Collision

The small changeling led them down a series of twisty corridors, that looked reasonably similar to each-other, save for the combinations of glowing light on the sides.

"I hav...have to tell the guards when you leave," the small drone said as the traced their way back towards the exit.

"Give them a head start, then. A very long head start."

"I-I can do that."

The drone opened the door to the outside, and Joan sighed.

"I am about to do something incredibly stupid, and I hope you'll understand. I need you," she said, pointing at the changeling, "to help me find a changeling who was pretending to be a griffon named Gwyn."

"W-why?"

"I need some answers, and he's going to help me."

The three newfoals ran for the forest.

Joan and the small drone were tracing their way through the tunnels, again, looking for Gwyn. The drone said she was certain he was there, since she could sense his signature on the hive mind, but not his exact location without asking.

They were currently in a side access tunnel, which the changeling had said was for periodic maintenance of the hive walls.

"What's your name, anyway?"

"I am a t-tiny part of the hive mind. I have n-no name."

"So, what is it?"

"G-Grapheme."

"Nice name, I think it suits you."

"T-thanks."

The path got smaller, and they dropped into a large room with connections leading off in every direction.

"Which way?"

"D-down."

Joan stood over the hole in the center of the room, and peered down. It glowed, and seemed to curve gently back and forth.

Grapheme jumped, and slid down the tunnel, quickly disappearing from sight.

"Here goes," Joan whispered to herself, and jumped. Glowing rings flashed before her eyes as she slid down, and she was quickly ejected from the end of the tunnel, landing on a part of the hive wall that was softer and more squishy than the rest of the hive.

"What is this?"

"Scout rooms, o-over there, is the room you want."

"Wait here. And don't call the hive."

"O-okay."

She entered the room, and found Gwyn in his changeling form, staring at a wall. He was about the same size as her but his muzzle was more squared off than Grapheme's, and his fangs were much larger, and he seemed muscular, if that was even possible for a changeling. Her heart was pounding, and she was pretty sure her instincts were tellIng her to run. She ignored them.

"You tried to convert me."

Gwyn spun around and stared. "Joan! You're not- you're not dead. You were dying from- from me draining you of emotion! I had to do something, how did-"

She thwacked him on the shoulder.

"Maybe I like you too."

He looked back at the wall. "You shouldn't."

"You're terrible at being a monster, but you need more practice being a pony," she said, and pointed at the door. "Do you want a second chance or what, whoever you are?"

He sighed and looked back at the wall. "Valence. My name is Valence."

Sour, Raspberry and Card were hiding in the forest.

"What if a changeling saw us?"

"Well, they would have sent a guard after us if they did, right? Or maybe they thought we were changelings."

"I'm pretty sure they can tell."

"Show yourselves!" shouted a voice from the clearing.

"Yeah, they can tell," said Raspberry.

"Maybe we can knock him out... hey! Over here!" Sour said loudly, drawing disbelieving stares from the other two.

"I have a plan."

The changeling walked into the forest, immediately spotting them. "Surrender!"

"Okay!" said Sour Kiss, walking over to him.

"Er," said the changeling.

"You know," Sour said, "you guys aren't bad looking up close, you know?" He grabbed one of the changelings forehooves, and pointed to it with a wing. "This color? Perfect for  adding some accessories to. And so smooth," he said, rubbing his face on the changelings leg.

"Sour!"

"Hey, I haven't kissed him or anything. Yet."

"You can't seduce your way out of a problem! What about me?"

"I'm sure we could compromise, in bed! All three of us, maybe!"

"What was... that about kissing?"

"Oh," Sour said, and kissed him straight on the muzzle.

The changeling had agreed not to turn them in, had insisted on kissing Raspberry too, to make sure there were no hard feelings, and was currently trying to talk Card Stock into hugging him.

"And you thought that wouldn't work."

"You totally owe me, you know."

"Yeah, I know. You get one anything card, redeemable at the next bed."

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it!”

"Hey," Card said to the changeling, "you wouldn't happen to be able to distract the hive at all, would you? There's a hug in it for you."

Joan, Grapheme and Valence were standing on a balcony overlooking the pod bay. Grapheme seemed to have decided Joan wasn't about to attack her, and had stopped shaking so much.

"You have a plan?"

"Wake up the ponies, attack or distract the guards, and run."

"That plan has significant chance for failure."

"It's the only plan we have, unless you want to make a bid for Queen of the hive?"

"M-me? Queen?"

"Anyway. Can we disable all the pods at once?"

"The pods on their own don't have a hive connection, and will drain if they lose it. There's a hive mind connection and regulator in the center, just there," Grapheme said, pointing at a lumpy bit in the center of the room that all the pods seemed connected to by tubes.

"Right, new plan, Valence, you keep track of where the guards are, and take them out if they notice. Grapheme, you're with me. We're taking that regulator down."

Joan jumped and slid down a curving piece of architecture between the balcony and the pod bay, and waved Grapheme down, who chose to fly instead. Once on the ground the ran over to the regulator, and Joan began pounding on it.

"Get the bit just there, in the center!" Grapheme said, taking more glee in the destruction than Joan would have expected. She concentrated her stamping there, and it soon started to crack.

"Aren't you supposed to be loyal to the hive?"

"Well, the Queen isn't really very nice to drones, or anyling, really." She sighed. "This whole 'drones aren't individuals, just part of a hive' deal wasn't a thing until the new Queen took over."

"Mmph," she managed, as she stamped on it a few last times, cracking the surface, and jamming her hooves deep into the soft bits on the inside, which were promptly splattered everywhere as she pulled her hooves free and scraped them on the floor.

"We have about twenty minutes until someling notices the regulator is down and sends a bioengineer to fix it. We need to move!"

Valence ran back into the room. "I had to take out a few guards, I think they're going to start getting suspicious when the guards don't come back, and even more suspicious since the guards were broadcasting something about a free hugs party outside the hive."

"Right, how long will it take for them to wake up?"

"Longer than you have," said the Queen, looking down from the balcony.

"Run!" Valence shouted, firing off a shot with his horn that doused the entire room in a thick cloud of green.

The three of them bolted for the exit.

"Grapheme," Joan hissed, "which way out of here? We need to go up, up, up!"

"That way! The stairs go up, all the way to the top floor!"

"We need the ground floor!"

"You can go back down from there!"

Joan harrumphed, and lead the charge, up the spiraling slick black steps, until they came to the top, and found themselves in a windowed room with no visible exits. Each of the windows was covered in something shiny, semi-translucent, and a hoof thick.

"Where's the way down?"

"I don't know," Grapheme said frantically, "it was here when I was up here last! They must have closed it or something!"

"Look, tell her I threatened you. You'll get away with it!"

"No, I won't! This is the second time I've crossed her, the first time you get punished for it, the second you die!"

"A pity, really," said the Queen, floating up the stairs and landing on the floor, "you were a slightly above average efficiency drone. Rules are rules, though."

Grapheme cowered behind Joan and Valence, as the Queen stepped towards them.

"I'm not sure how you survived, pony, but I promise you it won't happen again." The Queen charged her horn, and Valence was engulfed in green light.

"Drain her emotions. All of them. Don't mess it up, this time."

Valence tuned to Joan, his horn lit. "I don't want to do this," he said, and a green light jumped between them.

"Then don't," she said through gritted teeth, and placed a hoof on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and the light stopped.

"You cannot disobey a direct order!" the Queen raged, and leapt into the air, horn glowing, as Valence's horn reversed, and the room was bathed in pink, and the Queen was thrown through the window, shattering it, and farther, out past the edge of the forest, and farther than that.

Valence slumped, and fell onto the ground. Grapheme had her head between her hooves behind them, and Joan sat down, suddenly tired.

They could hear birds chirping outside the hive, and the quiet thrum of cicadas.

Raspberry Delight, Sour Kiss, and Card Stock peeked out from behind the trees they'd been hiding behind, as a procession of slightly gooed ponies left the hive, and began the walk back to the wreckage of the pony town they'd lost in the fight.

In the other direction, a swarm of battle scarred ponies left, never to be seen again, leaving their kinder and gentler brethren alone in the hive.

"What happened?" Raspberry gaped.

"It's a long story, but I'll tell you while we walk."

Three months later, the pony town of East Friendvale (sister city to West Friendvale, which the changelings had christened their hive, after apologizing profusely to the ponies, and had helped them rebuild, despite initial pony doubts that they were trying to be helpful and not just trying to drain them all of love somehow) opened its figurative doors again. Joan and the other newfoals had set up houses of their own, after having stayed just to help rebuild, and then just to help them get settled, then having decided to stay at least long enough to make friends with the locals.

Raspberry and Sour had opened their own pub, since the town didn't seem to have one, and unusual beverages were easy to come by this close to the Griffon Kingdom and a changeling hive. Card Stock spent her time trying to teach the locals the value of good art. Grapheme had been named 'Elected Official of West Friendvale', and had happily accepted.

Joan had changed her last name to Fieldstone. She thought it was appropriate.

She was sitting on a deck with Valence, overlooking what had eventually returned to being a happy, bustling town.

"Mind if I stay at your place? The Griffon Camp was fairly upset about the fact that we'd kidnapped their commanding officer."

"That and you know I only have one bed."

"Well, that too. Plus, I got a pie from the baker down the road. It's... blackberry, I think?"

Joan kissed him, and he quickly found himself kissing back.