Chapter 71

10-30-15, 5:02 P.M.

Jeremy walked into the castle, to find Luna having a conversation with Celestia. The two of them were quite far along, bellies noticeably swollen. The two brightened when they saw him, and made their way over. They’d become quite slow over the past few months, due to the sheer weight of carrying their offspring, but had refused all offers of assistance from the castle staff.

“How are you today?” Luna asked, carefully pronouncing the ‘you’. Clearly, she’d been speaking in public again – Luna only ever used her old quirk around him in private nowadays.

“Pretty good. Ready for Nightmare Night?” Jeremy teased, leaning in for a quick hug and a kiss from both of them.

Luna sighed. “I am… ‘opting out’ of this year’s celebrations. I discussed things with Princess Twilight, and she has agreed to inform Ponyville. A shame, yes, but in my condition I am loathe to transform, even if by illusion.”

Jeremy nodded thoughtfully. “I was thinking about that. Glad to see you’re one step ahead of me, as usual,” he remarked playfully, gently poking Luna on her withers. She raised a hoof to push him back, but thought better of it as her belly strained to accommodate the movement.

They retired to Celestia’s bedroom. A few months ago, the castle physician had decreed that Celestia and Luna were to reschedule for shorter work hours, due to their conditions, and the two Princesses had reluctantly agreed. Jeremy could still remember the argument the two had with the doctors over their work hours, and their stubbornness brought an indulgent grin to his face every time he remembered it.

Hasbro, as diligent as ever, had immediately taken steps to cover up the Princesses’ pregnancies once informed. Jeremy wasn’t sure what they were doing, but Mary assured him that it was working.

In addition, another piece of joyous news had been revealed to them: Princess Cadance had gotten pregnant as well. Jeremy had initially drafted plans to conceal this as well from the human audience, but Hasbro had contacted him asking about details, saying that they planned to include it in an episode. Nonplussed, Jeremy had given them what he knew, and shortly afterward, the episode had come out. Jeremy still wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the ‘Fourth Wall’, and he was glad someone else was taking care of it.

They had barely relaxed for an hour when a changeling burst into the room, hackles raised and panting in exhaustion. Jeremy immediately sprang forward protectively, but upon realizing the changeling was one of his own he relaxed his stance somewhat.

“What is it?” he asked, modifying his tone midway through the sentence to sound less demanding.

“Our Queen requests your presence, it’s absolutely urgent. Her egg is hatching!” the drone replied excitedly. Jeremy’s expression broke into a wide grin, and he looked back at his two wives, both of whom merely gave an urgent nod. With no further permission needed, Jeremy turned and followed the changeling, fairly racing out the door.

The portal to the changeling hive had remained at Jeremy’s laboratory, though its security had been reinforced somewhat. The lime green wormhole was now featured in its own room, hermetically sealed off from the rest of the lab and hidden behind a solid steel door that could be opened from the inside and a keycode lock. Only Jeremy ever knew the code – he changed it every day, using a random number generator app on his phone. It was a bit crude, and would never keep out a human burglar, but most ponies had never seen an electronic lock in their lives. Punching in ‘1337’ and giggling to himself slightly, he opened the steel door and the changeling led him inside. Jeremy stepped through the swirling hole in reality, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

The other end of the portal had been moved to Chrysalis’ own lab, which had been massively expanded as well, changelings still digging into the mountain in order to create more suitable space for their Air Force. Jeremy had always been tempted to ask just how Chrysalis managed to move 50-odd planes around without anypony noticing, but he always forgot. Today was no exception – he had more important matters on his mind. Pausing a moment to brush off a drop of water that had landed on his neck, Jeremy shuddered slightly but determinedly walked on, a glint of excitement in his faded blue-gray eyes.

To his shock, the main atrium of the Forest Hive was taken up by changelings of all colors. They were all crowding around something in the center, but parted as soon as they caught sight of Jeremy. Feeling strangely like Moses, he slowly walked forward, his changeling escort having disappeared into the crowd. As he caught sight of a familiar flash of teal hair, he increased his pace.

Queen Chrysalis was in the center of all the commotion, surrounded by a few changeling guards who were keeping the populace at bay, as well as the other Queens, who simply looked at him and exchanged smiles amongst themselves. In her hooves, she cuddled a smaller changeling, who had verdant green hair and a dark green carapace. The tiny changeling foal turned to look up at him, and Jeremy’s heart melted when he caught sight of her wide, two-toned emerald-and-peridot eyes.

“Well, hello!” Jeremy greeted, reaching out to tousle the foal’s hair. She smiled, nuzzling into his hand. Jeremy attempted to pull it away after a moment, only to find the foal had latched on, her lack of teeth made up for by the strength of her bite.

“Mmph!” the changeling protested, presumably wanting more petting.

Jeremy chuckled, and took a seat next to Chrysalis, rubbing his free hand over the tiny foal’s belly. “What’s her name?” he asked, and the High Queen smiled.

“In fact, I was waiting to announce that until you arrived. Changelings typically are given their names when they grow out of being a wriggler into a nymph, but in honor of your human tradition, I’ve decided to name her right now.”

The atrium had fallen dead silent – even the other Queens were hooked. Chrysalis whispered into Jeremy’s ear, and he grinned and nodded. Queen Chrysalis got the foal’s attention, making sure the tiny changeling was looking up at her.

“Little one, I have decided your name. You are to be Princess… Hespera,” Chrysalis announced.

For a moment, all was silent. Then the entire atrium burst into applause, startling both Jeremy and the newly christened Hespera, who buried her face under his shirt in an attempt to escape the noise.

Recovering quickly, Jeremy put a comforting hand over the changeling foal. He wondered what she was going through – one day old, and all this noise and confusion was happening. It must be awful for her, he decided. He should probably do something to get her away from all the noise.

“Maybe we should give her some quiet time?” he asked Chrysalis, unheard over the commotion. She nodded, and gave him a dismissing gesture towards her own quarters. Smiling, Jeremy gently picked his new foal up and carried her over to Chrysalis’ cocoon, Hespera staring up at him with her wide, curious eyes as he took a seat on the edge.

“Hi, sweetie,” Jeremy whispered, once he had closed the door and the noise died down. “I’m your dad.”

From the look on Hespera’s face, Jeremy could tell she hadn’t understood a word – but apparently the expression on his face told her what he meant. She leaned in for a hug, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. Jeremy calmly watched her, but his mind was in a special kind of turmoil. I have a daughter, he kept thinking to himself. He repeated it over and over, with different inflections, as though the message would sink in better. His eyes began to water, a few tears falling to the floor as he pondered this. Of all the things that had happened to him, this felt the most surreal – he had offspring. Who could have thought?

Some time later, he snapped out of his trance to find Hespera’s chest gently rising and falling – the poor changeling filly had fallen asleep. Smiling slightly, Jeremy gently lowered her into Chrysalis’ cocoon, just as the latter opened the door and quietly walked in.

“She’s all tuckered out,” Jeremy told his wife, and the two of them smiled down at their foal.

“She’s beautiful,” Chrysalis murmured, and Jeremy nodded.

“Just like her mother,” he added, and Chrysalis blushed green as she leaned closer to him.

“Beautiful enough for a kiss?” she asked, closing her eyes.

Jeremy laughed softly, and kissed her back, running his tongue over her sharp teeth. “Beautiful enough for more than that,” he teased.

She smiled, eyes watery, and looked over towards Hespera. “So… are you planning to raise her like a human, or like a changeling?” the Queen asked, and Jeremy pondered for a moment.

“Both,” he decided, and Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “She’ll have experience from both cultures. Hopefully, the best of both worlds,” Jeremy thought aloud.

Chrysalis smirked. “What about education?” she wondered.

“Maybe we could send her to a human college when she’s ready?” Jeremy answered after a moment of thought.

“Hmm,” Chrysalis hummed.

With nothing more to say, they spent a moment more gazing down at their new daughter. Their first moment as a family.

A few minutes later, audible thumps were heard as Myocia stomped her way to the door. Peeking around the door, Myocia attempted to quietly enter the room, with all the success of a herd of elephants.

“Hi,” she greeted, and Jeremy raised an eyebrow at the informal expression. Seconds later, Ethan poked his head around the door, looking distinctly nervous. Jeremy recalled Ethan had never liked visiting the Forest Hive, even after he'd been forgiven.

“Sup,” Jeremy greeted the two of them quietly, giving a pointed glance at the still-sleeping Hespera.

“She’s so adorable,” Ethan murmured. “Can I hold her?”

Jeremy gave a soft chuckle. “Maybe when she’s not sleeping,” he replied, and Ethan nodded amicably.

Myocia leaned over the cocoon, and planted a surprisingly gentle kiss on Hespera’s cheek. The tiny foal stirred in her sleep, leaning towards the source of the kiss and smiling, and Myocia grinned back. “We haven’t had a queen foal in so long… I wonder if she’ll be as interesting as her mother?” Queen Myocia jibed.

Chrysalis laughed. “Interesting? You wound me, Myocia! I was intending to be terrifying…” the Forest Queen retorted.

“You couldn’t be terrifying if you transformed into Nightmare Moon!” Myocia rebutted, and the two Queens giggled together like schoolchildren.

“How come I don’t get a kiss like that?” Ethan whispered aside to Jeremy, who shrugged.

“Cause you’re not a super-adorable baby changeling?” he tried. Ethan grumbled, but appeared to accept this logic.

“What’s she like?” Ethan asked after a moment of silence between the two of them, gesturing to Hespera.

“What do you mean?” Jeremy inquired.

“How smart is she? It seems like Equestrian foals are a lot more intelligent than human ones,” Ethan clarified.

“She seems friendly. Likes hugs, and love. She doesn’t understand language yet, but she does get social cues,” Jeremy recounted.

“So she’s one step ahead of you in that regard,” Ethan jabbed.

Jeremy grinned. “She’s two steps ahead of you, then,” he retorted.

“Hey, what are you doing for Halloween tomorrow?” Ethan asked.

Jeremy shrugged. “Luna’s staying put, so I thought I would stay with her. Be miserable together, you know?” he joked, and Ethan snorted in amusement.

“Shouldn’t you be taking care of your new daughter?” he prodded. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“That too, obviously. Honestly, some of these days I think you don’t even know about the portal between here and Canterlot.” He was met with silence from the older ex-military.

“…Ethan?” Jeremy prompted a moment later, concerned.

“God… dammit… of… course…” Ethan groaned, kneading his eyes with his fists in frustration.

“Wait. You actually didn’t know?” Jeremy queried, surprised. He thought for sure that Ethan had even used that very portal before – but, now that he stopped to remember, he couldn’t recall a single time the older human had done so. Huh.

With the event over, the various hives slowly dispersed back to their respective locations. The other Queens stopped by to say hello, Myocia and Ethan having already left for wherever the Roaming Hive was currently stationed. Finally, it was just Jeremy, Chrysalis and Hespera, alone in the chamber.

“Mind if I stay the night?” Jeremy asked. Chrysalis shook her head.

“I’m going to be creating a smaller cocoon for little Hespera, so if you enjoy the sounds of me hacking up spit for a few hours…” she joked.

Jeremy gave her a somewhat amused glare. “Sounds like a wonderful time for everyone. Need any help with anything?” he asked, half out of politeness and half wondering if he could actually help in any way with such a distinctly alien topic.

“No, but thank you. Er, actually… could you help me with these?” Chrysalis asked, gesturing to a stack of papers in the corner. Jeremy picked one up to find that it was a trade report.

“Oh boy, more economics. You’re lucky I took that job in the Business department at Case, or I’d have no idea what half this stuff meant,” Jeremy quipped.

“And now?” Chrysalis asked, grinning.

“I get… about fifty-one percent of it,” Jeremy replied, laughing as he began to check through a list of exports and prices.

There was a rumbling sound from deep underneath the hive, and Jeremy looked downward in concern, as though hoping to use his nonexistent X-ray vision to spot the cause of the problem.

“What was that?” he asked as the vibrations slowly subsided.

“Sounds like it came from the mines. I think some of our mining changelings said that the bedrock down there was getting too hard to mine through, so they’re resorting to controlled explosives,” Chrysalis answered. Jeremy gave her a concerned look.

“As long as they’re being safe about it – the last thing I want is a cave-in to crush them,” he worried.

Chrysalis chuckled. “You worry far too much. Relax, it’ll be fine. They received training from those Canterlot explosives experts, remember? They came in last week,” she reminded him.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “You mean the ones that couldn’t tell me if what they had made was nitroglycerin or triacetone triperoxide? I could have given them a quick hint: One’s solid, and the other’s liquid!”

Chrysalis laughed even harder at his frustration. “Oh, give them a break. Equestrian chemistry is laughably far behind Earth chemistry, you know that.”

Jeremy grumbled something inaudible in response, and Chrysalis gave one last chuckle before she went back to making her small cocoon for the still-sleeping Hespera.