"Is she awake?"
"Silence, you'll interrupt the process!"
"Does the queen know?"
"The queen won't have to know! What difference will another Changeling amongst thousands make?"
All these voices assaulted Darkswirl's head at once, causing her to wince in pain.
Three sounded the nearest- the clearest, while the others were just a buzz in the back of her mind. If she focused on them, she could hear those voices as if the pony was standing right next to her.
But she didn't want to. Those voices were strange to her; almost foreign and yet somehow so familiar.
Currently, she was trying desperately to stay her curiosity and keep her eyes closed as she had no recollection as to where she was or what was going on.
"She should be trying to get out by now..."
"Yes, perhaps the cocoon jumbled something? We never have been able to get these conversion pods right..."
"Silence, you fools!" the third voice hissed quietly.
And then it hit Darkswirl with the force of a bag of bricks. Her eyes shot open as fragmented memories came back to her; memories of being afraid of something- But what? Memories of pain- But why? Memories of being tortured- By who?
She took a moment to take in her surroundings: light green...Ick surrounded her and she found that she was simply floating in it. She gasped in shock only to receive a mouth full of the vile tasting goo, thrashing about inside the cocoon before a hoof struck hard walls.
She desperately beat on the walls of her prison while her captors simply watched in morbid fascination.
But their faces were not played out in rage or joy. Instead, they all held gazes of worry and slight fear.
But fear of what?
Fighting back tears as she struggled to hold her breath inside of her green prison, Darkswirl's attempts to break free were dwindling and becoming feeble hoof-taps against the ever-thick cell wall of her conversion cocoon.
But then, much to her delight, one of the sinister looking black creatures leapt forward and kicked at the pod wall, causing it to crumble inwards and let the sticky green slime gush out along with the now panting Darkswirl.
As Darkswirl struggled to get to her hooves and shake the slime off of her, she slowly backed away from her captors, twitching her wings in nervo-
Wait, wings?! Darkswirl thought desperately before turning her head to her back, where a pair of transparent, insect-like wings lay folded across her back.
A quick glance at the three creatures before her told the former unicorn that she was undoubtedly just like them; but she had to check to make sure- hoping for some strange reason, or perhaps fearing, that she wasn't fully like them.
She held up a hoof to her face, peering through the holes in her legs in morbid curiosity before reaching the hoof up to her head, where it came in contact with a firm, sensitive horn.
Darkswirl blinked her eyes in confusion, only to gasp when she blinked once and her vision was taking in incredible amounts of light.
Blinking again brought her vision to a slightly tinted green, and a third blink reverted them back to their normal being.
It was then that she returned her full attention to the three insectoids before her, who flittered their wings in anticipation.
"Hello, sister. Welcome to the Hive." a voice said, or rather, didn't. Darkswirl could hear the voice, but it sounded as if it were inside her head.
Who was that? Where am I? What am I? Darkswirl thought desperately as her eyes began darting around; searching for an escape.
"Calm down, sister. You are safe here. You are a Changeling, a race of insect-ponies who live underground. Currently, you are in the conversion division of the hive, but in whole you are simply underground. As for who is talking to you...Well, my name is Cli'Kat." the voice said calmly before a Changeling in front of Darkswirl and to the left raises its forehoof, waving it happily at the new Changeling.
And...And you can read my thoughts?
"In a way. Technically, you are practically screaming in the Hive Mind, but in time you will learn to control your thoughts to lower your 'voice' and keep unwanted guests from interfering with conversations such as this one."
The four Changelings all stood silently as Darkswirl processed this new information. They shifted impatiently on their hooves before Cli'Kat's voice returned to Darkswirl's head.
"We must hurry if we are to integrate you into the hive and keep the Queen from-"
"Keep me from *what*, Cli'Kat? a new voice sounded, echoing in their heads slightly and causing the other two Changelings to shiver and back away hurriedly.
Cli'Kat remained with Darkswirl and hung his head in shame as the gentle trotting of hooves could be heard growing louder and louder as their owner neared.
"Cli'Kat, what is the meaning of this? I did not order any new conversions, nor did I allow 'volunteers'." the new Changeling hissed, glaring at Darkswirl.
Darkswirl could practically taste the metaphorical venom on the tall Changeling's tongue as it eyed her up and down.
"I apologize, my Queen...It's just that-"
"Just what, Cli'Kat?"
Cli'Kat sighed and shifted uneasily before the towering Changeling, staring up at her while his eyes betrayed his fear.
Suddenly, the room grew very cold and very quiet as both Changeling's eyes faded.
They were talking to each other, Darkswirl new, in their silent mental language. She could tell by the way the two shifted every once and a while; eyes widening, brows raising, and heads tilting to the side quizzically.
Before long, their eyes snapped back to reality and the pair stared at Darkswirl; the smaller Changeling's eyes filled with soft hope while the taller Changeling's eyes were filled with stern curiosity mixed with distrust.
"I will allow it. Cli'Kat, she will be under your charge until she comes of age. If anything were to happen..." the Changeling hissed, glaring down at Cli'Kat, who knew the end of that sentence already.
With a final glance back at the newly converted unicorn, the tall Changeling turned and trotted silently back down the dark hall until she disappeared into the darkness.
"W-Who was that...?" Darkswirl questioned quietly, afraid of making any noise above a whisper.
"That was Queen Chrysalis, one of the Changeling leaders." Cli'Kat responded, trotting up to Darkswirl and pressing his side against her comfortingly.
"One of the Changeling leaders? How many are there?"
"Only three, but Queen Chrysalis's Hive is strongest so the rebels should fall soon enough."
"Rebels? Wait, stop! Just...Slow down, at least. What exactly is going on here? Who am I, what am I doing here?" Darkswirl asked, fear and hopelessness fresh in her voice.
Cli'Kat tilted his head in confusion at Darkswirl's questions.
"You really don't remember?" he asked, concerned.
Darkswirl frowned sadly and slowly shook her head from side to side.
With a sigh, Cli'Kat began leading her down the corridor and into the darkness; her only guide being his flank against hers.
"Do you remember your name, at least?"
"Darkswirl...I think..."
"You were a unicorn, Darkswirl. You made your way to the hive from...Ponyville, I think it was? And...Heh, you asked us, myself and those two other drones you saw earlier, to do some things to you before changing you into a Changeling."
"Like what?"
"...Uh...You kind of wanted us to fuck you, and Mar'Kat might've gotten carried away and broken off your horn- although you seemed to like that a lot."
Darkswirl blushed profusely at this comment. She couldn't remember any of this happening, but it certainly did sound...Sexy.
With a curious grin, Cli'Kat smacked his tail against Darkswirl's flank; causing her to gasp softly.
"What was that for?!"
"Well, the Queen said you were under my charge until you could be assigned duties, and during our time at the gates you seemed rather fond of me; I could literally taste it."
"T-Taste it...?"
A knowing smirk found itself on Cli'Kat's face, who ignored the comment as they slowly emerged from the corridor.
"Oh my gosh..." Darkswirl whispered silently as her eyes widened to take in the sight before her.
The cave before her was enormous. Hundreds of Changelings buzzed by through the air, seemingly busy with very important tasks.
Sunlight was allowed entrance to the hive every few yards from carefully crafted holes in the ceiling, but Darkswirl figured that these were for entrance and exit rather than as a light source.
Her theory proved to be correct when she saw a group of blue-armored Changelings carefully lower themselves into the shaft before buzzing off and down one of the many corridors.
"This place is huge!" Darkswirl said in fascination of her new home.
"Welcome to the Hive. You're in luck since Queen Chrysalis granted me three days leave to teach you the basics of being a Changeling, but we'd better start now. There's a lot to go over." Cli'Kat replied with a smile as he started to lift from the ground.
Darkswirl stared blankly up at him until he snickered at her. "Aren't you coming? We can't reach the dorms by walking, you know."
Darkswirl blinked confusedly before turning to face her delicate looking wings. "Are you sure these will hold me up? They don't seem very strong..."
"They hold up every other Changeling in the hive, so why wouldn't they hold you up?"
Darkswirl blushed and bowed her head in embarrassment as she gave her wings an experimental flap. They responded to her quickly, much to Darkswirl's surprise, although when she tried to flap them harder she remained planted in the ground.
"It's alright." Cli'Kat said encouragingly as he flew over to Darkswirl, lifting her carefully before flying off towards one of the many dark corridors. "You're new, you've got time to learn how to fly properly- among other things."
"Other things?" Darkswirl questioned, unsure.
Although she couldn't see it from her position, Cli'Kat smiled knowingly.
~=(♥)=~
"And here we are- the female drone's dorm." Cli'Kat announced before setting Darkswirl down on her hooves and landing quietly beside her.
"The female dorm? Why are the dorms divided?"
"It mostly has to do with a Changeling's job. For instance, male Changelings are divided into specific jobs, such as our military, or building and repairing, while female Changelings are a 'jack-of-all-trades type of thing, except they can hold two positions that male Changelings can't."
"Like what?"
"Well, I think I should mention that firstly: Only the Queen can lay eggs that mature into pure Changelings. The cocoon you came from was a conversion pod, used to change ponies into Changelings. You're not a purebred Changeling, but you're family none the less. The other thing is that female drones are sterile to other Changelings. So, female drones take care of the eggs the Queen lays and uh...A few of them act as..."Stress relievers" for the males..."
Darkswirl's wings popped open at that comment, causing her to blush and twirl around in an attempt to catch her wings in order to put them back down.
When she had finally managed to, Darkswirl found that Cli'Kat wasn't rolling on the floor, laughing his flank of at her. Instead, he too was blushing and shifting from hoof to hoof as his eyes darted around. "Uh...I-If it isn't too much to ask...I mean, I know you're new and all, but...You were in that pod for a good deal of time and...Well...Stress tends to build up..."
