Spinning. The world was spinning. It went so fast as it went around and around like a bit sent twirling on its edge. It was a nightmare.
She was tumbling through the air. The bit was her, and she was the bit; cast out onto her edge and sent whirling through the air over many miles, or so it felt.
Her eyes were useless, and they hurt when she tried to open them. The light had cast here through the air from a mountain over a city. A castle on the mountain, high. The light brought pain, but it felt like utter bliss. How could that be?
Sight slowly returned to reveal that the world was indeed spinning, and moving too fast beneath, and the ground was getting steadily nearer at an alarming pace. Her wings began to work out of instinct, but the fall was still coming. There was no way of telling whether or not she would survive the impact regardless, but her wings did not stop.
She hit the ground and rolled through the dirt, coming to a stop thanks to a tree in her path. Nothing was broken, but everything hurt. She was alive, and now it was time to move. Where to go though? She focused hard...
South. She was already turned in that direction. She buzzed her wings, but could not gain ground. Turning, she could see one of her membranous wings had a tear in it. No doubt it was from hitting the tree. It could be mended, but she needed to get to her Queen before anything could be done. She would go by hoof if she had to.
So through the trees, as her kin came crashing down around her, the changeling marched. She would not stop unless absolutely necessary.
The form of one of her fellow servants tore through the tree tops and landed on a branch with a resounding crunch. She fell to the ground, twitching and gasping for air. Looking towards her, she spoke. "J-Junia..."
Junia kept moving, drawing near and sidestepping Decima.
"You...'ll leave me...?" She said.
She kept going, barely even looking at the crippled servant.
"I'm... sorry I-I can't g-go with you," Decima said as she closed her eyes in resignation. "Hurry... Royal... Guards..."
Junia's pace slowed ever so slightly as she passed the broken changeling, but when she heard those words they quickened to a run. The Royal Guards would be coming to round up stragglers. Should Decima survive, she would surely be subject to a fate worse than death. Or perhaps not.
Regardless, Junia kept a grim hope that she would die of her injuries. She was not about to go back and bring a swift end herself. Not that she could if it came to that.
There was a sudden jolt, and Junia's eyes opened. The comfort of the warm and moist cocoon had changed as she rested. It was time for her to wake after all this time. Six months out of commission from a mistake with the cavern carving, especially with how little love could be syphoned to her given her kind's predicament over the past several years, had left her eager to move. She shifted impatiently, waiting for the sac to be split open.
"Finally, my servant," a commanding voice uttered from beyond the wall of the cocoon. "It's time for you to rejoin us. Just in time." She could make out the face of her queen through the fluids. Then the wall split and the fluids that healed rushed out, her slipping onto her hindquarters with it. She got to her hooves and stood with her head lowered before Queen Chrysalis, staying steady in spite of how wobbly she was.
"I beg your forgiveness..." she began, but she was silenced by firm hoof tapping against the cold gray stones.
"It was a mere cave-in. I'll not forgive you for what you could not prevent. It has presented some minor challenges and great opportunities regarding what is to come, however..."
"We are to strike Canterlot again then, my Queen?" She asked.
"Patience, Junia." Chrysalis lifted Junia's chin up with an inky black hoof. "Yes, we will discuss our imminent campaign, but there is something else we must discuss."
"What would that be?"
Her Queen smiled warmly, yet meticulously. "Come. Trot with me." She began to move to the infirmary's exit, Junia joining alongside her as ordered.
There were still many miles to go. Junia was almost free of the woods and nearing the entrance of the hive. In time it would be changed to a further location, possibly even in the Badlands. The Equestrian soldiers would be hunting for one soon, if they did not already begin. There were already measures in place to make sure they were searching in the wrong locations, mainly the Everfree Forest. While not a terrible location for a hive, it wasn't optimal strategically even with the town of Ponyville right on its borders and Canterlot just a train ride away. Thanks to the superstition surrounding it, the forest would be the first place to be searched for a changeling hive. It would take many days to search regardless, and maybe more if the Everfree's weather was stirred up. Still, it was better to escape cleanly than to cut it close. The hive's location was near a small, unnamed wood bordering the desert where towns like Dodge and Appleloosa were. Just a few days of marching and they would enter the Badlands, a place like the Everfree with weather of its own and all sorts of nasty creatures. Add the fact that it was beyond Equestrian jurisdiction and thus a haven for all sorts of societal scum and it suddenly became ten times worse than the mystical forest.
That, however, was at least a week away. She had to meet with the Queen and assist in the old hive's destruction first with her kin, or at least the ones who didn't fall behind or die on impact. Her mind briefly flickered back to Decima, and she felt something. It started in her chest, but then it spread everywhere and lingered just beneath the carapace, and behind her eyes.
Why was she sad? She had no time to take Decima with her and they both knew that. So why was she still thinking about it?
"Junia! Over here!" She looked to her right and spotted two of her kind peeking out from under some bushes. "It's us, Zip and Chatter!"
Those two were mated, and often worked in low-priority construction, but had proven themselves regardless.They were also rather effective disguised as guards. Pity the burst from Canterlot dispelled that. She approached them.
"Quickly! There are guards around!" Chatter said before she ducked behind her mate. Junia hurried under the bushes, where the pair had dug out a temporary hiding spot. A simply pit of sorts where on was hidden by the shrub yet could see through its branches.
"They've already come this far?" Junia asked in disbelief. "They should be just now beginning a search of the Everfree!"
"It's not the hive they're after," Zip said as he remained vigilant, crawling around and peering out. "We were wearing their armor when we were blown away. There's some sort of enchantment on it that let's them track it, and we didn't figure this fast enough."
"We just got finished digging this little place when you showed up." Chatter fell back on her hindquarters. "I don't know how you didn't see them (or the other way around), but they're everywhere!"
Junia grimaced. While the two weren't at fault for hiding, it was better to hurry lest the hunters cut off their path or surrounded them.
"Is there anyone else back there? Did you see anyone?" Chatter asked her.
The grimace worsened. "Decima."
"I don't see her," Zip said.
"You won't." Junia looked away from the two of them. "Her landing was... bad, to say the least. That was several hours ago, not long after I landed."
Chatter gasped and Zip quickly went to her side and held her. "The Queen will not be pleased with that."
"I couldn't take her with me."
"She will understand," Zip said. "But I'm afraid that won't make things easier. You know about the rumors, right?"
The rumors. She rolled her solid blue eyes in response. Rumors had no ground, after all. It just so happened that the rumors with Decima and Queen Chrysalis had not been disproven. As basic as it could get, there were words and beliefs that their Queen had taken some degree of interest in the servant, but no one was certain as to why. The variations of the stories went from a simple sort of bonding between the two of them to them being engaged in some sort of scandalous activity (by pony perception). The worst she had heard was one where Decima was being groomed by Chrysalis into some sort of new ranking, or perhaps even have her undergo the rite of ascension and make her a Queen. It was preposterous. Decima was just a loyal servant and the Queen recognized her for that. But why just her?
"Sh!" Zip suddenly ducked down with Chatter, and Junia followed. "Listen," he hissed. The sound of hooves and the gentle clanking of metal plates came from the forest, back where she had come. It was perfect, they still had a lead on them.
"Look," she whispered. "If we hurry out and stick to cover we could avoid them."
Chatter shook her head. "It's too risky!"
"Chatter, Zip, you can stay here then. I'll take the risk." She crawled to the southern edge of the hiding place.
"Junia, wait!" Zip called quietly. "They're--"
She had already climbed out and was rushing in between a pair of trees. She could make it. They were behind her, that was all.
With only a few feet cleared, she heard shouting to her left and right and a crackle as a bolt of magic struck the tree she had just passed. They really were everywhere. The detachment of stallions and mares in golden armor was more spread out than it seemed. They had the hiding place effectively surrounded on three sides. They looked at her with fire in their eyes and fury in their hearts - she could feel it.
One aimed their horn at her, firing another jolt of magic into the tree behind her. All she could do was dodge and back away. That was when some of the others brought a net. A large one, carried by a pair of pegasi, came into view. She could run, but they would eventually get that around her, and then it would be all over. They charged as she was stuck trying to figure out what to do. The pit in her chest grew deeper as she saw them pass the bush.
"Junia!" Zip leapt out of the bush and tackled one of the two. There was a very brief scuffle before the guard overpowered him, beating him down as his partner threw the net on him. Chatter leapt out of the bush and shoved them away.
"Run, Junia!" She yelled. Junia stared and wondered for just a moment longer. Would Chatter join her? No, the other changeling just removed the netting covering Zip and lay across him, protective, but also fearfully. The other guards began to converge on them, and Junia made her exit. She galloped through the trees, only one or two bolts of magic being shot in her path as she made her getaway.
Those two had doomed themselves for her.
Her body burned as she pushed herself to go faster and faster. It muddied her thoughts, and nothing seemed perfectly clear anymore. Those two had given up freedom for her. It was a noble sacrifice, obviously. A noble sacrifice in response to her mistake. She would get to the Queen and tell her of their actions. Those two, dead or alive, were her heroes. Heroes among changelings. It was all because she had the urge to leave as soon as she could. It's what had to be done. There was no way she could sit there and wait any longer. If she hadn't, she would have missed the evacuation of the old hive. There were only minutes to spare, of course.
Junia burst from the tree line, her thoughts becoming more and more unclear. The sun was out, but her face felt wet. She could see the entrance to the hive - several mounds of earth with holes they had burrowed through, and she burst through without losing pace. The cavern was lit by crystals, but she couldn't see regardless.
"My Queen!" She called, her voice barely escaping her dry throat. "Forgive me! My wings were damaged and there were guards on the long road! Forgive me for being so late!"
She still couldn't see. Something had gotten in her eyes, and she was furiously rubbing them with her chitin hooves. She could hear someone approach. "Junia! Calm yourself!" The frustrated, yet soothing voice of Queen Chrysalis demanded. "You are not late at all."
"I... I'm not?" Junia's head was starting to spin, and she buckled, falling to the ground. Chrysalis paid her collapse no mind.
"I only just arrived hours ago. The majority of your peers are yet to arrive. You're early, I would say!" She still sounded bitter, but it was out of grief. "We have at least several more before we depart, if not a day."
Junia sighed. Yet, she didn't know how to feel. Relief? Shame? Regardless, her thoughts came back to her.
They are lost because I was foolish.
"Get up," her Queen bid her. "Clear out the nursery and infirmary and prepare it for destruction. We are collapsing the hive as we leave."
Her thoughts were banished with the order. Junia dragged herself up and bowed her head, wobbling to the cavern leading down to the infirmary. There was no time to manage her exhaustion from running on either front; she had orders to fulfill.
Junia followed Queen Chrysalis into the war room. It was a cave like all the rest, with glowing crystals lighting the walls and ceiling. A series of tables, pilfered from a camp of bandits (most of which were now stored below), stood end to end, and at the center of it was a map of Equestria. A piece of charcoal had been used to add the location of the hive in the south eastern Badlands, and from there an arrow snaked a path along the coast to a circled destination.
"So," the Queen said. "How do you feel, Junia?"
"Wound up," she replied. "Almost shaking."
"Shaking?" Chrysalis lay a questioning gaze on her.
"As if I need to do something soon. If I don't then I'm not sure what will happen."
"So you're eager. Good!" If only Junia shared the sentiment. She felt anything but eager.
Chrysalis waved one of her hooves at the map. "As you can see, the plan of attack has already been put into place. Preparations are nearly complete, and the attack is imminent." She gave Junia a determined smile. "This time, I have reason to believe we shall prevail."
Junia looked carefully at the map, running her own hoof along the arrow and pointing to the target. "We're not attacking Canterlot again?" She asked.
"Of course not. That would be a fool's errand. I understand the little Princess of Love is dealing with her own kingdom further north, and perhaps in a few more years we shall strip that from her. As we are now, however, we are not in a position to take such bold actions.
"No, you see my servant, we shall be patient with our strides. We will choke out Equestria and take her piece by piece."
Junia nodded, starring at the target location. "It is an important region for trade. The economic damage to the nation would be quite the punch, but not unsustainable."
"Did you not hear me when I said we were taking her piece by piece?"
Junia backed away immediately. "I was simply making an observation, my Queen."
Chrysalis straightened herself and nodded regally. "Indeed. It is well that you make these observations, for there is something I require from you during this campaign." She took and rolled the map with her magic and replaced it with another she had retrieved under the table. "This particular attack requires some finer touches from within for reasons I wish to refrain from speaking of until we are within range."
"I will handle the more direct line of attack when it is time to take the city," she continued. "And the influence of the Mind will be a bit too... much for this operation."
Junia thought about her words carefully. "You need me and some others in the city before the attack, but you do not wish to mistakenly influence them while they are within the city?"
"A minor fault in the Canterlot incident was the fact the response from all of you was 'attack, attack, attack' even before the shield went down," Chrysalis explained casually. "But that is peripheral. You see, I also desire to perform an experiment of a sort, one that I sadly could not perform on a particular servant due to her loss after Canterlot."
"Decima!" Junia suddenly burst out. "I was aware of some rumors but I put no stock in them."
"Alas, they are half-true. I took an interest in her because she seemed ripe for this opportunity, but the incident has made it clear that you are the better choice. You see, Junia, I wish to allow you some influence over your fellow Changeling.
"I wish to teach you how to control the Mind."
Junia straightened herself in surprise, eyes widening and her mouth opening and shutting. She felt so many questions rise and fall, but none came out. Queen Chrysalis smirked in amusement.
"A bit of a shock, my servant?" She said teasingly.
Junia shook herself out of it. "My Queen, this... honor is unprecedented! No Changeling aside from a Queen controls the Mind, normally."
"As I said, this is an experiment." The slender Changeling stepped around the table and faced Junia directly, almost standing over her. "Consider the position you will have as second to me. You are still my servant, but you will have some of your own you can control. The only downside, I believe, is that the result may... how shall we say this? Disconnect you from my influence. We will have to resort to different methods of communication between the two of us."
"Nothing can keep me from being loyal to you, my Queen." Junia put a hoof on her chest. "Whether or not I am stirred by the Mind."
"Ah, so you accept then?" The Queen held her servants head in her hoof. "Excellent, my servant. My legate. We shall see to this process over the course of our march."
"By the time the Princesses know what has happened," Junia said. "Manehatten will be yours."
"And you will have a hoof in delivering it!" Queen Chrysalis laughed as the two of them left the war room together. Junia felt a nagging sensation in the back of her mind as she trotted at her Queen's side. It was almost as if she had forgotten something. She was sad before, was she not? Why was that? Now, she was filled with pride, determination, and a sense of newly-earned responsibility.
It was mixed with the smallest tinge of fear.
Author's Note
USEFUL INFORMATION (A fact with every chapter!)
Changelings grow up quickly and have two modes of reproduction. While having life spans equivalent to a pony, they reach maturity by ten and can perform the first of these two modes of reproduction which is comparable to a pony's.
Today was an important day. Nearly a week had passed since Junia’s meeting with Queen Chrysalis. The excitement brought on by waiting for the day they began was much to bear. Once or twice Junia came so close to bursting into dance over how thrilling the idea was. She spent a little more time simply observing her fellow Changelings. They hustled as they worked overtime to please their Queen. Preparations were nearing completion a week ago. Now, they were all finished. Today was the day Chrysalis would call for the charge.
This was also the day she would announce her intentions of forming Junia into what she called a “legate”. How the common Changeling would react was uncertain, but one fact was abundantly clear: they would accept her or else face the Queen’s wrath. Not that they would even think of questioning her. They may have concerns, but wouldn’t dare say she was wrong.
Speaking of concerns, they would be too distracted with a different one to focus on Junia’s “promotion”. Four years was such a short time to recover from the Canterlot invasion. Their losses were many, but enough to get by and replace over time, but four years? The local bandit population allowed for some desperate measures to be taken. No one would notice if some bandits went missing around the same time more Changelings suddenly appeared. Granted, many were still left since they needed a source of love to feed on. Once they were lucky and captured most members of a small group of Royal Guards. That pitiful lot would be marched with the rest of the provisions.
Junia sighed in contentment as she left the feeding chamber and the barely aware bandit within. Her form, one of an unfamiliar mare, dropped as she started her trek up the caverns. The tunnels bustled with activity as the others went to the training rooms or to places that required them to work. Up ahead, however, one stood out to her. He was recognizable as one of her fellow servants. Publius, his name was.
“Junia,” he said as he stopped in front of her. “The Queen requests your presence. She wants you for a big announcement.”
“When is the announcement?” She asked out of curiosity.
“Soon, but that’s just a guess.”
She thanked him wordlessly and continued on her way up and through the winding tunnels of the hive, guided by the light of the glowing green crystals that lined it. The gray stone on the walls and ceiling was rough, but the path was smoothed by careful carving and four years worth of Changeling movement. Coming to a fork she took the left path, which was narrower than the road-width main tunnels and less trafficked. As she trotted, the path curved and rose gradually, and holes in the wall to her right came to view. Looking out, she could see the massive cavern that served as the hive’s equivalent to a main hall. Pillars lined the outside of the hall, adorned with many of the glowing crystals, and from the ceiling a great path of them bathed the hall in their green light. The hall, as she could see, was slowly being filled by Changelings. Publius had guessed more than correctly. The address wasn’t just soon, it was happening immediately. She could feel the call to the hall herself, but the verbal order from her Queen overrode the instinct to retreat down the path and take a spot in the stoney bleachers lining the walls of the hall.
The path opened into the decently sized throne room, where Chrysalis waited. She stood by the portal to a balcony protruding into the hall from where she would give her announcements and speeches. A couple of Junia’s peers stood by dutifully.
“Ah! There you are, Junia!” Chrysalis grinned. “Today is the beginning of a most wonderful… ah, I’m getting ahead of myself.”
“Not at all, my Queen. Our victory is all but assured,” Junia said. The pair of servants standing at the side nodded in agreement, and the Queen’s smile grew wider.
The hall was filled within minutes. The few Changelings that couldn’t find a seat hovered in the air around the ceiling crystals. All were looking silently and expectantly at the balcony. Their silence seemed to triple as soon as Queen Chrysalis stepped out and looked upon all of them. All was quiet for a solid minute. Then, she spoke.
“My subjects! It has been four years - four long years - since you were denied your right to a life without struggle. Four years since our claim to Canterlot, and to Equestria, was disrupted by that interloper Twilight Sparkle and that simpering excuse for a Princess, Mi Amore Cadenza! Your kin and your neighbors that are not with us today? Killed! By their underhooved machinations! Those who did not were certainly subjected to an equal if not worse fate than that.
“Four years - once again, it has been four years since we were driven from our home and forced to settle under this wasteland with little to survive. We are lucky the population of Equestrian fugitives was plentiful here for half of our time here, or else we would still be few, or fewer still! Starvation! The Equestrians believe we have been subjected to that, but we are mightier than their feeble selves! We have lived in the wilds and in the shadows since time immemorial, and our kind has always clawed their way out of the filth and bitten at those who had forced us down here.
“And that, my subjects, is what we are going to do. Our preparations have become sufficient for another attack, and the conditions are equally as ripe: your fellows in the field have informed me that Twilight Sparkle, now a so-called ‘Princess of Friendship’, remains busy in Ponyville while Cadenza has inherited the Crystal Empire and is expecting a child far to the north of Equestria! As for the diarchy in Canterlot… we need not worry about those two, for we are not attacking Canterlot.”
Some Changelings down below looked to each other briefly in mild confusion, but quickly returned their attention.
“We shall be marching on Equestria’s famous port city of Manehattan! Our forces are more than a match for the pathetic branch of guards they have planted there, and I am certain we can put its massive population to use as we choke out the rest of the country as we slowly take it all! And after we have the Princesses safely tucked away somewhere, we will travel north to the Crystal Empire to visit my darling Shining Armor and his family!
“Yet to do this, I am forced to make an unprecedented change of sorts.” She turned and beckoned to Junia, who slowly stepped forward, attracting the gaze of hundreds of Changelings.
“This is Junia, one of my direct servants and, as she will become when we arrive there, a commander for some of you!”
The Changelings once again looked at each other in confusion, but it was even worse than before. Junia could feel a burning in her face and a desire to back away and run.
“Some of you remember your lost sister, Decima. I am well aware of the rumors that circulated about she and I. It is time we put those rumors to rest: I was planning on performing an experiment on her that would allow her limited control to the Mind, something only a Queen can normally have control over. As I planned for Canterlot, I was confronted with the idea when I realized it would be advantageous to have more than one individual capable of influencing the Mind, like another Queen, but two Queens cannot control a single Hive. Day and night I researched until it was too late, all the while grooming Decima to become what I deem to be a Legate! Now, she is gone, but I have had more time and I believe I can now commit to this change. Junia here has agreed, in spite of the risks, to become the first of a new form of Changeling - a form between yours and I with the benefits of both.
“I will understand reservations some of you have, but you must understand me in return: you will accept Junia and her new role.” She spoke the promise in an almost menacing tone that dispersed most negative notions to the scenario the observing Changelings have.
“As such, we shall all be departing to Manehattan in the morning and will arrive in at least two weeks by hoof. We will take everything we have with us, from the youngest nymph to the guests we keep in storage below. In three weeks time, Manehattan will be ours!”
The Changelings, Junia included, all cheered, shaking the caverns with their pride. Slowly, excited by the prospect of victory, they began returning to their day-to-day.
Junia bowed to her Queen, the slender Changeling nodding her away with a grin as she went away to her chambers, accompanied by the two servants from before. The soon-to-be Legate excitedly left the throne room and descended rapidly down the tunnel, heading downward. As she came to the final set of windows, she heard voices, and she slowed to a stop. Outside the opening, a pair of Changelings spoke.
“So how about that Legate deal?” One asked.
“I believe her when she says it’s a strategic advantage. We could have used that four years ago. Maybe then Tusk would still be here,” the other answered.
“I know what you mean, but that’s all behind us.”
“Yeah, yeah…” The other did not sound convinced. Junia crawled, pressing herself against the wall as she listened in. This one had doubts, and she needed to know them. They could be a danger.
“Careful with that tone!” The other warned. “You’re lucky it’s just me listening to you.”
“I know, but… come on, you had to have noticed something’s a little off, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Manehattan? There are just about three hundred of us and we’re attacking Manehattan?”
“Come on, we nearly had Canterlot four years ago.”
“There were five hundred of us then, and Manehattan is much bigger than Canterlot. I’m sorry, Mag, there’s just something off about this. Our Queen says we’re more than a match, but I’ve been to Manehattan--”
“Recently?”
“Naw, before Canterlot.”
“You know, that’s also funny: no one’s been there recently, have they?”
“Either that or no one’s talking.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
The two of them hummed in thought, the question nearly made Junia do the same.
“Dunno, but our force isn’t enough to cut it, but our Queen wouldn’t lie so... There’s only one good explanation I’ll accept.”
“What’s that?” Mag asked.
“Well… our Queen may be ‘holding some cards’ I guess the phrase is from Las Pegasus.”
“Are you saying she’s lying?”
“No! Nonono! I just said she’s not lying. I’m saying there’s a part of this plan she hasn’t told us yet for some reason.”
“What do you think it is?”
“No clue, but whatever it is it has to make up the two hundred Changeling difference plus some if we’re to take Manehattan.”
The two of them descended, leaving Junia to ponder the words and implications. She never considered the numbers they had on their side while looking at the attack plan, but now it just seemed odd. What could possibly even the odds?
Either Queen Chrysalis would tell her in time, or she needed to speak with her in private soon.
Author's Note
USEFUL INFORMATION
The "servant" class of Changeling has no benefits over the average Changeling outside of directly serving the Queen as opposed to being restricted to tunneling or hunting duties. Servants fulfill the roles their title implies, but also act as guards and give reports to the Queen directly.
Fun fact about writing this chapter: I was wondering why I had them underground in a hive again like so many fan fic adaptations instead of somewhere like the castle in the comics. Well, they are technically in hiding, even if they are beyond jurisdiction, so it sorta makes sense.
