As the Queen emerged from her chamber, two large pods set into the walls began to shift and, with the air of somepony slipping out of water without disturbing the surface, two bulky forms slipped quietly into the tunnel, falling in step behind the Queen. Mandible sensed two new beings with his connection, the only thing that had alerted him to the guard's presence, and turned his head to observe the newcomers with curious eyes. The two were half the size of his mother, covered in a flexible armored shell, and were staring straight ahead, keeping in perfect step with their Queen, making it sound as if there was only one entity in the tunnel. The only distinction between them was that one guard was a deep shade of purple, and the other a similar shade of green. They possessed dull white eyes that suggested that they were partially, if not completely blind, and their bodies were so dark that they melted into every shadow they crossed along the way.
“Oh?” Chrysalis had noticed the curiosity in her Hatchling’s thoughts “They are our personal guards, they shall protect you if any problems arise.” ”Are they changelings?” a timid voice asked. It was his first question, his first coherent thought asked to the Queen.
“Indeed, they are. They are called Barding, and just as there are different types of ponies in the world, they are a special breed of ours; they are heavy but light-footed, they have the strength to take and throw powerful blows, they can shift instantly, and as you can see, they are invisible in the shadows. They guard the hive from intruders, and they are a force to be reckoned with. The only thing keeping them from joining the swarm is their unfortunate habit of drying to a crisp in daylight, and moonlight driving them to test their strength.”
A tendril of thought came from the purple guard, and when the prince acknowledged it, a memory flooded his thoughts without warning. The moon was in the sky above him, as he stood in the cave protruding from the center of a vast field. He was in the center of a group of forty changelings, along with three others his size. At the signal, they moved forth, exposing themselves to the moon’s gaze. His thoughts became quick and erratic, and then faded, replaced by pure instinct that fueled his movements. He was instantly overcome by a desire to kill, a thirst for blood, it didn't matter where it came from, he needed it. His consciousness had retreated to a corner of his mind, and he could do nothing but watch as he tackled the changeling to his left, knocking it over and then slowly biting into its side, blood welling up around his sharpened teeth. The changeling screeched at an unbearable pitch, trying to subdue the fierce creature with sound, but the instinct-driven Barding was oblivious to the noise as he continued to eat it. With his mind exposed, the other changeling’s thoughts invaded his head, and he could feel the pain of the others as they were torn apart, and it only served to fuel his thirst. Several of the smaller changelings were trying to knock him off of their comrade, but to no avail. As the light finally faded from his eyes, the destroyed body of the other changeling ceased all signs of life, and the Barding simply grabbed another changeling out of the air as it dove at him, eager to satisfy the insanity the moon had wrought.
Mandible had felt everything. Every smell, taste, touch, sound, and sight. Worst of all, he had experienced the sensation of death, a dozen times over. Exactly as the Barding behind him had felt it, he had felt it. And it was horrifying to the Hatchling, this small one with almost no knowledge of the world, and he had been exposed to worst of it right after he had been released to explore it. It was instantaneous, the experience had flashed through his mind in just a few seconds. Without a moment to recover, his mind was overwhelmed by another tendril of thought, this time from the green guard.
He was sitting in the shadows of a cave that popped out of the ground, almost like a hood. He was in a line of other Barding, each their own unique color, with the addition of Queen Chrysalis herself. The line was sitting in the shadows, not six inches from the murderous grip of the sun. They were up at the surface to conduct an exercise, unbeknownst to them, they were to observe an act of discipline concerning the Barding subspecies. The Queen sat right behind the line of Barding, and addressed them.
“The reason why you have been summoned is that you, in particular, are not aware of what happens to a Barding when he is exposed to sunlight. There is a reason you are assigned posts underground, and not on the surface. Would anyone care to take a guess?”
He was tempted to shiver, to curl into a ball and disappear from this place. Her voice drove fear into him, and it was worse than any of the beings that dwelled beneath the surface. The Queen’s voice was like a needle piercing the back of his neck, and he could sense that the other Barding felt the same sensation of fear he had. He shifted his feet with discomfort; Chrysalis was so skilled with the hive connection that it was impossible to read her emotions, let alone her intentions.
“It would seem we need a demonstration” Her horn lit up with that sentence, and another Barding was levitated out of the damp shadows in the tunnel. This Barding; however, was hogtied with strip of silk tied around his mouth, and he was looking around frantically, scared for whatever the queen was about to do.
Mandible noticed that without the instincts of the guard guiding him, the fear tasted awful, absolutely terrible. He felt everything the guard did, and as they inadvertently sampled the fear of the other Barding, it started to spread through them as well.
Chrysalis had started talking again “Search his memories and tell me what he failed to do.” He reached out with his thoughts, and exposed himself to the erratic and blurred thoughts of the currently bound Barding.
“He failed to exterminate the diamond dogs in one of the new tunnels” came a reply from further down the line, albeit in the low-toned clicks and screeches that constituted the Barding dialect of the Changeling tongue. “Yes, he did. Now, tell me, what is the punishment for failure?” She crooned.
Delving once more into the thoughts of the other barding, he sought knowledge of the various specialized punishments and torture methods that had been developed for any who opposed the Queen. He stumbled upon the thought he was looking for, seeing another gathering such as their own, and in the same moment he did, Chrysalis levitated her past victim slowly into the light of the sun, both Barding struggling and screeching as best they could against the restraints.
As they were inched slowly into the sunlight, their natural armor was drained of color, turning into a fleshy gray, and peeling off as they were exposed to the sun even longer. The armor was destroyed in the span of a few seconds, and as the sun touched the never seen skin of the Barding, it instantly turned black, began to steam, and then crawl and boil, only to explode a second afterward. This process continued all the way down to the skeletal structure inside, which proceeded to melt into a disgusting pile of molten cartilage. "This is the price of failure in the hive" the Queen said, emotionless, but for a tiny glint of sadism in her eye.
The memory faded, and Mandible was sick after what he had just witnessed, hanging his head to the side and coughing up bile from atop his mother. Chrysalis halted in her stride to see what was troubling the changeling, the obvious reason was that he was not ready for such things to be thrust upon him. But, more than that, she felt a strange feeling coming from him, one that she could only identify as a mix of pity and guilt, emotions that were rarely felt by any changeling. She calmly turned to address her guards "From this point forward you will share your memories with me before Mandible, we do not need to render him incapable of commanding the Hive."
The guards bowed to Chrysalis and confirmed their understanding of her orders, knowing full well that if they disobeyed they would become one of the changelings killed in their recently shared memories. Keeping their observations of previous Princes as far away from their Queen did not do much, as she commented "he is clearly different than the others, so we must take a different course to raise him." Both Barding had frozen when her words came, and upon hearing her turn around, each released his breath, knowing how close they had just come to execution.
With her command issued to the Barding, she turned back to comfort the Changeling on her back, bending her neck to nuzzle his mane lightly. "let us clear your mind, and show you the rest of the hive, my child" she whispered softly. Mandible's eyes held her gaze for a moment, before he curled up on her back, giving a weak thought as an affirmative to his mother. The Queen tried to comfort her child with a soft smile, gaining a decrease in the shivers that were now going through him at different intervals. She took that as a good sign, and started back through the tunnels, eager to stretch her legs and allow the young prince to explore the hive a little bit.