Octavia Melody lay in bed with a big smile upon her face, gazing at her new wife Vinyl Scratch, who had her glasses off to reveal her adorable red eyes, eyes that she was shy about revealing to anypony but her. Everything is absolutely perfect right now. I have a glittering career that earns me tens of thousands of bits a year, and a gorgeous wife who truly loves me for who I am, and is famous as well for her DJ skills and makes almost as many bits a year as I do. Things could not be better then this. Vinyl smiled back and Octavia felt soft warm kisses on her forehead, her cheeks, her lips....and neck...and a stab of pain. "Ouch! Vinyl, I don't like rough stuff in bed..." When she looked at Vinyl, she saw to her horror that Vinyl now had long fangs, but before she could scream for help she felt weak and dizzy and passed out.
The changeling that had taken Vinyl's place sent a silent call through the Hivemind to it's immediate superior. "Phase Two of Operation Wedding Bound is a success. I request that an extraordinary rendition team
should be sent in as soon as possible and a couple of temporary transfers to take Octavia and Vinyl's place until the permanent transfers are fully trained and ready." Soon enough, there was a fluttering of feathery wings as what appeared to be four pegasui ponies showed up pulling what appeared to be a Canterlot sky-taxi. In a far away place like Appaloosa where traveling by train took twenty-four hours to reach Canterlot, sky taxis were both common and popular. The unconscious body of Vinyl Scratch was taken from the cupboard where she had been stashed just a short time ago and along with Octavia was placed in the taxi, and two already transformed changelings took their places in the hotel room.
Then the taxi set off north but then swung west and south as soon as they were out of the highly populated area and headed over Buffalo tribal territory and then into the mountains and twisted canyons of the Badlands where even the Buffalos rarely went and even more rarely returned. This was changeling country and owned by one Changeling clan in particular, Clan Chrysalis. Other changelings could pass through the area without trouble or buy and trade in the markets, but they were not permitted to live there. Non-changelings tended to vanish and either be secretly replaced or were simply never seen again. Those pulling the taxi smiled as their home loomed up in front of them, a mighty castle of twisted towers and tall walls, all of fine green marble. Not for them skulking in the sewers and dark caves where one changeling clan made their home. Clan Chrysalis lived in style. Like anywhere else, the rich changelings lived much better then the rest but every changeling here had somewhere to live. Queen Chrysalis genuinely cared about her changelings.
After several hours in the air the changelings were relieved to land and transform. Pulling a heavy cart was hard work and they were looking forward to feasting on a tasty meal of love. Octavia and Vinyl were taken to a secure but opulent suite of rooms where they could both regain consciousness safely and be prepared to meet Her Majesty looking their best. Queen Chrysalis did not want to see them if they were dishevelled and looking like beggars after all.
*****
Octavia opened her eyes and found herself strapped firmly in a chair. Then a black-shelled chitinous pony sized changeling with long green wings that would not look out of place on a giant dragonfly came in front of her, something she had only seen once before in a book of monsters that were said to only exist in the world of fantasy. She let out a scream and the thing spoke to her in her own speech, in perfect Equestrian. "Oh, do shut up! Nopony is coming to your rescue. If you stop screaming and struggling I'll let you out of this chair in a short time, I promise. My name is Look Good, by the way."
"You're a real changeling...you do exist after all! Why have you tied me up? Is this the end for me? Am I your meal? Are you going to eat me or drain out all my love and leave me as a husk? And what have you done with my wife?"
"We don't eat sapient ponies and you are far too important to drain dry. You are a VIP, a very important pony. I'm going to give you a comb and brush your mane and lightly paint that cutie mark of yours so it glitters. Then after cleaning your hooves you will be presented to our Queen. Your wife is in another room being given a makeover as well." The changeling lightly painted Octavia's cutie mark with a purple make up that dried quickly and glittered. Then she brushed and combed Octavia's mane and bound body and gently cleaned her hooves of any dust and dirt, talking as she did so. "You should know where you are. You are in a secure suite within Castle Chrysalis, itself deep within the Badlands, the territory of Clan Chrysalis."
"So I'm not in some cavernous Hive then that looks like some huge wasps nest from the outside?"
"Ugh no! The Clan Chrysalis is a sophisticated clan that likes to live in comfort and style, like most changeling clans. We live in a huge castle that Rarity herself would be proud of. There is an exception; the central residence of the Clan Glycosidase is a Hive like you describe. Most of the other changelings from other clans cannot understand why Clan Glycosidase can possibly put up with living in their own filth on a regular basis. Our clan is far above such a thing. Every changeling clan has it's quirks but they are amongst the strangest. If you promise not to escape I will set you free from this chair. I can see why you might try to escape, but if you overpowered me, you would have to get out of this suite, out of the castle and through many miles of hot desert with just one river in it whilst being hunted from the air."
Reluctantly, Octavia nodded. "I promise not to escape." At least until I have a good chance of escaping successfully she thought privately to herself. Look Good untied her and she looked in a mirror. Her mane had been given pretty curls, her cutie mark glittered and she looked ready to go on stage at a major concert and preform.
"You will be reunited with your wife now and an escort of guards will take you to see our Queen."
Vinyl was ushered in looking as pretty as she had done on their wedding day and the two ponies embraced and kissed. "Octy, I am so happy to be with you again."
Soon enough they were escorted to the Royal Quarters where Queen Chrysalis waited and got their first ever sight of a Changeling Queen in all her glory. Queen Chrysalis's carapace shone and gleamed and her dragonfly wings were impressive. She wore no crown or coronet as such-the crown of a Changeling Queen was organic chitin and sprouted from her own body, containing within it the nerves that connected her mind to the Hivemind and let her broadcast directly to her entire clan. Her green tail flicked from side to side.
"Welcome, Lady Octavia and Lady Vinyl. You are highly skilled musical ponies and I have my own plans for you two."
"My family would be willing to pay a heavy ransom for me worth many thousands of bits if they knew it was the real me they would get back. What do you want with us?" Octavia asked. Vinyl stayed silent. Even on normal occasions she rarely said very much to most ponies.
"I don't need a ransom. You two will stay here and preform your music for my Hive and foreign changeling ambassadors. If you do what you are told, you will be treated very well indeed. If not, you might be cocooned, made to preform hard labour, even cooked and eaten if need be. We eat meat very rarely, but it happens. And we need you to train two changelings who have been hoof-picked as your successors to take your place in the pony world."
Octavia glared at the Queen. "We are not your slaves. And asking us to train our replacements is an outrage." Vinyl nodded emphatically.
"Whoever said anything about slaves? As long as you co-operate, you will be paid in the changeling currency which is just as good for goods or services here as the Equestrian bit. Once you have done a concert or two to prove your worth to Clan Chrysalis you will be paid as much as you used to be in pony society. You will be well fed with pony food since you cannot feast on love and eating our crops might well make you sick. In return, you must co-operate. Our society is largely like yours. We are not ignorant yokels or for the most part seasoned killers. Vinyl, you will be provided with what you need to make music."
"Is our music so good that you would go to all this trouble to kidnap us on our honeymoon?"
"I prefer the term extraordinary rendition.My clan's love supplies were running out, and love is vital for the health and the magic of a changeling. The infiltrators were just not bringing in enough, and I considered invading Canterlot, but it was too risky and my generals talked me out of it." She frowned as she remembered the scene.
*****
Queen Chrysalis leaned over her map and scowled at her generals. "Equestria is weak! All we have to do is kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down!"
They shook their heads. "If we attack Equestria all we will be doing is waking a sleeping giant who will one day crush us. Also, a direct attack would go against the Changeling Way and none of the other Queens will raise their clans for us. Instead once we had been defeated they would quietly absorb our territory."
*****
She continued with her tail."So instead of war I had a truly wonderful idea. My infiltrators told me of famous ponies such as you, Vinyl, Sapphire Shores and the Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie was down on her luck when we found her after an Ursa Minor invaded Ponyville and smashed up her caravan. She was very happy to come to a source of new fans and willingly trained her replacement. Sapphire Shores had to be renditioned. The love of the fans for their idols means that once I replace the idols with changelings, that love can be captured and delivered to my Clan, making a war unnecessary. Also, my changelings have new idols to entertain them. Guards, take them to their quarters. Tomorrow we will have a concert to entertain the Clan."
Feeding the Clan
Neither Octavia or Vinyl put up any resistance as they were taken to their quarters. They marvelled at how comfortable they were, more like the bridal suite of a luxury hotel then a prison cell. Apart from the fact that they were locked in and the bars on the windows, it was easy to imagine that they were still free. "Vinyl...how do I know you really are you and not some changeling replacement here to spy on me and feed off my love? Come and whisper in my ear one of your embarrassing moments that only you and I know about." When Vinyl did so Octavia hugged her, kissing her all over her face. "It is you, it really is you. For now at least, we have to do whatever they tell us. Even, although I know you hate it as much as I do, training our replacements."
Vinyl nodded her head and spoke, something she very rarely did. Vinyl was a mare of few words and chose them carefully when she did speak. "You're right."
"For now, we just behave and maybe in time we can both escape from here. It might not be so bad anyway. Instead of just cocooning us to extract our love, or making us do hard labour, they want us to do our normal jobs and they are willing to pay us well. And their *Hive* is more like Canterlot Castle then some gigantic wasps nest.
If we play our cards right, we might even genuinely enjoy living here. I still wish the Queen had found a way to ask us nicely rather then kidnapping us on our honeymoon." The sun was starting to set so Octavia looked around for a light and soon found it. When she took the lid off a pot she found a brightly glowing green ball of green webbing inside, bright enough to light up the whole room. "Ugh. So that's what changelings use for light. Still, it must save them a lot of money on electricity bills."
"Octavia, whatever happens, I will always love you." Octavia answered her wife with a nice big kiss on the lips, and then kissed her forehead, her face, her neck, and kissed lower. Vinyl lay on their new bed and spread her legs. Octavia licked at each of Vinyl's breasts, taking time and trouble to bring sexual pleasure to her wife, and then began licking Vinyl's clit, causing Vinyl to nicker with pleasure. Unknown to the two mares, the love they had for each other was leaking outside the room, and a nearby changeling outside opened the valves of his emotion gathering sacs and fed himself on sweet, sweet love that as a non-infiltrator he had not tasted since Hearth's Warming Eve. Soon enough more changelings arrived on the scene and soon the whole corridor was filled with greedy changelings feasting themselves on raw pony love instead of doing their jobs. Floors were unswept, doors that should be guarded were left unsecured, and even some shops were being left untended, tempting other changelings to steal.
Contrary to what most ponies thought about Changeling Hives, there were not anywhere near the large numbers
of pony cocoons hanging from the ceilings that there were thought to be. Ponies that were cocooned and not quickly replaced by a changeling would in most cases, sooner or later be reported as missing. Whilst ponies could and did go missing for a multitude of reasons, if too many with jobs and families vanished at the same time the Royal Guard would start a major investigation. Homeless ponies were much easier to abduct, but few of them had much love left in them because of the general harshness of their lives.
When it came to replacing them long term with a changeling, the changeling would need to find out as much as possible about what the pony was like, as capturing the pony, even if it were a Changeling Queen who did it, would not give any access to the pony memories. Generally ponies were only cocooned in three circumstances; as emergency self defence, to replace a greatly rich or powerful pony whose replacement would greatly benefit the changeling Clan, or to deal with some pony who came across a changeling Hive and recognised it as one. Whilst most Hives had a few cocooned ponies and other cocooned sentient creatures around, they were generally used only either to feed the changeling grubs and unhatched eggs, or as a personal food source for the Changeling Queen and her closest councillors.
Free love was only granted as a rule twice a year to a Changeling Clan; on the birthday of it's ruling Queen, and on either Hearth's Warming Eve or New Year's Eve, when the whole clan traditionally feasted both on meat and on many kinds of love. At all other times, for a large amount of free love to suddenly appear within the clan's territory would be as if a pony started throwing food and money randomly around for everypony to have. As the news spread from changeling to changeling that a wave of free love was seeping out and flooding a corridor, the Queen herself got to hear of it and sent out a Hivemind message. "All you changelings who are gorging yourself; get back to your jobs now or there will be punishments for all of you. Don't make me have to come over there myself." Reluctantly, their stomachs and hive stomachs full, the changelings slunk back to their jobs. None wanted to face the wrath of their Queen.
The next day Octavia and Vinyl woke up in each other's arms. "Well, Vinyl, soon we will be playing music for Clan Chrysalis. I hope they like it and don't do anything horrible to us." A changeling knocked on the door, and presented two books of music,a cello, a violin and a double base to Octavia. "There is no point in expecting you to play wonderful music for us without your tools. Vinyl, you will get yours later on, by tomorrow at the latest. You will be playing at a royal occasion for the Five Clans of Equestria so don't mess up or the Queen will be furious and might take it out on Vinyl Scratch." Vinyl glared at him and he left the room without locking it. Octavia yawned and stretched and got up, and began looking for songs to play that the Changelings would enjoy.
"They would see Hive of Darkness as the greatest of insults. The Symphony of Moon and Sun is said to bring Princess Luna to it's source, but if she dislikes the way it is played, she ruins the career of the one who plays it. I would frankly rather not be rescued then lose my musical career, thank you very much. I don't think they would want the Equestrian National Anthem to be played, or The Devil's Away With The Changeling. And it is totally the wrong time of year to play Santa Hooves Is Coming To Town. "
Vinyl clopped her hooves together four times and Octavia gave her a kiss just below her horn.
"Vinyl, you are a genius! The Four Seasons. How can any changeling possibly be offended by that? Hopefully they will love it." She picked up the violin and began tuning it up.
Soon enough Queen Chrysalis herself turned up at their quarters. "You will be playing a concert not just to me and my Clan, but to four other Changeling Queens and their royal entourages , so please do not let me down or I'll have you digging tunnels underground for a while, or even cleaning out the latrines if I'm really annoyed."
"Do not worry, your Majesty, I will do my best."
That evening after plenty of practise Octavia was ushered to the stage in the Great Hall. The lights were covered over except for a single green spotlight and she saw what seemed like twinkling stars all around her. In fact they were the eyes of the Changelings and it seemed that the whole of Clan Chrysalis was present.
She started with the tunes of spring, of growing plants, of Winter Wrap Up when everypony cooperated to wake hibernating animals, clear away the snow and fly it up to Cloudsdale to be melted down for rain, and pull the clouds away.
Then she played a tune of summer, of pleasant hot sun and scheduled rain so nothing got too hot or too dry, of ice creams and picnics and swimming in the lakes and rivers of Equestria.
Next her tune told of the Equestrian autumn and the Running Of The Leaves, and how it gradually grew colder and windier. Birds started heading south and those animals who hibernated went to sleep.
Last of all she played the tunes of winter. Of frozen rivers and lakes and deep snow and the chill in the air. Of ponies buying presents and Hearth's Warming trees and the night-time visit by Santa Hooves on Heath's Warming Eve. And then the tune became happy-a tune of gift giving and of feasting and plays in the theatre and general merriment. Even Foalsom Prison had special food on that day. Finally she ended the performance with the Equestrian New Year Tune, Old Long Past. As the last notes died away and she bowed the Great Hall was filled with the clopping of changeling hooves and cheering. She bowed to them and the lights came on, bathing the Hall in bright green light.
Queen Chrysalis came forward and said "Your playing is truly amazing, I grant you fifteen thousand Hive Talents, a talent being a silver coin being worth as much as an Equestrian bit. And you will find plenty to buy here, from rare silks and satins to all manner of books and other enjoyable things and Equestrian foods. Come along and meet the other Queens, they will be happy to meet you. Perhaps they will want you to go on tour, entertaining their Changelings too. You really do have a good future here, that's for sure. Her Royal Highnesses Cassandra, Cassiopeia, Stridula and Nabidae would love to meet you. Be sure to show them the same respect that you would for Princess Celestia. "
They bowed low to the Queens, each the same size as an alicorn like Queen Chrysalis but a different colour; red, purple, dark green and golden respectively.
"Octavia, your music was delightful. I have a gift for you...a fiddle made of gold. There is an old changeling tale about it that it was won from a devil from Tartarus in a fiddling contest, but I don't believe the myth, as no bad luck has come to those who play it," Queen Stridula said. "You will most likely never be allowed to leave the Changeling lands, but you will be deeply famous within them. If Queen Chrysalis ever tires of having you around, I would want you."
Vinyl was clearly feeling rather jealous at all the attention being lavished on her lover whilst she got none at all. She wondered when it would be her turn to shine and if her type of music would be as appreciated