The Story of a Monster

The other hatchlings and I walked down a long hallway. The Changeling Hive was composed of hundreds of cave like hallways stretching around the main centre part of the hive, they were mostly filled with working drones making their way to unknown locations… Or so it looked from a standard point of view.

I closed my eyes and entered the Hive Mind. My entire mind was filled with thoughts and emotions. I felt the drones around me; one was struggling to move several eggs across to the hatching grounds. I could feel his legs ache as if they were my own… Only a seeing the hive from this view could you see it as anything more than a few caves and caverns filled with some insects.

“Come, my little changeling” a soft voice went through my head. I opened my eyes to see the Queen Chrysalis, waiting for me impatiently with the rest of the hatchlings. I was so immersed in the Hive mind that I stopped walking with them.

I ran to catch up with them and we continued.

“Do not do that again my child. I’d rather we get to training as soon as possible” The Queen said sternly, but not angrily. The queen was taking us to the training room because she liked to personally train the latest set of drones chosen to be Spies.

“Sorry, my queen” I replied

“And this goes for all of you” She turned to me and the other hatchlings “When you are living with the ponies, collecting love and making sure they never find us, stopping in the middle of the street to fully connect to the hive will set suspicions in the pony’s minds.”

“Yes, my queen.” We all said in unison. She smiled and we continued again.

After a long while I thought of something. It felt important so I decided to ask. If anyone would know the answer, it was Queen Chrysalis, mother to us all.

My wings started to buzz and I was slowly and smoothly lifted off the ground. I flew up to eye level with the Queen and hovered next to her.

“My-My Queen?” I asked nervously.

“Yes, my little changeling?” She said without looking at me.

I took a deep breath and exhaled. “What happens if we are caught?”

The Queen sighed to the question which felt so simple to her.

“Run, little changeling… run as far as possible” She said.

“But what if we can’t?” I wasn’t fully grown or experienced, but I was smart.

The Queen turned to look at me, her green eyes connecting with my curious blue ones. After a while she smiled. “Listen carefully now and let me explain it to you all.”

The times seemed endless as I sat in my cell… They had found me… They had found me, put me in this Dark cell leaving me cold and hungry… but those were small things to me right now. They took my freedom, my magic, but the only thing I really cared about was this… They took my hive.

My hive was gone from my mind. Disconnected. Scared. Alone.

My Cell consisted of four dark walls, a metal door, and a barred window. A pile of hay was in one corner of the room for sleep and a bucked on the other for defecation which I couldn’t even do.

I don’t even have the organs to do that. I feed off love, you can’t poop that.

All my knowledge was learned through The Hivemind. If anyone in the hive knew it, I could too by reading through their memories. And now that it was gone…I don’t feel like myself…

I took a deep breath and slowly regained myself.

It’s okay… It’s okay. You’re strong and can find a way out of this by yourself.

After five long minutes my fear had dissolved.

If you are found, you are in grave danger, my child. To the ponies, we are monsters.

I stood up from my cell and examined myself. I was relatively uninjured despite a few bruises. I had a metal belt strapped and locked around my wings, pressing them tightly to my carapace; there was no possible way of flying out of here. The ‘Magic Inhibitor’ was still locked around my horn.

Again I tried to use my magic. Without the hive guiding me I was almost unable to cast the small transformation spell. If I was connected to the hive it would have only taken a second…but not now. I pictured the pony in my head and concentrated on it. Mare, Pegasus, small, white fur, short mane and tail, both are cyan.after a few second of pure focus I felt my size begin to change, the form slowly taking shape as a green flame… but almost immediately the Magic Inhibiter took effect and the spell was broken and an electric shock went down from my horn into my carapace, making me collapse to the floor…

“Lets… not try that again…” I said to myself. I slowly got to my feet and thought again.

Maybe I can explore this cell a bit more.

I examined the exits.

The small barred window looking out across the vast city of Canterlot. It was big enough for an average sized changeling drone to fit through. I tried to pulling and pushing at the bars, wouldn’t even budge.
I was about to see if I could pick the lock on these when I heard hoof steps from down the hall. They stopped at my cell and a key was shoved into the lock. The sound of the key turning felt like a funeral bell chiming its way into my skull.

The door opened.

Two white unicorn guards stepped in. I quickly scrambled back into the far wall and gave a hiss that would put any snake to shame. The guards didn’t move or react to this, they only stood there. Then another pony entered the cell. He was still a guard, and a unicorn, but his armour was different, it was purple and lined with gold.

We both stared each other… I glared intimidatingly at him, hiding the true fear I was feeling… He remained expressionless. After a second he nodded to the two guards, they nodded back and started towards me.

Never try to fight one of those snivelling guards my child. We were made to hide. The ponies see us as nothing than monsters… leaches feeding their backs… and they won’t hesitate step on us.

Suddenly, like instincts to survive, I lashed out my hoof without knowing it. It connected with one the guard’s eyes. The guard jumped back in pain. His eye was bright red from the blow. I remained as still as a statue, my back against the wall.

I watched as the guard regained himself and looked at the commander. He nodded and the other guard approached me. His horn lit up with a gold light and suddenly a golden aura surrounded me. I struggled all I could but all the magic did was tighten its grasp on me. I was pinned to the wall with great force, I could barely breathe.

The commander nodded again, still that expressionless look plastered on his face. The guard who I had hit walked up to me and raised his hoof. I gulped and braced myself for the worst.

The powerful punch connected with my stomach. All the air flew out of my lungs, and then the guard who held me in his magical grip tightened his grip around my neck preventing me to breathe. My vision became hazy as another punch came to my stomach.

This is it… You’re going to going to die down here in the dark place, away from the hive and your body is going to be tossed into a furnace without a second thought. Or maybe they’re going to cut you open and study your insides; you are the first changeling to properly be captured after all. Or maybe-

“That’s enough” said a low condescending voice.

Suddenly I was dropped to the floor and I gulped in air… beautiful air. I lay on the floor. Defeated.

“Grab him, and if it resists again, kill him” Came the voice again which I think belonged to the commander…

The two guards walked towards me. I didn’t resist this time. They picked me up, each one holding one of my four-hooves in their magic, letting my hind legs drag against the floor.

With the commander leading the way, they carried me out of my cell and into a small hall.

How nice of them.

I had my head down, but I had my eyes looking around scanning for escape routes. The hallways were torch-lit; the walls were made of concrete that had long withered away.

My head lowered and my body went limp, too weak to go on any further after the beating.

They mostly took me down more dark hallways. But I made sure to make a mental note of everywhere we went. Eventually we came to a much larger hallway which was well-lit and kept cleaner.

Ponies passed us from all sides, more guards, a few servants, all of them stared at me warily.

Are they really that scared?

Eventually the commander stopped at a door and walked inside, the guards carrying me quickly followed.

The room was dark and windowless. I was placed and chained to a chair by my ankles in the centre of the room. I think I heard the guards leave and I was left in darkness…

Okay, okay. If there were any time to panic…now would be the time. Oh Queen Chrysalis… Mother… Help me.

I called out mentally and even physically a few times, but I knew no one would hear me… Oh how I wish I could hear the comforting thoughts of all my family, All 1748 of them.

I heard a small whimper leave my lips… If only I could cry… but drones can’t cry… No! Giving in like this means they’ve won. If I give up then they’ll have the location of my family within the hour… Well…

I raised my head and stared into the darkness.

I won’t give them the satisfaction.

After a few long minutes I heard a voice.

“You will speak when spoken to and answer all questions you are asked” came a voice. It was the same voice from before, though I couldn’t see him in the darkness, I knew it was the commanding guard that brought me here.

Who did he think he was trying to order me around?

“Am I understood?” Came the voice again.

“Go buck yourself” I told him. It was an insult that I picked up on while I was living with among the ponies as one of them… or so they thought… I didn’t have much time to think about it as a surge of electricity ran through my carapace and into the rest of my body.

When the pain ceased the commander spoke again.

“You will tell me everything you know about the changelings or more pain will come.”

To this I remained silent and the darkness returned just that for a while until the commander spoke again at last.

“What is the location of Chrysalis?”

“Again like I said… Go buck yourself” I said, my willpower holding steady. “You won’t break me…but you can try though if it makes you feel like you’re in control.”

A pony grabbed me by my jaw and said "You will tell us what we need to know, monster, or you will be "

To this more electrical shocks followed and more questions. The shocks got worse after a while. I remained silent the entire time. After the tenth shock my body finally gave in to the pain, and I passed out.