Author's Notes:

Hey everyone. In this chapter there's a special appearance from Zinnia from Delta Guardian I had a lot of fun working with its authorThe Emerald Nightingale Hope you enjoy. (Spoilers for that story by the way.)

A couple of days had passed and Jason, Chrysalis, Wisp and I were ready to let Wisp lead us to her hive. Jason was in his new dress made by Rarity. It was a simple green and black dress, though Jason hadn’t let her do anything else to it. I would’ve told him that he looks very pretty in it, but he’d probably tear my throat out if I did. During the journey I glanced over towards Chrysalis every once in awhile. Despite my best efforts, the things she had said back in the infirmary were still bothering me. A part of me kept telling me that she had said it just to rile me up. But could I take that chance? I would have to talk to her in private if I wanted to get to the bottom of it all.

The day quickly passed and Wisp looked the most tired of all of us. We all decided it would be best if we stopped for the night. Setting up camp was a quick affair and the four of us were sitting around a small campfire.

“So, how much farther until we get to your hive, Wisp?” I asked.

“If we were flying I would say a day or so. But this is the first time I have walked to it.”

“Yeah, spontaneously growing wings isn’t something I’m capable of,” I said with a sigh.

“If I wasn’t stuck like this, I’d just fly us there myself,” Jason sighed, brushing some hair out of his face.

“Well it isn’t all bad,” I mused. “This’ll give us plenty of time to think of what to say to this Queen Chiton.”

“Tell her her plan is stupid,” Chrysalis said simply, keeping her eyes out as we walked.

“Okay, but maybe we should find a more subtle way to say something like that,” I said with a chuckle. “How would you have reacted if someone walked into your hive and just said your plan was stupid?”

“Ugh, you sound like a pony...” she rolled her eyes, “I think I’m best qualified to be making the plan here.”

“So you would’ve been fine with a stranger walking up to you and saying your plans are stupid?” I asked again.

“It has more weight coming from a fellow changeling,” she countered, sounding rather annoyed.

“Alright, if you’re so confident that it’ll work, I won’t stop you,” I relented with a shrug.

“Of course it’ll work,” she snorted, sounding a bit offended.

I decided to ignore her tone and moved onto a different topic. “Hey, we’re all around a campfire, does anyone know any ghost stories?” I asked with a grin.

“I dunno,” Jason sighed, looking into the fire, “You got any?”

“Uhh, if I do then I’d probably butcher it,” I said with a chuckle. “Horror wasn’t exactly my thing back on earth.”

“What about you Wisp? Got anything?” Jason asked, turning to the drone.

Wisp looked up in shock, not expecting to be asked something like that. “I… I suppose I know some stories that the nurses would tell us to make sure we were careful when we were among ponies.” She admitted slowly. “But I do not think the lot of thee would like those stories.”

“Well tell us,” Chrysalis said, cuddling up with Jason, “If you do, I’ll tell you some of mine.”

Wisp let out a long sigh at that, “Fine, if thou wishes to hear one then I shall tell thee.” She then took a deep breath as she began her story. “This is a tale from long ago. A time before the three pony tribes were one. A drone was sent out to gather some love from a unicorn village. She took the place of a village elder who was not long for this world. She did as the elder did and read stories to the children of the village and gathered their innocent love. This drone had heard her own stories about the dangers of ponies. How they hated members of their own kind, let alone the various species around them. However, over time this drone came to love the village of her own will. The bright smiles of the foals as they eagerly awaited a story filled her heart with glee. This was not to last.”

“One day, she had decided to let a villager know the truth about her. This pony called for the rest of the village and the drone was tied up and put into the village square. Then, the village’s carpenter came forward with a saw and began to saw at the drone’s horn. She cried out in pain and begged for forgiveness but the carpenter paid her no mind. When her horn was finally removed the village threw stones at her and beat her, leaving her for dead at the village gate. Without her horn she was cut off from the rest of her hive and had no way to give them what love she had collected. She began to wander and died at the entrance of her hive,” Wisp finished, shuddering as she ended the story.

“What kind of village was it?” Chrysalis asked, looking into Wisp’s eyes.

“It was a unicorn village.” Wisp repeated. “If they had some specialty then that I do not know. The nurses never told me that.”

“I’ve heard stories from the old times,” Chrysalis said, closing her eyes, “Back then, harmony had not yet spread throughout Equestria. The ponies were so full of hate and malice that they almost drove themselves to extinction.”

“Yes, I have heard stories that the princesses have extended hands of peace towards others. But we changelings are still left in the dark and treated as things of myth or monsters.”

“That’s what we’re trying to change, Wisp,” I told her as I placed a hand in her shoulder.

“You should try,” Chrysalis said, taking a breath, “We managed to bring ponies and changelings together in harmony, we have more love than we know what to do with...enough that drones have started to live for themselves.”

“What dost thou mean?” Wisp asked. “In what way are they living for themselves?”

“We get enough love from just living among the ponies that, harvesters no longer need to harvest. Most have left their hives to explore the world and make their own way.”

“Explore the world on their own?” Wisp repeated, pondering the idea as she stared into the campfire. “I wonder if I would be able to see such a thing within my own lifetime.” She said with a dry chuckle.

“I don’t see why not,” I told her with another pat on the back.

“Got any other stories?” Jason asked, looking at Wisp.

“None that I remember quite as well,” Wisp said with a shake of the head. “They are all very similar anyway.”

“I see...” Chrysalis said, nodding her head sagely.

I looked around the group and figured that Wisp had probably been through enough for the day. “Hey guys, maybe we should call it a night? I’ll take the first watch.”

“If you insist!” Chrysalis smiled, laying down, pulling Jason close to her.

“As thou wishes,” Wisp said with a shrug.

I sat at the edge of the camp, leaning against a tree as I looked up at the moon. I felt the smile from my face fall as I thought about what Chrysalis said in the infirmary again. If what she said was true then I had no idea what to do about it. I let out a long sigh as I ran my left hand through my hair. Time passed and the sounds of night increased.

“Everyone have a pleasant night?” Chrysalis asked, smiling as she sat at the fire, cooking a few fish. Jason was still asleep, snoring a bit.

“Yup!” I said with a thumbs up. “And nothing happened under my watch,” I finished, turning my thumbs up into a salute.

“I also caught you making eyes at my mate,” she narrowed her eyes slightly, flashing her fangs.

“Hey, I was just worried about the baby!” I said in an attempt to save face. “I wasn’t even slightly tempted by Jason’s attractive female body.”

“I sense emotion idiot, lust happens to be one of the more blatant ones.”

“I am pleading the fifth on this one,” I said with a nervous chuckle.

“Relax, I’ll only be pissed at you until we can resolve the ‘herd’ issue,” she smiled, levitating over a fish, “Now eat.”

“Alright, but I just hope that Morning is alright,” I said, taking a bite of the fish. “Do you know what it’s like to be in one of those cocoons?”

“Love is slowly extracted, while the cocoon keeps the subject alive,” she explained, eating her own fish.

“Okay, and are there any side effects from being in one for a few days?”

“Not much some drowsiness and a bit of memory loss.”

“Glad to hear it. You’d better wake up Jason and give him his breakfast so we can head out soon. I don’t want to know what’ll happen if we take too long.”

She nodded, waking the sleeping jotun up. Jason mumbled, immediately grabbing a fish, biting into it.

“Glad to see you back in the land of the living,” I said with a smile.

“Shudup...” he muttered, letting out a loud yawn.

“Is Jason always this cranky in the morning?” I asked Chrysalis.

“You have noooo idea,” Chrysalis said with a laugh, “Sometimes we have to throw a torch on him.”

“Huh, what made you think to do that the first time you tried it?”

“Well, cold water doesn’t work and he’s ice so...we thought fire would work nicely. We already have fire proof sheets due to Heimdall.”

“And you weren’t worried about accidentally melting your husband?”

“Does he look like a snowman?” she asked, giving me a flat look.

“Good point.” I admitted with a sigh. “But all this magic and norse god stuff is still really new to me. How am I supposed to know what’s a stupid question?”

“Well if he was a snowman he’d be melting right now now wouldn’t he?” she pointed out, seeming to enjoy making me look stupid.

“Alright Chrysalis, I get it. Me stupid, me shut up now,” I relented.

“Only if you understand,” she said with a laugh, a wide grin on her face.

“I do, believe me, I do,” I groaned. “Are you almost done with your breakfast, Jason?”

“Yeah...” he grumbled, taking the last bite, tossing the stick at my head.

I dodged the stick without thinking and quirked an eyebrow at him. “Why did you do that?”

“You’re too happy...” he grumbled, brushing some hair behind his ear.

“Yeesh, Chrysalis can you check if we have any coffee in our supplies? I’d rather have cranky Jason gone before he throws something else at me.”

“I don’t drink coffee...it’s disgusting...” Jason made a face before stretching out, cracking his joints.

“Alright, but Chrysalis is going to have to walk between us. I’d rather you didn’t poke an eye out.” I said, getting up and stretching as well.

He grumbled in acknowledgement, standing up and brushing his dress off, stifling off a yawn. Once the camp was all packed up we continued on our journey. The next few days passed rather quickly. At the end we made it to the entrance of a well hidden cave at the edge of the deserts of the badlands. Wisp motioned for us all to stop and turned to talk to us.

“This is it. My hive lives in this cave.”

“Alright, are we all ready for this?” I asked, my hand sitting above my gun.

“We’ll be fine,” Jason said, drawing his sword, cracking his neck rather loudly.

“Alright, lead the way Wisp.” She nodded and our group followed her into the mouth of the cave. I had to suppress a shiver as I got a strange feeling from the cave. When my eyes adjusted to the dim light I saw a substance similar to what I had seen back in Jason’s world lining the walls. Wisp took us deeper and deeper into the cave and something felt off.

“Jason, do you notice something?” I whispered to him.

“Shh...” he responded, narrowing his eyes, looking around.

“What is it?” I asked, a little quieter than before.

“They know we’re here...”

“I figured, we’re pretty deep and we still haven’t come across a drone.”

He kept moving, his eyes scanning the walls. He kept his breathing quiet, being as silent as possible. I followed his example and scanned the cramp space as much as possible.

‘It’d be pretty easy for them to surround us and use the cramped space against us. Sheer numbers might trump skill in a situation like this.’

“Wisp, where are we exactly?” I asked her.

“We are not far from where we would keep those that we extract love from.”

“And is that an open space?”

“T’is more open than most places in the cave.” She answered.

“Alright then, keep going,” Jason said, glaring back at her.

Wisp nodded and in what felt like minutes we were in a fairly open chamber that was lined with strange crystals that gave off a soft glow. The room was also full of giant pods made of a goo-like substance.

“As soon as we touch a pod they’re going to spring their trap...” Chrysalis commented, looking around the room, frowning.

“Well, that’d be one way to get the attention of their queen,” I commented, scanning the room for Morning. “Probably not the smartest way, but still, a way.”

“You see your girl?” Jason asked, kneeling down by a pod, looking inside it.

“Not yet, it’s a little hard to see in here.” I answered, walking down a row of them before I stopped dead in my tracks. “Hey Jason, you might want to check this out,” I told him with a slack jawed look.

“What?” he asked walking over, keeping his guard up.

“Just look in the pod. It kind of looks like… a human is in it.”

He took a closer look before his eyes went wide. “Zinnia!?” he shouted cutting open the pod, grabbing at the woman.

Zinnia dropped out of the pod like a sack of rocks, crumpling quickly to the floor as the strange green liquid within pooled around her. She lay there for a couple of seconds before her eyes flew open, shooting to her feet with a gasp.

“Stryker!” she cried, looking around frantically. “Wait… Chryssi!? Where’s Jay, and who’s the hot chick and the blonde hunk?”

“Whoa calm down there.” I told her. “My name’s Vash, and the hot chick…” I started, trying to suppress a snicker, “is Jason. Who are you? And how did you get in my world without me summoning you?” I asked.

“Wibbly wobbly space-time shit,” Zinnia dismissed. “But rewind a second - Jay’s a chick! You didn’t tell me you could do that! What’re your titties like?”

“Zinnia this is not the fucking time! Why the fuck are you here in a changeling hive?!” Jason asked, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her vigorously.

“Wow, chill crazy mama!” The Draconid laughed, grabbing Jason’s arms and smiling at him. “I was try’na tame my Void Dragon, and he just sorta dropped me here. Changelings jumped my bones as soon as I touched the floor.” She pouted, crossing her arms. “Didn’t even try and have their way with me…”

I blinked in confusion for a second. “Did you just complain that you weren’t sexually assaulted?” I asked.

“Well, I probably wouldn’t be the one walking away with mental scars, but… yeah.” Zinnia smiled, sauntering over to my side and running her finger up my arm. “What about you, lean and mean? Wanna have some fun?”

“Sorry, part of the reason we’re here is to rescue one of my marefriends.” I told her with a nervous chuckle. “Plus, caves are a bit of a turn-off for me.”

“Hey, caves are great!” Zinnia cried. “I live in a cave!” She paused, looking behind her. “Anyway, does your marefriend happen to be a Naga?”

“Yeah, do you see her pod or something?”

She just smiled, a blue flame erupting around her hand and forming a claw. She walked up to a random pod and punching into it. The liquids inside sloshed out, coating the floor one more before they were followed by a familiar tail. “Huh, Nagas are pretty tight,” she said before pulling her hand back and licking them clean…

Ew.

I ignored the double entendre and rushed over to Morning’s side. She was still woozy from the experience and I put my hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling. “Morning, are you okay?” I asked her, concern evident in my voice.

“V-Vash, what art thou doing here?” She asked groggily.

“Well, it turns out that Hot Streak isn’t really a pony, so we figured that you would be captured and decided to come help you with the peace talks… and I accidentally got Jason pregnant.” I muttered the last part hoping to get that past her while she was still recovering from the love extraction process. Unfortunately, her tail shot out like lightning and wrapped itself around my neck.

“What did thou just say?” She asked, her eye twitching. All I managed to get out was a gurgle and I feel my vision going blurry. Before I could black out I took my hand and flicked the tip of her tail.

“Ahh~!” She cried as her grip on my neck loosened enough for me to wriggle free.

“Wait, is that why Sugar Daddy’s a Sugar Mama now”?” Zinnia shrieked, rushing over to Jason’s side and grabbing his arm. “I’m preggers too, Jay! We can be baby buddies!”

“You are!” Jason cried, instantly placing his hands on Zinnia’s exposed stomach. Wait, she’s wearing yoga pants and a tube top. The fuck?

“Aww, who’s the daddy?” I asked, walking over to them and ignoring Morning’s death glare.

They ignored me. “But what about…” Jason asked, trailing off. Even Chrysalis winced.

“Not a problem! Mesprit said that my Draconid Egg mixed with your Jotun baby batter made, like, a super-species! Our little girl’s gonna be just fine!”

“So you and Jason huh?” I asked scratching the side of my head. “Were you aware of this Chrysalis?”

“Aware of it?” Zinnia cried, laughing. “Dude, her horn was forehead-deep in me! You know she can turn into a chocolate-skinned delight?”

“Whoa, that sounds pretty interesting…” I said, trailing off.

“Dude, you have no idea,” Zinnia breathed. “Wait... “ She pushed past me, walking up to Morning as though in a trance. “Dude… your tits are huge!” Without warning, Zinnia reached out and tried to squeeze Morning’s breast, only to come into contact with her armour. “Dammit! Why metal no go squish!?”

Morning rolled her eyes at the young woman. “T’is the point of metal armor. And as for thy… astute observation. Yes, my breasts did grow when I was turned into a naga-pony.”

“So how good are you with that tail?”

“I don’t know, ask Vash,” Morning said with a smirk.

“Hey! I thought we agreed to never talk about that again!?” I cried out, my face turning bright red.

“And I thought that thou would not get someone else pregnant. We were both wrong,” she shot back.

Zinnia looked between us, grinning madly. “You didn’t…” she asked, laughing uproariously when Morning just nodded. “Oh, sweet Arceus that’s priceless!”

“It’s not funny!” I growled, face still beet red. “It destroyed my innocence,” I whimpered.

“Dude, there is no innocence,” Zinnia said with a grin, throwing her arm around my shoulders. “Only kinky sex. You mind if I join you two in the bedroom some time? I’ve got a few tricks I could show Morning that’s make her cum harder than if she was getting pounded by a team of clones.”

“You’d have to ask her,” I grumbled, still unhappy about being reminded of what Morning did with her tail.

“That depends,” Morning said with a smirk still on her face. “Do any of those tricks include ways to punish Vash?”

“Like ninety percent of them! And the clone thing? I can do that too.” As if to prove her point, Zinnia took on a brief white sheen before an exact copy of her appeared beside me.

“Most interesting. Dost thou hear that Vash? I might be willing to forgive thy transgressions rather quickly. By the way, dost thou have a way to clone Vash?”

“Unfortunately, no. I can only clone myself.”

“That is quite disappointing. But then again, one Vash is already difficult to manage,” Morning finished, shooting me a look.

“Really? He’s that big?”

“Hmm? Oh no, I did not mean it in that way.” Morning clarified.

“Aww.”

“But…” Morning said with a bit of a blush. “I have no complaints about his size.”

“Not to be rude or anything,” Jason said, sounding pretty grouchy. “But shouldn’t we get going now!? We’re here for the Changelings, remember?”’

“He’s right,” I said with a clap of my hands. “Now is not the time to be distracted by sex talk. We’re on a mission to bring peace between ponies and changelings.”

“Ugh, fine!” Zinnia sighed. “But I’m screwin’ someone later. I’m horny as all hell!” She turned and started walking down a random corridor, hands behind her head. “Oh, and Morning? I really hope it’s you two.”

“That corridor leads to a dead end!” Wisp called out.

Zinnia walked back in, smiling. “Which way?”

“Considering we hath broken two pods open, a group of drones should be here shortly to take us before the queen.”

“Good,” Jason said, his gaze hardening, “We need to have words with her.”

Zinnia shrugged, sitting on a rock and leaning back on her hands. “So how long ‘till they get here?” As soon as she said that a large group of changelings rushed into the room through various tunnels. Surrounding us in a matter of seconds. “Oh, good! They’re punctual!”

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition...” Jason muttered dryly.

“Their chief weapons are fear and surprise,” I said as I put my hands in the air.

“Really?” Zinnia asked, walking up to one and poking it. “Guess I’m pretty disarming. I’m not scared or surprised at all.”

“We’re not exactly normal though are we?” Jason asked, putting his sword away.

“Nah, guess we’re not.”

“Take us to your queen,” Chrysalis spoke to the drones, “We would have word with her.”

“Thou art not in the position to be making demands,” One said.

“I could drop all of you in thirty seconds.” Jason commented, crossing his arms.

“Really?” I asked with wide eyes. “It would take me like a minute. Though that would probably be dumb luck rather than skill.” I finished with a chuckle.

“I’d be somewhere in between,” Zinnia added. “Maybe forty, forty five.”

“Seriously, just take us to your queen before this gets messy.” Jason urged, getting annoyed.

“Very well. the queen wishes to see those that infiltrated her hive,” The drone that had made herself the self-appointed leader barked. “Bind their hands and bring them to Queen Chiton.

“I like them!” Zinnia cried. “They mah peeps!”

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this,” I called out. “Nobody’s given me a safe-word!”

“Not Safe For Woona!”

“Suck it up Vash,” Jason snorted, holding his hands out.

“Verily Vash,” Morning insisted as she held out her own hands. “Hopefully this will be a simple matter to resolve.”

“Well!” Zinnia groaned, shaking her head. “By the luck of the Multiverse, as soon as someone says something like that, things go down the drain. I’m ready for a fight, don’t know about you guys.”

“Give her extra bindings!”

“Oh, charming.”

“If it’s any consolation, I welcome our new insect overlords,” I said with a big grin.

“Someling quiet the big one!” The leader called out.

“Zinnia, save the sexy talk for later, we actually have things to do,” Chrysalis said, giving the drone that approached her the stink eye, “I don’t have hands you idiot.”

“Thou has a horn that can give us trouble.”

“Cap her horn instead, we don’t have time for this!” the leading drone barked again.

“Get it over with,” Chrysalis hissed, glaring at the drone. The drone did as she was commanded and placed a cap on Chrysalis while another did the same to Morning.

Once the drones were done binding all of us the leader barked out, “Now, take them to the queen!”

Once everyone was properly bound, the drones began leading us through the twisting tunnels, eventually coming out in a large, open chamber with a black throne in the back, a much taller changeling sat there looking not much different to Chrysalis, but where she was green, Chiton was dark purple. And she was anthro, obviously.

“Queen Chiton?” Zinnia called out, gaining the larger changeling’s attention. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you!”

“Oh, if it isn’t the being that we found in our hive not too long ago… and it seems that thou brought a few others that look like thee,” Chiton said with a smirk. “And what grievance wouldst thou like for me to address?”

“Well my friends here aren’t exactly happy that you threw Equestrian guards into your pods, but I need to talk to you about your guards. They missed out on an essential part of intruder-jumping that every hive-like community must have!”

“She isn’t…” Vash muttered, eyes wide.

“She is,” Jason sighed.

“They didn’t have sex with me!”

If I could’ve at the time, I would’ve face-palmed. “Zinnia, now really isn’t the time for this. Can you do us all a favor and distract yourself with thoughts of Morning’s tail or something?”

“Mmm…” she groaned, shuddering. “Naga tail…”

I let out a long sigh at that. “Hopefully that’ll give us a few minutes of peace and quiet and allow us to get back on track. I’m sorry about that Queen Chiton,” I said with my best smile. “We think our friend here is experiencing some strange side-effects from being in one of your pods. Please forgive her.”

To her credit, Chiton didn’t seem to have reacted much to Zinnia’s outburst. “Quite, so what brings all of thee to our humble little home?” She asked, crossing one of her legs across the other.

“Well, we were hoping to try and broker a peace deal between your hive and Equestria,” I said as carefully as I could.

“Is that so? And what might the terms of this deal be?” She stood, walking towards us. “Would my hive have to submit to Equestrian rule? Would my changelings - my children - be left to the mercy of the ponies and their hatred?!”

“No Your Highness,” I told her, bowing my head. “I do not have specifics for this deal, but if it’s anything like the deals that Equestria has made with other nations then your hive will be recognized as its own sovereign nation.”

“That’s a pretty sweet deal, ya know,” Zinnia said, having somehow freed herself from her binds and had popped up behind Chiton. “You should take it. Arceus only knows what’ll happen in the future for the changelings if they don’t secure it now.”

“Oh Jesus Christ, she isn’t doing what I think she’s doing, is she?” I muttered under my breath.

“I know exactly what will happen,” Chrysalis spoke looking at Chiton, “And it’s really not a good thing.”

“And how dost thou know what will happen?” Chiton asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Oh, a bunch of us are from the future.” Zinnia said dismissively. “Don’t ask us to tell you anything, though. No spoilers.”

“And why should we believe thy claims?” Chiton asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Because I lived it. I have as all changelings have since the rule of Empress Chiton. In the dark, starving, scrounging up every bit of emotion just to keep the larva fed,” Chrysalis spoke, her gaze hardening, “All because YOU made the wrong choice now.”

“That’s some heavy shit right there!” Zinnia cried, patting Chiton on the shoulder before falling into a fit of giggles. “Sorry, I think that goop messed with my head.”

“Zinnia, sit down and be quiet!” I hissed, before returning my attention to the changeling queen. “Chiton,” I started. “I know this is a lot to swallow, but I give you my word that we are sincere in this peace offer. And if you have any doubts about that, then I’ll let you take me captive while you broker peace with the princesses.”

“She can keep me captive,” Jason said, stepping forward, “I have more value than Vash afterall...”

“Um, no you don’t?” I said with a quirked eyebrow. “The last time I checked, I was the one dating the princesses of Equestria, not you,” I finished with a chuckle.

“Yes but you're not the one that's pregnant now are you?”

“Yeah, and that’s why I don’t want you to be the captive,” I shot back.

“I’ll do it!” Zinnia shouted from the corner of the chamber.

“I’m not gonna let you do it either!” I growled at her.

“Why not? I can call a Void Dragon to bust me out at any time!”

“Oh for the love of, will you all shut up?!” Chrysalis asked, growling at us.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Sorry, Cray-Chry!” Zinnia called out, giggling. “Oh! I should go pranking with Pinkie!”

Chrysalis just sighed, placing a hoof on her muzzle.

“Thank thee,” Chiton said with a nod towards Chrysalis. “All of their arguing was starting to get grating.”

“Ponies I tell you, so high maintenance...” Chrysalis mumbled, shaking her head.

“Who are you calling a pony?” I asked in mock offense. “I would prefer it if you refered to me as a Plant and or Human.”

“Draconid!” Zinnia cried, now lying down and staring at the ceiling. “I want these walls! They’re creepy!”

“Silence!” Chiton called out as she gave Zinnia and I a dirty look. “Can the two of thee go one minute without prattling on about something else?”

“I think I could manage that,” I told her with a nod. “What about you, Zinnia?”

“I want to fly!”

“I hate you both so much...” Chrysalis groaned, facehoofing.

“Hold on,” I said, trying to get things back on track. “I might have a way to keep Zinnia from talking for a while.” I turned to Zinnia and with a straight face told her, “Hey Zinnia, go to sleep. You can fly in your dreams!”

“I can fly in real life!” she replied, stretching out her large purple wings before yawning. “But a nap does sound good…” She curled up, rolling onto her side and quickly falling asleep.

“Well, glad to know my experience of babysitting a high roommate did not go to waste,” I said with a sigh. “That should keep things quiet and sane for a while.”

“Did that really just happen...?” Jason asked, looking down at Zinnia with a raised eyebrow.

“Probably,” I dismissed with a shrug. “I’m done asking questions, remember?”

“So...Chiton what's the plan here?” Jason asked, looking at the queen.

“Simple, gather as much love from these ponies as possible, gather intelligence about the princesses and their forces, and if at all possible take over Equestria so that our hive shall never want for food again. At least, that was our original plan. If thy offers about peace are genuine then we may, may, reconsider this course of action.” She mused.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, her horn charging up breaking the cap. She gave off a bright pink light, causing the changelings to just stare in wonder. “More love than you’ve ever felt in your life right?”

“How didst thou manage to collect all that love?” Chiton asked, managing to maintain her composure.

“Simple: I made peace with the ponies,” Chrysalis said simply, “We get so much from them that, over half my harvesters can live life away from the hive.”

“Interesting, if thine words are true then this would be quite the deal for our children,” Chiton replied, placing a hand on her chin in thought. “I shall go to the princesses of Equestria and hear what they have to say about this deal. However, our trust is not so easily earned,” She continued, a dark look spreading across her face. “We shall keep one of thee as a captive in order to prevent anything from happening to us and our changelings while we are in the midst of our discussion.”

“I understand Chiton, and as I said before. I am the princesses’ mate, so I’m the most logical choice,” I reminded her.

“I think I should do it,” Jason argued, shaking his head.

“Jason, we’ve been over this,” I told him with a glare. “I’m not letting anything happen to that baby.”

“And I can kill them all with a flick of my wrist.” he argued.

“And that’s another reason why you shouldn’t be the captive,”

“If it will keep the two of thee quiet then we shall take both of thee captive,” Chiton interrupted.

“I don’t know, what do you think Jason?” I asked.

“I’m fine with that,” Jason said nodding.

“Whelp, there you go,” I said with a grin. “Looks like you’ve got two captives now.”

“Lovely,” Chrysalis sighed, shaking her head.

“Just think of it this way Chrysalis,” I started. It was either this or the two of us would’ve kept arguing about it.”

“Just be careful,” she trotted over to Jason, pulling him down into a deep kiss.

“That goes double for thee,” Morning told me as she gave me a kiss of my own.

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” I said when we pulled away from each other. “I’m a lot more capable than I look.”

“Just don’t touch em’ until we work it all out, that sweet ass is mine!”Chrysalis affirmed, placing Zinnia across her back.

“Just be sure to let the others know about us being captives with as much tact as possible,” I said waving my bound hands.

“Of course, are you coming?” she asked, turning to Morning.

“Yes, as loathe as I am to leave Vash here. He has made his choice and I must do my part to make sure that this peace deal happens,” She said with a sigh as she slithered over to Chrysalis.

“We shall talk on the way back...we have much to discuss,” Chrysalis nodded, heading to the door.

Chiton and a few other drones followed after them. Leaving us alone with a few of the drones. “So… does anybody have a deck of cards?” I asked, breaking any awkward silence before it could form. “I think it’s going to be a while before they get back.”

Jason just shrugged, “I’m going to to do some studying.”

“How do ya plan on doing that? Does this place have a library we passed by that I wasn’t aware of?”

Jason sighed, his bindings suddenly icing over. He easily broke out, moving over to sit down against the wall. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a strange book, which he proceeded to start reading.

“Uh Jason, do you mind doing me a solid?” I asked, holding out my bound hands with a weak grin.

He threw a blast of magic at me, covering a large portion of me in ice.

“Th-thank you,” I said with a shiver, breaking the bonds.