It started out harmless enough.
After my mother was gone, I took control of the hive, as I would have, had we remained Flutter Ponies. I chose to remain in our old land to remind myself what I lived for; what my mother had lived for.
Your kind named it "The Badlands", but we call it Thymámai.
It would have killed my mother, were she still alive, to move the hive. She was queen, as you may have guessed, of the Flutter Ponies. To abandon our ancient and sacred home would be an affront to all of our kind before us.
I do not expect you to understand.
So we remained in Thymámai, deep within the mountains carved from the event that twisted our bodies. We learned to see better in the dark, and grew membranes over our eyes to keep out the dust from the storms.
The holes in our legs served us well as climbing tools when our wings could not lift us, deep within our caves.
You could never imagine the hardships we faced, especially during that time. The hive was still recovering from the destruction of their home, their lives, and the loss of their queen. None of us could blame one another for letting those few who chose to give their life away do so.
But those of us who stayed strong survived. When no traders, explorers, or officials came, we branched out.
Before our cataclysm, our 'nation' was one of simply existing. We had no need for tools of reading and writing. Our history was passed on from generation to generation through word of mouth and tongue.
With my mother gone, and I not nearly as knowledgeable as I should have been, we were quite lost.
The Beast had twisted our land beyond recognition, so I sent scouts in each direction until one returned. He spoke of a clear line where the corruption had ended, and gave way to grass, trees, and fresh water.
He spoke of Equestria, or at least the Equestria back then.
Yes, the Equestria back then.
After the Beast was finished with us, he moved north into Equestria to rid the world of the final bastion that could oppose him.
But he failed, and no other species would be cursed with his 'gift', as he so called it, all those years ago.
By the time he had been smote, I had already infiltrated what cities and towns remained. No place was untouched by us, and when new towns were built, we helped build them.
You could never realize how deeply we were imbedded within your own kingdom, how close we were to you.
We could have done anything: spark a rebellion, cause a famine, induce mass panic, the list goes on.
We could have done anything to you and your kingdom, but we didn't.
Just like you did nothing to us when the Beast came.
So, instead, we watched.
We waited.
We observed as the Beast was killed.
Or so I thought.
Tell me, why did you let him live? After all he had done, after all you had witnessed at his hands, why did you let him live? Because you did not receive it as harshly as we did? Because all he seemed to do to your kingdom was turn the land plaid and upturn a few buildings?
This question is the only thing that keeps me up, at night, any longer.
You defeat him and his foul magic, rebuild your kingdom, and life returns to a sense of normality, for your kind.
Meanwhile, my suspicions are proven correct, at last: I had thought that, since we captured nearly every of your kind that entered Thymámai, word had never reached you of our demise.
Perhaps, surprisingly, you were unaware of something that had happened right on your own doorstep.
It can happen, and has happened in history with far greater events. I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, and perhaps even come to you myself so that you may see the extent of the Beast's evil, and convince you to slay him.
But no.
You knew what had happened to us.
You knew that he had razed our land and changed our kind. You did not know what we had become, but you immediately decided that, if he had a hand in it, it could not be trusted.
One learns many things as the Head Librarian to the Royal Archives, or even as your personal adviser.
Ah, but I assume you already knew that, as well. So, why did you do nothing until the wedding? Why wait so long to strike at us? Do you enjoy the thrill of simply knowing and appearing as though you have the power to affect things?
Or perhaps a part of you simply wanted me to succeed. The thrill of being caught ruling ruling with an iron hoof while appearing to be a soft-hearted and generous being?
You disgust me even more than I disgust myself, at times.
Regardless, your inability to act granted me the time I needed to fully infiltrate Canterlot.
Half of your guard replaced, your own niece imprisoned, and thousands more of my kind waiting in the caves below the city.
Yes, I knew about the caverns beneath Canterlot. After years of waiting and watching, how could I not?
You have several valuable trinkets hidden below the earth, safe from those who would use them for evil, but I was more interested in the trinket laying in plain sight; a trinket you had so cleverly hidden that I only realized it near the end.
You didn't imprison him on the moon, as you had done your sister. You didn't trap him beneath the ice, as you once did with Sombra.
You simply put him in the garden, for all to see, unknowing that it was more than just a statue.
How many more of those statues are beings who defied and threatened your rule, I wonder? Perhaps, after you've heard enough from my mouth, I'll join them, and my race will truly die.
How will the history books write us, I wonder? Will you grace our name with the tale of sorrow and revenge, or will you play us out as evil monsters seeking to rule?
I suppose that was a silly question to ask, wasn't it?
When I came into this world, the hive was but a few hungry mouths and frightened minds. Our kind had faced extinction from the chaotic beast, and lived to tell the tale.
Extinction would have been preferable.
My mother had done everything in her power to protect her children, once called Flutter Ponies. Over forty generations of our kind birthed and passed in a beautiful, lush valley, only to be destroyed along with our home; now a barren wasteland with nothing more but death and dust.
What the beast didn't take from us by force, we unwillingly gave through time. Our wings fell apart into sharp and menacing tools of flight, and our skin grew rough and dark, like an ugly insects'.
Holes formed throughout our bodies, and we lost our once beautiful manes; replaced with harsh, scaly ridges. Our horns grew jagged and rough, and our insides painfully twisted themselves around to fit our new, horrid form.
But the loss of our once beautiful bodies was the least of our concerns, we soon learned: Food turned to ash in our mouths; water evaporated on our tongues... We lost half of the rest of our kind, and faced extinction more so than ever.
It was by pure chance, as no gods would have waited so long to grace us, that we discovered what could sate our new hunger. Ponies we once traded with had wondered what had happened to the wonderful valley we had called our home, and what had befallen those who lived there.
What they discovered were monsters who fed off of emotion, love being the sweetest. We captured them and quickly drained them completely of their emotion, leaving nothing but husks with no purpose.
So we added to our ranks.
Some Flutter Pony magic still remained, and that was the Queen's ability to convert a being's body into that of a Flutter Pony's, much like Princess Luna and her bat ponies.
But our magic had corrupted. We could no longer transform a being we deemed worthy into what we once were.
All we created were monsters, like us.
Of course, I only know this all from the stories my mother used to tell me, before she succumbed to her pain and misery, and killed herself.
That was more than three thousand years ago.
Now, the hive is strong. We know what we can do, and how to do it. We know what we must do to survive, and so we live.
But of course you wouldn't want to hear about my plight.
No, the only thing that interests you is how I managed to do it all.
How did I manage to sneak half of my kind into your capital and even impersonate your own niece? I realize, now, that I had done a poor job of actually impersonating her. You can understand my reasons, of course.
I was so close. So close to claiming revenge against him, he who had destroyed my kind. I was so close to making you pay for letting us die. I let my thoughts of victory cloud my mind until everything fell apart.
I must commend you. Despite everything, I realize you can still have a heart, even if only when it suits your needs. That Twilight Sparkle will make a fine heir, one day, as will my own kin.
You act surprised. Did you really think that, after all that has happened to us, we would truly die off so easily? That we would crumble to dust after a single defeat, that we would fade away into darkness? No, we Changelings are a hardy sort. A new queen has already been birthed, and my only regret is that I cannot be there to be a mother to her, as my own had tried to do, for me.
We will return, this I promise. My race will not rest until Discord is dead, whether that be as broken stone beneath our hooves, or as decaying flesh. We will have our revenge, on a god, and a betrayer. I promise you this.
You stand there, accusing me of being nothing more than a monster and a parasite, asking why I do the things that I do; did the things that I did?
I will tell you, Celestia, and I pray to whatever gods that smiled upon your kingdom, but turned their backs on mine, that you will understand.
You ask me why I am the creature that I am?
I will tell you, Celestia:
Love.
