The Changes We All Must Make

Princess Cadance was furious that she was kept in the dark about this. A changeling was captured and held in containment for the past four days! As much as she loved her husband and Auntie Celestia, they should have told her.

Apparently this changeling had asked to speak with her personally, one-on-one. According to Shiny this was the first time he's spokemon in the whole time he's been here. In that time he made her husband slip and managed to get an audience with her.

Lighting up her horn with magic moving the locks and bars from the door.

*Click* *Clank*

The door opened and she walked inside closing the door behind her while her eyes remained locked on the red eyed changeling in front of her. Spying an open chair she stood near it watching him cautiously her wings shifting with discomfort. The room was dark and it made her slightly uneasy by how his eyes seemed to glow the color of scarlet looking like gazing into twin pools of blood.

"Welcome to my prison cell Princess," Zenith paused a moment smiling," it is rather humbling to say that out loud. I do apologize for the lack of hospitality and refreshment as I'm rather tied up at the moment."

"Oh spare me the facade changeling." Cadance responded her words filled with venom. "I'm only doing this because my Aunt told me that she'd owe me a favor. Now lets cut through the needless chatter and get down to business shall we? What is it that you want?"

Zenith was actually surprised this was not at all how he thought it would start. He figured with her history she'd be a bit more timid when dealing with him but he could still work with his situation. Even with all the anger, he knew it would take careful steps. One small step at a time.

"Oh," Zenith said sounding rather disappointed, which in truth he was. "I guess we could skip the pleasant part of the conversations and introductions with a pony I find fascinating. Even if you aren't being quite as understanding as I'd hoped..."

Cadance's immediate thoughts reeled, wait did the changeling just say she was fascinating? That definitely wasn't at all what she thought he'd say.

"Fascinating?" Cadance echoed in slight confusion. "What pray tell do you find so fascinating about me?"

Zenith smirked, he caught her interest and her anger was replaced with curiosity. Again he could work with this. He was a emotional expert after all.

"W-Well, you are the only alicorn in known history to get married." He said, and continued after a slight pause. "Even more than that, your power managed to topple the Queen of my race. While true it was both you and your husband but really, how much did that stallion actually do? According to my research and studies into the subject of emotion and love in general it was your love that conquered my Queen."

Cadance was surprised to say the least. This changeling believes that it was only her love that beat Queen Chrysalis? It just couldn't be true, could it?

"I take it that you have proof of your claim?" Cadance asked now genuinely interested in what the changeling was saying.

"Well I could explain it to you, if you'd like... After all my research is that of emotion and it's effects."

"So you're a scientist?"

"Of sorts, yes."

"And just how long did you study emotion?"

"The study and research of emotion is ever evolving and I have already devoted twenty long years into its study..." Zenith said rather confidently. What else could he say? He was proud of his work. "My research began when my Queen Chrysalis decided that we needed a substitute for love should the need arise. Again this was just about twenty-one years ago now. At least before she started to go mad from starvation. My work was secluded and actually very hush hush. Considering that if her subjects found out they would want the results before they were ready."

"So your studies, how far did you get?"

"Well, as much time as I've spent I hit a road-block about a year ago. I was in the middle of researching in the field when I was interrupted and captured by the solar guard just as I was starting to figure out what I was missing. Due to that fact, I wasn't paying enough attention to notice I'd been found out."

"And you said your Queen ordered this?"

"Indeed," Zenith said with a nod. "I wouldn't be much of a Royal Scientist and Investigations Officer if I didn't investigate, study, and experiment to get results I was ordered to get now would I? However, I continued the project in her absence."

"Absence? What do you mean?"

"Ah, that's right you wouldn't know... I had forgotten, actually I just hadn't said... The Queen failed to return to us."

Cadance's mouth opened had opened to respond multiple times to respond to the new information. Did the love blast... Kill her? She mulled over the information for a few long moments. What if he was lying? She had no way of knowing if he was or not at least, for now.

"So you don't know the location of your Queen?" Cadance finally asked breaking the silence.

Zenith had predicted that this would be her next question and shook his head no and sighed. "No, I sent scouts to search for her for a month. They turned up nothing. Not even a trace."

Cadance couldn't believe her ears, Chrysalis was... gone just like that? No that couldn't be right! "Wait aren't all of you changeling's like ants and have a hive mind connected to the Queen? Wouldn't you be able to sense her?"

"You'd be incorrect," Zenith responded. "At least, in a sense... You see only select changelings have a direct enough link to the Queen to ever sense her. However, the one changeling who is around that is still capable of that is in recovery from protecting the hive 3 years ago. I believe it was a Ursa Major attack, if I recall correctly. Even if we could wake her to find the Queen, it's most likely that she's either dead or she abandoned us."

Cadance again got extremely valuable information, if and only if it was true.

"Honestly, if she had come back I wouldn't have had to..." Zenith began looking to the ceiling.

"Haven't have had to, what?" Cadance said picking up on his 'supposed' slip up.

Zenith sighed, "A few days after the Queen failed to return after the invasion failed. The hive was in a state of panic and I could sense it. You see due to my position, I'm no simple minded drone that relies purely on orders. I had have some semblance of independence and should it be necessary I could give orders so long as the Queen permitted it."

"So, what happened next?"

"I had no choice but to take control and keep order. If I didn't the hive would have fell into complete chaos and they would have begun to kill one another over what love we had left in the hive. So many were already starting to starve and a few young ones died." Zenith said looking to the floor clearly pained by that last part. "No child no matter what race should ever stave to death. I sent scouts to begin searching for Chrysalis while using my current research and what knowledge I had to try and feed the starving... It was working so far, and my studies had worked! I was so excited that I couldn't help but celebrate a bit. However it didn't last long, they began to get hungrier than the last time... it had seemed I was missing something. Over the past year I've been refining our way of life after giving up the search for the Queen. We changed much of our approach of hunting for love."

"Hunting for love?"

"It's as it sounds, I'm sure you know as the princess of the subject you have quite the knowledge to know that love is in and of itself split into may different forms. I discovered that animals can also give love, while it wasn't as much as your kind give off, it is something to keep their bellies from clawing at them."

"So, you allowed intimacy with non-sentient races to keep them fed?"

"In a sense yes... It is only a temporary solution at least until I found a better solution. The hive began to follow me without question, even so far as to start calling me their King... It was far from what I wanted but the hive had spoken, and it was by our law that the one who puts the hive's needs above all else in the absence of the current Queen or King was more or less forced into the position."

"So you, are the new King of changelings?"

"Officially? Yes, I am."

"Okay, if you're the king then why are you not the same size as Chrysalis then?"

"Well," Zenith shifted in the chair. "It's a complicated process to become a royal in the way I did. Extremely specific conditions had to be met. Normally the Queen chooses a heir and then gives them a type of jelly from the time they were born that eventually over their lives would turn them into a more developed version of our kind. There is three types of this jelly: Royal, Guardian, and the type I was given to give me called Crono jelly that increases mind processes and removes the limiter that the hive mind normally has on the one who eats it while going through childhood."

"So what your saying is that, since you got one of these jelly types you could lead the others should the others not be present?"

"Yes... You see the jelly while each has it's specific roles they play the stuff all comes from the Queen or King. It is made from them personally, and they manipulate it to do specific things. Should the line of succession fail it would usually fall to a Guardian like the one who's still recovering... but given that she's still sleeping and can't be woken it fell to me the one who consumed the Crono jelly."

"So will you eventually get to be her size?"

"Given enough time, yes... I can but it's a very delicate process and it requires quite the large amount of love... much more than any of us can afford to waste. Thus I still look like this. My kin's needs come first. Ah speaking of..." He closed his eyes remaining silent for some time. "There, that should keep them busy for a while."

"W-Wait you can speak to them?" Cadance said getting a look of caution.

"Yes, I can. I am still linked to the Hive in the normal terms until I am fully a royal... worry not I have no intention of calling them here to get me."

"Why not?" Cadance asked rather confused at his statement. "Surely you could order them to get you."

"And throw them to the wolves? They aren't soldiers Princess Cadenza.. They are hive constructors, scouts, and children... Aside from the guardian that slumbers in recovery... they are by no means capable. Nor would I risk their lives for my capture. I may be a monster in the eyes of your kind, but we have hearts as much as you'd like us not to. I won't send them marching to their deaths because I made a stupid mistake. One I can possibly fix on my own by being diplomatic... Which is why I wanted to talk to you."

"I... I think I understand... Getting captured wasn't your plan, but given your intelligence convinced your way to me to attempt a peaceful solution."

"Yes... I would like to try it... The option our Queen had failed to consider."

"Well, you've caught my full attention... ummm...."

"Zenith is my name."

"Zenith you now have my full attention."

They had talked for hours after that, about his race and Zenith had slid in a few dry and horrible jokes in places causing Cadance to giggle and laugh in a few cases. It was rare that anyone caught his humor and let alone found it funny. Word play was his favorite humor, and it did him well in this situation. It seemed to him that Cadence thoroughly enjoyed the little jokes he put in the answers to her questions every couple of answers.

Only one problem however, a problem that Zenith couldn't predict or expect. The wrath and unpredictability of a jealous, and overprotective husband.