Hivemind Control

The room was quite large, and necessarily so. Hanging from the ceiling and walls were several green globules, sticky and transparent. Each was about half the size of a pony. Inside each of them were four more dense sections, sometimes floating around, but more often than not clustered in the center.

As odd as that was, however, the most noteworthy thing in the room was at the very center. Two changeling drones were tending to a much larger female changeling, who was grunting loudly, seemingly in pain. Suddenly, her vagina began to spread wide open as a green blob, just as the globs that hung from the wall, began to squeeze out. It seemed to be a membrane filling with liquid. Every few gallons, a dense clump would clog her, then gush out into the membrane with a firm push. Once all four were out, the remainder squelched out into the waiting arms of a changeling drone, who carried it up to the ceiling, found a cozy spot for it, and secured it to the wall with goop.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" smiled Cercus. "All these eggs. We have lost a good number of our hive, and this is but one of the many steps we have taken to counteract that."

"So you can lay a few eggs," said Twilight, covering her mouth and nose. "Do I really need to see how it all works?"

"Oh, yes, most definitely. You'll be bearing our eggs soon enough; you'd do well to see the process."

Twilight shook her head. "You're trying to give me a lesson on the anatomy of changelings, so let me do you the courtesy of giving you a lesson on the anatomy of ponies: Ponies do not lay eggs. We have a completely different phylogeny, despite our similar appearance. We give live birth. Nice try, though."

Cercus chuckled. "Well, you're right, in a way. But also, sadly, wrong in another. There are ways of making a pony lay eggs."

"And how is that?"

"With unicorns and earth ponies, you're absolutely right. They do not lay eggs under any circumstances. Even pegasi, as close as they can be to the birds, are incapable of laying eggs. But ah, with alicorns, there's an extra variable. You see, I've looked into the history of ponykind, and there's much more to it than just those three races. Since you mention phylogeny, you should know that there are other kinds of ponies."

"Crystal ponies and hippogriffs. I am well aware."

"Also bat ponies, kirin, stonies, and all manner of countless others. Most notably, lamiaquines, seaquines, and a few others are known to lay eggs. And like all other variations of ponykind, the latent capabilities can be found in alicorns. Which means, you are perfectly capable of laying eggs."

Twilight nodded. "I suppose you have a point, but eggs created from the union of these creatures with an alicorn will always produce a creature that is the same species as the father. On top of that, even changelings that have shifted to look like ponies are not capable of creating a viable pregnancy. No matter how much intercourse we have, I will never bear your children."

Cercus smiled widely. Behind his teeth, there was clearly malicious intent. Without a word, he pulled Twilight to the other side of the mare that had just laid the eggs. From the holes in her hooves to her ragged tail, the carapace on her chest to the membranous wings on her back, she looked to be a changeling queen. Even her mane, draped over the table, looked no different from Chrysalis' mane. However, looking past the neck, Twilight could see that the hardened shell of the changeling transitioned to the soft, supple flesh of a pony.

"Luna?" Twilight was visibly shaken by seeing Luna's face attached to the changeling body. Her eyes had gone almost completely blue, and her tongue was beginning to fork. Twilight cursed herself for not seeing earlier that the compactions and fissures in her legs were actually morphing her into something resembling a changeling, albeit slowly.

"And there's more," added Cercus, directing Twilight's attention to the door. As Luna picked herself up off the table, a very bloated Celestia entered the room. She had the same rot on her hooves that Luna had, and, given the new context, was very clearly turning into a changeling. It had climbed up her back legs and wrapped around her hips, and was way more noticeable on her alabaster coat than it had been on Luna.

"And there's even more," continued Cercus. "Let's go see Cadance. She's progressed even faster. She's almost as far along as Luna now."

"No," demanded Twilight. "I don't need to see every single one to know what's going on. How did you manage to change their bodies? More importantly, what have you done that's going to change mine?" She looked closely at her hoof. "I think I can already feel it."

"Weren't you paying attention when we visited Fluttershy?" smirked Cercus, clearly mocking her. "She's been working very hard to make sure that we're not causing any harm to the symbiotes that we've employed, and you just ignored her. Some friend you are."

"Some tour guide you are for skipping over things you know I would ask about," scolded Twilight. She sighed heavily. "Are we done? I want to go back to my room now."

"Almost," nodded Cercus. "We have one more stop to make, unless you want to go ask Fluttershy about the parasites and their venom. But really, we should do that on our way back."

"So that's what it is," sighed Twilight. "You've poisoned them by injecting venom into them, and now you've injected me."

"You have yet to be administered," admitted Cercus. "The decision of when to do that falls to me, and I'm in no hurry just yet."

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"

"Would you rather I just stick you now and be done with it? Be nothing more than they are?" He gestured to Celestia, who was lying on her back, a changeling rubbing her cunt with oil while the other began preparing an area for the new egg sac. "I can make you into a brainless bimbo, but that would mean that I forgo my reward, and you lose out on any and all chances of stopping me. Is that what you really want?"