It felt great to be out and walking around again. While I wasn’t sure how fresh the air was, it did feel pretty good. I was finally finished with my time in the tank and Flit was showing me around the changelings’ hive. It still had the creep factor of looking like the hive from Aliens but, overall, it was starting to feel somewhat homey. And now this semi-useless tour.

“Flit, I get that you want me to know how to get around and what areas to avoid but I’m connected to, like, everybody here,” I said. “Literally every time I look down a hall I’m filled with knowledge of this place. What’s the point?”

“It’s to give the changelings a chance to see you with their own eyes,” Flit responded with a smile.

I came to a sudden realization. “You just want to show off your work, don’t you?”

Flit grinned mischievously. “Is it so wrong that I want to prove to all those jerk XV’s that I successfully created our species’ last hope while their plans have stagnated or fallen through? I don’t think so.” She looked at me with mock innocence. “Do you?”

I grinned. “I guess not. By the way this is the second time you’ve used that term. What does XV-” The information came to me like remembering a forgotten memory. “XV changelings are elite changelings that have high stats in every department, most notably intelligence and magic.” I shook my head. “I’m never going to get used to that.”

Flit was eyeing me curiously. “I can feel when you pull information from the link. The way you do it is so strange.”

“What do you mean?”

She trotted ahead of me and I picked up my pace to match her. “Well, for one thing we’re always actively giving and taking information from the link. It's something we’re always conscious of but it doesn’t distract from anything we’re trying to do. With you, you subconsciously keep your connection to the link running in the background of your mind. When you actively try to use it, it takes all of your focus and kind of incapacitates you.” She rubbed her chin with a hoof. “I didn’t even consider that possibility....”

We walked in silence together. Flit was deep in thought and I was taking in the sights. We passed quite a few changelings as we walked. Some hovered around me before moving on. Others were a bit bolder and came up to me and poked me. I lightly swatted at them and they just laughed. There was one that collapsed after trying to get close but some other changelings came to collect him. That was another interesting thing; now I could tell their genders. If I got a good look at them, I could also tell their drone id.

“We’re here!” Flit stopped in front of a large door. “Before we go in, don’t worry. Just be yourself and you’ll do great.”

“Wait, what?”

Flit walked into the room and I followed close behind. Inside was a circular room with elevated seats with all kinds and colors of changelings. Seated above them were the changeling queens.

“Now that they have arrived, let’s begin,” Diptera said.

‘What the hell is going on,’ I thought to Flit.

“This council is gathered here to decide how we will proceed with you, and all operations relating to you, Project Regicide,” one of the changelings stood up and said. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Godslayer.”

“Project Regicide?” I scoffed. “That’s a bit on the nose don’t you…..Did you say Godslayer?” I turned to Flit. “What?”

“This creature seems rather helpless and slow,” another changeling said. “Is it wise to put our survival in its… hands?”

“I agree,” a changeling covered in scars and missing an eye flew out of his chair and stood in front of me. “What experience do you have in stealth operations and assassinations? Can you wage a war in the shadows?”

I scratched my head. “Well… I have played Dishonored and Splinter Cell,” I offered. I felt an itch in my mind as the changeling probed my thoughts.

“Children’s games!” he howled. “This is a civilian! He has no experience of any kind!”

The changelings chittered amongst themselves. “Irid, calm yourself,” the first changeling demanded. “I would advise all of you remember that this civilian decimated our trained guards with little instruction and just the resources within his own body.”

“Thanks,” I muttered. I probed the link for his identity. Drone ID Q40XCS1SA, Uros. I will never get how they come up with nicknames.

Uros flashed me a smile and continued. “I would also like you all to remember that the creature standing before was brought here at great personal cost to our beloved queens and mothers.” The room fell silent. “Questioning his capability and potential is the same as questioning the decision of four queens.” The silence grew tense. “Now, please, present your project, Dr. Flit.”

Flit stepped forward confidently. “This,” she said pointing at me, “is the culmination of the greatest undertaking in the history of our world. A creature capable of killing an alicorn. With training from our best infiltrator,” she pointed to the scarred changeling from earlier, “he will be able to sneak into Ponyville and assassinate the Princess of Friendship with ease.”

“On what basis are you making these claims,” a voice from the crowd asked.

“He can’t be detected by the changeling detectors,” Flit said smugly. “Or by any kind of magical detection for that matter. And spells of all kind don’t work on him; he absorbs any and all magic. I’m sure you can feel that for yourself. Not to mention that being on this world has augmented his strength. At this point he could go toe to hoof with an average earth pony. With training he could easily match a lesser dragon.”

Say what now? Apparently dragons are a thing.

“But the best feature is his intelligence and adaptability,” Flit continued. “When you get a chance, you should check the amazing technological advances his species made. We’re lucky that he knows how even a fraction of them function. We now have an edge we’ve never had before, period.”

The scarred changeling chuckled. “A lesser dragon, huh? Alright then!” He let out a hearty laugh. “I’ll take your bet. I’ll turn this thing into the greatest infiltrator the hives have ever seen!”

“Um, before that can we talk about that godslayer thing,” I asked meekly.

“Alicorns are revered by the ponies as gods,” Flit quickly explained. “They posses the attributes of all three types of pony but amplified. They even have more raw magic power than a queen.”

“Fantastic,” I muttered.

“Then it is decided,” Uros said. “Dr Flit will continue to monitor the project while Infiltrator Irid trains him. With the approval of the queens, this meeting is adjourned.”

Flashes of light filled the room as the changelings teleported out. Flit, Irid, and I were left alone in the room. Flit collapsed on the floor and let out a huge breath.

“Talking in front of the whole hive is so nerve wracking,” she sighed.

“There couldn’t have been more than 30 changelings in this room,” I said, confused. “I thought there were a few thousand of you guys.”

Flit rolled onto her back and splayed out. “All the changelings in the hive were watching through the link. It was a super important decision regarding the fate of our species, after all.”

“And now that I have the queens’ approval and council support,” Irid added, “I can put every resource we have into you without angering any of the council members. In fact, they’ll be forced to give us thanything we ask for.”

A sudden realization hit me. “You were on Flit’s side the whole time!”

“Of course,” Irid said. “She’s the smartest changeling in the hive. If she thinks something is going to work, you go with it, no questions asked.”

“How the hell did that work?” I asked incredulously.

Irid grinned. “You have much to learn. Let’s get started.”

***

“What do you mean he can’t use spells?”

We stood in front of the obstacle course that the infiltrators use to train. I was on the ground breathing heavily after going through poorly.

“Well he can, but they have to be very simple in nature,” Flit explained.

“But a changeling that can’t…. change is,” Irid buried his face in his hoof. “And a silencing spell for his heavy footsteps is also too advanced, right?”

“Really anything other than basic magic channeling and introductory spells, magic really isn’t an option,” Flit said.

“Um guys,” I waved my hand in front of their faces. “Sitting right here.”

“Right…” Irid rubbed his chin. “What about runes?”

“He would just drain the magic from them like everything else,” Flit argued.

“Maybe he would,” Irid said. “If someone else was supplying the power. But if he can channel magic into them himself, would he still drain them?”

“I don’t know,” excitement grew in Flit’s eyes. They glowed with an unnatural hunger. “We should find out.” Within seconds, the three of us were surrounded by a mountain of books. Flit slumped to the ground, exhausted. “We really need to work on your magic drain,” her breathing was labored. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to move away from you for a little bit.” I reached down to help her up but she shooed my hand away. “I don’t mean to exaggerate but if you touch me right now, it might literally kill me.”

Flit shambled to the far side of the room and fell to the ground.

“Don’t worry,” Irid assured me. “She’ll be fine. It’s just a bit of magic exhaustion. But what we have here now is an opportunity to teach you how to use runes.”

“Fantastic,” I mumbled. “What are runes?”

“Think of them as a ready made spell,” Irid explained. “Instead of making spell in your mind, you build the spell with the runes. And then put some magic through it. It’s so simple any idiot can do it.” He looked at me quietly for a moment. “No offense.”

I rolled my eyes. “So I’ll be able to do all the same spells with runes?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Irid said. “Runes spells are limited in their effects. They’re static and require a deep understanding to even create simple spells. Not even the ponies have figured out how to make them work very well.”

“Then why bother with them at all,” I asked.

“Because there is a silence rune,” he explained. “And there is a possibility, no matter how small, that you may be able to make sense of them.” He handed me a paper with a symbol written on it. “This rune is for heat. Try making it work.”

I took the paper and looked at it. I tried calling on the magic inside my body and forcing out through my hands. The symbol on the paper glowed and it suddenly caught fire. I threw page away and the symbol stopped glowing. However, the paper continued to burn until it was ash.

Irid looked at me with a wide eyed stare. “I’m gonna be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t think that would work. But this is good news! Now all we need is a silence rune and we’ll be in business.”

“So what, are we looking through all these books for one symbol?” I asked.

“No, you’re going to look through all these books for one symbol,” he replied. “I’m going to go work on your armor. Apparently, there’s a problem. Back in a flash.” The room was bathed in green light and Irid was gone.

Sighing, I picked up a book and started reading. After going through a few books, I was getting really into these runes. I understood what made them so complex. Each rune was like a symbol and when put together they funneled magic like a circuit. I was finding patterns easier than I ever had before and I was furiously reading and taking notes in the books. Every so often I heard a sort of high pitched noise but it was easy to ignore. I was putting together a new rune formula, one that would cancel out sound, when the noise got a little louder. I kept ignoring it and finished the silence spell. Feeling cocky, I decided to push my understanding and create a spell to bend light around my body: an active camouflage. The noise caught my attention again but as I was pushing it away, I noticed it almost sounded like someone was trying to say something. Curious, I payed it more attention. It started low and got louder and louder. It was... a scream! Someone was screaming at me!

‘Stop, Sam!’

‘You have to stop this!’

‘Sam, listen to me! You have to stop this now!’

‘You’re hurting them!’

Chrysalis’s voice screeched in my head. Startled I pulled my focus away from the books and looked around the room. All of the queens were standing over me with concern on their faces. I tried to stand but my legs were wobbly and I fell down.

“What-what happened,” my voice was unexpectedly hoarse.

“See to the others,” Diptera ordered. Chrysalis and Seta teleported away. “What do you remember?”

“I was looking for a silence rune and everything just fell into place,” I rubbed my temples. “So I started creating my own formulas. I think I have them somewhere.” I looked around. I was surrounded by ripped out pages with notes scribbled across them. Diptera picked some up in her magic.

“In all the history of this world I don’t think anyone has ever made something this advanced,” she charged up one of the pages and the room was dead silent. Nothing made any sound; breathing, rustling paper, even ambient sounds were gone. She let the magic fade and kept looking through them. “Although, no one has ever had the benefit of thousands of minds all working towards the same goal.”

“What,” I asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Feel the link,” Diptera commanded.

I opened my connection and immediately recoiled. A cacophony of pain and confusion washed over me. “What? What happened?”

“You became engrossed in learning,” Diptera explained. “Your mind is singular in nature. This is partly our mistake. When you focused, you treated every mind in the link as your own. Your will dominated the wills of the drones. You forced them to submit to your will and contribute their mental power to your own. It seems that giving you a queen’s link might have been a mistake.” She picked a single paper and her jaw dropped. “Or it might have been the best decision Flit ever made.” She pushed the paper to my face. “What is this?”

I took the sheet from her grasp and studied it. “Oh this? It’s a concept that briefly crossed my mind. It’s a formula for a mental link with a non-changeling without the brain surgery. But what about all the other changelings?”

“They’ve been through Tartarus,” Diptera took the page back and studied it some more. “Having your mind forcefully taken is not a pleasant experience. But the trauma will heal. We are a hive and we have each other to lean on. This spell is so complex. How were you able to create it with runes?”

“It’s just a concept,” I said. “And runes are just circuits. I just put the right components in.” I felt the familiar mental itch as Diptera examined my mind.

“Even with direct access, I still can’t even begin to comprehend what you’ve done,” she whispered. She shook her head to clear her mind. “For now, I will have to ask you to refrain from doing anything to mentally strenuous. We are not entirely sure the hive can take this kind of strain a second time. Please, rest for now.”

I again got up. My legs shook a bit but I was able to stay standing. I slowly lurched forward making my way towards the door.

“Wait,” Diptera called out to me. She looked uncertain about whatever she was going to do next. “Um… If you want, you can lean on me.”

“Won’t that kill you or something,” I asked, though truthfully I barely made it to the door.

“I am a changeling queen,” she responded, pushing herself next to my body. “Something like this,” her breathing became heavy, “Is nothing. Now, let’s go.”

Author's Note

Sup guys. I didn't take a year this time! I feel like I deserve a cookie or something. Anyway, please enjoy