The hunger.
It gnaws at the soul of every Changeling Queen. Often thought by non-changelings to just be the desire for love, or power, in truth the 'hunger' is the constant desire for MORE. More of everything. More love. More Power. More chocolates. More flowers. More terrible puns. MORE.
Because of this, it is rather hard for a changeling queen to truly be able to live with the other races. Compound that with the way changeling queens are raised, taught to never respect their foes, always know that they are superior, always to overact and give incredibly long soliloquies... Needless to say, changeling culture does not exactly work against the Hunger. Villainy, and attempted villainy, run deep in the lifeblood of the changeling race.
One young queen, like any other, was named Symbiote. She was hatched from a hive deep beneath the ruined Crystal Empire. Once a prosperous hive, the inhabitants gorging on the incredible amounts of love constantly radiated by the empire, the hive had since become destitute. Love was a rare commodity, and the changelings were dying out or moving to other hives, abandoning their old home.
Because of this, young Queen Symbiote was forced to live mostly in solitude, with only the most stubborn, traditionalist changelings remaining in the nearly empty hive. She was taught as all other changeling queens were, but only in her most youthful years. Before even reaching adulthood, she was alone. With the love being gone from the hive for so long, all the storage pods had run dry, the old changelings finally moved on, leaving Symbiote with the last few dregs of love, not enough to last any real time, or bring the Queen to any level of strength that would allow her to even follow her hive.
At the same time, miles above, the Crystal Empire was saved by an unusual collection of ponies. The renewed source of love kept Symbiote alive, but as a Queen with no hive, there was no reason for her to stay, especially with such an active city above. The new rulers of the Crystal Empire were quite powerful, and she had heard that they had been the subject of a changeling attack earlier, before the last changelings had left. There was no doubt that she would be in danger if they ever found out about her, so she left, up the long path to the surface, leaving the abandoned, empty hive behind. She had never been out under the sun's harsh light before this moment. It was bright, it was hot... but it wasn't too bad, once she got used to it. While it might be overly warm, and much less pleasant than the soft green glow she was used to, when she was very young... it was still a much better thing than that cold, empty husk of a hive of her adult life.
When she became used to the glaring light of the sun, she could see the city itself. She had been lucky, the entrance to the hive was outside the city limits by quite a distance. If she had waited, though, who knows how much the now active city may have grown. She felt like she had escaped just in time.
Symbiote stood there for a few moments, looking at the city. She could sense the love flowing through the entire city, enough that even at this distance she felt refreshed, and energized. Still, she knew she couldn't stay long, for every moment threatened her plan. You can't take over the world if you're taken down while still weak, after all.
Still, there was work to be done. Symbiote realized she had two main goals to accomplish: The founding of her own hive, and a source of love for her hive to feed off of. Filling herself with as much love as she dared, she began to set off in the direction of the sun.
That only worked for a while, before she realized the sun moved as the day went on. Giving up on her plan of going to visit the sun, she instead decided to head her own direction. She used the time-honored, ancient, useful method of spinning in place and stopping when you felt too dizzy, then walking in the direction you are left facing.
It was weeks, and her reserves were nearly exhausted, when she happened upon a small pony village deep in a forest. The darkness brought about by the trees looming overhead were enough to shade the entire area, so with her basic level of transformation magic, she donned a rather generic disguise, of an earth pony with her mane color, and a black coat. Needless to say, she wasn't exactly... experienced, but at least she didn't have obvious chitin or insectoid wings.
She entered the small pony town, Hollow Shades, and found that it was a rather... friendly place, at least to one such as her. The sun filtered down through the leaves, the light much less harsh and more in tone with the dim glow of a changeling hive. The ponies there didn't seem to mind her unusual coloration, or obvious lack of social skills.
"I demand a domicile to rest in!" She bellowed at a clerk in the Hollow Shades realtor's office, stomping a hoof to express dominance, as was the norm for changeling society. The clerk didn't even bat an eye as she looked down over a list of available homes.
"Hmm, shouldn't be too hard to find you a place, miss...?" She asked, looking up at the peculiar pony.
Symbiote looked around, suddenly at a loss. She had forgotten to give herself a pony name... Well, for the second half, she took the first emotion that popped into her head, thanks to a slight aura of it permeating the town. A somber aura... Somber!. Hmm, perhaps it sounded a bit sinister, but she liked it. Now the first part. Usually something sparkly... that's what she remembered her aged teachers telling her. Ponies liked bright and shiny things, and would often name their foals after them. Her mane was red... but that was too obvious. Aha! Her face broke into a sinister grin. It was the perfect, evil plan. What if she picked a name the opposite of her hair color! How truly devious!
"My name is... Sapphire Somber." She told the clerk. The clerk barely even blinked, even though the queen had been standing there quietly for at least 30 seconds before responding. She shrugged, ponies came to Hollow Shades for all sorts of reasons, it wasn't her business if this mare wanted to use a pseudonym.
The newly minted 'Sapphire Somber' began her life in Hollow Shades. Since she didn't have any bits, the clerk was kind enough to allow her to live in a cheap house and pay the rent as she received an income. So, of course, the proud changeling queen was forced to work like a common mare, acting as an office clerk for the realtor's office. It was especially hard for her, since she wasn't used to holding things with her mouth instead of her magic, and she took every opportunity, when she was alone, to use magic instead.
She kept herself from losing hope with thoughts of the future, and by working on the hive she was building underneath the small house she now owned. It was hard work, having to be done at night, when all the ponies were asleep, so no one saw the green lights issuing from her windows as she carved the rock beneath the house slowly.
It was a full month before the basic chamber was carved out. She had a few issues with breaking into a pony's plumbing system, but she was able to repair the damage before it was noticed above. Because of this, however, her hive had taken an unusual shape, burrowing down deeper than a traditional entrance chamber should, and with a much more erratic, jagged shape. Still, she was proud of it.
It was only at this moment she realized something.
"Where do I actually get changeling drones?" She asked herself, as she was writing an eviction notice, in the middle of the day, at work. The glow on the quill faded as she set it down, realizing she had no idea about anything regarding actually running a hive!
Author's Note
So here's my first story starring an OC. Hope you all will enjoy her adventures as she tries to figure things out!
This story's been tumbling around my head for a couple years now, so here's hoping I manage to actually get it out in text form without completely messing up.
