The Changelings of Manehattan

Sapphire stomped her hooves as she stormed into her mother's lab. Changelings practically dove to get out of the way of their upset queen. She marched over and collapsed into her seat so hard that it sounded like it was threatening to break with the way it was creaking.

The spectacle was enough to momentarily tear Ruby away from her notes. She had seen her daughter in a bad mood before, but it had been a while since she last saw it this bad. "Sapphire, dear," she said. "Is everything alright?" She took on a nurturing tone that was so rarely heard coming from her, that it caught several of the changelings around the room off guard. None of them were really sure they had just heard that.

"Tsk. It's fine," Sapphire sulked. She almost tore the drink offered to her by a drone. She downed the whole thing in a terrifying show of fortitude and frustration, leaving the poor creature to rush off to get another one. "I'm just having a bad day."

"How bad can it be? Didn't you have one of your famous shows last night?" Ruby let out a small gasp when she saw how tired Sapphire looked. "Oh no," she said. "You're not going to tell me that nopony showed up, are you?"

Sapphire sighed loudly. "No," she said. "It wasn't quite that bad." She began tapping a hoof hard on the ground, clearly debating with herself if she should say more. "There were a few more empty seats than I would've liked, and a few of my attendants overheard ponies comparing me to that upstart Countess Coloratura."

"Is that all?" Ruby said as she turned back to her work. Her daughter was clearly getting worked up over nothing. "You said yourself that you can't please everypony. I don't see why you're getting so worked up."

Sapphire wasn't done though. "And then this morning, I received word that my next venue cancelled on me. Said they only have room for 'real' celebrities."

Ruby recoiled at the last bit of news so badly, that she ended up slipping and leaving a thick black streak across her notes. "Okay," she said as she quickly did her best to clean up the mess. "I guess that would upset anypony. So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," Sapphire slumped back in her seat, clearly worn out despite it being so early in the day. "One way or another, I'll figure it out," she casually attempted to wave the problem away. "It might be a good time for me to disappear from showbiz until ponies get tired of the hot new thing. Besides. I still need to figure out how I'm going to respond to that letter from Princess Celestia." She turned her attention back to her mother, "so did I miss anything? We have any leads on our sleeping friend?"

"Oh!" Ruby perked up at the mention of her study. "I had a breakthrough last night. Turns out there's something odd about the part of his brain that governs the link. I tried to take a closer look, but it lashed out at me."

Sapphire raised an eyebrow at Ruby, just before shooting a nasty look at the changelings that were supposed to be watching her. "Ignoring the fact that you went poking around where you shouldn't. What do you think it is?"

The elder queen didn't even seem to notice her daughter's displeasure as she continued. "I have no idea! Isn't it fascinating!"

Sapphire couldn't help but facehoof at her mother's lack of scruples. She was going to have to keep a closer eye on her.

The trek through the forest was absolutely miserable. It wouldn't have been much of a problem if it was just a single healthy squad flitting their way through the trees. Aside from Number 47, who had hidden during the assault, and Numbers Eight and Nine, who had buried themselves in the hatchery as ordered; none of them were in good enough shape to be moving as fast as they were.

While a few of them had perished during their attack on the hive, even before having the misfortune to wake up a vengeful soul with no reservations against turning on his own kind; the ponies that remained weren't faring much better. Many of them had been beaten and bruised, and the ones that had been extracted from the pods were still disoriented and malnourished. Yet they all still had to keep up the pace or risk being left behind.

"I don't know why we're just going along with this," complained the scout in a low whisper. Despite being very thoroughly poisoned earlier that day and deposited in the feeding pods, he still trotted along while carrying his fellow scout on his back. He had the pony leader's attention at this point. "I say we jump Clover while his back is turned and make a run for it."

"Rockheart, watch what you say," Greengrass said in a hush, his eyes darted back and forth as he watched each of the changelings patrolling around them to see if any of them reacted. "Some of these creatures can understand us and I'm still not sure which ones."

Mother had clearly heard what they were saying, but didn't bother to do more than listen. Clover had already put the fear of the abyss into most of them, and it was unlikely that any of them would be willing to try anything.

"Their queen obviously can," said Rockheart. "And the shorter one next to her with the broken leg," he said, referring to Number Three by her side. "Aside from them, I don't think any of them have a clue what we're saying."

"Still," Greengrass kept to his voice low. "I don't know what he learned from Starswirl, but you didn't see Clover fight back there. You won't make it very far."

"He's way too concerned about distancing himself from Daybreaker, I heard him earlier." Rockheart shifted anxiously, causing the unicorn to flop lifelessly on his back. "Besides, I'm not gonna let these bugs play with our lives, or eat us, or whatever it is they're planning to do."

Before the other earth pony had a chance to talk him out of it, the scout bolted for the trees. He successfully managed to elude Clover's notice, and none of the changelings were in any shape to chase after him.

Barely a moment later, a blood-curdling scream sounded through the forest from the direction he just ran. The ponies in their entourage began to skitter about nervously at the sound. When the same pony ran right back into view, a hungry manticore was now right behind him.

"You fool!" Shouted Greengrass. "Don't lead that thing back here!"

The manticore paused at the sound of another creature other than the one it was chasing. It looked around at the group and licked its lips. It glanced at the insects for a moment, but it seemed to be far more interested in the ponies. The creature paced back and forth around the crowd before settling on one of the unicorns with a limp to their step. Its next meal selected, it bunched up its hind legs and it launched itself at the lamed equine faster than anyone could follow. However, before it reached its target, it found itself colliding with the wall of light that had appeared in front of it.

Both the manticore and the pony stumbled backward, one from pure shock and the other from the shock of hitting a wall. As the beast shook out its feline features, Clover appeared between it and the shield with a pop of magic. The oversized cat's eyes locked on the new appearance and growled as its scorpion tail hovered threateningly over its back. The unicorn took an unwavering step towards the manticore, causing the creature to flinch at the sudden approach.

Everyone held their breath as they stared each other down, until the manticore began to back off before bounding off into the trees. "What happened?" Clover asked in a tone that sounded more annoyed than anything else. Fortunately, no one was hurt during the brief exchange. Both pony and changeling eyes shot towards the embarrassed earth pony that had drawn the manticore's attention. Clover let out a long sigh, and didn't even bother to reprimand the scout further as he walked past him and made his way back to the front of the group.

They stopped on the edge of the forest after a few more hours of walking. Fortunately, the rest of their trip had been uneventful since the manticore attack.

Clover stood on the edge of the clearing and looked up at the sky. "Something's not right," he said under his breath. "Greengrass," he addressed the former noble, who immediately recoiled after hearing Clover speak his name. "What season is this?"

The Duke breathed a sigh of relief when he found that the unicorn was only asking him a simple question. "It should only be late spring, but the days have been longer ever since Daybreaker came to power."

"I see," Clover seemed lost in his own thoughts. "That explains why it isn't dark yet." He looked around at the creatures spread out before him. "I was hoping we'd be able to cross the plain under the cover of night. The ponies would likely still go ignored, but the other ones will stand out too much in the daylight."

Mother was standing close enough to hear the unicorn mull over the problem. What do you think? She voiced the question over the link. Should we use that ability? I don't like the idea of revealing everything we're capable of.

I don't think we should, Number Three answered back. I don't understand why this Clover's helping us, but I don't think we should let the rest of them know what we can do.

I think we should, much to everyone's surprise, it was Number 47 that spoke up. Mother searched the crowd and found him standing beside Clover. He flinched when he realized he had her undivided attention, but still continued. I mean... our numbers are greatly reduced, and while I think it'll put the ponies on guard for a time, I don't think they'll try anything with Clover here. He paused for a moment when he realized that the entire hive had turned their attention on him. Besides... It may eventually help with getting Clover to drop his guard and give Mother the opportunity she's looking for.

The argument wasn't completely sound, but the drone did point out some long-term benefits that she hadn't thought of. When did he start getting so smart? Was it because he survived receiving Clover's blood, or was there something else going on? Either way, he was changing, and she wasn't sure what he was becoming.

Mother?... Number Three asked nervously. They're all watching us. What do we do?

Sure enough, all the ponies had noticed their silent conversation, and were currently staring. She let out a long sigh. She'd have to figure out the bigger questions later. Do it, my children. Complete secrecy is not a luxury we can afford right now. Whatever it is we're running from, we'll have to put our trust in this Clover.

Startled cries came from each of the ponies as plumes of green flame overtook each of the changelings. Mother never had a reason to use this ability herself, but she still remembered how it worked. As her own flames climbed up her body and consumed her, she caught a glimpse of a raised eyebrow from the object of her desire. She had been doing her best to suppress her instinct since they left the hive, but the way he was currently watching her was exhilarating. It didn't make any sense to her, but right now she wanted nothing more than to take him for herself, to rush and pin him beneath her. To lower her head and sink her fangs deep into his neck. To...

Mother!! The panicked cry from Number Three sounded over the link. Control yourself! We all know how badly you want him, but you must be patient. Don't forget what happened with the minotaur.

The reminder of that terrible event had a sobering effect on her. She lifted a hoof, now a milky white color, to her chest and did her best to steady her breathing. She had been so caught up in her delusions, that she had missed the ponies' reactions to their shape changing ability. From what she could tell now, there had clearly been some panic among them. Some of them were doing their best to back away from their recently introduced twin, while a few others were slowly approached with a hint of curiosity. Meanwhile, Clover was standing right in front of her with a hoof raised and was allowing some of her now pink hairs to flow from it.

Panic seized her yet again. Her heart raced as the source of her desire was standing so close and he was actually touching her. It was getting increasingly more difficult to keep herself in check with him standing so close. When she looked at his face though, she found herself feeling confused more than anything else. It felt more like he was looking through her than at her. "You look just like her..." He was so quiet that she might not have heard him had he not been standing so close. What did he mean by that, though?

She caught one of Clover's ears flicker out of the corner of her eye. His eyes grew wide with panic as he jumped back and whirred his head in the direction they had traveled from. Everyone had noticed his sudden anxiety as ponies and changelings turned their attention away from each other and watched him. None of them missed it when this indominable creature began to sweat.

"Hide," he said through trembling lips. When everyone continued to stand in shocked silence, he tried again. "Hide!" He shouted, the panic in his voice wasn't even remotely masked.

The mixed herd of equines scrambled to do as they were told. They began to trip over each other as they desperately fought to find cover. In the midst of all the confusion, Mother had found herself hiding under the same bush as Clover with him partially straddling her. His scent was overpowering with him being so close, and it tickled the more primal parts of her brain. The only thing that kept her from losing herself to it was the distinct smell of fear mixed in with it.

Mother followed his unwavering gaze to a spot where the sky had managed to break through the trees. She thought she could just barely make something out in the sky. It had wings and a similar shape to her own, but it looked far too large to be a pony. Also, its mane seemed far too bright to be natural.

Without warning, a pillar a fire shot up from the ground, engulfing the pony in the process. The conflagration quickly began to pulse and twist, until it had transformed itself into a cyclone of pure destruction. Tongues of fire spiraled outward, licking at the clouds and causing them to explode into a scorching mist that washed over everything. The wind carried the smell of ash, of a dozen things that had just burned to cinders. The anomaly was miles away, but the waves of heat were so intense that it felt like she would soon melt if she stayed here.

"What is that?!" She couldn't stop herself from asking.

"That's Daybreaker," said Clover as they both watched the last remains of her hive, her home, go up in flames.