"May the warmth of love cover us all."
-Central tenet of Hive Empathy-
*****

Rainbow Dash scuffed her hooves on the floor. Celestia had tried to stir some conversation, and she had, obviously, turned to changelings. The princess just couldn't get her mind to reject the subject... not now.

"... You cannot find changelings, you can only be found by them."

"Really?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head. "Not even with magic?"

"There are ways, but if you resort to them, you already know changelings are involved and where, and thus redundant."

"And the shield?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head.

"For the shield to exclude somepony while allowing somepony else one must be familiarized with the type of pony to exclude. Rejecting ponies that mean ill to a government official - or even Equestria itself - is, from a technical standpoint, easy if you have the training and expertise. The problem begins with Shining Armor himself; being Captain of the Royal Guard, thus being of such great importance, he cannot eliminate himself from the list... he has enemies that would gladly see him removed from their lives, and would not simply stop at politics - he has been actively sabotaged thorough his career. He has to take his own well-being into account, however, denying an uppity noble access or egress from Canterlot is simply too much - and measures to correct this and other problems are simply too demanding in terms of personnel, magic and logistics to be practical in the long term without there being an outright war."

Not to mention that it seems the shield wouldn't exclude changelings without ill-will. Not that that's a bad thing in and of itself, but if somepony found a changeling inside the shield it would be an incredible disaster. Too much risk.

"Can't you just... I dunno, test everypony?" Dash said, scratching her head. "Twilight removed a changeling's disguise with a spell back then."

A brief flash of horror crossed the sun princess's eyes.

"No! That wasn't a spell, not like that." Celestia knew exactly what they were talking about, and the idea of doing that filled her with dread. "A changeling's disguise is more than skin-deep; the only way to discover them reliably would be to search for feelings of unfamiliarity with the form. It's a waste, completely useless. Not only a recruit with fresh armor would provoke a false-positive; just like them, once they spend an amount of time in a new form they adapt and nothing will work."

"As for stripping them of their form... magic can be resisted. Any spell powerful enough to overcome protection spells or innate magical resistance will injure normal ponies." Celestia rested her head, the clock marking the maddening wait for a response of any kind. "Twilight only did what she did because she saw the changeling transform with her eyes. Anything else, we would deal with dangerous magic, injuries and many invasions of privacy. The country would tear itself apart quite quickly."

"So we lose either way?" Dash slumped to the ground, defeated.

For many years after she felt the last strand of the Elements slip in between her hooves, Celestia felt that way. It took a prophet to bring back hope. A prophecy, divination, the art of reading the weave of fate and destiny... 'four stars', 'longest day of the thousandth year', a pony 'walking the haze between day and night' and the 'bonds of the heart'. The promise that the Elements would once again shine with the glory they had - that they were supposed to have.

And now, all that remained was the memory of being rejected by them. It was not, as she once though, merely because she was but a single mare - numbers were important, but that was not the reason. It was not because of the conflict between her sister and herself dampening or impeding the use of the Elements...

They cut her out themselves.

They lent her their strength one last time, out of the sheer love she felt for her sister, as well as her unwillingness to let her harm a single being beyond herself. Then, slumber.

Waiting for somepo- someone who understood them better, who could embody them better... who could inspire them better.

And yet Twilight still thought the world of her.

'You only did what you thought was best for all.'

Really? Had she? She gave the queen a funeral in secret, but told her people she had... broken... rather violently. It was a plausible effect of channeling that much power, and certainly she had felt it, but it was just a lie. Had it been necessary? For her purposes, yes. For the good of all? Hardly.

At first, she had thought 'yes'.

Once she included the changelings...

*****

This was touched by another changeling.

It- the jar- it's- I doubt ponies have the need to stuff emotions into their food. Sure, 'made with love' and all that... magic latches onto things, and emotion- I mean, traces of the stuff are everywhere. Ponies are wasteful like that.

This? This was deliberately infused. I smell a trace of changeling...

I... I'm not... I know I'm not going to be rescued. A last gift? Oh... I-I should enjoy it for now. I might not get the whole experience, since my head feels full of cotton.

I still can't believe I thought Fluttershy was Queen Concordia. How embarrassing.

"Excuse me." The doctor said, apprehension evident in the way he tapped his hoof. "I know it might not be the most appropriate moment to address this kind of issue, but I have to speak to you in private. It won't take long, I promise."

"Alright..."

*****

Twilight paced uncomfortably in front of Fluttershy, who, for her part, simply rested on the seats.

"Well?" She asked her timid friend.

Fluttershy flinched at the sudden question.

"How are... things?" She added lamely. Twilight had been told she needed to work on her tact, since it sometimes slipped - innocently, but no less insensitive. Unfortunately, her speech suffered for it.

Fluttershy sighed. She had heard a lot - being so quiet herself, she long since learned how to hear, and hear good. Everything (that was said coherently) was rather... personal, obviously, but the little changeling was sinking into a spiral of depression.

Perhaps in some sort of literal sense. Shining Armor's anger had a very marked negative impact, who's to say her own emotions don't do that?

"Well, she's... she's absolutely convinced she's going to die." She said it, bam, just like that, though she still recoiled just like Twilight did. "She... she thinks she's going to get tossed into a dungeon and then starve to death, or outright exe-executed."

She couldn't hold a shiver.

Neither could Twilight.

"Then... th-then she fears she's going to get dissected and studied in ways that will allow ponies to... to... all changelings..." She squeaked as the words got caught in her throat. Did she really think that of ponies? She thought of them as being cruel enough to... to eradicate all changelings just like that? It sent shivers down her spine once more, and a tear or two to her eyes.

"Then there's her parents." It was hard, but she could do this! She could... just... just as she had asked Iris to speak the troubles weighting her heart, she could try to gleam some way to help her. Twilight was pretty smart; she'd know something; Twilight knew everything.

'He- he hurt and ached all over', 'like fire', 'only the two of us', 'hungry', 'not enough.'

"Her father, uh... became a drone. She heard him and tried to help, but there wasn't enough 'love' for the both of them, and he just tried to save her... s-she remembers that still. She remembered how her father said he felt he was burning, then he couldn't move, then got quieter... then his eyes glazed over and she could not 'feel him' any more."

"So that's how she felt?" Twilight's mind quickly recalled something: 'I nearly starved there.'

'One with Love', 'didn't quite come back', 'salamander', 'size of the chamber.'

"And her mother did... something. Something about 'becoming one with love' and not being able to get all the way back. It had to do with a big salamander, and taking lots of magic to ki-get rid of it." Fluttershy winced in discomfort, but was able to understand the sheer danger even a hoof-sized baby salamander could do; one -just one- managed to torch the better part of an acre of White Tail Woods in a few seconds entirely by accident.

Gears started to turn in the lavender scholars's head. 'One with Love', 'Love and Magic are the same thing', 'my love will give you strength'... the sheer power she had felt when the barrier washed over her... this had to be added to her notes.

Wait, there was a sensitivity lesson there, no? It would be hard to ask about the subject if her mom died because of it. Drat, tact was hard.

'Happy', 'Queen', 'good care', 'lessons.'

"And her Queen took care of her a little, teaching her things."

The door opened to let the doctor pass... five days already with two guards posted at each door and he still couldn't quite adapt. Learning to dodge them was easy, since they were almost immobile in their dutiful watch. Not being creeped out was another thing altogether.

"Ah... yes..." He trailed off, blushing slightly. When the pair got closer, however, his blush intensified.

Swallowing, he knew he just had to avoid the issue. No big deal. It wasn't any different from doctor-patient confidentiality... even if she did ask him... he was getting ahead of himself. First, he had to stop thinking about it.

"Well, she is going to be fine." He spoke weakly. Dang, he just couldn't stop thinking. It was simply too... strange! Then again, it is said that it takes sentience to make an animal trip twice over the same rock, but he was determined to limit himself to one black eye from an angry, over-sensitive pony. Understandably, he was a little on edge.

"Is... is there something else?" Fluttershy asked, peering at him with those soulful eyes. What a gracious, kind-hearted mare.

That pony looked like a nice one, too, and with but a few words, he was sprawled on the floor with -in one of his colleague's expert opinion- 'one hay of a shiner'.

"Uh... she just, you know, needs somepony to keep her company." He began to blush again at the images his own words brought forth. "Physically, she's on her way. Mentally? She's scattered, or perhaps 'fragmented' would be a better way to say it."

He managed to get his facial temperature under control.

"She is nervous and detached, only to get overly concerned with the opinions of others in a second. She changed four times in as many sentences." Time to face up to... this. "She has too many things running through her head, and wanted me... me... to tell you that she might be awkward to get along with. It's an issue that is bothering her, severely, and would rather get out of the way as soon as possible; she feels incapable of breaching the subject with you, for some reason." The way he spoke at the end, it was obvious he knew the exact reason.

The two mares were confused. They weren't making this any easier!

"She will understand should you want to leave, given the differences in our respective societies." Time to stop stalling. "In the hive she was a broodmare, and she used to seduce ponies and sleep around a lot."

Twilight's eyes widened, and Fluttershy gasped.

He closed his eyes and flinched at the sound, gritting his teeth. Not the face!

No angry hoof came, however, so he opened his eyes. The fillies were a little pink around the face, but the lavender unicorn just chuckled.

"Oh, well! That's... interesting!" Twilight chuckled awkwardly, then blushed a little redder. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, she regained her composure and trotted towards the door.

"Alright, thanks for the... information. However, I would rather not leave her alone for any period of time."

Indeed, with just a few moments, the changeling had deteriorated further; she was now clutching her jar of honey like it was a lifeline, and kept muttering to herself. Her eye was unfocused, and she was curled on her side as tightly as her injuries could allow.

"Iris?" Fluttershy was deeply concerned. "Iris!"

"Buh?!" She shook her head, and she seemed more focused, though she still had that wild look to her. "Fluttershy! Good to see you!"

That smile was a little too similar to Twilight's in a 'bad place'. That wasn't a good sign.

"I would have cleaned- wait, I'm chained! Haha!" She moved around tugging on the restraint on her good leg. "And this isn't my room anyways! I mean, it's too... white! And the lights are ugly, and the corners are... are too... corner-y."

She pointed around the hospital room as much as she could, injecting cheer into her words despite the slight trembling.

"You mean 'sharp'." Twilight corrected.

"Right." She nodded, still trying to keep a smile on her face, and tried to stuff her face into the jar even though her fangs kept getting in the way.

Doctor Stable had no more doubts; separation did awful things to this mare.

Which was another thought... he no longer struggled to find a way to address her anymore. He'd just thought of her as a mare like any other.

*****

With a sigh, he exited the bathroom, which was the only place he could have enough privacy to look at himself in the mirror. His silvery, cat-like irises were now a more common green. He heard that though she had the same body type as any Worker, she had double-ringed eyes, which meant that she had some bits of royal blood -supposedly common among Love.

Ugh.

He had never even seen a hive city, and even then had seriously thought of just running away from... well, everything! This Canterlot mess made him afraid to be himself in his own home! But he couldn't run. He had gotten his degree like any other pony would have, liked his friends (like Doctor Stable, who tended to the brood-ling) too much, and was not about to go back on his professional standards even one bit.

That jar of honey was a bit of a gamble to... well, everything, but he could not leave her to suffer.

"May the warmth of love cover us all." He mumbled, remembering the words of his father. He might not be officially part of Hive Empathy, but if changelings didn't look out for one another... who will?

Wait... Stable was the doctor, and didn't seem to care that she was a Changeling... huh.

*****

"Those are worrisome news." Concordia said, looking away from her crystal ball in deep contemplation.

"We cannot let them use this magic against us." Morphosai growled, pacing around Chrysalis's own crystal.

They knew the story - all of Equestria knew it, really, so their spies knew too. Nightmare Moon was more than an old mare's tale, but the details blurred a bit to history; Celestia said that the creature had forcibly taken her sister into its exile, and when it returned, then six mares used the ancient pony magic of the 'Elements' to get rid of it.

Concordia had let out a disdainful snort. She had heard the old stories from both sides, she had guessed that Celestia had been there when Discord was defeated... not talking about the role Queen Harmony had played suited the changeling race just fine - it wouldn't do to let others know - but to name whatever pony magic weapon she had designed like that... fine, she had to admit it was a flattering gesture that Celestia had named her own artifacts after those of Queen Harmony despite appearing to be riddled with imperfections, but now it might get pointed at them.

Not good.

One of few silver linings to this storm being that for some reason -likely related to the stability of the objects or prevention of abuse from their wielders- they were kept separate from them in a location that proved to be vulnerable... sure, they could not be stolen by thieves, but neither could the bearers get to them quickly. Block the vault and Celestia's own barrier magic turns against them, and that was without taking into account how vulnerable to ambush anypony would be.

Tactical blunder - they would be safer somewhere closer to the wielders, or Celestia, given that she would be able to regulate their access more easily.

Another small-but-still-significant detail being that there was a lot of emphasis being placed on the ponies... it was a curious thing that implied that the pony version of the Elements could only key in to one pony at a time. Well, Celestia used all of them at once at some point, but if (IF) she made them, then it didn't seem that strange; this thing about passing them to individual bearers could be pointing out some design flaw regarding the way they were supposed to be used or even something similar to the changelings' own - the Bearer of Love could, if the conditions are right (or desperate enough), attempt to use them all at once.

(Of course, a single ordinary pony, even Celestia's prized apprentice, would find that attacking a creature as dangerous as Nightmare Moon or Discord alone to be suicidal, Elements or not. That is unless this apprentice had countless bonds of support, an indomitable will and spirit beyond most mortals, or was already close to that level of power.)

It could be a ruse, though. The changelings' Elements reacted to the feelings of... well, everything, and that meant that anyone could do something with them if they had the capacity to feel the Core of the Element (or if many others felt it for them). It was just that, being empathic themselves, the Elements reacted best with a Bearer that they 'like'. This pony version could be similar.

Still, the ponies would be under watch, and if -Gatekeepers forbid- they make a move to use their weapon against the hives... they would have to do something about one of them.

Easier said than done. This could very well require a hooves-on approach by the queens, with all the risks that implied.

Author's Note

What's with this 'oh, let's wave a horn around and solve all of our changeling problems!' thing that abounds? You won't find any of that here.