A breeze blew through the valley that the Hive was located in, deep in the Eidol mountains. They had set up their hive there since visitors were extremely scarce: it was much easier to go around the towering mountain range than go through it, which ensured relative safety from the outside world.
The Devourer stood just outside the main doors to the hive. The outside world... it had been a while since it had traveled on its own into the outside world. The events at Canterlot were different, since it was staying put at the time: now it had to deal with actually knowing where it was going and other such worries. Food obviously wasn't going to be a problem: if all else failed it could stave off its hunger with a few rocks or even scoops of the ground itself, though those meals were usually far more bland than other things such as plants or meat. Another worry would be keeping its travels covert: it wasn't the easiest thing to hide outside of urban environments, and it wasn't about to tunnel its way all the way to the crystal empire. Yet another worry was what would happen if it was seen: if a witness escaped and it wasn't careful, news of its whereabouts would spread quickly, potentially ruining its chances of finding its targets where it knew them to reside. And yet another worry came from--
The Devourer's thoughts were interrupted as the doors behind it opened. It turned and saw Queen Chrysalis emerge.
"So it's time for you to go then?" she asked.
"Yes... it is time," it replied, looking back down the valley and its intended path. "Where is the swarm?"
"They're here," Chrysalis said as she motioned upwards. The Devourer turned, took a step back, and looked up: almost every window on that side of the hive had multiple changelings crowding it to watch its departure.
The Devourer smiled. "I almost expected them to rejoice in my leaving," it said.
"You are loved in the hive, whether they realize it or not," Chrysalis replied, looking up at the crowd with it.
"I appreciate the thought," it said as it looked back down the valley. It was anxious to get going, and the queen could tell.
"Before you go, Devourer, I have something to give you," she stated. She turned and a glow lit around her horn as she levitated a small crumpled object from within the fibers of her tail. She set the necklace down in its hand: it seemed to be made of various materials used in different places in the hive.
"To remind you of home," she said. "It is, after all, a very long journey."
"I know this," it replied, fitting the necklace around its neck. It noticed that whichever changeling had made it had accounted for the Devourer's size so that the necklace would fit tightly, perfectly around its neck. It turned to Queen Chrysalis as she levitated a small mirror from somewhere, allowing it to check how the necklace looked. The Devourer liked it.
"If something happens while I am gone, do not be afraid to recall me," it stated. "If all else fails, I shall be the homeguard of the hive: I will return at any moment's notice and then set back out with twice the speed as I started."
"Of course, Devourer. We couldn't be defending ourselves from armies without you, now could we?" Chrysalis said. "Now go. Like I keep reminding you, it is a very, very long journey. You must start soon."
"Yes, yes," the Devourer said playfully as it turned and began walking through the valley. Halfway to the edge of the clearing the hive was in, it turned and waved to the crowd of changelings still at the windows, who waved back. It was good to have one last reminder of what it was fighting for... then it turned and left at last.
It had been several hours before something interesting happened. It was not out of familiar territory yet, since it had gone with the hunting parties on occasion when food became scarce, so it knew the lay of the mountains well enough to not get lost easily.
It faced a branch in the valley: a standard left-path-right-path choice. It knew that the left path led mostly to hunting grounds whereas the right led to the beach of the Glass Sea after a while. The right path was the correct one to take, so naturally it took it. As it began to make its way closer and closer to unfamiliar territory, its mind began to wander.
What was it going to find near the Glass Sea? The sea was so named because of an anomaly that happens every now and then in some places where the surface hardened like thick glass, capable of easily supporting walking creatures without indicating any sort of tilting or buoyancy. What sort of creatures would evolve to live in a place like that? Were there settlements nearby that it was going to have to deal with?
Its thoughts were interrupted as it heard a noise up ahead. The Devourer slowed to a crawl and got low to the ground as it approached the source of the sound: a loud crashing and banging noise. As it got closer, it was able to make out two deep voices talking to each other though the sound.
"So you think that one place'll be a problem?"
"Nah, it's not a problem. Prob'ly jus' a bunch a' bugs or som'in."
"We talkin' 'bout tha' same place?"
"The really big cave wit' lotsa' scorpions an' bones in front of it?"
"Yeah, jus' makin' sure."
An Ettin. Giant, two-headed humanoids that collectively had half the intelligence of one head. Solitary brutes that spent much of their time banging out small caves in mountains for their homes using giant clubs and rudimentary picks. The Devourer's suspicions were confirmed as it came around an outcropping of rock and spotted the fur-clad giant attempting to hack away at a cliff without much success, not that it seemed to care or realize.
"An' what about that thing we saw the other day?"
"What thing?"
"The flyin' black thing."
"Oh that. We'll catch one an' see if we can eat it once we're done with this cave."
".......why don't we jus' clear out the one with tha' bugs?"
"Because we don't like bugs, ya' idiot!"
The Ettin slapped one of its heads which reacted by rubbing its face with the other hand. This thing... or these two... would have no chance of catching a changeling, the Devourer thought. Perhaps leaving it alone would be best, and let the hive have it for itself. Fighting and killing it here would mean it would have to lug its body back to the hive or else it would be wasted.
As the being began quarreling with itself, the Devourer moved slowly and quietly along the wall opposite the one they had been bashing at. The thing's antics were slightly amusing, but kept it distracted long enough for the Devourer to succeed in sneaking by. As it proceeded further down its path, their voices gradually faded behind it.
A few minutes later, something else of note happened.The Devourer had just left familiar territory as the mountains were beginning to become farther from each other, leading to there being more valleys and paths to follow: so far it thought it was going the right direction, though it couldn't be sure.
Voices reached the Devourer's ears. It looked around, ducking down... the voices were coming from above. It look upwards and spotted a group of gryphons flying down into the valley. The Devourer hid behind some nearby boulders.
"What are they doing here!?" it whispered to itself. It counted them: six gryphons. As they descended, laughing raucously, the Devourer noticed that they were clad in armor of military make.
"And then, I kid you not, he put on his hat, and someone had filled it with cloudworms!"
The rest of the group broke out in laughter again before a different gryphon spoke.
"Alright, this looks like a good place to set up camp."
Crap. They were between the Devourer and its way forward. It moved closer to the edge of the boulder to try and glimpse around it. The gryphons were laying out tents that it hadn't seen in their possession while they were landing. It was still the middle of the afternoon, so it was obvious that they were planning to explore a bit and come back. It looked like a scouting party of some sort.
Indeed, after a few moments and setting up what would likely become a fire pit later, they agreed to meet back in two hours and set off in different directions in pairs. The Devourer did some quick estimations: they wouldn't be able to reach the hive and get back on time unless they headed straight for it as fast as they could, so there was little chance of them finding it. Today.
When they had all vanished beyond various mountaintops, the Devourer moved into the camp to see what it could find. It remained watchful in case they returned, rifling through the bags they had left lying around the camp. Supplies, rations, supplies... they appeared to be planning to stay for several days, possibly even a week.
Eventually it came across something of note: mapping materials, labeled as such. Quills and parchment, all in a neat little box marked with gryphon military logos.
"Mapping supplies," the Devourer said to itself. "Scouts. Military. Gryphons. Are they planning on building a fort here?"
It thought for a moment. "An Ettin the hive can handle with no problem. Gryphon military......"
It crushed the box in its hand, remembering having defended past hives from organized attacks in the past: gryphons were often called upon to help attack. It let the pieces fall to the ground before looking around the camp again.
"This is not good. Gryphons are harder to defeat than ponies, with ponies' only saving grace being magic. I must find a way to stop or delay this...... hm."
It gathered the pieces of the box and its scattered contents into a rough handful before eating it in bites, swallowing the chunks whole. The edges and corners poked harmlessly at the inside of its throat as it swallowed them, the walls too tough to be pierced by them.
It then approached the bags it had searched through before, starting with the food supplies. It picked up a full bag and opened its mouth, lolling out its tongue. Spikes appeared from within its mouth, which then pressed against the sides and stretched its maw wider so as to accompany the entire bag at once. It stuffed the bag in and swallowed, the shape making a huge distortion in its throat and stretching its chitin armor plates out. When the lump reached its stomach, it disappeared without a trace as though it hadn't eaten anything at all.
The Devourer consumed every bag they had with them, and then broke the tents to pieces and ate those too. When it was finished, there was little sign of the campsite save for the holes where the tent poles had been. Even the rocks used to ring the fire pit were eaten.
Satisfied, it moved to a small stone archway a short ways past the camp where it waited for the gryphons to return.
It was almost dusk before it caught sight of the gryphons in the sky, returning from roughly the same directions they had left in. It watched with satisfaction as the first group of two landed, looking for their campsite in bewilderment. The second pair arrived a moment afterwards.
"Where are the tents?" one asked.
"Like I would know!" his partner answers as the third group arrived, going through the same process. A silence fell over the confused group after a moment.
"...well, I guess we're roughing it tonight boys," one said. The Devourer noted markings on his armor that it hadn't seen before, indicating that he was the group's leader. "Bracer, you're first on watch duty."
The gryphon presumably named Bracer groaned as the leader appointed a rotation schedule, placing himself fourth in line. The Devourer remained hidden in the small cave it had hollowed out while waiting for them, noting the order and watching as they left to forage for supplies for complete darkness fell. When all of them were in camp and asleep save for Bracer, who paced the campsite watching for danger, the Devourer finally moved.
It first quietly slid out of its hole and hid behind the arch, waiting for Bracer to turn and pace the other way. It then moved closer, low to the ground so as to make as little noise as possible while it approached Bracer from the back. It stopped next to the fire pit and waited for Bracer to stop pacing -- before he turned around, it placed its hand over the small fire and extinguished it, ignoring the burning in its palm.
Bracer stopped, cocking his head as he noticed the light having gone out. He turned around to investigate, freezing at the sight of a huge, dark figure next to the fire pit, watching him. He opened his beak to wake the others, but his warning never came as the Devourer quickly leapt upon him.
The heavy thud of the Devourer hitting the ground on top of Bracer woke the others, but all they saw through their sleep-blurred eyes was a dark shape move out of the camp quickly -- Bracer was missing. They quickly rose to investigate.
"Bracer!" the head scout called out. A scraping noise answered him, coming from a stone arch nearby.
"Tori, Keel, check it out," he said, motioning for one of the pairs of gryphons to move forward.
They approached the arch slowly, the scraping noise intensifying as they neared it. It sounded like something sharp repeatedly raking against stone. They moved around the archway to identify the source of the sound, and all the others saw was a pair of giant black hands dart out and grab them by the throats before pulling him back behind, followed by a horrendous crunch.
"FLY!" the leader yelled, as a black shape moved quickly out from behind the arch and towards them, running on all fours. The gryphons turned and lifted off, but the Devourer leapt at them before they could get far off the ground.
It caught two of them and landed while smashing them together between its hands, dropping them and leaping again at the leader.
He felt something grab his hind legs, followed by it pulling him downwards and a crushing bite applied to his lower back, piercing through his armor. He cried out in pain, attempting to claw at his attacker with his back legs but found he could not move them: a second later he and his attacker landed, and the last thing he saw was a massive mouth rimmed with teeth closing on his throat.
"......wh-..... what?"
Tori opened his eyes slowly, his head still ringing. He vaguely remembered Melkin ordering him and Keel to check something out near the camp... the memory suddenly cleared itself as he remembered seeing a creature grab them both before he blacked out.
Tori raised his head, his eyes now open and alert. He appeared to still be near the archway he'd been sent to. He looked down from the structure and cried out, jumping backwards at the sight of Keel on the ground next to him: his helmet and skull had been crushed.
Tori jumped into the air and flew over the arch towards the camp, gasping in horror at the sight of his friends. Tome and Quill sat lifeless on the ground before him leaning against each other, and Melkin looked to have had his spine shattered and his throat ripped out. He shook his head and tried to rationalize his thoughts... what could have done this? Their bodies were untouched aside from their lethal wounds, meaning that whatever had killed them either did it for impeding on territory or......
"Their fates are unfortunate," a low, rhaspy voice said from a shadow nearby. Tori turned to it and quickly began moving backwards, distancing himself from it.
"Yet yours is slightly better," it continued. "To return to your superiors, informing them that this place is not fit for exploration or expansion..."
"Who are you!?" Tori demanded.
"Typical gryphon stubbornness," the Devourer growled, crawling out of the shadow and into the moonlight. "Who or what I am is of no concern to you. What IS of concern is that you do as I say."
Tori hovered in place for a moment. This thing was fast, he remembered how quickly it had disabled him before. But he had also been caught by surprise.
"Like hell I will," Tori spat back. He readied himself to charge, drawing a knife from the belt at his hip.
"UNWISE," it it said loudly, standing to its full height. The color drained from Tori's face at seeing it's true size.
"YOU WILL DO THIS FOR ME," it continued, "OR YOUR FATE WILL BE MUCH WORSE THAN THOSE OF YOUR FELLOWS."
Tori backed through the air away from the creature before him. "Even if I did," he said, "they would send more men. You can't stand against the might of a full squad of gryphon soldiers."
"Can't I?" the Devourer replied. "You haven't seen everything I can do. If you wish to preserve the lives of those you fight with and for, you will not tell them of my presence: only that these mountains are not to be trifled with."
"And what do I tell them about my dead friends, jackass!?"
"Landslide. Cave-in. Got lost and couldn't find them. Anything that sending more soldiers won't be able to solve," it said. "You'll come up with something convincing, I'm sure."
Tori continued to back away from it. "They'll still send more gryphons, whether soldiers or scouts... you'll be discovered and destroyed eventually."
The Devourer suddenly leapt forward, into the air near Tori. Startled by the large distance covered so fast, he was unable to prevent it from snatching him from the air just as it had done with his group's leader. The Devourer held its face close to his after landing with him, meeting his eyes with its own.
"Are you implying it would be better for me to kill you here and now?" it said slowly. Tori gulped.
"That's what I thought," it said with a chuckle. "Now go my little messenger pigeon. Tell them not to come here, and that sending anyone else would be futile..."
With those last words, the Devourer tossed Tori up into the air, who righted himself and immediately sped off towards the direction his group originally came from. It watched him until his shape could no longer be discerned from the sky in the moonlight -- It didn't worry about whether the gryphon's release would endanger its mission since gryphon and pony societies kept their affairs separate -- before getting to work devouring the remains of the other gryphons. . It then returned to its burrow next to the arch and slept.
More walking. Seems like these mountains were made for walking, and that's just what the Devourer was going to do all over them. It was fairly sure it was still heading in the right direction, it just didn't know how far it would be until the Glass Sea would come into view. It was several more hours of walking, around noon, when it finally caught a breath of salty air.
"I'm getting close..."
It quickened its pace, and a few minutes later a break in the mountains became visible. It smiled triumphantly and quickly made its way to the break, though it still took a while to reach it.
When it finally reached the edge of the last mountain, it climbed to the top of a small cliff and took a deep breath, taking in the sight before it. A large beach stretched far in one direction on the edge of a magnificent blue ocean. Seagulls could be seen overhead, making their signature sounds as they avoided coming directly over the beach's new intruder. In the other direction, the mountains continued and stretched out a ways into the ocean: waves crashed against the cliffs, creating a thick foam that washed up on the beach where it met with them.
"The Glass Sea," it said to itself, observing the surface of the water. It didn't know what the sea's odd solidifying effect looked like... if it looked unique at all. After not spotting anything for several minutes, it climbed down the cliff and took its first steps onto the warm sand, noting the small buildings on the beach in the distance.
Prologue: It's Just not the Same
A set of large claws gently scratched at a stone wall, revealing something gleaming within it. A hand holding a torch with a green flame atop it moved closer, allowing the light to refract off of the gem embedded in the end of the underground tunnel. The hand that was being used to dig gently wiggled two claws around it and then plucked it out with surprising care for its size.
The Devourer inspected the gem it had found: an Amethyst it seemed. As was usual for most regions it was in condition suggesting it may have been cut at some time in the past, but now it was more of a shining purple lump. The Devourer sighed and placed it in the bag it had at its hip before unslinging the strap on the bag from his shoulder to place it on the ground.
It opened the bag to reveal a small pile of gems it had collected throughout its current trip. It moved its eyes carefully over the heap, making sure it didn't miss any when counting. Thirty eight gems so far. This was turning out to be an amazing haul, as even on great trips a maximum of fourteen or fifteen was a surprise.
But... why didn't it feel amazing? The Devourer shook its head and looked back over the gems. None of them seemed to shine like the ones he had been finding before the raid on Canterlot. He knew that they didn't look any different, but they didn't feel the same. Most of the gems twinkled brilliantly under the flame of the torch whereas others had a duller shine to them: at least this way he could tell which ones were fit to bring back to the dear queen as gifts.
It picked up a sapphire that was duller than the rest and observed it closely for a moment before putting it in its mouth. A few crunches later, the gem was gone; they didn't even seem to taste the same now. The Devourer sighed once again and slung the strap back over its shoulder, turning to make its way back to the surface.
A slight green glow appeared around a ruby, which then floated into the air and towards Queen Chrysalis from the decorative presentation plate it had been on, which was being held by the kneeling Devourer in the throne room of the hive. She admired it for a second and then pressed it up against the side of her face while smiling.
"They're beautiful, my friend," she said to the Devourer, who had not looked up from the floor since he began kneeling. "I don't understand what you meant when you apologized for bringing these."
"They are... not satisfactory," said the Devourer, still not moving.
Queen Chrysalis regarded it with a curious expression. "Not satisfactory?" she asked.
"Yes. They do not shine like the ones I used to bring. They are not as vibrant or exquisite, they are... not satisfactory," it answered.
Chrysalis looked at the ruby she was levitating in confusion. To her, it looked just as pretty as any other gemstone it had ever brought her: it only ever brought her the best of what it found in the mines it had going underneath the hive, and this specimen, as well as the other ones it had brought from this trip, seemed to be no different.
"Well believe me," Chrysalis said to the Devourer, "they are satisfactory to me."
The Devourer grunted slightly in return before standing, still avoiding eye contact.
"I will go now," it said as it turned to leave.
When it had left the room a changeling dressed in a brightly-colored costume emerged from behind a pillar nearby. He quietly moved to Chrysalis' side, who was still looking towards the doors that the Devourer had left through.
"So... what was that about?" he asked.after a few seconds.
"I think the Devourer may not have been able to let go of what happened in Canterlot," she stated bluntly. "It's letting it affect it more than it realizes."
"Jeez," he said, "lots a' 'its' in that sentence, why not call him 'him'?"
"Because, Juke," Chrysalis replied, "my parents referred to it as 'it', and my grandparents did as well, and even it wishes for us to call it that."
Juke sat and rubbed his head for a moment to wrap his mind around the thought. He'd never realized just how long it had been around the hive and the changelings as a race. As the royal jester, it wasn't really his job to think about things like that.
"So what do you think he--it should do?" He eventually asked.
"I do not know. My words of comfort do little for it, it seems," Chrysalis replied sadly. She shook her head and walked back to her throne before turning and speaking to Juke again. "Whatever must be done for it, I feel that it must do for itself."
Five eggs laid out on five fluffy pillows in a line. Each one had a pattern of small green spots unique to each egg, and was no larger than a football. They stood upright, almost regal-looking in the nursery room. A large creature moved the cloth hanging in front of the door aside as it came in, led by a female changeling.
"Thank you," the Devourer said to the changeling as it proceeded to move closer to the eggs.
"Of course. Just be careful like always," she said as she left.
The Devourer nodded after her and turned to the eggs. Each one bore a new life within it: a hatchling to join the swarm. The thought brought some happiness to the creature's mind. Even if nothing else would give it joy, seeing new hatchlings emerging from their shells was always one of the things it loved most about its duties.
The time was right. The Devourer got on its hands and knees and lowered its head to egg-height. Each one had small movements inside of it: the newborns were ready. Changeling eggs would not hatch on their own -- at least not unless they were left for a long, long time -- but they instead required a touch from a changeling to signal that it was time to break out into the world.
The Devourer closed its eyes and turned into a cloud of dark mist with no discernible features save for its teeth and eyes. In this form, it could use magic. Long ago, some time after it had first proved itself loyal to the hive, Queen Spindle had taught the Devourer a spell: one that would make its touch imitate that of a changeling's. Anything that would normally affect only a changeling would then affect it... for a time, at least.
A green aura washed over its form, starting from the eyes as it cast the spell and reverted to its physical state. It looked over the eggs again before moving slightly closer.
It raised one of its hands and held out a finger near the top of the leftmost egg. It made sure the green aura of the spell was still there, and then gently ran its finger across the top of each egg in sequence, from left to right. As it made contact with the shells the movement inside of them intensified, and the Devourer's eyes lit up.
It took a moment for anything to happen -- he process of hatching was slightly different for each batch and took varying amounts of time -- but after a few seconds a sound came from within each shell. Tapping. The Devourer moved back a few inches to watch as one-by-one, small black spikes pierced through a point on each shell: newborn changelings used their horns to break out of their shells, even though the rest of their exoskeletons haven't hardened yet.
Egg by egg, a baby changeling made its way out of the shell. The emergence began with the horn breaking through, and then breaking out the bits of egg around the hole that was made to widen it enough for them to come out; and come out they did, five newborns squeezed their wet little ways out of their eggs and into the world.
The Devourer contained its squeals of glee as it watched them open their eyes and begin silently taking in their surroundings for the first time in their lives after moving themselves to a sitting position. Eventually, each one came to focus on the Devourer who then moved close to them. It inspected them from a very short distance but did not touch them: it was checking for any injuries or other problems that may have occurred during birth. The slime from inside the eggs still covered them, but it didn't hide any injuries: in fact, it made their glossy little bodies seem all the cuter to their observer.
Satisfied that they were all okay, the Devourer sat crosslegged in front of them and spoke. "Hello little ones!" it said in a soothing voice that was lighter and smoother than anyone would imagine it capable of speaking in.
"Hello!" it repeated with a broad smile. The baby on the far-right broke its blank look to try and imitate the Devourer's face: it bared its gums and opened its mouth wide.
"Ah!" the Devourer said in delight, watching him. It turned to the rest of them as they tried to do the same with varying amounts of success.
"Now let's see now," the Devourer said. "Which of you is a boy and which a girl?"
It took only a moment to sort which from which: female changelings had smaller ear frills, which the Devourer used to mentally sort them: three boys, two girls.
"Oh, you are all just so precious!" it said as two of them began to attempt to stand. They weren't having much success, but it was part of the learning process. "Come over here," the Devourer said softly to the group, motioning to its crossed legs.
Each of the newborns began to make their way to it, some more clumsily than others. Each time one fell down it elicited a small "aww" from the Devourer, but they eventually reached it. One by one, they crawled onto the Devourer's huge arm that it had lowered for them and then lifted into its lap. When they were all on board, they stared up at it as it stared back at them: they stared in curiosity, it stared in adoration.
One of the girls let out a small yawn and curled up against her brother, who recoiled a little bit before deciding that he felt like sleeping too. Pretty soon, all five of them were quietly snoozing away in their guardian's lap. The Devourer knew that baby changelings were different from the babies of many other species: they were much quieter and calmer, and it was thankful for that.
When it was sure they were all slumbering and not just imitating each other, the Devourer carefully lifted each one with one hand and placed them onto the other arm. It then stood up, careful that none of them rolled off, and took them to the row of cribs along the wall. It then placed each one into their own crib, making sure to mark the little blackboards on each one with a sign indicating if the one in the crib was male or female.
It looked back over all five healthy, drying, sleeping baby changelings. It was a relief that this was one activity that it could still--
*gurgle*
.............
.............
.............
The Devourer looked towards the end crib closest to the door, where the sound had come from. It was a sound it had heard before, but this time it meant more. It walked silently to the crib and looked at the young contained within: he was still sleeping soundly, but it wasn't but a few more seconds when its stomach rumbled again. They were hungry.
The smile on the Devourer's face faded slightly. Newborn changelings were only born hungry if they did not receive an infusion of non-changeling love before hatching. It looked sorrowfully over the other cribs: it certainly wouldn't be long before their stomachs would begin making sounds as well and they would all eventually wake up, ready to eat whatever they were given. It sighed and watched as one of them turned over in its sleep, its stomach already making faint gurgling sounds. It was a bad idea to wake baby changelings once they began sleeping for the first time out of their eggs, so feeding them would have to wait until later.
"Sleep well," the Devourer whispered as it moved to the exit. It took one more glance across the cribs before moving the cloth door aside and heading out. It had someone it needed to speak to.
The doors to the throne room opened suddenly. At first it seemed like they would create a loud noise when they hit the walls, but they stopped: the outer handles were still held by two long, powerful arms. The Devourer moved quickly into the room as two changeling hiveguards closed the doors behind it. Queen Chrysalis stood off of her throne at the sudden intrusion while Juke dived for cover behind a pillar, abandoning the joke he was telling.
"My dear queen!" the Devourer called as it approached. "I must speak to you."
"What is it?" Chrysalis asked, both annoyed and concerned by its hurried entrance.
"My dear queen...... I....." the Devourer paused, suddenly hesitating.
Chrysalis remained silent while it regained its resolve. "I... I feel that I must leave the hive."
There was a sudden silence in the room. Chrysalis stared at the Devourer in shock, Juke stopped shaking in his hiding place, and even the hiveguards look at it agape. The Devourer leaving the hive on its own.....?
"I do not mean that I intend to leave permanently," it continued after a moment. "I have a mission that I feel I must fulfill, my dear queen."
Chrysalis shook the shock off of her face. "What mission?" she asked. "Surely it must be important to leave us alone."
"It is, my dear queen. I feel that this mission is important to the well-being of the hive. My dear queen..."
The Devourer paused again. "I wish to hunt down those responsible for the loss in the raid on Canterlot."
There was another silence. Chrysalis wasn't sure what to think of this. Even Juke looked at it from behind his pillar with an incredulous expression.
"Why do you think this is important?" Chrysalis asked, trying to sound as regal as possible for her subjects.
"They are responsible for the deaths of some of your swarmlings, my dear queen. The newborns are being born hungry because of them. They hurt my family, my queen, and THEY DO NOT DESERVE TO LIVE," it shouted, losing control of its temper.
"I told you, there was nothing you could do!" Chrysalis semi-shouted back. "We've lost raids before! We've lost swarmlings to raids before! The young have gone hungry before because of lost raids, what is different this time!?" she continued, reacting to it with the same aggression it had displayed: doing so usually left a better impression on it than other methods.
"BUT I....." it began to shout before trailing off. "But.... I.........." it repeated.
Chrysalis waited in silence for its answer. "I........ I did not cause them any pain. Other times I slew many of our foes' numbers or ate their relics and landmarks, but this time I did nothing to repay them," it stated resolutely. "I wish to get my repayment, our repayment on them."
Chrysalis softened her eyes. Indeed, when the Devourer was taken on raids it did usually at least kill some of their foes or leaders, or eat significant objects of value to the offending races. She thought for a moment on how to handle the situation: exactly what she said next would be important.
After a few seconds of thinking, the queen responded. "Devourer... you wish to hunt them down? Exactly who?"
"The bright sister and the dark sister in Canterlot know me," it said. "Canterlot is well-guarded, and if I were to attack there they would likely escape."
"And...?"
"I wish to go after the two that were more directly responsible. The Bride and the Knight, my dear queen."
Chrysalis held her expression for a moment. Then, she began to smile. "And where are they?" she asked.
"The Crystal Empire," it replied, smiling in kind.
"That isn't even in Equestria, Devourer. Are you sure you can make the trip?"
"I am certain, my dear queen."
Chrysalis looked downward in thought for a moment. She had not picked a new place for a raid, and the Crystal Empire was not a significant target: it was too far from their current hive. If that kingdom fell, it wouldn't mean anything bad for them: a food source they never wanted, taken out. Shining Armor and Cadences' deaths would certainly spell an end for the Crystal Kingdom, or at least great suffering. And, of course, having revenge on those two...
Chrysalis looked back to the Devourer. "Devourer," she stated, "you will go to the Crystal Empire and hunt the enemies of the hive?"
"With pleasure, my dear queen," it said with a long, toothy grin.
