As Spike shares a tender moment with his beloved, something is watching them. Despite this unnoticed intruder, they continued their embrace, until a twig suddenly broke. Snapping to attention, Spike spun around to see what was interrupting their moment, only to see Twilight walking towards them.
”Hello Spike, Thor. How are you two enjoying the party?”
Spike lets his guard down, before chuckling.
”Hey Twi. We’re enjoying it, aren’t we love?”
Spike turned to Thorax, expecting him to nod, but instead was completley rigid. Looking to Spike, he spoke, fear evident in his voice.
”That’s not Twilight.”

Spike raised an eyebrow, before looking back to Twilight. Now that He mentioned it, Twilight did look a little… off.Her smile was a bit too wide, and her eyes were a bit too dull. And what was that smell coming off of her? It smelt oddly like Thorax. Before he could say anything else, Twilight’s horn lit up in a sickly green, before they were suddenly blinded. Quickly covering his eyes, Spike heard the tell tale sound of flames igniting, before hearing what sounded like a big fly past his head. As his vision returned, nothing was left in front of him but green embers. He looked back to Thorax, who was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.
”No…”

As the bug continued to fly away, it was once again engulfed in green fire. Where once was a small beetle was a rather large pony-like Insectoid. They breathed a sigh of relief. That strange pony and griffon almost got him caught! No matter, he had gotten away with the information he needed. He knew when the royal wedding was to be planned, as well as the guard schedule for the next year. And he now knew about a second possible wedding to infiltrate! He turned south, and began to fly as fast as he could. The queen needed to know this, as soon as possible. Grinning to himself, young Prince Pharynx couldn’t help but salivate at the thought of what was next.

As Thorax stood there shaking, Spike launched himself towards him, protection instincts kicking in. He embraced the shuddering changeling, wrapping him with both his arms and wings.
”Its okay, you’re safe. Nothing can hurt you , nothing can get to you. It’s okay.”
Slowly, Thorax stopped shaking, but instead began to sob.
”Thorax, my love, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you this shaken up by anything.”
Thorax took a few deep breaths, before wiping away the tears at his eyes.
”The hive is here.”
”You mean that was…”
”Yes. That was a Changeling. I don’t know why, but they’be come to Equestria. And whatever they have planned is not good.”

After hours of flying, the hive was finally in sight. Quickly reaching out with the hive mind, he found the closest guard and sent them a message.
[This is Prince Pharynx, general of the hive guard. I have returned from my recon mission, and bring important data.]
After a moment of nothing, a response echoes through his mind.
[Confirmed. Welcome back your highness. The queen is waiting for your report.]
Nodding to himself, he flies to the nearest landing pad and lands, before heading inside.

”How did you know? I mean, other than a few minute details, it was perfect.”
”A few things keyed me in. For one, did you notice their scent?”
”Yeah. It was like you, but much more potent. And also it smelt… somewhat malevolent somehow. I don’t know how to explain it.”
”That was his pheromones. It’s how we distinguish each other while disguised. But because I can’t disguise, I produce next to none. Another reason was the emotional void.”
”Whats that?”
”Changelings can feel emotions, but for most of us they cannot be sensed by any creatures. Not even other changelings. The emotional void is the result of that, a small area around them devoid of any emotions. Every changeling has it, Except… except for me. For some reason Cadence could sense the love I hold for you. “
”Wouldnt they have been able to feed off of that though?”
”I don’t know. No changelings ever tried, because they all hated me. I was a freak of nature, and only seen as a waste of space. ”

The young prince walked through the twisting, dark halls of the hive. As he dived deeper within, he could hear the chittering of others within the hive mind. Quickly, he made it to the throne room, and kneeled before his queen.
” My queen, I have returned from my recon mission.”
She looked down from upon her seat, grinning deviously upon her son.
”Ah, Pharynx. How has the mission gone for you my son.”
”It went almost flawlessly my queen. I was able to extract all the information needed with almost no issues.”
The queens smile morphed into a frown, as she leaned down towards her son.
”Almost?”
Pharynx winced, before continuing his recap.
”Yes, almost. Towards the end, as I was sneaking out, I discovered a recently engaged couple upon the balcony.I had already learned their names, so I thought that removing them from my extraction point would be easy. I quickly transformed into a pony I had seen speaking to them earlier, and attempted to get them back to the party. But that’s where things took a turn south.”

”I was always a target for them. They would beat me up, steal my rations, and make fun of me. Even my own mother hit me, calling me a useless freak. Only my brother ever cared about me. He tried to toughen me up and train me to defend myself, but it wasn’t enough. I was too weak. Eventually, I was thrown out, and the rest is history.”
Thorax had begun to cry again, unbeknownst to him. As his eyes leaked, he was suddenly embraced even tighter.
”Its okay thorax, let it all out. Let the pain flow out of you. You don’t need to bottle it up anymore.”
As Spike comforted him, Thorax’s eyes grew wetter, before he burst out sobbing again. He returned the embrace and cried into his beloved’s shoulder. After a few minutes, he had calmed down enough to break away from the embrace and speak again. ”The hive is evil, and the queen will stop at nothing to get what she wants. We have to warn the princess about this.”

”I had fooled the griffon, but for some reason the pony was able to see through me. When he pointed it out, the griffon also noticed. So I had to quickly blind them and escape.”
”And you let them live?”
”I had no choice my queen. They were close to the Princess, so I could not kill them and get away with it.”
”Hmph. A pity. Looks like we’ll need to be extra careful from now on.”
”One more thing, my queen. I also noticed something… different about the pony. They radiated love, just like the Griffon. It was incredibly pure, almost the purest I had ever seen.But it was off. It was inedible, and had a green tint to it. Very similar to hi-“
”Do not mention him.Yes, I know his sudden death in that tunnel collapse was heartbreaking, but there was nothing we could do. Now stop bringing back old wounds.”
Pharynx once again winced, before continuing.
”Yes my queen, sorry my queen.”
”Perhaps due to the stress of your escape being blocked, you made a mistake. But just to be safe, I shall have an infiltrator keep an eye on him. You are dismissed.”
Pharynx nodded, before getting up and leaving. This left the queen alone, letting her think.
(So, the little freak survived all these years. No matter, I’ll just have to keep Pharynx away from the truth. Even if I have to kill that mistake.)

As the night went on, the party died down. Most ponies either left, or had headed off to bed long ago. Except for the two sisters, who sat upon a balcony, and watching their city.
”Yet another beautiful night my sister. I missed you so.”
”I missed thou as well sister. I must thank thee once again for helping to save me from the darkness.”
Celestial smiles, and was about to continue to talk to her sister, when the balcony door opened up. Celestia craned her neck, and saw as Thorax and Spike walked up to them.
”Ah, hello you two. What can I do for you?”
”Good evening princess. Sadly, we must warn you.”
”Just a few minutes ago, we ran into a changeling infiltrator.”
Celestia’s warm smile was quickly wiped from her face, while Luna looked confused.
”Which Changeling kingdom would be foolish enough to spy upon us?”
”The only one left. The changeling empire.”

”What does thou mean sister. Are there not tens, nay hundreds, of kingdoms?”
Celestia sighed before turning towards her sister.
”At one point there were, until a few hundred years ago. Their delegates stopped showing up, much to our concern. Then one day, a heavily wounded changeling crashed through a window. In its last breaths, it explained how a queen had began to war with every other kingdom, and had conquered them all. As it died, it’s last word was her name: Chrysalis.”
”That slimy cockroach! When we get our hands upon her, she shall know the wrath of the moon!”
Celestia sighed before turning to the couple.
”Thank you two for your warning. I shall make sure the proper measures are taken. Good night.”
The couple bowed, before turning around and leaving. As they left, Luna turned towards her sister.
”I assume the pony is actually a changeling.”
”Yes. And he is the last hope for their kind.”
Thy words confuse me. What do you mean by that?”
”He is the last living royal changeling other than the tyrant emperor. And more than that, he has learned how to love. The love he shares with Spike is almost as pure and potent as that between Shining armor and Cadence, and could be what finally breaks the curse placed upon his people so long ago. Should he fully mature and create his own hive, then they would bring about a revolution, and redeem their souls from corruption. But should he fall… then their people are doomed to a life of trickery and evil, and I will have broken a promise I made to an old friend.”

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long to upload this, life has been crazy. But don’t worry, I’ll be updating more often soon. Anyways, here’s the start of the next chapter in this story. Hope you enjoy!