Journey of the Devourer

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.