Winds of change

Necifera woke up the next morning after having a weird dream, the first she’d ever had. She couldn’t remember much, but she definitely remembered seeing what appeared to be a pony with dark blue fur, a horn and a pair of wings, and a mane, flowing unnaturally, made up of countless stars in a blue soothing sky, watching her. It, no, she, seemed to be focused on Necifera specifically in her dream, but how could that be possible? Necifera knew this mare wasn’t just part of her dream, or was she...

Although it puzzled her greatly, Necifera decided to ignore that strange dream and focus on it later, focusing instead on her plan she was setting in motion soon. To confront her mother once and for all.

It didn’t take long for Necifera to locate the exact area where her mother’s new hive was. After her changelings infiltrated and gathered information on it, she began planning how to approach this situation. She couldn’t afford to fail, she only had one chance.

Since some of her changelings were already among Chrysalis’s subjects, it would make things easier. She organized a group and with it, they were going to infiltrate and join up with her other subjects already disguised in the hive. She picked spiderlings and nagas as well as strong drones to accompany her in this dangerous mission.

“My queen, sister, can I come with you? I can help if things go wrong,” Nymph asked as Necifera prepared to depart.

“Nymph, I understand what you want, you are strong, and that is why I need you to stay here. I trust you will do great as a leader in case I don't return.” Necifera bent down to look Nymph in the eyes. “Be strong, for me and for the hive, my alpha.”

“Please be safe,” pleaded Nymph.

“I will. Make sure the spirits in the hive are high for when we return,” Necifera replied with a smile. “We’ll be back in no time.”

After saying their farewells to their fellow changelings, Necifera's group made their way to Chrysalis's hive.

***

When they arrived, they all quickly disguised themselves as simple drones. Necifera noticed however, that she still had her sparkly wings, despite not being in her own unreformed body. This would make things slightly complicated. The queen tried her best to hide her wings as her group reached the hive.

They blended in with the rest of the changelings easily, entering the hive along another group, luckily without the guards noticing them.

This wasn’t her mother’s old hive, but Necifera’s group quickly met up with her own spies with the help of their link, who went unnoticed by the other changelings. They all met up in a dark corner, devoid of activity, and her spies gave her all the information needed about the hive’s layout.

With their new knowledge of the hive, the queen’s group easily found their way to the throne room, quickly hypnotizing and wiping the memories of any suspicious changelings they came across in the tunnels.

The throne guards, very suspicious at a big group approaching without Chrysalis notifying them, readied themselves to confront these intruders.

“What is the purpose of this? The queen did not request any meetings of any kind at this time,” one of the throne guards hissed.

Necifera approached the guard and locked eyes with them, her crimson gaze trapping them in her hypnotic power. “Relax. Our queen called for us at the last moment. You must be feeling really tired after standing here all day. You can rest for a while now,” And with soft and soothing words, the guard was fast asleep on the ground.

With quick thinking following their queen’s action, the changelings in her group immobilized the other guard and allowed her to do the same to them as well.

Once both guards were out of the way, Necifera prepared herself, and sighed loudly, before throwing open the doors to the throne room with her magic.

Queen Chrysalis was sitting on her throne, a bored expression on her face, while she held her head with one of her fore hooves. Seeing the doors opening violently surprised her and made her flinch slightly.

“What is the meaning of this interruption?” She shouted, annoyance in her voice.

“It’s been quite some time hasn’t it, mother?” Necifera asked, her lack of emotion present in her question, while she fixed her gaze on Chrysalis.

Chrysalis cocked her head to the side, visibly confused. “Do I know you?” Then she locked eyes with the small drone, and as she saw that familiar red glow, her eyes widened at the realisation.

“You!” She snarled as she rose to her full height. “Traitor! How dare you come here after your betrayal?” Chrysalis’s fangs were fully visible as she snapped back.

Hearing the commotion, some of Chrysalis’s drones gathered at the entrance to the throne room surprisingly fast.

“Don’t just stand there, get them!” Chrysalis shouted.

The gathered drones almost stumbled over each other as they rushed towards the queen’s group, but Necifera’s subjects, shedding their disguises, stopped each of them with ease, keeping them immobilized and harmless. Necifera didn’t flinch at all during this, and merely kept her eyes fixed on Chrysalis.

“Traitor…” Necifera repeated slowly. “You like saying that a lot. Are you sure you know what that word means, mother?”

“What are you talking about? An-And how are you commanding so many changelings of other races?” Chrysalis hissed back, caught off guard, but then she noticed the sparkling wings on Necifera’s disguise. “Wait, those wings…” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes as her horn lit up, and in a blink of an eye, a green beam of magic struck Necifera. It didn’t hurt however, instead, Necifera’s disguise was shed by her mother’s magic, revealing her true, reformed self.

“Ah! Look at you! You fled the hive, you abandoned your siblings and now you join the other trait-”

“You imply I betrayed our race?” Necifera sharply interrupted. “Look around me, see how many changeling races are working together under my rule. Does it surprise you? Have you never led any from the other hives before? I didn’t betray our race, I'm trying to unify them and make a better future for us. How they look doesn’t matter! We are all changelings in the end, trying to survive. I betrayed you, because you don’t know how to treat your own children!”

“How dare you say that! I teach them to fight for and serve the hive! I taught you how to rule!” Chrysalis proclaimed, pointing at Necifera with a hoof. “Defective drones flee because they are weak!”

“There are no defective drones. Some are weaker than others, yes, but the reason they flee and betray you as you like to say is not because of that. They flee because they're scared of you. Have you ever asked one of your subjects if they're happy with how you treat them?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course they are happy, otherwise they would tell me...” Chrysalis said, her voice trailing off.

“You don’t sound so confident with that statement,” Necifera pointed out, hoping her vocal battle with her mother could get her point across. “They fear you, why would they admit to something they know you will hate hearing?”

“You're lying, I won't lose my hive again!” Chrysalis stomped the ground with her hooves, causing it to crack, and launched a magic projectile from her horn, aiming for the closest of Necifera’s subjects.

“Enough!” Necifera shouted and leapt in front of her subject, creating a reflective shield that sent the projectile back to where it came from, making Chrysalis freeze and go wide eyed before it hit her dead center.

Once Necifera recovered from the knockback and the smoke settled, she saw Chrysalis laying against her cracked throne, panting heavily and having a few new scratches on her body.

“That power….how did you…” Chrysalis asked slowly and with some difficulty.

“Is that all you care about? Power?” Necifera coldly asked as she approached her mother. “This power was given to me by my subjects, out of love, trust, and friendship. You don’t have those things, that is why you are weak now. I don’t want to take over your hive, I have my own. Why can’t you just listen to what others have to say?” Necifera stomped the ground with one hoof close to Chrysalis as she finished asking her question.

Chrysalis went silent for a while. “Fear…” She whispered. ”Is that why my children flee? Is that why they turn agaisn’t me?” She looked up at Necifera. “...Is that why you fled?”

Necifera’s anger faded slightly. “I fled because of fear, but a different one. I saw what was happening in the hive as I grew, and I didn't want to risk becoming cold like you.” Necifera bent down to better speak with Chrysalis. “Mother...i survived out there and i got to where i am now thanks to you.”

“W-What do you mean?” Chrysalis asked, stuttering.

“Your lessons allowed me to push through obstacles. They taught me how to be the queen I am now. I will be eternally grateful for that. Please mother, I don't want to hurt you anymore, I don't want to lose you...” Necifera changed into her unreformed form. “...Let us be a family again, ALL of us, regardless of what we look like. You don’t have to change, none of your subjects need to, and you don’t need to forgive those who wronged you, but let us stop the fighting, please.” Necifera pleaded, tears beginning to stream down her face.

After a few more seconds of silence that felt like hours, Necifera’s tears being the only sound that broke the silence hitting the ground, Chrysalis smiled and finally spoke, while shakily getting back up. Necifera did the same.

“My daughter, I was wrong about you, you weren’t a disappointment after all.” Chrysalis tenderly ran her hoof down Necifera’s cheek, and locked her green eyes with her daughter’s red. “I’m proud of you, at how far you got and what you accomplished, I hope you know that, my daughter,” she dried the tears streaming down Necifera’s face with the same hoof, and sighed. “We will try to avoid fighting with the reformed from now on, but they aren’t welcome in my hive...”

“Mother-” Necifera started.

“...Until I have some choice words with Thorax first,” Chrysalis elaborated, smiling.

Necifera sighed and whispered. “Small steps…”

Then, both queens looked at their subjects, Chrysalis’s drones still being restrained by Necifera’s. They looked back at one another, grinned and embraced each other, a hug that lasted for a long time. They would have a lot to do these next few days.

“That love you’re sharing is very irresistible, you know that?” Chrysalis noted while hugging her daughter.

“There is more for all of us once everything is settled,” stated Necifera, not wanting to leave her mother’s embrace.

***

Necifera sent the good news to both her hive via the link and Thorax through her scouts, and they all agreed to meet up in the king’s hive. Chrysalis promised she wouldn’t cause any trouble, and that she also wanted to see how her old hive looked like after all this time.

Surprisingly enough, despite a rough greeting, Chrysalis and Thorax didn’t immediately try to kill each other once they met after so long. Maybe it was because Necifera was keeping a watchful eye, or maybe her words were more effective than she expected, but she wasn’t too sure herself. She was just glad to see some bonds begin to form, even if small.

“I must say, I never expected to meet on...friendlier terms after our last encounter,” admitted Thorax, still slightly nervous with Chrysalis so close.

“Don’t get your hopes up, you stole my hive, I haven't forgotten that,” Chrysalis said before getting closer to Thorax and giving a creepy, toothy smile. “Perhaps you’ll pay for that in time.”

This made Thorax audibly gulp. Chrysalis chuckled and backed off to give him some space.

“I heard that, don’t do something you will regret!” Hissed Pharynx as he quickly approached the group.

“Ah, Pharynx, I still recognize that short temper in your voice even after all this time,” Chrysalis complemented, shrugging off his warning. “Even after getting a new form that doesn’t really fit your personality, you still prove to be quite fierce. I'm proud of you.”

“Don’t try to persuade me with your words,” Pharynx hissed back.

“I’m just complimenting you,” Chrysalis smiled, as if mocking Pharynx. “As much as I hate to admit it, your brother is doing a good job running my old hive.”

“Really? I..Uh.. I mean, thank you, mother,” Thorax replied, flustered.

As Necifera watched them interact with each other, she noticed a changeling with what appeared to be a bite mark on their hind hoof approach Thorax.

“Rogue…” She whispered to herself.

“Hey Thorax,” the changeling said hesitantly. “I don’t know if you remember me, it’s been awhile since we met up in the mountains of the Crystal Empire. I wish i could have spent more time with you, as at the time you were the closest thing to family to me,” they explain.

“Rogue? Is that really you? After all this time, i never would have imagined we would meet again. Where did you run off to?”

“I was afraid, with Chrysalis after me i couldn’t let her find you,” Rogue looked towards Chrysalis and hissed at her, causing her to back up slightly, but the old queen still kept a fanged smile on her face as she watched both of them. “And i didn’t want to risk losing someone who treated me so nicely. You look amazing by the way, what happened to us while we were apart?” Rogue asked.

“Don’t worry Rogue, i appreciate you wanting to protect me, but we can relax now, the time for fighting is over. With time we can get used to her presence,” he said while looking towards Chrysalis. ”We will be able to enjoy many moments together from now on.”

“Don’t mind me, i know i've done my fair share of bad things, but if my daughter believes in reconciliation, we should give it a try, wouldn’t you say?” Replied Chrysalis slyly.

After watching them interact with a smile on her face, Necifera decided to speak up. “I’m glad to see you all interacting with one another, even if not in the most friendly way. I must admit, I didn't expect it to go as well as it is going when I planned this meeting.”

“What you told me in my hive changed the way I look at things. I’m not sure if that dream of yours can succeed, but I'm willing to help. If we can finally roam Equestria freely, without needing to hide all the time, i think it’s worth a try. Besides, seeing two of my children leading their own hive, even if one of them was stolen...” Chrysalis gave a quick glance towards Thorax and grinned. “...brings me a good sense of pride.”

“With you joining us, we can show Equestria what we have to offer and show them we are not the monsters they think we are. And with the help of Thorax and the reformed, we can have more chances to connect between the races,” Necifera pointed out. “But, there is one thing I want you to know. I wouldn’t be here today, I wouldn't have gotten this far and made such progress, without you. Both of you, and all of our subjects, worked to make this happen,” Necifera walked up to Chrysalis and bowed slightly. ”Thank you mother, for everything you taught me and everything you did for me.”

Chrysalis nodded approvingly. “Mother knows best, I'll be here for you, always, and i’ll try to be better for your siblings from now on.”

Then, Necifera walked up to Thorax and did the same. “Thank you, brother, for trusting me and helping me fulfill my dream.”

“We are a family, we help one another when the need arises. I’m with you, whatever you plan on doing next, we will help,” Thorax replied, his voice filled with determination.

Necifera smiled, and shed a small tear of joy. She considered herself the happiest changeling in Equestria. With Chrysalis and Thorax beside her, and their subjects behind them, Necifera looked to the horizon, towards Canterlot. She heard about the two alicorn sisters who ruled there, remembering one of them seemed to match the description of the mare she saw in her dream.

Convincing them would be her greatest feat, but with everything she achieved up until now, it was a challenge she was all too happy to take.