Beyond The Hive

by TheHiveQueen

Tales

“Twinkletime, wake up!”

I become aware of something shaking me. Naturally, I assume the Queen is twisting my body round whilst spraying it with goo. I know that I am about to be taken away and fed on by the other changelings.

Then I hear the voice from somewhere around me. It is neither that of the Queen's nor my mother and a bit of hope enters my system. With all the force I can muster I open one eye, praying that I do not see the Queen changeling before me.

I see something purple and blurred, illuminated by the rays of the sun. With the realisation hitting me, I feel a cold wave wash over my body. The sweat I had produced in my dream clings to me and I struggle to free my clammy skin from the duvet. I want nothing more than to be rid of the cocoon of a bed I slept in.

“Twinkletime, it's okay! Relax, you're not in that forest anymore!” the purple creature yells in my ear.

But I want none of it. I rip off the covers before staggering over to the window and punching it open with my hoof. The window doesn't swing open and instead, I knock one of the panes out. The small fragments of glass fly off as I stick my head by the small opening and gulp down the fresh air, my insides throbbing.

A minute passes as I stare at the sun setting in the distance. I think that Twilight pony is trying to talk to me but my thoughts are elsewhere. After the hysteria dies down, and I firmly cement that I am safe in this house, a stream of questions flood my head:

Just what was that?

I don't feel like who I was before I slipped under those covers. I feel scared and shaken after experiencing first-hand that pony's life. I had asked for memories; not to relive his darkest moments. Worse still, that didn't help me much at all. Although, I did gain some valuable nuggets of information.

“Are you okay!?” Twilight's cries fade back into existence and I turn to face her. Does she really not know the answer to that? Take a good look at my distressed form.

“You were tossing and turning in the bed, whimpering all the while,” Twilight explains

“I'm fine, just a... nightmare,” I say.

“About the forest?” Twilight asks, biting her lip.

I nod. The lie comes easily enough as it was partially true. To tell her that I had dreamed about changelings would just be stupid and very suspicious.

“Do you want to tell somepony about it? You shouldn't keep these things to yourself,” Twilight says nervously.

Better get this over with. It doesn't look like The Queen will be much help to me after all; it can't be that difficult in thinking some story up. Still though, that whole dream encounter has left me very confused.

“Fine,” I say coldly.

“Only tell me what you want to. But just hold on a second, I have to go get a quill to write this down. You'll be fine without me for another minute, right?”

I assume she's trying to be nice or some other pitiful emotion that I don't care for right now. The matter of the fact is that it's actually rather insulting.

I don't say anything – I just turn back around and look out the window again. Twilight takes this as a “yes” and leaves, slowly shutting the door again behind her.

Only tell me what you want to – I doubt that entirely. She wants to know everything; she is even going to get quill and parchment so others can know too. What if I told her just to go away? I doubt she'd write that down.

Anyway, once this whole “initiation” phase is done, I can wander freely through the streets of Ponyville.

Out of nowhere, an owl appears by my side. I flinch and lean back, surprised by how quietly the creature arrived.

It looks at me with two beady eyes and I match them, moving closer so our eyes are about a hoof apart.

What does this thing want? Who even let the vermin in?

“Can I help you?” I ask as if the owl had no right to be here. Which it didn't really.

“Hoo.”

Oh great – not only is it invading my private space, but it's brain-dead.

“Can you speak my language? Or construct an actual sentence of any kind?” Perhaps I could turn him into my drone and play Hive Queen for a bit. It would make sense, considering I no longer have wings to use. Although, that might be seen as sacrilege and I doubt the Queen would approve, given the mood she's currently in.

The owl tilts its head slightly. “Hoo.”

No, it's just plain stupid. Definitely not worthy of my time.

I turn away and look out the window again, impatiently waiting for Twilight's return. The owl however, stretches its wings and flies in front of me, blocking my view. I give a snarl, reminiscent of my changeling self, in its direction.

It doesn't flinch and instead looks me right in the eye again. Maybe there's a bit of intelligence there.

The owl glares at me, daring me to make another move. I almost laugh.

Its message delivered, it shifts its wings, and flies out the small gap in the window and down below.

Just go bother someone else. Although, that was suspicious behaviour. What if it saw through my disguise like the manticore? Just how effective is this change, anyway?

I dismiss the thought. I'm sure I would have been told these things by The Queen. Then again, she's definitely hiding something from me...

“I'm back!” The door bursts open behind me and Twilight bounds in.

She calls me over to lie on the bed while she takes a seat on a wooden chair she brought with her. Whipping out the quill, Twilight prompts me to get comfy.

Get comfy? Is that another joke?

“Excuse me, but I want to make this as formal as possible. Some of the questions may be tedious but bear with me.”

“Okay,” I utter.

“Name?” Twilight looks down at her paper, quill at the ready, levitating in front of her.

I pause. I have no recollection of any second name.

“Twinkletime.”

“Place of residence?”

“Manehatten.”

“Occupation?”

“I was too young at the time the 'incident' occurred to be employed,” I say, thinking up the answer on the spot.

I have to try and avoid questions like these. Any specifics must be avoided – although that was just a logical answer.

Twilight understands and returns to her interview: “Family?”

“Two parents, although only one accompanied me over here. To where 'it' happened.”

Again, I'm carefully avoiding the details and implying otherwise. Nothing can be said for certain; nothing that anypony can look up.

Twilight moves on, not feeling the need to ask any thing further about my family, assuming I have no siblings.

“And what is this 'incident' then?” she asks tentatively.

This was it. I start the speech I had thought up between the pointless questions she had previously asked: “My mother had decided to visit this region, years ago. After some time, we visited the zebra, Zecora, in the Everfree Forest. However, we stayed too long, and were close to missing the train back to Manehatten.”

“Go on,” Twilight says softly, looking briefly upwards from her scribbles on the page. Her facial expression was reassuring but at the same time eager to know more.

I continue: “It was dark, and we refused Zecora's help in getting home. In hindsight, we should have, as we found ourselves separated and lost in the thick trees of the forest. I called her name many times but she didn't respond. Eventually, I found myself resting at a cave at the bottom of some gorge. I...”

I look away and force a few tears down my face. Twilight, of course, takes sympathy and allows me the time to grieve.

“You can stop now, if you want,” she soothes.

Her tone is almost sickening. I preferred it when the Queen showed next to no compassion towards us. I don't need her worthless emotions.

So I ignore her: “I waited for the whole night at the cave mouth, but my mother never came. After a few days, I decided to venture beyond the cave. I lost track of the days as I tried to escape that gorge. The current in the river was too strong; my magic was too weak. I resorted to scaling the side of the cliff. I don't know what hurt more: the rough, sharp rocks, or the everlasting hunger, clawing at my insides. I ate whatever came my way.”

Tears brimmed at Twilight's eyes but she did not stop me.

“I don't know when it was that I finally escaped. My throat was raw from the shouting; my body was raw from the cuts and bruises. I then went looking again for my mother. I was certain at the time that she was still in the forest, looking for me. I guess now, that she wasn't.” I grit my teeth bitterly.

“I don't know what happened exactly from then on. Months and years went by but I didn't find pony nor Mother. I just hid in the bushes from the monsters of Everfree, and switched cave each night as I searched for other ponies. It became pretty much like a cycle.”

I don't why I emphasised that word. I know it's the changeling in me, but it still hadn't come naturally. Twilight is also giving me a weird look, wondering why I did that.

I shrug the impulse off and resume my story: “I became thinner and weaker, not having enough food to last the day. I never reached the edge of the forest despite my best efforts to. It seemed as if once that place had taken hold of me, it never wanted to let me go.

“One night lasted longer than the rest, and I saw lightning in the sky over a part of the forest. I rushed over but, by that time, everypony had left the place, and I was alone again. I wandered briefly through the remains of a castle but there was nothing to feed on and nowhere particularly sheltered. So I continued my search.”

It felt good, throwing in a bit of Equestrian history in there to convince Twilight. Queen Chrysalis had told me of Nightmare Moon's return and how several ponies had vanquished her. It was a rather high-profile event too so I'm sure Twilight knows what I'm referencing.

“One day, a manticore attacked me; I thought it was over. But then this zebra called Zecora came and rescued me, and now here I am. I didn't remember her face at the time, but I do now. The only face I still remember, after all those years... is that of my mother.”

I thought it would be fitting to end on that note. Add a little emotion and more tears to conclude with. Maybe that dream had helped after all – I was able to emphasise with Twinkletime and I didn't know of Zecora's involvement beforehand. It added that crucial bit of detail that gives my tale an authentic feel.

I just hope they buy the point that the whole ordeal was so gruelling that it's had an effect on my mind and more specifically, my memory.

Oh and my cruel nature. I'm not here for fun and games: I left that part of Twinkletime back in the Hive/forest.

Twilight wipes the parchment dry after shedding a fair amount of tears. They certainly carry more volume and emotion than mine; it only confirms, in my mind, that this unicorn is quite pathetic.

I lose the cold state of mind and speak again: “Is that okay?”

“That's fine, Twinkletime. Just give me a moment,” Twilight says. She gets up and leaves the room again without giving me another glance.

I however, am in no mood to wait any longer. I've wasted enough time as it is and I really must check out that library.

***

I saunter downstairs and find myself a chair.

“Oh hi, Twinkletime! Twilight said she had something to do and would be back in a second,” a voice calls from near some books.

I look across the room at the small, purple dragon. “Okay,” I reply before turning my attention back to the books.

Spike, a little surprised by my emotionless response, scratches his head with his claw. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him waddle out of the central room.

I look around at the stacks of books. This actually looked to be quite a decent library.

The presence of another grows near, and I deduce it's the unicorn again.

“Oh, there you are, Twinkletime. I've been looking all ov-”

“Can I read some of your books now?” I cut across. Although it was getting late, I had just slept and had no intention of returning to Chrysalis at this stage. Also I didn't have much intention to be polite right now. I wasn't going to be overly rude – just not show emotion where it wasn't required.

So basically most of the time.

“Umm, sure,” Twilight says. She then grins sheepishly. “I didn't think you'd be this interested in reading. But who am I to complain?”

Twilight moves closer before brandishing hoof around her head, directing my gaze to the sheer abundance of books. “We have quite a lot of books, so you may have trouble finding one you like. That is, unless you like every book! Like me...”

She trails off as I show an apparent lack of attention to the things I either already know, or just don't care about. Like humour. At least, I think that was some form of humour.

But she is right. There are too many books here. I can't just go asking for the book that holds Equestria's secrets and weaknesses. Or the A-Z encyclopedia when it comes to changelings. I have to be subtle.

In answer to my dilemma, something swoops down from above, dropping a thick volume in front of me. I pick it up and look at the cover: Changelings – Who they are, and how to stop them.

A grin stretches across my face: this is exactly the sort of thing that could help – full of valuable information. It would serve well as a pony's perspective of changeling kind.

Although, I doubt this book knows too much or somepony would have “stopped me” by now. Twilight certainly hasn't.

But who had given it to me?

I look suspiciously around and, confirming my suspicions, see that blasted owl again, circling the shelves. Either, he's a changeling too and trying to help me, or he's trying to tell Twilight my true identity.

Either way, he's not going about it the right way and will blow my cover.

Go away, I mouth at the owl perched up on a bookshelf.

“Owlowiscious! That is no way to behave!” Twilight shouts at the owl.

He has a name?

Owlowiscious ignores Twilight and flies back over to me and perches himself on the table next to me.

“Hoo.”

I'm just glad this fool can't talk properly and has some sort of speech impediment issue. I'll have to assume that he isn't a changeling, and is just an idiot trying to expose me. There's no way I can trust him at this stage. If he were a changeling he would have given better signs surely.

Twilight gives “Owlowiscious” a disapproving look before turning her attention back to me.

“Oh, I'm sure Twinkletime doesn't want to read that,” Twilight says, reaching for the thick book.

Oh but I so do.

“Why not? It looks interesting enough,” I say.

“It just seems like a rather odd place to start. Also, changelings are a very complicated species and difficult to understand. They even had to make this new edition, after the recent invasion.” Twilight pauses, wondering whether or not I've heard of the attack on Canterlot.

Oh, really now? Now I'm definitely reading this. That new bit of intelligence I simply have to know.

“Nothing wrong with a bit of that. Besides, you saying I can't handle this book?” I say, challenging Twilight in a playful manner.

Looking back on my words, they're a bit too friendly. I had taken her comment as insulting more than anything. I'm sure I know my own species more than anypony. Still, there may be things we don't know.

I'm willing to learn.

“Oh no," says Twilight, enthusiastically getting into the conversation, “of course not. I was actually-”

“Will you let me read it now?” I again interrupt.

Twilight closes her mouth mid-sentence, visibly confused and upset by my “rudeness”. However, I just look down at the book and turn the front page over with my magic, disregarding her.

Her stare starts to irritate me, prickling my mane, as I begin reading the Contents page of the book. After I reach the bottom of the page, I can't stand it any longer, and raise my head again to meet Twilight's eyes.

Yes? My expression tells her everything she needed to know. Or rather, what I wanted her to know.

“Fine.”

Twilight turns the other way and storms off, presumably looking for Spike.

I don't really care. I know she wants to help but right now 'helping' is leaving me alone.

Why are these ponies so persistent? Back in the Hive, we all knew what we were doing, and we left each other alone.

Does Twilight Sparkle not know her role in pony society? I doubt her role in keep things moving is bothering me all day.

Do they even have a society? I find that out soon enough. Oh and eventually destroy it if that's the case.

Spike knows his role and he isn't even a pony! He's the assistant to Twilight Sparkle. Twilight? I've deduced that she's the librarian of this place. So why is she pestering me? Is that in the job description?

I don't think that I'm that much younger than her. Definitely not young enough for her to treat me like a child, and be this clingy. I doubt she ever even knew Twinkletime until now. Well, he had visited Ponyville a while ago...

I'll find out his friends soon enough. And exploit them.

I lean back in the surprisingly comfy chair and stare at the ceiling. It's late, but not too late to at least make some headway with this book.

The sooner I've read all that is required here, I can leave this library and find somepony else to leach off. Hopefully somepony less irritating.

Maybe she'll give me more space after this whole “Twinkletime's return” stuff has died down.

But now, to that book.

The Hive Mind wills it.

Author's Note:

Bit short this one. Not much action either. Took its time too. Sorry :/

Comments

[Merchent343]

It's okay. The next one will come out eventually, and then I will be very happy.

[TheHiveQueen]

2919679 It should be "eggs", my bad. It's a reference to a book, in fact.

[Jphyper]

Hopefully somepony less irritating.

You might as well have just said straight out that he's going to end up meeting Pinkie Pie next.

[Unknownlight]

Interesting story. Glad I found it.

[Oghma Infinium]

TheHiveQueen has been banned and I (a friend IRL) have been asked to make this account and speak on his behalf. He is disappointed but respects the decision and only regrets not posting any way to get in contact with others. Well, now you can. He isn't sure whether to revive/finish the Fics posted here on an alternate site (as it would be unwise to try again here) but if he says that if he receives messages asking him specifically to do so, then he probably will. His email is [e-mail]

Edit: He's not continuing this story. Sorry.

If you want to contact him, or persuade him to continue, there is the place to email. Or contact me via PM.

Thank you for your time.

[Crystal Static]

More please?

[Teraunce]

too bad the author is banned making this fic perma-dead.

[lilly_dawn]

who did the hive art for the cover?