mylittlejamjar | Neurosis 01 [Visual]

[The week was nearly over, and the air was starting to clear significantly... the town wasn't quite as blue as it was Monday morning. Literally or figuratively. Yet, trueberry-induced awkwardess hung in the air even still, liable to last a few more days yet. Now seemed like the perfect time to strike.

He'd spent most of the week watching from a vantage point nopony would question - after all, they were so worried about blurting out their deepest secrets that nopony paid the suspiciously new potted plant near Town Hall any mind, even though it was blatantly wearing a ratty toupee. And with that, he learned of the situation... including what was going in in town, and how he had gotten to a place like Ponyville anyway, when normally changelings still couldn't get within miles of Canterlot.

Making sure he's not seen, the changeling reverts back to his normal form, unrolling the nearby scroll and working its magic.]

Greetings, my little ponies. I see that I have arrived in your world during a bit of a... crisis. Something in the air compels you to speak truths uncontrollably, yes? I notice a large number of you are highly uncomfortable with the idea, and yet it is highly liberating, is it not? Being able to vent what is truly hidden deep in your minds. Perhaps it would help you to seek a neutral third party in this situation, to allow that truth to flow without fear of judgement.

I would like to introduce myself. I go by the name "Hain" amongst ponies, and yes, I am fully aware that I am a changeling. However, I have nothing to hide. I shall not pretend to be some random pony whom you have never met simply to garner love from you - I will do that, instead, with honesty and promise.

You see, I am a deserter of my changeling hive, and as of such have to subside on whatever love I can gather from ponies directly. To that end, I have taken up profession as a therapist. I help ponies with their problems, and in lieu of coin, they provide me sustenance. It is actually truly a remarkable deal, yes?

And it sounds to me like many of you need the assistance. While I do not have a place of residence as of yet, my non-existent doors are quite open for any and all of you.

However, do bear in mind that I do not work pro-bono. As I said, I ask only for my next meal, but that is payment I am unwilling to negotiate at this present time, as a sheer matter of self-preservation. I also do not take kindly to being short-changed.

Regardless, my offer is on the table. Allow me a meal, and I will listen to your problems, even help you through them.

And I assure you; despite the teeth, I will not bite.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...It is a trifle hard to ignore, given the duplicates of the pink one running around.

That said, while it adds weight to your claims that you think of the hive first and yourself second... there's also that nasty incident before I spawned. Something about trying to subvert the entire pony kingdom to a changeling land? Are you going to suggest that you don't know about that, either? Or are you just too blissfully unaware to realize the problems inherent in such a scheme?

You must be referring to the Canterlot Wedding. That I certainly remember...

(Her tone sure says a lot about that incident than Chrysalis herself does.)

My most important goal is to ensure my subjects don't go hungry. Is it truly wrong for a queen to make sure her subjects don't starve?

Is ruining your food source truly the right way to ensure that? Those that you didn't change would instead be drained to death with a full - and growing - hive feeding from them. A short-term fix to placate your insufferable ego.

This is why you shouldn't concern yourself with the specifics; Just as I found Equestria, I can find another viable source. Equestria's love will sustain us for quite a long time.

Long enough, in fact, for me to find another place that will sate our hunger and make us the unstoppable force that all will know!

[He's had this argument before. And he's NOT in the mood to have it now. So he'll cut to the chase.]

Fifty years, assuming that all ponies are kept as ponies and none are taken into the hive. Assuming that no larger changeling hives exist than your own. Assuming the hive has the power to overtake the pony princesses in direct combat, as certain queens are totally unable to properly maintain a disguise under a pony's admittedly weak scrutiny. Freshly-spawned drones do a better job than the hive's memory suggests you did.

There is an awful lot of assuming. You're risking the hive based on taking chances you know are not definite, for a food source that, while plentiful, will be decidedly finite.

Exploit the ponies, however, and you will have a food source that never goes dry. If they willingly give the love, they will not need to be forced into it. That is why we have the power to assume the form of others. It's not something to be used in petty political schemes.

Why go through so much effort to play with your food when you're just going to eat it anyway? What can be given away so easily can just as easily be taken by force; by attaining the relationship with ponies you speak of, the changelings will have to surrender as the inferior species, ever dependent on the ponies giving us our food as if we're nothing but pets to them...is that what you really want for the hive? For everyone to live in misery?

Besides, you discount one very important fact: various worlds and universes have been connected to this particular Equestria. There exist entire worlds filled with untapped love, worlds that may have even more food for us than Equestria! Once I learn exactly how so many others are coming to and from here, I'll use those methods to bring the hive enough love to last an eternity! No longer will we have to scrape by with the bare minimum or submit to eternal inferiority; there's so much room to become something greater than what we are...that's all I want for the hive; to become greater.

[...Yes, that was exactly how the argument went in his Equestria, too, save for the 'figure out how to infect other worlds' part. While that interests him, he's certainly not going to deal with her to get more info. So there's one last parting shot:]

Figure out the way to do that and I'll accept that your delusions of being a warlord have merit, my Queen.

[He makes sure to put as much venom into those last two words as possible.]

Until then, I'll stand by my belief that you're a psychotic witch that puts your lust for power before the well-being of the hive.

[And that's that. He's not going to discuss this with her any more. The years he's spent as an exile have given him enough insight to know this battle is largely inconsequential to winning the war.]

You're welcome to continue thinking that while putting your own well-being before the hive's. I'm sure that'll fan your flames of rebellion.

Oh...and be sure to tell your patients I said hello, won't you?

(And with that, Chrysalis folds up the scroll and ends the feed.)

Neurosis 01 [Visual]

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