Splintered, sealed, bygone and forgotten eons ago, far away from the land now known as Equestria, a being lays, buried under the ruins of an ancient city, once inhabited by superior races, now barely recognizable as a field of stones in an dead and dry salt desert.
Once an place where hundreds lived and tens of thousands each year cam to search for wisdom and guidance.
But even if every other of its inhabitants died, vanished or emigrated long ago, it still keeps one.
One which was sealed there, not to lock it away for the good of the outer world to be protected from this inhabitant.
More to hide this being, for the good of the rest, to ensure it will not be recognized so easily by nosy, naive adventurers, archaeologists or... others.
Deep below in an crypt, the inhabitant lays, resting, listening and waiting, waiting for the right moment, for the right signs.
The right signs to awake and rise.
Many eons passed by, some nosy little adventurers and naive idiotic ruins-scavengers, came and the most leave this place again, others were unlucky and find the crypt and its inhabitant.
Some of them become insane puppets, the remainders of many surrounding a pile of darkened linen, bloody linen, moving linen... others just run for their lives, screaming like little ones.
One fateful day, like a couple of times before, something woke the inhabitant, nothing in this once so lively place, no something from far away, far beyond the horizon.
A light shake in the fabric of this world, something the inhabitant hadn't felt since a couple of centuries, but there was something else, something like a... like a glimmer of... some kind of absolution, what the inhabitant looked, waited and listened for.
For a couple of moments the inhabitant could feel it, to confirm it, to try to catch a little bit of it, reached out with its very essence, but nearly as fast as the glimmer have appeared, it vanished.
Maybe... maybe it was just an accident, a random event, if not, it would appear again.
So for, the inhabitant just have to wait and rest a bit longer...
'Short' after this, it felt like just a moment to the inhabitant, there was again the feeling, this force, it woke the inhabitant, and there was the glimmer again, much stronger this time.
Neither doubts nor an random event, this time the inhabitant was sure, time to prepare, time to draw the attention of others towards this world...
A whisper creeps thru the ruins catacombs, the last two unlucky scavengers came rushing in the crypt, eyes wide, madly chuckling, waiting for their very first orders.
An voice neither old nor young, neither weak nor strong, only tired like a muffled echo, can be heard.
“Draw a circle in dust, take this bodies blood and fill it in a bowl to its rim, place the bowl in the center of the circle, take seven drops of it red fire and let them fall on the circles line itself, then step back and wait.”
The two, one a maniacally grinning unicorn whose horn was splintered, the other a blankly molted gryphon with the remainders of a book in its talons, which was easily ten or even twelve times older than the gryphons empires, exploding in mad cheers.
The Gryphon, a male, run of screaming in an irritating high pitched voice “A basin, a basin, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, master need a bowl, yes, Galor, gos looking, yes, the stupid little horse with feathers had one, yes, Galor gos taking it from Corpse yes!!! Stupid little pony, avoided easy trap, only to fall for the ruse!” slowly fading in the distance, a short surprised scream could be heard, followed by some cursing “GRAAA! Galor fall again for burn burn trap!!! All feathers gone... AGAIN!!!”
In the meanwhile, the Unicorn, a mare, starts, in an strange manner, to draw a circle with her half broken horn, half crying half laughing. “Pain good, pain remembers, never again, no never again! Stupid, stupid, stupid!!! Feeling says danger, but nosy, nosy, Trapjumper had to look, now feelings always warning, only tried to protect Trapjumper from her own stupidity, but no, Trapjumper had to be nosy, was hit by big Stone, was about to die, but Galor, found her, brought her to master, master saved, master make blurry blurry goes away, yes! But master isn't there but also there, nothing real and there in flesh, do not eat, do not drink, makes Trapjumper and Galor live, out there, nothing, nothing, only salt and stones and salt and heat and salt and no green, nothing lives there.
Others think ruins are valuable, something to steal from this home of the dead, thinking there is good, there are answers, but there are only salt and heat and traps, so many traps and salt, salt is everywhere and tastes horrible, like Galors burned feathers... Or does feathers from Galor taste like the salt!? Don't know, don't know, don't know!”
The Unicorn shrugged in surprise “Master, round thingy done, done with round thingy!!! Now, now now, where is Galor, where is bowl?!... Galor took too much time, run of slow, Galor to slow, where is Galor!?”
The, far too much speaking, Unicorn turns around several times only to be greeted, with a “Galor here, Galor burned and Galor have basin from dead Pony. Stupid, stupid pony, was so close, so close!!!”
Both exploding in cheer only to become silent and looking to each other. “Why all others so stupid? Galor always wonder why... many came, many leave, only few come close and many of them fall for simple tricks, why they don't listening, why, why, why feeling always says what is save and what maybe not... ”
The gryphon turning to the room, rattling his remaining burned feathers and jumping over to an, him easily over towering, dark pile of ancient linen.
“Master, master, blood, blood, blood?!”
An hand, proven with claws instead of fingernails, no Skin, no veins, only muscle, blood, tendons and bone, easily three times the size of the gryphons head, pulls out of the Linen and a stream of purple, viscous, blood drops in the bowl slowly and even slower the bowl starts to fill.
Like a, on its own living thing, the blood stream stop and the last drop curls into the bowl, low, hissing voices can be heard, echoing from everywhere.
Galor took the blood-bowl and placed it in the center of the Circle, like his master had ordered.
Slowly the Blood starts to emit a faint red glow, nearly not noticeable.
“The drops, the drops” the annoying Unicorn screamed in an far too high pitched voice. “Galor have to do it, Trapjumper can't, Trapjumper have no claws, no claws!”
“Yes, yes... drops, yes!”
Galor dives a claw in the red, barely fluid, liquid, surprisingly for them both the blood climbed up his claw covering his entire talon.
After a short moment of idleness, he shakes his talon like the mad gryphon he was, with the side effect that every single bit of the, on its own acting, red fluid flow of his claws in seven perfect droplets, falling to the ground, strangely enough that it where seven of them, but also every single drop fall on the circles rim...
Both looking to each other and deciding in their moment of clearness, to run behind their master, suggesting it each with a single nod...
But nothing seems to happen...
“Now...” the tired Voice spoke “...time to wait, the two keys will appear. It is time to prepare. Be ready, soon it will be time to leave this grave.”
more to it self the voice spoke, in an low and sleepy tone.
“Time, time, time... Soon, we will see what your offspring have accomplished Zohl, soon I will be whole again...”
The Inhabitant did not sleep this time, he lays there under the pile but listens carefully to the outside world.
Something happens there, he can catch a littlest bit of the glimmering, now he knows in which corner of this world he will have to go.
But that was not what interested the Inhabitant right now, there was another sensation between the slight flicker of rejection and love, it was a feeling of desperate need for love, some kind of hunger, but the most interesting part was the feeling of... controlled fear, this feeling of a being which already had understand the nature of fear and its meaning.
This being would be helpful...
So the Inhabitant reached for its being, for its essence, touches it slightly, only to provoke interest and failed. No reaction, no interest, the Inhabitant touches its essence with more force, more might, this time the being starts to show interest, negative interest but still interest.
The Inhabitant reached the conclusion that this being wouldn't be so simply to influence like others, but still easy to influence.
Well then, if it defends its will and wishes, so there was still another way to force it to come and search for the Inhabitant, simple beings would understand it as a never ending whisper.
The Inhabitant would just bug this being with his presence inside the beings mind, till it would become insane or come here and do what the Inhabitant wanted.
Of course this being would probably try to shield the Inhabitants efforts from it self, so he needed a method with a carrot and a stick.
It seems that the being needed love, for what purpose was not relevant, it needed love, so the Inhabitant decided to let it taste what love for such a being like the Inhabitant means...
Hot like fire, strong like earth, pure like light and endless like the Void... only a little bit, only a tiny piece of it, only enough to tease, but far too less to feed...
Only hours later, far beyond the horizon.
It was night, a couple of weeks after the failed invasion, Chrysalis hadn't slept since then, her hive had starved for love far too long, she had failed, the most of her subjects had already left the hive, had abandoned her and she couldn't even blame them, it was her fault after all.
Even if she hadn't had a chance to see this coming, she wasn't prepared for that, and deeper interaction with somepony, which had known the Pony, she had disguised herself with, for so long, even so she had tried to understand everything, tried to prepare for every possibility, she was, even than, sure something had slipped her mind and that was this unicorn.
She the Queen of the Changelings, or at least of this, the last hive of the changelings, had failed, not only her subjects, no her entire race...
There was only a bit of Love left, not enough for all of them, the rest was already rationed, not even enough to provide the young properly...
Different than the other races belief, changelings did not feed from love, it is far more complex than that.
Of cause 'feelings' were a vital part of a Changelings nutrition, but not their dietary staple, every Changeling needed love, to survive, or more correct to stay healthy, if they didn't get enough, Changelings become slowly sick, very sick and would die in the end, slowly and painful, comparable to scurvy or radiation sickness.
She was tired, so tired, and exhausted, her mind had raced since her return, planned and reconsidered possibilities, but she had no idea how to gather enough love, for at least the young, so she had nearly given up.
So to raise her mood and maybe find an idea, she considered sleeping, as an good idea right now, to solve her problems in her dreams.
It may be sounded stupid or irrational, but sleep had always helped her to think about something, but beside that, she didn't was any longer even able to hold her eyes open...
So the big planning room, where she and her direct servants had planned and organized the Hive, was not as good as any other place to just pass out and sleep.
Hours later, the sun already lingered at the horizon, Chrysalis had no idea how long she had slept, she was finally awoken, something had shaken her till she was awake, two voices spoke to her in alarm. She felt hunted, confused, quite unwell, but there was... something... something odd...
“My Queen!” She didn't react.
“Please, your majesty, please woke up!” She didn't want to.
“Please, your Highness, your majesty had an bad dream, please woke up!” oh really... what do you expect by... her thoughts were interrupted.
“Please woke up, your Highness had set accidentally the map on fire!” … not good …
She raises her blurry gaze toward the named fire... well... the big map before her burned like tartarus... or at least the rest of it.
While the fire begun slowly to die down, Chrysalis sighed, “Why me...”
As she sit there she felt it, something odd, some sort of after taste, not from the burned map, what she first had expected, no it was... different.
Realization hit her like a brick. Her eyes nearly sprung out of their sockets, Love, it was love, pure, very strong love, but there was something, some kind of presence, or more the feeling that a hot needle sticks in her brain...
She tried to shield her, from this odd presence, but also tried to found the loves source, she wasn't any longer able to perform both tasks, so she had to decide, finding a potential source of love and this burning sensation in her mind or... no the other possibility wasn't an option, she had to bear the quite unpleasant feeling, for her subjects, to find the source of this love, willingly given love.
But where did it came from...
She focused on the love, but with no success, it was strange, it felt like it came from multiple directions not even once with a clear source...
So that the presence and the love seem to be related, she tried to focus on the presence and immediately regretted that decision, she only could describe it like a flood of burning, cold, strong impressions, many impressions, far too many impressions to even be able to look thru at least some of them.
She tried to shield herself from this flood, with limited success, but she was at least now able to touch single thoughts.
The most, far too cryptic to understand, but some of them more... depicted, a desert, a old town, the same town as ruins, a crypt, and direction the thought of a solution. To easy... but on the other hoof, what could she loos... whatever it was, didn't matter, willingly given love...
She raises her gaze, one of the two which had woken her where still there, trying to clean the burned map.
“Your Queen have an mission for you.” The Changeling, a youngling, looked at its queen in confusion.
“My Queen?!?” Chrysalis didn't responded toward the unspoken confused question.
“Gather a small troop, you will be send on an expedition.” The young Changelings look changed to a mix of fear and disbelief.
“My Queen?!” Chrysalis raises an hoof,
“Your target will be far away, travel with haste, don't waste time, pack light, pack white, firm clothing, prepare for at least an flight of one month, take as much water hoses as your troop can carry. Your mission will begin tomorrow morning, eat well, take enough love rations and go early to sleep.”
“My... My Queen???” Chrysalis gaze soften.
“Listen dear, your Queen had an... idea in her sleep, a possible solution to our miseries, I will be honest with you, we have no Friends out there, no allies, no one will gives us what we need, but out there is an solution.
You do not need to know nor understand how your Queen knows this, you are our last hope.”
“My Queen, I'm a young...” Chrysalis interrupted.
“...youngling. Yes, but there are only the old Drones which are no longer are able to leave the hive on there own, some stubborn and the younglings left. Take it as your life time opportunity, if this will work out, you will be an hero, if not, you will at least have an chance to survive.”
The young Changelings eyes widen in horror.
“As your Queen, I demand that you will keep still about this matter, you have your orders, but before you go, you need my sign.”
So spoken, Chrysalis stepped in front of the youngling, lowered her head so her and the younglings horn touched each other.
A short stitch in the younglings head and the world went black...
Chrysalis stays in disbelief next to the passed out youngling and sits down after a short pause for dramatic effects.
“So... we had to pass out in front of your Queen... hmmm?” with one hoof slowly massaging her temples, she sighed.
“I'm horrible... ”
Nearly a minute later, she sighs again and spoke to the unconscious pile of chitin before her, her words dripping with irony. “...well than... if you have to be so rude and fall asleep in front of your queen, she can be also rude and do the preparations for you, youngling... but before that...”
Chrysalis grasps the unconscious youngling with her magic, levitating the youngling from the cold stone floor on a carpet, she luckily hadn't set on fire...
Her eyes narrowed in sorrow, “You are far too young for that, youngling... I'm sorry... ” the last word, only whispered.
A couple of hours later, the young Changeling opened its eyes, only to see that there was no changeling around.
Something was different, everything seems to be far more peaceful, easier, simpler, the big horrifying room wasn't horrifying anymore, instead it was just big and... quite nice, emitting somehow a feeling of freedom.
'So, you are finally awake.' Chrysalis voice echoed.
Confused the little Changeling looked around.
'As your Queen have felt, you already discovering the blessings of our sign...'
“My Queen?”
'...Sharper senses, more independent thoughts, control of your feelings and...' She was again interrupted by the still confused changeling.
“My Queen, where are you? I don't see you, your highness.”
'… don't interrupt your Queen... ' “I'm sorr...” 'Shu...! ... control of your feelings and strongly enhanced telepathy. … Good, you listen, now let me explain telepathy to you... even if I don't belief that, I... my self, are explaining that to an youngling... your telepathic abilities are limited but they will become more powerful, if you use them, in time.
You also can grant your own sign to other changelings, which gives you the ability to speak to them thru telepathy without too much effort. You also can hear there thought if they are relatively near to you, of course you can block them out, otherwise you would probably become insane after some time...
If you wish to speak to another Changeling, you have to think about them, if you... feel their presence, you can speak to them, but at the moment your abilities are far too weak to speak to other changelings which don't have your sign or vice versa. '... the young Changeling now further confused stutters,
“ Vise... vitse... vize varza, my Queen?”... 'No, vice versa, the other way around... but you should, if not necessary, avoid using telepathy, you are still too young to use it properly. As your Queen guesses you should already feel the side effect telepathy haves by your age, it should be by now a light headache and it will become far worth with how longer you use telepathy and how greater the distance is, up to the point where you would suffer from... ' Chrysalis pauses “My, my Queen, suffer from what?” 'hmpf... let your Queen put it that way, extreme pain in your head, you can even die... now, go to the lower barracks, Your Queen had already prepared your mission for you while you had... slept... the red briefing room.' Right after that, Chrysalis presence was gone.
The lower barracks... the young changeling felt uneasy about that, normally the younglings were not allowed to go down there, normally... but the Queen had ordered that, so it should be ok, or not?
No, no that was what Queen Chrysalis had ordered, so it was not just allowed, it was necessary to go there and do like the Queen had said.
Coming to this conclusion the youngling finally stand up and trotted, still dizzy, down its way toward its target the red briefing room down there... down in the lower barracks.
Down long empty hallways, nowadays many younglings would rest as long as possible, not just trying to pass time while sleeping, also only doing the absolute necessary things, like drinking or eating.
The social live of the Hive had come to an total halt, the once so with live pulsating grate community-hall-allay was void of all live, except for the forlorn trotting youngling, it seems even the vermin had left the hive.
A couple of minutes later the youngling entered, thru its decision to stay on the great main path, the manufacturing area, even as this section of the hive was still in use it felt terrifying and dangerous to the youngling, now it even seem to whisper life threats toward every changeling trespassing.
Direct behind the manufacturing area lay the checkpoint which separated the common section from the lower levels, where normally no youngling would be allowed to pass, but there were no guards. Actually that was something what made the little changeling really uneasy, first the empty community-hall-allay, than the abandon manufacturing area and now the unsecured checkpoint, what happened?
Normally younglings wouldn't ever be told about something political, economical or whatever. They were just younglings, there only task was growing up, and trying to not be a too big burden for the others.
Passing the checkpoint with haste, the youngling continued its way down the great hallway, stopping in front of some kind of gigantic ramp, which seems to be the main connection between the Hive levels, between the lower levels and the common section, a bit more than thirty meter wide, something around two hundred meters long, ending in an cross hallway.
Right next to the lower end of the ramp another ramp begun its way down and it was dark down there, even for changeling standards, really dark, freaking dark...
Now the little one just realized, it had no clue where the lower barracks where...
A freaking huge sign catches its attention, pinned on the other side of the lower hallway, to far away to read it, but big enough so the youngling can realize that it seems to name the section.
A quick gaze around told the youngling, there were no signs up here, so the obviously best shot was to get down and see if there were some other signs, which would give the youngling at least a clue where to go, maybe even some kind of map.
After a short staring contest with the dark it self, the youngling started to trot down the ramp, and every single step felt... uncomfortable, the youngling felt exposed on this freaking big ramp.
If some changeling would pull now a prank, it would probably cost the youngling a couple of years of its lifetime...
Author's Note
Sooooo.... first Chapter.
The rest only exists in theory...
Like I have mentioned in the Foreword, I will try to stick around 4k word long Chapters.
How long i will take for the next chapter? Well only Time will tell... lol...
