Queen

After my meeting with the newly promoted Collection Bureau leaders, I retired to my chambers again, contemplating all I've learned and what the future may hold for what is now my species. I began to murmur to myself, thinking aloud.

"I'm the leader of what's called a 'Changeling Hive', a shapeshifting, insectoid subspecies of equine, of which there appear to be four other breeds, three of which are the most dominant breeds. Regular ponies, Unicorns, Pegasi, and the seemingly rare Alicorn variety.

Earth ponies, as I've gathered over the hive-link, are generally both stronger and more in tune with nature than the other two, though there are always outliers. Earth ponies also seem to be the most numerous in the more rural towns and hamlets, but are just at home in more city-esque landscapes.

Unicorns have the fantastical ability to summon forth their essence in the form of magic manipulation. They're generally more frail, although they are also generally more intelligent than the other two primary breeds. Unicorns also generally congregate in larger cities such as Canterlot, though there's a certain... insufferable attitude about most of the unicorns there...

Pegasi are obviously able to fly. These pegasi use latent magic abilities to both reduce their weight while flying and can manipulate cloud cover to a degree with that same latent ability, though their methods feel... inefficient. They love living in the sky, building their homes out of compacted clouds.

The rarest subspecies is the Alicorn, a mystical combination of all three primary subspecies. Currently three are known to exist. The Princess Celestia, the Princess Luna, and the one I personally haven't met, thought the old me has, Princess Cadance.

Celestia holds dominion over the sun, Luna over the moon, and Cadance holds power over... Love? Strange, though I'm pretty sure I've heard of weirder affinities. Cadance is also the only one who has willingly gotten married, though it was nearly prevented due to this body's previous resident. I'd assume Cadance will have a severe fight or flight reaction if she ever sees me or another changeling without proper explanation of what happened to ... well, Me.

Changelings, on the other ha- er, hoof... are able to adopt the appearance and abilities of any of the primary subspecies, with an affinity to magic in any form, but only the old me has ever imitated an Alicorn. This ability comes at a somewhat steep cost. Our primary sustenance is, as strange energy sources go, the power of Love. And our appearance is essentially designed to intimidate and sink into darkness, which ruins our image with the common pony, and also makes love collection in our natural forms difficult. Hence the future redesign of our hive's aesthetics.

So far in this new life, I've successfully maintained command for over a day, met the two most powerful beings on the continent to prevent them from annihilating us for past transgressions that I personally had no hoof in, killed intelligent beings... eugh, should have kept myself in check a little better... stopped an underhive uprising with some... lets say, questionable methods, wept for lings I knew nothing about, just barely began a complete overhaul of the entire hive into something I can feel okay with leading... hrm, what else?"

I tapped my chin in thought.

"Oh! I abolished the dated Infiltrator branch of the hive, and rebranded it as the Collector branch.

Oh shit. Umm... Has Thorax left yet? He, uhh... Really shouldn't actually leave yet. I... got too excited, and wasn't thinking fully... Hrm... should I... contact him over the hive-link? I'm pretty sure I can do that.

Thorax? Come in, Thorax. Is this thing on? Am I transmitting?

A voice, Thorax's voice echoed in my head.

"I hear you loud and clear, My Queen. Did you need me for something?"

"Ok, good, this does work. A-and I'm not broadcasting to the entire hive, am I?

"I believe it's just me, My Queen."

"Good. Anyway, I need you to actually come back... I wasn't thinking things through all the way when I sent you out earlier. We still gotta let Equestria cool down some more before your boyfriend can see you yet. Sorry."

"I understand perfectly, My Queen. Ar-Tee-Bee now.

"Ar-tee-bee...? Oh, yeah. Duh. C'mon, dude, you're smarter than that." It takes me a second to understand, but when I do, I give myself a gentle bop to the forehead.

"Alright, a loyal underling has been saved...Now what? Do I have nothing but free time now?... I shouldn't have free time...oh, I could meet the leaders of the Hive Branches... Yeah, sounds like a good plan. I hope..."

"After the fiasco that was Princess Cadence's wedding, I don't doubt that some of us are going to be severely punished for failing our queen." A large, scarred drone's gravelly voice reverberated through the door.

"Yes, well, we all did the best we could. There was no possible way any of us knew we'd be sent flying to the farthest reaches of Equestria due to, of all things, a Love explosion. There are no previous records of anything like that ever happening before. I'd argue it wasn't fully our fault, if only to keep our lives intact." Another drone with a lighter voice responded.

"What's bothering me the most right now is how she's making us wait. Under the right circumstances, the silence before a battle is the best part. The calm before an execution?" The first drone shivered. "Always hated it."

With an internalized smirk, I barged through the door, and quickly blurted out, "Always hated what?"

I made a gleeful mental note that at least 3 of the 5 drones in the room were so startled, they fell out of their seats. I let out a chuckle, and took myself a seat at a free spot at the meeting table.

"Thank you for assembling on such short notice. And I'm sorry, but I just had to take advantage of a perfect moment."

I look at the 5 drones seated before me. "I believe introductions are in order due to a development that took place sometime between our expulsion from Canterlot and myself returning to consciousness. I may still be Queen Chrysalis in outward appearances, but the being before you is actually somepony completely different up here." I point at my head with a hoof.

"Any questions directed at me will not be answered at this time. I still have very limited memory of what I can only call my 'previous life'. Instead, I have much to ask you, and much to ask of you."

The drones looked relieved, but I could easily read the concern from at least two of their faces.

"Starting out... Who are you and What branch do you command? We start from my left, and go around the table. You first." I point at the burly, scarred drone.

"High Eschator Aedron, My Queen. I command what little combat forces remain after our... failure." The large, scarred drone replied, his voice gravelly and rough.

"Master Medicior Pyxilin. Im in charge of keeping our drones patched up and healthy, as well as overseeing putting them to rest once their time comes, be it early or not."

"Lead Consensor Dreevil, Your Highness. I keep count of... Well, everything about the hive that involves counting. Active pods, the population census, energy stores, et cetera. You get the idea."

"Senior Intelijennt Madarn. I keep track of all the drones that keep tabs on our... well... Food. I have agents in every major city, in every faction we're aware of. Even Klugetown."

"Hallow, Me is Thaunk. Me is called-ed Prime bildabol. I like raisins."

"Is he...?" I give the other four branch heads a concerned look.

"Thats... just the way he is. He's the best at what he does, and he at least understands paperwork. Somehow." Aedron spoke up, giving Thaunk an embarrassed but pitying look.

"Well... Alright, then. Umm... Report in, I guess? Gimme the information you would normally give me, or something." I give Thaunk a pained look, then turn back to the others.

"Verbal report of High Eschator Aedron, delivered directly to the Queen. Our fighting forces are all but lost. We number at just over 300 in the entire hive. Injured drones have been trickling in, but the flow has all but gone dry. We barely could contain the Underdark attack, we are not prepared if the Equestrians come to strike us down in our current state."

"Understood. I'm coming up with a solution, but I have no idea if it will work, and not much faith it'll actually succeed. But I gotta try." I respond to Aedron.

"The injured drones have overfilled even our reserve medical rooms. We could go from just over 300 drones to less than 200 if we can't get the injured some fresh energy to heal with within a month." Pyxilin reported.

"On the note of love energy stored... We've hit our reserve reserves. We'll start to starve off within the next couple weeks, even with heavy rationing in effect, if we can't bring in some more soon. Any you could spare would assist greatly." Dreevil reported

"Equestria has practically begun rioting in the streets, hunting down changelings out of fear. My agents' identities are solid, but that can change even as we talk right now. The changeling detection spell they've developed is basic, but easily able to become better with the right insight. I'm told the ponies have captured at least 3 drones since the love blast. None have yet perished, but they're hardly fed, not on any fault of the ponies. Distrust and hate run rampant." Madarn reported.

"All jobs done! Gib job, I work." Thaunk reported.

"Well, besides good ol' Thaunk here... Its as I expected. Gone to shit. And of course, with me knowing as little as I know about too many things, I'm the one left to pick up pieces of anything I can still salvage. Nobody is getting punished. But we need plans. And plans for if those plans succeed or fail. And possibly plans for if those plans succeed or fail. Ugh, I already regret learning these things you all have told me. Except you, Thaunk. Good job. You are dismissed, unless you believe you can help?" I said.

Thaunk just shrugged. Suddenly the door burst open, to my amusement.

"You dunderhead. I was all the way on the other side of the hive by the time I got the alert about you meeting the branch heads." Ocelia growled in irritation. I responded with a sly smile and a chuckle.

"How casual of you," I grin playfully, "to refer to me in such a manner. But I am sorry. I don't think your presence was necessarily required... Especially seeing as how you were personally appointed by me not even an hour ago. I hope the previous branch head wasn't too upset with you because of my decision."

"Nah, she'd been wanting to swap branches for years. Plus, she's been getting on in seasons, and her input's been slowing. I don't blame her for wanting to slow down just a little, though." Ocelia replied.

"... I gotta ask, my queen. I've read the reports of your... interjection into the Underdark attack. What was that strange carriage you summoned to attack the spider? It looked... fascinating. Very strange, too. Not even mentioning the near-insane ramblings you were exchanging with the spider." Pyxilin hesitantly piped up.

Ho boy, here we go.