It felt like hours before your body finally regained consciousness. When you opened your eyes, all you could see at first were smudges tilted sideways, making you realize you were still lying on your side. As soon as you could feel your legs again, you slowly sat up. You groaned as you rubbed the left side of your abdomen; it wasn't as sore as when you were first knocked out, but it still felt a bit tender.

Damn, You thought. Those ponies sure know how to bruise a bug.

You closed your eyes and recollected your memories. The last thing that happened to you was that you were knocked out of the sky by a stallion who knew Rainbow Dash, but before that you were trying to catch up to your infiltration team after hearing a message about the hive...

You gasped and shot your eyes wide open.

"The hive! Oh shit, I gotta get back there!"

With no time to lose, you galloped across the grassy field before buzzing your wings and taking to the air. Fortunately for you, you'd been knocked out facing the direction of the hive's location, so you didn't have to worry about getting lost. As you flew you hoped that everyone in the hive was okay.

Especially one changeling in particular.

Fields, forests, and mountains whizzed by underneath you as you flew. Normally you enjoy a speedy flight, but right now you were more focused on reaching your home as soon as possible. Hopefully you'll make it in time to flush out the intruders. If the rest of your comrades had already taken care of them when you arrived...well, you hoped that the queen would be forgiving of you when you explained your absence.

Eventually the landscape below you changed: green grass gave way to brown sand, the trees were black, crooked, and barren, and jagged gray rocks stuck up out of the ground. The Badlands. You were getting close.

Eventually, you could see a familiar jagged structure on the horizon.

Miraculously, the exterior of the hive was still intact, which made you wonder where exactly that explosion you heard came from. As you flew towards the ground you noticed a severe lack of guards outside the entrance. This would've been unusual...if it wasn't for the fact that the hive was currently dealing with intruders. Perhaps they were inside trying to deal with them?

You landed on the ground and stood in front of the massive cavernous mouth that served as the hive's main entrance, staring into the darkness beyond. You took a deep breath, exhaled, and proceeded into the hive.

To any outside species, the interior of the changeling hive was nothing more than a labyrinth; a giant maze of dug-out tunnels and long hallways and twisting staircases that seemed to loop around themselves. To changelings, it wasn't actually as confusing as it seemed. The looping tunnels were nothing more than an illusion casted by the queen herself, as a means of throwing off any outside forces that dared to invade her people's home. This illusionary spell did not affect changelings, so they knew exactly which paths were the correct ones.

As you trotted through the halls and tunnels, you noticed that you were the only one present. There were no fellow soldiers around, no guards, not even a single drone who was carrying out their usual maintenance duties. Like before you theorized that everyone was too busy chasing the intruders out of the hive.

Eventually you came to your destination: a curved tunnel that led straight to the throne room. As you made your way up, you saw that sunlight was pouring out into the tunnel from the other side.

Now that was definitely not normal.

Exiting the tunnel, you were blinded by the bright light, which caused you to close your eyes and lift one of your poreous forelegs in front of your face. When you opened your eyes again, your jaw dropped.

The throne room was in ruins. The ceiling and some of the walls had either been blasted off or caved in, several empty cocoons were scattered on the floor and busted open, spilling their green, juicy contents out, and worst of all the queen's massive throne had been reduced to rubble.

You were too late.

For a few seconds you just stood there, unable to move or speak. All you could do was stare at the damage that had already been done. The ponies you and your comrades had imprisoned had escaped, and you couldn't stop them in time.

Near the throne (or rather what was left of it) you saw a large pile of rocks. Realizing what that meant, you quickly flew over there, using every ounce of your insect strength to move the rubble out of the way, in hopes that the one under it was still alive. The only thing you found buried underneath the rocks was a small, black crown.

Levitating it up to your eye level, you recognized who it belonged to: her majesty.

You began to sniff sadly.

"Blue Eyes? Issat you, dude?"

Your ears perked up at the sound of the voice behind you, which caused you to drop the crown. You recognized whose it was, but it didn't sound distorted like all the other changelings. Smiling, you turned around to face the voice's source...only for your smile to fall into a surprised frown.

Three creatures stood before you. They resembled changelings at first glance, right down to having single-colored eyes, translucent insect wings, and carapaces on their backs. However instead of having charcoal black chitin like you, their exoskeletons were brightly colored and there was a severe lack of holes in both their legs and wings. Their ears were now frilled and more pony-like and each of their horns ended in a short, two-pronged tip. You also noticed that the color of their thoraxes and abdomens didn't exactly match the rest of their body parts.

The bug in the center-the one who had a light gray body, yellow eyes, an off-white torso, and an indigo carapace-spoke to you.

"Man, I didn't recognize you with your back turned like that! Where ya been, man?"

There was no denying it; that creature sounded exactly like the party animal from the night before.

"We've been looking for you ever since you didn't show up to the hive with the rest of our squad." The bug on the left stated. His body was yellow, with magenta eyes and an orange torso along with a hot pink carapace.

At last, you finally mustered up the willpower to speak.

"Wh-what the hell happened to you guys?"

"You mean our bodies?" Asked the yellow bug. "Well, after we arrived at the hive we saw that most of our fellow changelings had undergone the same transformation as us, and all the ponies we'd previously captured were free. When Starlight Glimmer saw us, she told us not to be afraid to change our ways."

"Although we were a bit hesitant at first, we eventually accepted it and with a bright flash-poof! We turned into these." Said a lime green bug, who had a yellow carapace, a lavender torso, and blue eyes that were a slightly darker shade than yours.

You stood there silently, soaking in this absurd information.

The light gray bug added, "Too bad the queen didn't accept Starlight's offer: she just slapped her hoof away and flew off." His face became a stern scowl. "Good riddance. With the hive entering a new golden age, who needs a selfish ruler who lets her people starve?"

It was this moment your heart sank. The queen? Selfish and letting her subjects-most of which were her children-starve? You never recalled her doing such a thing...did she? Your lower jaw began to quiver as tears formed within your eyes.

"No...no, that's not true! That's impossible!" You exclaimed. "She never starved her own kingdom! If anything, she'd starve herself to let us live with enough love to last two winters.

And as for her being selfish, while it is true that she has a bit of an ego, as queen she is sworn to treat her subjects with respect and honor. For crying out loud she congratulated us when we took over Princess Twilight's castle! Would a 'selfish ruler' be so happy with our performance?"

The three changelings (if you could even call them that) just stared at you as you continued to rant.

"I mean, who exactly told you these vulgar things about her majesty?"

"Thorax, of course." Replied the lime green bug. "After he stepped up and became our king, he made a vow that no changeling will ever go hungry again under his rule."

Thorax. That name sounded familiar to you, but where did you hear it?

Now you remember! Thorax was the name of an infiltrator who was born on the same day as you. You both went under the same training, were both stationed in different parts of the hive in your adult years, and the two of you even took part in the first attack on Canterlot; you never saw him fighting the element bearers like you were, but he was present when the queen ordered you all to break through Shining Armor's force field once he got mind controlled.

But you still had no idea how a simple soldier became the new ruler of the hive.

"Where is he now?" You asked.

"He's over in Canterlot attending a royal summit." Replied the yellow bug. "We're on our way there right now and you're welcome to join us."

"Yeah! We can still host that big victory party I mentioned back in Ponyville!" Added the gray one.

The lime green bug chuckled. "Y'know, I bet you and Pinkie Pie would get along very well."

"Oh boy," The yellow bug said "If you and her ever crossed paths, there would be more chaos than that draconequis."

The trio let out a chorus of bubbly giggles as they walked out of the throne room, the noise echoing through the tunnel until there was silence.

Once again you were by yourself in the ruins of the throne room, trying to process everything that had just happened. Those...things sounded like your comrades-even acted like them too- and yet, their appearances looked like no changeling you'd ever seen before. And apparently they weren't the only ones who looked like this, as all the other members of the hive had undergone the same transformation, with Thorax-a simple infiltrator just like you-somehow stepping up as the new ruler of the hive after the queen turned tail and fled.

Tears began to roll down your cheeks; you were now the last changeling still loyal to the queen...unless...

Wiping the tears off your face, you closed your eyes and began to focus on your subconscious, hoping that your hypothesis would be true. Once you were fully focused you sent out a message.

"This is Ponyville Infiltrator 5. If there are any other changelings with a connection, please respond."

You waited a few seconds, which gradually turned into a couple minutes, before you sadly sighed. Perhaps you truly were the last one after al-

"Ponyville Infiltrator 5, this is Swarmleader Pharynx. I read you loud and clear."

Your face suddenly lit up as you heard that familiar voice that brought you here in the first place.

"Swarmleader! Boy, am I glad to hear you. I honestly thought I was the last true changeling for a moment...good thing I was wrong."

"Well, I guess that makes two of us, soldier."

"What exactly happened?" You asked. "The throne room is a mess!"

"After I sent the message to all the other infiltration teams, I heard someone shouting to some changelings to 'share love' or something like that." Replied Pharynx. "Then the hall me and my squad were in began to tremble and we heard something go boom on the far end of the hive, so we flew over to investigate.

As we got close to the throne room, we heard the queen cursing someone named Starlight Glimmer and swearing revenge on her for ruining her plans. We arrived to see the queen flying away to parts unknown, with the throne room being in the exact state you described."

"Damn, things really went super sour, huh?"

"When we saw that all the other changelings in the room had transformed into a bunch of pony-like freaks, I decided that we were no longer welcome here, so I ordered my squad to hightail it out of the hive. I suggest you do the same thing, Infiltrator 5."

Like before, you stood there and soaked in all the information Pharynx shared with you, before proceeding to ask him another question.

"Swarmleader, I was talking with some of our...former comrades...and they told me that Thorax promised to never let the hive starve like the queen apparently did. Do you know anything about this?"

"Oh, you heard about that, huh? Well here's the truth: when Thorax came back from the Crystal Empire he bluntly admitted to me that he lied to this purple dragon he befriended about how the queen treats her fellow changelings. Seems that rumors spread like wildfire in Equestria."

"Well I for one am calling bullshit on his lies. Her majesty would never treat her subjects like disposeable minions, and she most certainly wouldn't starve them all on purpose!" You stated. "In fact, she once said that as queen it's her job to find food for her subjects. Why would a queen look for a good source of love if she's just gonna hoard it all for herself like a dragon? Tell me that!"

"My brother is very gullible...and very short-sighted. He doesn't know the first thing about running a hive."

"Have you tried contacting him and telling him that he's inexperienced?"

"Negative. His hivemind connection has been severed; must've happened shortly after he transformed into that big ugly deerbug thing. Another reason why his reign won't last long, but I'm getting ahead of myself. You better leave the hive if you wanna stay loyal to the queen and the true changeling way of life."

"Right you are, Swarmleader. I'll speak to you again when I get the chance to."

"Affirmative soldier, I gotta check up on the rest of my squad. Swarmleader Pharynx out."

You sighed happily, thankful that you weren't the only true changeling anymore. Even so, you still couldn't believe that Thorax-the swarmleader's own brother-used his own dishonesty to drive the queen away from the hive, who now worshiped him as their new king. Looking towards the rubble, you lit up your horn and brought the crown you dropped earlier toward you.

As you held it up to your face and stared at it, you knew only one thing: you'll never accept that weakling as your leader.

There were several more of those brightly-colored bug ponies trying to pass off as changelings on your way out. Some noticed you and either said hello or waved while giving a friendly, flat-toothed smile, but you didn't acknowledge them. They don't deserve to be considered a part of your species.

You couldn't even bring yourself to calling them changelings.

The sun was beginning to set by the time you exited the hive, in which the entrance was still unguarded (yet another reason why that so-called king knows nothing about running a hive). You flew up into the air and stopped when you were several feet away from the hive, looking back at your home.

You shook your head.

No. This wasn't your home-not anymore. As long as those...creatures still occupied it, you were not welcome there anymore as far as you're aware.

Fuck you, Thorax. You thought as a single tear rolled down your cheek. And fuck that Starlight pony for giving you more allies.

You began to fly away-far away-as the hive grew smaller and smaller behind you. The landscape below you changed once again from dry, barren, deserts to lush, grassy fields, marking that you were once again entering pony territory.

As you flew you looked down at your front hooves, which were tightly clutching the black crown you salvaged earlier. Staring into the emerald baubles that decorated the tips you felt your heart grow a little heavy. You sighed as you looked ahead, focusing on your new personal mission:

You needed to find the only other changeling that you considered to be your true leader.

You must find the queen.

Author's Note

Here's chapter 2! I wanna take this opprotunity to say thank you to everyone who faved this story yesterday; I honestly did not expect it to blow up so fast. Once again, thank you.