Celestia was going to witness one of the most loving scenes she would ever consider had occurred in a Changeling Hive.
Her magical, astral form stared at the scene in front of her. There lay in the catacombs and surrounded by legions of Changelings, a Changeling Queen. But her complexion was far more vivacious than Chrysalis's. The Queen had lovely, warm navy-purple irises that glowed in the dark, damp tunnels, complimented by her locks of a golden auburn mane, strands of which were tied back during the momentous scene. A scene of the most beautiful, yet painful moment of nature that would ever would happen. Childbirth.
The Queen was no stranger to laying Hatchlings. The pain and exertions had numbed her over the years, especially with the larger sized Royal Matriarch Hatchlings. But among the hundreds that she would lay that month, this one was a blessing. A Worker-caste Changeling. Not only were they smaller, but they were the only Changeling caste that, during birth, selflessly helped their Birth Mother by using their developing muscles during the birthing process to crawl out and avoid several more awkward hours. Even when they barely enter the world, they serve their Queen.
"Queen Flux? Would you like to see the Hatchling?"
The Queen carefully recieved the Hatchling from one of her Nursery Changelings, Saifra, and looked into its enormous, and adorable orange eyes. Though Hatchlings are born blind, she could feel its stare. She detected a smile starting to crack on its face. Delirious with birthing hormones and tired after the 23 hour struggle, Queen Flux had found its smile so delectable that she snuggled it even closer to her being. She could feel its love feed her, and will her to continue on.
Queen Flux weakly announced, "This Hatchling will be named Cyrilius, named after the great Changeling conquerer of yore! I sense greatness will follow this one! And he will make a glorious addition to our Hive!"
The memory suddenly flushed in darkness, and Celestia found herself observing a new scene at a Changeling Nursery.
No longer white, pale Hatchlings, the developing Spawnlings scurried along the walls and floors of the room, playing, fighting, biting among the Spawnlings who were born into the Soldier Drone caste.
They were fighting over the "honor" and "beauty" of the nearby Royal Matriarch Spawnlings, whose already sneering faces were enjoying the show of brutality over themselves.
The Nursery and Worker-caste Spawnlings were safe from harm, as they retreated to the corner of the room. The crowd of Nursery Spawnlings were training to become their larger counterparts, but they had failed in the attempt to stop the havoc and ruckus contained in the room.
Among the crowd was a single Worker. It was a rather lonely soul, with kind eyes and a strong, silent smile. It tried to distract the Nursery Spawnlings from the scene by making faces at them, and enjoying quiet conversation. Its attempts to plaster a smile on his face and calm the mood with a few jokes had cheered the Spawnlings, but it only hurt itself more.
Today was not a good day for the Worker Spawnling.
He had heard rumors of a change in the Royal Structure. A fully-grown Royal Matriarch named Chrysalis was rumored to have rebelled against the Queen Flux herself. The Queen was not seen since their confrontation.
And though it was quite young, the Worker knew what a new regime in the Hive meant.
New rules. Change. A fork in a tunnel that either led to an era of thriving civilization, or an iron-hooved dictatorship of evil and ruin.
And to the Spawnling, it was beginning to look like the latter.
The entrance suddenly was kicked in. A contingent of Soldier Drones, along with Saifra, Cyrilius's birth nurse, walked in the Nursery and forcibly removed the Worker Spawnling from the room.
As they dragged through the catacombs, they sneered, "Grub, you will begin your service to our new Queen in the mines tonight."
As the approached the mining tunnels, Saifra whispered to the young Worker Spawnling, "Cyrilius, my dear aphid, if you wish to live for another day, you must work. Our new Queen Chrysalis demands Spawnlings to be used in the labor force."
Cyrilius squeaked, "What happened to Mother? Saifra, I do not wish to go!"
Saifra cried, "Hush insolent grub!"
She was sobbing and tears trailed down her darkened cheeks. "Your new mother Chrysalis will take you under her wing. Serve her well, and forget about me. I will only give you false hope down there." She painfully and slowly walked away from the young Spawnling.
"Saifra? Wait! NO! SAI!! NOT THERE!!! ANYTHING BUT THERE!!!!" Cyrilius screamed. Hot tears gushed from his eyes. They dribbled the ground, and he began to lose sight of her and any sign of light as he was dragged and occasionally bucked off the ground throughout the tunnels. He got deeper and deeper into the mines....where it is said that hundreds die every day.
The memory faded again. Celestia, distraught with conflicting emotions, could hardly compose her thoughts in a coherent sentence for a while. She recovered when her new surroundings, dimmer than the last memory was, had appeared before her.
In the near darkness, she could hint at the outline of Changelings digging with their hooves and simultaneously charging at the walls of a cavern, horns alight with a spell that somehow pummeled stone and rock with simple horn contact. Bamboo-like shoots supported the tunnels as stilts, and it seemed with every blow to a wall, every hoof shoveled into the soil, the ceiling crumbled down small chunks of rubble and dust.
Celestia had seen these horrific conditions before. In the Shetland Mining Riots, she had witnessed bare-boned miners weakly strike their pickaxes on cold stone for days on end all for a few bits. And, like history was repeating itself, one Changeling fell under the weight of a boulder that it had been tasked with clearing from the mines. Celestia looked away, as the pony miners of the past would have ignored such an event to save their strength for another day. But unlike in the hellholes of Shetland mining, the others noticed their fellow Worker Changeling's suffering and had diverted their attention from their work to help their unfortunate brother.
Three of the Worker-caste had assisted in removing the boulder, and two more helped up and dusted off the poor Worker with the efficiency of an ant colony.
One of the Changelings by the victim's side spoken up, "Jeez, Cyr. You sure took a beating there."
Cyrilius wheezed, "I'm...ungh...fine."
"Can you still move? How about your wings?"
"They're fine, Talc. Thanks."
Talc shrugged modestly in the dark, "Not a problem. We're all in this mess together, right?"
Cyr chuckled and coughed.
"I wouldn't mind being crippled for the rest of my life. It'd be kinda peaceful in exile."
Talc hushed Cyr, "Don't say that. Word's getting around that Chrysalis is experimenting with some of the injured Changelings. She's changing 'em, Cyr. They end up more broken than they already were, or transformed into giant monsters."
"Getting a little ahead of yourself aren't you? Didn't know that you were one to believe in mares' tales."
The veteran miner looked at Cyr seriously. "You can never be too sure."
"Fine, look can we just get back to work now? I kinda wanna forget this ever happened. Pretty embarrassing when you find out you can't lift up a rock that's twice your own size," Cyr nervously grinned.
Cyr had let his hoof rest upon a wall, but he accidentally pushed on and clumsily broke one of the main supports along the tunnels.
As he did, the ceiling above them started to crack and fall down with instability.
"CAVE IN!!!!" Talc yelled. He started to gather as many Worker Changelings as he could and directed them towards the exit. Through all of the panic, dust, and stale fear that had become as stale and cold as the air around them, he still helped them.
Peculiar
Cyr sprinted with the others and had twisted and turned along the maze of tunnels until he reached the mine entrance. The joy of freedom and safety had excited him to a degree of fervor that he could almost taste it. Taste the fresh air outside the mine. Taste the warmth of the surface world.
However, with the cavern collapsing around him, the diminutive Cyr almost hadn't noticed that Talc had been tripped on a rock a few meters back.
Cyr absent-mindedly turned back and dodged the rubble collapsing on top of him. In the heat of the moment, he pulled Talc up, re-enacting what Talc had done to him a few moments before, and galloped out of harm's way into the exterior of the mine.
As he lay Talc onto the ground, Cyr noticed a towering figure watching over him. Her glossy blue hair, vert green eyes, and a belittling glare cast an overall disgusted and horrified emotion to all who saw her, including Cyr.
"Who is responsible for this! I, your new Queen, demands to find the idiot traitor who had caused this damage to our new tunnels!"
Celestia, even when she heard the words of the ruler in her astral form, felt an anger build inside her. The Queen held more concern for her Hive's infrastructure than her own subjects. It made Celestia's blood boil.
One Worker Changeling among the frightened crowd stood up.
Cyr said, "This was my fault. Dearest apologies, my Queen."
The Queen looked amongst the crowd for her soon-to-be target of her rage.
"Guards! Seize the treasonous fool!"
In a moment's notice, five Soldier Drones shoved Cyr to the ground. One of them bucked Cyr in the face, causing him to lose consciousness.
Darkness succumbed the vision of Celestia again. She could only feel the deepest sorrow for the young Changeling. Her moment of pity was again rudely interrupted by a haze of light.
The light had soon faded away, as her new setting was discovered to be somewhat similar to a throne room, if throne room were to have stalagmites, spiked vines coursing through the walls and ceiling, and a heavy presence of Guards as normal decor.
She was apparantly in the midst of the trial. A very biased trial that was already lost.
A Changeling was there on the lowest floor of the many step leading to the throne itself, inhabited by the horrid Queen.
"Please, my Queen! Please don't kill him!"
"I will not accept fools and Weaklings in my Hive! Your idiot friend Talc is too injured to work! He is an obstruction that needs to be crushed in order to seek a greater prestige for the Hive!" commanded the Queen.
"Queen Chrysalis, I-I will do anything!" Cyr hesitated. He was about to gamble his and Talc's life on a rumor.
"I will even participate in your experiments! Just let him live!"
Chrysalis froze and cracked the tiniest of evil smiles. "It was indeed wise to let the gossip spread throughout the Hive. Let this be your punishment. I will let your crippled friend live, as is the power of my infinite mercy."
Celestia barfed a little in her mouth. Even at an early age of reign, Chrysalis was disgustingly pompous.
"I have need of a Worker-caste Changeling in my work. One that is actually healthy. And one that displays the stubborn, yet foolhardy qualities that you have shown today. You must serve me with every fiber of your being. If I find that your service is unsatisfactory.....well let's just say that a certain Nurse that had raised you and an entire Worker Spawn that you have grown yourself familiar with the last several years will mysteriously vanish. I'm sure you understand?" Chrysalis simpered.
Cyr grounded his incisors. Queen or not, she had insulted him and threatened the lives of those he cared for. But he fought against his impulses and barred his anger.
"I shall serve you 'till my last breath, my Queen", Cyr struggled to articulate.
"Perfect." The Queen's pernicious smile grew larger. Her horn was glowing an emerald green that cast shadows onto her ugly features. "Your service starts today, Behemoth."
"Wha-"
Cyr couldn't finish his answer, or ask what she meant by a "Behemoth". He was struck by a beam that emerged from Chrysalis's horn with lightening precision. The light enveloped his form, and began to carve his carapace and body appendages with strange symbols and glyphs. Celestia, even with her eons-old experience, was unfamiliar with the symbols.
Celestia stared in horror as she saw Cyr's face displaying incredible pain. He could feel his insides reconfigure with raw intensity and burst out of his exoskeleton. A thick membrane grew from his body and surrounded him in a tank of chitin. He could feel himself extend, stretch, grow past his normal diminutive stature, and started to feel the membrane thicken and darken. His mind had processed new spells and predatory tactics that he was not familiar with, as if they emerged from a stranger's conscious that was only concerned with cold vengeance and warfare.
Molecule by molecule, piece by piece, Cyr was reconfigured into a hulk of a being. He towered over the Guards, and had even surpassed the height and frightening eminence of the Queen herself.
The transformation had finished, with the air smelling of roasted flesh and ozone. Cyr stumbled with his new legs and steadied himself carefully.
"Guards" The Queen stated regally, albeit with a small amount of fear. "Welcome your new comrade."
Celestia's view of the memory flushed about in a torrent of images, as if in a corrupted slideshow.
Hundreds of images flashed by her in Cyr's perspective. One memory was of Cyr stomping, with a heavy heart, on a rogue Changeling. Another was of him staring at the interior of the Hive in an entirety, a vast network of tunnels and complexes. Another was him outside the Hive staring at the Moon and sighing. Another was of a familiar purple bubble surrounding Canterlot. Then came an image of him pushing a cart of produce towards one of Celestia's subjects. The pony was crying, and Celestia could feel the sorrow he had felt on that day.
What was her name? Goldern Harvest? Carrot Har-? Carrot Top. Yes. It was her. But why would he help a pony?
Then Celestia witnessed the fierce fight in front of the recital. She could understand why Luna was furious, but she saw Cyr purposefully avoid any confrontation that would result in him harming any of the attacking Guards further.
He expresses a form of compassion that even some of Celestia's subjects do not show.
I....I have made my decision. Cyr's memories had melted away in the familiar darkness.
Celestia had opened her eyes. She gave Cyr an understanding stare.
"Are they still alive? Even after hundreds of years, they still live?"
Cyr, thrown off by the abrupt question, said, "Yes, Changeling's have surprisingly long lifespans. But most of my species never witness a ripeness of age in their line of work."
Celestia nodded. She looked next to her, and gave Luna an annoyed look when she caught her sharpening a wooden pike behind her back. Celestia, despite the Luna's harmful sentiments, gave a chuckle of her stubborn sister's behavior.
"His sentence will not involve a parade of gore today, Lulu."
"Thou art such a tease, Sister." Luna spitefully said as she teleported the pike away.
Celestia had turned her head and caught her eye on Applejack's letter.
Why does today have to be so dreary? Wait a minute....
"Guards!" shouted Celestia. A full mass of them collapsed through the door and presented themselves.
"Prepare for the transportation of the prisoner. Cyr, as per Royal Command, I hereby sentence you....."
Cyr lowered his head and stared at his hooves. It was perhaps the last day he would ever see them again.
"...to Community Service. Trial is adjourned. Guards, we leave for Ponyville."
Cyr's eyes widened in shock. No, he was not expecting that to happen.
He recomposed himself and started to walk out of the Royal Throne Room. He wished to avoid seeing the two Royal Sisters argue again.
But he stopped mid-step. He asked one last time, "Princess Celestia?"
"Yes?"
"The Royal Wedding. Did they happily wed?"
Celestia smiled. He truly is a caring being.
"Shining Armor and Princess Cadence are currently on their honeymoon."
Cyr smiled back. "Glad to know. That must have been an very interesting wedding to reminisce about."