Long Live the Queen

Chapters

And Canterlot Will Burn
The Corpse Fields
The Hive and Its Children
Two Funerals
The Blood Rite
The Hunt

And Canterlot Will Burn

It felt good to be in the field again, especially on a day as important as today. I looked down upon Canterlot hidden behind its pink and purple shield. I smiled as I watched drones plow their bodies into it. There had already been casualties against the shield but they were only drones, rather easily replaced. I could feel my connection to my queen slowly growing stronger as the shield was weakened with every blow.

My queen had been in place for months readying this plan. Then she had sent me the signal. It had been quite the undertaking preparing the entire hive for an exodus such as this. I was excited to spill blood, it had been months since I had finished my initial repairs and now I was fighting fit.

My name is Krom. I am a changeling praetorian. I sit by the side of the queen in times where she is not embroiled in deep cover operations. I have been alive for four hundred years now and I have picked the last three rulers of the hive. My mother, Queen Gratia, helped me rise to where I am. Her death was a tragic loss, but it paved the way for our next ruler Queen Feroxa, and so on until now.

Queen Chrysalis had thus far led us to the best existence we could hope to have. We have not eaten this well in years and the rate that the nursery is churning out new brothers was an awe inspiring sight. But the decadence did not last. That is why I’m hovering over a giant pony city watching drones kill themselves so that the rest of us can survive.

Cracks began to appear as the drones pounded on. It was a glorious thing, watching the hive working together ready for the fight. My blood sang through my veins as I watched guardsponies down on the ground pointing up at us in exasperation and fear. They were either the oddly dubbed unicorns or pegasus ponies. It was rather entertaining to see them scuttle about as we smashed against the shield.

Suddenly the shield cracked with a loud bang. It was done, the shield was broken. I smiled evilly.

“Onward brothers, feed and glory await us!” I yelled as I dropped out of the sky. I felt power surge through my boy as I fell out of the sky, like a fleshy torpedo. I landed with a loud bang and put a sizeable crater in the ground and took out three small, strange buildings.

I didn’t care what the buildings were. I did care, however, about the inhabitants therein. There were four ponies all in told and two small ‘foals’ I believe they are called. I charged them roaring. Two fled immediately but I did not care, they would be dealt with by my underlings, no, it was the foals I wanted. The young were always incredibly happy and their love tasted rather sweet compared to that of the other ponies.

I smashed aside the older pony that put his or her body in front of the foals. I felt its bones bones break on my impact, it was satisfying. The two younglings didn’t move, they put their hooves over their eyes and quivered in fear. I smiled wickedly and bent down. I could smell the fear on them, but I could also smell the delicious love that they had stored. I pressed my head onto the first on, he was the color of steel, I remember that. I began to breathe deeply and I felt his emotions slowly begin to come to me.

When I had finished all that was left was a husk of a skull of the child. I rarely took the flesh with the mind, but I had not eaten in some time and my hunger got the better of me. I turned to the next pony. It was trembling with fear. I stood over it and felt the surge of emotion come from it. I used that to grip onto his mind and soul and began to slowly pull. I kept my eyes open so I could see just how it effected him. His red colored coat slowly drained to grey as I pulled more and more of his emotion from him. He stopped shivering as I continued to pull his emotions apart, keeping all of the happiness and love to consume and shunting the fear and aggression into my waste sack to dispose of later.

Soon I was finished. The foal lay beneath me unmoving, uncaring, unfeeling his coat drained to grey. I used my foreleg to shatter his skull. Even his vitae was devoid of coloration from my gorging. I raised my head and looked around me. There was smoke pouring into the sky darkening out the sun. I saw the larger pony struggling to its feet. I pointed my horn at it and sent a blot of bright green energy out. The pony stirred no more.

I moved on from my feeding, feeling fit and nigh on invincible, almost like a hatchling again. I calmly strolled through the streets. Whenever a pony would stick its head out I would fire a bolt of energy, I did not miss. The streets I left behind were often littered with the perforated corpses of my victims as my casual stroll continued on.

I found myself in an alleyway between a building made of brick and a wooden structure. The architecture was still quite odd to me as I could not see any purpose to the structures. Didn’t these ponies live under the earth as all creatures do? I refuse to bother myself with such questions as I could not care any less about how the ponies lived. All I cared about was that my queen destroyed their precious princess, Terestia or Fillestial I think her name was, either way it was not important.

As I stepped through the end of the alley I was attacked from my left. The attacker smashed its body into me throwing me to the ground. I turned my head to see one of the royal guard, a unicorn, holding a spear. He pushed the blade to my chest.

“Surrender, scum.” He commanded. I smiled, I was, after all, a changeling. But I had one little trick up my sleeve the other brothers did not. I changed my form into that of what appeared to be a female pony. The guard flinched. I had reached into his mind and twisted the image of his loved one against him.

“You wouldn’t hurt me, would you Haven?” I asked, my voice coming out as a whiny soprano instead of my brutal and unforgiving bass. The spear fell from the guards grip as he believed my ploy. I could do few others could, I reached into the mind of this weak pony took all that he loved and turned it against him. I surged to my feet reverting back to my former self. The pony retreated his face lighting up with fury. I smiled as I rammed my massive horn through his armor and into his flesh. I lifted and threw the pony with my powerful neck. He flew through the air and landed some distance with a splat. I laughed gaily at the grizzly display. Today was going just perfectly.

I looked up as pegasus ponies flew overhead towards the palace. It seemed to be the direction of the heaviest fighting. I disguised myself as the fallen guard and charged to the palace.

The courtyard in front of the door was an abattoir of changelings and guardsponies alike. I ran through the ranks just managing to dodge the blows of two of my brothers and fall in with the ranks of ponies. I turned to face the oncoming horde of changelings. I saw the conviction and fury in the eyes of the brothers as they battled for survival against the guardsponies, and they were going to win. I slinked to the back and managed to get through the doors unnoticed due to the commotion.

I entered the palace proper and was struck aghast at the horrid beauty of the building. The walls were high and pillared, holding up a ceiling covered in wondrous paintings showing scenes from lost battles and forgotten times. I could have stared into those pictures for all of eternity if there wasn’t the inherit wrongness I felt with the place.

I gathered my mind and ran up the grand staircase. It split off and I took the left fork. At the top of the stairs I turned right and sprinted onward. I saw guardsponies piling their dead in front of a massive and heavily carved door. All around the door changelings and guards fought. I revealed my true form and bellowed my rage. My appearance startled the guards. It was just enough for the remaining changelings to attack. The ferocity of the strike pushed through the guards, rending and tearing as the smaller warriors and drones pushed through. I did not take part in the carnage, but instead, focused on the heavy and blockaded door.

I knew my queen needed me by her side. She would be able to control the situation for only so long by herself. She was not weak, but she disregarded the abilities of lesser beings far too often. I had seen it happen before, especially when the hive had gotten desperate in the past. But today was going just perfectly.

I charged my horn and fired a massive bolt of ethereal energy into the door. The door was torn apart. I could see my queen through the opening surrounded by ponies who had panicked looks on their faces. The wave of emotions came crashing over me, filling me with pleasure as I charged through the door.

As I entered the massive chamber I watched as two ponies crossed their glowing horns. I decided they would be the first to die. I ran up the red carpet that had been laid down but I stopped as a bright light flashed before me. It was the two ponies. They floated in the air before my queen casting a rather magnificent light. I didn’t know what the light was going to do, but I would be damned if I let it hurt my queen. I rushed to push the queen out of the way. Before I could arrive, however, I was struck by a massive force that flung me through the air.

I felt myself sail through a window and continue going, nothing would slow my pace. The force from the blow forced all of the blood from my head and I passed out.

The last thing I remember seeing was my beloved queen, beloved Chrysalis flying through the air stone dead.

The Corpse Fields

I stirred. My body felt like it had been ripped to pieces and mashed back together again by a deranged hatchling. My vision was blurry as I tried to push myself to my feet. I fell, unable to keep my balance. My head swam as my vision slowly began to clear. The first thing I noticed was the ground. It was the blackened dirt of the corpse fields, the home of the geysers and the demons.

I finally managed to bring myself to a standing position and took in my full surroundings. I was on the edge of the corpse fields. I could smell the noxious sulfur and vaporous ejections in the air. As I looked around the field I could not begin to calculate the dead that littered the ground around me. What a waste, so many dead that could’ve fed the living. There was one corpse in the midst of all of the dead that I was worried about.

There she lay, just as serene as the day I had first seen her. Even in death my loyalty to my queen did not end. I bent down and I spoke.

“My queen, please forgive me for what I am about to do.” I pushed my head underneath her neck and hoisted her onto my back. I felt ashamed at how inappropriate this was, but she was my queen, and she needed to taken back to the hive, back home. I turned to the corpse fields. This was going to be bad. I ducked my head and entered the geyser field.

The walk was intense. I had to weave my way through the massive holes in the ground. It would have seemed easy, but the holes were covered, almost camouflaged. I chuckled at the irony that something that hides in plain sight could kill me. So, still carrying my queen on my back, I sojourned on.

The geysers weren’t what I was worried about, there were still the demons, the creatures that lurked in the shadows and the mists. I could see shadows flit about as I was stalked. It was morbidly exhilarating, knowing that I could die at any moment. I smiled slowly as I could see one massive silhouette standing some way off. I turned away from it, hoping I did not wake the beast.

I did not know how long I had been walking through the corpse fields. Random geyser eruptions added a less than wonderful distraction as I moved through the fields. I had only one encounter with a demon. Luckily, it was just a child. It had scampered through the mist in front of me. I stopped dead and stared, unmoving, hoping that it wouldn’t look at me.

The little beast turned its flat, scaly head and fixed its enormous black and yellow eyes on me. Its body was long and slender, covered in shining green and red scales. Its tail flicked back and forth as it stared at me. I didn’t know what to do, if I engaged it I knew it’d all be over, but the damn thing kept looking at me. I didn’t move, I just stared and kept looking over the details of the demon. Its massive black horns that curved around its pointed face, its massive black claws shiny with sweat. But its eyes, those brutal orbs that barely stayed in the socket, kept my attention as I could easily see the pupil moving as it searched me out. Suddenly a geyser erupted in front of me, just inches in front of my face. The heat from the steam burned my skin, I flinched away and I had to shut my eyes, but I remained silent lest I warn the demon of my presence.

I turned about, my eyes watering. I felt a massive scratchiness in my throat. Pressure built in my stomach as my body prepared to cough. I coughed aloud. It took several hacking moments before my throat was clear. I froze as the last cough echoed out through the chemical haze. My eyes searched through the sulfuric fog to spot the movement of the demons. I was surprised to see nothing. I should have been seeing something, anything. But I could not spot anything I could not hear anything, not even the slightest rustle or squeak. I felt fear run through my veins, a luxury provided by my place within the evolutionary hierarchy.

Then I heard it. Well, to be fair, the whole entirety of the corpse fields heard it. A massive roar sounded. I couldn’t determine from where, the fog keeping my senses blocked. I couldn’t smell the demon, see it, or tell where it was coming from, but I could feel the earth shake as the massive beast charged towards me.

I had only one scent in my nose I recognize: Home. I turned the direction the scent led and I ran. I didn’t care what was in my way, whether it be massive geyser or demon I ran.

As I ran I took things in at a glance. Demons flashed by and geysers exploded. Behind me the ground still rumbled as the huge demon chased me. My heart pounded, my muscles screamed. I would have used my wings, but with the queen on my back I was incapable of such and I was not about to drop her body, nothing would make me leave her behind.

The demons screamed and whooped as I sprinted, terror coursing through my veins. I had no idea what I was going to do, I just ran, trying to get home. The geysers began to thicken and the eruptions began to happen closer and closer together as if even nature wanted me to die, I would not be surprised considering that I am the kingmaker.

A geyser opened up beneath me. I fell. It was an odd sensation to one who was armed with the ability to fly. As I dropped I unfolded my wings I felt the queen’s body shift. I panicked trying to turn to keep her from falling, and then the geyser erupted.

The expulsion of gasses forced themselves into my wings forcing me into the air. I soared into the sky, above the noxious fumes of the corpse fields into the ugly blue skies. It was breathtaking to see the dense cloud cover before me. The clouds were black and unmoving. They were the clouds over the hive.

I drifted down with my wings outspread, trying to balance the dead queen on my back. I fell back into the clouds I was blinded by the evil vapor as my senses were invaded. I prayed to my dead queen that we would come out of the other side. I closed my eyes to avoid the pain. Then my wings gave out.

I plummeted through the smog, the queen still on my back. I refused to open my eyes or even try to unfold my wings again. I prepared myself for the ultimate failure and death would be a barely suitable punishment for everything I had failed to do.

As I fell memories flashed through my vision, it was horrifying. I saw images from when I was young, starting out on the execution line, punishing the drones who had failed in their duties. Next came my first actual kill that idiotic cobalt blue pony that had somehow stumbled across the hive, the blood had gone everywhere and I had enjoyed every second of it. The next memory was my first mating, I smiled, how intimate and loving the queen had been to me as I entered her. The memories flashed faster. I stood in the hatchery watching my seed grow into new brothers. I stood over the scorched corpse of a dead manticore as warriors charged into the sunken caverns hidden in the great forest to kill the Ursa Major. I hovered over a large village as ponies ran from their homes in terror. I was roaring my fervor out as my brothers fell onto the defenseless and useless organisms. We had eaten well that day. And the last memory was of yesterday. The whole day ran before my eyes in brutal and slow detail. First was the feeling I got from the queen. The chemical message she had sent me through the air, me sounding the general alert and gathering my other protectorate brothers to me. We flew together to Canterlot laughing at the doomed city we were about to pillage and burn. And the last thing I saw was the look on Chrysalis’ face right before the massive wall of energy slammed into her and took her from me.

The air streamed past my head. The air whistled to me, singing to me. Then I smashed into the dirt. I felt my ribs crack, two of my legs break and my right wing snapped. The pain was excruciating as I slid across the dirt.

I opened my eyes and looked up. The first thing I noticed was the cloud cover. It was wonderful to see the thick, black and noxious clouds that reminded me of me being a hatchling and taking my first flight around the hive. The next thing I noticed was the brutal and scarred face of Corlax. I noticed he had recently lost an eye, it was interesting to notice that my offspring was rather more violent than any previous generation. The big dumb brute smiled.

“Hello Krom, good to see you again.”

“Thanks Corlax, now could you get your mother off of me?” Corlax kept smiling.

“Alright dad, whatever you say.” The big, dumb guard moved out of my vision and my I lost consciousness.

The Hive and Its Children

I awoke suspended in a green bubble. As entertaining as it was to float inside of a bubble was I needed out. I tried to move and I felt pain course through my body as I tried to shift my muscles. I grunted in pain. It was rather frustrating being stuck in here. I looked out and watched drones flit by doing their mind numbing work. The drones were mindless. If two of them could scrape together enough cells for a brain stem they might be able to have made a decision for themselves. It was wonderful being at the top, I actually had the luxury of thought, but it was not something I did often.

I realized though that I was not at least piled in with the dead. I was glad I had that much value at least. But now I was stuck here, in the healing bubble. So I slept.

It took me three weeks to finally get out of the damn thing and I was ready to start things.

The bubble burst, pouring viscous, neon fluid around coating the ground. I tried to stand but slipped. There was a deep chuckle from the shadows surrounding me.

“I thought you were passed your hatchling days Krom.” I felt my choler rise.

“Well can one of you idiots just come help me up, or am I going to have to send both you off to the pits?” There was another deep chuckle and the other two praetorians of the hive came out of the darkness. Horus and Kronus, Kronus was one of my brood and Horus, well I had no idea where he had come from, he was before my time.

Horus was grizzled and his flesh was gangly, his black scales had begun to take on shades of silver causing him to consider leaving behind the battlefield forever and take on a leadership role solely. It was odd to think that someone could leave the battlefield behind without having fallen upon it. Kronus on the other was young and fit. His muscles were taut and fresh. Kronus was too young to have yet known the queen the way Horus and I had, he had also been denied the privilege of seeing the battlefield, he was still far too young to know what combat truly was. But soon he would know what one on one honorable combat would be.

Kronus helped me to my feet. I thanked him and shook myself clean of the green healing chemicals. I looked up to my fellow praetorians.

“Where did they take her?” Horus turned and headed back into the shadows, I followed.

“We put her in the contamination chamber. We had no idea what else to do.” Horus answered. I nodded. I would have done the same.

“It’s time brothers.” I stated. The two of them looked at me. Kronus didn’t know what I was speaking about, but Horus did.

“I would think it is too early for such.” Horus replied. We turned and twisted through hive’s small and unlit walkways. It wasn’t difficult for us to navigate, we could see in the dark as well as the light, a gift of evolution. We walked out of the tunnels and into the light of the main chamber.

The main chamber was massive, hundreds of miles across. It was lit by a brutal neon green glow that seemed to associate itself with our race like a plague. I watched as drones and warriors dashed about under the watchful eyes of the task masters. As I watched the diminished hive work I noticed one of the drones slip and crash into the ground. One of the task masters moved instantly. The drone’s small frame was easily impaled by the task master’s massive hook that hung off of the back of the task master’s front leg. The task master flew off with the writhing drone squealing for mercy.

I cringed for the little brainless thing. It was off to the pits for recycling. No matter how few of us there were, who was the queen, or who was in charge, the hive never stopped.

“It’s too early for the Blood Rite, Krom. We must first have the burial.” I nodded at Horus’ words.

“You’re right old man. We need the behemoths though, and we lost them before we even made it to Canterlot.”

“How?” Kronus asked.

“Hydra,” I stated calmly. “We couldn’t stop to help. There wasn’t enough time to do anything. I don’t know if they are even still there.” Horus looked over at me.

“How did you manage lose all of them?”

“Well, there is that little thing where they don’t have wings, or, you know, big brains.”

“Just goes to show that it’s all about where the genes come from eh?” Horus commented. I failed to state that over half of those behemoths just so happened to be older than I and thus fell under his blood line. I didn’t need to state just how devastating the loss of our behemoths was. Without the massive, lumbering brutes we were at a huge disadvantage in our combat prowess. It probably meant the eventual death of the hive without the precious genes they carried.

Throughout all of this Kronus had remained silent as was his place. Horus had dealt with this through the past ten queens, which to me was rather amazing. I looked to him as a tutor or at least some kind of mentor. I did come from him after all.

“Do you think some might still be out there?” asked Kronus. Horus and I turned as one on the younger of our order. But I was given pause in my rage as I considered his question. It was not an impossible idea, but I couldn’t decide if it was really truly worth it.

“Whelp!” Horus roared. “You speak as if your word matters!” Kronus bowed his head and backed away. I stepped between my two companions. I looked at Horus.

“Brother, these are dangerous times for the hive.” I looked at Kronus. “We don’t know whether or not we can survive.” I moved to the edge of the balcony and looked down on all of the small drones and warriors, the occasional task master and the massive guards that stood at the entrances, ready to kill any and all threats. It was beautiful to see all of these lives working for the better of the whole and it hurt to think that it all might be worth nothing.

“Horus,” I began. “Gather as many warriors and whatever carriers you can, we’re going to go recover our behemoths.”

Two Funerals

We flew. The air here was clean and unburdened by poisonous gasses. It tasted terrible. The route we flew was familiar as if the invasion had happened yesterday and not almost a month ago. I could see rents in the ground from where the pack of behemoths had trampled in their blood thirsty rage to be the first to Canterlot. We followed the trail, myself accompanied by my two colleagues and fifty warriors. All in told this was the greatest expenditure we could afford for any length of time.

It had been a month so the trail was grown over or in some cases had disappeared entirely. But we had their scent by now and it was easy enough to know where our behemoths had gone.

We flew low into a massive swamp. Trees lay strewn about as if a giant hatchling had been playing with them and there were great rents in the ground. As we continued on a stench like that I had never smelled before came up from the ground and caused me to gag. And then we saw it.

Lying in the mud and muck was the corpse of a massive hydra, worse, around the body lay at least two dozen of our massive, wingless behemoths, all of them dead. I landed in the mud and immediately sunk up to mid-shin. I slowly moved through the mud up to the behemoth’s massive head.

“Check them all,” I commanded. “One may still be alive. I knelt down by the behemoth’s massive head and poked it with my foreleg. One eye slowly opened up and rolled crazily until it rested on me. The pupil went wide with recognition. The beasts chest rose and with a huge sigh of exertion the head lifted from the mud and raise itself above me. I could hear as Horus and Kronus landed behind me.

“There all dead.” Horus stated. I shook my head.

“Your brood is all dead Horus.” I looked up into the eyes of the one behemoth we still had left. “Tell the troops to begin dragging all of these bodies back to the hive and bring the hydra as well, I’ll keep at least one head as a trophy.” I stood and stepped back. The one living behemoth slowly began to extricate his limbs from the ground. With huge sucking sounds he rolled his massive body over and pushed to a standing position.

“Horus,” I repeated. “Your brood is all dead, but this one, he’s all mine.” The behemoth reared his head back and bellowed. The force from the battle cry caused more than one warrior to fall from the sky bewildered. I let myself smile; this was going to be one interesting day.

As the underlings began to drag the corpses back to the hive I walked alongside the behemoth. I entered his mind as we walked and searched through his memories.

I went back as far as I could. The behemoth’s mind was an odd thing to sort out, they didn’t think like I did and the memories came haphazardly and in random order. Eventually I pieced together how things happened.

When the behemoths had been ambushed instincts took over, chemical orders had been sent through the air but due to the overwhelming threat the hydra presented they had been overruled violently with the need to kill the largest threat in sight. The memories were quite clear as I looked at the carnage through the behemoth’s eyes.

The hydra’s heads swung down and smashed into the bodies of the massive changelings smashing some into pulp. I could hear bones break as I watched the memories go by.

The fight lasted only about ten minutes as the behemoths and the hydra smashed into each other, snapping bones and tearing flesh from each other. Fight finally ended when one of the last two behemoths managed to force its horn up through the ribcage of the hydra and spear the beast’s heart with its massive horn.

I pulled my mind from the behemoth’s consciousness and stared up at the beast. He had four broken ribs, his left shoulder had been dislocated and then relocated incorrectly and both of his knees had been brutally battered to the point of near uselessness. All in told it would probably take him six months to fully recover. I looked ahead as I strolled along. He might take a while to heal, but he would be the alpha now and that, that would make for an interesting pack lead.

Now that we had retrieved the bodies I needed to sit with the other Praetorians again and set in motion the events for the funeral and the tournament, the Blood Rite.

We arrived back at the hive without incident. I escorted the behemoth to the contamination chamber. In the hive there are only so many of us who are important enough to be healed, behemoths are counted amongst that group. Unfortunately we did not have bubbled big enough to fit one of the monsters so the contamination chamber had been dug out. It was essentially a giant secluded pool filled with the same neon green slime that I had found myself suspended in.

I watched the behemoth slowly lower its massive frame into the liquid. The only benefit of the pool is that the behemoths can come and go, so this healing wouldn’t interfere with the funeral at all.

I sighed. The funeral would be interesting this time. I’d never been in charge of one before, nor had I ever overseen the Blood Rite, but Horus wouldn’t be able to do it anymore.

“I know what you’re thinking.” The old Praetorian said behind me.

“Speak of the devil.” I said under my breath. I turned to see my predecessor standing there staring at me.

“We need to talk.” Horus stated. I nodded and together we took off into the air. As we flew I spoke.

“Are you sure this needs to be done?” I asked him. Horus nodded.

“We’re in too fragile a state and we need a queen within a few weeks, not a few years.”

“Are you sure that this will do that for us?” I asked Horus. “I cannot run this hive on my own for years with the whelp asking me all of the questions when I myself still don’t know everything.”

“Don’t worry,” Horus assured me. “The hive will live on, I can assure you, but we need a new queen, without one we are doomed to fail.”

The two of us flew on in silence. I landed on the balcony outside of my chamber and looked up at Horus.

“So when is this going to happen then?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Tomorrow,” Horus answered. “Bing the whelp as well, he’ll need to see this.” With that the Master Praetorian flew off leaving me with even more questions that he couldn’t answer.

I entered my chamber and looked around. It was sparse, with a large cushion and a large depression filled with water for bathing. I looked down at my mud soaked legs and decided to clean myself. I relaxed in the warm water and reflected on the coming events.

This would be my fourth witnessed Blood Rite coming and the first I would not compete in. This would also be my second witnessed Gene Sacrifice. I didn’t dwell on the ceremonies that were coming up I just focused on cleaning myself.

I finished with my cleansing and rose up out of my bath. I walked to my cushion and fell onto it and allowed sleep to claim me.

I came to the next day and rose from my bed. Today is the day I had hoped to never see again.

I walked out onto my balcony and took to the air. I slowly made my way over to the hatchery to watch death work its magic.

I entered the hatchery and landed softly on the squishy floor. I moved slowly amongst the combed walls. I peered within one and at the egg held within. I could make out the black larva wriggling within the amniotic fluid that fed it. It was amazing to see new life in its earliest stages around the hive. I turned and continued my sad walk.

Soon enough I came upon the one chamber that only four of us knew about. The fourth being who was supposed to know about this place was the queen. It was the chamber where we made new queens, where old ones come when they died.

Today we were not passing just a queen. We were going to pass Horus. As I walked into the chamber it looked just the same, above hung the one lone egg sac that held the embryo that was our growing queen and underneath was a pool of viscous, nutritious amniotic fluid that fed slowly into the egg of our new queen, queen Crucia. I saw Horus standing at the edge of the pool staring down into the bubbling contents of hatchling food. Next to him stood Kronus who had been told what was to happened today. I could hear Horus speaking to the young one.

“Today begins the Blood Rite, Kronus. Today is a day for warriors and soldiers alike to fight to honor our dead queen. I will not be there, I will be dead before either of you walk from this chamber.” He looked up at the dangling egg. “All for her,” he sighed. “All for the hive.” The old one smiled and slowly walked his way into the center of the pool. I watched, just as I had watched all those years ago when I had been in Kronus’ position and Follox had walked himself into the center of that pool, and I knew that Kronus would probably watch me do it as well.

The process was quicker than any other acid I’d ever seen work. Horus began to lose inches as he stood in the middle of the pool, being slowly eaten up to feed to new queen. This would give the queen a super boost and quicken her growth process and shorten her time in the sac from a year to a few months. I didn’t say anything to the ancient as his head was enveloped by the goop and taken forever.

I looked up at the egg as it the embryo within stirred at the introduction of a new food source.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go bury the queen.” With that the two remaining praetorians walked out of the secret birthing chamber and out through the avenues of new changeling life that sprouted from our very walls.

We both stood over the main thoroughfare of the hive that leads from the main entrance to the vey center spire. I watched as our one surviving behemoth, the new alpha, marched its massive way between the lined road way. I had said that the hive never stops, I had forgotten this one day, the day where we mourn the loss of our mother. The hive will stop for her, for all of the mother’s that Horus and I had seen. I had seen a great many of the younger praetorians taken in battle and those were sad affairs themselves, but nothing compared to seeing what I saw.

It was an odd thing, to experience emotion. I watched the behemoth with that massive palanquin on its back carry the latest of our mothers to the base of the spire. At the bottom four overseers waited reverently. When the behemoth arrived they each took a limb and carried the queen to the hatchery. From there it was my job to take her to the very pool where I watched Horus consumed to feed the new queen. Chrysalis was to serve the same purpose, but instead of nutrients it would be knowledge that the new queen would get from my beloved Chrysalis.

I looked to Kronus.

“You know, this next brood will be yours.” I stated quietly. The younger one looked at me.

“But.” He trailed off. I smirked.

“I’m the master now, Kronus. That means the duty falls on you.” I looked out over the assembled masses of our weakened hive. Even in our diminished numbers we still looked formidable.

“Now we’ll just see if you have anything in your body worth passing on to the next generation.” Kronus smiled at me.

I looked out over the legacy the Horus and I had created. If you looked long enough you could begin to pick out which ones belonged to me and which ones belonged to Horus. The old one had left me with one bit of knowledge at least. It doesn’t matter how many you make, it all depends on how you fight.

The Blood Rite

The pit was filled with fierce looking warriors that were busy tearing into each other. It was always odd looking into the lower ranks to see how easily they could turn on their brothers. I sat in the top tier of the coliseum that lay even deeper in the earth directly beneath the main chamber of the hive. I sat to the right of the throne and Kronus sat to the left. The throne itself was reserved solely for the queen and if any other were to sit there the whole of the hive would rip that idiot’s flesh to pieces.

Down here in the depths is where the only event that mattered happened: The Blood Rite. For some it was just an event to get your feet and face covered in a rival’s blood, for others it was a rite of passage. I had participated in a few of the Rites and it had been some of the most brutal and intense combat ever. What better way to test yourself than against several of your brothers at once? I sighed as I watched one of the warriors rip another apart with his teeth.

Above us the drones and the taskmasters kept at their work, the hive didn’t need us. The hive never really did need us. we are all just extra mouths. But the food we brought in more than made up for what we actually ate. We were starving for emotion though.

I pulled my mind from my thoughts on the well being of the hive. The round was ending and five living warriors stood on the field below. They were all heaving and sweaty, covered in their brother’s blood from head to toe. I stood and moved the edge of the balcony to watch the five be escorted from the field. They would live to see another day.

I looked to Kronus. His attention was on the field as other warriors came down to clean up the detritus.

“You’re up next round.” I stated. I could tell the young praetorian was nervous. I laughed. “You do realize that unless they send out a behemoth you’re going to crush everything out there right?” I asked him leaning on the railing. Kronus looked at me, still obviously nervous.

“And what if they swarm me?” his voice cracked.

“Then fight harder.” I stated. My colleague swallowed visibly and then flew down to the field as the last of the meat was cleared.

The Blood Rite, more like the winnowing. I knew why we really did it. The hive was weak, too many mouths at the end of long lines of bad genes. This was no trial of the champion, this was a withering out of the weak and if Kronus really did die, well, I’d be alone for a long time.

The horn sounded and the gates opened up. The rush of black chitinous bodies came flooding out. As usual there was fighting at the gates themselves but most of the brothers headed for the middle of the field, taking imaginary sides.

Kronus sat there in the middle, waiting. When the flood hit him he looked to be ready then he was swept under by the tide. I didn’t stir from my spot. My eyes scanned the ever quickening chaos for a sign of the young praetorian but to no avail.

The fight went on and it was the most brutal of the day. I could see that my stock were the ones who were the most rambunctious, tearing into each other without care of their own body. I smiled at the thought of a true hive warrior.

I finally saw a single sign of Kronus. His head came up as if breaking water for air. His face was gripped in fear before he was dragged under again. It reminded me of watching Horus fight in the Blood Rite before I had been allowed to. Not that he had been swept under, quite the opposite. Horus had been a whirlwind of death, sprinting about the field tearing warriors asunder like they were no more than frail egg shell.

I could smell the blood from here and memories of my own time in the Rite came to the fore of my mind. Bones breaking, squeals of pain and blood that ran like rivers and fell like rain. The Rite had been the best time of my years and now, I would no long have one.

I watched the melee and noticed on the edge was Kronus crawling his way to the wall, both his hind legs broken and his wings were missing. He was bleeding profusely and would obviously not survive without immediate medical attention.

I rose from my seat and took into the air shouting.

“Stop the fight! Stop the fight!” I commanded. Heads turned and cheers died down as I flew my way onto the field. By the time I landed there was complete silence. I strode my way over to Kronus’ body. I could feel my veins singing with the sweet, sweet rage I felt. I reached Kronus. The young praetorian looked up at me, blood burbling from his mouth. His face was brutally beaten and one of his eyes had been gouged out with a horn.

I smiled down at him cruelly. He smiled back up at showing that half his teeth were missing and blood flowed freely between the gaps. I reached down and grabbed him by his right rear leg. He began to scream as I dragged him to the center.

“This,” I called out. “Is what has become of our hive over the last few years.” I reached the center and tossed down Kronus’ leg, he continued to moan in pain. “Today is the day of the Blood Rite and he,” I pointed to Kronus. “Has failed us.” There were boos and hisses heard from the stands. I circled the dying praetorian. “I will not stand for such weakness to be shown, for such hubris as living for oneself.” The warriors in the stands all said as one, our beloved mantra. “All for the hive, in death as in life.” I looked down at Kronus my rage coming up, lending my voice intensity. “In death as in life!” I shouted at him. I raised my foot above the weaklings head. Horror spread across his blood soaked face. I slammed my foot down over and over again, the crowd roared as I assaulted my brother. Soon I was only smashing pulp into the hard black rock of the ground.

I stepped back and took a deep breath. I spread my wings and slowly made my way back up to my balcony. I turned to face the brothers crowded into the stands all staring at me. I raised my foot.

“Continue!” I shouted. The carnage below started anew, all of those foolish warriors trying to impress me with their best efforts.

I chuckled to myself. I was going to be alone for a long time.

The Hunt

I stood in the hidden chamber hidden in the depths of the hatchery. I watched the new queen sitting in her egg and I reflected. I didn’t often reflect on things it had been some time since I was the one who made decisions. But now, I wasn’t sure what to do.

The Blood Rite had been appeased and the weak had been weeded out for the most part maybe it was time for the hunt, a good hunt that would bring in plenty love and happiness.

I nodded to myself as I watched that pale green egg shift as the new mother shifted within her home. The pool beneath her had nearly drained and once it was gone she would emerge and take her place and I would guide her, guide her to a new future.

I turned and left the chamber. I walked slowly through the empty hatchery. Normally this place was buzzing as the small caretakers cleaned and watched over the new eggs sequestered within the walls but the combs were empty save for a few.

I stepped from the hatchery and out onto a rock like balcony looking out over the massive central chamber. I watched the ebb and flow taking solace knowing that the hive still moved, still danced like an organism in its own right.

I released pheromones into the air using the sacks located just underneath my gonads. A warrior flew up to me and knelt before me.

“Lord.” He warrior said without looking up.

“Prepare your brothers, we hunt.” I told him. The warrior nodded and backed away. He dropped from the balcony and spread his wings to tell his brothers of the news.

I inhaled deeply through my nostrils. Today was the first day of a new start and I would lead it as the Master Praetorian I was to lead this hive until our new mother came to us.

I stepped off of the balcony and flew to the head of the sleeping chambers for the warriors. The brothers that were to come with me were already assembled in serried ranks waiting for my word.

I landed and looked out at the brothers. Not a distinguishable feature throughout the group. All were black and chitinous with sky blue, multi-faceted eyes and pale bug-like wings and a single small horn atop their heads. It was beautiful to see such warriors poised and ready to deliver death.

At the fore of the ranks sat two scouts. They were rather small, the smallest in fact of our numbers. They were the most adept at changing into the forms of others even better than me but they lacked my mind reading ability.

“Go.” I told them. The two spread their wings and took off. It might have seemed premature to have assembled the warriors just as the scouts were ordered to leave. But they knew their craft well and would have taken their places amongst the unknowing victims of our ravenous hunger within a few hours.

I looked to the ranks of warriors behind me and smirked to myself. Today was a new day. I spread my wings. I had a few hours at least until it was time to go and I had one thing I needed to do before we left to feed ourselves and our brothers.

I flapped my wings and made my way to where the last behemoth slept underneath the main spire.

I came in through the archway and saw the massive brute slumbering peacefully. I was always fascinated by these creatures.

Behemoths were a race unto their own as they had the greatest margins of genes and changes. I had never seen on with wings but I had come watched some who were twice the average size of what was considered an average size one. I had seen some with two or even three horns that worked together to make massive beams of energy. One that had died fighting the hydra was intelligent enough to speak and I had talked with him on several occasions. But this hulking piece of monster was small minded and quick to anger, the best qualities to find in any brother.

I sat next to the behemoth’s head and pushed into his consciousness. His mind was full of images of fire and blood and other aggressive thoughts. I willed him to calm his mind, to sleep peacefully. I listened to his breathing and his heart as they began to slow as he calmed.

“You’re a right mean bastard aren’t you?” I asked the behemoth as he slept. Horus had always told me to never take pride or feel any connection to offspring as most of them lived short lives and there were so many. I couldn’t help myself though with this one. He was a rather unique case as I could not think of a time when there were less than five behemoths in the hive.

I placed a foot on the top of his ugly head and smiled at him. I delved further into his mind and began to look through his life.

This behemoth had been through quite a bit in his time. He had been birthed in my first mating long ago. He had come out of the massive egg and was immediately subjected to inspection from the caretakers. He had stumbled his way to his feet and roared weakly at the caretakers. The small beetle-like creatures had approved and moved him along to the base of the central spire.

The newborn was a third the size of any of the mature behemoths and he felt a twinge in his small mind as he scented out the alpha. The small behemoth had moved forward and bowed his head up to the alpha. I watched as the view looked up at the alpha of the pack.

I recognized the alpha. He had been born several generations before my own time and had grown to an enormous size. The alpha was missing an eye and had a massive set of scars on the right side of his head. I withdrew from the behemoth’s mind and let him rest.

I scented pheromones upon the air. It was time for the hunt. I left the sleeping behemoth behind. I stepped out into the central chamber and saw that some considerable time had passed.

I spread my wings and took off making my way back to the warriors. The flight was short and I could see the warriors had not moved as I had been away.

I settled before the warriors and sniffed the air. The message had come again. I could see the warriors tense up as they smelled the pheromones too. I smiled and spread my wings.

“Let’s go.” I said simply.

We traveled through the air much the same as I had months ago when flying to Canterlot. We sailed over fields and trees and occasionally the lone home. We flew closely together so as to not be lost in the night.

The smell was becoming stronger as the warriors and I neared the village that had been marked. The night air was cool and the sky was clear and it was utterly sickening to be out in it. I sniffed at the air again and smiled. We were here.

I could make out structures not too far from where we already were but I landed followed by the warriors. All was quiet as two brightly colored ponies came running up to me from some darkened corner behind some structure.

I could smell love and happiness in the air, its pungent odor quite the alluring scent. The two small ponies changed before me into their true form of the scouts. They did not speak. That was the rule you never speak on the hunt until after the prey has been engaged.

As a group we moved slowly into the village spreading out as we went. Each structure had small weak points that were easy to enter through.

After a few minutes we had spread out across the village and were prepared to strike. I stood in front of one particular portal. I sent out a message letting the warriors know that I was ready. I received messages back that all were in position.

I reared back and smashed the portal open. All across the village I heard similar crashes as the warriors broke into the pony’s homes ready to suck some of them dry and drag the rest back to the hive.

Screams were heard across the village as the warriors of the hive delved into the homes and began to wreak havoc amongst the ponies. I moved into the darkened home using my powerful sense of smell to figure out where my prey was.

There was a set of stairs and a yellow colored pony standing there rubbing sleep from its eyes trying to comprehend what it was seeing. I charged the pony knocking it to the floor. The pony’s head struck the floor with a loud crack. Blood oozed from its skull lending its metallic smell in the air. I left the bleeding pony there. I could smell two more ponies up further.

I moved quickly the smell of the blood spurring me on. I came to the top of the stairs to see a pony holding a little hatchling in its arms. The pony had water leaking from its eyes and it was shaking its head babbling at me.

I swung a foreleg at it and knocked the hatchling down. The hatchling began squalling. I lifted my leg again and smashed it down onto the hatchling silencing it forever. The pony, however, began to scream in response to my action. I swung my leg again and knocked the pony down. It held a hoof up to its cheek where a dark bruise began to spread. I swung again and knocked the pony out cold.

I used my head to scoop up the unconscious pony and turned to deal with the other one. Standing behind me holding something in its hooves was the other pony. Blood had leaked all across its head and face obscuring its eyesight some but the pony had still managed to get up and acquire a weapon of sorts.

The pony swung its weapon but it was tired and dizzy from its fall and the swing went wide without me having to have moved. The pony fell over again smashing into the floor hitting its head again. I couldn’t leave this pony alive so I did what I do best: Kill.

I sucked the feelings out the pony leaving it gray and nearly lifeless and with an swift efficiency I had always exhibited I smashed the thing’s skull open spraying blood and brains across the floor.

I turned and left the grizzly scene descending the stairs and leaving out the portal.

The screams and panic had died down some as the warriors had begun to cart off prey to the hive. I called out to a passing warrior who was unburdened and handed off the unconscious pony. The warrior took the pony and took off into the night sky.

I looked about. The village still had terrified ponies running about trying to escape from the warriors but there was no hope as the warriors had long ago evolved to have great night vision. I saw a winged pony take off only to be smashed back to the earth by a vicious blow. The pony landed with a bone snapping crunch and skidded to a halt not a foot in front of me. The pony looked up at me.

“Why?” it asked me, I had no answer for it. The warrior swooped down and scooped the pony up into the air. I spread my wings and launched myself up into the air heading back for the hive.