours. If Jeremy could have projected onto his screen an expression of rolling his eyes, he certainly would have.

With this, the orator too left the circle to hissing that Jeremy wasn’t sure meant applause or jeering. After a moment more of internal hissing amongst the various changeling populations, Chrysalis beckoned to Jeremy. “You’re to go down to the largest part of the cave, and wait there. When I give the signal, you’ll begin. Is your weapon ready?”

Jeremy nodded, giving her a terse “Yes”.

“Is your suit charged?” Feeling somewhat henpecked, he affirmed once more. “Then get going,” Chrysalis admonished, and Jeremy began walking down the cave path, feeling nervous but also strangely excited – the thought of actually fighting something made him feel good.

//{Half Life 2 Episode 2 OST – Sector Sweep}

Finally, they entered into a vast underground cavern, with beautiful stalactites hanging off of the ceiling and a subterranean lake over to his left. Most of the cave was still open space, but the walls had plenty of holes, outcroppings, and other places to hide. “Ready?” Chrysalis whispered over his headset. Jeremy almost missed this, because the 'music' feature of his suit was back with a vengeance.

“No, but are you?” Jeremy whispered back, forgetting his outside microphone was still off.

“They’re all going to start on my signal,” she whispered back. She spoke again in the changeling language, this time audible from even their position, and Luna translated. Three. Two. One… Chrysalis paused for a moment. GO! Jeremy immediately whipped out the weapon and began firing around him, and changelings dropped like flies. Thinking that their comrades were dying, the other changelings fled deeper into the cave, and Jeremy picked a group to pursue. Thankfully, the changelings that went down stayed down, not moving or even so much as twitching.

Some of the lighter-shelled changelings – yellow, maybe? – engaged him at once, biting and flying around him. Unconcerned, Jeremy sprayed the weapon around him, and they too dropped. After the first few fell prey to the sleeper gun, the rest stayed back, wary of him. Jeremy gave a brief, unseen smile as he attempted to hit them from afar. Unfortunately, these ones were good at dodging, and after a moment they took to the air, heading for an outcropping on the top of the cave. Jeremy looked at them, unamused – he’d get to them later.

As tempted as he was to mess with the changeling contingents, Jeremy remembered he had a job to do. Unfortunately, the weapon did not have a long-range mode, so he had to get closer. He ran after the nearest group, causing them to scatter – some of them even turned invisible, and Jeremy grinned as he switched on his infrared camera. There was one, hiding behind a rock. Jeremy pretended he didn’t see it, and just as it was about to jump out he whipped around and blasted it with the sleeper gun. It fell silently, and he continued on, surprising a few who had hidden in a miniature hole. Eventually, the whole group of that color was lying at his feet, gently breathing.

After the initial fight, most of the changelings had by now hidden deep in the subterranean trenches and floors of the massive cave. On one hand, Jeremy was almost constantly creeped out by the surroundings – on the other, this was easily one of the coolest places he’d ever been. Caves like this back on Earth were restricted from access, presumably for public safety as well as ecological preservation. Here, he could break off stalactites that changelings were hanging onto all he wanted – in fact, it was probably encouraged. Just then, a beep from his headset signaled that Chrysalis was trying to contact him. “Yes?” Jeremy answered as he wandered through the cave, searching for more changelings.

“It’s - oomph! – gotten pretty brutal over here. The other hives are trying to directly kill me and Luna – seems they brought assassins,” Chrysalis haltingly mentioned, sounding as though she were fighting for her life.

“What the hell! Should I get up there?” Jeremy asked.

“No! Stay where you are, and finish the job – we need you to win in order for this nonsense to end. I can handle these idiots, especially with Luna at my side.” An explosion sounded in the background, and Jeremy could vaguely hear Luna shouting angrily in her royal Canterlot voice as changeling screams echoed through the headset.

“Ahaha. Yeah, I guess you two can handle yourselves. Just… don’t die, alright?” he asked, still concerned.

“Love you too, hairless ape. See you in a bit,” Chrysalis mockingly signed off. Grinning once more, Jeremy continued his hunt.

//{end}

Unfortunately, he found them – almost every single remaining changeling had grouped together by the lake. As soon as they saw him, as one they dived in, vanishing from sight. “…The hell?” Jeremy wondered out loud.

“What is it,” Chrysalis answered, sounding much calmer.

“Literally every other changeling just dived into the lake when they saw me.” Chrysalis thought for a while, and the rustling of paper was heard in the background – evidently she was consulting the map.

“If I’m reading this right, there might be another series of caverns that connects to the lake – ordinarily you’re supposed to take a much longer way around.” Jeremy frowned.

“Well, screw that! I can swim, unless it’s more than fifty meters or so.” Chrysalis muttered something to Luna, and she just as inaudibly answered back.

“It should be closer to twenty – and Luna says you really need to learn our unit system.” Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“Add it to the list of things I’ll do when I get back,” he replied, and gracefully dived into the frigid waters.

Next Chapter: Chapter 30 Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 30 Minutes