Kamen Rider Scarab

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open. She blinked in confusion as she looked around, she was in some strange place that looked more like an insect hive than anything else. It took her a moment to realize that there was a face staring back at her, the familiar face of Queen Chrysalis.

“What the… what are you doing here? How did you capture me?” Twilight said as she struggled against her bonds. She couldn’t even use her magic right now, something was suppressing it as she tried to escape.

“Why my dear Twilight, you’ve been in my grasp for quite a while,” Chrysalis said as she stroked the Unicorn’s face gently. “I found you and your friends a few weeks ago. You have been asleep for a long time.”

“Why are you holding me here?” Twilight demanded as she tried to escape again. “I swear once I get my hooves on you I’ll…”

“You’ll do what?” Chrysalis laughed. “Your friends aren’t going to help you. They’re in no state to after all. But I’m glad you’re awake, I was afraid that you wouldn’t be awake in time for the rebirth.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight demanded of the Changeling Queen. “Let me go!”

“Oh I will in time, but first you must see what I’ve done,” Chrysalis said with a wicked grin. “After all, the world is about to change. You’re about to see the future, Twilight. And you’ll soon be part of that future too.”

“What are you…” Twilight started to say when she realized that there were five large green orbs on the other side of the room. “What are those?”

“These are cocoons, my dear, we have very special uses for them,” Chrysalis said with a grin as she walked towards them. “Come out my children, you have waited long enough. Let us show Twilight what you have become.”

The cocoons cracked and were pushed open. Twilight’s eyes went wide when she realized what was getting out. They looked like smaller versions of Chrysalis, with the black bodies and eyes and everything. However, they also looked like her friends. They looked like her friends if they had been born Changelings.

“What have you done to them?” Twilight demanded.

“I’ve made them part of the Hive,” Chrysalis said with a smile. “And look at them, they make such beautiful Changelings don’t they?”

“Please, snap out of this… this isn’t you…” Twilight said as her friends approached her. “You’re not these… things!”

“Don’t be silly, Twily,” Pinkie said with a giggle. “We’re still ourselves. We’ve just joined the Hive.”

“Yeah, nothing’s changed other than we’re now way cooler,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin as her insect wings buzzed. “Queen Chrysalis just opened our eyes to the truth.”

“What truth could that be? That you should be Changelings?” Twilight asked shocked as the five of them stood with Chrysalis. “What could possibly be enough to convince you to join them?”

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough,” Rarity said with a giggle as she gave Chrysalis a nod. “Let us show this Pony the true joys of the Hive, your Majesty.”

“With pleasure,” Chrysalis said as she leaned in and whispered into her ear. “You will come to understand. I didn’t have to force this on any of them, all come to understand the beauty of the Hive. You will too in time.”

Her horn glowed green and Twilight could only watch in horror as her body was surrounded by a cocoon. She slowly became more resigned to her new fate as she was going to join her friends in no time.

Soon she’d join them as a Changeling Princess.

00000

Twilight was curled up into the fetal position in the cocoon. She could feel the green Changeling slime permeating her body. She could feel it starting to enter her wherever it could, she could already feel the transformation starting but she fought it as best she could.

“No… I’m not going to give in… I’m not going to become a Changeling…” She said quietly to herself, trying to keep the goop out of her mouth.

“Why not?” A voice echoed in her mind. “Don’t you want to be reunited with your friends?”

“Yes, but not like this!” Twilight protested as her mind was reeling. “Please, there must be a way to save them…”

“The only way is to give in, they do not need saving,” the voice said in her mind. “They love their new bodies… their new selves. They can truly be free to be more than what they are… free of all restrictions of the pony form.”

“Of all… restrictions…” Twilight said softly as she thought it over for a moment.

“Imagine, being able to take whatever form you wish…” The voice said. “Being a Princess means you will live so much longer than you would before. You will get to spend lifetimes with your friends. You get to bring more new friends into the fold as well, sharing the glories of friendship in ways never before done.”

“Glories of… friendship…” Twilight said. “By turning everypony into Changelings?”

“Why not all of course,” the voice echoed. Twilight didn’t even notice that her hind legs were turning black as holes started to form in them. “We must feed on Pony emotions, of course, we would not want to rid the world of our food source. But you can make the Hive great, you can make it better than before. All you have to do…”

Her voice trailed off for a moment before it was joined by five others. The voices of her five friends echoed through her mind as the transformation started to spread across her body, making it more insect-like as she started to give in.

“Is join us in the Hive,” they said in unison. “We only want what you want, Twilight. We want to spread friendship and joy to every being. We may need to feed on love, but that does not mean we cannot appreciate the joy it brings ponies. Join us, and you will understand true joy and friendship in the Hive.”

“No, I can’t… I can’t abandon everypony…” Twilight said as she tried to struggle, but her purple insect carapace and wings were already forming. “Friendship can’t exist without freedom.”

“Oh, but you have freedom, you will be a Princess just like us,” Applejack’s voice said, having lost her accent. “We have the freedom to love who we want. To live as we see fit… all you have to do is give in. The joy of the Hive is not in conformity, but in joy and friendship.”

“Please… please bring them back to me… I want my friends…” Twilight said weakly. She was having a hard time not giving in at this point. Images of Changelings together filled her mind. They weren’t as alien as she had thought, there were so many things she could recognize. She shuddered a little as her horn changed into that of a Changeling Queen, her cutie mark and coloring was the only thing reminding her of her old life.

“You’re already weakening,” the six voices said in unison. “You are almost one of us. Just say the word, become a Changeling, join the Hive. Become one of us, and we will welcome you into the fold, into the Hive. You know you want it deep down, all ponies crave togetherness. We are simply the perfect form of that. You want to be with your friends… now you can be with them forever in the Hive.”

“Together forever…” Twilight said as she finally weakened enough mentally. The former Unicorn closed her eyes for the last time.

When they opened them again, they had become cat-like. She grinned her fanged grin as she gave in finally. Her mind was filled with new thoughts. Togetherness, convert, feed… feed, feed, FEED!

She felt the hunger like nothing she had ever felt before. She still felt like herself, but more powerful. She was not a pony anymore, she was a Changeling Princess, and she loved it. Her cutie mark vanished from her flanks, finalizing the transformation into a Changeling Princess.

“I am part of the Hive,” she said, her voice joining with the countless others as she welcomed the Hive into her. “I thank you for opening my eyes to the truth. I welcome the joys of the Hive and ask that we bring more into this joy.”

“We will, soon enough,” the voice said, she now recognized it as Chrysalis. As the voice of her Queen. “Leave your cocoon child, your sisters are waiting for you. We want you out here in the light so that we may work together.”

“Yes, my Queen,” Twilight replied as for the first time she pushed out. She fell out of the cocoon, still covered with slime as Changelings surrounded her. She smiled up at them when she saw her friends, they were welcoming her into the Hive.

“Welcome to the joy that is the Hive, Princess Dusk,” Chrysalis said as she smiled at the newly formed Changeling Princess. “And you will soon have your wish. Our hive must grow after what happened at the wedding. We will make it grow, and Equestria will be the means by which we do it.”

“Yes, my queen,” the newly named Princess Dusk said as she knelt before Chrysalis. “We will not fail you.”

“No, you most certainly will not,” Chrysalis said with a smile as the plan started to appear in their minds.

The Hive would soon grow by going after the enemy’s heart.

00000

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!” Dusk, back in her Twilight form shouted as she ran into the throne room of the pony rulers with her fellow Princesses close behind. “You called for us?”

“Yes my dear Student, we have disturbing news,” Celestia said as she eyed Dusk worriedly for a moment. “There are new reports of Changelings appearing across Equestria. They’ve even been grabbing ponies, but they seem to release them not long after.”

“What’s so weird about that?” Prism Flash asked. “I mean, at least they’re not holding them captive or anything. That would be much more uncool.”

“Yes, but we are still worried, it seems that Chrysalis is planning something big,” Luna said as she looked worried for a long moment. “What are we going to do now? Last time they nearly overran Canterlot.”

“Indeed,” Celestia said. “We’re worried though, but we’ve done everything we can to try and figure out what her game is. The six of you need to be on your guard, especially if they start going after Ponyville.”

“Yes your highness, we will make sure that everything is kept safe,” Dusk said with a small knowing grin. “I’m sure that Ponyville will be okay though. You have nothing to worry about there.”

“Good, I have the utmost faith in all of you,” Celestia said with a sigh of relief.

“Yes, but Canterlot is going to be in much worse shape,” Luna said with a wicked smile as suddenly she transformed into Chrysalis and licked her fangs at Celestia. The guards around them suddenly shifted into Changelings as they bore their teeth at them. “Did you really think that I was going to let it be that easy?”

“Where is Luna?” Celestia demanded. “What did you do with my sister?”

“Oh, she’ll be waking up soon enough,” Chrysalis said as she leaned in close to Celestia. “She was so easy to overpower. She’ll soon be ready just like you will be.”

“Twilight, everypony, help!” Celestia said in shock.

“Yes Twilight, help your teacher,” Chrysalis said with a wicked smile. “Show our dear Princess just how committed you are to helping her.”

“Yes your majesty,” Dusk said as she bowed her head a little. Celestia’s eyes went wide as the six of them transformed into their new Changeling bodies. “We have joined the Hive already, as has many of your subjects. And you are next.”

“No…” Celestia said weakly as the cocoon formed around her as she cried out.

“Come, let us greet our new subjects,” Chrysalis said with a smile as they walked towards the balcony that overlooked Canterlot. Ponies looked up at her in confusion as more of them started to gather. “Ponies of Equestria, you are now under the rule of the Chrysalis Hive. Your princesses have fallen, your heroes have joined me.”

She nodded back to the six Changeling Princesses who walked forward. There was a gasp from the crowd as they recognized them as their once heroes turned into Changelings. They exchanged long terrified looks as they tried to figure out what was going on.

“Your city is surrounded, and most of you will be brought to the newly constructed conversion camps,” Chrysalis continued with a wicked smile. “Those who make it to Ponyville will be spared of this fate, however. You will now all be under the leadership of myself and my new Princesses. Dusk Shadow, Prism Flash, Elusive, Crab Apple, Joy Buzzer, and Wind Whisper. To resist is to be converted without question. Starting… now.”

A cry went up from the crowd as Changelings that had been hidden among them formed the Cocoons around most of the crowd members. The Changeling rulers laughed as they felt the panicked ponies start to join their Hive. The cocoons broke as more Changelings burst out, their conversions were easily finished as they joined their hivemates.

“The rest of you, run, run as fast as you can,” Dusk said as she hissed at them. “To be outside of the safe zone is to become part of the Hive.”

The ponies screamed as they ran for the gates of Canterlot. They would not all make it to Ponyville, that they knew, but as long as there was enough to feed on they would be fine.

“Princesses, your majesty” two voices said from behind them and they turned to see two tall Changeling Drones standing there bowing before them. “What is the will of the Hive?”

Celestia and Luna had fallen to the Hive. And soon, all of Equestria would fall into line with them. This was the future of Equestria and of ponykind.

The Hive had won the day.

00000

Decades had passed since Canterlot fell. The cities of Equestria had fallen under Changeling control, being molded into the great Hive Cities ruled over by the Princesses. Ponyville was the last place in Equestria where Ponies still lived in a safe zone.

At least that’s what they claimed. The Changelings came in as often as they could in order to gather love from the Ponies. Others took away ponies to keep the population from growing too large, the Safe Zone was not as safe as they claimed, but most ponies were able to stay safe.

Dusk shifted out of her pony disguise as she walked into a house on the outside of the Safe Zone. She paused a moment as she looked around, the house was quiet and dark, that wasn’t normal.

“Bright? Are you here?” She asked as she looked scared for a moment. Bright had been a stallion she had come across during a raid. She was surprised that the stallion wasn’t scared of her, and she left him a pony mostly out of curiosity and to feed on his love.

What she hadn’t expected was to actually fall in love with the stallion. The two had even had a foal, but she was terrified that she would be killed or converted. So she had brought her deeper into the Safe Zone.

“Your coltfriend isn’t here anymore,” a hissing voice said and she looked up to see Chrysalis walking in. “I have to say Dusk, I was not expecting you of all Changelings to be the one to make such a mistake. Why can’t you be more like the others?”

“I have served you faithfully since I joined the Hive!” Dusk protested. “Why would you do this? Why would you take away my…”

“SILENCE!” Chrysalis snapped. “You know the law of the Hive. The only reason I am not banishing you is because of your service. You are fortunate that I am not going to remove your “love” completely.”

“No… you didn’t…” Dusk said weakly. “Please don’t tell me you…”

“Drone, come out here,” Chrysalis said as a new Drone walked out. He had a white carapace with a golden mane as he bowed before Dusk. “Drone Vector will serve you well. You will find that he is very loyal to you. Perhaps you can still use him as a egg breeder.”

She laughed as Dusk looked at the Changeling that had once been her lover. He bowed his head at her in servitude. She knew that there was nothing she could do now, only a Queen could reverse the conversion process and she was simply not powerful enough.

“I’m sorry Bright…” she said softly as she thought back to their daughter. She just had to hope that she was going to be okay among the ponies.