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// Here comes Pinkie! (Rev. I) 
// Story: All I really need's a smile, smile, smile! 
// by Lightening_Zing 
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"Queen... Sorry! Pinkie... could you, and this is only a suggestion, so if you don’t want, you shouldn't listen, and I might be out of line..." Shade saw Pinkie smile encouragingly "...but could you change to you real self before we reach the camp? I only recognized you because Queen Chrysalis gave me your description..."

"Oh... Okie! But it would be a great surprise!"

"Pardon?"

"Imagine! An earth pony trotting into camp, and then! POOF! Where the pony was standing, there is a Queen with gifts for everyone!"

"That does sound pretty funny, Pinkie, but they would be scared at first... But it sounds like great idea." He added carefully.

"Well, you’re probably right. How far is it?"

"We only need to go slightly past the old castle ruins, and into the undergrounds we found. This is one of our better camps. Or, so they say, at least." 

"So... how bad it is?" Pinkie asked seriously when the ruins became visible through the trees.

"We have many wounded. We are healing them, and trying to organize passage for them back to Swarm territory. But too many of us are too hungry to even attempt the journey. The ponies are developing changeling-seeker spells, royal guards are patrolling all the best routes back home, most of our gatherers have already been caught and need to be rescued - which we can't accomplish because most of us aren’t soldiers, but workers or recon... ...we probably won't make it." Shade’s voice was somber, but calm. It was the calmness of one who had accepted his inevitable death. "And worse, the Queen is giving away all of her love, even when she herself is barely holding up." He looked up to Pinkie. "Some of us are putting our hope in you. But... I lost all of it."

Pinkie knew that words wouldn't be enough to lift this ‘ling from this depression. So she was silent the rest of the way to the ruins.

"Pinkie? I hope you aren’t mad at me... I just... These last years, things have become worse and worse, but me and my friends were able to survive. But now... I can't reach them or they are dead..." He continued, looking for some kind of forgiveness.

And what could she say? That she was sorry? That he shouldn't lose hope? That she’d fix it? It hit her hard. The future of her race was bleak. Back home: Famine, caused by advancing desertification of usable land, for farming ingredients for love potions or other substitutes of love, and raiding griffin parties. The war between the Griffin Kingdom and the Swarm had never ended. It had just gone on so long that war had become the obvious state for both sides. And it was horrible. Here in Equestria: They were stranded, scattered, wounded and hungry in unfriendly territory. They were failed invaders, seen as an unequine enemy. She'd try her best, but it was just that: Try. No guarantee that she'd succeed.

"I'm sorry, Shade." She said truthfully. Just that. Nothing more would be needed. Nothing more could be said for this broken ‘ling. Not now.

"I... Thank you Queen... Pinkie. I just needed someling to speak to, about how bad things are looking. I'm trying to look tough, so I don’t worsen the situation in camp. Too many have lost their spirits already. But the truth is... I'm broken inside. And I can't help it." The disguised guard was sobbing slightly.

Pinkie stopped following him. She said tenderly "Maybe you want to rest a while? A few minutes won't change much."

Guard nodded and sat in front of Pinkie, trying to get a grip on himself.

"If you need to cry, don't hold back. I'll understand."

"No, I... I can take it..." Silence, broke by sound of tears hitting the ground. Pinkie let him cry it all out. After a few minutes, the pegasus-disguised changeling stood up. "I'm ready. Shall I lead?" He asked calmly, but the undertones of sadness were still noticeable.

"Lead me, Shade. We have love and hope to deliver."

After a short walk, following her guide, Pinkie saw what could be mistaken for a wolf's den. She gave Shade an asking look, and in response he nodded.
The earth pony sighed, and pinkish flame engulfed her. Her legs extended, her head took a more alicorn-like shape, from her back sprouted pinkish transparent wings, a cross between those of a butterfly and a dragonfly, from her forehead grew a sabre-shaped horn, and from top of her head rose a small crown-like appendage. On the ends of her legs a few small holes appeared, placed regularly and symmetrical. A few holes placed with some kind of order was a sign of a healthy changeling. Large holes, or too many, or randomly placed ones, meant the changeling was likely sick or hungry. Her mane lost its puffiness and fell down, greying a bit, looking very similar to her last birthday party, when she though her friends had abandoned her. Her body was covered in dark pink chitin armor, which looked less battle-ready, and more for elegance. A few details of armor were a slightly brighter tone, and her eyes were fully blue, until she lifted her internal eyelids.
A changelings internal eyelids are generally used to recognize other changelings and observe trace emotions or magic. They are also used to show the mental map created through the hive mind: This mind-map includes the position of other changelings as well as information gathered by the recons, such as the location of enemies, allowing anyling to see where they are. The eyelids also blocks sharp light or, with the use of magic, can give limited dark vision. For Pinkie though, most of these uses weren't working now because she was without mind-link.
Finally, with the disappearance of the former earth pony's Cutie Mark, the transformation was complete. Shade looked at her and felt a tiny glimmer of hope. Maybe she could change the wrath of fate.

"It’s been so long..." Pinkie hissed. "Oh well! How do I look? I can't enter looking anything but exceptional."

"Pinkie, just looking at you is giving me hope. You look exactly like what we’ve been awaiting for."

She looked at him gratefully. "Let's share this hope with others, alright?"

Her guide nodded and went through the hole, down into the ground. Pinkie brought her internal eyelids down and brightened her vision. Pressing through the narrow tunnel was hard enough, and there weren’t any sources of light. Going deeper, she heard dim voices. She couldn't distinguish individual voices or conversations, but they sounded... weak, tired.

" Queen, I mean Pinkie, the tunnel will go down sharply now, so do be careful." And with that the changeling in front of her disappeared. Pinkie looked down, she saw light and Shade waiting on the end of tunnel. He had somehow slid down. Pinkie carefully grabbed, with her magic, the box of love-filled sweets, and jumped down. With a loud thud she landed in front of the guard and stepped into the light.
What she entered had to be the cellar of the old castle. Huge rooms, with walls in same style as the old princesses castle. The stood some old columns in middle of room she entered. On left and right walls were two entries each, and in the wall opposite to Pinkie was a large gate. And then she saw them. Her people.
There were dozens of them, maybe even over a hundred. All of them were staring at the dark pink Queen. Wounded, hungry, tired. Soldiers, workers, males and females. Looks of hope, looks of wonder and looks of absolute confusion were in the minority at first. Most of them looked with despair, hatred or resignation. But then everyling began looking at each other. Hushed conversations were heard.

"Is that her?"
"She looks healthy."
"That’s the exiled Queen?!"
"No way, this isn’t real."
"She's looking at us!"
"She was exiled by the Queen!"
"Maybe she come to save us?"

And then, those who were lying stood up. The wounded were asking the healthy to help them up. Those already standing started to bow, and others joined them. Some started to crawl towards the Queen with pleading looks on their faces. Pinkie noticed one who was crawling to her with damaged hind legs. She was young, maybe even underage, wearing light recon armor. If she weren't so famished, she would be a pretty one. But now, she had so many holes in her body, her "mane" had fallen off, the wings on her back were in tatters, and her chitin was cracked and fully black; no hints of color. Pinkie let her eyes scan over the crowd. She felt great sadness hitting her heart, but she couldn't afford to let it overcome her. She had responsibility. She lifted her hoof. What could she say to them? She wasn't one for speeches. She wasn't really a ruler. She didn't know how to do that. But she had to. Her... subjects... were waiting. How did Chrysalis do it?!

"Your Queen has come back. And she's ready to feed you all!" Or at least, she hoped so.
"I'm here to give you hope, I'm here to do something about the horror that has befallen our kind!"
She silenced for a second. What else to say? They were excepting her to give them hope. But if she promised and then failed... They will lose absolutely everything. Any leftovers of hope would be crushed. So what to add? Truth.
"I cannot guarantee you that I can save you all or that we can make it through. I can't say that in end of this there will be a happy ending. I can't promise that you will like it. But I can guarantee you that I will do everything I can! If I had to, I'll die trying! This is my word to you!" Weirdly, there were some cheers. Not loud ones, not live ones, but there were a few.

Pinkie began transferring love to her horn, which lit with a pink glow. "And now, stand up, and let your Queen feed you."
And with that she lowered her horn atop the closest changeling to her, and she gave away part of her love into body of the ‘ling. She began a slow walk through the hall, feeding the changelings as she came across them.

She asked everyling she fed about how they were feeling, how bad their wounds were, if they lost anyling close to them, if there was anything she could do to help. She gave them words of assurance, compassion, sometimes condolences. She somehow knew that she should do it this way, that her... subjects, still an odd word for her, need a symbol. A symbol of a motherly Queen, listening to their fears, giving them the feeling of being cared for, bringing them hope in the darkness with her small smile of compassion and eyes full of understanding. She chuckled sadly to herself, thinking that this was a job more suited for Princess Celestia or Fluttershy than her.

Now she was listening to the confession of one of the female workers.

The poor female had killed a Canterlot guard during the attack, when she only wanted to stun him. She had used a changeling stun-spell for that, but in her panic she had overpowered it and the guard’s mind was crushed by the spell. The pegasus mindless but still live body had fallen from the air, down on top of her. She had laid under his dead-minded body for almost an hour, feeling the beating of his heart, too scared to do anything. Now she was wetting at night from the terrible nightmares she had.

Pinkie could only listen. No words she knew were good enough. She could only listen. And the fact that she couldn't do any more for them was hurting her. But she had to hold on, to finish her duty. When the love in her body was running low, and the color of her body began to darken, she ate some of the treats she had brought to restore her love levels. Less than half to go. She could make it. Yes, she could. She looked back, and saw fed changelings, their strength slowly returning, looking at her with respect and gratitude.
Yes, she could make it, she had to.

Pinkie didn't know that her older sister was watching her from the gate, leaning on the side of it from weakness. She was contend with waiting, observing as her younger sister walked through the room, illuminated by weak torch light, feeding each ‘ling equally, no matter how wounded, how important he or she was, talking with them, like some kind of embodiment of mercy. Chrysalis closed her eyes, glad that her sister had answered her call. Her sister would come to her when she was done tending to their subjects, so she retreated back to her quarters quietly, so as to not disturb her sisters work and slowly, because of her weakness.