Falling from Grace

Chapters

Chapter One-The State Visit
Chapter Two-The Switch
Chapter Three-Her New Home

Chapter One-The State Visit

"All rise for Her Divine Majesty, the Princess Celestia, Turner of the Sun," said the Lord Chancellor Golden Dawn, a unicorn with yellow fur and a scepter symbol as a cutie mark.

Princess Celestia sat upon her throne and thought. If I don't look properly royal and regal now then I never will be. I've been washed, brushed, my hooves and horn lovingly polished until they gleam. My breastplate, shoes and crown have been cleaned with care for the occasion. Sometimes, just occasionally I wish that all this putting on royal airs was not necessary. That Golden Dawn is too pompous for his own good sometimes.But it is a formal diplomatic mission that is visiting me today, from Queen Chrysalis no less, so one must obey proper protocol, or what would they think of me. I'm representing Equestria here after all. When Celestia sat down, there was a loud grating of chairs as the courtiers and various bureaucrats sat down as well.

"The Changeling diplomats from the Changeling Queendom will now approach the royal throne now, bow low and state their business," Golden Dawn announced, and three Changelings entered the room and were stared at by everypony, for few ponies had seen Changelings displaying themselves openly in public. They gazed at the holes in the chitinous legs and insectoid wings, and wondered how they were able to fly or walk at all, and how any creature could have such holes in their body and not be rolling around in agony.

There were so many rumors flying around about the Changelings. That they ate meat every day, and kidnapped ponies, took them back to their Hives, and there slaughtered, cooked and ate them. That they were mere zombies with no minds of their own, totally controlled by their Queen. That they wanted to kill members of every race other then their own. And many more, none of them nice.

The three Changelings did as they were told, then one of them who wore a golden sash spoke. "Your Majesty, I am Ambassador Shucknin, sent to tell you that Her Majesty Queen Chrysalis is aware how disapproving you are of the recent kidnapping of Sweet Sticks."

"Oh, I am. Her husband was horrified when he came home early from work one day and found his beloved wife in her true form as one of you, and really wants her back. It is disrespect to me when you kidnap ponies who have done nothing to you whatsoever. If you feel a pony has committed a crime, it has to go through formal extradition proceedings. And who knows how many other kidnappings you may have done without it being known about?"

"Her Majesty, Queen Chrysalis is willing to release Sweet Sticks if you are willing to talk to her about the situation in her Hive."

Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guards, here forgot royal protocol and blurted out "Your Majesty, if you go in there, you will never come out. Most likely, they'll try and replace you with one of them."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I am not stupid, Captain. I am aware of the dangers in entering a Changeling Hive, and of the many stories that may or may not be true about the Changelings. However, I do not think they would breech the tenants of diplomacy by doing such a thing during a formal state visit. I have lived a very long time, and our land has not always been at peace like today. There were wars back then-real battles in which soldiers died on both sides, but when diplomats met each other formally, the rules were always respected to the letter and nopony was kept as a prisoner or murdered. No member of another species either for that matter. I refuse to beleave that the Queen Chrysalis would be so low as to order her subjects to attack me at a diplomatic summit."

She turned to the Changelings. "Ambassador, I will come in a week, with an escort of Royal Guards and advisers of course, and in the full glare of publicity until the real talking starts. I trust your Queen to respect the diplomatic conventions."

A week later the royal train pulled in at the border with the Changeling Queendom at the aptly named End Of The Line station, having taken days to reach it. No rails went on into the land of the Changelings; the only way forward was by hoof or wing. Up above, like in the Everfree Forest, the clouds moved as they would, for the Changelings it seemed had no Weather Service. The ground was much dryer here, if not a true desert, and the Ambassador and his staff waited for them.
After a short speech of welcome they took to the air and soon enough the earthen dome of a Changeling Hive loomed up in front of them, with here and there Changelings outside guarding the entrances, checking the dome for any cracks and delivering messages. Several guards shuddered in mid-flight at the thought of entering such a place, where they would be utterly surrounded by those who they feared. Two unicorn reporters from the Ponyville Free Press were brought along in a sky chariot to report on things.

As they landed, Shining Armour told Celestia "Princess, it's not too late to back out. I implore you as the Captain of your Guards...don't go in there. I don't trust those Changelings for a second, and I would hate it if anything nasty happened to you."

"Captain, I have lived a thousand years. I have been alive when ponies fought violent wars against griffins, changelings and each other. If need be, it could happen again, and the changelings know it. That, and sometimes royalty have to trust each other. This is a public summit, everypony knows about it. Don't you think I have not faced a few plots against my rule in the past thousand years? Whatever the changelings attempt, they won't do it here."

When they went into the Changeling Hive, things were much cooler then outside, and it was lit not by the light of the sun, but by what looked like a glowing green goo smeared in thick lines against the walls of every twisting tunnel. Inside, rank on rank of changelings were drawn up in parade-ground formation in platoons and companies, their numbers dwarfing the number of Royal Guards Shining Armour had brought with him. On a throne of black ebony set with amber sat their ruler, Queen Chrysalis.

"Welcome, welcome. You need have nothing to fear. Since you are clearly so worried, you can keep your spears with you. We have some pony food that we brought for the banquet using certain...deep-cover agents in Canterlot,as we didn't think ponies would want to meet Changelings in plain sight. Princess Celestia-you can sit by me. Monarchs should sit together."

The Queen led the way to the banqueting hall. Whilst there was hay, oats, apples and other fine food, there appeared to be nothing for the Changelings except a couple of green cocoons hanging from the ceiling almost to the table that hardly looked at all edible from a pony point of view.

"What do you eat, your Majesty?," Celestia asked politely.

Chrysalis replied "It's hard for everyone but a Changeling to understand, but we feed on love. Tragically we cannot feed on love from each other, or on the love from pet animals, only the love of another intelligent creature. Gaining love the romantic way is hard, and near-impossible when openly a Changeling. Even in another shape, it can take a very long time, and all that time we cannot feed. Even when we are well fed, we can go no more then a month or so without love or we starve to death. And our helpless grubs-they need love everyday or they first cry from hunger and then starve only days later. Imagine going without food for weeks on end, all the time trying to get a romantic relationship going. It is far better to take the shape of a pony or griffin in a romantic relationship already and then feed off the love in the existing relationship. And said pony or griffin is fanged, webbed up in a cocoon and then taken back to the Hive to feed the grubs and the Changelings who for whatever reason are not undercover.Of course we can feel love for each other, we just can't feed off it."

"So in those cocoons are ponies? That's horrible. They must be in so much pain..."

"You might think so, but the cocoon prevents bedsores and other such wounds, and mentally, they think they are living a life that is often a lot better then their real one and are with their loved ones. That makes the love leak out where it can be eaten by adult Changelings and grubs alike. After the meal we'll set those two free as a sign of goodwill. Once they've stretched their limbs a bit, they'll be fine."

Chapter Two-The Switch

After the meal was over, Chrysalis said to a couple of Changelings "Those two who we just fed off; as an act of good will to her Royal Highness Princess Celestia, they are to be cut out of their cocoons and set free." At once the Changelings cut the cocoons down with care and used their horns to slit open the tough green webbing. The ponies inside opened their eyes, stretched their limbs, hissed with pain as cramp set in but were soon standing again. One, with a cutie mark of two crossed sticks of rock, was clearly the missing Sweet Sticks. They stared around, clearly frightened by where they were now, and knelt down in respect when they saw Princess Celestia. "Please...your Majesty, could you tell me...am I dead and being judged for my sins in the afterlife?" Sweet Sticks asked. The sight of the immortal goddess coupled with the dark interior of the Changeling hive and her returning memories of being ambushed and fanged clearly made her think she was dead. Celestia replied "No...no, you are very much alive and in a Changeling Hive. I am here on a formal diplomatic mission to try and get as many of my little ponies released as possible," Celestia replied.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much." Sweet Sticks bent her head and kissed the alicorn's royal hooves before a guard ushered her away. Queen Chrysalis said "Your Majesty, I would like to take you on a tour of the Hive, with no bodyguards on either side, just you and me. I know you may find it very hard to trust me enough to do that, but if I had really wanted to harm you, all I would have needed to to would be to order my army to attack your delegation when it entered my Hive. Right here, right now, you have nothing to fear from me." Celestia thought a little bit. "You know, you're right. Shining Armour, you and the guards stay here. Queen Chrysalis is going to show me around the hive." Ignoring the horrified look upon Shining Armour's face, she walked off with Chrysalis down one of the many twisty tunnels that led away from the banqueting hall. "First I would like you to see the maternity ward, where the grubs are kept for their first month of life, before they grow a cocoon and hatch not long afterwards as young Changelings." The room they entered was full of what appeared to be large grey maggots, each bigger then a watermelon and sporting a pair of bright eyes and some very sharp fangs, and above them hanging from the ceiling were dozens of cocoons, each containing some luckless pony or griffin.

Celestia got a little to close to the grubs and one of them reared up and struck like a snake, giving a short sharp bite to Celestia's leg before detaching and rolling away. Celestia raised a hoof to stamp the thing into a mushy jelly and then remembered that in Changeling terms, these were like newborn foals with the minds of the newborn. Instead she backed well away from the grubs and Chrysalis levitated a towel over to her to wipe the blood off. "I'm sorry, you just got too close. It didn't bite you out of malice but out of a reflex, it was just defending itself from a non-changeling that it thought wanted to kill and eat it. Changelings can get close with no problems. Don't worry, it's bite carries no poison, it's too young for it's poison glands to grow yet. Once it's soaked in enough love from the cocoons up there, it will pupate and then become intelligent enough to relate to others and be taught things. But at the moment it can only recognize it's own parents." As she said that two changelings came in and looked at one of the grubs, which looked back at them and let out a happy little giggle. "Ah, little Lovemore, in a few days you will pupate and then we will have a new addition to the family," one of them said, gently stroking the grub with a hoof. The grub responded by gently rubbing itself against it's father's leg.

Chrysalis next led Celestia to a Changeling School where Changelings were taught what would serve them best inn life...reading, writing, Changeling history and geography, arithmetic, and of course, how to replace other races and pretend to be someone, which was vital to gain not only enough love to live off but also to gain enough love to feed the Hive. A whole Changeling Hive needed a lot of love to keep it fed, and that love generally had to be stolen from somewhere.

Afterwards she led Celestia to her private royal quarters, a place where no non-Changeling had ever been allowed to go before, and sat on her throne, where she picked up a royal scepter made of ebony set with amber and diamonds and spoke a few strange words.

Celestia staggered and fell to her knees, her cry for help reduced to a choked whisper. As she passed out she thought Shining Armour was right...never trust a Changeling.

"Good, you're awake." As Celestia opened her eyes, she realized with horror that the voice she heard was her own. Her own beautiful immortal alicorn body was walking up and down in front of her, and she...she was now in Queen Chrysalis's Changeling body. Oh no, this cannot be happening...I can't move, can't speak... "Don't worry, in a couple of hours you will be up and about, but by that time I'll be out of your domains and starting my new life as an immortal alicorn. I could have changed into you and tried to kill you somehow, but I would not have your memories or your powers and would soon have been uncovered. Your blood was the last thing I needed for my body-swapping spell. I also put a powerful geas on you so you can't tell anypony or indeed anything who you really are or who I am, nor can you change into my shape. You can take all sorts of other shapes, just not mine. Nor can you say or do anything I would not say or do. I'd like to use the geas to stop you plotting against me, but even the strongest Changeling magic wielded by a Queen can only do so much. You have about a century left before you start to suffer old age-Changeling Queens live long, but nowhere near as long as immortal alicorns do."

Celestia's new green eyes widened in horror. Already she could feel a little feeling creeping into her new limbs as her brain mastered the new nerves, but it was not strong enough yet for her to get to her feet or call for help.

Chrysalis continued. "I have access to your memories and you do to most of mine. Even if you somehow deal with the geas, who would beleave a Changeling Queen saying that she is an alicorn? Now you get to rule over a large Hive, and in time you may get to enjoy doing so and truly see the other Changelings as your children. You will be in overall charge of getting enough love in to feed everyling. Your subjects will do the hard work of course, but you will decide overall strategy. Mess things up, and everyling including the little grubs will be condemned to slow starvation. It's not easy ruling a large Hive, but you'll get used to it, and will be as loved and respected by your Changelings as you were by your ponies as Princess Celestia. And love has a wonderful taste and it's all you'll ever need to sustain yourself. As Queen you get the first taste of anything brought in." She bent down and planted a light kiss on Celestia's forehead."Goodbye, your Majesty. I don't want to be around when you can walk and speak again." She turned and trotted out of the room.

It seemed an age, but at last Celestia was able to spring to her feet. She at once tried to take the shape of the alicorn she had once been, but the geas prevented her doing it, neither even alone could she speak or write or signal what had been done to her, However, she could change into almost any other shape. The Mane Six, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and all manner of other shapes were useable.She marveled in her new-found ability to shift shape and then let her thoughts go out to her hive. And found that in her minds eye she could picture everyling as they tended the grubs, did guard duty and the many other jobs of the Hive, or just spent time off with their families. Those who were out on missions to harvest the love she could sense as well, down to the last one. She also sensed the love her Hive had for her, sadly it was inedible as only the love of other races could be eaten.

I will have my vengeance she thought and when you are fanged and strung up in a Changeling pod you will wish you had not usurped my throne and my eternal life. She summoned the nearest Changeling, and ordered him to summon General Mandible. "General, I will have war, the love in Equestria if we can take it is enough to sustain this hive for generations. But send in spies first and take it slow." It took six months, but at last she had a plan together. First she and her Changelings would abduct Cadence so that she could take her place, then she would use her powers to weaken Shining Armour and destroy the force field he had set up around Canterlot, and then her army would take the city by storm and the one who stole her life would be strung up to feed the grubs. It would be a glorious revenge. What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter Three-Her New Home

As soon as she could get to her feet, Celestia stamped her foot in anger.

She stole my immortal life and my throne and left me trapped in this black shell of a body. But it's not as bad as it could be, I'm still alive, and I am still a Queen of the blood royal. I may not be able to rule my little ponies any longer, but I am in charge of the mighty Swarm Chrysalis. How many changelings are in this Swarm, looking up to me, probably worshipping me as much as my little ponies did? I may or may not be able to get my own immortal body back someday, but right now I have a Hive to rule. She first looked at her new throne, a beautiful thing of fine black ebony with silken cushions that made it very comfortable to sit on. The royal sceptre of ebony studded with diamonds was still there and she picked it up with her magic, which now glowed a soft green instead of the warm golden light that she was used to.

She thought of the Hive and in her minds eye she realised she could see everything perfectly. First there was the relatively small dome at the top, guarded by Changeling soldiers and tended against the wind, the rain and the sand by Changeling maintenance workers. It might not look as beautiful to her as the ornate towers and walls of Canterlot Castle, but she could sense the pride that her swarm had for it. The true beauty of the Hive was very rarely viewed by the eyes of non Changelings. She moved her mind's eye view lower and saw tunnel after twisting tunnel, some of them vertical so that they needed to be flown down as a defence against non-flying armies. There were changelings everywhere; in the fields, tending and harvesting the fungus crops that glowed with their own light, manning shops and market schools, on guard duty at the hive entrances or circling like vultures over the hive, looking after changeling grubs and teaching changeling foals, and a myriad of other jobs. There seemed to be near full employment, more so then in Equestria. She decided to scan her new memories for who her royal advisors were.

Two in particular stood out. There was General Mandible, a brave if by now rather elderly changeling general in charge of her army, dedicated to the defence of her Hive. And there was High Consigliore Ativan, her key advisor on topics that were non military in nature.

She walked out of her throne room and beckoned to a nearby guard, noting the slight differences between his armour and weaponry and those of the royal guards back in Canterlot. Her new guards carried not spears but halberds capable of both snagging flying foes and cracking open chitin, and their armour was covered with a black lacquer . As for their professionalism and love of their monarch, both things were unquestioned. "I want you to go and tell General Mandible and High Councillor Ativan to meet me in the throne room please." Soon enough both of them stood before her and bowed slightly.

"I'm in a mood for making policy but want to be reminded of things in general beforehand so I don't come out with something really stupid by mistake. Councillor, the other Changeling Hives, give me the basics."

Ativan looked at her rather oddly but did as she said. "In the Griffin Kingdom the Hive Meganeura under it's Queen Carapace specializes in extracting the fiery love of the Griffins. They are rather isolationist; they bother no Hive and no Hive bothers them. We trade with them once a year to gain Griffin love as a Hearth's Warming treat for the feast we have then. As long as what we do does not harm them, they won't care much what we do."

"In Western Equestria we have the Hive Formica under Queen Miasma, and she can often be a problem for us, as she and we do not agree exactly on the border between the territories of our Hives. There have been many nasty little struggles and changelings from both Hives have been known to die in such circumstances. She's the one we have to watch out for most of all, the one most likely to object at the yearly meetings of the Council of Queens."

"Queen Mysteria of the Lepidoptera Hive claims Cloudsdale and the other sky cities of the pegasui as her own, but we are free to prey upon pegasui upon the ground. To enter the sky-cities we need her permission first, but she doesn't really see what happens on the ground as her concern."

"Queen Crocodillia of Hive Digderidooia claims sovereignty over the Buffalo tribes, and in my personal opinion she is welcome to them. Buffalo love is so...chewy. Her changelings rarely leave the Appalosion plains, they don't need to, and are no threat to us or our interests."

"Queen Niagara of Hive Diptera claims Germaneigh as hers, she is too far away to come into conflict with us and is on friendly terms. Much the same is true of Queen Acari of Prance and her Hive Sicariidae, and Queen Melitia of Hive Theridiidae of Saddle Arabia."

"Thank you for reminding me of the international situation. How are things with the hive's love supply?"

"Not as good as it could be, we think there is a black market cell in the syphoning department and as much as twenty percent is being stolen before it reaches the central well. There is no danger of starvation but there are grumbles here and there amongst many of the drones about the love shortage. Don't worry about a rebellion, that won't happen. Only desperate changelings would want or indeed dare to rise up against their Queen."

"Equestria has enough love for a hundred hives. Enough to feed us and Miasma's lot until we can consume no more. And yet all we do is take it in drips and drops, when we could take it a whole city at a time."

"There is no way that the Council of Queens would sanction something of that kind. It goes against both Changeling Lore and Changeling Law. Even Changeling Queens are supposed to keep to the Masquerade and stay in the shadows. If you were to take your Hive and start attacking towns en clair in the short term you would have near total surprise; but then escapees would spread warnings and spells and other methods would be found to deal with the changeling menace, as Equestrians would see it." He paused. "It gets worse. All the other Hives, be they friends or foes, would be affected. Love sources would dry up and they too would be pushed into raiding for love. The other races, griffins most of all, would try and find the Hives and attack and destroy them. You and your Hive would be hated and despised by all the other Hives for the rest of time. Centuries later little changeling foals would be told by their parents of the evil Queen Chrysalis and how she brought death and destruction and hunger to all the Hives of the world. I advise you, your Majesty-do not nakedly attack Equestrian towns unless there is no choice and nothing to lose."

"Oh, buck the law, my Hive needs to be fed properly," Celestia said angrily. "I mean, Celestia knows we exist, she came on a state visit." Inwardly she cursed the spell that forced her to keep silent about who she really was.