The Changelings of Manehattan

"Are you sure you have to leave?" More than one pony had asked the question already. After Celestia left with her guard in tow, the entire colony had gotten together to discuss the encounter. That was when Clover made his intentions known.

"Yes, I'm sure," he said. "Princess Celestia definitely knows I'm here, and I don't want to risk a confrontation."

Several creatures looked like they had more to say, but before they had the chance, they were silenced by Clear Shores stepping forward. While she wasn't the acting leader of the colony, that had been decided months ago after seeing how well Greengrass and Red Cross kept everything in order during her coma, her voice still held sway over a good number of them.

"Is this about Luna?" Clear Shores asked as a few faces winced at her question. It had become a bit of an unspoken rule to ask Clover about anything regarding his past. It was only the changeling queen who was still brazen enough to ask such a question.

Clover didn't show much reaction as he nodded, like he had already rehearsed this out in his head. "My conflict with Celestia cost both of us something precious. I don't want to live with the constant reminder, and I doubt she would want to either. Besides," he said as he looked over everyone present. "She might have a relapse just from being around me. It wouldn't be safe. Not for anypony."

The disguised queen could hear the unspoken words as Clover's eyes ran over her body. Her attention was once again drawn to her own belly, it had thoroughly engorged itself over the last couple months. It had even gotten to a point where it even showed through her disguise. Of course, she wasn't the only one that was carrying by this point, two of the other mares were as well. It wasn't much of a surprise, not with all the time everyone spent together.

"But that's no reason to leave!" Spectrum shouted as he spoke up for the first time in a long while. It was unusual to hear the changeling speak up against Clover, or at all for that matter. He had been shadowing him for months and most of the time, everyone tended to forget he was there. "We can hide you, I'm sure we can. Maybe you could come up with a spell to change your appearance. That should be easy enough, right?"

Clover turned his attention to his twin, for that's what they looked like when they were standing so close together. "And then what?" He retorted. "Even if I managed to elude the princess, I would still be found out eventually."

"But it's only us here," Spectrum retorted. "Nopony here would ever think of exposing you."

Clover then turned his attention to Greengrass, startling the earth pony who wasn't expecting to get pulled into this. "Tell me, Duke Greengrass," said Clover, clearly making sure the pony heard him use his title. "What are the chances that this settlement is now on the map? What are the chances that there will be ponies interested in moving and settling down here?"

The most likely reinstated noble's eyes grew wide as the gears turned in his head. "I expect we'll start seeing pegasi looking for work before the end of the week. We could certainly use the help with getting the weather under control," he said. "The other tribes might take up to a month, but they'll come. Why wouldn't they? We're on a prime piece of land and there's always ponies looking for work. It actually wouldn't be too surprising to see our little settlement turning into a city in the next ten to twenty years."

Clover turned back to Spectrum. "I don't age and I don't injure easily, if at all. With all the new faces that are bound to start showing up, it's only a matter of time before something slips. I think it's for the best if I just disappear until the world forgets all about the pony known as Clover."

"I can see your mind's made up," Clear Shores said with resignation. She had already tried to talk him out of it, even before this impromptu meeting, but her luck hadn't been much better. "But don't think you can simply just disappear, I'll make sure of it. I'll make sure my descendants never have the chance to forget what you did for us, and we'll make sure that you always have a place you can return."

True to his word, Clover was gone by the next morning. Furthermore, Spectrum had vanished alongside him. No one was really all that surprised to see him missing as well. The two of them had been inseparable ever since he had convinced Clover to return in order give Mother the mate she sought after. Mother could still feel faint traces of his consciousness when she reached out through the link. However, by the time she thought to look for him, he was already so far away that she couldn't do much more than confirm he was still alive.

Duke Greengrass' predictions were spot on, and new ponies began to show up before too much time had passed. Sure enough, the first couple pegasi to arrive wasted no time in organizing a local weather team. Once they had a chance to work the sky, the weather was a lot less chaotic from that day forward.

Next came the earth ponies. Unlike the ones who were trained soldiers, these ones were specialized farmers and cultivators. No longer were the ponies of the colony forced to live on nothing but hard grain and whatever they could forage from the wilds, but now they had access to cabbage, cherries, and some peppers that were a bit too spicy until you got used to them.

Clear Shores didn't get a chance to see what the unicorns contributed to the colony. A week before they were expected to arrive, her body was seized by terrible cramps and she was forced to retreat to her underground sanctuary to lay her final egg.

"How is she?" Greengrass stood deep in the most fortified part of the colony. Changelings clung to the walls, ready to come to Mother's aid at a moment's notice should the need arise.

Red Cross pushed open a flap and stepped out from the back room along with a doctor she had managed to find among the unicorns that could be trusted to keep a secret. "She's weak," said the nameless doctor. "If I had more time to study the physiology of these changelings, I could tell you more. But from what I can tell, she seems to be directing every scrap of energy she can get her hooves on towards keeping her egg alive."

"That makes sense," said Greengrass as he nodded along. "She's been really protective over the last couple months, ever since she laid her egg."

Red Cross placed a hoof on his shoulder, a solemn look on her face. "She asking for you," she said.

"Me?" He looked back at her in confusion. "What could she possibly want from me?" He asked as he followed his partner into the back room.

There wasn't much to the inside of the chamber except for a hollowed out space. The changeling queen lay in the center curled around a large green egg. A trickle of energy dripped off her horn as she guided it down to her unborn young. The queen's body had grown thin and the cracks in her chitin, which had mostly healed by the time she secluded herself, were now far more pronounced than they had ever been. Furthermore, her emerald eyes, which had once contributed to her piercing gaze, were clouded by a milky film, and they didn't show any reaction to the creatures in the room.

"You said she was weak," the duke gasped at her appearance. "You didn't say it had gotten this bad."

"Mother has been getting worse by the day," said Number Eight, one of the two guards that stayed by her side day and night. Them and their partner, Number Nine, had been the sole changelings that refused to take on permanent pony identities. Instead they had kept to their appointed task of taking care of the hive's young and producing jelly to store the hive's excess love. That supply had run out shortly after the queen laid her egg, the needs of the soon to be born queen as voracious as they were.

"The egg should've hatched long ago, all the signs are there," Number Nine piped in. "We just can't feed it enough love so it has the strength to break free."

"Is that him?" Mother's voice was raspy and barely came out in a whisper. "Is that Greengrass?"

"I'm here," he said as he stepped closer, the concern clear on his face. "You shouldn't push yourself."

The corner of her mouth turned up into a weak smile. "There will be plenty of time to rest later. I need... I need to say this while I still can."

It was more than apparent how badly the queen was faring, so instead of continuing to insist that she rest, the stallion took a closer step so he could hear her more clearly.

"When I'm gone, I need you to look after my daughter," she said, those few words seemed to take most of her waning strength.

Greengrass snapped his head back so his eyes met hers. "But you can't die," he protested. "If you die, then..."

"Then the guard dies as well," Red Cross finished the statement. "We know. We've been busy preparing the remaining drones for this."

He looked back at his partner with tears in his eyes. "But you told me there was a way..."

Red shook her head, "there is, but that window closed months ago. We no longer have the time or means to take that option." She stepped forward to nuzzle him, hoping to provide some small comfort, "I was hoping the pony doctor would have another solution to help us save Mother, but she's already dying and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"Why me, though?" He leaned into the support, the tears still rolling down his face.

Mother's eyes seemed to watch the two of them even though she could no longer see. "The love you have shared with Red has been some of the strongest in the colony and what she's shared with me has played a big part in helping my daughter mature." She carefully rubbed at the surface of the egg she was clutching. "She is just as much your daughter as she is Clover's and she'll need guidance. I can't think of anypony else as well suited to the task as you."

"But it was our fault that the hive ended up in such a sorry state," he argued back. "Why would you trust something so important to me?"

A weak laugh escaped her lips. "That feels like a lifetime ago, now. You're not the same pony you once were, none of us are. Promise me," the words took a visible toll on her. "Promise me you'll look after my daughter."

"But I..." His words were cut off as another set of lips pressed against his own.

Red Cross pulled away from the contact, her own eyes shedding tears. "We didn't have long together and we might've had longer, but Mother needs us to help her one last time."

"One last time?" He looked back at her in confusion. "What are you going to do?"

"We're hoping a large surge of energy will make her egg hatch," Number Eight said, their voice devoid of any emotion.

"Mother plans to give everything her life has left to see it happen and since we can't live without her," Number Nine continued. "We'll be joining her."

"Just promise us that you'll look after the new queen," Red Cross begged as she held him close.

"Fine," he choked out, realizing there was no way to talk them out of this. "I promise." Red Cross reluctantly pulled herself away from the embrace and a green flash of fire later, there were three changeling guards and a dying queen in the room.

A pink mist began to leak from the bodies of the guards and started circulating around the room. A dull hum shook the air as the mist began to collect around the fallen queen. Her body glowed and for the first time in weeks she pushed herself up to a sitting position. Color seemed to pull itself out of the room as the bodies of Eight and Nine suddenly dropped to the ground. Red Cross, Number Three, wasn't far behind as she collapsed alongside her siblings, the light now gone from her eyes. Finally it was the queen's turn as the numerous cracks throughout her chitin began to dull as she pulled everything that remained into a single point at the tip of her horn.

With a force of will that would have made any creature jealous, the power she now held left her in its journey to the unborn life in her care. The egg sucked in every ounce of energy that was offered to it and when the last of the light was pulled inside, its slimy surface began to tremble.

The queen's body fell to the ground in a heap beside her egg. Her breathing stopped and she lay motionless on the ground. Her heart ground to a stop and as the last iota of strength left her, a single crack broke the surface of her egg.

"AHH!!" Spectrum cried out as it felt like someone had just run a hot spike through the back of his skull. Fortunately, they were traveling alone through the desert, so no one was around to watch as his disguise rapidly fell apart.

"Spectrum? What's wrong?!" Clover was by his side in an instant. The changeling began shivering as he lay on the ground, he was starting to feel cold, despite the hot sand that ran through the holes in his legs. His mind felt like it was tearing itself apart, and everything felt far too quiet.

"I don't know," he said. Something didn't feel right, this wasn't like anything he had ever felt before. He couldn't even find the right words to describe what he was feeling. He tried to reach out to the hive mind only to find himself completely alone. That can't be right. "Mother was there a second ago, but now... now I can't feel any of them."

"What happened to her?" Clover grabbed and carefully shook his friend to get his attention. "What happened to Clear Shores?" He asked, using her pony name.

"I... I don't know," Spectrum quivered as he desperately tried to find an answer while enduring the pain that threatened to split his head open. "Last thing I heard was that Mother was having trouble hatching her egg. She was even considering..." His eyes grew wide as he realized what had happened. "Oh no," he gasped. "She actually did it."

"What?!" Clover snapped. "What did she do?!"

"Mother's dead... She sacrificed herself and..." He went back to clutching his head, the pain was unbearable and it felt like he was being torn apart from the inside.

"Stay with me," Clover said in a panic as he scanned the horizon. He scooped up the changeling in his magic, and a quick flash of light later, they found themselves in the shade of a palm tree. "Does that help?"

It would if the sun had anything to do with what was wrong. Spectrum weakly shook his head, but he couldn't summon the energy to speak. He was forced to just lay there, paralyzed by the pain as he was. It didn't even register to him as Clover's magic squeezed through the cracks in his chitin and began to probe his insides.

As the world around him went black and whatever was happening to him continued to tear him apart, a singular light peered down at him. Desperate for anything that would mean an end to the pain, he reached for it, unaware of what he was really doing.

The instant he touched it, a soothing warmth washed over him. It worked its way into his chitin and into the rest of his body. Euphoria filled his mind as the darkness began peeling away from his vision. He never lost sight of the light he held, and when the darkness finished clearing, he found a relieved Clover standing over him.

"Are you still with me?" He asked.

Spectrum easily nodded his head, the pain that was consuming him quickly becoming a distant memory. Far from it, he felt good, better than he had felt in his entire life. He looked down at his own body, surprised to see the chitin had taken on a dark green color. Gone were the familiar holes that had always filled his legs, and on his chest were what looked like three pitch black gemstones.

He looked back at Clover, the confusion clear on his face. "What just happened?"

The surface of the pool, which had been mostly undisturbed over the last week, exploded as a face broke through the surface. The being that face belonged to scrambled about until his hooves found solid ground. Once he had managed to pull himself free of his viscous bedding, Spectrum began coughing violently as the contents, that had worked its way into his lungs, expelled itself.

As the queen's attendants helped him clean the slime that still clung to his body, they got their first real look at the anomalous changeling that had arrived alongside their patriarch. They hadn't been able to tell much about his appearance through the bandages he had been wearing. The only thing they had seen before were his wings, which even now were stretched out behind him, whole and unblemished, as they dried themselves off.

"So," he said, his previous annoyance working its way back to the surface. "Was the time you spent digging around in my head worth all the trouble?"

Sapphire lightly nodded as she continued to hold a glass of something cold against the side of her head. "We actually learned quite a bit," she said with a tired smile. "We have scarce few records from the founding of the city, but we've been able to fill in a lot of the gaps with what you provided."

"Did you at least figure out why I'm still alive?" Spectrum asked through staggered breaths. "That's been eating away at me for the last several centuries."

That question seemed to be enough to pull Ruby away from her rabid theorizing, evidenced by the thick cloud of chalk dust that was currently floating over some very full blackboards. "Oh I've got so many ideas on that front," she said as she slid over.

"At first I thought that it might've been all the time you've spent around an alicorn like Clover," she started. "But then I realized that would be silly. I mean, imagine if all the ponies that hang around Celestia started living much longer."

"So..." Spectrum started to say, but was cut off as Ruby began to trail off into her own little world.

"Continuous exposure to the source material must have caused a synchronous effect over a long period of time," she said as she went back to looking over her notes. "That doesn't explain how a partial deep-bond joined him to the parent without her being aware." She seemed to think over it the problem. "It could be an advanced mutation to the link that was instigated by heightened emotions. That one night did seem pretty intense."

"Umm..." Spectrum wasn't following at all.

"That might account for the severing feedback," Ruby rubbed at her chin. "The link being in a fragile state at the moment of deterioration might account for survival instinct taking over and latching onto whatever it could." She tapped at the board a few more times, her eyes lighting up like genius had struck her right in the face.

"Eureka!!!" She cheered. "That's it!" She began rapidly scratching a fresh set of notes. "He had already formed half a bond, and when that bond was severed, he latched onto the other half of his own genome. Clover was right there. It would've been easy, especially as close as they had grown. That would also account for the longevity."

Spectrum looked to Sapphire, hoping that she could shed some light on what her mother was talking about. He certainly couldn't follow her train of thought.

Sapphire finished taking a long drink from her glass before returning it to the side of her head. There was a slight glow to the space below her eyes, hinting that she was drinking something a bit stronger than water. "Short answer," she said, clearly not drunk enough yet to stop making sense. "Congratulations. You're a changeling guard. Only you're bound to an alicorn instead of a changeling queen."

"But how am I still alive?" That was the original question after all.

Sapphire sighed, apparently this changeling didn't know all the details of his own race. "Changeling guards enjoy a longer than normal natural life," she said. "As long as you don't go and get yourself run over by a carriage or something, you won't expire until Clover does. At least, as far as we know."

His eyes widened as the information finally clicked in his head. However, he couldn't spare the time to comprehend his longevity much longer, because at that moment, Ruby had taken a hold of him, pulling him out of his stupor.

She was breathing heavily and a hint of drool was dripping down from the corner of her mouth. "Think of everything we could learn," she panted. "With a specimen as well preserved as you are..."

That was more than enough crazy for Spectrum to want to make a quick exit. With his body and, more importantly, his magic restored, he began casting a spell. Even though he hadn't been able to use it since he'd been hurt, the spell was a familiar one, and endless hours of practice had made him far more proficient with it than even the best spellcasters could boast. His dark green chitin began to turn even darker. It was quickly as black at the creature that was holding onto him, but it didn't stop there. It grew darker still until his very body began fading from the room.

Ruby fell forward as Spectrum's body became just as tangible as a shadow. She pushed herself up and whirled around just in time to see his silhouette spare her a quick wink before completely vanishing from the room.