Winds of change

After walking for some time, passing by different trees, lotuses and other flowers, and even a grove with a waterfall of sorts, relatively close to their hive, Necifera and her group reached the end of the swamps and arrived at the edge of the Badlands. It was noticeably greener, plants were growing in the area, and in the distance, the hive’s silhouette could be seen, also with flora growing on and around the now smaller structure. Necifera sighed upon spotting it, remembering the last time she was in it, but was slightly more relieved to know her mother was nowhere near them now.

As they approached it, she noticed just how open it was, given the top half no longer being there. Seeing what she assumed were the reformed changelings from afar reminded her of her own hive, strangely enough. She smiled at the thought. Once her group was within sight of these changelings, Necifera noticed there seemed to be no guards whatsoever, which surprised her considering what happened a few days ago back in this same location.

She announced her presence once her group began catching the eye of the reformed closer to them. Speaking loudly, but not in an aggressive tone, she explained why she came here to all that could hear her. As with the ponies the first time they saw her, some seemed scared and backed away from her, some hid, and others stood their ground, albeit in a more aggressive way, understandable given Necifera’s appearance.

After hearing what the queen had to say however, and seeing how her group was not posing an immediate threat, the reformed seemed to calm down and the atmosphere became less tense. Necifera waited outside, waiting for any confirmation to enter as she watched many reformed enter the hive themselves. Moments later, a different, bigger reformed changeling approached, along with another, with much darker colors.

The queen assumed the bigger one was Thorax, and bowed out of respect, before greeting him. As she did this however, the reformed changeling accompanying Thorax hissed loudly at her, which made her instinctively back up.

“Pharynx! That is no way to treat newcomers. I’m sorry for my brother’s behavior,” Thorax said, apologetic.

“Look at her Thorax! She looks just like Chrysalis! And she brought more of these unreformed. How can we trust her?” Pharynx hissed back while keeping his aggressive stance.

“They also have a pony who doesn’t seem scared at all. Give them a chance to explain themselves, will you?”

Pharynx hissed disapprovingly but backed off slightly. Necifera gave a nervous chuckle before speaking.

“There is no need to chastise him. His reaction is understandable given my appearance and my group. I can assure you however that we mean no harm. I had a rough start in my early days when I started my hive, but each of my subjects behind me are representing their respective species in it currently,” Necifera said calmly while gesturing to her group.“We are thriving together, and we put aside our differences to help each other.”

“I can confirm that as the only non-changeling here,” The pony accompanying the queen said while moving forward and placing their left fore hoof on their chest. ”She was honest with us when she first revealed herself, and she admitted that her hive was feeding off of our village, but none of us were harmed. She didn’t show aggression and said she merely wished to live in harmony with us. She kept her word and that is how our alliance came to be.”

“How do we know you're not being controlled by her?” Pharynx snapped back.

Thorax sighed. ”Pharynx, brother, Chrysalis is gone now, you can relax. They seem to be telling the truth.”

“I will protect the hive against any threat, and this unreformed self proclaimed queen who appeared out of nowhere is a threat to me!”

“I think it’s best if I say it now. I am also Chrysalis’s daughter, just like you and many others here,” Necifera revealed, receiving a loud hiss from Pharynx in response. She ignored him and continued. “I was born an alpha and taught how to rule as a queen, but I fled the hive, this same hive, when it was hers. I didn’t want to risk becoming like her and I felt I had no other choice.”

“I knew we shouldn't trust you!” Pharynx shouted, his reaction causing even more reformed to gather in a circle that slowly formed around the talking changelings.

“Maybe we should all calm down a little. Pharynx, I know it’s hard to get used to new habits, but we need to be more trusting and open now. And she isn’t wrong, Chrysalis was our mother as well...” Thorax reminded his brother. Then, addressing Necifera, he continued. ”You said you had a hive, right? I would love to hear about it and your experiences, as well as your story.”

***

Inside the hive, Necifera told her story and described her experiences after she fled. As she did, more and more reformed seemed to lose their fear of her and her group, understanding and acknowledging the struggle she went through in making her choices and building her hive.

Thorax, after hearing the queen’s story, agreed to the idea of becoming allies after she suggested it, aided by what the pony accompanying Necifera said, much to the annoyance of Pharynx.

Pleased with Thorax's decision, but curious to know more, Necifera asked his opinion on Chrysalis, and told him her own plan to convince their mother to change.

Thorax admitted he didn't believe Chrysalis could be redeemed, reminding Necifera what happened when they offered her such a choice upon reforming. The queen became slightly discouraged by hearing this at first, wondering if her plan would ever work, but she quickly brightened up, telling Thorax that they didn't need to make Chrysalis reform, they just needed to convince her to stop being a threat to ponies and hurting them.

Thorax liked the idea and reassured Necifera that the reformed changelings would help Necifera in her quest. It was a surprise to him after all, seeing an unreformed changeling, and a queen no less, not to mention all the different races accompanying her. To see such different species working together and helping each other in one hive was impressive to him.

Both the reformed changelings and the ones the queen brought seemed to take great interest in each other as well, and were interacting with one another throughout their stay in Thorax’s hive. Seeing such friendship quickly spreading was enough to persuade Thorax to help in this nigh impossible quest to redeem Chrysalis.

“See, Pharynx. Trusting others isn't so bad,” said Thorax with a witty voice, leaning in with his surprisingly long neck towards his brother.

“Bah, you will see, she will betray us the moment she finds an opportunity!” Snapped Pharynx, although his voice seemed to carry hollow words, as if he didn’t really mean what he said.

“You will see, Pharynx, be patient.”

“Whatever,” Pharynx huffed and moved away from them.

Necifera grinned slightly. “Very hard to convince, I see.”

“Yeah, but don’t mind him, he just wants to make sure the hive is safe,” replied Thorax, embarrassed.

“I admire his temper, and I respect his loyalty to the hive.”

“With time he will learn and adapt,” Thorax said with a smile.

Necifera nodded in agreement. “I have some questions about the reformed changelings. How does the process work and how different are you from us unreformed? I have never seen or heard about such a transformation before.”

“Well, I wasn't aware it existed either. I just shared love instead of taking it for the first time and it happened. As for noticeable changes, well, physically we are very different from one another now. And I no longer feel that hunger, it’s as if I am constantly being emotionally fed by others around me, and I'm sharing my emotions passively as well. Are you planning to reform as well? It’s not a necessity, but would make non-changelings more friendly towards you.”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know if all my subjects would like the change, but it’s their choice. Just like with your reformed changelings, any of my subjects that wish to reform will be welcome in the hive. And if I am to reform, I will do so in my hive. I want to show my subjects that it’s their choice whether or not they want to change.”

“I must admit I am curious to know how the different changeling races in your hive would look like reformed. Still, as long as none of you are causing trouble, we will get along just fine, reformed or not.”

“I have another question. Can a reformed changeling use their old form?”

“Oh yes, absolutely,” in a pillar of light green, Thorax emerged in his unreformed, smaller form, although his wings appeared to be sparkly and seemed to glow. “It’s as easy as any other basic transformation, maybe even easier.”

“Good, that will make many in the hive happy. I really hope we can remain allies, or better yet, brothers and sisters, regardless of appearance.”

Thorax returned to his reformed form in another pillar of light. “I hope so too, and together we can show Equestria that all changelings aren’t the scary and heartless monsters many believe they are.”

“That is my goal, or should I say, our goal?” Necifera smirked. “I’m positive things will get better from now on. I shall return to my hive to process this new information. Maybe next time we meet I'll have a brand new look.”

“It seems you are already starting, look at your wings!” Thorax pointed towards Necifera with a fore hoof, excited.

Slightly alarmed, Necifera quickly brought one of her wings into view, and noticed how it seemed to glow and looked sparkly just like his wings did. “What does this mean?”

“Don’t be scared, it’s a sign you're halfway there. Your good actions are beginning to affect you physically. The same happened to me before I reformed,” that made Necifera smile.

They watched the reformed and unreformed changelings interacting with one another and enjoying each other’s company for a while before Necifera and her group departed close to dusk. They bid farewell to the reformed and made their way back to their hive.

As Thorax watched the queen’s group leave, Pharynx approached him.

“Guess they aren’t as bad as I thought…” He grumbled.

Thorax smiled and giggled. ”See? I knew you would grow to like them.”

Pharynx hissed back. “Don’t mention it.”

***

As Necifera made her way through the swamps with her group, who were still talking among each other and expressing how much fun they had interacting with the reformed, she pondered on what Thorax said.

Would she be ready and willing to change? She looked at her glowing wings and smiled. If Thorax is right, then maybe it would benefit her hive if she did. But what would her mother think of her if she saw her in the same form of a traitor?

The meeting with the changeling king unveiled more than what she expected and she definitely needed some time to process it all. The queen focused on getting back to her hive safely and telling the news to her subjects for now.

Once Necifera reached her hive, exhausted, those in her group disbanded and embraced their brothers and sisters without a second to waste, and her subjects were happy to see all in her group were safe. Necifera, too tired to speak, sent all the news via the hive link.

Everything from the alliance that was successfully formed, to everything the queen learned about the reformed was sent to every subject in her hive. They were all relieved to hear the good news, and with this new information known to all, the queen assured her subjects that any changeling willing to reform can do so without fear. They would still be welcome in the hive no matter their appearance, and she would not force any to change, nor would she tolerate any kind of violence among the reformed and unreformed.

After she finished giving her telepathic announcement, Necifera made her way to her chambers, and promptly collapsed on her bed, exhausted. She quickly drifted off to sleep.