The Definition of Harmony

by Gladi Writes

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Princess Luna, Changelings, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 18288

Harmony: Peace and Unity. Equestria lives in Harmony, but will that harmony extend beyond it's borders?

After discovering a changeling infiltrator Princess Twilight Sparkle decides that it's time to remove the threat of the Changeling Hive. She will free them from the tyranny of Queen Chrysalis, and bring harmony to them, proving to all that she is fit for her new station.
The changelings are not so easily swayed, and rebel against the perceived invasion. Will the changelings be able to retain their sovereignty, or will they become annexed by Equestria? The Changelings are fiercely independent, and Twilight is just as fierce in her quest to bring harmony to them, which side will break first?

Cover provided by Kadlawuvswubs

Published 2013-12-19 23:40:11 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-31 02:40:22 UTC

Canterlot Prologue

A figure glimmered in the early dawn light as it soared up through the trees in the forest to the south of Canterlot. For a moment it took on the sight of the beautiful gleaming city before descending to the ground. An insectoid looking quadruped, it stood for a moment and removed a document from a small saddlebag. It’s brow furrowed as it read.

“Brown coat, black mane. Pegasus. Name: Oakseed. Improvise as needed.” The document instructed on an assumed identity, probably taken from a pony that lived in another city. The rest of the document was written in a different style of handwriting.

“Your target is Twilight Sparkle. Infiltrate and, if possible, dominate. Target is known to be twitchy. Intelligence reports she will take breakfast in the Canterlot Gardens in the morning. Approach and insert as such. Equestrians increasingly hostile to changelings, do not lose cover. Avoid the Royal Guard.”
It was signed by Eta-Eta, second in command to Queen Chrysalis. Her seal also adorned the document.

The changeling folded the document back up and, with a flash, it was consumed with flame. The only evidence of it’s mission destroyed, it set out to assume the identity it had been given. The changelings horn glowed and a shimmering green field of energy flowed down from it to cover the creatures body. Once covered, the field turned a deeper shade of green and then glowed brightly as the changelings form changed into that of it’s assumed identity.
Changeling Eta-Gamma was now, as near as anypony could tell, Oakseed. Just another ordinary pegasus, one of hundreds. He could slip in, accomplish his objective, and if needed slip out again without anybody knowing he was ever there. Just another pegasus in Canterlot, nopony would think otherwise.
What the ponies didn’t know about the world around them could fill a library.

Eta-Gamma spread his wings and flew towards the city looming across a wide field. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, and if the intelligence gathered was correct then the reigning monarch of the land was away from the capital on some royal business. This left her supposed equal; and protege, Twilight Sparkle, open for influence. If he could befriend her, and siphon off enough magic to dominate her mind, then he could make her try to take the city for herself. While this plan was ultimately doomed to failure- Celestia was far too powerful for such a coup to work- the chaos created would make Equestria ripe for an invasion. With the magic of the ponies at their disposal, the Changeling Hive would have nothing to fear from the Griffon Kingdoms- or anybody else. Coming up on the outer walls of the city Eta-Gamma was noticed by one of the flight patrols of the guard and approached. Eta-Gamma knew the guards would have no reason to suspect anything, nonetheless he was anxious to get inside and find his mark before.
Eta-Gamma hovered in place over the city walls and allowed the guard to fly up to him.

The pegasi's armour glimmered in the dawn light as it flew towards Eta-Gamma “Good Morning stranger, what’re you in town for?” The guard addressed Eta-Gamma as he flew to a stop a few feet away.

Eta-Gamma’s orders did say to improvise, so he took a casual tone and replied. His wings beat the air behind him as he spoke. “I’m here on vacation, finally got some time off from the…” Eta-Gamma paused for a second, where did he work? Name’s Oakseed, cutie mark of a tree… “Tree… farm. Time off from from all that wood harvesting.” He smiled at the guard at he said this, hopefully he wouldn’t notice the pause.

“A tree farmer, ain’t seen many of those around. I suppose wood has to come from somewhere right?” The guard joked. “You seem a little tired from your journey, so I’ll let you go. Welcome to Canterlot.” He added.

Eta-Gamma was about to reply when the guard seemed to notice something below and dove down to the ground. Watching as he did Eta-Gamma could see a griffon arguing with a unicorn. Eta-Gamma ignored this and flew into the city, even if the guard had no reason to suspect him of anything it wasn’t wise to loiter. He had a mission to accomplish.

Once over the city walls Eta-Gamma was almost overcome by the emotional aura of the city as it woke up to begin it’s daily routine. Collectively the haggard mass of ponies left their homes below and moved through the streets as if in a daze towards their places of work. Eta-Gamma thought it looked similar to how the mindless drones of the hive went about their work. Day in and day out they awoke, worked, and slept when their work was complete. The ponies are like a hive, in a way, Eta-Gamma thought. Celestia was their Queen, the Royal Guard the warriors, and these ponies the workers.
As he pondered this he was almost run down by a pegasus moving fast from behind him.

“Move it along blank flank!” The flying pony yelled as he dodged around Eta-Gamma. Before he could respond the pony disappeared around a bend.

Eta-Gamma swallowed and fearfully looked back at his flank. He was horrified to discover he had forgotten to display his cutie mark, had anybody other than that tired pegasus noticed that it could have been disastrous. With a slight shimmer of his body the problem was solved however, and Eta-Gamma continued on.

Flying between the buildings that surrounded the stone streets of the city he peered down at the collective citizenry moving about below. Intelligence suggested that Twilight Sparkle always took her breakfast in the Canterlot Gardens, but the information was months old and nobody was that predictable. As he scanned the streets he found no sign of his mark, he knew she would stand out as soon as he spotted her, but down there was nothing. He spent several minutes flying through the streets to no avail. Finding himself getting lost, having gone past the same cafe several times, he flew up and over the rooftops to get his bearings.

Looking around his jaw dropped as he realized how close he was to the palace. Even a changeling found it a beautiful sight. A great structure of gold and white marble that seems to dominate the city with it’s many towers. Perhaps Twilight was in there, but it was suicide to try and get in this early on in the mission.

Perhaps one day, infiltration wouldn’t be necessary. Perhaps it would be their home.

For now he turned his back on the palace and saw the gardens just outside in the distance, just beyond the city proper. Spreading his fake pegasus wings he flew straight at it, weaving through flagpoles and feeling the crisp morning air through his holed body. It was good to be able to fly, he almost felt sorry for the other species that could not.
They however, could generate their own magic, and did not need to siphon it off others as the changelings did. It was an evolutionary give and take.

Eta-Gamma preferred wings.

Flying low and fast on approach to the Canterlot Gardens, Eta-Gamma was somewhat surprised to see Twilight Sparkle in the exact place, and the exact time, that intelligence had reported she would be. Apparently somepony was that predictable.

Quietly landing a hundred meters away Eta-Gamma closed his wings and took one last look over himself to ensure his disguise was complete. No more stupid mistakes like forgetting his cutie mark now, it would be disastrous. Swishing his mane in the air he ran a hoof through it. His disguise was tailored precisely to be the sort of stallion that could have any mare he wanted, and this stallion had his heart set on one especially. It would be hard to earn her love, but easy to earn her trust. From there, the changelings would have their opening into Equestria.
Taking a deep breath Eta-Gamma trotted to Twilight, who was laying under a tree reading some arcane looking tome. There was an uneaten and somewhat dry looking daffodil sandwich beside her. Eta-Gamma, his chin held high in confidence of his disguise, addressed her.

“Good Morning, I-” Eta-Gamma noticed he was totally ignored despite standing only a few feet away.

Pawing at the ground with a hoof he cleared his throat and tried again “Good Morning…” He said, a little louder.

Whatever Twilight was reading was intensely engrossing, she didn't even seem to notice his existence.

Cautiously, knowing that if he was discovered it would blow his cover, he magically levitated the sandwich that sat beside Twilight. Gently it lifted into the air and then dropped back onto the plate.

Twilight’s head darted up from the book, and Eta-Gamma took this opportunity to finally introduce himself. He was unable however, when Twilights wings flew open and bowled the surprised changeling over.
Twilight leapt up and hovered a few feet over the scene, spinning around frantically.

“Who did that?” She yelled frantically “Is somepony trying to play a trick on me? I’m a Princess you know!” She added.

Furrowing her brow Twilight squinted in the distance, slowly spinning as she looked for the disturbance. Eta-Gamma got up and Twilights gaze darted towards him as he did.

Twilight stared Eta-Gamma down.“Who are you?” Twilight demanded as she looked him over.

Eta-Gamma would have to play it cool, Twilight was… twitchy. “Name’s Oakseed.” He said, in a deep voice befitting a stallion. He stuck out his chest to complete the impression, and gave a small bow.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight said as she lowered to the ground. “Nice to meet a new face, Mr. Oakseed. ”

“That’s right, I have some vacation time so I decided to come to Canterlot.” Eta-Gamma said, smiling. “I wanted to pay my respects to the newest Princess.” He gently grasped her right fore hoof and kissed it. Looking up with a smirk as he released it.

Twilight blushed as she tried to think of a proper response. “I.. uhh.”

Twilight cleared her throat and stuck up her chin. “We appreciate your patronage… most kind citizen,” She smiled with a slight blush as she spoke with regal authority.

Eta-Gamma could sense it, the friendliness of this pony was astounding, her heart was truly open. This was perfect, and he used this openness to begin slowly siphoning off magical energy, careful not to reveal himself as he did.
The sheer amount of power in this pony was astounding however, and he was almost overwhelmed. If he could dominate her mind… he would be unstoppable. Canterlot would fall like a deck of cards under him, and he would return to the hive a conqueror.

Buoyed by his initial success Eta-Gamma pressed forward.

He looked her in her eyes and smiled warmly “It must get lonely, being the one of so few Alicorns, and with so much responsibility.” He said.

Twilight shook her head at this and her smile faded.

Sitting back down and levitating the book back up she replied “No, not really. I have my friends, and there’s always Celestia to look up to. I always have my books to keep me occupied too, always more to learn.”

Eta-Gamma felt her interest fading, he would have to try another approach.

“Always more to learn, tell me then- have you ever left the borders of Equestria?” He asked.

Twilight furrowed her brow and paused to consider. “No, no I haven’t. I suppose I’ve just been busy saving Equestria, or my friends.”

She was intrigued now, Eta-Gamma found his beachhead. “And you have then?” Twilight asked.

Eta-Gamma sat and looked out at the horizon. “I have, there’s dozens of nations outside your borders.” He swept a hoof over the horizon.

“The Griffon Kingdoms to the south-east, over the ocean; independent pony states west of the Badlands, and the Changeling Hive south of there.” He explained as Twilight took a seat beside him, levitating her sandwich over.

Realizing how old it had gotten by this point she tossed it away. “Changelings,” she said with an air of disgust, “after what they did, I’m surprised Celestia hasn’t driven them off the continent.”

Intelligence was right, the attack certainly didn’t win any friends in Equestria.

“They aren’t that bad, I’ve traded with them once or twice. Tree farming might be my business, but there’s plenty of off-time and I need to keep food on the table somehow.”

Eta Gamma knew this was a lie, nobody was willing to trade with the hive. However if information was what Twilight lusted for, then he could tell her of the Hive. That, nobody else could give her.

“Aren’t that bad?” She stood and turned to face Eta-Gamma “Their ‘Queen’ cast a spell on my brother, tried to steal him from Cadence, and invaded the city! They can’t possibly get more bad then…” She trailed off for a moment “...that,” she finished.

She looked at his flank “You’re cutie mark is missing.” Twilight stated.

Eta-Gamma’s heart skipped a beat and he looked back at his flank, just as she said it was blank.

He stood and started to protest“Now hold o-”

Twilight jumped to her feet as her alicorn lit up and held Eta-Gamma in a magenta field of energy. “It was you! You’re the one that levitated that sandwich! You’re a changeling!” She yelled angrily.

Eta-Gamma knew he was doomed now unless he found a way out of this, his heart raced as his gaze darted around looking for any way out.

“Guards!” Twilight shouted, she turned her head for an instant allowed Eta-Gamma a split second to react.

He released his disguise and loosed the built up energy he managed to siphon in a blast of green energy that shattered the field and knocked Twilight over. Not pausing for an instant he opened his wings and took to the sky. As he soared for the sky he dodged magical bolts fired behind by Twilight, thankfully for Eta-Gamma she wasn’t a very good shot.

The two pegasi guards approaching with crossbows probably were not however.

Eta-Gamma saw them coming in the distance by the gleam of their armour in the morning sun. In the open sky he would get run down and filled with more holes than he already had by these guards. He dove to the ground; avoiding a hail of bolts, and flew low over the grass towards back towards the city proper. With his objective a total abject failure he had only one thought in his mind now.

Escape

Coming on the outlying buildings of the city he saw the people below scatter, the amount of fear he felt was intense. Most of it was himself, these ponies weren't playing games, they were out for blood.

A few guards took potshots at him from the ground which zipped around him. Darting through the streets he looked for a place where he could hide for a moment and disguise himself. The sound of wings beating the air behind him grew louder as the pegasi caught up to him. His doom was a feathered pony with a crossbow.

“Stop that thing!” One of them could be heard shouting.

Thing. Eta-Gamma wasn’t even a person to them.

Pondering this could wait, Eta-Gamma spotted an open window- but it was in the palace itself. It would have to do, there was nothing else nearby that wasn’t either a guard or a scared pony.

Eta-Gamma darted through the window and dove under a nearby bed as the pegasi flew in after him.

Landing inside together they swung their weapons around. “Search the room!” One of them shouted. They spread out and turned over the rest of the furniture in the room looking for their quarry.

Eta-Gamma’s horn lit dimly as the door open just enough to make a creak, he had hoped to fling it open but his magic was limited.

One of the pegasi turned towards the door and aimed his crossbow. “It might have gone into the hallway, you stay here I’ll check it out,” it said. Dashing towards the door the pegasus flung it open and peered down the hallway with his weapon still drawn.

Ducking back inside the pegasus turned to his comrade. “There’s nothing out there.” the pegasi said, closing the door.

The pair looked in unison towards the bed. “Well that leaves one place.” The other said, they both pointed their weapons and slowly approached. Eta-Gamma tried to think of some disguise to escape this, but there was nothing that could get him out of this.

He was doomed.

“Come on out changeling, I’m sure the caves aren’t that bad,” one of the pegasi sneered

“You’re already full of holes, what’s a few more?” The other mocked.

There was a commotion outside and the guards momentarily glanced to the side.

“...so then Fancy Pants put a bet on...” The door creaked open and the silhouette of a pony stood in the doorway.

Seeing the overturned furniture the pony became distraught “My room!”

Using the distraction Eta-Gamma flung himself out from under the bed at the nearest guard, and used the momentum to spring towards the other and bowl him over.

Galloping for the window he dove out as his accidental savior shouted “Changeling!” Once out he spread his wings and dove down towards the city streets. Feeling a sharp pain in his ear as he did Eta-Gamma grimaced, but there was no stopping now.

Diving down into the street and weaving just above the heads of dozens of frightened pedestrians he flew towards what he assumed to be the edge of the city beyond which was the Unicorn Range. If he could escape the city he could make his way to Ponyville and take a train to the badlands.

First he had to make it over the wall of armed guards standing before the cliffside overlook ahead.

They pointed their pikes at him, one of them shouting “Stop!” Eta-Gamma had no intention of following that order however, and flew right up and over them. He dove quickly when over the wall to dodge the spears tossed at him, feeling an odd tug on his leg. Looking down it appeared one of the spears had lodged itself in one of his leg holes. He also noticed a train of green blood trailing from a hole in his ear. He made it out, but only barely.

Chrysalis and Eta-Eta would not be happy about this defeat.

Author's Note

I probably made some basic mistakes like forgetting I'm writing about small equines, feel free to point anything out as this is my first work of fan fiction.
I'm also an amateur as heck writer in general.
Formatting! Now not terrible!

Second in Command

Twilight was flung backwards by the blast unleashed by her changeling adversary. She had not expected such power, this changeling was different from the others she had encountered. Leaping up on two legs she saw the changeling take flight and make for the sky.

Twilight had to find out what creature’s mission was, if the changelings were planning another invasion it could end in disaster with Celestia away in Baltimare.

Did they know?

Twilight squinted up at the figure receding into the sky and fired a half dozen magic bolts in it’s direction.

They all missed, Twilight’s marksmareship left much to be desired. Soon she found herself drained, and unable to continue firing. She realized that by letting her guard down the changeling must have been able to somehow steal her magical energy. To be exploited like this, drained of energy like she was just a spigot of magic. Like she was just a thing.

Slamming her forehooves into the dirt Twilight once more called for the guard. With a fire in her eyes she boomed her call.

“Guards!”

Watching the changeling intently she was pleased to see the gleam of two pegasi on patrol spotting it. The took pursuit just as two unicorn guards came up on Twilight.

“Princess!” They galloped to a halt beside her, breathless.

“Raise the alarm! There’s a changeling in Canterlot!” Twilight ordered them.

The pair looked at each other, unsure.

“Raise the alarm!” Twilight shouted at them. “That’s an order!”

The pair saluted and galloped off. Twilight looked back at the sky and saw the changeling still being pursued by the two pegasi dart into the city. Twilight sped towards the city herself, she couldn’t let that thing get away. Running past a few pedestrians in the park she slid around a bush and lined up with the street the changeling had flown down.

Ahead of her Twilight saw a few guards racing down the street in pursuit of the distant figure, the pegasi gaining on it. Pedestrians had cleared the street and cowered on the sidewalk. Taking a moment to catch her breath Twilight galloped forward and opened her wings. She couldn’t fly very well, but she could boost herself forward. Twilight gave herself a solid push with a flap of her wings and shot forwards, gliding over the street. Landing again she sprinted and jumped again, repeating this flying leap to overtake the guards on the ground.

They tripped over themselves and fell to the ground, one of them exclaiming “Princess?!” at the sight.

Twilight allowed herself to smile as she soared over them, taking another leap a few feet away. Her smile faded quickly as she looked up and saw the changeling dart into the palace itself. Her eyes flew open as her mind ran wild with all the potential things a changeling could do in the palace. With Celestia gone it was her responsibility to protect it, and protect it she would. Twilight’s eyes blazed with light as a spark of magic flew out of her alicorn creating a bubble that consumed her form, and she vanished.

Only to pop back into existence a few feet away.

Surprised, and still carried forward by the momentum retained through the teleportation, Twilight tumbled through the air flapping her wings feebly in confusion. The ground was coming up fast, Twilight shielded her face with her forelimbs and braced for impact, wings still uselessly fluttering as she fell forward. A shocked scream heralded her hitting the ground with an audible crack as she landed on her back and slid a few meters along the street.

Twilight grimaced as she righted herself, a searing pain arcing through her back. Looking herself over she groaned as she saw her wings. They weren’t permanently damaged, but she wouldn’t be flying for a while.

The two guards she had soared over earlier came upon her as she lay on the ground. “Princess!” One of them exclaimed, skidding to a stop and bending to help her.

“I’m fine, save the palace!” Twilight ordered.

The guards did as ordered after a slight moments hesitation. They knew as well as she did the chaos a changeling loose in the palace could cause. Ancient tomes of magic, Royal Guard patrol schedules, the information locked in the palace could bring down Equestria in the wrong hands.

The Changeling Hive was most certainly the wrong hands.

Twilight would just have to protect the people without wings, as she always had. Putting the pain behind she galloped forward after the guards towards the palace gates. She would not allow the palace to be infiltrated. She wo--

As she galloped forward her thought was cut off as the changeling flew out of a window and flew over her head. Twilight dove out of the way as a barrage of bolts followed it.

“Be careful with those!” Twilight shouted upwards.

The two pegasi peered out the window looking for their target. In the confusion it appeared he slipped away.

The two pegasi turned their heads inside, and then leapt backwards out of the window. They barely managed to right themselves to a hover outside so hasty was their exit.

“My room!” A familiar voice shouted from within.

The pegasi wisely chose to avoid the rest of her wrath, and flew off in the general direction of the changeling.

Out the window popped a mare with curled locks of purple hair. She looked up and down the street for someone to either blame for, or fix, her trashed guestroom.

Twilight came out into the street and shouted up at her. “Rarity! Are you alright?”

Rarity looked down and noticed her friend, her angry gaze softened and then she looked over her friend agast.

“Twilight, you’re injured!” She shouted down worriedly.

“Nevermind me Rarity, I’m fine!” Twilight shouted back.

“But dear, your wings!” Rarity returned.

“I’ve been fine without them before, We’ve got to find that Changeling!”

Twilight turned to gallop away down the street, but slammed her head into the armour of a guard instead.

“Princess! My apologies!” The guard said, backing up and extended a hoof. Twilight recognized him as Captain Pike, who had replaced her brother after he had moved to the Crystal Empire.

“Where’s the changeling?” Twilight asked, not missing a beat.

“It escaped over the cliff, I could arrange for a scouting party b-”

Twilight motioned with a hoof to stop him.

“No, there’s far too much ground to cover.” She said, massaging her forehead with her hoof.

“I failed to protect the city, what sort of princess am I?” Twilight lamented. She pawed at the ground with and stared at the stones in the road.

Around her the citizens started to come out of their hiding spots. A crowd soon started to form around Twilight and the Captain.

“You did not Princess, you discovered the infiltrator, which is more than I could probably do. Chrysalis will hear of another defeat.” Pike argued. He extended a hoof and raised Twilights chin, giving her a warm smile.

Twilight had a brainstorm, and her eyes flashed open. She turned to face the crowd and her voice boomed with regal authority. She knew exactly how to make Celestia proud of her now, and prove to everyone she was just in her station.

“Citizens of Canterlot, once again Chrysalis has tried to undermine the city. Once again, she was defeated. I will ensure that this pattern ends. Today will be the last defeat of Queen Chrysalis!”

“Hear Hear!” Rarity shouted from behind the group.

“Hear Hear!” A green unicorn shouted.

The crowd stamped their hooves in approval of the short speech, and then Twilight turned to Captain Pike.

“How many guards can you spare?” She asked.

Pike put his hoof to his chin and considered this for a moment.

“Depends on the mission, but probably a hundred. I can have them formed up within the hour.” He replied.

“Good, have them meet at the train station. We’re going south.” Twilight looked back out at the crowd, Rarity behind them. It was time for her and her friends to do what they did best.

It was time to save Equestria, repair harmony, and spread the magic of friendship.

Away to the south, past the Badlands and the independent states around it the Changeling Hive stood in a forested valley. Isolated from most of the world due to mutual distrust and it’s location, the Hive was an entirely self sufficient state. A few thousand changelings lived here, with a thousand more operating a grand spy network across the known world. The workers carried on their ceaseless actively keeping the other castes, the warriors and the leaders, sustained as the sun went down. The low sun caused the spiral structures of the Hive to cast eerie shadows across the valley, but for Eta-Eta it only reminded him of how peaceful his home was. Looking over the hive from his office balcony high in the fortress he spotted a figure approaching in the distance.

Nobody was due back today, Eta-Eta cocked his head back to look at the calendar pinned to the wall to check this. No matter, it was probably just a scout reporting some trivial fact. Perhaps the Griffons had finally decided on a new High King. Whatever the report, Eta-Eta had other things to tend to.

Eta-Eta was not like the others. His eyes proved this. Unlike the other changelings his eyes were not of the solid blue of the leaders, nor the pale gray of the warriors or the green of the workers. His eyes had a deep red iris, set in the blue of the leaders. He was bred to act as an intermediary between the Queen and the leader caste, tasked with ensuring the smooth operation of the hive and that her whims were carried out. If Chrysalis was the brain of the Hive, then Eta-Eta was the spine.

Taking a seat at his desk, which was covered with the odds and ends of reports and assignments, he picked up the newest report to read it. Apparently the Griffon Kingdoms were close to imploding over the debate of who should be their new king, but this wasn’t anything new. Otherwise the rest of the documents painted the portrait of a calm continent, there were no holes for the hive to exploit at the moment. Born without the ability to produce their own magic, they forever sought out others to siphon it from. The Hive was ever looking for holes to exploit in it’s neighbors to this end. It would be so much simpler if the other nations would just negotiate, perhaps trade, but it was not to be. Hundreds of years of mutual distrust between the other races and the shapeshifting magic siphoning changelings had ensured that there was no way to contact the others even if the Hive had wanted to. The Queen most certainly did not.

As he went over the reports Eta-Eta heard a faint knocking at the door.

“It’s unlocked.” He said, not looking up from his work.

The door creaked open slowly and a battered looking leader changeling entered. His blue eyes betrayed his fear.

“Eta-Gamma, you’re back early.” Eta-Eta said, looking up from the reports.

Eta-Gamma looked at the floor, seemingly enthralled by the carpet.

“Yes sir, home early.” He said.

“So you failed then?” Eta-Eta asked.

“I did sir, I blew my cover and barely made it out.” Eta Gamma said, looking up at his superior with an expression of rue. “I failed”

“Chrysalis will not be happy to hear this.” Eta-Eta said, rising from his seat to approach his comrade.

“You look like you barely made it out, Take some leave and then report back,” Eta-Eta said as he looked over Eta-Gamma.

His comrade looked like he had gone through a rock tumbler.

“Yes sir.” Eta-Gamma said. His ears perked up a slight bit.

“Don’t think you’re getting off easy Eta-Gamma. Latrine duty for a month and probation for a month more. Dismissed.” Eta-Eta ordered.

Eta-Gamma nodded and left, leaving the door open as he departed down the hallway.

Eta-Eta sighed. He had known this mission would probably end in a failure, but orders were orders. The Queen knew as well as he did the magic of the ponies that lived in Equestria was far stronger than any of the other nations within their reach, this made them their prime target. It was also this fact that made them such a tough nut to crack. Months ago they had finally gotten their first infiltrator into the court of Princess Celestia since the ill-fated invasion, but her sister- Luna- quickly discovered and ran off the infiltrator. The intelligence gathered was meant to go towards this mission, but it was a failure. It was back to the start for their plans.

Eta-Eta did not envy reporting this to the Queen, but it was his duty. The failures of his subordinates were his own failures. He had failed, and he was duty bound to report it. Gathering up a few assignments needing her signature, Eta-Eta departed for the throne room to meet with the Queen.

Arriving at the doors to the throne room the two warriors that stood guard saluted and opened the doors for Eta-Eta. He strode in to find Chrysalis reading. She sat on the throne of stone in the middle of the unadorned room. Behind the Queen a window opened to give a panorama of the Hive and the forested valley beyond. Evening twilight streaming in as the sun set in the distance.

“Good Evening Eta-Eta, I trust the day has been good to us?” She said, putting the book on a small table beside the throne. “What have you to report?”

The doors closed behind Eta-Eta, no escape now.

“Your Highness.” Eta-Eta bowed. “The Griffons are close to anarchy, and the diamond dogs have been run out of the badlands by the Equestrian Royal Guard.” He said, producing a series of documents.

“The Equestrian Royal Guard, always a pain in my side. It’s good to see they don’t play favourites. Tell me then, what of the operative in Canterlot?” She asked as she took the documents.

“A failure, your highness,” Eta-Eta said regretfully.

Chrysalis looked up from the documents she was skimming through and scowled down at him.

“It took months to gather the intelligence to insert an operative! Months!” She got up from the throne, tossing the documents aside as she started ranting.

“Now we’ll have to start over, and their guard will be on alert!” She walked behind the throne to the window, seething with anger.

“How is it that they keep defeating us, time and time again?” She lamented into the sky, Gesturing to the distance with a holed hoof.

“Eta-Eta you try my patience with this, You know full well we need Equestria, our magic is fading.” Her voice took on a more somber tone as she turned to face him.

She sighed, and her anger seemed to dissipate.

“What of the Griffons?”

“Splintered, but it’s yet to be seen what will come of the leadership struggle. There’s enough chaos to insert an operative easy enough, but it would be impossible to make any meaningful insertion without knowing more.” Eta-Eta explained.

“So then Equestria remains our best hope, they’ll fall in time.” She returned to her seat on the throne.

“They’ll fall to us.” She added.

“Of course, your highness. I suggest we raid one of the local nations in the meantime,” Eta-Eta suggested.

“Agreed, make it so. Don’t spend too many resources on this however, and keep your guard up against any reprisals from Equestria,” Chrysalis ordered.

Eta-Eta bowed. “It will be done your Highness.” He turned to leave but was stopped when Chrysalis spoke behind him.

“Eta-Eta, remember your purpose,” She said. “The harmony of the hive depends on it.”

“As always, your highness,” Eta-Eta looked back and said before departing.

Once in the hallway the two door guards closed the doors behind him. They stood as statues beside the door, their eyes a glassy blue. Eta-Eta took a moment to look at them. Their mission in life was the simpler one, they only ever had to follow their orders. If they failed, it was the fault of the ones who led them.

Eta-Eta was charged with leading those who led the warriors, in the end every success and every failure was as his own. It was a responsibility he was born and raised specifically to carry. This was his purpose. The ponies had cutie marks, the changelings had castes. The ponies seemed to have a strange caste system too, often naming their children a name applicable to their later role in life. This would have to be investigated further.

Done pondering this Eta-Eta walked down the hallway to his quarters. As the effective second in command of the hive his quarters were separate from the leader barracks outside. It was important he be close to Chrysalis at all times to hear and relay her orders. It was a somewhat lonely life, but it was his. Chrysalis was friendly enough purported you had no bad news, or were a different species.

Opening the door to his quarters Eta-Eta stepped inside and shut it again. It was a utilitarian room- he spend most of his time in his office anyway. This was solely for sleep, and that’s what he was here to do. Today had been a long day, and tomorrow would probably be longer as he planned the raids ordered by the Queen. Flopping down on his bed his insectoid brain clicked off and the spine of the hive went to sleep.

He didn’t sleep for long.

Occupation

The fortress shook shocked Eta-Eta awake. His insect body was moving well before his brain had caught on to his awakened state, he fell to the floor as uncoordinated limbs jumped him out of the bed. Laying on the floor in a daze the gears in his head began to turn, jarred into action by another tremor.

Earthquake?

No, that was impossible. Eta-Eta knew the area around the valley had been stable for centuries. Pulling himself to all four he trotted to his door and cracked it open to take a look down the hallway.

Directly to the right of his room he saw two warriors, fear in their eyes as they backed away from something. A shadow overcast them as Eta-Eta turned his head the other way, fearful of what he would find.

Astonished, he saw two unicorns covered in the armour of the Equestrian Royal Guard slowly coming up the hallway. They had spears strapped to their sides, but apparently felt magic was a greater weapon. Their heads were tipped slightly to point their alicorns downrange at the changelings. Eta-Eta had known to expect a reprisal of some sort, but an invasion?

His thoughts were interrupted when the two released magic bolts, throwing Eta-Eta’s comrades back in against the far wall. They crumpled against it, unconscious. He closed the door and hoped the guards hadn’t seen him.

A hope that was soon dashed as there was a slamming at the door. Eta-Eta backed away, afraid. He was unsure what to do now, there were no instructions for what to do in case of an invasion, and Chrysalis was beyond his reach. There was another slam and he backed further away, cowering.

“Open up, or we’ll open the door up for you!” The guard shouted, slamming again to solidify the threat.

Eta-Eta knew there was really only one thing to do.

“I surrender!” He shouted, just in time for the door to be blown open with a flash of magical energy.

Cowering on the floor the changeling buried his face in his forehooves, shaking with fear. He had put himself at the mercy of this pony, but he knew what the changelings would do in that position.

They had an entire dungeon for that.

“Good, it’s about time one of you bugs was reasonable,” The guard said, looking down upon Eta-Eta. “Stop cowering and get up, We’ll see what Twilight decides to do with you.” The guard prodded Eta-Eta with his spear.

Eta-Eta looked up at the figure. A frightening combination of armour, weaponry, and powerful magic looked down at him. Reluctantly Eta-Eta got to his feet and looked his captor in the eye. The guard raised an eyebrow and stared back at Eta-Eta.

“Follow me.” The guard spoke, leading Eta-Eta out of the room. Once outside the other guard took a position behind the pair. As a trio they marched down the hallway, stopping at an intersection.

“Uhh…” The lead guard looked left and right. “Which way to the throne room?” he asked.

“Left,” Eta-Eta replied. What a strange invasion to not even study the land they were conquering. Eta-Eta wondered if they were planning to raze the hive, that could explain this.

Whatever the ponies plan, he knew the Queen would have some way of defeating it. She had kept the Griffons, the other states, and the diamond dogs away from the Hive for generations. The Queen would know what to do. Eta-Eta’s fear turned to anger. These ponies had no idea the power they fought with. They assaulted him where he lived; they invaded his home, they would leave it battered and bruised.

If they left it at all.

After a few minutes of Eta-Eta directing the trio through the fortress they neared the throne room. Finally Eta-Eta would get his orders and they would drive out the invaders.

Rounding the final corner to the throne room Eta-Eta smirked as he realized the guards were leading themselves to their doom. Ahead he saw the doors to the throne room, unguarded and flung open. The smirk turned into a toothless grin as they approached.

Just as the trio was about to enter there was a deafening scream from inside and a barrage of green fire flew out of the door. The lead pony bowled the others over in his haste to retreat from the fire. Eta-Eta took a moment to gather his strength and then flung himself out from under him, sliding around the doorway to gallop inside.

“My Queen!” He shouted as he entered, sliding to a stop as he saw the scene within.

Queen Chrysalis hovered over the throne, held fast in a magenta field. Below her Twilight Sparkle stood with her alicorn growing brightly, notably her wings were covered in bandages. On her head was a curious crown. At her sides the rest of the ponies present at the failed invasion stood in a ring. Outside arcs of coloured magic energy criss-crossed the sky through smoke that rose from below. Eta-Eta galloped forward and leapt at the group of ponies.

“My Queen!” He shouted again. She turned to face him from within her magical prison, just as he was swept aside by an orange blur. Slamming to the floor he was restrained by the pony standing on him.

Twilight had been momentarily distracted by this, but turned her attention back to Queen Chrysalis. Twilight looked up the Queen, and the Queen looked down on her.

“I’ve come to end your tyranny. The changelings will be free, and the attacks on Equestria will stop,” Twilight said with the same air of authority as when she addressed the crowd. “Applejack, let the guards handle that.” Twilight said, glancing back over at Eta-Eta.

“You got it Twi’” Applejack replied, releasing Eta-Eta for a moment before one of the guards pounced on him. He struggled, but it was futile. He was no warrior and the guard that stood on him pressed down hard. It all felt like a nightmare, Eta-Eta thought. He hoped that it was. He was helpless to help his Queen. Surely however, she had some way to defeat them.

Chrysalis scowled down at the group before her.

“You have no idea what you are doing you insolent fools. The Hive needs me! You bring destruction and chaos!” Pausing for a second in reflection, she lowered her voice and smirked at Twilight. “You’re no better than I.”

“Twilight’s no tyrant!” One of the ponies, Rarity, shouted in reply. “She’s a Princess, and she earned it!”

“You think I have done no less? For generations my children have known peace, because of me!” Chrysalis returned.

“Peace? You invaded Equestria! You tried to steal my brother, you even tried to steal my magic! You’ve forced these beings into war, what say did they have?’” Twilight said, and Eta-Eta saw the ponies lift in the air, glowing brightly. He had to squint through the blinding light. “We brought something for you ‘queen’, all the way from Canterlot!”

“Harmony!” Twilight shouted as a burst of light overtook everything; and, for a moment, blinded Eta-Eta.

Once he was able to see again he looked upon the same scene as earlier, the ponies looking at one another confused.

“You fools, you can’t ‘bring harmony’ to a place that’s already living in harmony!” Chrysalis sneered at them.

“No… no it must just be that we’re outside of Equestria.” Twilight said. “That’s it, we’ll just have to bring harmony ourselves. I came here to free the changelings, and that’s what I’m going to do!”

Twilight still held Chrysalis in the field, but turned to face the doorway. “You’re evil, and Celestia taught me what she does with evil beings.” Twilight said, glancing back.

“She turns them to stone!” Twilight shouted, jumping back and leaning as she fired a long stream of magenta accented magic at the Queen.

“What?!” Chrysalis exclaimed. “No, no let me go!” She shouted, struggling vainly within her prison.

Stone began to consume her body. She looked around frantically for some way of escape, and spotted Eta-Eta still held by the guard.

“Free me!” She ordered as the stone continued upwards. “FREE ME!” She boomed to the sky as it consumed her wholly.

Eta-Eta gathered the strength to throw off his burden and dashed forward towards Twilight. Snarling like an animal released from it’s cage he dove at her with every ounce of power his insect body could muster.

He was swept aside before even getting close by magic force. Pausing only for a moment he leapt again, and was again swept aside.

“Stop!” Twilight ordered at the third attack, sweeping him away again.

“Never!” Eta-Eta shouted, gathering for a moment to leap again.

Before he could the same orange blur dove at him and they rolled away. Eta-Eta threw off the orange pony with an animalistic fury that stunned her for a moment and he galloped once again for the purple menace that had taken his queen from him.

Just as he was about to leap at her yet again he was tackled from the side by one of the guards, and quickly the other dove on top of him. He struggled against them as he looked towards the menace, scowling.

“Release the Queen!” He shouted.

Eta-Eta’s horn glowed as he summoned every possible ounce of gathered magical energy he had and threw off the two guards. Starring his adversary down he stamped the ground before taking off towards her.

“Do something Twilight!” Applejack shouted off to the side.

“I am!” Twilight returned, sweeping Eta-Eta to the side with more force than before, flinging him against the wall.

Twilight looked at him from across the room. “I only want to help!” she offered “I don’t want to hurt you!”

Eta-Eta glanced at the stone form of Chrysalis that had sunk into the throne. “Then free the Queen!” He yelled, galloping once more. Staring daggers he leapt again.

He didn’t remember landing, only the feeling of cold steel against his head.

“Stoned, get it?” A voice spoke from somewhere nearby. A faint chuckle replied.

Eta-Eta opened his eyes and was greeted with the blinding light of the midday sun and a splitting headache. He appeared to be in the hive courtyard, lying on a thin blanket on top the stone surface. Eta-Eta rolled his head to the side, and were he able to move he would have jumped out of his skin at what he saw. A royal guard stood beside him, strangely his helmets plume was red instead of the usual blue.

“Who are you?” Eta-Eta demanded.

The pony glanced down at Eta-Eta, interrupting the conversation. “Captain Pike, Equestrian Royal Guard. THX1138.” He replied. “You put up quite a fight, much more than the rest of your comrades.”

Captain Pike. Eta-Eta knew the name, he was the chosen replacement for Shining Armour following the events of the first invasion. If he was here then Twilight must have brought quite a force with her.

Eta-Eta had a thought, why Twilight, and not Celestia? Why do this now? They had expected a reprisal for the botched infiltration, but not on this scale. Eta-Eta’s conclusion was that Celestia didn’t know. Perhaps, if she could be contacted…

“My designation is Eta-Eta, and you must leave.”

Captain Pike turned towards him. “Not until Twilight orders it, and from the looks of things that won’t be anytime soon.” Bending down he looked Eta-Eta in the eye, cocking an eyebrow. “Why do you resist freedom?”

“You don’t bring us freedom, you bring us discord and destruction. Free the Queen, we are lost without her,” Eta-Eta pleaded.

The captain shook his head, looking back up “No, it’s clear you’ve lived under a tyranny for so long that you’ve forgotten the taste of freedom. We’re here to help you.”

“We don’t want your help!” Eta-Eta spat.

Captain Pike backed up and a spear was thrust in Eta-Eta’s face. Pike put a hoof on it, lowering it.

“You will,” He said, and turned to his comrade. “Take this one to the other grey eyed ones.” He ordered and trotted off.

“Captain!” Eta-Eta shouted. The Captain looked behind at him. “We’ll never give in!”

The captain shook his head and trotted off across the stone towards the fortress that loomed off across the courtyard. Eta-Eta guessed Twilight must’ve taken up residence.

Occupation

Eta-Eta scowled at the idea of her sitting on the Queens throne. He had one standing order, the last given before his Queen was turned to stone.

“Free Me!”

The words ran through Eta-Eta’s mind. Only one order, only one task. He would see that it was carried out if it was the last thing he, or anyone else, did. Ideas and plans ran through his mind, but he was interrupted as the guard prodded him with his spear.

“Let’s go.” The pegasus said as he pointed towards the leader barracks a hundred meters off.

Eta-Eta knew it was best for now to go along with them, and with the leaders he could organize some sort of resistance. He knew only Twilight, or perhaps another powerful unicorn, could free the Queen. He would have to break the occupation to free his Queen, and that would start with the leaders.

Perhaps there was a second way. If was right in his assumption that misguided invasion was led by Twlight, perhaps another of the ruling class could be contacted. Perhaps they would put a stop to this.

Eta-Eta trotted towards the barracks with the guard behind him. As he got closer he noticed a half dozen guard standing outside the large main doors to the building. Only a few stories tall the building was designed for efficiency, inside were several levels of bunks and a few rooms for storage and basic cooking apparatus. It was as utilitarian as the hive itself, only being what it needed to be. The midday sun seemed to be soaked up by the dark stone outline of the structure.

The guard put his spear in front of Eta-Eta to stop him, and trotted ahead to meet his comrades

“We’ve got a live one, how’s it going in there?” The guard asked the leader of the others.

“They’re… quiet.” he replied. “It’s almost like they’ve been turned off. I was expecting some resistance, or maybe even for them to be happy we overthrew the queen, but this is almost creepy.”

The first guard beckoned Eta-Eta forward and pushed open the door. “It’s better than the other ones- they had to nail the doors shut.” He said, giving Eta-Eta a slight nudge inside.

Eta-Eta allowed himself a slight smile on hearing that. The warriors wouldn’t give up. The leaders were bred for calm and composure in any situation, almost without emotion. The warriors were anything but. they were fighters.

Eta-Eta was both.

The door shut behind him and Eta-Eta looked down the rows of bunks in front of him. It took his eyes a second to adjust, and then the eyes of a hundred leaders came into focus. Eyes of grey watched him intently for some sign of what to do. For a moment a twinge of fear came over Eta-Eta, but he swallowed it. This was his job, this is what he was bred to do.

This was his destiny.

Taking a deep breath he addressed the collective with a booming voice. “The Hive is in peril, the Queen is captured, and it falls to us to save the Hive and free the queen,” He said, slowly trotting forward and looking over his subordinates.

“We’ve survived for this long, we’ll survive this. First-” He stopped at the other end of the room and came about face. “- I need all of you in charge of warriors to stand.”

As he said this a third of the leaders stood at attention between the rows of bunks.

“You will need to calm the warriors and await further orders. Attempt no actions of your own unless ordered by me.” Eta-Eta ordered. In unison the group nodded.

“Secondly, those of you in charge of workers. Stand.” He ordered, and a further third stood at attention. Looking them over he continued. “Ensure that the workers carry out their duties, we can’t afford to allow the Hive itself to fall into disrepair.” Once again they nodded in unison.

“The rest of you will disrupt the occupiers as much as possible. Cut their supplies, confuse them, raise false alarms. Do whatever it takes to keep frustrated.”

For a moment he paused to consider what else would need to be ordered.

“Importantly, do not undertake any aggressive actions- any of you. We can’t afford to give the occupiers an excuse to respond with violence, they hold the upper hand at the moment. When our forces are ready, then I will give the order and we will drive them out.”

Finishing his speech he trotted forward through the assembled leaders, looking for one in particular. Soon enough he found him through the telltale hole in his ear.

“Eta-Gamma, I have a special mission for you. Stay here when the others leave.” Eta-Eta ordered, and the scruffy looking changeling sat back down at his bunk. Trotting to the other end of the room Eta-Eta opened it and peered outside. The same group of guards stood idly nearby.

“Guards!” Eta-Eta shouted at them. They looked up and put their hooves on their spears as they faced him.

“I request an audience!”

The ponies looked at one another, unsure of what to do about this request. One of them shrugged and picked up his spear.

“So you’ve finally come around have you? Twilight will be glad to hear it, maybe we can all go home soon.” The guard said as he trotted over.

One way or another, Eta-Eta knew he was right.

Wildcard

“Wait for my return, if I’m not back in an hour- raise hell.” Eta-Eta boomed his order to the changelings in the barracks and then turned to the guard that would escort him to the throne room.

The guard trotted up and, hoof on his spear, looked at Eta-Eta angrily.

“You realize I heard you, right? Order them to stand down.” The guard unholstered his spear and gestured at the doorway.

Eta-Eta responded by kicking the door shut.

“No,” he responded simply, turning to face the guard.

The guard leveled his spear against Eta-Eta and scowled at him.

“If they do as you said, and ‘raise hell’, then we’ll just round them up again!”

“There’s a hundred of us in there, and we can change form into whatever form we please. The only reason you’ve had it so easy thus far is because they’ve had no orders.” Eta-Eta paused for effect.

“That’s changed.”

For a second the guard seemed to consider this, and then a look of fear flashed across his face before his soldiers training could keep up. Eta-Eta smirked at him, he had a hoof now- it was time to play it.

“We’re not afraid of you.” The guard said, holstering his spear. "Follow me." He ordered, gesturing Eta-Eta forth.

As they trotted through the courtyard towards the fortress they picked up a tail of guards. Eta-Eta was pleased to smell the tell-tale pheromone signals- a few changelings had apparently managed to go disguised in lieu of other orders. Eta-Eta held his head high, from now on they were fighting on their terms.

Looking up as they walked, Eta-Eta noticed a blue blur leading the air patrols of the guard. He knew exactly who this was, and any attempt to escape the hive for whatever reason would have to contend with the sharp eyes and speed of her. Still, it had to be tried. Eta-Eta would figure out some way to distract this pegasus when the time came, but it would only work once. He was thankful they hadn’t brought the Wonderbolts with them. That would have caused problems- Mostly because the amount of hubris in one location was liable to create some sort of singularity of inflated self worth.
The fact that changelings had never been able to infiltrate the Wonderbolts had nothing to do with it. The changelings weren't even certain if it was a military or civilian organization. Everything about them was hazy.
Arriving at the fortress doors two guards opened it for the group, closing it behind. Inside captain pike was giving orders to a few guards off to one side. They sat behind a table with their helmets on it.

“Just keep the peace everybody, we haven’t been given carte-blanche for anything more than that. Keep a sharp eye out, as you well know these beings can shapeshift. Use your birth dates as a code phrase, or come up with something within your squads. We’ll be using the buddy system to ensure we don’t get infiltrated, if you spot anyone alone be suspicious.” Pike ordered, pointing out a series of names on a board behind him.

Eta-Eta thought the plan was quite good, but still couldn’t contend with the sheer numbers of changelings they would have to deal with. In their own home no less. If they wanted to retain order the ponies would have to resort to draconian measures. He knew they didn’t have the stomach for that, it was a large part of his plan.

“Now, Claymore…” He pointed at one of the guards who stood at attention, Eta-Eta passed into a hallway before he hear out the rest of that conversation.

Soon enough the group arrived at the hallway to the throne room. Looking back with a quick nod the following changelings stood outside in the hallway. Eta-Eta figured out who they were- the same two that had guarded the doorway so intently earlier. The changelings craved order, these two must have been waiting for a chance to resume their duty. As Eta-Eta and the guard leading him entered the room they took positions on either side of the door.

Twilight had brought up a table and a set of chairs, in the centre of the room it stood covered in assorted papers and plates with half-eaten lunches. A cup of steaming tea was held in her hoof as she looked outside at the courtyard. Hearing the pair enter she turned to face them.

“This changeling requested an audience- he seems to be their leader.” The guard said, bowing slightly and allowing Eta-Eta to come forward.

“Good afternoon. Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Eta-Eta said, giving an exaggerated bow.

Twilight put her tea on the table and looked at him inquisitively. “Why the emphasis on my title?” She asked.

“Who voted for you?” Eta-Eta asked.

Twilight considered this for a second and then glared at him. “I see what you’re doing. I earned my place by doing good for all of Equestria, and no small part of that was defeating the ‘queen’!” she ranted.

“In Equestria you may have earned the right to call yourself a ‘princess’, But this is not Equestria. We are not ponies.” Eta-Eta approached the table, and put his forelegs on it to stand over Twilight “This is our home, and you are unwanted invaders. You occupy us and it will end.”

Twilight did the same, the two staring each other down across the table. “We are not occupying you!” She argued.

“Not an occupation, despite your 'guards' patrolling the courtyard, keeping us contained in our barracks."

"Occupation." Eta-Eta concluded

“This is a liberation!” Twilight shouted, and then gestured to the guard. “Inform the changelings they are free to move as they please.” She ordered, and then looked back to Eta-Eta. "Satisfied?"

“Now what?” Eta-Eta asked. “Are we to ‘have a vote’”? he mocked.

“Well...” Twilight shuffled some of the papers, levitating one upwards. “Yes.”

Floating it over to Eta-Eta he picked it up, it was a list of what Twilight considered to be worthy leaders of the hive. At the top was his own name hastily scribbled, below it was two 'names'- "Door Guard" and "Other Door Guard." There was a blank spot beside this for their names.

"Alpha-Alpha and Alpha-Beta, they're twinned." Twilight nodded.

Eta-Eta continued reading the mess of a document, and nearly did a double take when he reached the end.

“Celestia?” Eta-Eta asked. “Really?”

“Why not? You could join us as part of Equestria. Live in harmony.” Twilight said, almost in a pleading tone.

Eta-Eta crumpled the paper up and tossed it aside. “We’ll never go along with this.”

Twilight caught it in a magenta field. “You will, you’ll learn to love your freedom just as we do.”

Eta-Eta sighed, this pony was as stubborn as she was naive. Time for another tactic.

“Where have the others gone?” he asked.

“My friends? Well, since the elements did nothing I sent them home, Applejack has her f-” Twilight stopped, and stood up straight.

“Hey! What makes you think that’s any of your business?” She demanded.

Ignoring that, Eta-Eta continued to pry. “The blue one, Rainbow Dash, she's staying?"

Twilight squinted at him, and seemed to consider her answer for a second.

“Yes.” She said.

“You seem oddly adamant that none of us leave, how many soldiers did you take with you?”

Twilight stomped the table, spilling her tea all over it. “I told you! This isn’t an occupation, and those aren’t soldiers!” She yelled.

Pointing a hoof toward the door she shouted again. “Guards! Remove him!”

One of the door guard changelings poked his head in, unsure what to do. Eta-Eta came down from the table and nodded. The guard came in to “escort him out.”. Allowing himself to be lead out Eta-Eta looked back as a frustrated pony wiggled some papers in the air to dry them.

“What if.” Eta-Eta looked back momentarily. “It's not just the Queen.?”

"What if we're all evil?" He said, and then turned to leave as a horrified looking Twilight watched him.

Outside Eta-Eta passed by Captain Pike as he was ‘led out’. He shared a glance with the Captain, who didn’t seem to know that Eta-Eta wasn’t the only changeling watching him.

Inside the Captain found Twilight sitting at the table; staring into space, a dripping piece of paper levitating in a magenta field before her.

“Your Highness?” He addressed. She seemed lost in thought staring at the paper.

“What if he’s right?” She asked, putting a hoof to her forehead as she sat.

“Right about what?” Pike asked, walking over to the other side of the table and taking a seat of his own.

“What if they are all evil? What if it’s not just Chrysalis?” She wondered.

“On the other hoof…” Pike had a thought of his own. “... what if none of them are?”

Twilight looked at him confused. “What do you mean?”

“What if the attack on Canterlot was just a sidestep, a mistake, we never tried actually negotiating.”

Twilight seemed to take the remark personally. “Of course we didn’t- she’s evil! Evil people get turned to stone, that’s how it works! I had to remove her to protect Equestria.” Twilight argued.

“Well, you did that,” Pike said “So why are we still here?

“I can’t just leave them without a leader, we have to help them find their way in the world without the tyranny of Chrysalis. There will be a vote.”

“And what if this vote simply puts us back where we are now, with them demanding the return of their queen?” Pike asked.

“I don’t want to think about it.” Twilight replied, looking to the side.

“We might have to drive them out.” Pike said.

“I don’t want to think about it!” Twilight exclaimed. “They will learn to enjoy their freedom, there will be peace, and I am doing what’s right!” She yelled at nobody in particular.

She wasn’t so sure.

Outside Eta-Eta entered the courtyard again. He dismissed the changeling guard that had escorted him and trotted for the leader barracks. Outside the same guard that had led him to the fortress earlier was arguing with one of them.

“I’m telling you, you can go now!”

“We stay!” The changeling yelled back.

“Your leader talked to the Princess, You can go to your ‘units’, whatever that means.”

“No, we stay. Orders.” The same changeling replied.

The guard took a deep breath and was about to scream something at them when Eta-Eta came on the scene and spoke. “You can leave.” he said.

The changeling at the door nodded, and almost immediately an orderly convoy of changelings left the barracks with the guard pushed to the side, speechless.

“So we won’t have to worry about you ‘raising hell’?” The guard asked.

“For now,” Eta-Eta replied, and left the guard outside to enter the barracks.

Inside one sole changeling remained. Eta-Gamma; with his telltale ear hole and scruffy appearance. stood at the front of the room, awaiting his orders. He seemed to tense up as Eta-Eta walked in.

“Your orders are simple, but difficult. Are you ready to venture from the hive?” Eta-Eta asked.

“Yes,” Eta-Gamma replied.

“Good. Normally I would pick another spy, but you’re the only one that has been briefed on Equestria and time is short. Your mission is to escape here, return there, and find out if Princess Celestia knows about this invasion.” Eta-Eta ordered.

“Then what?” Eta-Gamma asked.

“If she doesn’t know, inform her. I have a feeling she would not approve. If she does, then we may well be lost.
,” Eta-Eta added.

“I understand.” Eta-Gamma said, giving a sharp salute.

Eta-Eta responded in kind and led him outside, where the same guard stood as always.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Eta-Eta asked.

The guard considered this for a moment. “I guess, I'm not sure if we're supposed to coral you or what anymore."

The momentary diversion was enough for Eta-Gamma to assume the form of a guard and sneak off. Eta-Eta had placed the hopes of himself, and the Hive, on that changeling.

He also realized the irony in that the Hives one hope might lie in its greatest rival. The princess’s of Equestria were ostensibly equal, but if Eta-Eta remembered right it was Celestia that chose them, and she had even once exiled her own sister. Her word was law.

Standing outside the leaders barracks Eta-Eta wondered what to do next. Taking a look over the courtyard there was a scattered mix of Equestrian Royal Guard troops with positions overwatching the area, and the workers went back to their regular work. A few of them could be seen using their secretions to clean up scorch marks made during the quick battle in the early morning, the rest did whatever it was they did on a regular basis. He didn’t concern himself too much with the workers. The warriors started to take up their positions at the guard posts along the edges of the stone hive. This provided for an odd sight where a few Equestrian Ponies stood awkwardly beside the steely gaze of warriors alert for any threat from the outside, just as they always had.

Eta-Eta was amused by how many of the Equestrian Guards he walked past on his inspection of the courtyard were actually changelings. A quick guess would put their numbers at a third, and it was a testament to the poorly thought out plan of the ponies that they hadn’t noticed their numbers balloon by a full thirty percent. They had expected to come and be greeted as liberators, they had no idea how to deal with an occupation- mostly because they refused to admit this was an occupation. If they can't accept that, then they have already lost.

Who defines an occupation, the occupier, or the occupied?

Eta-Eta shook his head, that wasn’t it at all. It was the victor that defined history. On his walk along the courtyard he had come to the small series of tents the guards had hastily erected when the realized they would be staying a while. Soon they would need supplies from outside, and then they would really fall right into Eta-Eta’s hooves. As he looked on it he noticed one of the guards glance at him and sneak off with a satchel. Eta-Eta paid this no mind. Another watched him intently with his hoof on his spear, Eta-Eta figured he had worn out his welcome and departed.

Eta-Eta walked past the tents and towards the fortress, soon enough Twilight would probably call her fraud of a vote. Eta-Eta knew exactly what to do, and he found one of the disguised changeling guards to relay the order.

“Vote for me. Tell the rest” He said bluntly. The changeling obviously didn’t understand as he cocked his head, but nodded. He would pass the information along.

If he was the democratic leader of the changelings, he could use Twilight’s own plans against her. He would simply order them, as the legal ruler, to release Chrysalis and leave.

He realized that it probably wouldn’t be that easy but it was worth a shot before resorting to more violent measures. Trotting to the fortress he noticed the door guards missing and creaked the door open slightly to take a look inside.

“No, that’s not the plan at all! I don’t understand why you don’t get this!” Captain Pike stood where he had before, rubbing his forehead.

“Look, just… wait a second.” The captain stood quickly. “Nopony can be that stupid, you’re a changeling!” He exclaimed.

Eta-Eta opened the door a tad more to see who the Captain was talking to, but was bowled over by that figure as they galloped out of the room, coming out of disguise into changeling form as they darted around a corner. Captain Pike followed, looking down the courtyard.

After a moment he gave up, and sighed as he closed the door behind him.

Eta-Eta almost burst out into laughter. The guard was already close to boiling over with frustration, these ponies had no idea what they were dealing with. Eta-Eta would have to commend that changeling for taking the initiative. He wondered what other shenanigans his men were getting up to, and trotted down the courtyard with a smile on his face. A changeling flew over him at incredible speed so close that he could smell the pheromones, and barely a moment after he heard yelling behind.

“It’s getting away!”

Rainbow Dash barely flew over Eta-Eta’s head, close enough that his ears blew back and the wind whistled through the holes in his body.

Eta-Gamma was trying to escape, Eta-Eta knew he had to distract this pony to ensure that Eta-Gamma made it out, his mission was important. Quickly changing into the form of the guard he had seen guarding the leaders barracks he flew upwards, barely able to keep pace with the pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash!” Eta-Eta shouted, frantically fluttering behind. She was fast.

“What is it, I’m kinda busy here!” She shouted back.

“Twilights hurt!” Eta-Eta shouted, and barely managed to avoid colliding with the lead pegasus as she halted in the air.

With nary a word she flew off in the other direction, even faster than before. Eta-Eta almost felt guilty for abusing such loyalty. Shedding his form he landing softly on the ground.

She was almost like a warrior, almost. A warrior wouldn’t have given up on their orders. Eta-Eta knew this inherently.

Eta-Eta knew this action would have consequences. Finding another of the disguised guards- who was currently engaged in stealing and hiding the guards rations- he passed along an important order.

“Keep away from Rainbow Dash,” Eta-Eta ordered.

The Changeling nodded, and got back to work hiding a satchel full of carrots in a crevice. When Rainbow Dash realized what had happened she would undoubtedly be out for blood, but it had to be done.

Trotting to the central fountain Eta-Eta took a seat and waited. Soon enough there was a rainbow flash from the balcony as she took flight, giving a war cry that echoed through the courtyard as she did. The air patrol would be certain not to let anyone more slip through, hopefully Eta-Gamma was up to the task.

Soon after Eta-Eta heard a trumpet sound from the palace balcony and looked to see Twilight standing on the overlook. Below a dozen guards, none seemingly changelings, fanned out.

“Your attention please!” Twilight boomed over the courtyard. Eta-Eta was surprised at how well her voice carried.

“Would all changelings please assemble in the courtyard!” She ordered.

A nearby disguised guard cocked his head at Eta-Eta, wondering if they would honor this request. He nodded and the changeling came out of disguise and trotted off.

They would have their vote, and Eta-Eta was the most confident politician in the history of the world.

Democracy

A few hours later, as the sun began it's slow descent behind the west side of the valley, the tally was complete. It had taken considerable effort on the part of Eta-Eta to instruct his comrades how to vote: most of them couldn't even write. The workers couldn't even read. He wasn't even sure if they had the cognitive capacity for it, but nonetheless he was able to explain to them how to circle his name on the paper. Twilight watched him throughout this, obviously displeased at the mockery Eta-Eta was making of her supposed democracy. She didn't interfere however, neither did the guards. They seemed eager to leave.

Eta-Eta himself voted for Celestia, just to mix things up a little. When the voting wrapped up Eta-Eta realized he had let the entire hive become centralized in the square, and all the disguised changelings had dropped their guise to be part of the vote. If Twilight ordered it the Changelings would have incredible difficulty fighting off the occupying forces, but it could be done. They would rout if merely injured, the Changelings would fight to the very bitter end. The alicorn princess that drove all this was a problem however, if she chose to she could easily raze the entire hive to the ground in seconds. Eta-Eta supposed that she wasn't capable of doing something so morally terrible, but she was a heavy threat. Rainbow Dash looked on the changelings as if she was trying to melt them with her eyes as she circled in the sky, she would also be a force to be reckoned with.

The ponies were cowards however, and they would give up long before they had to do anything as grim as destroy the hive or drive them out of their home. They had clearly planned for this to only take a few hours, and had been in the hive for almost a solid day now. Most of them hadn't slept since they arrived, which was nearly twenty hours ago.

As Eta-Eta sat at the front of the thousand, silent, assembled changelings he started off into space, thinking on what might happen. He barely noticed Captain Pike approach and address him.

"You lead them well, but you can't win." he said, sitting beside Eta-Eta.

"Neither can you." Eta-Eta replied.

"We have superior equipment and the Queen is in stone, just go along with Twilights plan. It'll be easier. "

Eta-Eta rose and turned to Captain Pike, snarling.

"You have nothing. I have a thousand changelings that will follow my orders to the end, each and every one of us would give our lives it meant helping the Queen. Her mere whim is the hives mission." Eta-Eta pointed a hoof at the stunned captain. "What would you have said to the Queen if she had asked you to 'go along with my plan' in Canterlot?" he demanded. As he spoke the eyes of a hundred changeling warriors watched the two intently.

Captain Pike thought it over for a second before replying. "I would attack." he replied.

"Exactly." Eta-Eta said, returning to his seat. "You are loyal to Equestria, and we are loyal to the Queen. Nothing can come between us and her. You have made it your mission to, and you have a choice. Either leave, or destroy us. If you don't we'll destroy you. I doubt you have the ability to attempt something as grim as wiping out a hive of peaceful beings. So leave, or be destroyed."

"Peaceful beings? You attacked us first, or did you forget?" Pike said.

"That was no invasion, the plan was to simply intermingle long enough to power our magic, the Queens position as a Princess would ensure our safety. This failed when someone detected us early on." Eta-Eta explained.

"It was still an invasion."

"And this isn't?"

Pike considered this for a moment. "You're right, it's an invasion. We have a right to defend ourselves, the Queen would surely invade again in time."

"Give it up captain, this was a bad idea in the first place. Just leave." Eta-Eta pleaded.

"I can't." he said. "Orders."

"Then we'll drive you out."

"Even if you overcome us, we'll return in greater numbers. Don't do it." Pike pleaded in turn.

"Do you really think Equestria would fight an extended aggressive war? Celestia would never allow it, that she allowed this at all is surprising."

"Well.." Captain Pike stood. "...she didn't." He trotted off to the rest of the guards as Twilight exited the fortress.

Eta-Eta was right, Celestia had never known or approved of this invasion. He hoped Eta-Gamma accomplished his mission and returned soon, preferably with Celestia in tow and beyond that, coming to negotiate an end to this farce. Otherwise people we're going to get hurt, changelings were going to get hurt. He didn't even know how he would free the Queen once he had drive the occupiers out. Kidnapping Twilight was impossible, not only did she have vast magical powers but she could teleport at will. The only hope would be to attack Equestria with such force that they had to relent.

Eta-Eta did not look forward to that.

Coming out of the fortress being a phalanx of guards she stood beside Captain Pike and addressed the crowd.

"Your attention please, Everypony--" She paused, and cleared her throat. "Everyone." she corrected herself. "The vote is in. Nine hundred ninety nine votes for Changeling 'Eta-Eta', and one vote for... Princess Celestia." Her booming voice became hushed at that.

"Eta-Eta please come with me." She said, and pointed a hoof towards him. Eta-Eta stood and turned towards the assembled changelings.

"Wait for my return." He ordered the group, which watched him intently. "In the interim: blockade the roads, nobody- and nopony- leaves." He ordered.

He turned towards the fortress, the guards watching him as he walked up. "After you, princess." He said coming to the foot of the steps. Captain Pike stood beside Twilight behind them.

"Follow me, 'king'." Twilight said, nodding at Pike who gestured the guards open a path for Eta-Eta. They did and he followed Twilight inside.

Inside the doorway the rest of the guards were assembled, chatting amongst themselves. Their conversations hushed as they saw the group walk in, Eta-Eta looked them over closely, they seemed exhausted.

"To the throne room." Twilight nudged him.

When they came to the throne room Twilight stood to the side of the door and gestured Eta-Eta inside before her. As he did Twilight and Pike entered behind him, and Eta-Eta noticed the room had been returned to the state it was in previously, less a small tea stain on the carpet. The throne was eerily empty, and the room eerily quiet. Outside on the balcony a blue pegasus was perched overlooking the courtyard as down below hasty barricades went up along the two roads leading out of the hive.

The silence was interrupted as Twilight spoke behind Eta-Eta, and he turned to reply.

"Your highness." she curtsied. "You are now legally in charge of the changelings, we can leave now knowing they are in good hands, and are free to choose their own path."

"I'm in charge?" Eta-Eta asked. "A democratically elected king." He scoffed at the bizarre idea.

"Of course, they did vote for you." Twilight replied.

Eta-Eta smirked at her and walked towards the throne. "I'm in charge then." he stopped just short of it.

"Release the Queen." He demanded, turning to face Twilight.

"I... No! She's evil and I won't allow her to threaten Equestria again!" Twilight shouted.

"Release the Queen, or you'll never leave this place." He threatened. Behind him the sun went below the horizon and the room was bathed in the glow of summers dusk.

"You just got control of the hive, and you want to bring her back? What about all the terrible things she did!" Twilight stood firm, glaring at Eta-Eta. Behind her the two door guard changelings took their positions.

"Bar the door." Eta-Eta ordered. Before Pike or Twilight could react it was done, and they were locked in.

"What are you doing?!" Twilight exclaimed

"Nobody is leaving this room until the Queen is free," Eta-Eta explained.

"I can't, I won't!" Twilight yelled.

"Your highness, is she really that bad?" Pike asked.

"She invaded Canterlot and tried to steal my brother, she is that bad, she's evil!"

"That's the spirit!" Rainbow Dash flew in from the balcony in front of Twilight. "Show these changelings who's boss! They attacked us first!"

Eta-Eta had exactly one chance left before this all devolved.

"What if I can promise you the Queen will never harm Equestria again?" Eta-Eta asked.

Twilight furrowed her brow, clearly she hadn't expected this. "What would stop her?"

"Open your borders, and sign a treaty. Both sides have attacked each other, perhaps if we put all this behind us- as friends- we can end this peacefully." Eta-Eta explained.

"A treaty? Open borders? Are you mad?" Twilight argued. "All that would do is make it even easier for you to invade again!"

"Why would we invade? The hive has much to offer Equestria, and Equestria has much to offer the hive. Our workers can work your crops, and with trade we can both prosper. The 'siphoning' of magic need not be painful either, surely the hive can find friends in the ponies, and-"

"Friends?" Rainbow Dash flew right up Eta-Eta, muzzle in his face. "We would never be friends with a bunch of evil shapeshifting bugs!"

"Equestria was founded on friendship, give it a chance." Eta-Eta said, pushing her away. "Otherwise we're about to go down a dark path." Almost poetically a shadow fell over the room as he said this, and the hairs on his mane stood on end. A sudden chill and sense of fear came over Eta-Eta, and the faces before him looked as if they had seen a ghost.

"Your.. highness?" Captain Pike said, bowing confused.

Eta-Eta turned to see what the matter was, and found himself at the end of a spear held at his face by a bat pony who's eyes shone in the dark. Behind her stood Princess Luna, the moon shining into the room from outside.

"There will be no pact made with the likes of you, evildoer." She said, and strode in front of Eta-Eta to talk to Twilight.

"I commend you on your bravery in pacifying these evildoers. The Night Guard and myself can take it from here. Where is Queen Chrysalis?" She asked Twilight.

"I uh, turned her to stone. She's in a room just outside here. Made of stone."

"Fantastic news! I never could have expected such initiative. Invading and pacifying the changelings. We'd have done it ourselves had we not been busy taming owl bears and the like." Luna patted Twilight on the head and turned to Eta-Eta, staring at him with a cold scowl.

"We... we didn't invade..." Twilight said, so softly that Eta-Eta could barely hear it.

"If this is not an invasion, then what is it, tea?" Luna snorted. "Take pride in your accomplishment Twilight Sparkle, there's much to be said for keeping Equestria safe." She turned to Captain Pike.

"How long as your guard been here?" She asked.

"About twenty hours, we arrived in the early morning with the Princess," he explained.

"Very good. You and your subordinates stand relieved. The Night Guard will take it from here." Luna said, and turned to Eta-Eta as Captain Pike saluted.

"You, you lead the changelings?" She looked him over. "Pathetic."

"I do, we we--" He was silenced by the cold stare given in return.

"I will give you one chance to surrender. You will not be harmed if you do." She demanded. "If you don't, then we will drive you clear off the continent. I've put up with your existence for far too long, you have my sister to thank for that."

It took every ounce of will he had to reply. "Never."

"Very well, you will be destroyed." Luna said, and with a flash of light Eta-Eta found himself in the courtyard, surrounded by changelings who were surrounded in turn by bat ponies with their spears pointed inwards. Darkness and dread hung over the group.

Eta-Eta had never considered the possibility of a second princess invading, much less Princess Luna herself. He knew from history that she was a force to be reckoned with, she had even tried to take Equestria for herself in ancient times. Her Night Guard was also known to follow her orders unquestionably. They were true warriors, unlike the Royal Guard. Eta-Eta knew they were truly outmatched now. His only hope was to delay the attack for long enough in the vain hope that Celestia might come in the morning, or even sooner. He wasn't quite sure how the day/night separation of rule worked.

Taking a second to take a look at his situation it looked like close to three hundred bat ponies surrounded the changelings, whom had once again been driven to the courtyard- this time at the ends of spears. Warriors, leaders, and workers were scattered amongst each other, full of fear and uncertainty. Eta-Eta had failed in his mission to free the queen. He could still honour her memory however.

"Defensive Postions!" Eta-Eta shouted. "Don't give an inch!" He turned around and saw the warriors in the group meet the ring of bat ponies face to face. Even unarmed they could still put up a fight, but not much of one. At the very least Eta-Eta would make sure the hive wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Leaders in the back, workers in the middle!" He ordered. The group was driven to action and boosted by the sense of purpose. They all felt it, together they were changelings, and together they would fight as a single organism. It was what they were- a hive.

"Make way!" Eta-Eta heard somebody shout from across the courtyard. "Hold on!"

Eta-Eta turned and saw Captain Pike approaching through the crowd of bat ponies, eliciting confused looks from them.

"Captain, you're not about to ask me to surrender are you?" Eta-Eta shouted over the din of changelings taking position.

"No! I'm not!" He shouted back, standing behind two of the bat ponies. "We need to talk!"

"About what, what could you possibly have to offer me?" Eta-Eta yelled as he directed the formation.

"I can buy you time!" Captain Pike yelled back.

Eta-Eta sighed. Whatever the Captain had to offer he might as well find out. He pushed his way to the edge of the changelings to where the Captain stood.

"How do you think that?" Eta-Eta asked, face to face with the Captain.

"This is how," he said. He dropped his spear and stepped forward beside Eta-Eta, turning his back on the changelings. "I've told the rest of the guard to stand down, but Luna can supersede that order."

"Well, Captain." Eta-Eta said, putting a hoof on the captains shoulder. "Welcome to the hive, I would offer you cider but we're fresh out."

Pausing for a second, Eta-Eta added: "And we're about to be routed by bat ponies, who have superior weapons and an alicorn. You've backed the wrong horse. You're also committing high treason so I doubt they'll be any nicer to you."

"Damn right we won't!" one of the bat ponies shouted at them. Eta-Eta scowled in that direction as he pulled Captain Pike back through the formation of warriors.

"I backed the right horse, if treason is what it takes it fight for what's right, then treason it is." Captain Pike said as they came into the centre of the group.

"I was right, changelings and ponies can be friends." Eta-Eta said, smiling for the first time in days.

"Too bad it took two invasions to realize that." Captain Pike said, returning the smile.

They turned towards the fortress, Luna stood on the balcony looking down on them all. Her mane seemed full of stars at it flowed behind her, Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

Eta-Eta had known matters would escalate, but didn't think the odds would turn astronomical.

Medulla

The crescent moon shone down on the courtyard, highlighting the scene with it's dim white light. The spears in the hands of the bat ponies gleamed in the dark, while their eyes glowing yellow dimly as they stared down their adversaries that they encircled. The changelings stared back with their own blue eyes, the warriors on the outer ring prepared to fight to the last. In the middle stood the only changeling who's eyes didn't shine, and by his side stood an Equestrian Royal Guard, his eyes barely open as exhaustion took it's toll. The changeling started upwards at the fortress that loomed over them, as a small collection of Royal Guards stared back down, unsure what to do with their Captain having mutinied.

Captain Pike yawned, and Eta-Eta put a hoof on his shoulder. "You don't have to do this Captain, we won't blame you if you leave now." He glanced back at the huddled mass of changelings.

Captain Pike shook his head. "No. We got you into this mess, and I'll be damned if I leave before seeing it through. This is as much my fault as anypony else's," he said. "Equestria was founded on friendship, and for that I'll fight."

Eta-Eta smiled at his new friend. "You're a good... colt, captain. I had thought you all cowards, but you've proved me wrong." Eta-Eta could feel magic flowing from Captain Pike into himself, the earth pony had no ability to control magic of his own, and yet contained more energy then any changeling.

Captain Pike smiled back, weakly. "We had thought you all to be petulant children, only needing 'superior minds'. We were wrong, I'm sorry."

Eta-Eta shrugged. "We've both made mistakes, we did invade Canterlot after all. To err is to live, Captain," He said, sheepishly.

Captain Pike laughed. "I'm not a Captain anymore; even if we make it out of this, call me Pike." He cocked an eyebrow at his friend. "Speaking of which, what do your friends call you?"

Eta-Eta thought it over for a moment. "I've never really had any friends, but the Queen has called me "Medulla" at times."

Pike rubbed his chin as he thought on that. "Medulla," he concluded. "The part of the brain that controls basic functions. Seems fitting considering what I know of your role." He smirked at his friend.

"Medula."

Eta-Eta smirked back. "It's been good to know you, Pike, a friend willing to commit treason for his friends is a good friend to have." As he said this there was a flash of light from behind the balcony and the royal guards looking down from it scattered.

"What do you suppose that was?" Pike said, standing to alert.

The answer came swiftly as a dark figure emerged from the throne room onto the balcony and addressed those below in an amazingly powerful voice.

"Captain Pike!"

Pike shuddered for a second and then shouted his reply. "I'm here!"

"Stand down, this is high treason!

"This is what's right! We have no right to be here!" He shouted back.

"You fool, your betrayal makes you no better then these creatures. You will fall with them."

Pike looked shocked at the threat. "There hasn't been pony on pony violence in centuries! Have you gone mad?"

"There hasn't been a mutiny in centuries either! It is my right to punish you for your treason as I will!"

The figure stepped out into the moonlight, and Eta-Eta was confused to see a glowing pair of bat eyes looking down on them, with a markedly extended alicorn compared to Princess Luna.

Pike fell over backwards in shock. "Is that.."

"Nightmare Moon!?" Twilight exclaimed from the top of the leader barracks.

"It is a form we reserve only for the enemies of Equestria, Go now Twilight Sparkle, and leave me to my work." Princess Luna explained.

Twlight vanished with a flash, leaving Pike, Eta-Eta, and the rest to their fate at the hands of the Princess of the Night.

Eta-Eta had a sudden realization. He had been siphoning magic from Pike the whole time, but hadn't realized it because it was almost... natural. He wasn't really siphoning it as it was being given to him.

"Pike." Eta-Eta said, as his horn began to glow. "You've saved us all." Eta-Eta said.

A green shield encircled the group as the night guards looked on in shock. As the shield extended upwards from the ground the pointed ends of their spears were sheered off.

"What is this?!" Princess Luna yelled, and she flew at it- unleashing a beam of energy from her alicorn directed at the shield.

Eta-Eta winced, but the shield held.

Pike looked on the shield with awe as they were all bathed in the green glow of it.

"How are you doing that?" He asked.

Eta-Eta looked at him excitedly. "Pike, you've given me the magic energy to do it. Through your friendship." He put both his hooves on Pikes shoulders. "You've proven that we can both live in harmony, together!"

"How long can this keep up though, I'm about ready to collapse- and you can't generate your own energy." Pike asked, and slumped to the ground.

"We just need to hold out until morning. You've come this far for us Pike, you've committed treason. Now all you need to do is stay the night and with luck Celestia will arrive."

"How would she know to come?" Pike asked.

"I sent a runner," Eta-Eta replied.

"Clever Medulla."

For the next dozen hours Eta-Eta waited, glancing between the steady descent of the moon and his friend, who was clearly the worse for wear. Overhead Princess Luna- still in her Nightmare Moon form- circled. The bat ponies of the night guard had fallen back, without their weapons they had a sudden loss of morale. Eta-Eta kept his friend awake as they shared tales of their exploits. Eta-Eta found that the Captain had risen to his station because he was the one that raised the alarm in Canterlot- having noticed two green maned ponies- one hauling the other unconscious- through the streets. Eta-Eta told him the tale of how he had once been ordered to change into the form of Celestia in his youth, but had blown his cover when he said he didn't care for cake. Pike had a good laugh at that.

"I can't keep it up much longer." Pike said, laying on the ground. He had been awake for close to a day at this point, and had spent nearly half of that powering a magic shield. Eta-Eta and the changelings were fine, they barely needed sleep.

"Just a few minutes more, friend." Eta-Eta said softly. "J-" Pike closed his eyes, and the shield fell.

Eta-Eta turned his gaze to the sky where Princess Luna had been circling. She swooped down behind the bat ponies as they returned to their positions- albeit unarmed.

"A fair attempt, but you were doomed to fail. We will give you one more chance to surrender." She said.

"I'll give you one more chance to leave." Eta-Eta replied.

"Very well then." Princess Luna took wing and hovered over them all. "You will b--"

She was silenced as a blinding light rose over the east wall of the valley. Eta-Eta turned his attention that way and saw two figures silhouetted against the morning sun.

"Princess Luna!" The larger figure shouted, while the smaller broke off and flew towards the group in the courtyard.

Eta-Eta turned his gaze towards the Princess of the Night, and was relieved to see she had reverted to her "proper" form.

"My sister! How nice of you to join us, we were just about to end the changeling threat to Equestria." The two flew up to each other over the courtyard.

"I can see that quite clearly, I can take it from here," Celestia said.

While the pair argued Eta-Gamma down and landed beside Eta-Eta.

"Have I succeeded?" He asked.

Eta-Eta embraced his comrade. "You've done more then that Eta-Gamma, you've saved the Hive."

Turning his attention back upwards the two Princesses seemed to be debating something. As he tried to listen in there was a noise at the balcony and out flew a figure, while a second stood at the balcony. The Queen flew down over the courtyard, wind whistling through her body.

"The queen has returned!" He shouted jubilantly. There were cheers from the assembled changelings.

"I have indeed returned my subjects, it seems our... misguided friend... has had a change of heart."

She flew towards the two princesses, who seemed to not notice her approach, and addressed them.

"Now get out of my hive and let us be, you've done enough harm!" she demanded of them. They turned towards her as Eta-Eta flew up to do his job.

"My Queen." He said, flying level with the others. "There is a matter we must discuss."

"What is it, that it can't wait for after we are finally free of these interlopers?" the Queen asked, as Luna and Celestia looked on.

"We've concluded, in your absence, that the two nations would be better together then apart." Eta-Eta explained. "The idea of a treaty was brought up- one of their Captains even mutinied in support of us."

"Is that true? Perhaps there is merit to this idea." She turned her attention to the princesses. "What say you?"

Luna shook her head, but Celestia smiled and replied. "I think it would be wonderful. We have much to learn from each other and much to offer in trade. Surely friendship is better than... the alternative." She glanced at her sister.

"Then let us retire to the throne room, and we will negotiate. First I demand that all of your armed forces leave, immediately."

Princess Luna was about to speak, but was cut off by her sister. "I think that is fair, The Night Guard should be retiring anyway."

Princess Luna sighed and flew off, the Night Guard flew up from the ground and followed her off, followed shortly by more cheers from the changelings.

"I would like to request that the captain be allowed to stay, at least for now, and that Eta-Gamma also be in attendance," Eta-Eta said.

Celestia and Chrysalis shared a look and then the Queen turned to her second. "Very well." She said.

"I fear he's a Captain no longer however, but we'll speak of this later." Celestia added.

Eta-Eta flew down as the two made for the throne room balcony. Below Eta-Gamma stood in the middle of the group of changelings, unsure of what to do now. Hovering over them Eta-Eta addressed them.

"We owe a great deal to the pony in your midst, he is a friend of the Hive. Go now, and resume your regular duties." Eta-Eta ordered, and then landed beside Eta-Gamma and his friend.

"This pony?" Eta-Gamma said, prodding the unconscious figure.

"This pony indeed, he saved us as much as you did." Eta-Eta said, collecting Pike in his arms. "Go to the throne room, I will meet you there shortly."

Eta-Gamma did as ordered, while Eta-Eta flew into the fortress and passed the Royal Guards as they left. They glanced silently at the changeling carrying their mutinous commander, unsure of what to think. Eta-Eta didn't care what they thought, Pike was a friend. Rainbow Dash was the last Equestrian out. Eta-Eta could almost feel her icy gaze on his back before snorted and flew out the doors.

Arriving at his quarters Eta-Eta used the last bit of magical energy he had to open the door and laid the former-captain on his bed. His eyes opened slightly and he spoke.

"Did we win?" he asked.

"Yes." Eta-Eta said, and Pikes eyes closed again.

Leaving his friend to rest Eta-Eta went to the throne room, where Celestia and Chrysalis had already begun negotiating.

"... paid for through an import tariff, fair enough." Celestia said, drawing a line down a map she displayed on the wall from her alicorn. "At what rate?" She asked.

"Twenty percent, bilateral, we keep our tariff to pay for the damage caused by this invasion."

"I had expected as much." Celestia said, and they noticed Eta-Eta entering.

"Eta-Eta." the Queen said. "You have truly outdone yourself. You've proven more then I could have hoped for." She beamed at her second in command and beckoned him forward.

"You've done good for both our nations." Celestia said. "I had no idea the Hive was so open to negotiation, we just never thought of it."

"So it's going to happen then, the treaty will be signed and we will become... friends?" He asked.

"There's quite a bit of details to go through, but yes. I think it can be done." Celestia said. Chrysalis nodded.

"Such as we need ambassadors to bridge the gap, and maintain contact. Do you have any suggestions?" Chrysalis asked.

"Eta-Gamma would be perfect for the job, he knows Equestria as good as any of us." Eta-Eta suggested.

"You are quite correct, it will be done." Chrysalis said.

For the next few hours the group discussed import tariffs, border lines, daily allocation of people across the borders, and dozens of other semi-important issues of state. An important development was the hive adopting it's first currency- the Equestrian Bit- as it had not needed any such thing before. It was also planned that a train line would be constructed leading from Appleloosa to the Hive, and would be paid for by the Equestrians. The Hive would also split the Badlands with Equestria along the middle.

Late in the discussions Chrysalis had some of the workers bring up the same table as earlier and some lunch for the attending.

"What of your intelligence network, I assume you can promise you won't 'infiltrate' Equestria now?" Celestia asked, as she sipped from a cup of steaming tea.

"Of course, and I will pass any pertinent details gathered to you. In exchange I want the protection of the Equestrian Royal Guard should we ever find the need," Chrysalis said.

"As friends, you shall have it." Celestia replied.

As she said this Twilight entered the room, showing her face for the first time since that morning. She was frazzled, and hung her head low as she entered.

"I'm sorry." She said, as she entered the room with her head held down.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Twilight, we all make mistakes. Leaders just make... bigger mistakes." Celestia smiled at her and gestured her over.

"I would rather not have been trapped in stone for a day, but I suppose in the end- thanks to this treaty- we're all better off. You'll pay for this however. Quite literally."

"I.. will?" Twilight asked, taking a seat beside Celestia.

"Quite so." Celestia said. "The changelings have demanded a thousand bits to recompense the lost productivity and the Queens unfortunate stay as a statue. It will be coming from your own treasury."

"I... have a treasury?" Twilight asked again, confused.

"You did." Celestia said.

"Oh," Twilight said.

Celestia and Chrysalis shared a smile, they weren't all that different in the end. Before them was the final form of the treaty, awaiting their signatures.

"So this is all in order then, and we are agreed?" Celestia asked.

"I find it quite agreeable." Chrysalis replied.

Celestia nodded, and removed one of her horse shoes. Flipping it over Eta-Eta watched as she pulled a bit of wax off a nearby candle, heated it, and then pressed the wax onto the paper with the back of the horse shoe. It formed her seal. Beside it she signed her name. She gave it to Twilight to sign as well, and then to Chrysalis.

"Clever, I might have to steal that idea." Chrysalis noted, signing her own beside. Once done she pushed it down the table to Eta-Eta.

"I feel it proper you should sign too, as well as our new Ambassador."

Eta-Eta figured he would sign with his new "name" Medulla, but what of Eta-Gamma?

"Eta-Gamma doesn't have a... pony name." Eta-Eta stated.

"May I suggest something?" Celestia asked. Eta-Eta nodded.

"Wildcard." She said.

"I like it." Eta-Gamma said, approaching the table from behind Eta-Eta.

"Then it shall be yours." Chrysalis said.

The two changeling leaders signed their "names", and it was done. The Changeling Hive and Equestria signed the first pact between the two in history, following two failed invasions, and two trapped monarchs.

Celestia stood and levitated the treaty in the air, magically duplicating it. While she did another pony entered the room, and Eta-Eta was delighted to see the return of Pike.

"Good afternoon your highness's." He said, giving a weak bow as he entered the room.

"Good afternoon, Pike." Celestia said. Eta-Eta frowned as he noted the loss of his title.

"So, It's as I feared. A captain no more." Pike said, taking a seat beside Eta-Eta. He slouched and had a look of pain on his face.

"You did what was right, but it was treason none the less." Celestia said.

"Now hold on!" Twilight stood up. "This was my idea, why should Pike be punished?"

"I'm not punishing Pike for going along with your plan, Twilight. I'm not punishing Pike at all. The fact of the matter is that if a Captain can't be relied upon to follow his orders, then he is not fit to be captain. I will overlook the fact that he has committed treason, but the fact remains he cannot remain as captain. It would set a bad example throughout the guard and encourage discord."

Chrysalis nodded her approval at this speech, and Twilight sat back down.

"I understand, I guess. I just wish it didn't have to be so."

"Wait a moment," Eta-Eta said. "You need an ambassador, right?" He asked, Celestia nodded.

"I can think of no pony more qualified then Pike. He has the added benefit of already being a friend to the Hive." Eta-Eta suggested.

"Very well, I suppose it is fitting. Do you accept?" Celestia asked Pike.

"I would be honoured." He replied. Eta-Eta watched as in an instant the pony returned to himself, full of pride, and stood to give a proper bow.

"Well, that about settles everything." Chrysalis said. "I would offer you stay for dinner, but our rations have run dry."

Celestia stood as well, Twilight at her side. "We have to get back to Equestria anyway, the Summer Sun Celebration is soon, and we can't miss that."

Chrysalis gestured to Eta-Gamma, whom had been standing behind Eta-Eta. "Go with them, 'Wildcard', represent us well."

He did as ordered, coming to their side.

"And you, Ambassador Pike, represent us well. I'm sure we will speak again soon." Celestia said, and led the trio out.

Chrysalis returned to the throne and a half dozen workers entered to collect the table and dishes.

"Go on you two, you've both got work to do. Report to me as usual tomorrow 'Medulla'."

Eta-Eta smiled at Pike, and he smiled back. Eta-Eta led him out of the throne room and passed those same two door guards. The Hive had returned to normal, except it was a superior state of normal. The hive had been injured, but it had emerged all the stronger.

"I'll set your up in a room next to my own, We'll be doing a lot of work together," Eta-Eta said to Pike.

"I look forward to it, Medulla." He replied.

A few hours later, after getting Pike settled in his new quarters, Eta-Eta returned to his own. He had been awake for nearly thirty hours at this point, which for a changeling was getting into "drowsy" territory. Before calling it a night he noticed a new intelligence report had been laid on his desk at some point. It had the markings of one of the Griffon agents, whom had been waiting on the sidelines of the current anarchy in the Griffon Kingdoms for some sign of who would emerge the ruler. Opening the document Eta-Eta quickly skimmed over the document, and then rushed out of the room to report it to the Equestrian Ambassador and the Queen.

The Griffons had a new High King.