This is Crystal Gaze, a personal advisor to Queen Chrysalis. For the changeling hive she had assigned me to take notes of a changeling transformation. It brings me great joy to serve my queen and to bring knowledge to the hive. I will start my observation when the queen presents me with a subject.
Great joy! My Queen has presented me with a healthy adult stallion Pegasus. He is of a light blue with a large dark blue mane. On his flank is a odd mark that appears to be a lightning bolt with wings. The guards had much trouble subduing him enough to bring him into the hive. He is currently glued to the wall so I may interrogate him efficiently. My first conversation did not reap much information that would be much use to the hive, but I will relay it for my Queen.
The pegasus groaned," Ohhhh…. my head."
"Yes, you might have a headache from the sedatives. But not to worry it will all be over soon," I said calmly. The subject did not look comforted by my news and started to struggle and yell.
"Where am I!! Why am I here!! What do you want from me!"
His screeching pierced my eardrums and caused my guard to wince. If we had known that this creature could make these noises, I would have personally casted a protection spell around our ears.
“Cease your noises!” I growled. This creature is very annoying. I straightened myself and took a deep breath. “ I am going to ask you some questions about you and your former life, you will answer them calmly and preferably quietly.”
The Pegasus stared, apparently stunned at my politeness. “Now, let us begin. What is your name?”
I raised an eyebrow at his silence, “ If you don't tell me, I could just extract it from your mind instead.”
“EXTRACT!!!”
“Yes and it is a very painful process but it generally gets the data needed.”
I sighed and continued my speech, “You have become part of a grand new era! You will be the first of many new changelings! You should be humbled that Queen Chrysalis has chosen you for this grand ordeal! You will become integrated into the hive and you will serve the Queen herself by flying into the battle for the Equine Kingdom.”
“I don't care! I want to go home and sleep in my cloud bed! I don't want any of this. Sweet Celestia! Let me go!”
“Your will does not matter here. All that matters is the Queen. Take him to my chambers, Thorn Rose. I will observe him there.” I snarled. The subject was getting extremely agitated, and his strength was stretching his bonds to their limit. The guards were getting skittish and were preparing for immediate action. I decided to scrap the interrogation. When i gave the command the guards moved in and begun their well practiced procedure for dealing with unruly beings.
The guards wrapped my subject carefully in a cocoon of green. At my request he was taken conscious to my quarters. When I got there his limbs were effectively trapped but his head was outside. The guards had left me with the job of sealing him permanently.
He glared at me his dark eyes furious. “Why was I chosen?” He said.
“You have traits that will transfer over to your changed body, it made you the most ideal subject. And your position makes it easy to collect love,” I said coolly.
“I would rather be there instead of here!”
The Queen called to me over the hive mind. She wanted to see him.
I spoke in my most formal voice,” The Queen wishes to meet with you before the transformation so, hold your tongue unless you are directly spoken to.”
I paused as the Queen came over the hive mind again. “Bring him”
With the help of several guards we dragged him to the Queen's throne room. She sat regally on her throne glaring down upon us all. As I bowed I saw the Pegasus squirm under the Queen's gaze. A little shiver of joy raced down my spine at his weakness. Finally after a small nod from Queen Chrysalis I rose to my full height. “Your Highness, I give many thanks for allowing me to conduct this observation for the Hive. I will complete my assignment as you have requested.”
The Queen growled her approval of my speech then spoke, “Has the subject proved suitable?”
I responded quickly,” Yes my Queen, he has many traits that will be highly valuable when a change occurs. He has very strong limbs that almost broke his bonds when I was interrogating him. His bones structure is very aerodynamic allowing for smooth flight. His eyes are both functioning and can see very far in terms of Pegasi.”
The Queen raised a hoof to silence me. “ I don't need to know more. But I am curious to see how you will bind him with the hive mind.”
This was my greatest achievement and I was proud to share my discovery with the Queen. “ I have compiled a spell that will connect a mind to a the hive mind. It requires only a small amount of love and is easy to perform.”
The Queen smiled a toothy grin and congratulated me on my success. I could feel my love growing and my wings fluttered.
After speaking with my Queen for some time it was time to retire to my quarters to seal the subject and watch the transformation. When I arrived I dismissed all the guards but two who were to guard my door. The Pegasus was hanging upside down from the ceiling and was writhing in his pod head swaying from side to side.
“There is no point to struggling,”I said,” the cocoon holding you is as strong as cement. Besides, you won't be conscious much longer might as well relax.” He just growled at me and started wiggling in his This only made him struggle more and so I started cocooning him. I added layer by layer until he was completely immobilized. It was almost soothing covering him in goo, slow and repetitious and I added a little love to the mix liquefying it from the center out.
I watched him struggle and thrash in the thick goo, his movements becoming slower and less coordinated as he slowly passed out from suffocation and sedative. It was nice and quiet now and I had plenty of time to write my notes.
Three days later the cocoon started forming tendrils that quickly attached to the Pegasus, burrowing under the skin and making connections to the spinal cord and making changes to the major organs to accommodate a lovesac and more flexible joints. The legs started to have indents in them and the secretion glands for goo were being formed. I watched it all with a simple X-ray spell.
This continued for five days.
After the fifth day all the hair on his body was gone leaving him hairless. He had started to grow a bony crest along his neck and a small horn had started to grow out of his forehead. It was time to connect him with the hive.
The growth of a horn was a sign of growing magic and I need to connect him before it becomes too strong. I brace myself and ignite my horn. Green flames surround the pod and I can see a tendrils of magic connect with his horn. His body jerks and spasms but I can now feel his mind connected to me and the Queen. She can sense it to and is watching through my eyes. The spell is complete and the flames die.
I am his master now.
I have full control over his mind and I insert love and complete obedience to the Queen and loyalty to the hive. He stops struggling and becomes still listening to the commands of the Queen. I now have to feed him small bits of love to continue his growth. Before I do so I check his physical functions asking him mentally to move and twist. He does so and all his limbs are functioning. I ask him to open his eyes and they have started to turn a milky blue. He would be able to see much better now all he could see was a few colors but now he could see the full color spectrum from ultraviolet to heat sensing vision.
His wings having lost all its feathers looks skinny and weak. His wings were much smaller now because of the pods tendrils. They were slowly dissolving his limb-like wings to make room for the structure of changeling wings, but they wouldn't grow in the fluid. Changeling wings were filled with delicate veins and cartilage. They fell off and regrew about every five years if they had constant use. It could differ though and some officers wings wouldn't come off leaving them tattered and painful. The only way to fix it was a special surgery that removed the wing to let another grow. But his wings wouldn't be here for another three weeks.
Too bad. Flying was a lot of fun.
His carapace has started to form. They were the same color as cold iron, grey and thick. They were beautiful, overlapping for maximum protection and movement, yet it exuded feeling of awe and terror. It was breathtaking how smooth it looked, like a river of liquid steel. His was the true armor of a general. Mine was simple but functional. Not truly meant for battle but could get me out of a tight spot. The only thing truly exceptional was my color. I was pure white with blue eyes. I stood out like a diamond in a stone cliff. It never helped in any situation but a beauty contest. The other changelings liked me enough to let me live in peace but I was always followed with disapproving stares.
He would be beautiful.
His chiton had rounded to his body making it more armor like. His horn was now at least six inches and most of his organs were complete. The only thing left was the holes in his legs and his suction hooves. These required a few days more.
And so I waited.
Three days went by and everything was perfect. The bond was strong, chiton covered every inch of what was once soft skin, holes in his legs were burrowed through and their edges were sharp. Then he started to move. His instincts took over and he used his elongated canines to tear apart the cocoon. Soon his muzzle was outside and he took his first breath in his new body. The rest of him followed after slowly sliding out and ending up on the stone floor. I stood watching, waiting to see what he would do. He just lay there breathing deeply and peering around. The Queen was there in a flash and was using the hive mind to control him with her will.
He stood, a little wobbly at first, but straight like a general should. Chrysalis stood overtowering him, her shadow stretching over him like a dark beast. She used him like an extension of herself, forcing him to move and stretch like a puppet. She used no gentleness and compassion like I did. It sometimes made me wonder if she was more Dictator than Queen.
The Queen poked and prodded his body and mind evaluating him for something that I did not know. Then she stopped. She had been silent throughout the inspection but now she spoke to voice her decision.
“He is well made. He will stay.”
That was all the Queen of Changelings said. Then she left.
A sigh of relief left me and I faced the new changeling. It surprised me to see how tired he looked like he was about to collapse. I used my magic to gently lift him onto my bed. My bed was a rock covered in moss but I didn't mind, I knew there were others who has less. As he lay there I started speaking to him seeing if he would talk.
“ How are you feeling?”
It was a redundant question since we were mentally linked but I considered it common courtesy to ask.
He responded, “Like I took a long nap on a bed of concrete.” A smile crossed his lips.
“Sorry. Do you want something for the pain?”
“No”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure” he said again and this time I listened to him.
I left him in my quarters and went down to one of the many dining halls. I was starving. It wasn't like the equine style of dining with their fancy tables, chairs and food. A changeling dining hall was a long corridor with comatose ponies glued to the stone. All of the walls and ceiling were covered with a moving carpet of changelings. You could see which changelings were feeding and who were not. The feeding changelings were the closest to the equine captives, gently inducing them into a peaceful happy state. After all, this was the happy dining hall. Unlike popular belief we could feed on all ranges of emotions but the emotion with the most power was love and fear. There were other halls where all you could hear was the muffled screaming of the equines. The changelings that fed on fear were more monster like with jagged spikes running down their backs and hooves with talons. This is what would happen if you fed on fear you would become more like a feral beast than a changeling. It was terrible but the Queen allowed it. I wonder what would happen if they were all shut down?
