As Guiding Light keeps grinning to herself while taking care to show a significant amount of her sharp teeth, her hoofsteps echo through the near-empty halls of the dim corridors of the castle during the late evening hours. She’s wandering aimlessly but not without a goal, and shooting a slow and examining glance at any openly nervous servants or guards straining to keep their cool, while at the same time doing absolutely nothing that could be interpreted as hostile, at least by her limited knowledge of pony behavior. She could move in complete silence even on the stone floor and, eventually, she might opt do so just to unnerve any staff further, but for now she simply moves in the way of a hunting predator, the smooth plates of her carapace sliding over themselves like the best-fitting, full-body armor of a master craftspony. Unlike changelings whose both warrior and infiltrator forms always lean towards a heavily sensual and sexualized shapes, for obvious reasons, Guiding, while still skinny from long-term starvation, is starting again to resemble the wiry and sinewy look of a practical warrior.

She’s on the hunt, and everyone who sees her can immediately feel it in their bones as their genetic memory immediately conjures up fear of fangs and claws in the dark from the times when prehistoric ponies still lived in caves. And yet, she does nothing directly threatening, even going out of her way to step to the side whenever a servant rushes past. It’s shocking how easy it is to elicit fear just by existing, and Guiding is putting on an impressive show.

Whatever happened during the changeling invasion that dad talked about, it left a serious mark on everyone. Our resemblance to changelings might make it more difficult to fit into society but, for the time being, it seems it’s making it possible to feed without attracting direct attention. The ponies will eventually get used to us and that avenue of feeding will close, but at the same time that’ll make it easier to finally make friends here.

Just like Guiding inside the castle, 1 is doing the same outside on the castle grounds, while most of the other dreamlings are walking in pairs around the city with their chaperones, disguised by clothing that’s not overly suspicious thanks to the beginning winter. They are all Guiding’s kin as well as subjects, so in her mind it’s up to her to secure food and give them time to re-learn things and experience as much of the safe world as possible before the terms of the new deal with Celestia have them leave the city. The final group remaining inside the castle are attending a reading, writing, and counting lesson.

We used to know all that. We intercepted and read enemy orders, we decoded the secret ones using ciphers we tortured out of enemies, we wrote reports of hostile forces, and now most of us can barely put sentences together in our heads, much less put them down on paper. That’s just more of a reason for me to focus on the food, since only I and our top ranks can at least talk properly. We’ll have to absorb all we can via the hive mind and catch up on the rest of our studies in person later.

While the Royal Guards patrolling or standing watch on the lower floors of the castle are an easy source of food, the Nightguards guarding the top two floors are clearly a mentally stronger lot. Whether it’s different training, more experience, or something related to serving under the command of Nighmar- Princess Luna-

Guiding involuntarily growls to herself.

-they’re wary of her but not as afraid. As she’s passing a door with the plaque reading “Nightguard Commander, knock before entering”, a brown-maned, grey-coated bat pony mare with amber eyes even waves at her to draw her attention. The Queen recognizes her from the ambush in the dungeons - she was the one who got angry when Guiding tried to access 65536’s mind. Her ‘on the hunt’ demeanor changes immediately and she straightens up, tilting her head quizzically. The mare puts a hoof to her mouth, points to the closed glass door leading onto a balcony across the hall from the office, and whispers:

“You have to see this, Your Majesty!”

Matching the mare’s behavior, Guiding’s previously loud hoofsteps go completely silent as she carefully walks over to the balcony window and peeks through. In the light of a single crystal torch on the outer wall just above the door, 65536 and 19 are lying on the floor, their eyes locked on a picture book to which the former is pointing with one hoof while talking and wildly gesticulating with the other. 19, on the other hoof, is just slowly mouthing words. Either of the two has a pony plushie on their back, 19 one of Princess Celestia and 65536 one -Guiding briefly scowls- suspiciously resembling Nightmare Moon, which must be Princess Luna.

Plush toys full of love, is that what 65536 said? Well, at least ‘19’ will be alright.

Guiding decides against tapping into 19’s mind or interrupting the two in any way, and sneaks away back to the bat mare.

“I wasn’t informed. 19 is supposed to be attending a lesson with the others,” comments Guiding quietly.

“Please, don’t be mad,” the mare keeps whispering, “65536 offered itself as a tutor for this evening, your 19 was feeling experimental, and the Commander signed off on it. They’re only doing the final reading part of the lesson.”

“I’m not angry, I just need to know where everyone is,” restates Guiding, “We’re in an unknown territory and surrounded by extremely tentative allies. If one of us doesn’t stick to a schedule, I must know why.”

“I’m sorry,” the mare offers an apologetic smile, “All of you act detached-” she suddenly waves her hoof defensively, “-and I’m not blaming you or anything, so when I saw one of you warming up to 65536 I had to take the chance. To be completely honest, I thought one of the others attending the lesson would do that hive link thing and inform you.”

“We’re not allowed to feed, and mind links are an energy sink we can’t afford right now,” explains Guiding.

They know more about us than I thought or, more likely, about the changeling part of us.

“Oh,” the mare pauses, “Sorry, that didn’t occur to me,” she shakes her head, “My name is Gloom. I’m the- one of the Nightguards who are responsible for taking care of 65536. The little drone is so adorable that it always has more than enough love to eat.”

“Is that why 65536 is accepted here even though it used to be an enemy?”

Gloom winces.

“A lot of things happened in the days after the invasion that proved that while drones may be changelings, they were as much victims of their Queen as we were. I know it’s just words to you, but I’m not at liberty to go into detail. 65536 earned our trust, that’s all,” she shrugs, “There’s no reason why you couldn’t do the same.”

“Feeding on love and feeding on fear are incomparable,” Guiding shakes her head, “My only hope is that my father is correct and it’s possible for us to eat love as well… somehow.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Gloom smirks when Guiding raises an eyebrow, “We in the Nightguard know that fear is a useful component of keeping the peace. Our reputation as a species has been steadily improving since Luna’s return, but I can go into any public library and find books that talk about us as vampires,” she shows a single sharp fang, “We know how it feels to be outcasts and our Princess knows how it feels to have next to no allies in this world and be regarded as a monster. There will always be fear for you to eat, and it just might be the fear criminals feel of being brought to justice. Just some food for thought in case that love thing doesn’t work out, hmm?”

“Intriguing idea,” Guiding lets out a heavy sigh, “However, the last thing I want for my kind is to be used as weapons again, whether for good or not. I’ll keep that in mind, though, just in case, as you say, the love thing doesn’t work out.”

“Glad to be of help,” Gloom does a curtsy, a gesture Guiding doesn’t know but which is close enough to bowing she can guess it relates to her Queen status. Unsure how to proceed in a social situation, Guiding decides to be at least partially open:

“Thank you again for showing me that,” she nods towards the balcony, “I’m not used to just chatting, so thank you for a chance to do that as well. I still need to finish my exploration, though.”

“Oh?” Gloom is briefly taken aback by Guiding’s decidedly non-royal behavior before waving it off dismissively, “No worries. I didn’t mean to interrupt your business for long, Your Majesty.”

“And…” Guiding nods and carefully adds, “If you want to, feel free to talk to 19 whenever it has free time. It will be more difficult to get close with the others, but I don’t doubt they’ll appreciate a kind word too.”

“I can’t help wondering, is 19 your version of a drone?” asks Gloom when Guiding resumes her prowling.

“We are all just dreamlings, Miss Gloom,” is all Guiding whispers back, “We were all the same kind of slaves and fodder.”

***

Thanks to the information wrung out of the changeling assassin’s mind, the changeling hive has been discovered. Even under the eternal gloom, thanks to the Badlands being a dry, flat plain the dreamlings have been spotted by changeling guards and the exploratory force of several hundred are now facing a black sea of tens of thousands changelings. Despite the ridiculous numbers advantage, the air is so heavy with fear that dreamlings don’t doubt for a second that they won’t be bested in the war of attrition. In the back of their minds, they briefly feel changeling infiltrators trying to break into their heads and fail immediately, stopped by the dreamlings’ steel will supported by Nightmare Moon’s enslavement spell burned into each one of them immediately after hatching and before their ‘magic resistance’ instinct fully developed.

Without a word, the black tide charges, and Guiding finds herself momentarily stunned by a sudden wave of terrified crying and screaming. The front lines are small changelings, barely reaching Guiding’s barrel, all wide-eyed and mentally controlled by the sadistically smiling lines of higher-ranked changelings using the drones as fodder.

They’re more scared of what’s behind them than of us.

The soft crunch as she kicks the first attacking drone away and its carapace caves in like paper, as if there was no love reinforcing it, will haunt Guiding forever.

In the back stands a changeling as tall as Nightmare Moon herself, watching the battlefield with a victorious smile. Guiding knows she will never hate anyone more than Nightmare Moon, but as the terrified, weeping, and screeching wave of drones hits the dreamling ranks with sheer weight of numbers, Chrysalis comes damn close.

The drones don’t even try to fight, they just flail their forelegs wildly in an attempt to hit anything with their green-glowing hooves. Guiding learns her lesson as the first drone whose strike she carelessly blocks instead of dodging disintegrates the shin of her foreleg without any resistance, and she stumbles on the sudden stump, spikes of pain shooting up through her body. Thanks to the energy provided by terrified drones, she regenerates almost instantly after taking flight for a couple seconds before diving back down with a shockwave that sends the surrounding attackers to the ground.

For the first time in Nightmare Moon’s campaign, Guiding Light fully identifies with the monstrous alicorn’s orders and lets loose. She jumps to the air again, her fly-like wings transform into griffon ones and, with a powerful buffet that blasts the drones trying to fly up as well back onto the ground, she erupts through the air into the ranks of the real enemy, completely alone.

Everything beyond that is a blur.

Ranked changelings get torn to shreds, armored carapaces crack with one blow and shatter with the second, both coming within milliseconds. Top ranks of the hive, Chrysalis’ bodyguards finally feel like the drones they sent to die, laughing, as the changeling Queen orders them to stop what simply can’t be stopped. Numbers don’t help, as even the best coordinated changelings simply get in the way of each other when faced with someone much faster than they are.

A serrated tentacle grows out of Guiding’s back, perfectly tracing a hole in her ambusher’s neck plate and decapitating them in a flash. The rank 3 of the hive is being used by Guiding’s now prehensile and armored tail like a flail, impaled through his eye socket, out of his skull, and wrapped around his neck. Rank 2 gets their head bitten off. Rank 1 is an infiltrator and, as such, mostly helpless as all her mental tricks do nothing to the avatar of bladed death chasing the Queen through the hive’s tunnels.

Fueling herself with fear and empowered by the magic emanating from Nightmare Moon’s enslavement brand inside her, Guiding blasts through the hive’s strongest defenses entirely on her own…

…all to either wipe that smug grin off of Chrysalis’ face, or carve it into her decapitated head forever.

Chrysalis reflexively flees into her throne room and towards her throne - a massive structure made of unknown black stone that nullifies magic, basically an upwards-widening wall full of variously-sized holes with the seat on top.

Guiding catches her just as she’s about to fly up, grabs her by the neck, and rams her face through a hole that’s just a little smaller, shearing Chrysalis’ carapace along with her mane and a horn off of her head. Finally, with a scream of pain and fury, she puts the claws of both of her forelegs together, and smashes down on the back of Chrysalis’ neck, severing both her exoskeleton, flesh, and endoskeleton with a single blow and the sweetest of well-deserved cracks.

Changelings start fleeing as one, at least the ones who survive the sudden emptiness inside their minds caused by the Queen’s death. It would take years to finally wipe out everyone, but the dreamlings decimate whoever they can immediately reach. When Guiding leaves the hive, she finds a sea of confused drones just sitting or lying there, seemingly unsure what’s going on or even where they are. Spurred by her charge, the dreamlings must have rushed through the drones towards the real targets. It only took a couple minutes, but there’s no changeling hive anymore, no resistance, only fleeing victims.

Guiding looks at the nearest drone who just looks back at her, awaiting either orders or death.

Nightmare Moon’s brand in the back of her mind blazes.

KILL THEM ALL!

“N-No…” Guiding croaks, but her foreleg moves on its own, severing the drone’s neck in one blow.

It blinks.

One more time.

Finally, its glassy eyes stay open.

The drone next to it doesn’t try to flee or beg for its life. It just looks up at Guiding with teal, teary eyes, and the Queen sees her own reflection - the reflection of someone with no control over what happens next.

The worst part? Killing the second one is easier.

“No… no no no no…”

KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!

The third one gives the sobbing dreamling Queen a smile followed by a look of surprised relief as it realizes how easy the coming quick death is compared to what the hive’s changeling did to the drones on a daily basis.

Guiding manages to stop herself before executing the next one, but the magical brand demands blood.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE MUST DIE!

Even she can’t resist. The magic is too deep. She can feel its tendrils running from her spine all the way to her hooves. She can’t disobey, she exists to kill-

“‘s okay…” the drone below her quietly breathes out, snapping Guiding out of it, her foreleg raised to kill, “Do it.”

“W-What?” is all she manages to croak.

“I know that look. You don’t wanna do something but if you don’t, you and all your buddies will be tossed into the Crusher or worse - some higher rank will make you hurt them, right?” the drone smiles, “We know how it goes. Do it. It’s better than slowly starving or… droneball. We’re the ball, you know?”

Guiding’s eyes roll to the back of her skull as everything goes red.

KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!

KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!

KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL-

Something inside her mouth cracks.

Several teeth fall out.

The drone waits, patiently.

In a completely calm tone that surprises even herself, Guiding says:

“No.”

Nightmare Moon’s spell isn’t broken, it just is no longer enough to tame her.

“Everyone, stop what you’re do-” she tries to order through her mind link.

KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!

Guiding reels from the mental backlash. The other dreamlings aren’t strong enough. There’s only one thing she can do now.

She grabs the drone and puts it on her back while ordering:

“Kill the small ones quickly and as painlessly as possible.”

“You, drone, what’s your rank?”

“I- I’m 9999,” the drone peeps.

“You’re now one of us. No one will notice. No one cares. Can you grow bigger?”

“I- I don’t have l- love.”

“Do you dissolve your dead for energy like we do?”

“Y- Yes, the high ranks m- made us eat p- pieces-”

Guiding turns around to face the hive with a nasty grin.

“Which piece of your Queen do you want?”

9999’s jaw drops.

***

They were so small…

Guiding bites her lip hard enough to draw blood and to return to here and now. Heavily breathing and with her legs shaking, she can’t recall making her way back to the guest wing of the castle. The massacre of changelings was the first step on a journey that would take fifteen more years. A journey not to victory, but at least to freedom.

No matter what happens to the rest of us, 65536 is proof that ‘19’ can build a new life here, and there’s not a single one of us who deserves it more.

Author's Note

I'm, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too drunk.
And not the bad kind of drunk.
Have a chapter. There won't be one next Monday, but whatever.
Alternate reality 9999 would be the first drone to live for 3(?) years. Just to show how bad 9999's loss really was and that 36658 and 10k were both completely correct.
I didn't proofread this one...