Chapters Under the blazing heat of Celestia's sun, a small purple earth pony plodded on through the sands of the Badlands close to collapse. The water bottle around her neck was nearly empty, and the weather here was very different from what she was used to, but she forced herself on. Up there, ahead of her, was what she had gone through so much to reach, something that most ponies would try their hardest to avoid ever going near. A Changeling Hive.
Easily the size of the city of Canterlot, it looked from the outside like a vastly oversized termite mound. Although relations had very slightly improved between Equestria and the different Hives, to the point where they exchanged ambassadors, said Hives were still no-go zones for almost everypony. Other then those few who maintained somewhat frosty diplomatic relations with the Changeling Queens, anypony who entered a Hive was very unlikely to leave it again. A few specks in the sky grew larger and turned out to be a squadron of Changelings who had come to see the new arrival. With a whirr of insectoid wings they landed, each set of wings folding in and being covered by the hard carapace upon their backs. "If you are one of us you know the basic procedure; change back into yourself. You have no need to hide anymore, no need to fear, everyling is a Changeling here." The Changeling who said this spoke in a friendly tone.
"I...I'm not a Changeling. I'm a pony...Diamond Tiara is my name. I came here because...because I want to join you. I don't know if it's even possible for such a thing but...but I want to try. I have my reasons."
"Well, as things turned out we lost many Changelings during the attack on Canterlot so you have a bigger chance with this Hive then probably anywhere else, but you'll most likely end up as our food. We'll help you." And rather then attacking her on the spot as she had feared they might do, four Changelings gently picked her up between them, supporting her tired body so it didn't hurt, and flew her to the Hive, passing the guards without being challenged.
Inside it was pleasantly warm unlike the baking heat of the near-desert outside, and was surprisingly well lit with a soft green light from a glowing green webbing upon the walls. And changeling after changeling stopped whatever they were doing and flocked to see the rare sight of a pony who was not in a cocoon. It was not long before the Changeling Queen herself was alerted of the newcomer in her domain. She strode out of her Royal Chamber and Diamond Tiara bowed low at the site of the alicorn-sized Changeling Queen.
"So, we have a pony that wants to become a Changeling. It's not the first time that has happened, you know. A few tried to back out once they understood what they were getting into, and they hang from the ceiling in cocoons to this very day. Another found his body could not take it and died from the effects. I feel I should tell you what being a Changeling is and is not."
"It's not a license to be lazy, if you want that, we can very easily make another cocoon out of you. Changelings in this Hive work as hard as ponies or even more so, be it repairing or enlarging the Hive, doing your turn at guard duty, watching over the grubs and plenty of other duties. We are flexible; if you are a night owl we can put you on night duty, but for much of the time you will be expected like everyling to work your passage. There are certain holidays where noling has to do anything but feast and enjoy themselves, but there are only a few of those a year."
"If you think you're going to be able to feast on nourishing love, well, normally the rations in this Hive are quite small. Those Changelings on detached duties and minor love raids do their very best but can never quite bring in enough love so the rations are small. The grubs in their maggot stage get the biggest share-otherwise they would cry all day and starve to death not long after, and they are the future of the Hive. Just like newborn foals, they cannot yet care for themselves. Next come the children, then the adults, and lastly me. I may not be starving, but it is hard always being slightly hungry except on feast days."
"As for getting it outside the Hive, first you would have to stay here for three months and work for me, to repay me for making you into a Changeling. The key way to get the love you need is to replace a pony and then feed on the love given to him or her by his or her family and preferably, coltfriend or marefriend as well, but that too is quite hard. It's not easy pretending to be someone else, yet without that you can only feed yourself by raiding and we are at peace at the moment. All replacements of ponies have to be covert and strictly hush-hush. Having said all that, why do you want to be a Changeling anyway?"
"Because my parents were murdered in front of my eyes, and I would have died too if I was not hiding at the time..." She shuddered, remembering.
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Diamond Tiara nodded. "I do."
"So be it."
The Changeling Queen stepped forwards. "This won't feel nice but you'll have to put up with it if you really do want to become a Changeling." She put her hooves on Diamond Tiara's shoulders and began to drain her of her love, her horn glowing softly as she did so. It was the first big meal she had enjoyed since she was thrown out of Canterlot. The normal amounts of love drained from ponies and other creatures did them no harm whatsoever, but Chrysalis deliberately drained far more then any Changeling normally would. Diamond Tiara forced herself to stand fast. I may not like this...my head aches horribly and it will only get worse, but to get my revenge for my murdered parents I must become a Changeling. Only then can I get the information that I need to find the killer and find out from him who paid him. As Queen Chrysalis continued to drain the love, Diamond very nearly fainted. Only then did the Queen pick up a short dagger with her magic and make a little cut in her own leg. "Drink my blood, now." Diamond did so, swallowing the salty green blood with a gulp, and the Queen rubbed her wound that soon stopped bleeding. "I will have a scar because of that," said the Queen, as she spun a very different cocoon then normal. Instead of the cocoon for holding Changeling victims, it was more like the egg case that covered the unborn Changeling grubs.
"She will hatch in a day or so, and will be very weak, so when she hatches take her to the Love Chamber and give her a full ration. When her mind is back to full power, give her a day of orientation and then put her to work and keep a discreet but strict eye on her. We can use her for basic labor, digging tunnels, guard duty and the like. And two days a week we will educate her like we educate all our larvae once they grow out of the grub stage.After six months she may leave and get her revenge, and then live as a Changeling for the rest of her life."
A day later the egg-case broke open, revealing the new Changeling inside. Another Changeling was there and ready for it. "Diamond Tiara, you now have wings. Stretch them out and wiggle them around."
Diamond did so. I have wings. How useful. As she stretched and flapped them, they inflated slightly and hardened. They looked very different from the feathery wings of pegusai and alicorns. These were more like the wings of dragonflies, scaled up to pony size. She gently raised her legs, marveling at the fact that they worked perfectly and without any pain despite the large holes in them. A gentle touch of her face with a hoof revealed the horn on her forehead, and when she looked at the place where her cutie mark had been, it was gone. The other Changeling spoke. "My name is Quick Change, I'll be your guide to the Hive. We need to get you to the Love Chamber first, you need to be fed to restore you to full strength."
He led Diamond Tiara, supporting her as she staggered along in her weakness, to the central chamber of the Hive, so deep within it that not even a cannon ball at close range could break through. In the center of the huge circular room, guarded by several spear-armed guards, was a well which glowed with a soft pink light. "That well, is the most important part of the entire Hive, it contains the love extracted from other creatures and feeds almost everyling. Most other races think we feed from cocooned ponies and griffins, and they are partly right. Changeling eggs can't practically be fed like this, and Changeling pupa at the maggot stage are very defensive and tend to bite anyling that touches them, even their own parents. It's not deliberate, it's a reflex. So they have cocoons hung up above them to feed them with the love that seeps out of them. The Queen herself and the High Generals have a few cocoons for food too, but except on the High Holidays and after victory in a war, we have to make do with the excess love that our disguised agents on the outside bring to the Hive. And sadly there is not often enough of it. So this will be your last big meal for three months, until Her Majesty's Birthday."
He went to the guards and explained the situation to them, and they wound a handle and brought up a gourd full of what seemed like a glowing pink water, and tipped it into a bowl. As soon as Diamond Tiara drank it she felt new energy shooting through every bit of her body.
That day he showed her all the important parts of the Hive that were open to the average Changeling, and the bedroom with the hammock of soft, strong, non-sticky web for her to sleep in. He showed her how to use her own web glands and how to pick things up with the magic of her horn.
From the next day on, Diamond was put to the sort of work she would normally have rejected as far beneath her. Digging new tunnels to enlarge the Hive, using her magic to wield a pickaxe. Long hours of boring guard duty with a spear. What was much more interesting was her lessons with Mr Opaque learning how to change shape with ease, how to replace a pony and how to pass as one.
"When you are out there and undercover your life, not to mention your love supply, will depend upon maintaining your disguise. With the ponies of Equestria, you can get enough love to survive on often just by being one, although to get enough to feed the Hive, you will need to properly replace another pony in a coupledom. If you can do that, you'll have all the love you can ever drink and more," Mr Opaque told her and the rest of the class.
A whole year went by and Diamond Tiara got used to the normal routine of the life of a Changeling Hive. It was not as strict as life in a military camp would be; drills were too uncommon to be boring, and when they did happen they were normally to do with either flying or changing. Her first attempt to fly had been laughingly bad, and had resulted in her flying straight up and banging her head upon the ceiling. Clearly changeling wings were different then those of the pegusai; most pegusai needed to take a run up to take off, whilst changelings in their proper shape could take off vertically. After a couple of weeks of training however, she could fly more or less as well as everyling else. As for her early changing, the first results resembled a piece of famous art by the famous Ponycasso. Other changelings, rather then ridiculing her and humiliating her for her poor efforts, gently encouraged her to do better the next time. They had all been through their first change and the results were never very impressive. In time she learned the basics and by the end of the year could take the shape of anypony that she wanted to and hold the shape indefinitely as long as the shape she was taking was the same size as her own. It was possible to become larger or smaller to a certain extent, but it was not a shape she could hold for more then an hour or so.
Mr Opaque was a good teacher; it was he who taught her how to survive outside the hive. "The ponies of Equestria, for the most part, have so much love that it is possible outside the big cities to feed on it without them even knowing. But if you ever want to feast on it, you will need to replace a beloved pony, and then your belly will be full for the rest of your life." Mainly each day in the Hive was the same;the same training and teaching and turns at guard duty and digging away to enlarge the Hive. The same love given in a small bowl from the central supplies, with no hope of being allowed second helpings for anyling. Diamond loved the taste of the sweet love, but there was never enough to fully satisfy her hunger. But as the birthday of Queen Chrysalis grew near, there was an excitement that slowly grew in the hive.
On the Queen's birthday, other then a few guards in short shifts of an hour at a time, noling had to work. Those Changelings who were away outside the Hive came back, bringing large quantities of love and presents from their families from the lands of the ponies and griffins. Diamond missed out on this, but she like everyling could take part in the feast. For once, everyling could pig out on love until they could eat no more. They could also eat solid food, which they rarely did, both to avoid tooth problems and because solid food was rare in the lands of the Changelings. But that day they had mince pies and Changeling pudding with burning brandy poured upon it and the drinking of alcohol was openly allowed. So was random changing and the Queen answered random questions from ordinary Changelings who upon that day of days could question their monarch without punishment.
"When are we going to get enough love to feed everyling? This is the first time my belly has been full in a long while," complained one Changeling, roared on by his fellows.
"I cannot be too open about things as yet, but I am considering an invasion of Equestria," replied Queen Chrysalis.
An invasion of Equestria? I should warn the ponies of the danger, but it's far too dangerous. Besides, my loyalty is to the Hive now and the Hive and it's Queen alone. That and the duty I have to avenge my slaughtered family. Diamond thought.
A few days later, having served the Queen for a year, Diamond was able to leave the Hive and seek her revenge. The first thing she did was to take the shape of a Guard Lieutenant and walk into the police station, enjoying the way the police ponies bowed when they saw her. "I was sent by Captain Shining Armour himself to look into the murder investigation of Filthy Rich and his wife." she explained, and was handed the files. Let's see, three ponies are implicated, but apparently the evidence is too thin to justify taking them in, that, or they enjoy the royal protection of Princess Celestia or both. Well, as a Changeling there is more then one way to get those three into deep deep trouble.
She decided that the first one of the three she would target would be Gold Bar, a unicorn pony who was one of the richest ponies in Manehatten. After resting for a while, she took his shape with it's three gold bars for a cutie mark, went to one of the main squares of Manehatten near where he worked, and began to let out a stream of the most blasphemous treason possible.
"My fellow ponies...what we need is a change of government! After a thousand years of Celestia's rule, we need an end to monarchy and a democratic republic!" Silence fell across the square and everypony stared and glared in horror. Nopony wanted to dethrone their immortal goddess, at least, not publicly anyway. She strolled out of view and as soon as she was out of sight, took the shape of an earth pony filly, grinning at the thought of the trouble that Gold Bar was soon going to be in.
Gold Bar was in his mansion when the knock came on the door. The two Royal Guards had orders from the Princess to take him to meet her in the Royal Canterlot Sculpture Garden for a talk.
When Gold Bar reached the Canterlot Sculpture Garden, he found Princess Celestia waiting for him clad in her royal finery and wearing a new crown he had never seen before, a crown with five large jewels set in it. And she looked anything but happy. In fact he had never before seen such anger in her eyes. "Guards, you are dissmissed back to your normal policing duties thank you for bringing him in." Once they were gone, she asked him "You have prospered under my rule, have you not? Are you not of noble birth, a pony who has never in his life been short of bits?"
Gold Bar bowed before his immortal monarch. Why is she so angry with me? What have I done to anger her? She's more then my princess, she's my immortal Goddess. "Yes, your Majesty, I have...." She cut him off. "Then why did you go to one of Manehatten's main squares and let off a stream of the most blasphemous treason that has been heard in Equestria in centuries? A democratic republic? What Discordent nonsense is that? Without me and my sister, this country would sink into chaos soon enough. I could understand if you were a poor pony, reduced to begging and eating grass in the public parks when the guards were not looking just to survive, that you might have a grudge against me, But you have no excuse at all for your treason." The jewels in her crown were glowing brightly now.
"Look around you, what do you see?"
"Statues, your Majesty."
"Each of these statues is in fact a petrified pony, a fully aware petrified pony, able to see, hear, feel, think, but nothing else. They bake beneath the sun in summer and they freeze beneath the snow in wintertime, and maybe some of them have itches they cannot scratch, but their real punishment is the boredom of being stuck totally still whilst life goes on all around them. Many of them have been that way for centuries. And for what you did today, you are now going to join their ranks."
Gold Bar heard a creaking and cracking sond and looked behind him to find to his horror that his tail and his back legs were allready grey stone. Unable to turn and run, his horn glowed brightly as he tried to reverse the spell, but his magic was no match for the Princess and the Elements of Harmony that she now wore in her crown. Slowly the stone crept up and over his belly and back and then his front legs so he could no longer kick out. He started to beg for mercy. "It was not me, wait, it must have been" The stone closed over his mouth, shutting off his speech, and lastly over his horn that ceased to glow.
Unknown to him he was being watched from behind a statue by a changeling. Diamond Tiara grinned. What he will suffer is a lot more then my parents did; no afterlife of any kind for him, just being stuck in one place for all eternity. One down, two more to go.
Princess Celestia sensed that she was being watched.She had not survived for a thousand years or more in power by being oblivious to her surroundings. Whilst almost everypony loved and worshipped her dearly, she was aware that there were those out there in Equestria and abroad who did not wish her well. "Who's there? Come out, whoever you are. If I have to look for you, it's going to get ugly."
Damm, if I'm not careful I could end up encased in stone too. Diamond Tiara thought hard and took on a new shape, and it was Princess Luna who stepped into view. Celestia smiled when she saw her sister. "Luna, you scared me. This pony here, I turned him into stone because he publicly went on an antiroyalist rant, with no reason that could possibly justify it."
"You...you would not turn me into stone would you? You do love me, don't you?"
"Of course I'd never do that to you. You're my sister, of course I love you. " Celestia hugged the disguised Diamond Tiara, and Diamond took the chance to siphon off some of her royal love. And it tasted so sweet, as sweet as sugar without any of sugar's bad effects on teeth. What's more, even gathering it carefully Diamond was able to take far more then her own needs. I can't stay long in this shape for very long though, puffing oneself up to alicorn size is very hard to do. Mr Opaque didn't warn me about that for nothing. If Celestia finds out about me, I'll be turned to stone for the rest of time. Also, the Hive needs me and all that stored-up love I now have inside me. My first duty must allways be to the Hive.
"I need to go now, sister." As soon as she was out of sight and could change shape without being caught, Diamond turned into an average pegasus and flew over to the Evergreen Forest. Hiding in a cloud and using it for camoflauge, she moved it into the sky above the Evergreen Forest and from there flew to the Badlands and the Changeling Hive within it. My true home now, wherever I might end up. Taking her changeling shape, the guards let her in without trouble and she flew to the guarded love store at the Hive's Centre and as she had been taught in Changeling School, added her love to the well. She was expecting that she had perhaps a pint of love with her, but clearly even a small amount of alicorn love counted for so much more. Pint after pint of love was added to the half empty well until it was almost filled to the brim, whilst the guards looked on in amazement that one Changeling could bring so much love.
One of them was so amazed that he asked Diamond to wait and went to see the Queen, bowing low before her as protocol demanded. "Your Majesty, the new Changeling, Diamond Tiara, is back, and she's brought a lot more then the normal amount of love with her. Enough to fill the well, which was half empty before, almost to the brim."
The Queen stared at him and hurried to the scene. "It's true, how could you bring back so much love to the Hive with one trip?"
"It's the love of Princess Celestia for her sister, I impersonated Princess Luna and managed to maintain the disguise for long enough not to be caught. That is, a minute or too, any longer and I would have had to reveal myself. One of the murderers who killed my parents is no more; he is frozen in stone, trapped in a living hell."
The Changeling Queen smiled. "You have done well; you have not only partly avenged yourself, but you have well and truely proved yourself to everyling in this Hive. I did the right thing in allowing you to join. Because of you, tonight there will be enough love for all the Changelings to feast, and I intend that you will be the guest of honour so that they know who brought them such a meal." Messenger Changelings were sent by royal to all the different parts of the Hive, and everyling who was not in the middle of a vitally important job was summoned to the feeding chamber where the Queen and Diamond Tiara waited. "Everyling, I have some very good news. Our new recruit, Diamond Tiara, has not only partly avenged the deaths of her parents, but has brought back so much love in one go that it almost filled our central well to the brim," the Queen announced. "As a result, today we will feast, everyling can have two bowls of love, and from tomorrow the love ration for everyling will be raised from one bowl to one and a half bowls for the next three months." The Changelings cheered and clapped and blew kisses to Diamond.
The bowls were brought out and everyling started feasting upon the delicious love that Diamond had brought. "Diamond, should you ever have to fight for the Hive it will be as a corporal, not a mere private."
"Thank you, your Majesty."
"Also, I suggest that you make your other two acts of revenge different so that nopony suspects anything. And when the other two murderers are dead you will feel so much better and can replace somepony's true love; or maybe find a true love of your own without having to replace anypony. But if you can't do that you are welcome back in the Hive, where you have a good chance of earning further promotion and getting an interesting job. Perhaps teaching the pupa how to gain love since you are so good at it."
When the feast came to an end Diamond was told "You have a new bedroom in the Hive now. One a little bigger then your previous one, with an extra-fine hammock newly woven for you. And you may if you wish make the two stripes of a corporal appear upon your arm. Her Majesty wishes you to stay the night here before going back to seek revenge upon the other two killers." As she went to her new room Changelings stopped and thanked her, and she could sense how happy the entire Hive was. Her new room was still pretty spartan, but it was bigger then her last one. The next day she took pegasus shape and decided to go after Silver Tail, the second killer. She discovered that when he was not out committing crimes for his now petrified boss, he worked as a zoo keeper at the Manehatten Zoo.
This could be interesting she thought.
Silver Tail took a last look around the zoo to make sure that nopony had accidently or deliberately got themselves stuck inside after closing time. Zoo work certainly was a challenge, from feeding the parasprites and keeping even one from escaping, to cleaning up the dung of a manticore and making sure that everypony wore magical anti-petrifying spectacles when viewing the cockatrices. I may have done some...bad things in my life, but I'm not all bad. Besides, when the Manhatten City Guards ask me where my money comes from, I have a nice legal job to account for it.
He heard a howl behind him. A timberwolf. But, I checked the cage a short time ago, the timberwolves are properly locked up... Turning around, he saw a fully grown timberwolf just behind him, a second before it pounced and tore his throat out. Diamond Tiara changed to unicorn shape, took his keys and unlocked the timberwolves cage before quickly taking pegasus shape and getting out of there.
Perfect. His death will be put down to either bad luck or his own stupidity in leaving a cage open. Hopefully the real timberwolves will eat his body before any help comes. And nopony will suspect that his death was really caused by a changeling. We changelings can be really subtle when we want to be. One in stone, one reduced to bone, one left to go. She changed shape again, briefly becoming snakelike to fit through the bars that prevented the pegusai from flying into the zoo without paying anytime they felt like it. Feeling a bit tired, she decided to fly back to the Hive to feed, rest and plan her next move.
The next day the last of the three killers, Bronze Eye, was walking through the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens reading a newspaper. It has to be a murder. I know Silver Tail well and he loved animals and he also knew their dangers, and there is no way that he would leave a timberwolf cage open and turn his back on it. It has to be a targeted killing, but who did it to him? Did he fall foul of the boss for some reason? Did a rival criminal gang bump him off? But how could they have got into the zoo? The place was locked and pegusas proof.
He came to the statue of Discord. After what had happened when he broke out and caused chaos, everypony knew and was thankful that he was trapped once more in stone. But it made him feel uneasy. He looked around at the other statues, including one of three foals, and thought Is Discord the only living statue trapped here or are there others? Are all these statues really alive, aware, but petrified ponies? That would be really horrible. He stopped when he came to a statue of Gold Bar. Oh no...if that rumour about Gold Bar's blasphemy about Her Majesty is true...then that is not a statue of Gold Bar...it is Gold Bar. Look at the horror on his face and in his eyes-he's been reduced to a living statue.[/i ] "Boss...Gold Bar, I would change you back if I could but I just don't dare. Only Princess Celestia could have done this to you and if I turn you back, she'll come after me too." Who or what got Gold Bar stoned and turned Silver Tail into timberwolf bait? Whoever it is, you will not get me.
