Carapace of Lavender

Chapters

2: The Princess and the Queen
3: Hunting the Hunters
4: Forest of our Mind
5: Torrent of Ashes
6:Friendship is Love
7: Ponyville
8: Ponyville pt.2
Interlude 1
9: The Hunt
10: The Aftermath
11: A Simple Walk
12: Ups and Downs
To Ashes
Epilogue
Prologue: The Proposal
1:Chapter 1. Carapace of Lavender

2: The Princess and the Queen

After Chrysalis suggested writing some of her experiences down after finishing that first lesson, Twilight took to it like it was her calling… or something like that. Either way it went well and she was enjoying it. The first lesson, though?... Well there was a reason she stopped where she did. She couldn’t even tap into her magical reserves like she knew she should be able to. She just didn’t know how. She brought this to Chrysalis’ attention the next morning, when the queen woke her from the bed they shared.

“Well, I will teach you your Changeling magic and hopefully that will jog your memory of how to use your own magic.” She answered. Twilight was satisfied with this answer, but only for a moment.

“But wait, does that mean this magic that I remember isn’t related to the Changelings?” Twilight asked. Chrysalis adopted a thinking expression as she beckoned for the girl to follow. Twilight followed and waited anxiously for her queen’s answer.

“Well, I guess put simply that is correct. It is not inherently Changeling, but we are not strangers to it. This magic that you remember is generally the ‘normal’ magic. A creature is considered a mage when they learn to channel and manipulate that magic. Since Changelings have their own magic, which is normally but not limited to just shapeshifting, mages are fairly uncommon among us.” Chrysalis explained. They had entered and left the massive hive chamber and now stood in the doorway of what seemed to Twilight as a massive mess hall-esq room.

“You must be very hungry, you haven’t eaten since your birth. I’m not talking about your natural hunger, I mean the hunger in your stomach.” Chrysalis said. Twilight thought for a moment and realized that she was indeed very hungry. The queen smiled and had Twilight follow her through the room. The tables were made of rather exquisite wood or carefully carved stone. Her carapace covered feet and toes clicked softly as she walked on the stone floor. For some reason she decided to focus on that clacking noise.

She was surprised a little bit, coming to a realization. She had been hearing herself make very similar clicking noise before, but at the time she had assumed it was others walking and rushing around. While most of it was them, it was an internal clicking noise, as if it were used for communication. Once again, Chrysalis seemingly read her mind.

“It’s not direct communication, but those clicking noises we all unconsciously make show a bit about what’s going on with you. Even for a Changeling some of these can be hard to make sense of, but they broadcast little things just as body language does. Quite a few of your brothers and sisters, namely those bred for battle and charged with the defense of the hive, can actually communicate fluently with these clicks and sounds. If you’d like I could have some of them teach you in time.” She explained as they walked up to a large counter with many rather well looking changelings were scampering around.

“Living in these mountains surrounded by a dangerous forest, food sources tend to differ between what we can grow and what we can kill. Many of the fierce predators are reduced to our prey, and the flora is particularly exotic.” Chrysalis continued, changing the subject, what what seemed like four small organic pods were handed to Chrysalis by one of the busy workers. Chrysalis handed two to Twilight and lead Twilight out. Neither of them spoke for a while, but before they left the room Twilight noticed that the many changelings in the room were splitting the pods open and sipping them, or picking various solids out of them and eating.

They reached the top of a hollow tower with their wings and settled at the top. They could see the surrounding areas in all directions for miles. To the north was a vast lake bordered by the mountain range, the rest was covered by a vast and sinister looking forest. Past the forest, though, were a few things of note. Directly south was a series of tiny lights on the land, seen barely as the sun had not yet peaked over the mountain in the early morning. To one side was a much larger and brighter spatter of lights and on the other was an in-between. Chrysalis pointed to each of them, naming them as cities.

“The city of Trottingham, Edinspur and the village of Ponyville.” She said, pointing at the largest first and ending with the smallest. Twilight felt something strange when she said Ponyville, but she decided to tuck that away. As she looked at the distant places she heard the sound of organic material splitting.

“As I was saying earlier, most of our food consists of game and what we grow. The fruits and some vegetables are juiced and blended to satisfy our thirst, and the flesh of the animals we hunt is cooked and sometimes dried. Different nourishment chambers like the one we were in will give you different food and drink and you will receive what you earn.” Chrysalis started.

Twilight looked and saw Crysalis crack open the second pod she held by biting the top and ripping it off. She chewed and swallowed it. What was this organic stuff anyways?

“Everyone does something to earn their food and their place in the brood. Roles change and shift as individuals come and go, but everyone does what they can. With their connection to my hive mind, I know what they have done and through that so do the individuals in charge of preparing and distributing nourishment. You have earned this meal by working hard to learn, even though you were just born. And this material is a material all changelings can produce. It has an immense variety of uses and can be ingested by other to recycle it.” Chrysalis explained. Twilight was starting to not be surprised by her ability to know what she was thinking by now.

Twilight nodded and bit open one of the pods. The liquid inside had a very good aroma, though it didn’t look all that appetizing. She tentatively sipped at it regardless and was surprised by the glorious fruity taste and light fizz to it. She coughed slightly as a very strong flavor overwhelmed her senses a second later and Chrysalis giggled softly.

“It seems this particular beverage is alcoholic.” She said with delight and took a much larger sip than Twilight did. Twilight should have known there was something like that about it, the scent had tickled her nose slightly. She opened the second pod and found some dried meat in strips and chunks. Something in the back of her mind told her that it was deer, and hte name for that style of dried meat was jerky.

“So, Chrysalis, are we just going to repeat yesterday until I get it?” Twilight asked as she plucked a chunk of jerky from the pod and put it in her mouth. It had a very distinct flavor that was very appealing to her.

“Today we will, but overloading your mind with one thing alone wouldn’t be the best course of action. Every day you will be taught or trained in something different. Today will be more on shapeshifting, tomorrow you will learn with the mages, the next day the defenders and so on. You will have natural and acquired affinities to certain roles and responsibilities and as time passes we will narrow it down to what you’re good at.” Chrysalis answered. Twilight smiled and nodded as she chewed the meat. She stared at the pod in her hand and suddenly a thought came to her mind, one that made her a bit wary of the organic material of the pods she had thoughtlessly consumed.

“How is the material recycled, exactly?” She asked. A particular image, namely that of how bees created their hives, entering her mind.

“The material is consumed and converted into a substance that resides within our bodies. That material can either be spit out to create solid surfaces and the likes or it can be further converted into the energy that our changeling magic uses. Don’t worry, these pods are made with that magic. You’re not eating somebody’s spit.” Chrysalis answered, ending with a giggle. That relieved her, but surprisingly not very much. Honestly it wouldn’t have bothered her very much, it’s a natural part of her race… right?

They consumed their meal in a sort of companionable silence, Twilight soon finding she quite enjoyed the alcoholic beverage. She somehow knew that it would take much more than that for her to show signs of intoxication. When they were both finished they came to a silent decision that they should start the shapeshifting training again and they returned to Chrysalis’ chambers.

When Chrysalis told her to continue what she was doing yesterday she didn’t do anything. Well, she wasn’t physically trying to force her form into that of Chrysalis’ at least. She was thinking hard, trying to focus on all of her internal and conscious and unconscious abilities and whatnot. If you can do something, shouldn’t you be able to figure it out on your own?

“Now you’ve got it, you don’t force yourself into the form of another. Think of it like your battle plates, how you imagined them moving into place. That wasn’t quite changeling magic, but it’s the same basic concept of willpower. Focus on your own image. You must know yourself in and out, every little ridge every single plate and everything that makes you you. There are certain things about you that you will come to relearn in time, but for now focus on everything that makes up your being at this very moment.” Chrysalis explained.

“What does that mean? Are there things I should be remembering that I don’t?” Twilight asked, confused. Chrysalis cringed slightly at her mistake, she probably could have worded that better.

“Well, Not really… I promise you that I’m not hiding anything from you, Twilight Sparkle, it was merely a poor choice in words. Try to shapeshift now, if you would.” Chrysalis replied. Twilight was a bit skeptical but she quickly dropped it for now and concentrated. This hasn’t been the first time the queen has implied that something was amiss like that.

But still, Twilight concentrated. She paid attention to every single little tiny detail. Be they her solid purple eyes, her oddly elegant carapace covered lips, her sharp teeth and fangs and the mysterious scratches and scar-like carvings scattered about her midsection and arms. She became acutely aware of her battle plating and the fact that what she had extended previously was not complete.

There was a sort of lower part of the mask, making the previous face covering sort of like a visor, and a part that covered her navel completely. There were also spines that extended from her forearms and shins that seemed nearly lethal if enough force was used and also claws that would cover her fingers and toes. SHe refrained from calling them out, but the more and more she studied herself the more she realized that she probably knew less about herself than any of her brothers and sisters of the brood.

It took until around midday, but Twilight finally managed to shift her form. It wasn’t even close, but her figure had matched Chrysalis’ and her lavender hair had gained a teal tint to it. Chrysalis was pleased by her progress, and they went to eat lunch. They returned to the chamber with pods of normal fruit juice in one pair of pods and something called ‘Lasher Stew’, which was apparently made from the meat of one of the very dangerous creatures in the scarred forest. When Twilight heard the name of it she felt an odd satisfaction. Before they could even open the pods, though, Chrysalis gave a troubled glance towards a direction and seemed to lose consciousness.

Worried about her Queen, Twilight quickly looked her over and found nothing out of the ordinary. It was just as if her mind was elsewhere, though now that she thought of it the queen could be ‘possessing’ another of the brood somewhere else in the hive. It took nearly fifteen minutes for her to regain consciousness, but she looked greatly troubled.

“Twilight Sparkle, it appears we will have a very important guest joining us for dinner. I will warn you now, this encounter will be very strange and possibly harmful to your mind, so steele yourself.” Chrysalis said quickly.

“Who is it? Would I know them?” Twilight asked.

“It is Celestia, the Princess of our neighbors, the humans. And no, you wouldn’t know her.” Chrysalis replied. Twilight was a bit unsatisfied with that answer.

“Should I know her?” She asked softly. Chrysalis gave her a strange look. It was as if she wanting to say something but at the same time didn’t want to in the slightest.

“Yes…” The Queen replied. Before Twilight could ask what that means there was a rather sudden flurry of movement. Pristine white wings and regal attire mixed with the lack of visible muscle or carapace and the feature of perfect skin told Twilight that this guest was definitely not a Changeling. It must be the human Princess, Celestia, then. Something deep within Twilight told her that she really absolutely should know this woman and that feeling was a strong one.

“That was coupled by the fact that the regal woman had nearly tackled her in a hug.

“Celestia, you really shouldn’t…” Chrysalis started but stopped. Celestia was in tears.

“I-I’m sorry, Chrysalis… I know… I am sorry, Twilight Sparkle… You should probably pretend that didn’t happen for now…” Celestia said, quickly stepping back from the girl and wiping her eyes. Twilight was very confused by this. Why did this woman she doesn’t know do something like that? Even with that gut feeling that told her she should know said woman.

“Ok, there’s something I’m not being told… Chrysalis, I thought you said you weren’t hiding anything…” Twilight said, not sure of what to think. Chrysalis sighed and Celestia had such a mixture of emotion adorning her expression it was impossible to read.

“I hid nothing from you, Twilight Sparkle. You are a changeling, you were born yesterday from a royal pod. That is the proof of that fact. I haven’t been lying to you about anything either, merely not telling the full truths at the same time. I told you that you will relearn things in time, did I not?” Chrysalis replied. Now that really confused Twilight. She didn’t know what to do. SHe was sitting on the bed, but without realizing she had pulled her legs up to her chest and the full extent of her battle plating had extended. It was probably in response to her feeling incredible vulnerable, having no idea what was going on.

“Chrysalis, we have much to discuss… “ Celestia said, almost darkly. Chrysalis sighed and nodded.

“Twilight, I’m sorry but what we must discuss is not for your ears. I know you’re confused and you have no idea what is going on, but when we finish I will come find you and explain what I can. Be sure to finish your meal, you need to keep your strength up.” Chrysalis said, walking over and gently holding the girl’s shoulders. Twilight looked up and the mask part of her plating retracted slightly. Chrysalis saw her face, then. There was so much going through Twilight’s mind, so many thoughts and emotions. She was running her brain ragged with all of it, and her face shows that.

She simply nodded and stood up, though. She retrieved her meal pods and bit the top off of one of them as she walked to the exit. She didn’t see, but Celetia cringed when she saw it and how she used her gossamer wings expertly.

Of all the jumbled and alien thoughts and feeling and emotions and everything going through Twilight’s mind, one thing stood out. What the hell is going on? Who was she? What was she? She really hoped Chrysalis could answer those questions clearly when Celestia left. She could still feel a tiny bit of warmth from the embrace, and for some reason they comforted her. The lingering feelings of Chrysalis’ touch calmed her a bit as she tried to piece together her mind again. Maybe she was going mad, but for some reason she felt a bit of excitement at trying to piece together this disaster of a riddle.

Author's Note

So I still haven't the slightest clue where the hell this is going, I'm just pulling all of this out of my ass to be honest, but I'm certainly enjoying the concept more than I originally thought.
What do you guys think? This was written in two different writing sessions so the flow might be choppy around halfway but hopefully it isn't too bad.

3: Hunting the Hunters

It was an hour before Chrysalis sat down next to Twilight atop the tower they ate on before. Twilight had been thinking and focusing and trying to figure out what was going on, but nothing seemed to fit together. Except one thing, really.

“You told me that I was a unique Changeling. Does that have something to do with the fact that I’m supposed to know her?” She asked her Queen.

“Simply put, it has everything to do with it. Or rather the other way around. I can’t tell you anything or even really imply much… It’s not to uphold some big secret, I assure you, but your mind is very unstable at the moment. In fact, the only thing that kept you sane before was your weak connection to me via the hive mind that is not yet developed. If I were to just out and tell you, your mind would be overloaded with information and everything all rushing in and back at once. The shock, combined with the clashing of your energies, would destroy your mind and possibly rip you apart.” Chrysalis explained. Twilight was worried by that, but something she had been thinking has to be answered.

“So, I’m not actually a Changeling… am I?” She asked. Chrysalis sighed and smiled at her.

“I was not lying when I said you are a full fledged Changeling. You are now, and there’s nothing either of us can do about that. Anything else is a truth you must find for yourself. For now, though, go ahead and do whatever you like. Explore, talk to your brothers and sisters, go find something fun to do or something like that. You made good progress in your tutorship today and you’ve been exposed to an incredible amount of confusion and stress, so you’ve earned a nice break. I will know where you are and I will let you know if I need our for anything. I expect you to be back in the chamber tonight and tomorrow morning I’ll let you choose which role you’d like to sample first.” Chrysalis answered and went on.

“But… I don’t know anything about this place, and my head is still swimming with questions and confusion.” Twilight retorted.

“Then all the more reason to go out on your own for a bit. Calm your head and have some fun, and you do know much about this place. You just need to focus your connection to the hive mind, or even just ask your brothers and sisters. You will know if they are available to talk on your own. Now go on.” Chrysalis retorted with a smile. Twilight didn’t move for a minute or two, but finally she got to her feet and disappeared back into the hive. Chrysalis sighed the kind of sigh you sigh when something incredibly big happens and you have no idea what to do about it.

Celestia was furious at first, in their contact between messengers, but in person she seemed much more calm and accepting of what happened. Exactly what happened was a mystery to Chrysalis herself, but what she did know Twilight would know when her connection to the hive mind develops in full. That was for another day, though. For now she had other things to think about. Things like being a full blown mentor to Twilight, like Celestia… she had no idea how to do that.

Twilight had no idea if it was the heavily alcoholic beverage she had acquired almost instantaneously or the rush of thoughts right before, but after she left Chrysalis everything was sort of a blur. She remembered everything, but it was all mashed together and she couldn’t make heads or tails of some parts. She woke up the next morning in bed and her head wasn’t splitting, so it couldn’t have been the alcohol. She looked around and found Chrysalis at what could be called a desk with a bored expression.

“Good morning, Twilight Sparkle.” She said, her expression turning into a smile as she stood.

“Good morning, my Queen.” Twilight replied, standing as well. She was about to ask what Chrysalis was doing, but the queen spoke before she could.

“I’ve narrowed what roles you could fill down to five based on what I’ve gleaned of you so far and what I know from your developing connection. Those five are learning magic, working with gatherers, hunting and working with the soldiers and defenders. Ideally you will hone your changeling magic one day and then move on to a different task or role every day, which leaves a day of rest. Sometimes a role requires more than a day, though, and more than a few require a large commitment.” She explained. She handed a list to Twilight in which there were three columns. The first was the role, the second a location and the third a name or series of names.

“Those individuals will teach you what they can about that role and will oversee your work thusly. You may visit them and learn from them as you please, but remember my suggestion of the daily routines. This will be entirely up to you, though, except for your training with me. Now, my student, which would you choose for your first day?” She continued. Twilight looked at the list and thought on it for a little while, about a minute or so.

“I want to work with magic, but I feel that doing so the day after my training with you might lead to me being burned out. I will try hunting today.” Twilight said.

“Very well, You should know the way to where the hunters gather being their excursions.” Chrysalis replied with a smile. Twilight gave her a quick bow and made her way out of the chamber. Chrysalis smiled and and sat down on the one chair in the room. She closed her eyes and became one with her hive mind.

These lessons with the different roles would serve as an even deeper lesson than Twilight could ever imagine. It wouldn’t be until she figured out what that lesson was for her to truly be a Changeling. Chrysalis saw everything her Changelings saw, heard everything, felt everything. Most importantly, though, she was a little part of everything. She found her hunting party and there she waited.

Twilight reached the small barracks chamber that she knew was where the hunting party gathered and entered without hesitation. There were four other Changelings there. They gave her a glance and then returned to managing equipment.

“I assume you know how to use this.” One of them, a female, said as she fluttered down from a high rack on her gossamer wings holding a large bow. It was nearly as tall as she was. She held it out to Twilight and she accepted it.

“I do.” She replied. The changeling woman nodded and pointed to a small pile of what at first seemed like extra equipment.

“You will find a quiver, tools needed to hunt, equipment for bringing back your kill and a pack to hold it all there. Organise it as you will, whatever is easiest for you. We leave when all members are ready so do not delay the hunt.” The woman continued. Twilight was about to ask for names, but something in the back of her mind told her that wouldn’t be best, at least not now.

She remembered hunting somewhere, but just barely, and all she remembered was a bow and the tools. She examined her equipment and was just slightly surprised to find that the massive longbow was in fact black wood and not organic material. The arrows were made of the material, though, and the arrowheads were part of the shaft and barbed.

She strapped the quiver on, which held seven arrows, so that it was nearly horizontal across her lower back. She realized that the bottom of the quiver was slightly adhesive, since the arrows didn’t move at all, which was quite useful while flying.

“The adhesive sticks to the head of the arrow and acts as a heavy anesthetic to anything but our own, like a tranquilizer.” The woman from before said without looking up from her work stringing her own bow. Twilight nodded and leaned the bow against the wall.

She looked at her tools and found a few identical knives, probably for preparing a kill, a much larger dagger, probably for defense, a few very large squares of folded paper-like leather and a set of hooks and pins to hold them together. They had to be for holding usable meat. There were also a few bottles holding sterilizing solution and two large canteens of water. The sterilizing solution was for cleaning the tools afterwards and the water was to drink and to clean your hands.

There was a black leather harness that had many rungs and slots to hold various sheaths and belts. She sheathed the hunting knives in similar black leather sheaths and put the four blades along her waist. The bowie knife she sheathed and placed onto a spot on the left side of her chest with the handle facing diagonally down. The pack leather she put into the larger pack and then gathered up the hooks and pins to put them together and put them into a pouch on the side. All of the sheaths for the daggers were lined with the same viscous adhesive as the quiver.

Twilight was pleased to find that she wasn’t the last to finish preparing, but the others had their own equipment on top of the essentials that was all she had. When they all finished within the next few minutes they all stood, grabbed their bows and with a soundless order they were in the air and out of a hole that opened up in the roof, leading directly outside.

Twilight was wondering how they would communicate as they flew, but she heard a series of clicks. She somehow knew to stop there, which was good since she would have smashed into a comrade should she have kept going.

“Do you see them, Twilight Sparkle?” The woman asked. Twilight looked and saw, amidst the blackened trees and leaves, what seemed like large felines with a spiked tail flailing about. There were three of them. She nodded and they all notched arrows on their bows, though the command was via another click. They refrained from drawing back, though. The woman, who was now obviously the leader of the party, looked Twilight in the eye and she was suddenly filled with an idea.

They would drop down in a dive to gain speed and then navigate through the forest around them as best they could. They would dash from one side of the clearing to the other taking shots when they could. With their speed they had a higher chance of missing, but Twilight had a feeling if they went slow then those spiked tails and massive teeth would go straight through her carapace.

The rush of information must have been the hive mind, at least that’s what Twilight thought. She nodded and without even a clicking command they all snapped their gossamer wings shut.

In unison they opened their wings and leveled out, scattering as they reached the trees. The Creatures were none the wiser, all they could hear was the wind and the slight buzzing noise that always came from the direction of the hive. Their heads perked up as the sound came closer, though.

The sound of something breaking through the dark leaves, a blur, a twang and a stinging pain was all that warned the things of their assailants. Five hunters means five shots a volley. The leader had pierced the eye of one creature, killing it instantly, and the other four had each hit the other two with their shots. One had three arrows in it and the third, which is the one Twilight singled out, had its tail pinned to the ground.

Before the dead creature had even hit the ground they were gone. Changeling defenders and soldiers may be the fighting force of the Changeling Hive, but even they had utmost respect for their brothers and sisters who were in the hunting parties. Their speed, precision and efficiency were unmatched. Twilight realized why whenever her plating was extended she seemed to receive respect, it matched those of her comrades. It was incredibly smooth and aerodynamic.

The creatures were ready for them now, and the one with a pinned tail had ripped it out of the ground with its jaws. The one with three arrows in it was drooping, though, the tranquilizing properties of the arrows taking effect. The hunters gathered in the tree for only a moment, long enough to convey a series of clicks from all five of them before they took to the air again.

The creatures noticed them this time, though, and turned towards them. They repeated the dive, although this time instead of them all dashing through the clearing taking shots two of them tackled the creatures as the other three took shots.

Pulling the bowie knife out of the chest holster, Twilight tackled the one she hit and, before it could react, shoved the blade into the temple of the beast. She flinched as the thing scrabbled at her with its claws, scratching and nearly puncturing the carapace on her back. Luckily its tail was limp on the ground from the arrow. With a grunt, she pushed the blade in further and twisted. The beast fell completely limp under her.

Before she could even think to pull the blade back out she heard a hiss from nearby. The other hunter that went in with her was pinned under the other beast. It was weakly trying to bite his face off, but he was holding it back with his forearms. She quickly drew her bow, which she had hung around herself, and let loose an arrow that stuck in the thing’s skull. It fell limp and the Changeling threw it aside. It nodded to her and she nodded back.

“Even when half asleep, Lashers are still dangerous…” The leader said, landing next to her kill. The other two hunters landed next to the injured one. One of them began tending to her injured comrade while the other began preparing the animal. Twilight removed her bowie knife and did the same.

In twenty minutes they were cleaning their hands and their blades with packs full of meat and pelts. The injured hunter, who had several punctured and cracks in the carapace of his forearms which bled black blood, had organic material covering them like a sort of bandage. The process was a bit sickening, or at least Twilight felt it should have been. The woman tending to him had seemingly vomited the material up, it was almost a liquid until it came into contact with the air. Its texture changed from viscous liquid to a malleable, almost taffy-like, texture in which she wrapped his forearms with. She knew that when his carapace reformed, he would simply chew the stuff off.

As they returned to the hunting chamber, they piled the carefully wrapped slabs and chunks into a neat stack and wrapped them up with a much larger patch of packing leather. Two of them proceeded to carry it off towards, what Twilight assumed was, one or many of the mess chambers to be prepared for their meals. Twilight returned all of her gear, but when she made to give the bow back to the leader the woman wouldn’t accept it.

“When a hunter scores a kill with a bow, that bow is theirs. You may continue to use the equipment you were given at will, but you have proven yourself a valiant hunter today. All of the skins from your kill and what you earned from your shared kill is yours. We have been gone for half of the day, but I understand that you would like to continue this role until the day closes. I will teach you how to make your arrows, the adhesive toxin and where to go to turn your skins into usable leather. Is this acceptable?” She explained.

“Yes, very much so. Thank you.” Twilight replied. Twilight remembered the name on the list, though it had eluded her until now. This Huntress’ name was Nictus. Nictus first explained and showed her the process of excreting the material, and then of how to properly shape it and the quick and easy way of forming the arrows from it.

The adhesive toxin was created by mixing a toxin, which was also produced inside of the body, with the organic material internally to create a tar-like substance. It was very difficult for Twilight to properly manipulate her internal glands necessary to do this, but after half an hour she was able to do it well enough. The adhesive toxin was then either pooled at the bottom of the quiver or added as an internal coating for the sheaths.

Twilight was strangely fascinated by all of the biology within her body she was just now learning about. It was around dinner time, though, so Nictus invited Twilight to join her. They ate their meals on the move as Nictus showed her the many places where she could take her skins, which were currently being stored in the hunting chamber, to be turned into leather. She could either take that leather to various places to be distributed or learn to make her own equipment from it.

The more time Twilight spent with Nictus the more she realized something. Not once had the woman congratulated her on a job well done, she hadn’t been thanked for saving her comrade’s life and any praise was through explanation. She didn’t know why she realized it, because it didn’t bother her, but she continued to think about it. As she did, though, she remembered something Chrysalis had told her. She was being treated like any other Changeling, she was special but at the same time not special. The only reason she was being taught these things while others weren’t was because she wanted to learn and they already have or didn’t care to.

The idea of that intrigued her for some reason, but as she returned to Chrysalis’ chamber the intrigue faded into understanding. She found Chrysalis still sitting there, her consciousness fully assimilated into her hive mind. They were all one, yet not so at the same time. Twilight placed a pod of seasoned Lasher Steak she had made herself onto the table in the room, got into the bed and quickly fell asleep. Chrysalis’ body smiled at that.

Author's Note

now this is what I like to see/read/write. Close looks at how the Changelings work in their different roles, how strange and almost alien they are when compared to humans. Their similarities and their differences being exposed outright.
and as for the lashers, imagine a massive saber tooth cat with barbed spikes all along the ends of their tails.
I'm rather proud of the second half of this one
tell me what you think

4: Forest of our Mind

Twilight chose to study magic the next day. When she awoke she was somewhat disappointed to see Chrysalis already absorbed into the hive, sitting in her chair. Her disappointment subsided for the most part as she noticed that the pod she prepared was gone. She had a feeling her queen quite enjoyed it, there was sort of a residual gratitude in the air. Or was that the hive mind? Twilight wasn’t completely sure. She couldn’t help but watch Chrysalis for a minute or so, seeing the tiny twitches and flicks of various parts of her body.

She smiled and made her way to what was called the Mage Chamber, which was connected to the main hive by only one tunnel/walkway. She made a few stops on the way, though. She visited a mess chamber for breakfast, the hunting chamber to retrieve some of her pelts, deposited said pelts to one of the scattered places that could work with them. It was at about this moment she realized that she had been carrying her quiver and bow hung around herself the entire time, she had meant to deposit them in the hunting chamber. Nobody she passed seemed to pay it any mind, though, so she didn’t bother going back. She liked the weight of it or something like that.

Her final stop before the Mage Chamber was to visit a few of the places that made equipment for hunters, soldiers and defenders. She looked around a bit, there were a few others in the various places doing the same thing as she, and found quite a few things that struck her fancy. She knew she hadn’t earned the right to use any of it. She just had a feeling it wouldn’t go over well if she just took anything like a few of the others had. That is, at least, until she found a particular metal worker.

“Twilight Sparkle, at last.” The young female said with a smile before Twilight had even properly entered the chamber. Something about the girl made Twilight feel like this was going to be an incredibly interesting encounter.

“At last?” Twilight asked. She looked for the source of the voice and found a Changeling about a year younger than she was opening a wooden case.

“At last. I felt that you wished for me to create something for you. It was a joy to do so, so please accept this gift. You have definitely earned it.” The girl answered. In her arms were what looked like two very strange blades with a series of odd straps. The entire thing was made of organic material, or possibly it was all coated in it.

“Extend your battle plating, at least along your arms.” The girl asked. Twilight did so, curious, as the extra layer of very tough carapace extended. The girl proceeded to strap the things onto her arms. They were very strange forearm blades that extended past her hand about the length of her forearm itself. It also extended past her elbows, curving slightly. She held Twilight’s arms in front of her for a moment before there was a flash of black and her carapace started tingling.

The things were being absorbed into her battle plating.

“You’re the first to earn the fruits of my craft, Sparkle. Feel for them, feel how they extend and retract, they are a part of you. They are one with you, just as you are one with the hive.” The girl explained softly. Twilight was oddly humbled and only a little shocked at what was happening. She concentrated and felt it just as she felt her battle plating. The things reappeared, though instead of the organic material they were before they were a strange black metal with a lavender tint. It looked exactly like her carapace.

“I cannot thank you enough for this…” Twilight started, but the girl put her hand up.

“You have earned this. How you have done so is beyond the both of us for now, but in time we will see. For now, though, let’s proceed to the Mage Chamber for your magical reawakening.” The girl replied. She giggled at Twilight’s expression. Twilight remembered the name on the list.

“Ceren?” She asked. The girl bowed, it was the kind of bow that said; ‘Ceren, at your service’. Twilight smiled and they made their way to the Mage Chamber. As they further traversed the tunnel, Twilight started feeling… something. The only description she could give it was power.

“Good, you feel it. It means your link to the art of magic is not severed, merely buried.” Ceren said, her voice echoing off of the rounded walls.

“Buried under what?” Twilight asked.

“Memories, emotions, and an entire life itself buried.” Ceren replied. Twilight was intrigued not only by what she said, but the way she spoke. She was much more intelligent and wise than her age implied.

“I guess I’ll just have to figure all of that out.” Twilight replied. Ceren giggled.

“Or you could gradually pull your link out into the open, you know like pulling a root from the ground. You don’t dig up all of the ground just to get at it, do you?” Ceren retorted. Twilight smiled and nodded as they reached the chamber. Twilight looked around it as Ceren lead her to the center. There were two others sitting across from each other in the center, where the sky was exposed above.

“They are connected and isolated in the hive mind, their minds in a plain of existence of their own creation. It cannot be done without magic, for it requires one to dissolve into the hive mind and then form a barrier around yourself. Unfortunately you won’t be able to do so, since you neither have developed your connection to the hive mind nor control over your link with your magic.” Ceren explained, taking a seat next to one of them. She motioned for Twilight to join her, so she sat down opposite her.

“What can I do, then?” Twilight asked. Ceren smiled and closed her eyes.

“While your connection to the hive mind isn’t developed enough to create your own bubble of isolation, it’s enough for you to drag you into mine. It is there that we practice our magic, so as not to harm ourselves or the hive. Concentrate, You will feel a tug on your mind. Feel it and submit to it, I don’t bite that hard.” She answered. Twilight nodded and closed her eyes as well. She waites, but it only took a few moments before she felt a tug.

In an instant she was in an empty expanse of nothingness. After a little while something started forming. Or rather, she was appearing into something that was already there. There was a meadow connecting two very different forests. On one side was the scarred forest, though it somehow seemed harmless. On the side she came from, though, the trees were all burnt and splintered and shattered and destroyed. The blight that affected the forest had even killed a small portion of the grass in the meadowy clearing.

“As you can see, your mind is incomplete and decayed. On the surface, there is nothing but a few budding trees trying to take root in a ground filled with sleeping roots. It seems they are all taking very well, though, so that is definitely good. This meadowy clearing represents the connection between our minds. My healthy forest represents my clear and calm mind while your decayed forest represents what I mentioned.” Ceren explained, appearing out of the much healthier looking forest.

“How can I reverse the process? Let my forest flourish once more?” Twilight asked.

“Potentially, time heals all wounds. That’s not always the case, though, and I think you already knew this. What your forest needs is to be cared for, it needs these new sprouts to grow and bear fruit and then that fruit needs to entice the sleeping roots to wake. This will take time and effort, it cannot be rushed. If you were to dangle fruit above the sleeping roots all at once then they would burst from the ground and tear apart what’s left of your forest with a voracious hunger, searching for the fruit it was teased to no avail.” Ceren explained. Twilight didn’t think she understood, but she would think on it until she did.

“What will I do now, then? Tend to my trees?” Twilight asked. Ceren shook her head and sat on the grass, repeating what she did in the chamber. Twilight unsurely sat across from her and closed her eyes.

“Think, meditate, sort your mind out, clear it as you would clear water before drinking, as you clean your blades after a hunt. That is tending to your trees. It’s more than that, though, you must listen and understand them. You can learn to navigate your forest to find specific branches and leaves and even roots, roots like your link to magic.” Ceren answered. Twilight was fascinated by this place. As she meditated, she could start to feel the low whispering hums of what little flourished on her side and heard the whispers of the wind blowing through the plagued branches.

All day they sat like that, meditating, focusing on their forests. Ceren was just as absorbed into her forest as Twilight was with hers, despite the difference in health, and after a while Twilight could feel the roiling tendrils of life and energy flowing under the ground. She could feel them and almost hear them screaming out to be free, but there was nothing she could do. At least not yet, she didn’t know how.

“It’s time for us to return, it’s past dinnertime.” Ceren said. Twilight was surprised by this. She knew it had been a while, but not that long. She nodded, though, and looked over her forest. She noticed a lot more green specs and even a few leaves miraculously growing. She felt Ceren’s mental tug and they were back in the chamber. The sky was dark and there were a few more changelings around the room, some arriving or leaving while others were in the state they were just in.

“Care to join me for dinner?” Ceren asked. Twilight barely heard her, though. She had no idea how far along her connection to the hive mind was, she didn’t even think it was really there other than those hunches and feelings. Now, though, after hours of isolation from it she realized she was much closer than she had ever thought. She could hear the buzz of voices, movement, images, scents, tastes. They all died down almost instantly to a bearable level, but that moment of assimilation was still echoing on her senses.

“Um… Yeah, sure…” She mumbled to Ceren. The girl giggled and grabbed her hand, leading her out of the tunnel.

“Your connection to the hive mind is developing faster than expected, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was complete by next week. By then, though, your forest might have grown a bit. That connection may just be able to help you dig up old roots, for as long as one of us remembers we all remember.” Ceren said as they walked rather than flew. Twilight mulled over the statement a little bit.

“I hope so, while I don’t exactly mind learning everything from scratch I have a feeling that what I’ve forgotten is incredibly important to me.” She said. Ceren nodded in understanding and they stopped by a mess chamber before retiring to the tower. They weren’t the only ones there, though, it was a somewhat popular place to get away from the bustling caverns.

“Greetings, I do believe I know you.” A fairly large female Changeling said when they got there. They looked each over and a name came to mind, one from the list.

“Kaine, captain of the defenders, correct?” Twilight replied. The woman grinned and nodded before lightly knocking on the bow still hung around her.

“You’ll be putting that to use when you come and visit me, we all hear of your hunting prowess despite just being born.” She said.

“Really? Is it uncommon for a hunter to come back with more than one kill?” Twilight asked.

“Not really, but you killed a Lasher and a half. Only the elite hunting parties hunt them, others avoid them completely. It may have been a fluke or a great deal of luck, but that doesn’t diminish the achievement in the slightest.” Kaine explained.

“Wow… I… It was just natural, I guess. I somehow already knew what I was doing and how to fight the things, yet I don’t remember ever seeing them before, not clearly at least.” Twilight said.

“Then perhaps in your past life you were an exceptional hunter. That would certainly be a valid explanation. Only time will tell, though. So commander, I heard there have been some disturbances in the forest.” Ceren said.

“Yeah, we connected to the hive mind and gave a couple reports on it. Were the two of you in your magic bubbles or something?” Kaine replied. They nodded and she chuckled. “Well not so much disturbances, it’s just that the number of humans venturing in are increasing. They appear to be coming from Ponyville, and good thing I say. They’ve been getting into fights with the local predators and we haven’t had to step in to help them yet, though I know at least one of them has no idea what the hell they’re doing in such a dangerous place.” She continued. Twilight adopted a troubled expression, though she didn’t understand why she was getting these worried feelings.

“I feel like I should know something about them, and I always get a feeling I should know something about Ponyville…” She said lowly.

“Maybe you went there a lot in your past life.” Kaine shrugged. “Either way if you decide to see me tomorrow we’ll be spying on them a bit, they’ve actually camped out this time. If they don’t leave then we just might have to kindly escort them out.” She continued. Twilight was certainly interested in that.

“I guess I’ll have to stop by.” Twilight grinned. They proceeded to eat their meals in companionable silence. Afterwards they talked for a little while more before they all turned in to their various chambers.

Author's Note

so my pace is slowed greatly because of school, but I manage
what do you guys think?

5: Torrent of Ashes

Twilight had a very strange dream that night. It was so real and so perfectly constructed it was stunning. The contents of the dream, though were less than stellar in her opinion. She saw Celestia in a birthing pod, a distraught and ragged woman weeping in a cavern of crystals. But the thing that truly worried her was seeing Chrysalis, though a less whole Chrysalis, defeated in front of her. And she felt victory, as if she was glad she was defeated. Why would she think a thing like that about her Queen?

Now that she was on the subject, what exactly did she think of her Queen? She had awoken to find her once again sitting in her chair, melded into the hive mind. Twilight sat on the bed and watched Chrysalis, for how long she had no idea.

“Your connection is developing rather quickly, as Ceren says. I can feel your confusion and stress.” A voice suddenly said. It was Chrysalis’ voice, so Twilight thought she was talking in her mind. But in reality Chrysalis had regained her consciousness and asked normally.

“Oh? Well the confusion is still a given isn’t it? The stress…” Twilight started. Chrysalis smiled and stood while stretching.

“You can talk to me about anything you wish, if it is not through the hive mind then your brothers and sisters know better than to delve into each other’s secrets.” She said, sitting down on the corner of the bed opposite Twilight. Some of the things she thought about rushed to the front of her mind, and though it embarrassed her to some extent she spoke her mind.

“Well the stress may be from scattered bits of memories or things I’ve learned in the past, but until I have more than fragments I’ll keep it to myself. The confusion, though… Well I guess it’s a few emotions I’m not used to, and I don’t really know what to do about them.” She explained.

“Oh? What kind of emotions?” Chrysalis asked. She was genuinely curious, especially since she felt that Twilight’s thoughts were at the very least partially directed towards her.

“Unsure affection mostly. For reasons unknown to me, though. sometimes it’s odd to think of you as my queen and I can’t tell if it’s a sense of casualty or something else.” Twilight replied. Chrysalis chuckled.

“Well by the sound of the first one, intimacy might be a better word for it.” She said. She laughed when Twilight gained a rather embarrassed expression. “And speaking of casualty or intimacy or whatever it is, you and I are quite good friends now. You may not have realized it in full yet but when I am melded with the hive I am there for you, and every other of the brood, at the same time. I have been getting to know you quite well and your connection to the hive, no matter how underdeveloped, lets you know me fairly well at the same time. Affection is rather new to our race, though, since we only recently obtained sustained individuality from the hive.” She continued.

“I’ve always had a feeling I was being watched and looked over…” Twilight started. “And I am glad I can call you my friend. I may not remember living for more than a few days, but I know there is power in friendship. And judging by how confused I am by the emotion, affection is new to me as well.” She continued. They both laughed at that before Chrysalis rather suddenly held Twilight’s head in a hand and leaned their foreheads together.

“You’re working with the Defenders today, and I have a grim premonition. I feel that your mental fortitude will be strained and possibly cracked or even shattered, so I’m trying to artificially develop your hive connection… This method is more of a direct link, as it only connects you to my mind instead of that of the hive’s but I will be here to give you strength and focus if you need it.” She explained lowly.

“I… Thank you, I hope your premonition is wrong, though…” Twilight said when Chrysalis finished, She could feel the connection.

“As do I, but if you need it then simply tug on that mental wire and the forests of our minds will come together.” Chrysalis said. Twilight nodded and stood up.

“Well, here’s hoping my brain doesn’t explode.” She said, they both chuckled again and Twilight left. Chrysalis returned to her place on her chair and allowed herself to be swept up by the hive mind, though she kept a portion of her attention always on her artificial link with Twilight.

“You kept your word.” Kaine’s powerful voice chuckled when Twilight entered the Defenders’ Chamber. The towering woman was eating from meal pods, Twilight had some of her own as well. “That’s new.” Kaine commented. Twilight had a black leather harness, similar to the Hunting one, and quite a few long rolls and folded pieces of more black leather with various characteristics.

“Well I had so much left over so I thought I’d bring it here since I don’t have much more use for it, This is what’s left of the leather made from my pelts in the last hunt. Well, most of it. I thought the defenders could use it.” She explained.

“While we’re not exactly short on leather, Lasher hide leather is exceptionally tough. Thanks.” Kaine said, taking the offered material and placing it on a seemingly random table. “Right, back to the task at hand. I was just about to start the briefing.” She continued, turning back towards the small team of, including her and Twilight, seven Changelings.

“There’s a den of Prowlers that’s been trying to expand into one of our outpost chambers. Only three of our brothers are there at a time, so they’ve got their hands full and need some help. Once we help them out we’ll move on to patrol duty while making our way towards the human encampment. If they don’t leave by lunch time, which by my estimation is about an hour from our arrival, we’ll escort them out.” She said.

“What if the reason they haven’t left is because they’re hurt?” Twilight asked. Kaine thought for a moment.

“Well then, since they’re allies, we’ll help them out how we can before escorting them out. If they’re in critical condition it will be up to our Queen to decide.” The woman replied. “Alright, full battle plating up and wings fully extended. Twilight, you’re the faster one here so you can go ahead and see what long range support you can supply with that bow of yours. Grab a blade from the armory chamber over there.” She continued, finishing by pointing to a small tunnel.

“I don’t require one, thank you.” Twilight replied as they all deployed their chitin plating. She had been practicing a little bit with them so she was able to effectively retract the forward facing blades. She also found that the carapace melded with the blades and the edges of the carapace can be retracted or extended to cover the metal edge, for a less than lethal strike.

“Well shit, I’ve been trying to get something from Ceren for months.” Kaine said with a grin.

“She did say I was the first to earn something from her, I have no idea why.” Twilight replied.

“Ah well, she knows better than most who deserves what. Let’s be off now then.” Kaine said with a shrug and they took off, navigating a couple tunnels and outside of the hive.

Kaine nodded to Twilight and she shot ahead. Twilight found the outpost within minutes and landed on a tree. She saw the three Changelings stationed there trying to funnel a group of 15 or 16 creatures Twilight assumed were prowlers into a narrow tunnel with barricades. The things looked more like hounds than anything else, with leathery black skin and matching fur. They had pointed snouts and ears and were much larger than Lashers. According to Kaine they weren’t nearly as smart or agile, though, and weren’t quite as dangerous as the lashers as they had no other weapon besides their teeth and claws.

Twilight notched an arrow and drew her bow. Just before she was going to let an arrow loose, Kaine landed on a branch next to her followed by their group.

“Alright, this is going to be pretty tough… Ten against fifteen. Can you see our brethren, Twilight?” Kaine asked.

“They’re trying to funnel them into that tunnel, the one with the barricades, but between the three of them they can’t properly keep them sustained and deal killing blows to the creatures that peek around.” Twilight said. Kaine nodded and prepared to take off again.

“We’ll go charging in, you sit back and pick em off when you can.” She said. Twilight nodded and her comrades charged into the clearing on their wings. The second the beasts noticed the reinforcements, Twilight let loose her first arrow. It pierced through the eye, killing it instantly.

They all turned to face the new threat, but the three changelings holed up in the outpost lashed out, killing two before they could react to the two pronged attack.

See, that’s why changeling attacks were so scary and effective. At least when they’re not starved. Their attacks are so coordinated and effective that they don’t even need the advantage of numbers to decimate the opposition. Give them a chance to swarm, though, and there’s just nothing you can do about it. Generally, that is.

The attack only took about three minutes, Twilight picking off four of the fifteen and injuring half of the remaining ones. The creatures were confused and disoriented by the pronged attack and couldn’t even counterattack. Twilight retrieved her arrows, her group gave some medical attention to what little injuries any of them had, they nodded to each other and they were all in the air again.

They flew towards the last known location of the human camp, and with changelings last known was very recent. As they got closer they saw the large tent, even. There was a problem, though. They heard sounds of fighting and there was even a blast of magic. A rainbow haired valkyrie girl shot above the treetops and then came back down full speed. The sound of cracking bones was heard as they approached.

Twilight suddenly felt the need to be there with these humans she didn’t know. She needed to be there and she needed to make sure they were alright no matter what.

“Twilight?” Kaine called when she shot forward. Twilight didn’t answer, but Kaine understood. She could feel what Twilight was feeling through their connections.

In the clearing there were five girls about Twilight’s age fighting for their lives against a pack of four Lashers. There was a well built girl in a stetson with a claymore sword holding two of them off at once, the valkyrie girl from before had tackled a third and a pink haired girl was bouncing around one and hitting it with a rather large hammer. There was another valkyrie with pink hair looking over an unconscious mage, her hands still glowing from the power used in a spell. There was a seared corpse of one of the creatures at the edge of the clearing.

Twilight didn’t bother announcing her presence, she didn’t even slow down in the slightest. Going full speed, she extended her forearm blades and impacted one of the two the girl in the stetson was holding off. Her blades went straight through the thing’s torso, but before it could even hit the ground from the impact she sliced it in half with a flourish of her blades.

Everything stopped to look at her, the Lashers snarling and the humans utterly surprised. Without skipping a beat she had pulled her bow out, notched an arrow and put it into the head of the one the pink clad girl was fighting. The valkyrie had killed her opponent, but that left one more.

She impaled its skull through the bottom jaw when it lunged at her. She twisted and flicked her blade away, tearing the head off and launching it a few feet away. She then sliced at the air, flinging the blood and gore off of the things, and retracted them.

“Are you well?” She asked them. They all just stared at her with both horror and surprise. The mage groaned and stirred slightly, but the girl in the stetson flinched and held her right arm. There was a set of jagged gashes along her shoulder.

Twilight quickly moved up to her and put her hands around the wounds, but not touching them.

“H-Hey!” The girl protested weakly, though she flinched and hissed in pain from even that. The valkyrie girl had rushed to her feet, but had wobbled and nearly fallen over. The pink clad girl was leaning on her hammer with a smile, the pink haired valkyrie girl had rushed up, but had stopped a few feet from her. The mage was still regaining consciousness.

“I would say we’re here to help, but she’s the only one that did anything.” Kaine said with a chuckle as the rest of Twilight’s group landed. “You got her covered, Twilight?” She continued. They all snapped their vision back to Twilight from looking at the newcomers at the mention of her name.

“Twilight?!” They all exclaimed. Twilight didn’t respond. Instead she gave the girl in the stetson medical attention. Meaning she practically spit a glob of her anesthetic substance onto her hand and rubbed it into the wounds. The girl flinched and the rainbow haired valkyrie cried out.

“H-Hey hey! What in tarnation are you… hey… hey it’s startin’ to not hurt so much…” She said. Twilight smiled and nodded.

“It acts as a local anesthetic. Now it has to be covered” She said. She proceeded to hack up the normal organic material and cot the wounds in it. The girl wasn’t exactly happy about it, though.

“Oh that’s… that’s just… um… alright thats nasty…” She mumbled. It was warm and slightly slimy until it hardened, where it sort of felt like latex or something of the sort on her skin.

“That will have to be dissolved with magic, since it is normally chewed off and I doubt you’re privy to that idea. Is your mage well?” Twilight asked. She was answered by the sound of retching.

“Good lord, I haven’t used so much magic in my life…” She groaned before passing out again. Twilight recognized it, though she had never seen it before.

“She used too much magic… She could die if she isn’t cared for properly. The forest is too dangerous to traverse in her condition and Ponyville is too far away.” Kaine said.

“Are you suggesting we go to your hive?!” The rainbow haired one exclaimed, standing and stumbling to the ground once more.

“You’re not fit to travel far either, so yes.” Twilight replied. Everyone was silent for a little while until she was suddenly surprised by the girl in the stetson. She was hugging her.

“I missed you so much, Twi…” She said softly. Twilight was about to ask why and how she knew her, but her mind just suddenly stopped working. She recognized this girl’s touch, her scent who she was and how she sounded. She remembered names. She was Applejack, the pink clad one was Pinkie Pie, the two valkyries were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and the made was Rarity.

She knew them, but she didn’t remember them. In a flash, a floodgate of images and sensations flooded her mind. It was so much, in fact, her mind shut down almost instantly and she lost consciousness.

She was in blackness, in excruciating pain. It felt like her head was splitting and her body was on fire. She couldn’t even feel th hive mind anymore and that scared her more than the pain. She felt something, though. It was a single tiny spec of comfort in the torrent of pain and darkness.

She didn’t just tug on it, she held onto it for dear life.

Color filled her vision. A magnificent forest of black and red and green and blue and every other color, dozens of fruits and animals grazing and flourishing. She turned around , recognizing this meadowy link. She froze and nearly yelled out in horror.

Her forest was burning and ashes filled the air.

Author's Note

you guys know me, gotta have super twilight badass mode at least once

6:Friendship is Love

Twilight’s group, Kaine carrying Twilight, and the human group were just in sight of the hive when Chrysalis and a few other changelings arrived. The humans looked very uneasy at her appearance.

“We have a few mages here that can care for the unconscious one. I see Twilight has already tended to your wounds, I will take her now. You may follow to watch over her with me or you may follow your unconscious friend.” Chrysalis said, Kaine transferring the unconscious Twilight into her Queen’s arms. She turned and they all walked. Dash and Fluttershy were carrying Rarity, and the other changelings led them along one tunnel. Fluttershy went with them, Pinkie and AJ followed Chrysalis. The defenders went down a third tunnel.

“Do you know what happened to her? She just suddenly collapsed…” Applejack asked Chrysalis as they walked.

“By your reactions I assume Celestia hasn’t told you of her exact situation, has she?” Chrysalis asked. The two were startled when Chrysalis took off into the air and were dragged along by her green magic. She placed Twilight on the bed carefully and sat down next to her, putting a hand on her forehead.

“She told us that you guys found her and that she was recovering from whatever happened…” Applejack responded. Pinkie’s hair had gone straight and she wasn’t speaking, but she was listening very closely.

“Well we found her nearly dead, torn apart by something. The only reason she was still alive was a surprisingly skilled medical spell she was maintaining, but just barely.” Chrysalis said. The two stared at her in horror. Chrysalis gently touched each of the odd cracks and scratches and outright scars along the carapace and fleshy parts of Twilight’s body.

“By the time we got her here she had exhausted her magic and was going to die, and our mages aren’t proficient enough in medicinal magic to do anything but stand idle. There was only one way to save her, and that was to rebirth her.” Chrysalis continued.

“Rebirth?” Pinkie asked softly. Chrysalis nodded.

“Our pods are birthing pods, normally it is used to save the life of a changeling who is on the verge of death by recycling their life force into a new body that develops from the materials and substances already in the pod. It doubles as an indoctrination pod, put another creature inside and in time it rebirths them as a Changeling. It siphons their mind, leaving nothing but the hive mind, and they redevelop their individuality again.” Chrysalis continued to explain.

“You wiped her mind?!” AJ exclaimed. Chrysalis shook her head.

“A royal pod is a pod that only I can create by adding my own life force to it, and I told her of this. She agreed to it of her own volition. The royal pod, unlike the normal pods, only suppresses the old memories. It’s normally only used to ascend one to the throne, in which my dead or dying body would be first dissolved into it first. Since it was an indoctrination, though, it did not force the hive connection. This combined with a multitude of other somewhat minor and seemingly insignificant things caused her mental fortitude to be unstable.

Celestia and I have refrained from leading her into too many of her memories of her past life at once for fear of overloading it. Coming into contact with you and the sudden nature of it caused such an overload and the forest of her mind has burned and crumbled.” She continued.

“So… Her mind is… Gone?” Pinkie asked. Chrysalis again shook her head.

“It was not completely burned, and what crumbled and fell was absorbed into the roots of her very being with her repressed past life. Some of those roots have found purchase again. With any luck she won’t forget anything that’s happened since her rebirth, and she’ll remember some about her past life. I have been taking on as much of the mental strain as possible and dispersing it amongst the hive mind so she will still be sane.” She replied.

“Isn’t that kind of wrong? I-I mean it’s great and we can’t thank you enough for helping her like that, but isn’t it subjecting all of the other changelings to that strain?” Applejack asked.

“The thing about a hive mind and living the way we do, all are one and one is all. We don’t let something as meaningless as currency decide who earns and deserves what and your worth is decided by what you do. We are all equals here, and as such we all wish to help her. Not to mention she’s one of the highest prestige individuals here. In the small time she’s been with us, she’s earned that much at least.” Chrysalis answered.

“You know… Everyone always thinks of Changelings as a really mean bunch of bugs that are barely civilized… Now that I’m actually here, though, it sounds like a whole ton of fun!” Pinkie said happily, her hair not quite gaining its normal puff but nearly so.

“When we attacked, that’s what we were. Now we are different, back to the old ways.” Chrysalis said.

“If it aint broke don’t fix it” AJ said. Chrysalis smiled and nodded. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Chrysalis looked up at them once more.

“Well I suppose you would be hungry after an escapade like that.” She said, standing and walking towards the entrance. A changeling entered and hovered just over the entrance and handed Chrysalis a few meal pods. She nodded in thanks and the thing left once more.

“What’re those?” AJ asked. Chrysalis smiled and handed each of them two, while keeping two for herself.

“Pods containing food and drink created from the organic material we can create. There’s some of it covering your shoulder.” Chrysalis replied. Applejack looked at the things uncertainly and Chrysalis chuckled as she bit hers open.

“Don’t worry, the mess chamber these pods came from create their pods with changeling magic instead of providing it themselves.” Chrysalis assured them as, with a flash of green magic, she cut them open. “Though I doubt you’re privy to chew and swallow it like we do.” She added. They looked inside and found an odd sort of salad with meat chunks. The drink was something along the lines of wine. They noticed that Chrysalis had an extra pair. Before they could ask, though, Twilight groaned slightly.

“Feeling better?” Chrysalis asked as Twilight slowly sat up, holding her head.

“I’m conscious, aren’t I?” The girl groaned. Chrysalis chuckled. While it wasn’t exactly ideal, the unfortunate event at least yielded a positive influx of Twilight’s memories and individuality. That was certainly implied with such a casual response.

“Eat up then.” Chrysalis said, tossing her the meal pods. Twilight caught them both in one hand and smiled.

“It’s probably a good thing that you can’t retract your battle plating unless you’re conscious…” She mumbled as the chitin stuff slid and folded swiftly. Twilight and Pinkie gasped. They didn’t recognize her with the somewhat basic look the plating gave her, but without it they could easily make the connections. Now even more so, though. The love she came into contact with in the form of her old friends revitalized her a bit, as there was nearly black skin covering the fleshy parts of her body now. It had a certain carapace-like rigidness to it, but it was still skin.

“Oh my, it seems you have the traits of a harvester, the ability to easily absorb ambient love.” Chrysalis said, her tone curious.

“Great, great… fascinating…” Twilight mumbled, clumsily starting her meal. Chrysalis laughed and the two humans in the chamber just kind of awkwardly stood there.

“So, uh… Do you remember us now?” Pinkie asked after a few moments. Twilight swallowed a mouthful of her meal and cocked her head.

“I don’t remember anything specific, but I know all of you. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. I know that you’re all very important to me, but anything else still eludes me…” She explained. “I know I really should be able to, but I just can’t… I’m sorry.” She continued. Applejack put her hands on her hips and walked up to the girl. Twilight looked up and Applejack put her hands on the Changeling girl’s shoulders.

“You know who we are and that we’re just as important to you as you are to us, that’s all we could ever ask for. Especially since you’re all a Changeling and stuff.” She said, looking Twilight in the eye. After a moment Twilight smiled and hugged the girl.

“We can be best friends all over again!” Pinkie exclaimed, nearly tackling the two to get in on the hug. Chrysalis couldn’t help but grin at the scene. She could almost see the love just flowing from the group, so much in fact that even if she didn’t want to she was siphoning it off. She could feel her brood revitalizing, at least up to the point that Twilight was at or more. That was just the ambient magic, too.

“Well unfortunately you’ll have to return home soon. Your friend has awaken and will be fit to travel after a good meal and some more rest. While I don’t exactly want to kick you out, at the same time I can’t let you stay.” Chrysalis said, almost angry at herself for disrupting the happy nature of the scene. They all let go of each other and looked at her.

“Would I be able to go visit them once I start remembering?” Twilight asked.

“Well you have the attributes of a harvester, perhaps once we go more into your changeling magic we could send you there and back often. I can’t imagine Celestia would have any problem with it, since it’s a win-win situation.” Chrysalis replied, putting her hand to her chin in thought. The three grinned and proceeded to all hug her, more like a tackle but a hug it still was.

And that surprised Chrysalis to the point where even the hive mind froze for a second. Every single changeling stopped in surprise before going about their business with grins and soft laughter.

The pure love that flowed into Chrysalis, and through her the hive mind, left such a feeling of positivity in the hive they they couldn’t help it. Not to mention the gradual revitalization to a point was completed nearly instantly, every changeling at least had skin now and their individuality further soared.

Chrysalis nearly cried out in joy with all the positivity that flowed through her. She grinned wide when Applejack and Pinkie stepped back, Twilight a second later.

“I-I felt that… did… did we do that?” She asked. Chrysalis nodded, her grin unwavering.

“I can’t remember the last time I really felt like that, this must be how Celestia feels when her entire nation is saturated in love.” She said with laughter. “Come on, come on, let’s go see your friend and make sure she’s alright. We can even walk you to the border afterwards.” She continued.

Wow, such a change in tone. She was acting almost like Pinkie Pie now, the girl in question was squealing with joy and practically bouncing after the queen.

Author's Note

so not exactly what such a built up cliffhanger implies, but this isn't the end of what exactly happened don't you worry
feedback is appreciated as always
until next time, farewell my friends

7: Ponyville

(excuse any disjointed starts or a big gap between the last chapter and this one- for obvious reasons I should think)

Twilight and Chrysalis stood on the highest tower of the hive, looking out to where they could barely see the lights of Ponyville in the night. The hive had been revitalizing further since the first surge. Every changeling had ashen skin and aesthetic plating, which was like combat plating but more to cover their further humanoid bodies than to protect themselves. It didn’t cover much, but for Twilight and Chrysalis at least, it covered what needed to be covered. There was still carapace covering the forearms and lower legs like gauntlets and long boots.

It had been a month since her first memory surge, and Twilight had experienced it twice more. She remembered a lot of her early life, the only block missing now was her life in Ponyville.

“I won’t be there to physically help you with anything, but our connection is ever present.” Chrysalis said softly.

“The hive mind is always there, I know this well.” Twilight replied, smiling at her queen. Chrysalis smiled back but shook her head. She turned to Twilight, cupped the girl’s face in her hand and leaned her forehead against the girl’s.

“While that is true, the connection you and I have is far stronger… It is a bond formed of love, more than the love we feed on. I know you feel it too.” She said. After a moment, Twilight wrapped her arms around Chrysalis and pulled her into an embrace.

“I have felt it… I just don’t know what to think of anything like that yet. I’m still trying to figure my life out, you know?” Twilight said, pulling back from Chrysalis and turning towards the edge. “Next we meet in person, I’ll have figured myself out.” She continued. Chrysalis smiled again and nodded.

“Hey Kid.” They heard. They turned to see Kaine. She tossed a full hunting harness and Twilight’s bow and quiver to her. “That’s all yours.” She continued with a grin. Twilight caught them, gave a single laugh and put the gear on. She knocked her plated forearm against the Huntress’ and quickly shot into the air.

When Twilight faded from view, Kaine bumped Chrysalis on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, my Queen. You know just as well as we all do what’s going to happen when she returns.” She said and left. Chrysalis chuckled and went back into the hive herself.

“It’s about time! I’ve been waiting all morning!” Twilight heard. She followed the voice to find Dash lying on a cloud at the edge of the scarred forest. Twilight laughed and held her arms out, to which Dash proceeded to air tackle her in a hug.

“It’s your fault for getting here early then.” Twilight laughed, recovering from the brutal embrace. Dash just put her hands on her hips, stuck her tongue out and shot towards Ponyville.

“Come on slow poke! Everyone’s waiting!” Dash called.

“Why are you yelling so loud?” Twilight called back from right next to her. Dash wavered in the air, not expecting Twilight to be so fast. “I’m a hunter, we go fast.” Twilight continued and shot ahead. Dash grinned and followed. If it was a race she wanted, then she’ll get it.

Dash is, after all, the fastest flyer in Equestria. She beat Twilight to the outskirts of Ponyville by a good twenty seconds. Dash was panting, but when Twilight landed she more or less collapsed.

“Good lord, I’ve never gone that fast for that long… I’m not going ot be able to fly for hours now!” She groaned, getting back to her feet. Dash laughed and lightly punched the girl’s shoulder.

“I’ll get you used to it. So, what exactly are you supposed to do here as a harvester or whatever?” Dash asked as she started leading Twilight through the town. They were attracting a lot of stares, mostly positive or neutral.

“Really just soaking up as much love as I can and every now and then, when I fill up or whatever, I go back home and spread it through the hive.” Twilight started. She was going to say more, but she stopped as a man staggered in front of them. It may have been morning, but it appears one of Ponyville’s few drunks had taken until five in the morning to call it a night.

“H-Hey, hey! Changeling skum! Yeah, I’m talkin’ to ya!” He yelled, his speech barely even english at this point. Twilight deadpanned and Dash crossed her arms. “How ‘bout you get the hell outta my town! This here is my place! No dirty Changelings allowed!” He exclaimed, staggered towards them more. Dash took a step forward and made to slug the guy, but Twilight grabbed her arm and gave her a look and a smirk that said ‘let him try’. Dash grinned and put her hands on her waist.

“What are you going to do about it? This is as much my home as it is yours…. even if I can barely remember it.” Twilight said to him. He just sneered and, once he was close enough, launched a sloppy drunken punch in her general direction. Twilight blocked it with her forearm, a thud sound emanating from the rigid carapace. They stood like that for a second or two before the man pulled his hand back, holding it, and drawing out a long ‘owwwww!’.

:You’re drunk and you’re stupid, Wheatley. You might want to be leaving right about now. Go on, git.” A very low and drawn out voice said. They turned to see Big Mac pulling a large cart by hand. The drunk grunted and left, still holding his hand.

“Sorry about that Miss Dash, Miss Twilight. I just fired him last night for makin’ a fuss with our changeling farmhand and he must have took to liquer. Mighty fine seeing you again, Miss Twilight.” He explained, finishing by tipping his hat and going on his way.

“Changeling farmhand?” Twilight asked.

“Not so much in the more ‘sophisticated’ towns but in town like Ponyville and bigger cities have tons of Changeling citizens. We lost a chunk of the people living here when we found out that the hive was so close, but Changeling citizens filled that up pretty quick. Let me tell you, having the extra wings really helps the weather team.” Dash explained.

“I’m glad, that’s all we really want.” Twilight said with a grin.

“Yeah yeah, now come on before we’re late!” Dash said quickly, grabbing Twilight’s hand and practically dragging the Changeling girl towards a very familiar building.

“If you don’t remember Sugarcube Corner, by the way, then Pinkie will really throw a fit and probably try something random to jog your memory.” Dash said. Twilight smiled.

“I think I do remember it. I have a very happy feeling of this place, at least.” She said. Dash led her inside and when Twilight followed she was bombarded with a great many things. First was the amazing smell of the bakery, the second was the vast expanse of color and motion and lastly was the loud ‘SURPRISE!’ that four others in the place yelled. Twilight was startled, even though she was kind of expecting it, but quickly grinned wide.

Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy were there around a large table with two empty seats.

“I told you we’d be here quick!” Dash exclaimed.

“Just in time!” Pinkie exclaimed, pulling a massive covered plate from nowhere and plopping it onto the middle of the massive table. with a “TADA!” she pulled the cover off to reveal a massive stack of assorted pancakes and waffles.

“Wow… You’ve really outdone yourself for this one, Pinkie.” Applejack said. Pinkie shook her head.

“Not me! Charon cooked it all just for us!” Pinkie exclaimed. At that point a Changeling, clothed in an apron spattered with batter, entered the room with a massive jar of syrup.

“The best batches I’ve made so far, only the best for you Twilight.” He said. Everyone gave him a strange look. “What?”

“You hitting on me, Charon?” Twilight asked jokingly. They all laughed at that.

“Not quite, That’s a line I’d rather not cross. Technically you single handedly saved our hive. For that every Changeling owes you their sanity, some of us our lives.” Charon said, pulling the apron off and wiping his hands with it.

“You know I didn’t do all that much on my own… Lots of others helped too.” Twilight retorted. Charon just shrugged and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. “But something tells me you have something else you want to say.” She continued. Charon grinned and nodded to Applejack.

“He and our Changeling farm hand wanted to set up a little hunting party for an Ursa that knocked down an acre of the apple fields.” Applejack explained as they started eating.

“Major or Minor?” Twilight asked.

“Minor, Nel found where it sleeps.” Charon replied. Twilight adopted a pondering look as she poured syrup on a belgian waffle.

“Three Changelings against an ursa minor? That might be pushing it.” She said after finishing it.

“I’m coming with, so is AJ and a couple of Night Guards just in case.” Dash said. After a moment Twilight shrugged.

“We can try, I’m guessing tonight?” She asked. The others nodded.

“Oh dear, I hope you don’t kill it.” Fluttershy said.

“We can put tranquilizing magic on the arrows, the toxin alone won’t do much to an Ursa.” Charon said. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Oh ok…” Fluttershy said.

“Well then, I do believe we should get on to a different topic. Talking about hunting at the breakfast table seems rather strange.” Rarity said after a moment of silence.

“I think it’s cool.” Dash said around a pancake.

“She’s right, Dash. Did you have something in mind?” Twilight asked.

“Naturally, Darling. I just have to ask, what does the hive have in terms of fashion? I mean don’t get me wrong, your current attire is magnificently simple and eye catching, I have to wonder if Fashion has any effect on it at all.” Rarity replied.

“We really don’t have a use for fashion. Our aesthetic and battle plating are practical over stylish and an individual’s value is determined by their actions rather than how they look. Though a lot of our equipment has lots of aesthetic purposes, practicality is always priority.” Twilight explained.

“Really? A shame, then. I was wondering if you’d want me to design something in changeling fashion, that aesthetic plating or whatever you call it doesn’t cover much.” Rarity said, eyeing the Changeling girl. Twilight laughed.

“I don’t much mind it, At the hive there isn’t much hidden from each other.” She said.

“Even things like bathing pools are shared.” Charon said. Dash raised her eyebrow at that.

“I think that’s a conversation for another day…” Fluttershy said softly. They agreed on that and finished off the breakfast. The group left after the ones going hunting determined the time and place to meet that night and Pinkie went back to baking for the day. Applejack went back home to get started for the morning, Rarity went home to take a nap and Fluttershy had a bag of oat cookies for her animals as she returned. This left Dash to challenge Twilight to another race to the Library.

When they arrived, Twilight nearly fell over because of a massive wave of dizziness following a jog in her memory.

“What’s wrong? Do you remember something?” Dash asked when Twilight regained her balance. Twilight shook her head to clear it and then looked up at Dash, and then to the Library.

“I-I live here…” She said softly. Dash grinned and nodded.

“Spike’s been running it since you left, you remember him too right?” Dash asked. Twilight gave her a strange look.

“Of course I remember him… I remembered him when I remembered you… I raised him from an egg…” Twilight said, quickly rushing into the Library. She stopped when she saw the purple dragon dozing at the counter. He was bigger than she remembered, probably big enough to even help Applejack in the fields. He must have hit a growth spurt.

“Spike?” She called softly. The voice and the door opening was enough to make him stir and he opened his eyes and looked up.

“Huh? Who’s there?” He asked. He sleepily picked up a doused lantern and spit a tiny ball of green fire into it, lighting it. In the green-tinted light, Spike froze and stared at Twilight.

“You look like…” He started.

“It is her, Spike. We told you she was coming home this morning.” Dash said, coming in behind Twilight. Spike dropped the lantern, causing the still lit thing to flare brighter. The Dragon, which when on all fours like he was now was about up to Twilight’s midriff, Tackled her in a hug. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her body.

“You grew wings, I bet that was a fun day.” Twilight said with a somber tone.

“Yeah, Dash taught me how to fly with the struggling Valkyrie class.” Spike replied. They were both trying to keep tears out of their eyes and voices, but eventually it was no use.

“We all thought you died… And when Celestia told us you were still alive…” Spike started after a while.

“I can’t believe I forgot everything… It’s coming back little by little, I still can’t remember much about my life here in Ponyville… But I remembered you along with everyone else important.” Twilight said.

“You’re so different, but the same at the same time. I don’t know… You look like a badass though.” Spike said, quickly wiping his eyes and standing back on all fours. Twilight giggled and kickflipped back to her feet. Dash did a mock impressed whistle.

“Well we are hunting an Ursa tonight.” Twilight said.

“I was going to go with everyone going, Ursas don’t really like fire and I can keep it in one place with mine. I learned that fire magic you were trying to teach me. I’ve been practicing.” Spike said with pride. Twilight smiled and hugged his muzzle.

“I’m glad you did, I always like seeing you learn new things.” She said.

“Right then, I’ll see you two tonight.” Dash said, saluting as she halfway walked out of the door.

“Alright Dash, thanks.” Twilight said. The Valkyrie grinned and shot off into the air, the blast of wind closing the door with a slam.

Author's Note

Not exactly the best of chapters but I like it. Perhaps a bit too obvious foreshadowing but meh :3

8: Ponyville pt.2

Twilight and Spike spent the next few hours catching up, talking about accomplishments and events that had been happening around. Twilight’s memory filled in more and more as they spoke, Spike made sure to cover a lot of information to help jog her memory. Luckily she only got a bit lightheaded from the rushes.

Something became apparent, though, and Spike noticed it.

“You already miss the hive, don’t you?” He asked after a moment or two of silence. Twilight sighed.

“Yeah, I do… Though I know when I go back I’ll miss it here too. I suppose I’ll just have to deal with it.” She said with a half-hearted laugh.

“I’ve got a feeling that the Hive is your home now, and that’s where you’re most comfortable living no matter your memories. There’s also people you care about there, and also here. And comfortable or not memories don’t die.” Spike said. Twilight gave him a strange look.

“Wow… That’s kind of really philosophical… Since when did you become such an intellect?” Twilight chuckled. Spike rolled his eyes.

“I really got into the studies you had me on and my own I decided I needed after you… left. I’ve been to the Canterlot University a few times, once by request even, and I’ve spent a lot more time researching in libraries. I guess it all just stacked up. I still have fun with the CMCs all the time though.” He explained.

“That’s good, wouldn’t want you growing up too fast.” Twilight laughed. They sat in silence for a little while longer before Spike got up.

“Do you want to come with me? I’m heading over to Rarity’s soon. She probably forgot to tell you but we’re kind of experimenting with a relationship.” He said with a bit of hesitation. Twilight raised the equivalent of an eyebrow.

“Really now? Exactly how does that work?” Twilight asked, curious, as she got up too. Spike grinned and closed his eyes. He exhaled what looked like green fire out of his mouth, but it swirled around him and his form changed.

“It’s Dragon Magic, the ability to camouflage myself as something else. It’s hard to mimic a living thing, but I’ve been working really hard on this one.” He explained, though instead of the dragon he was; he looked like a human male a couple years younger than Twilight. He wore all purple, naturally, and had spiked green hair. His eyes were the same, though, and if you looked closely you could see scales on his skin. There were a few ridges or spines here or there, and his fingernails were more like talons, but he looked mostly human.

“Wow Spike, I’m impressed.” Twilight said. Spike grinned and walked over to the door, opening it and beckoning a ‘you first’ sarcastically. Twilight laughed and poked his forehead as she passed him, with her carapace covered finger it might have broken the skin if he didn’t have scales.

“Oh I was hoping you’d bring her along Darling, it saves a lot of trouble of me wondering if she knew or not.” Rarity said happily, waving over from her seat at the cafe.

“So you finally got together, what happened that made you try it out, Rarity?” Twilight asked as they sat down.

“Well, you know that he’s had the cutest crush on me ever since you first came here. At least hope you do anyways… Well as he grew he got a lot more mature, and we talked a lot more. The girls and I were obviously devastated when you didn’t come back, but we couldn’t even imagine how he was feeling…” Rarity started, looking at the Draconic boy next to her.

“I wouldn’t even talk to anyone, not her or even Celestia for a while… It was a bad time for me, but everyone persisted and finally got me out of the library and got me talking.” Spike continued. Rarity continued off of that.

“We all spent a lot of time together, spending nights at a time with each other… Eventually we all kind of accepted it, knowing you wouldn’t want us to mope around if you actually… well… you know. Spike still took it harder than anyone and I had him living with me for a while and we just got really close. We had started joking around about it, as were all of our friends, but not too long ago he found that book of Dragon Magic at the Canterlot Library.” She explained.

“I spent almost four days straight learning and mastering it. I still need improvement, but it’s good enough to not be really weird and awkward now.” Spike said. Rarity giggled and pulled him into a hug.

“I guess I should be glad that Dragon life cycles are so inconsistent, he aged quickly because of all the magic he was around according to that book. It’s a bit strange dating something you’ve known since it was only a couple years old, but hey he’s old enough now.” Rarity giggled. Twilight laughed.

“How about you Darling, any changelings that strike your fancy?” Rarity asked. This question surprised Twilight.

“Um, well… Changelings never really developed the individuality to have relationships like this until about a month ago… The only ones with true individuality are me, Chrysalis and a couple of the younger ones.” Twilight replied, sort of avoiding the answers.

“Without relationship how do they reproduce?” Rarity asked, curious.

“Well we can convert other creatures into Changelings, though that fell out of practice even before my incident. I’m not entirely sure, it’s not like bees where the queen lays lots of eggs. I think there’s just big mating chambers where we go to mate and there’s some sort of Changeling magic involved. I’ve never been in one and I’ve never really asked.” Twilight answered.

“Hm… Sounds kind of like nightclubbing if you ask me.” Rarity said, earning a bout of laughter from them all.

“But, back to the subject, is there one that’s stuck your fancy? You never answered my question.” Rarity said after they stopped laughing. Twilight hesitated.

“Well… There’ve been a couple I guess. There’s Kaine, one of the head hunters, that I’ve kind of been thinking about. There’s Cerene too, though she seems a bit young.” She admitted.

“Huh, and I totally thought you were banging Chrysalis” A very distinct voice said from behind them, making both Twilight and Rarity nearly choke on their drinks.

“Oh man Dash, That was awesome!” Spike said, laughing. Said Valkyrie high fived the Draconian and plopped down on an empty seat.

“But seriously, I thought you had a thing going on.” She continued. Twilight groaned and wiped coffee off of her lap.

“not exactly. We share a bed, that’s about it… and in the hive there are normally dozens in one bed. We’ve been using smaller beds and sleeping pods more lately, but still.” Twilight explained.

“Twi, when you have ash colored skin you can’t hide when you blush.” Dash retorted.

“She has a point Darling, it is rather brazen.” Rarity confirmed. Twilight groaned and facetabled.

“Just because we’re close doesn’t mean we’re together…” She moaned into the table. The others laughed.

“Twi, do you like her in a romantic way?” Spike asked, strangely serious for all the laughing he’d been doing. after a moment Twilight nodded, head still planted on the table.

“Are you satisfied with your current position with her?” He continued. Almost a full minute before she shook her head. He smiled and patted her head.

“Then do something about it. I know it’s not easy to keep secrets with Changelings with the hive mind and all, but you’re obviously doing a good job of it. If she knew I bet she’d be all over you.” Spike finished. Twilight raised her head and stared at his grinning face.

“If that doesn’t work then just get drunk and bang her. with a body like that she has to change her mind.” Dash said poking her chest carapace. Twilight laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Thanks guys, I needed that. And Spike, since when did you become an advice guru?” She asked. Spike shrugged.

“Dragons inherit experiences from their ancestors, sometimes we’re wise as elders out of the shell. But for that, it’s one of my own experiences.” Spike replied, pulling Rarity close. She kissed him on his scaley cheek and he grinned.

“Well I just dropped by because i saw you and wanted to mess with you. I’ve got to get the weather team ready for the Wonderbolts tournament.” Dash said, saluting to them and flying off.

“Wonderbolts tournament?” Twilight asked.

“The Wonderbolts are holding a tournament late tonight, they’re passing through all notable areas searching for the best weather teams to train with them and fly standby for a set of massive storms and hurricanes that are scheduled or predicted soon. Now that I think of it we might be able to get there in time after the hunt tonight.” Spike said.

“Oh right you guys are hunting that Ursa… I really hope you’ll all be careful, even though we know you can handle one Twilight.” Rarity said.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got more than enough people to take care of it. We’re not killing it, just scaring it off.” Spike said.

“Speaking of the hunt I should probably re-coat my quiver with a stronger anesthetic solution.” Twilight said, putting a finger to her chin. Spike and Rarity gave her a curious look. She smiled sheepishly. “You don’t want to know.” She added.

“Is it that weird organic stuff you spit out? I heard Applejack talking about it, apparently you spit on her wound and it healed her?” Rarity asked.

“Well, not really. It’s an organic material with anesthetic properties that can be modified internally. In that situation it was in place of a bandage, it eased the pain and kept it covered.” Twilight replied.

“Fascinating, do you know how it works?” Rarity asked.

“Um, a little bit but I’ve no idea how to explain it. You might want to ask Nel or Charon, they were born long before I was.” Twilight answered.

“I see… Oh! Twi! I almost forgot!” Spike said suddenly after a few moments, almost falling out of his chair and jarring Rarity.

“What?” Twilight asked, curious.

“If you don’t remember, this all happened because you were writing research books on Changelings. We managed to salvage all of your notes and stuff so they’re here, so if you wanted to continue that endeavor it’s an option.” He explained.

“Really? Where are they?” Twilight asked.

“Celestia’s keeping them in her private study, at first she was supre analyzing them to try and figure out what happened but now I guess she’s just keeping them safe for you.” Spike replied.

“I’ll have to talk to her about them then, though not for a little while. I’m still trying to figure myself out. I don’t remember much right before being born.” She said.

“Well, I suppose you need more time for that. I have to get going soon, Darling. I recently started a new line of clothing and it’s begun to soar, Spike promised he’d help me but if you want him for longer I can wait to borrow him.” Rarity said after a few moments of silence, standing up.

“Oh no I won’t keep him. We had our catching up, I’m not leaving for a while so there’s no rush.” Twilight said, standing as well.

“Alright Darling, we’ll be seeing you then.” Rarity said, quickly hugging the Changeling girl.Spike did the same and they walked off together. Twilight smiled at the sight and started looking around, thinking of something she could do.

“If you get bored, you could always retreat into the hive for a little while.” A soft voice sounded in her mind. It was Chrysalis, and she smiled at it. She had all but forgotten about their connections.

“I’ll think about it.” She said aloud with a giggle, though the amused feeling she got from her connection told her that Chrysalis had heard as well. With a hunt tonight and a tournament to go watch directly after, she decided to go take a nap and Indulge her queen’s suggestion.

Author's Note

been a while, but I finally got around ot finishing. The initial directive of the story is long gone, but I'm making due : P
I only plan another couple of chapters at the most

Interlude 1

It’s still so… barren… At least that’s what came to Twilight’s mind as she looked over the forest of her mind. The fire and chaos that ravaged it before may have long since passed, but very little progress had been made in terms of it regrowing. She did not despair, though. In fact, she smiled. How many people complain of their lives every day, wish for a clean slate? She’d been given just that. This field of ash may represent what has been lost, but it also represents what can still grow. What IS growing. She could feel it, without even looking for it, the roots and leylines of her forest rebuilding. She could almost see the little bumps of seeds taking root and sprouting under the ash.

She turned to see the familiar black wood of the Scarred Forest, though not the current Scarred Forest. This was the representation of Chrysalis’ mind. Each crimson leaf on every tree was ever so slightly different, she recognized, as she wandered into it. She had spoken with Chrysalis here in the meeting of their mindscapes, but she had never actually gone into the forest.

She couldn’t help but smile wide as she ran her fingers along a few branches, the trunk of one of the trees, rustling a few leaves as her fingers fanned out. She walked, seemingly for miles, though only seconds had passed. She could now see the hive in the distance, but there was no buzzing. The familiar hum of life was gone- but this was normal. The only two creatures here should be Chrysalis and herself.

Before long she did hear a hum, though not the usual hum of the thousands of wings buzzing around. A soft, melodic hum. She realized it was coming from her own lips, she was humming an unfamiliar tune. Before she could stop, though, she heard the same tune being hummed nearby. She followed the sweet noise and saw Chrysalis walking just a few feet ahead of her, har arms outstretched to gently touch everything they reached. Rather similar to what Twilight herself was doing.

They walked like that for a while, side by side, humming the same unfamiliar tune. Chrysalis was the first to break the silence.

“You feel it do you not, Twilight Sparkle?” The Queen asked. Twilight stopped her own hum to give an affirmative hum. She didn’t even need the other changeling to say what she meant. The Brood, the Hive, her kin. Her brothers and sisters, each and every one of them represented by a unique crimson leaf in the vast forest. She could feel them all, each individual consciousness peacefully congregating here. It was humbling.

Twilight would have gasped if she wasn’t too afraid to break the silence that had once again fallen. This wasn’t just the usual way she delved into the hive mind, her consciousness receding into the vast buzz of life that she was used to. This wasn’t even the usual meeting of the forests of their minds. This was THE Hive Mind. Chrysalis’ connection to every single other changeling in the brood. She had always thought it to be somewhat chaotic, like the hive itself. But this was… humbling. Peaceful.

“I’m glad you came, I was starting to get lonely.” Chrysalis said, once again breaking the silence with a small smile. Twilight was a little surprised by this.

How could she be lonely in a place like this?

“I suppose I should rephrase that. We, are getting lonely.” Chrysalis said, seemingly reading Twilight’s mind again. They had stopped now, and Chrysalis took a deep breath and spun around a bit as she spoke to emphasize the we.

“My Queen… I’ve only been gone one day…” Twilight started, but was immediately shocked as she processed what her queen had just said. It wasn’t just Chrysalis that apparently missed her, that would be at least somewhat understandable. They had become good friends after all. But the entire Hive… Her thousands of brothers and sisters, simultaneously missing her? She couldn’t believe it. In fact she really didn’t, but of course she had to be proven wrong.

All at once, she felt a massive wave of sadness creep over her. It was only for an instant, and it was certainly not her own. She was about to Question Chrysalis about it, but when she looked up she saw tears in the changeling’s eyes. This surprised Twilight, and Chrysalis herself as she wiped them and looked at them.

“W-What was that for?” Twilight asked softly, very confused.

“I am sorry, I had attempted to give you a small taste of what the Brood is feeling… Instead you got the full feeling of it, and it washed over me in full again as well…” Chrysalis explained, Twilight didn’t know that could even happen.

“Why are they all so… sad? They can’t be sad that I’m gone… I’ll be back soon…” She replied softly, the feeling almost bringing her to tears as well- brief as it was. It took Chrysalis a little while to reply, they had started walking again.

“They’re sad because they’re scared you won’t want to come back…” Chrysalis said, changing their direction. Twilight was, once again, surprised.

“But… but I’m absolutely coming back. Ponyville may have been my home in the past, and my friends life there, but... “ Twilight started, taking a deep breath and stopping. She turned back towards where her forest was. Even though they had been walking for a long while, she could still see the ashlands her forest had become clear as day. It was then that something occurred to her. She was still part of the hive mind, the connection that was pummeling Chrysalis with that sadness. She concentrated for a moment on it and she again felt the wave of sadness. It wasn’t nearly as strong as before, but she realized something. The brood was not the source of this sadness, this fear of her not coming back. They were just reflecting it…

They were feeling what their queen felt, as she feels what they feel. Twilight looked at Chrysalis then. She had stopped with her, but she was staring at the ground between them. Twilight looked down, following her gaze. There was a single leaf on the ground, a single lavender leaf. It wasn’t attached to a branch or anything, just lying on the ground. Chrysalis kneeled down and gently stroked the thing before looking up at Twilight. There were tears in her eyes again, but these were her own.

“I apologize… My mind gets away from me sometimes… This leaf fell not long ago… If it weren’t for the fact that I could still feel you alive and well in the hive mind I would have feared the worse… I am afraid, Twilight Sparkle, that just as this leaf will never return to the branch from which it fell, neither will you return to the Hive… To me…” The Queen explained, finishing with a sigh. She stood, shaking her head and wiping her eyes.

“I’m sorry… You’ve been away less than a day and I’m-” She started, but was interrupted as Twilight grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close into an embrace.

“My Queen… Chrysalis… I am, and always will be, part of the Hive. Of the Brood. Of course I will return to you, you are as important to me as anything in ponyville, if not more in most cases.” Twilight said.

As Chrysalis smiled and wrapped her arms around the girl, another wave of emotion hit both of them. Relief. Then a small wave of joy. Then, there was something else. Something familiar, but neither of them could quite figure out what it was.

“Thank you, Twilight… I guess I needed that… What a Mess I’ve become. I’d say I’m glad my subjects aren’t here to see me like this but.. “ Chrysalis said after a moment, deigning not to finish her sentence as the end was apparent.

“You should go, your fellow hunters are trying to rouse you.” Chrysalis said, taking a breath and stepping back to compose herself once more.

“We need to talk in person when I return.” Twilight said. Chrysalis smiled and nodded. She turned around and began her slow meander through the forest, once again fanning her arms out to touch everything she could. Twilight took a deep breath and concentrated on rousing herself.

She awoke to see Spike and Dash looking a little worried, while Charon and Nel were standing behind them with knowing looks.

“Shit Twi, we thought something was wrong. You were in such a deep sleep I thought we’d have to dump a bucket of water on you.” Dash said.

“Sorry, I was having a good dream.” She said apologetically and stood, stretching. Spike had a few pieces of armor on, almost like Barding for a horse. Dash had a composite bow on her back while Nel had a bow and harness similar to Twilight’s. Charon was carrying a a good sized pack that looked like it had medical supplies.

“While I’m no hunter, Applejack and her family have taught me how to use the bow. We should count ourselves lucky to have a true Hive Huntress with us tonight, especially should things turn to killing the beast.” Nel said. Twilight grinned.

This is what she was good at, she would show her friends what she had learned as a Changeling.

Author's Note

So, after some odd two years, I finally decided to try and write again.
and what do you know, I finally found the drive to do it, so here's a little something from me to apologize for the long Hiatus.

9: The Hunt

“What did you mean by ‘True Hive Huntress’ by the way, nel?” Dash asked as they walked through the Everfree. “I mean, I guess I assume it means Twilight is an awesome hunter.” She continued after a moment.

“Twilight is an exceptional hunter, one of our best actually. If memory serves you made second under Nictus correct?” Charon replied for the other.

“Correct, the night before last. Although it was less due to skill and more due to Lirend retiring to learn how to prepare meal pods.” Twilight replied.

“Still impressive. I’m surprised our queen hasn’t named you the leader. Nictus is an incredible huntress, but I believe you surpass even her.” Nel said. Twilight just shook her head.

“I don’t think I’d want to gain that title like that, and while I don’t truly believe I have surpassed Nictus in hunting prowess I definitely haven't surpassed her in the ability to lead.” She retorted. Nel just nodded in apparent agreement.

“Are you sure we’re talking about the same girl? Not too long ago she would rather read a book on archery and calculate the trajectory of the arrow rather than fire it.” Spike said with a chuckle.

“Dude you should have seen it, when she saved us in that messed up forest she was a total badass!” Dash started. “She swooped in so fast I barely even noticed her, and she took apart those crazy things like they were nothing!” She continued enthusiastically. Nel put a hand in front of her, though, as Charon did the same for Spike. They had both reacted to a sharp series of clicks, coming from Twilight. They exchanged a few nonverbal phrases and Twilight was suddenly shooting into the forest, her battle plating extending.

“Wha-” Dash started to ask, but Nel quickly shushed her.

“Something is nearby, she heard it.” The changeling whispered. Dash nodded, her expression getting serious.

It seemed like the seconds were draggon in for minutes, but before long Twilight’s voice called through the brush.

“It’s clear, come take a look at this!” She called. The others quickly followed to find a large cave almost hidden in the moss and trees. Twilight was inside, kneeling over a mass of rocks. As they neared, though, they found the mass of rocks to be the decaying corpse of an Ursa.

“Wait, it’s already dead?” Dash asked, confused. Twilight shook her head and the face of her battle plating slid back a bit as she stood and turned around.

“By the looks of it, he’s been dead only a few days. I don’t see anything on the outside so he must have died from sickness or infection or something. Perhaps the reason he was troubling the town was because he was sick… but his mother isn’t here. Hasn’t been since he died.” She explained.

“How can you tell?” Spike asked. Twilight proceeded to point out a few things. A much larger set of footprints, a large indent in the brush that made up some sort of bedding, long decaying meat that looked like a half eaten meal.

“An Ursa minor is dangerous, a Major wandering around could be catastrophic for Ponyville. Especially if she’s grief stricken, she’ll lash out at anything and everything that gets close… she shouldn’t be too hard to track.” Twilight continued. She started walking out, following the tracks, but Dash grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Waaaaaait wait wait wait… Spooking an ursa minor away from the town is one thing, hunting down a fully grown major? That’s like Suicide. We need help.” The Valkyrie protested. Twilight smiled and put a hand on the other girl’s on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, if we all stay in the air it can’t get to us easily. Trees and rocks are pretty easy to dodge. If it really is enraged We’ll probably back off and have Spike send a message to Celestia to send someone over. If it gets close to Ponyville, though, then we’ll have to take action.” The changeling girl explained.

“Pff, not a good leader my ass.” Charon chuckled, his basic battle plating extending.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” nel shrugged, doing the same and checking her quiver.

“Are you sure about this, Twi?” Spike asked. The girl nodded. He sighed but started preparing the message should he need to send it.

“You’re absolutely insane, Twilight, and I love it.” Dash grinned, cracking her knuckles. Twilight grinned back and pointed in the direction of the tracks.

“From the sky we can travel faster, following this thing shouldn’t be too hard.” She said. Everyone nodded and took to the skies.

It didn’t take long.

“They heard it first, the sound of wood snapping and an angry grumble. Then they saw one of the trees fall. There was that clicking again, coming from Twilight, and again Charon and Nel nodded as if she had just said something and shot off.

“Dash, Spike, I’m going to need you to hang back. If it gets bad you come in and start blasting fire around- even a raging Ursa is wary of fire.” Twilight started, looking to Spike first. “And if you feel 100% confident that you can do something without getting hurt then you go for it Dash, otherwise we don’t need you getting hurt and ruining your chance at getting into the Wonderbolts.” She continued, looking at the Valkyrie.

“How come they can help?” Dash asked, she was starting to get frustrated. She was starting to feel left out ,even though Twilight was one of her best friends. Twilight hugged her in the air, then.

“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you out by choice. Nel, Charon and I are linked because of the Hive Mind, and we can also communicate quickly and efficiently using body language and our… clicking and stuff. If this goes bad then I don’t want to risk you getting hurt especially since you don’t have battle plating or armor.” The changeling girl said when she pulled back. Dash crossed her arms with a huff, but nodded. She was hotheaded, but not stupid. She understood. Twilight nodded and shot off towards where the other two were closing in.

After that it was a bit of a blur.

She met up with the other two, exchanged a few words and made to follow the beast. They were forced to scatter as there was already a massive tree trunk flying at them. They had been noticed. They dodged it easily, and all drew their bows. They had coated the bottoms in the strongest of their toxin they could safely create, and with twenty-one arrows between them they hoped it would be enough.

It wasn’t.

It was slowing down considerably, taking much longer between swipes and throwing things at them, but it was still swinging and throwing regardless. If this was a normal hunt, they probably would have killed it by now, but this wasn’t a normal hunt. They weren’t trying to kill it. They were trying to scare it off, or subdue it and use magic to bring it far away from civilization.

Charon was clipped by a rock and was sent spiraling to the ground. After crashing he gave a thumbs up- alive and mostly ok- but that was the turning point. One of them had been injured. She nodded to Spike, who sent a message to Celestia by dragonfire, and then dived in to try and scare it off with fire.

The thing swatted him out of the sky too, and his crash landing wasn’t nearly as safe. In fact, he went through the trunk of a tree and smashed into a boulder. The boulder cracked and fell into many pieces, though he managed to slide off and get to his feet. One of his wing arms were broken, though. And that was the last straw, she didn’t want Dash or Nel to get hurt too. She extended her blades and let the chitin slide off ,revealing the black blade.

“She means business now… the best we can do is watch…” Nel said, stopping Dash as the Valkyrie was about to charge in. Dash wanted to punch the changeling woman, but stopped herself as she saw Twilight looking back at her.

“I’ll go get Fluttershy…” Nel said when Dash nodded to Twilight. They both nodded and the changeling shot off towards Ponyville, Charon had found Spike and was attempting to help him, but he was bruised and Spike was in need of some medical attention. The numbing toxin could only do so much.

“Twi, if that thing hurts you I swear I’ll die before letting it get away with it!” Dash called out to Twilight, who raised a hand in affirmative. She hovered there, watching her friend. Twilight was waiting for something, it wasn’t long. A boulder was thrown in her direction, though she disappeared in a small flash right before it hit her. From the Ursa’s perspective, however, it seemed like it had finally squashed those annoying bugs.

Boy was it wrong.

The scream of pain could be heard quite a ways off as Twilight’s blades ran along one of its front legs. It nearly toppled over as it tried to put its weight on it to swing with the other paw, which gave Twilight the opportunity to get out of there. It snapped at her, to which she slashed at its nose. With another yell of pain, it backed up a bit- watching this new threat.

Twilight wished she could speak to it, to tell it to leave so she didn’t have to hurt it anymore. But there was nothing but rage in its eyes, it was absolutely still grieving the death of its cub. Twilight felt sorry for it as it started licking its foreleg where she had cut. It kept both eyes on her, though, not giving her another chance to get close without it knowing.

Twilight dashed in again, baiting a swing with its good arm. Ducking under it, she made to slice at the thing’s soft underbelly, but had to quickly dodge the other paw’s swing. It may have been injured, but that leg wasn’t crippled. She flew back to a safe distance and they were again at a stalemate.

There was a click, and the sound of something coming towards her. She reached her hand out, not bothering to look, as she caught a single arrow. Charon had spent some time creating it for her. The Ursa seemed to realize what it was, though, and roared loud. It jumped up to lunge at her, but she dodged it and grabbed her bow from where it was strung around her chest and readied it. It jumped at her again, to which she ducked under it and put an arrow in the back of the back right knee. It yelped in pain as it landed, she hit a pressure point.

That seemed to take up a lot of its energy, though. Either that or the toxin was finally getting to it, as it dropped low to the ground and barely even looked up at her. Now was her chance, she quickly dashed in for a lethal strike.

She realized too late her mistake. It was her turn to be baited. In a flash, the thing had swung at her with both claws. She barely dodged them, but was forced to react as its hot breath covered her as she was caught in its jaws.

Right before the teeth could crush through her battle plating, she put up a magical barrier. It was a quick, rushed spell so it was consuming her energy at an alarming rate. Well, either that or the fact that it takes a lot of energy to repel the teeth of an infuriated ursa Major. Probably both.

“Twilight!” Dash yelled. Twilight couldn’t look, but she heard the sound barrier breaking. Less than a second later, she felt the creature’s head smashing to one direction. Dash had apparently done a sonic-rainboom-dropkick to try and get it to let Twilight go. Unfortunately for Twilight, this also put an incredible amount of strain on her shield, and it shattered. She could only let out a pained gasp as the jaws clamped on her midsection, and probably would have severed her in two if it weren’t for the fact that the teeth were shattering along with her shield.

The force of the blast proceeded to send her flying out of the now somewhat toothless mass, putting her into one of the thrown boulders. She would have felt, and probably heard, her carapace crunching against the stone if she was conscious.

Author's Note

I hope I've gotten better with description, I remember that was one of my major flaws. I must say, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm able to write again.
Enjoy

10: The Aftermath

Celestia heard the roar of the Ursa and quickened her pace. She could hear her royal guard huffing alongside her. They were starting to get tired. Then she heard its screams of pain, and then the sonic rainboom. She’d have to apologize to her guards later, because the feeling of unease she was feeling was too great. She shot ahead at full speed, leaving them behind.

Well, she was right. Something terrible had happened. The scene she shot into was something she never thought she’d see something like again. There were two changelings crowded around Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who had been dragged next to each other. One of the changelings had a few bad scratches and one of his wings looked like it was barely attached to his back.

Dash was unconscious, though her signature rainboom was unmistakable. By the look of her legs they were both broken. Twilight was… Twilight was a mess. One of the changelings had laid her on her side, there were large puncture and crushing wounds all along her arms and midsection and the carapace on her back was almost completely destroyed. Her strange green-ish red blood was dribbling out of every crack and dripping or freely flowing out of the wounds.

She was about to ask what the hell just happened when she noticed the Ursa. The creature wasn’t moving, and judging by the way its head was jarred its neck must have been broken. She looked between them in shock just as Twilight’s friend, Fluttershy, flew into the clearing. Celestia had a feeling the girl would have fainted if she hadn’t realized her friends were hurt. She got out of her shock as well and landed next to the people on the ground alongside Fluttershy.

“Princess? Where’s Spike?” One of the changelings asked, surprised to see her. A loud grunt from not too far away alerted them to the purple dragon’s location. He was on his back in the middle of a shattered tree, but his reptilian thumbs-up assured them that he was ok. It was around then that her guard landed, huffing and puffing. They refrained from saying anything about being left behind, though, seeing the carnage.

“Fluttershy?” Celestia asked the shy girl, who was already cleaning wounds and setting splints. The girl looked up, tears running down her face, but she understood what Celestia was asking.

“Dash will be just fine with a splint and bedrest, and Twilight is Alive… She’s not in danger of dying anymore, the Ursa’s teeth didn’t go too far through the carapace…” The girl explained, keeping the tears from her voice. Celestia felt her own tears forming in her eyes, but she pushed them back when she heard Twilight would be alright. She was startled by a hand on her shoulder, it was the uninjured Changeling. But it wasn’t quite her.

“Will she live, Celestia?” Chrysalis’ voice asked from the changeling woman’s mouth. It was soft barely a whisper. And there were even tears running down the woman’s face in her queen’s stead. Celestia just nodded, taking a deep breath and standing from where she had knelt down beside the injured girls.

“Fluttershy, tell me when they are safe to be moved… If you need any assistance, all of my guard are trained medics… they will defer to your direction.” She said, looking to her guard and nodding her head towards the shy valkyrie. Getting the unspoken order the four men rushed over, offering their own medical supplies. Celestia walked the possessed changeling a few steps away.

“Chrysalis, do you know what happened?” She asked. The woman nodded.

“I was watching… The beast was enraged due to the loss of its cub, and it would not run away in fear. They tried to subdue it with magic and their toxin, but it was taking far too long. When Charon got hurt, they had Spike send the message I assume you received. Then he got knocked out of the air and Nel rushed to get Fluttershy.” Chrysalis started explaining. She was going to continue after stopping for breath, but Celestia cut her off.

“She left Twilight all alone?!” She almost yelled. The changeling shook her head.

“Rainbow Dash was still here. Since Twilight and Nel could use their connection to the hive mind to work in tandem much easier than with another, Twilight insisted Dash stay back so as not to get hurt. At that point, Nel was little more than a distraction to the thing so she decided that getting a medic would be the best thing for her to do… Then we all felt Twilight get hurt. Nel rushed back, leaving Fluttershy to gather her equipment. From Charon’s mind I saw the Valkyrie hit the thing with enough force to break its neck, as well as her own legs, and both hit the ground.” She continued, taking a deep breath. She wiped a few new tears that had formed from her eyes.

There was a bit of a long silence after that, broken occasionally by the soft voices of the medics working on the injured. Celestia seemed very conflicted. And she was. She was angry at Twilight for going on this hunt, angry at just about everyone for even letting her go. She was angry at herself because she didn’t get here fast enough and she was just generally angry. She was relieved that everyone was alright, or at least not in danger of dying. Her emotions were running rampant, but she forced it all down with a deep breath as she maintained her composure.

“Chrysalis, I expect you to be here by the end of the night. I wish to speak to you, in person. It’s about our… agreement.” Celestia finally said. Chrysalis nodded and the color returned to the woman’s eyes.

“Princess Celestia… I do not know of this agreement, but if you must blame or punish a changeling for this then let it be me rather than my Queen… I-” Nel started as soon as she recovered from the possession. Celestia stopped her with a hand on the shoulder.

“Nobody is getting punished… and you did the right thing going to get Fluttershy. Her expertise far exceeds any field medic training my guard have received.” The princess said, calming down as Fluttershy walked over. Nel gave a relieved sigh and the Valkyrie bowed slightly to the Princess.

“Princess Celestia, thank you so much for coming in person and bringing those medics, we were able to perform the needed preparations to move them in no time at all. Twilight is perfectly stable and a lot of her bleeding has stopped. Nothing internal is too severe as far as I can tell from the field examination, we’ll have to confirm it back at the hospital but she isn’t showing any symptoms so far. She’s currently in a comatose state due to magic exhaustion, though knowing her she’ll be conscious by tomorrow.” The valkyrie explained. Celestia nodded and they all walked over. The guards had produced gurneys that they now carried with the two unconscious people on them. Charon was bandaged and his gossamer wing held together by a splint for regeneration. Spike had managed to peel himself from the tree trunk he was implanted in and was fighting a losing battle with one of the medics carrying Twilight to let him carry her.

“I had planned on teleportation…” Celestia said, trying to stop the argument that had formed.

“In her condition, teleportation would be a little risky and I don’t think you’d want to take any added risks.” One of her guards told her, to which Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

“Since we don’t know the extent of internal damage, if there is any, we don’t want to risk aggravating them.” Fluttershy said. Celestia nodded with a sigh, though she stopped all further argument by snapping and lifting both of the gurneys with her magic. While she had perfect confidence in her guards not to drop them, she wanted to make the ride as smooth as possible.

A few hours saw Fluttershy and the other doctors of Ponyville sitting with Celestia in the waiting room.

“They’re both alright now. There’s some strange magic at work with Twilight that we’re unfamiliar with, we assume it’s something to do with the whole Changeling thing. The good thing is that it seems to be helping her, repairing what’s been damaged. At this rate, she should be fit to return to her house by nightfall. She could even attend the tournament if she wished, though definitely somewhere covered.” The head doctor explained. Celestia nodded through it, just relieved that there was no extreme damage to her student. It certainly looked a lot worse than it was.

“Thank you, Doctor. All of you as well, I couldn’t have asked for a quicker response and treatment - because I most certainly would have.” She said with a bit of a weak chuckle. They all smiled and stood.

“She’s alright if you want to go in now, by the way.” Fluttershy said, standing as well. “I have to head home and clean up, um… thanks for all of your help too… It um… certainly made the trip easier and quicker.” She continued. Celestia smiled and nodded, standing last and heading towards Twilight’s room. She gave a small wave to Fluttershy as the shy girl made to leave the hospital before entering and closing the door.

She let out another hefty sigh, this time dropping her composure in full. She was still flustered about the situation, and she had a feeling that would last until Twilight woke up. She quickly walked over to the chair next to the bed, between the two beds actually. It would appear they put Twilight and Dash in the same room to recover, which made sense. She sat as she looked at the sleeping girl. It really did look like she was sleeping now, not just unconscious. She had the slightest smile on her face and her breathing was soft and unhampered. Celestia smiled and put her hand over the girl’s, sitting there for a while.

“Princess? You came here yourself?” She heard the other girl’s voice groan. She turned to smile at Dash, who looked like she was just waking up from a deep sleep.

“Of course I did. An Ursa, even a minor, is a serious problem to be rampaging around a town like Ponyville. When I heard that you and Twilight were part of the hunt I had to come myself, especially when the message said there were injuries…” She replied, looking back to Twilight.

“So… so that wasn’t just a dream then… shit… God damnit…” Dash started saying, her voice getting angry. She was pushing her hands into her face, like a frustrated child. “If only I had acted sooner… She wouldn’t have even gotten hurt… It’s my fault!”. She continued. Celestia was a little surprised by the sudden change to self anger.

“Rainbow Dash, this is definitely not your fault… it’s nobody’s fault…” She started with a sigh. Look at what she’s saying, even though she’s still having trouble not blaming anyone for this herself.

“She told you to stay back so you didn’t get seriously hurt. She probably would have had it if the thing wasn’t so deep in rage. I got the story from your changeling friends, and it’s very impressive. From both of you. Yourself, a point blank sonic rainboom? And your legs didn’t disintegrate?” She explained, trying to play up to Dash’s ego a bit. It worked, at least a little, as Dash smirked slightly.

“I mean, damn right it was impressive. It was an Ursa MAJOR. We were HUNTING it. People don’t just do that and settle for mediocrity.” Dash explained. This earned a bit of a chuckle from the princess, which she really needed.

“I guess you’re right. By the way, if Twilight wakes up beforehand would you like to come to the tournament with us? If she wants to go that is. The doctors said she’s stable enough to go by then, and if memory serves you have a particular fondness of the Wonderbolts correct?” Celestia asked after a thought. She regretted it almost immediately. Dash’s expression fell, and she gave another frustrated groan and plopped back down in her hospital bed.

“Fondness? They’re basically my life! Damnit, I almost forgot that was tonight… I guess she didn’t tell you, I was supposed to compete.” The Valkyrie explained. Celestia looked surprised for a moment, but then immediately understood. Even if the tournament was nothing but flying, the Wonderbolts need to be in peak athletic ability in all forms. Not only is it easier to do daring stunts and maneuvers if you’re physically strong, they use their legs almost like a tail to help direct them and shift their weight around.

“Oh… There’s always the next one, I suppose…” Celestia started, but then remembered the frequency of these tournaments.

“Pfft, of course there’s the next one. But who knows when that’ll be, the last one was four years ago. They only hold these tournaments when they need members, or an ace takes interest in taking an apprentice. I heard Spitfire herself wanted to take an apprentice. I legit almost feinted the one time she let me take a picture with her, but if I could study under her? I think I might actually squeal like Fluttershy did the first time she saw Spike.” Dash rambled. Celestia understood perfectly why Twilight had her stay away from the Ursa now. She didn’t want her friend getting hurt and missing the tournament.

It was at about that point when Celestia noticed that the hand she had been holding was holding back, and it was now gently squeezing. She looked at Twilight to find the girl silently watching Dash, tears forming in her eyes.

“I’m… I-I’m so sorry Dash… I let you get hurt, on today of all days… I knew I should have asked you to stay home.” Twilight said softly. Dash snapped upright at Twilight’s voice. Her expression went very quickly from relieved to angry again.

“Twilight, are you serious? Like, really serious? You let ME get hurt? I hurt MYSELF trying to help you. And do NOT take that as me blaming you for it. You bet your ass I’m glad I came with you. You almost died, I just broke my legs. I mean yeah I’m pretty pissed I’ll miss my chance with the Wonderbolts here, but do you know how terrible I would have felt if I heard you had gotten hurt and I stayed home for some stupid gig?” The girl practically yelled. She huffed, sighed and calmed down. Celestia was a little taken by surprise by the outburst. It seemed Twilight was as well, but the changeling girl eventually snapped out of it and smiled as he tried to sit up.

“Yeah, I guess you would have just laughed if I told you to stay anyways.” She started, to which Dash laughed and nodded in response. “What was it you were saying about the tournament though, Princess?” She continued, looking to the woman at her bedside. Celestia looked between the two, who were now looking at her. She was still surprised by the outburst, but she quickly snapped out of it.

“Oh, right… Your doctors and Fluttershy said that you’d both be in good enough condition to take home by the time you woke up, Twilight. They also mentioned that, if you were interested, you would be safe to bring along if we sat you in a covered seat.” Celestia explained. Twilight nodded and turned to Dash.

“Well, Dash? I know you can’t really compete anymore, but you still love going.” She offered. Dash just crossed her arms and smiled.

“I mean, for the pure wing ones I’ll compete. Just to show that I can still function, hope I’m not buried by the eternity of time that passes by the time the next tournament rolls around.” The Valkyrie replied. Twilight rolled her eyes, knowing that trying to convince the girl otherwise would be more hassle than it was worth.

“Then it’s settled, we’ll get you a wheelchair so nobody has to carry you.” Twilight said with a happy smile. Dash grinned and nodded.

Celestia was surprised again. It wasn’t completely by their interaction, at least not what they were saying. She does admittedly see them all together very rarely. No, she was surprised by the fact that Twilight was seemingly unphased by the fact that she very well could have died there. She decided now wasn’t the time to ask her about it, though, so she just stood and recomposed herself.

“Well then, the VIP box is a given. If we want the good seats near the glass we should head out soon, though. I saw people camping out on the grounds when we were flying over.” She said, just happy things were alright for now.

“Oh yeah, I forgot we were with the Princess! Woo, free VIP box!” Dash said, pumping her fist. Twilight and Celestia giggled.

“We’ll have to grab lunch on the way though, magical exhaustion makes me hungry.” Twilight said. They all nodded.

Well, this day has certainly been a roller coaster of emotions.

Author's Note

This one was a little off due to recovering form alcohol poisoning, and being written in more than one session, but it needed to be done to get through the plot.
Enjoy

11: A Simple Walk

Twilight and Celestia were walking down the road towards the newly raised tournament grounds outside of Ponyville, Twilight pushing Dash’s wheelchair, when Twilight felt something. It was a spike of joy, but it wasn’t her own. The other two noticed it, since she was in the middle of a word when she suddenly stopped talking. Before Celestia could ask what was wrong, the girl’s vision snapped in a direction. They followed it and saw the black specs in the distance quickly turning into a small group of five changelings.

“Well that was far quicker than I thought…” Celestia said, more to herself.

“Wait, is that the Queen? You told her to come here?” Dash asked. Celestia nodded.

“I asked her yes, though I expected it to be much later in the night.” The Princess replied. Twilight was silent for a while as the group came closer and eventually landed next to them.

“Greetings Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia. I came as soon as I was able, Princess.” Chrysalis said, putting a hand over her chest and lightly bowing.

“I appreciate your expediency, Chrysalis, but I am afraid we’re on our way to see the Wonderbolts tournament and we’ve promised Rainbow Dash here that we can’t miss it.” Celestia said apologetically. Chrysalis just replied with a nod.

“I understand. If you don’t mind we would like to join you, we only know what our harvesters have been able to tell us about the Wonderbolts. I’ve brought with me my best huntress, they are the best fliers of the brood and could learn a great deal.” The Queen suggested, Nictus waving. Celestia shrugged.

“Can’t hurt, though it is not a free event. I can have you sit with us in the VIP box of course, but your kinsmen will have to acquire normal means of entry.” Celestia said, looking at the other changelings. They smiled.

“We knew of this ,we’ve brought the appropriate fees.” Chrysalis said with a smile. Celestia nodded and they made to start walking again, but Twilight broke her silence. Well, not quite the silence as she didn’t speak. Instead she walked up to Chrysalis and pulled the Queen into an embrace. This surprised her, but she couldn’t help but give a beaming smile and return the embrace. The other changelings quickly mirrored the happy expression.

“I missed you… I couldn’t feel the hive when I was unconscious, it’s still a little dulled…” Twilight said softly. Chrysalis just patted her gently on the head and put her at arm's length.

“From what Ceren told me, magical exhaustion can do that. You’ll be right as rain with some recovery time.” The queen smiled. Twilight nodded and quickly moved back to Dash’s wheelchair, a hint of embarrassment on her face. They were somewhat interrupted by a nearby voice, though it wasn’t directed at them.

“Vinyl, Why’re you so happy all of a sudden? Weren’t you just pouting that they didn’t let you run audio for the event?” The voice said. They turned to look to see a particular blue haired DJ grinning like the changelings were. The woman talking to her had black hair and was wearing a nice outfit that looked almost like a maestro’s suit.

“Yo Vinyl! Octavia! I didn’t know you guys were into the Wonderbolts?” Dash called, raising her hand and waving it to get their attention. The two looked over and waved in greeting as well, but were more than a little surprised to see their friend accompanied by the queen of the changelings and their own princess. Needless to say, the day just got weird for Vinyl and Octavia.

“Uh… Rainbow Dash?” Vinyl started, walking over. “Ok first, why the hell are you in a wheelchair? Second and third, why is the queen of the changelings and Princess Celestia here?” The DJ continued, though her expression still had a bit of that happiness that was still emulated on the changelings’ faces amidst the confusion.

“Uh, I helped in that hunt with that Ursa. I drop kicked it in the face at full speed. FULL full speed.” Dash replied.

“Oh hell yeah, noice!” Vinyl laughed, high fiving the girl.

“Princess Celestia is here because she helped us not die, and I don’t really know why Chrysalis is here.” The Valkyrie continued, looking over at the changelings again. Chrysalis was giving this girl a strange look.

“Well this is certainly interesting.” Chrysalis said with a bit of an amazed chuckle.

“Oh good lord is she a Harvester?” Celestia asked, curious. Chrysalis nodded. The two new girls looked confused.

“A… what now?” They said ,almost in unison.

“A Harvester is a changeling separated from the hive just after their birth to live and grow as another race, in this case humans, to gather love. They don’t know what they are, and the hive connection is virtually nonexistent.” Twilight explained, almost as if reciting it from a book. The two just gave them looks. Then looked at each other, then back at them.

“What?” The two once again said almost in unison. There was a bit of an awkward silence. It was broken by the shifting of metal as Dash rocked back and forth in her chair a bit.

“I mean, I know that this is a sudden reveal and all but I’m getting antsy let’s gooooo!” The girl said. Twilight laughed and everyone seemed to snap out of it.

“Uh… mind if we join you on the way? I uh… guess we have something to talk about…” Vinyl said, rubbing the back of her head. Chrysalis nodded with a smile and they all just sort of turned as one and walked on.

The idle chatter was companionable, everyone just kind of randomly starting up conversations with each other. Vinyl and Octavia talked to the changelings and Twilight about what exactly a Harvester is and just about the hive in general, curiosity outweighing concern and confusion. When they finally arrived at the large stadium, they found it to be mostly empty. There were a few people in the stands lounging around, apparently with the same idea as they had, and just watching the stunt fliers as they practiced.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come… All of the hopefuls know me and they’ll never let me live this down…” Dash said, looking at her lap in the chair.

“What are you talking about, Dash? Live what down? You aren’t sitting out because of a little training accident or a sore wing arm or something like that, you’re sitting out because you’re a badass and you badassed a little too hard.” Vinyl said, ruffling the Valkyrie’s hair playfully. Dash replied with a laugh as she swatted the other girl’s hands away.

“Well when you put it that way it makes me feel a lot better about myself.” Dash said, fixing her hair. “I just hope it goes well. Maybe since we’re in the VIP box I’ll get to talk to one of the bolts, that’d be awesome.” She continued. Celestia gained a look in her eye, Twilight noticed. It was a very specific, mischievous look. Twilight knew this look well, Celestia was going to try her best to make Dash’s day now, it was a challenge.

“Well, we shall purchase our seats. We will join you in the box until everyone is called back.” Nictus said, retrieving a small back from her bag. Chrysalis nodded.

“In the meantime, I must go and greet the Wonderbolts. I must admit I do quite love their shows and they deserve a personal hello at least.” Celestia said, her mischievous grin in full force. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at it, but quickly stifled it.

“We will head to the box then, thank you again Princess Celestia.” Chrysalis said, putting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. The Princess gave a casual wave back, a nonverbal ‘no problem’ as she disappeared through one of the doorways leading to where it was assumed the Wonderbolts were congregating before their show.

The trip to the box was far less hassle than it could have been, on the account that a wheelchair is easily lifted by Telekinesis. Dash found a good spot next to some good seats to plant her chair and watch as people practiced their routines.

“You know what, maybe it’s a good thing I can’t compete. I have no idea what I was even going to do… Was just going to improvise a routine…” Dash said softly, staring through the glass as Valkyries went through dangerous and impressive maneuvers and tricks.

“You work well under pressure. Even with that ursa. No weapons, no real combat training or anything. A sonic-rainboom-dropkick was a pretty good idea for an ‘oh shit gotta save Twi’s life’ moment.” Twilight said, reclining into her seat with a sigh. These cushions were new. “With some practice and proper technique you could even do it without crippling yourself.” She continued, finger going to her chin as she immediately went into analytical mode.

“Hah, you’re still the same Twilight I remember.” Dash said after a moment of silence, laughing. Twilight replied with a grin as she sat back up.

“Twilight, if you don’t mind, while we wait do you suppose we could have a bit of a private word?” Chrysalis asked. Twilight looked at Dash, who shrugged, and Celestia wasn’t back yet.

“Sure, where’d you have in mind?” The girl replied, about to stand up.

“Exactly.” Chrysalis replied with a chuckle. Twilight was confused for a moment but then with an ‘Ohhhhh!’ remembered the mental link.

“We’re gonna like pass out for a while, Rainbow Dash, don’t freak out. It’s normal.” Twilight said to Dash. The girl gave them a questioning look, but gave her a salute anyways.

“Should something important happen, or when the tournament is getting ready to start, do wake us please.” Chrysalis asked Nictus, who replied by putting her hand over her chest and bowing quickly. Chrysalis nodded back with a smile and both she and Twilight closed their eyes and took a deep breath. They succumbed into the Hive mind, and then rather than creating the isolated bubble they focused on the link of their minds. Not completely isolated from the hive, but rather a personalized ‘room’ that was not immediately broadcasted throughout the hive mind.

Twilight had missed this connection, being unconscious and mentally exhausted.

Author's Note

Kinda short with an abrupt chapter break, but there's some big knowledge being dropped next chapter and I didn't want to half ass it.

As far as updates go, as always I write when I can and post as soon as it's done. It's just with wal mart schedules and all the tabletop I play nowadays I don't have the most time to actually write. I really want to finish this, but I also thought of a rather bulky arc that I could explore. I'm either going to end it soon and save the arc for a sequel and get to it after I'm done updating Scarlet High and When the Night Beckons, or I can keep this going for as long as I can and hope it doesn't die again. What do you guys think?

12: Ups and Downs

Once again, Twilight found herself in the forests of their minds. She was overjoyed to notice that on her side was more than just dust and dirt, a few patches of green were sprouting through the ash.

“While I could stand here with you all day, there is something I wished to discuss.” Chrysalis said, ripping Twilight’s attention from her own forest to her Queen. She looked almost… sad.

“The reason I am here is that Celestia wished to speak to me about our agreement, the agreement being that you are to stay and learn with me while you recover from… well everything. I worry that she may change the agreement… I recognize that this may be selfish of me, but I just wanted to have a bit of time alone with you just in case.” The Queen explained. Twilight was a little confused and quickly went to picking apart the explanation in pieces. The silence was almost palpable before she figured out what she wanted to say.

“For starters, even if she wanted to Celestia could not rip me from my home in the hive. I don’t think even she has the power to change what I am now, and I’ve come to enjoy my time there. My home in Ponyville, and with Celestia, are still there and they are still my home as well… Even if a war with the changelings started again I would still visit both of my homes.” Twilight started.

“I don’t know this agreement, not entirely, but I doubt she would rescind it just because I got hurt in ponyville. I’m interested in what she wants to tell you now.” She continued, then she adopted a bit of an embarrassed demeanor. She looks at the ground, put her hands behind her back and all of that. “And I could use some alone time.” She finished with a smile. Chrysalis smiled back, happy with what Twilight said. Her smile turned into a frown again, though.

“That is… unfortunately not the only reason I wished to spend time with you… I’m growing worried it may be harder and harder for you to maintain this… double life… If things get worse, I may have to bar you from our lands.” The Queen said, ending in almost a whisper. This dumbfounded Twilight, and honestly made her heart sink. Chrysalis explained before she could ask, though.

“Changelings are… not a normal race. We are parasites ,feeding on the emotions of other creatures - Primarily love. It was only through generations of plentiful food did we evolve to be so… I don’t know the word for it… So… normal. Unfortunately, the generations of plentiful food is also the thing that is wrong.” She started, turning away from Twilight and walking through her own forest. Twilight followed silently, worried.

“When we are able to feed until we are satiated completely, the hunger intensifies. It grows, becomes more voracious… You can’t feel it now, since you are a bit of a special case, but the hunger is starting to crack through all of the progress we’ve made these short months. I will bring this to Celestia’s attention, I will not allow another invasion to happen… but at this rate it will only be a few more months until all of the progress you’ve helped make is dashed. Weeks after that we will begin the process of complete degeneration, starting with conscious thought and individuality. The strain on my own consciousness will drive me insane and I will be the horrible monster I was when we first met.” The Queen continued in a somber tone. Twilight stopped. Chrysalis stopped to look at her, but was only a little surprised when the girl nearly crashed into her in an embrace.

“But… But that can’t happen...Take what I’ve gathered, Take it all. I’ll find other Harvesters, like Vinyl! We can stop it… we can…” Twilight started, her voice cracking, but she trailed off. Chrysalis slowly returned the embrace, feeling the love being given. It really was quite a lot, more than enough to abate the ravenous ticks in the back of all of their minds for a small bit. But she knew it wouldn’t last long.

Twilight could feel it too.

“I’m sorry…” Chrysalis could only say, softly. “Do not waste your time and effort… More will only expedite the process…” She said, putting the girl at arms length.

“Now come on then, compose yourself. Celestia has returned, Nictus is trying to get our attention. We don’t want to ruin the event with such terrible news.” The Queen said, putting a hand on the girl’s face to look at her. Twilight just nodded, stifled a sob and took a deep breath. She wiped the tears that had formed from her eyes and took another deep breath before nodding. Chrysalis nodded and they both opened their eyes.

“Now now, Chrysalis, I must say your progress with bonding as a student and her mentor is impressive. You’re almost making me jealous.” Celestia chuckled, Twilight had leaned into Chrysalis’ shoulder in their unconscious state. They both smiled, but Celestia’s fell. She could read Twilight like a book. Something was definitely wrong. Twilight gave her a look. ‘Now isn’t the time’. The princess quickly recomposed herself- understanding quickly that it was something that could wait.

“You almost missed the opening ceremony, Rainbow Dash insisted and I felt I did not have the authority to deny her.” Nictus said, she was the only other changeling left in the box. There were a few other people in there, though most of them were keeping their distance from the Changeling Queen. Dash’s wheelchair was empty, but still there.

“Oh boy, this’ll be interesting…” Twilight said in an exasperated tone. The opening ceremony comprised of a series of simple but flashy maneuvers by the hopefuls, followed by a magnificent display by the wonderbolts themselves. Twilight kept her eyes out for the familiar head of rainbow hair, and wasn’t disappointed to see the crippled Valkyrie at the front of the pack. While she couldn’t pull her normal death defying stunts, she was able to pull off the flashy basics like a spiraling corkscrew around her improvised formation without any problems.

To put icing on the cake, that’s basically what the followup from the Wonderbolts turned out to be. Just as the last group cleared the area, there was an almost deafening noise as the crowd exploded in noise. The 9 valkyrie formation came in so quickly it was obvious where they got their names from. There seemed to be an almost trail behind them, the coloration of their flight suits making it look as if they were a lightning bolt, with the individual colors of their hair or other personalizations mixed in for effect.

Just as they were about to smash into the ground at the center of the field, they split off in perfect unison. The fliers then spiraled around the leader -who instead of splitting off had come to a dead stop and used the ground to rebound upwards again - and the effect turned into almost a drill of fliers before they met at the top. There was another blast of noise from the crowds as they all met around the leader and fanned outwards again, forming up quickly and landing to bow. The leader then ‘offered’ the field with a motion and a bow as the announcer basically screamed to life in the loud speakers.

“Man that was awesome!” Dash’s familiar voice came from the door of the box. Nel was helping her over, almost carrying the girl, and the changeling left with a high five to Dash as she settled back in her wheelchair.

“Agreed, It always fascinated how they combine theatrics and aerial agility for their stunts. It’s never just one or the other.” Celestia said with a nod.

“I’ll never forget that day you asked Soarin for his autograph and he about fainted.” Dash snorted.

“You saw that? That was a long time ago, I don’t think you had even met Twilight by then.” Celestia replied, a little curious at how the Valkyrie knew about that.

“Oh dude it was all over the news in our academy at Cloudsdale. Fluttershy thought it was so sweet, was convinced that you were dating for a year after that.” The valkyrie said, laughing at the memory. Celestia laughed with her. Twilight giggled at the idea and Chrysalis couldn’t help but grin.

There was a bit of an increase in noise just outside of the VIP box before long, and Twilight noticed that Celestia’s expression had immediately gone into the face that can only be described as the pure joy of knowing one of her little pranks or tricks are about to happen. They all looked curiously as someone entered the box. Except for Dash. She looked like she might explode. That person was a Valkyrie, wearing the Wonderbolts flight suit with burning red hair. It was Spitfire, the current leader of the Wonderbolts. Dash couldn’t even say anything as the woman walked over.

“While I personally prefer watching my team from the sidelines, I could never say no to sitting in the VIP box. Especially on my princess’ request.” The woman said with a smile, bowing to Celestia.

So that was it, Celestia had personally asked Spitfire to join her so she can meet Dash. Twilight almost burst out laughing, the look of satisfaction on Celestia’s face was priceless, but not quite as priceless as how far Dash’s jaw had dropped.

“Let’s see, work with me here memory… Ah! Right! Rainbow hair and all that, you’ve gotta be Rainbow Dash.” The woman said, sitting down in the empty seat closest to where Dash was situated. Upon hearing her name Dash snapped out of it. Almost.

“Y-Y-You know my n-name?” The girl asked, practically shivering with excitement.

“I do, I hand pick the hopefuls. I was disappointed when our recruiters said you had to cancel last minute, but seeing you in that intro and right now I can see why. I had someone get me the story.” The woman replied. Dash’s face fell a little bit.

“Yeah… I was supposed to blow the competition out of the water, get everything all spiced up with the opening ceremony and really do something special for my turn, but all I could do was the ‘little twister’ and sit here and watch everyone else…” Dash explained. She sighed, but immediately shot back up with a grin.

“But hey, the fact that you’re even talking to me right now is probably the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me!” She beamed. Spitfire laughed.

“I like you, Kid. If you’re this happy about me being here then you probably already know my stake in this tournament. I’ve personally trained all of the current Wonderbolts, and they have spirit. But after all these years I was starting to get a little bored of it, almost put up the suit once or twice.” Spitfire started, reclining and crossing a leg. Dash was enraptured already.

“What?! Pff, naw! You can’t put up the suit, you’re still the best flier in Equestria!” Dash retorted, to which Spitfire laughed.

“People keep telling me that. I used to think so, but now I’m not so sure. I mean yeah, I can fly fast and do fancy things in the air, but it’s all just a performance. The wonderbolts needed some new blood, and I realized that if I’m going to keep in the business then I need something with spirit. More spirit than I knew what to do with. I was hoping to find it here. If the story I was told is true, I think you’ve got what it takes to make me love flying again.” The Wonderbolt continued. Dash just kinda froze. Her face registered surprise, then astonishment, then joy, then a mixture of all three. But then there was a tint of something else as she kinda looked at the ground.

“It’s ok, I know the Princess asked you to say that… You can’t even see me fly at my best, you couldn’t really judge my spirit or my flying ability yet…” Dash started softly. She looked up, though, and her face was filled with determination. “But I’ll be damned if next time I don’t make true of that promise to blow the competition out of the water!” She finished. Spitfire was a little taken aback by the first part, but grinned wide as the girl finished.

“Ok kid. For starters, I think hell yeah I found a girl with spirit. But seriously, even if Princess Celestia asked me to take you under my wing I wouldn’t have done it. A Mentor and their student is supposed to be special, something that means a lot. I would refuse on the base that if it was not my choice, I couldn’t put up my end of that bargain. And seriously, you DROP KICKED an URSA MAJOR with enough speed to break the SOUND BARRIER. I’ve flown in the worst of hurricanes with the weather teams, but I wouldn’t have the guts to even go NEAR one of those things, and you did the equivalent of bitch slapping it to death. If that isn’t worth anything then I don’t want to live in this world anymore.” Spitfire went on. By the end she was almost as giddy as Dash was.

“After the show, you HAVE to tell me the whole story.” She finished, leaning back. Dash just looked really embarrassed at that. She never thought she’d see the day even just a Wonderbolt, let alone SPITFIRE, would be giddy like a fangirl about something she did.

“It was very impressive, she saved a few lives in doing so.” Chrysalis chimed in. Spitfire looked over and was surprised to see the Queen of the changelings sitting there with Celestia and Twilight.

“Really now? Double awesome then. Man, I have to wonder what I did to not only be invited to watch my show with not only Princess Celestia, but the queen of the changelings…” She said, a little humbled. Celestia giggled.

“Honestly I invited you here as a surprise to Rainbow Dash here, I suppose it was the right thing to do all things considered. Chrysalis is here to observe your flying techniques, I believe. Something about becoming better fliers?” Celestia replied. That sparked a long winded conversation about flying, and then changelings, and then just the going-ons of everything in general. It lasted throughout most of the event, off and on between the excitement, and before long they were wrapping up. Spitfire had excused herself to go back to her team to finish up with their last bit, but had promised to come see Rainbow Dash to get everything set up.

Almost the second the Wonderbolt had left, you would have thought Dash turned into Twilight for a second as she latched onto Celestia in a hug. She just as quickly backed off ,realising what she had done.

“Sorry! I’m just so thankful! This is the best day of my life!” The girl almost squealed. Celestia just laughed.

“Of course, I’ve come to call you and all of the other elements as friends alongside Twilight.” The Princess said.

“Now, unfortunately, we must get to Business. I believe Nel said she would take you back to the Hospital earlier, correct?” Celestia asked. Dash nodded. She wheeled herself out to the changeling that was indeed there. Celestia’s expression fell again with a heavy sigh as the last of the other VIPs filed out. She took a seat and looked at Twilight and Chrysalis.

“So, something was wrong earlier. I have my own thing I need to discuss, but I’d like to hear this first.” She requested. Chrysalis nodded and explained what she had explained to Twilight. It wasn’t a particular long explanation, but it felt like an eternity to watch Celestia’s expression show things like horror, or to see her seem like she was nearly on the verge of tears.

“Only your harvesters would be safe… you say?” Celestia finally asked, recomposing herself. Chrysalis nodded.

“Luckily… Twilight has the traits of a harvester and will also be safe from the degeneration… but not from the mental strain. I am afraid I must make a selfish request, to not sever her connection to the Hive until it becomes too dangerous…” Chrysalis replied. Celestia gave an almost frustrated sigh.

“Sorry… I’m just… I want this to happen about as much as you do… We were so close…” She said, the frustration turning to a bit of sadness before she once again recomposed herself. “I’ll leave that decision to the two of you… Until then, I will send people to begin research and experimentation. We may not exactly be experts on your kind, but we have some of the brightest minds in history thirsting for knowledge.” The Princess continued.

“This leads into my topic, though it is for different reasons now… I was going to request that Twilight stays with you whenever she could even after she recovers. She was heading the team that tasked themselves with figuring your kind out… I’ll return that research to you, Twilight, it should help the efforts. In the meantime, I want you to research the hive mind and see if you can find out anything helpful from that.” She continued, finishing with a nod to Twilight. Chrysalis was almost astonished. She was terrified that Celestia would immediately take Twilight away, put up safeguards and blockades or something. Prepare for another invasion. Chrysalis was actually planning on helping the princess do it.

“I… you… Why?” Chrysalis asked, still confused. Celestia was about to ask her what she meant, but she seemed to understand before she could get the words out.

“Why am I trying to help you? We’re allies, of course. Both politically and personally, you are a friend to Equestria and its people now. I do not want a second invasion to destroy the peace we’ve worked so hard for, and I don’t want this to turn into a violent cycle of peace and war. And I certainly don’t want to eradicate the Changelings.” Celestia explained. She took a deep breath, stopping there to avoid going too far into her thoughts. Chrysalis had a weak smile, though.

“I am glad I tried to amend things… My people will work with your people wholeheartedly. If the worst comes to pass, I will personally get your people out of harm’s way. That isn’t for a while now, though.” Chrysalis said, standing.

“I’ve stolen enough of your time now. Twilight, when you wish to return there will always be a place for you. I will make my last collection run through Equestria through the next week, but this will be the last so as not to accelerate the degeneration.” She continued. She took another deep breath. Twilight grabbed her hand, standing as well.

“I’ll see you in a few days, I’m due back soon anyways.” She said. Chrysalis smiled and squeezed the hand before leaving the VIP box. There was a long silence before Celestia stood and put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“You’ll figure this out... “ She just said softly. Twilight nodded and they walked out together.

Author's Note

to quote the previous chapter, well that was a roller coaster of emotions

To Ashes

The next month passed far too quickly. Twilight returned to the Hive three days after the tournament and personally escorted the researchers to safety through the Scarred Forest. She personally knew a few of them, it was a little awkward at first but they managed. By now they were basically part of the hive. Or at the very least part of the flow. After Chrysalis collected their last supply of Love, Twilight could really start feeling just what the Queen was talking about.

She could feel the little itch of hunger in the back of her mind. It never got further than that, but sometimes it almost drove her crazy. She could only imagine what the rest of her kin were feeling. They were used to it, though, they spent most of their lives starving until recently. Hunger was a privilege.

By the second month things were starting to get Difficult. Chrysalis had recalled all of her non-harvester changelings from their lives in human society for safety. Chrysalis could not calm and comfort every single individual, so they soon succumbed to their hunger and became nothing but drones again. This caused some problems with the research team, but they refused to leave.

Twilight and Chrysalis had to stand between the Hive and the team to get them out of the forest by the third month. It pained Twilight to see her brothers and sisters like this, degenerated and terrifying. Much progress was made on the research, but so little of it was useful. They learned the exact genetic makeup of their toxin and the organic material they could produce. Medicine was even synthesized from it. But only minor breakthroughs were ever made towards the goal of stopping this hunger.

Twilight had spent a lot of time with Chrysalis, but now her chamber was the only place she could safely stay. Due to her special case, she still generated sustainable emotion and love as she normally would as a Human. At one point she made sure to visit all of her friend in the Hive as individuals, even just hug a random changeling every now and then to help. But if she got too close to the more depraved ones they would just outright attack her. They were scared to come up here though.

This is where Chrysalis was, their queen. The last vestige of hope and sanity. Twilight spent most of these days just watching Chrysalis- completely immersed in the hive mind to quell her brood as best she could.Twilight just tried to give her enough energy every day, but it was draining her. Celestia had a small army of mages erect a barrier around the hive two weeks ago, and it greatly helped the containment efforts, but they couldn’t keep that up forever. Something had to be done before Chrysalis lost it.

It was, to say the least, devastating on Chrysalis’ body. She hadn’t eaten or slept in a week, lest she lose control. She couldn’t even take a second to say hello anymore, the concentration it took to even speak was far too much. She was terribly skinny, what features that were left were gaunt and sunken. She looked like she was dead. Twilight wanted to leave, so she didn’t have to see Chrysalis like this. Or any of the Changelings like this. But she couldn’t. There was still hope inside her. Until the day those eyes finally opened again, she had to stay. She had to see for herself if they were the soft green from before, or the cold stones of hunger.

Chrysalis did finally open her eyes, one month after the barrier was erected. Twilight couldn’t even cry she was so devastated. Chrysalis opened her eyes, and they may as well have been empty sockets.

“Twilight… run…” The queen rasped out in a voice that hadn’t been used in weeks. Chrysalis herself did nothing, but there was a great violent buzzing. It was almost deafening. Holding back a sob, she turned to basically blast a hole in the wall and fly out of there, but then Chrysalis sniffled. Twilight turned back and saw a tear running down her face. She could feel the sorrow in the hive mind, the hunger. The anger, everything. All of these emotions, they were like a tsunami crashing against the walls. There was basically a tsunami of changelings smashing against the entrance to the chamber, though, but Twilight stopped. Chrysalis hadn’t moved. She had lost control of her brood, even she was consumed by hunger now. But something was stopping her from attacking Twilight.

Then she remembered, the hive mind. How could she forget, it was gnawing at her sanity even now. Chrysalis must have lost it so suddenly she couldn’t sever it, and even now she could still feel the tiniest pull of something. The tiniest hint of individuality in there, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Please, Twilight… run… get out of here…” Chrysalis bade softly, tears now rolling down the almost cracked carapace of her face. Twilight stepped towards her. She could feel what felt like changeling magic building up, even recognized a spell that was supposed to push her away. The energy slipped out of her control almost immediately, though. Twilight caught the woman as she fell out of her chair, quickly laying her on the ground .Even summoning that tiny amount of energy was too much for her frail body.

“I won’t let you die like this…” Twilight barely whispered out, putting her head to Chrysalis’. She forced what was left of her energy into the woman, and specifically targeting their mental connection. She would have been overjoyed to see the familiar forest of their minds if it weren’t for the ash and soot in the air. The Scarred Forest that was Chrysalis’ mind was barren and covered in ash. It was worse than when it happened to Twilight, though. There was nothing underneath, no seeds sown. No veins of great energy supporting the land. There was nothing.

Except there was something. One thing. Chrysalis. There was a single tree left standing, its leaves burning. Chrysalis was standing in front of it, watching it burn. Twilight walked over, standing next to her. They stood there a moment before Chrysalis slowly collapsed into the ash.

“It’s all gone, Twilight… Everything… My sanity clings to this last spec, this last gnarled tree. And it’s burning…” The woman said, her voice heavy with sorrow and defeat. Twilight looked up at the tree again and noticed the color of the leaves. This was the single lavender tree in the forest of crimson and black… This was the representation of her… and it was burning… She couldn’t help but let herself fall down next to Chrysalis. They both just stayed there, collapsed on the ground, in silence.

“I… I’d hate for you to see this, Twilight… but I’m glad you’re here… even if it is so selfish of me to think so…” Chrysalis finally said after a while, dragging herself over to Twilight to wrap her arms around the girl. Tears were going down her face again.

Twilight couldn’t even really say anything. She had realized something. This tree was burning, yes, but the flames did not progress. In fact, now that Chrysalis was touching her, it seemed that the flames were almost… receding. She looked hard, and indeed they had moved back up the tree a bit. They left scorched bark and burned leaves where it used to burn, but all was not destroyed under it. It didn’t go far, though, before it stopped again.

“Chrysalis… do you remember the last thing we talked about?” Twilight asked, pulling Chrysalis closer and up almost inter her lap to hold her. She could feel Chrysalis nod.

“The nature of our hunger… We are parasites for emotion, but we must feed from others because we cannot easily generate our own. Love is the strongest, and therefore sates our hunger the easiest. It is also the one emotion we cannot generate on our own…” Chrysalis almost recited. They stayed like that, silent for a little while. Twilight watched the tree intently. She could just barely feel Chrysalis’ grip on her getting stronger, and with it she saw the flames being pushed back just a little bit.

“I think you’re wrong…” Twilight said softly. She seemed surprised she said it aloud, though. Chrysalis looked up at her at that and saw her staring at the tree. She followed the gaze and stared as well. She could see it, just ever so slowly moving up instead of down.

“What?” Chrysalis said softly. Not to anything in particular, really. She was just confused and too weak to figure it out.

“Chrysalis, think back. Think back on everything. Not of the research, just of your time since I became part of the brood. I’m thinking back on it now, and I’m seeing it. It’s not much… but the last few weeks before the degeneration started happening… you really cared about some things. Seemed even passionate about one or two... “ Twilight started, snapping her gaze down to look Chrysalis in the eyes. The Queen did as she was bade and thought and she thought.

“Twilight… I… I don’t even know what love feels like… Even if I could generate it, I have no idea what it is or what to do with it… I can only tell from the outside…” She said solemnly after a while of thinking. The fire started progressing down the tree again, regaining the ground it lost.

“But… But think of your brood. Your kin, your children. All of the changelings, you feel their pain and it hurts you to see them suffer. Is that not love?” Twilight retorted. Chrysalis was silent for a while again.

“I… I don’t know… I was born with that instinct… Is not not just that? Instinct?” Chrysalis asked, tears running down her face again as she felt the last vestiges of herself fading away. Twilight looked between her and the tree and almost yelled out as the fire reached the trunk.

“No… No nononono no no no! Stop thinking like that! Chrysalis, think… think about our times away from the hive. The friends you made. FRIENDS. Friendship is one of the strongest forms of love!” Twilight cried out, desperately trying to take back the ground that was lost again.

“No! No no!” She couldn’t help but repeat as Chrysalis was silent and the fire had all but reached the ground. She looked down at Chrysalis again. She looked almost peaceful, she seemed barely conscious. Barely aware of anything. Twilight felt her heart sink. She felt everything sink, spiraling into darkness. All she could see was herself and her queen, and the tree. Completely blackened and chipping away near the top.

But she saw the roots.

She saw how far they spanned. How much ground they covered.

And she saw that the ground had smothered the flames. The roots were untouched, alive. She thought of their time together again, it almost played in the empty black abyss of their minds like projector movie.

“Chrysalis… Think of us. Think of the times that we spent together. Just the two of us, it was nice wasn’t it?” Twilight started, looking up at the images. Chrysalis’ breathing had slowed, or at least this mental projection of her personality was. But it was still there, just barely. Twilight gently moved her head towards the sky, so the half lidded eyes could stare up and see their memories.

“Our training, you watching over me. Everything…” She continued failing to hold back ever more tears as she watched the memories come and go.

“But.. you know what the best parts were?” She almost whimpered, her voice cracking as she was now fighting back sobs.

“The best parts… were… when we could just sit together… We didn’t have to… talk about anything. We didn’t have to do anything. Just… be together… I just want that… one last time…” She could barely get out as she couldn’t hold back her sobbing. She just held Chrysalis, staring at the sky. She watched as from her own perspective she saw Chrysalis slowly degenerate. It was the same thing every night for a month. Twilight would wake up, or look up if she couldn’t sleep, and just watch Chrysalis. It was strange and terrible watching Chrysalis wither away, almost literally, through this memory. She looked down at Chrysalis again, her face was nearly as wet as her own was. But that was mostly due to Twilight’s own tears falling. She tried and failed to wipe her own away, but wiped her tears off of Chrysalis’ face. She pulled the unresponsive woman even closer, digging her face into her shoulder to cry.

And she cried. She cried for a while until she was out of tears. She couldn’t see the sky any more, but it had frozen on one thing. It wasn’t a static image, occasionally it’d move or twitch. It was a memory from months ago, not long after Twilight’s first memory resurgence. Twilight had spent most of an entire day just watching Chrysalis, the tiny movements she made. The little twitches of her facial features. Just watching. She looked happy.

Twilight was finally going to sever the link and let herself fade away with her Queen, but before she could she found that her face was wet again. She made to wipe her tears once more, but found that they weren’t her own. They were falling from Chrysalis’. There was still just a trace of life left in those eyes.

And then she remembered the roots.

She had one last thing to try, one last thing to say and do. She once again pulled Chrysalis close, this time putting the Queen’s lifeless head in her shoulder.

“We never did get to talk about… that thing we felt… Rainbow Dash and Spike and everyone else even teased me about it… but then all of this happened and… I’m so sorry… I never got to tell you…” She started, her voice raw after crying. She looked at Chrysalis again, at her unresponsive face. Even in this starved and degenerated state the Queen was quite beautiful- though now it was an almost morbid beauty.

She kissed her.

“I love you, Chrysalis… You are my teacher, my friend… my… I… I love you…” She shakily whispered out, pulling the Queen back into her neck. There was no movement, nothing. She waited like that for a long time. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. She had no idea, it felt like an eternity until she finally felt something.

It wasn’t what she was expecting. It was… wind…

She looked up at the wind and she could barely make out the forest that represented her mind in the distance. It looked... different. She got to her feet, carrying the lifeless form of her Queen with her, as she slowly made her way back towards her own mind. She quickly realized what was different.

Her trees had gnarled into the black ones of the Scarred Forest, the leaves all either crimson or a royal purple. Not quite the same color as her signature lavender though. These were just saplings before, sprouts. This was a true forest now. She turned back towards Chrysalis’ mind, but found nothing there. It was gone.

She walked through her forest for who knows how long, carrying Chrysalis the whole way. It was almost like a sick mockery of the last time they relaxed together, though she couldn’t think of it like that.

Then she found it.

The young tree, only as tall as she was. The branches even more gnarled, almost as if they were burned. There were only a few sparse leaves, but they were a unique color.

They were a soft blue-green. The color of the head of hair leaning against her shoulder.

Twilight laid her queen down, resting against this unique tree. She cupped her face and kissed her again.

“I’ll be back.”

Author's Note

Excuse me while I hide from the angry mob this will bring as I cry myself to sleep for even thinking of this.

Epilogue

Twilight opened her eyes. She was startled to find the room crowded with degenerated changelings. They were so close to her, she had a feeling if whatever had happened hadn’t happened they would have pretty much just swarmed her and drained her dry. But they had stopped inches away, and each and every one of them had the same somber expression as they looked down at the frail thing of a woman in Twilight’s arms.

They were degenerated, yes, but they were sane.

Twilight could feel their hunger still. But this was… different. She could feel their sorrow, their regret, everything. It was far more than she was used to. She was going to test if they had recovered their sanity by asking them to leave, but just at the thought they all quickly left. She thought of her closest individual friends in the hive. Of Nictus, Ceren, Keine, Nel, Charon. They stayed, barely recognizable. It took a few seconds for the swarm to file out, but before long the room was empty. She became worried about the now smashed entrance, but there were already changelings repairing it.

And she could feel everything they did. Almost see what they did. There was a tiny spec of her in all of their minds. And a tiny spec of them in hers.

She stood with Chrysalis and placed the Queen on the bed. She turned and looked to her friends.

“It’s time we get to work… We’ll have to make all of our progress back up again, and then some.” She said to them. Her voice echoed in the minds of every single changeling of the hive, though, even though she hadn’t used magic to do so. The five in front of her bowed.

“Nel and I will return to our places in Ponyville to spread the word that we are safe.” Charon said. Twilight nodded and they shot off.

“I will go alone to speak to the mages and the Equestrian guard keeping the barricade up, we’ll probably need you to convince them in the end.” Keine said.

“Take Ceren with you, she’ll be able to explain the details better than you.” Twilight replied. They both nodded and shot off.

“I will gather our hunters, and as soon as the barrier is down we will find food. Many of us haven’t eaten in days, you especially. We’ll have the best meal branch cook you up something nice.” Nictus said with a smile. Twilight nodded and she too shot off. Now alone again, Twilight looked down at Chrysalis. She was a little happy to see that the pained frown had finally turned into a peaceful smile. The burden of the hive wasn’t on her shoulders anymore.

It was on Twilight’s.

Author's Note

So I forgot to put this at the end of the final chapter. I was thinking of putting it in the prologue of the sequel, but I don't know when I'll be starting that. i want to get through and finish some of my other stories before I start it, lest I go back into my old habits.
This finale was really good to write I think, it just came out in one long go. And I think this Epilogue sets it up for what I have planned for the sequel.
So yeah, there will be a sequel.

Prologue: The Proposal

Changelings. What do we know about them? Well, for starters they’re a strange insectoid-human hybrid race that feeds off of love. And, ever since the royal wedding, have been an enemy to Equestria.

Now, the thing about that was changelings weren’t really ravenous creatures. They weren’t usually full of holes and looking like drones or copies. They lived as a hive mind, yes, but they weren’t a bunch of bees scrambling around aimlessly. They were a civilized and intelligent race. Starvation changes things, though.

Chrysalis, the queen of the changeling hive, went mad as her subjects starved and faded into the ghastly creatures they had become. That madness drove her to invade Canterlot and the rest of the story is history.

Only it isn’t, every story has a before and after, and that after had only begun.

“Yes?” Celestia called when she heard a knock on her chamber doors. She had finally recovered in full from the Changeling attack and was currently amidst a pile of books. Said books were on the more ancient races of the world, she and her student were trying to learn more about the insectoid assailants.

“Princess, there is a foreign minister here to see you.” Her guard replied, cracking the door open so he didn’t need to yell too loud.

“Griffon…? Tribal…? Talk to me.” Celestia replied.

“She won’t say, though she had produced official documents and passports to be here.” The guard answered.

“Oh fine send them in, we’ve had enough research for now.” Celestia said rather lightheartedly. With such a vague description combined with the most recent dilemma they had to face Celestia wasn’t the most trusting, but even if this girl who looked to be Twilight’s age was a changeling she did have official papers and permission. Better safe than sorry, though. Celestia scanned the girl with an intense spell that did just that and found a few oddities.

“Tell me, minister, why you are hiding something on your back?” Celestia asked, turning to look at the girl. She looked a bit pale and weak.

“So as to give me the best chance of seeing you.” The girl said with a weak smile. She tossed her papers onto a table and insectoid wings appeared on her back, though they weren’t quite changeling. It looked more as if you had taken a dragon’s wing and insectified it, somehow…

“Technically those papers are fake, but they’re authentic. I wish to convey no threat or alarm, just a message.” The girl explained. Celestia went rigid and Twilight nearly knocked over her chair, rushing to her princess’ side.

“And what message would a changeling have that is so important that you need to go through all this work just to see me directly?” Celestia asked. The only reason she hadn’t called the guard or done something to this creature herself was two very distinct reasons. First was what she mentioned, all the work just to see her. Second, though, was how human she looked compared to before. No identical black carapace, no blank eyes. She wasn’t changed either, the scan would have sensed it. Before the girl could answer, she suddenly seemed to black out and her eyes faded into a single color like they were before.

“One directly from me, coupled with a sincere apology and explanation.” Chrysalis’ voice came from the girl’s lips. Celestia felt Twilight gather up her magic for an attack, but against her better judgement she put her hand in front of the element of magic.

“While I highly doubt anything you could say would lessen the futility of apologizing for such an event, the fact that there is an explanation behind it intrigues me. Go on.” Celestia said.

“Thank you. You have obviously noted this one’s appearance. She was the luckiest of all of my brood. What little love I managed to siphon was spread out through my hive connections and she was the least degenerated, so she was the most restored by that little bit. Celestia, have you ever had the responsibility of trying to save your entire race from starvation when you have nothing to give them?” Chrysalis asked. Celestia’s look darkened a bit in understanding.

“Yes, I have… But that is no excuse to invade, a simple diplomatic request for aid would have sufficed.” She replied.

“Yes, Yes it would have. But you do not understand, not in full. Imagine if you could feel everything each and every one of your subjects feels, pain and suffering and emotions. And hunger, ravenous hunger. Millions of instances of all of these bombarding your conscious mind simultaneously for years. My mind didn’t just slip, it degenerated along with me and my people. I didn’t even know what Diplomacy was.” Chrysalis explained.

“Wait, what degeneration?” Twilight asked, her curiosity overwhelming her caution.

“Love technically isn’t our food source, it is almost like a life force. Imagine if you couldn’t generate your magical energy on your own, Twilight Sparkle, like you had to siphon it from somewhere. But that fountain of magic dried up, what would happen to you then, Twilight Sparkle? For your race, your mind would cripple and your skin would fade and your magic you are so proud of would use your life force as a reserve. I have seen it happen more than once.” Chrysalis answered.

“Wait, so if you don’t get enough love then you turn into those things that attacked us?” Twilight asked.

“Correct. That is our most basic state, a true hive. Independence and intelligence fades and is eventually lost, even to the queen. That is why my degenerated mind was so desperate as to invade. I don’t ever want me and my kind to be lowered to such a state again, which is currently inevitable.” Chrysalis replied. Twilight looked deep in thought, mulling over all of this information. Celestia had a hunch, though.

“Something tells me you’re going to propose something to fix that.” She said. Chrysalis grinned and nodded.

“It is a simple proposition, really. We wish for you to see us as what we are, instead of the creatures we were. All I ask is to be able to retrieve gathered love from my collectors scattered about your nation. This will allow us to better mingle with your kind, which I hope will eventually lead to peace.” Chrysalis proposed.

“Collectors?” Celestia and Twilight asked at the same time. Chrysalis nodded.

“A few dozen changelings with no need of changing abilities tasked to gather and store massive amounts of love at a time. They were created to be able to hold such an amount with ease and also to be completely independant. The only connection with my hive mind they have is enough to allow me to siphon love from them directly and not harm them, and to know them and where they are. They all live as humans, and don’t even know what they are or that they’re even doing it.” Chrysalis explained.

“Exactly how do you siphon love from others?” Celestia asked.

“The same way you siphon another magic user’s magical energy.” Chrysalis replied.

“If you had these… collectors… already then why haven’t you used them?” Twilight asked.

“Because in order to collect from them I need to be there myself, and it isn’t a very incognito event. With all the love they’ve gathered, we would be able to be free of the curse of love starvation.” Chrysalis answered. The last part was almost a plea. Celestia thought long and hard.

“Forgive me if I’m not brimming with trust, but at the same time I’m not the type to ignore the prospect of a lasting peace… I will allow you to retrieve the love from the collectors in Canterlot, but that’s it for now. Every month there are no attacks from you or your kind and no justified hostilities I will allow you to collect from another city. My only condition is that you tell me where your hive is so border cities can be notified. You will send a messenger every month so we can negotiate the city or the rejection and explain any hostilities to be justified or not.” Celestia explained in a very serious tone.

“... These terms are acceptable, but I promise you we will defend ourselves if need be, there’s a reason our hive has been hidden for so long…The hive is located deep in the scarred forest. There is a mountain pass that serves as the shell of the hive. The nearest cities are Ponyville, Edinspur and Trottingham. The Scarred Forest is full of dangerous flora and fauna, much more dangerous than the Everfree, so tell them that too.” Chrysalis replied, though she didn’t seem happy about it.

“Scarred forest, isn’t that the name for the deep interior of the Everfree?” Twilight asked.

“Mostly, though as you know there are no mountains in the Everfree. That part gets its name from this forest, which is located on the other side of Ponyville and much further away. The trees are all warped and twisted, the bark is black and the leaves varying in dark colors. Timberwolves and Hydras are afraid to even set foot in that place.” Celestia explained.

“This one will regain her independence now, I ask that she is able to return without a fuss and I will return in her place tomorrow at this time to collect. I will be sure to let you know when I arrive and when I leave.” Chrysalis said.

“Very well, I hope you keep to your promises.” Celestia said with an indiscernible tone.

“And I you.” Chrysalis replied, quickly doing a simple bow and the girl returned to normal.

“Thank you for listening, If it means anything I technically am a minister for foreign affairs so if this works I hope to see more of you and this city.” She said after recovering from her loss of consciousness.

“Before you go, what is your name? Do Changelings have names?” Celestia asked.

“We choose our names whenever we want, since our connection to the hive mind lessens the need to be identified by something like a name, but I have chosen ‘Chrys’ for myself.” The girl answered.

“I see. Well, Chrys, farewell until next time.” Celestia said. Chrys bowed and quickly left. Celestia nearly burst into laughter at Twilight’s expression. She looked like she had just discovered some age old tome explaining the universe and everything she could ever want to research.

“I suppose if things go well you should write the first official book regarding Changelings. I know what you’re thinking of doing, but I must implore you to be incredibly careful. If you even set foot in that forest, make sure you bring something to defend yourself and possibly a contingent of guards.” Celestia warned the girl. Twilight seemed surprised by this.

“U-Um… I wasn’t planning on going right this second… but… yeah you can read me like a book can’t you?” Twilight said sheepishly. Celestia gave her a quick smile before getting serious again.

“You know I don’t want you endangering yourself, but at the same time I know you really want to learn more about them. If what information we have already wasn’t so lacking then I wouldn’t let you go but… well… You are the best at collecting information that I can count on 100% of the time.” She explained.

“I’ll take any precautions, I’ll take any guards willing with me and you learn a few things when your brother is the captain of the royal guard. First I’ll go and tell the border cities about it and make sure everything is alright, and then I’ll go in and do my research. I’ll only observe from afar, since I wasn’t invited in or anything, and we can negotiate something with Chrysalis next month or something.” Twilight proposed. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t dream of getting anywhere near that place for many reasons. But the prospect of publishing information on a race such as the changelings? She couldn’t pass it up.

“Do what you need to and don’t hesitate to ask for help. I’ll inform the towns so that they know it’s true, though I think I can leave your own home to you. I’ll be expecting a report of when you leave and of your observations upon your return. After that we can discuss if it’s a good idea to keep going.” Celestia said reluctantly.

“Thank you, I’ll be as careful as I can possibly be. I need to go and prepare for the trip home and the expedition, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make things go well.” Twilight said, quickly hugging her mentor. Celestia held her tight and didn’t release her or a good minute.

“I know you will, Twilight… I’m just worried that something could come up that’s not within your power to handle…” Celestia said softly.

“Then I’ll just have to prepare for that as well.” Twilight retorted. Celestia giggled softly and let Twilight go. If there was one thing Twilight was as good at as with magic, it was preparing.

Author's Note

well it wasn't exactly inspired by anything or anyone in particular, but thanks to the fan that refreshed the idea in my mind. The dark tag will come in with the actual start of the story. I don't know where this is going, so to be honest expect a bit of a shaky start. Who knows, it might pick up rather well and I'll be able to write it consistently.
who knows? only time will tell.
in the meantime, let me know what you think?

1:Chapter 1. Carapace of Lavender

I don’t know where I am, I don’t remember how I got here and I don’t even remember what my name is. I remember a bit, though. Things like the fact that I can use magic, how to breathe and all of that. The thing I knew with absolute certainty, though, is that I felt weak with hunger. I want to know where I am, so the best place to start would be opening my eyes and looking.

Everything is tinted green, but that must be because I’m in some sort of enclosed space. I realize that I’m submerged in a strange liquid, though I can still breathe somehow. A word comes to mind, and I find that it scares me a little bit. I don’t know why, though. Changeling isn’t exactly a scary word.

But wait… I think I remember Changelings being a race of creatures. I thought as hard as I could and my mind cleared a tiny bit. Changelings are humanoid/insectoid hybrids that fed off of the energy contained in love. When weak or starved they had a chitin carapace and little to no independence. When fed adequately they are little different from humans, besides some behavioral patterns and small features.

I wonder why that thought came to me as if I was observing them, yet I don’t need a description for humans? Was I human? that’s what I thought, at least.

I was startled by the sound of a crack. It wasn’t really like glass cracking, or even cracking but that’s the best I could describe it. Imagine the sound of an organic shell splitting open. The noise isn’t what startled me, it was the fact that the noise was coupled with me falling out of the strange pod.

Luckily the impact was soft, or rather it felt soft. It would appear that I have a lavender hued carapace. So I’m a Changeling, then, and not a human. Strange. I heard the light clicks of carapace quickly striking stone and, when I looked up, I saw a brief glimpse of movement. I stood up and looked at myself, though I nearly stumbled over. The liquid solution I was in was absorbed into the hard organic material that made up most of the floor, though near a large archway there was stone.

There was nothing covering my carapace, though it seemed as if parts of the chitin armor could shift or even be removed. While I was thinking about that, a series of strange feelings coupled with the carapace shifting in places startled me. An angled chitin mask slid over the top half of my face, though for some reason I could see through it. The fact that the light dimmed told me that it was one-way. Even with that, though, nothing seemed too dark.

It seemed that there were many fleshy parts of my body, like my chest and navel and thighs and such, where it seemed like ridged muscles were exposed. Many of these were now covered by smooth chitin plating, leaving only my abdomen still exposed. I looked down at my hand, which I had brought up, and examined my pointed fingers. I don’t know why, but all of this was strange. If I was a changeling, how come this felt so… wrong?

My thoughts were cut short as a Changeling entered. Something in the back of her mind told her that this was her queen and her name was Chrysalis.

“Good evening, Twilight Sparkle. Are you well?” She asked. So that was my name?

“I am, my queen. I feel physically fine, but my memories are scattered and few. You know who I am, can you tell me more?” I asked. Chrysalis smiled and walked up to me. She ran a hand over the chitin mask and then the plating over my chest.

“I see you can utilize your battle plating, I’m impressed. There is a lot that I know, Twilight Sparkle, but words are not the way I can convey them.What I can tell you with words, though, I am going to have to ask you to believe.” She explained.

“I see. You are my Queen, so I will have to believe your words. How can you convey something without words, though?” I asked. I felt like I should know this, but for some reason I couldn’t think of anything.

“My hive mind will show you what you have lost, but showing you everything at once will overload your mind and your emotions. I will need to show you small bits at a time in order to allow your mind to remember on its own. In order for me to do this, though, you must become one with the brood. You were just born, or rather reborn but that is for another day. I will show you what it is to be a changeling, and with that knowledge you will regain yourself. Hopefully, at least.” Chrysalis continued to explain.

Reborn? Interesting, but if it is for another day then I anxiously await that day.

“What now, then?” I asked. It was the thing I was thinking the most. Chrysalis smiled and gestured for me to follow her. I fell into step with her as she began walking through the small tunnel made of a mixture of the organic material and stone. She spoke as we walked, and I listened.

“For now, you are my student. You have yet to completely take your independance, yet you have yet to assimilate you identity into the swarm to become part of the hive mind. When I entered, even though you don’t remember even seeing me you knew exactly who I was, correct?” She asked me.

“I knew that you were my Queen and your identity, yes.” I replied.Come to think of it, though kind of off subject, I have a feeling that my behavior is a bit… robotic. I don’t know for sure, I have a lot of strange feelings for some reason.

“That is your connection to my hive mind. Unfortunately, it hasn’t developed yet. I’m surprised it is as far along as it is, but then again you are using your battle plating. If you can figure it out, though, try to retract it. It’s threatening to your brothers and sisters of the swarm with how advanced it is. Also, it’s rude to hide your figure, especially one as beautiful as yours. Many are not so lucky, be proud of yourself.” Chrysalis explained. I concentrated and focused on how to retract the armor. Within moments it all slid back.

I admit I was struck with awe as I saw the massive chamber we stopped at the edge of. There were large towering spires of the black and green organic material, structures even. The chamber was in fact shaped like a hive with dozens and dozens of layers, each ‘ring’ holding a great many arches and doorways and walkways leading to who knows where. Buzzing about in a very faint hum were creatures similar to her. She could easily distinguish the males from females, though a few of them had no features to distinguish it from. Some of them looked as if there was skinn over their muscles, while others had holes bored into their carapaces.

“These are your ilk, Twilight Sparkle, your brothers and sisters of the swarm.” Chrysalis said before lifting off of the ground on her gossamer wings. I quickly followed, my wings taking me without a thought. I noticed something though, while most of the Changelings had hair and some distinguishing features, they all had a black colored carapace. Mine was the only one that was different. Chrysalis seemed to know my question, though. Perhaps it was part of that hive mind.

“You are a very unique Changeling, Twilight. Do not dwell on it, you will receive your answers as time sees fit. You will not be treated like a Drone, but at the same time you will be treated as any other Changeling.” Chrysalis said. That answer satisfied me, so I followed silently as we entered a rather empty upper chamber. It was a room with a surprisingly comfy looking bed, seemingly made of stone and some sort of bedding I couldn't identify, and other things that normally filled a bedroom. The hole they flew into sealed up, like a door.

“This is my chamber, but you will be living here as well. As you learn more about what you are and about yourself in general you will be able to decide more for yourself. Unfortunately, though, we must first work on your assimilation into the swarm before your independence. The question I plan to answer for you as soon as I can is, ‘What does it mean to be a Changeling?’. It is a question every Changeling has to answer before they can properly assimilate.” She explained. She sat down on the bed and looked me over.

“How do I do that?” I asked. She gained a mischievous grin pointed to a tall mirror. I saw myself in full, then.

“You need to make that look like me.” She said simply. So, I was going to learn how to change… Interesting.

Author's Note

Alright, so the first part flowed very well with the first person perspective, but as it goes I'm starting to feel that this is not a very first person story- or at least I'm still not very good at making it so. What I think I'll do is have short little first person intermissions and chalk them up to her published book which was mentioned in the prologue.
I'll try and explain the transition from first to third adequately in the next chapter, but for now I hope the second half of this one isn't too iffy. I always have trouble writing third person when it comes to explaining things.
anyways, what do you guys think? If you're going to comment try to give it a base, and please if you don't like something only due to personal preference don't mention it. If you're going to criticize at least do it properly, please and thank you, Guten Abend Meine Fruende