You've been dormant for a long while, but finally, your time has come. Your Archqueen has awakened you and tasked you with establishing a new hive, your hive.
As a newly spawned changeling Queen, it is your duty to care for your hive and protect it from hostiles changelings, pony guards, and starvation.
Will you be subtle or hunt for love? Will you find allies among other changelings hives and ponies or conquer them all?
Author's Note:
This is a comment driven story set before the changeling invasion of Canterlot.
Cover art from Jeatz-Axl.
Check out the Interactive stories Support Links!
Chapters (12)
Appleloosa
Ponyville
8624451
Thanks for participating!
8624461
hey there, thanks for your participation!
Thanks for the fave btw
Appleloosa.
Clearly pre season 6 so Chrysalis still controls the badlands swarm, so setting near there has additional risks. Course she's going to be a issue no matter what.
I would pick Ponyviille as a good location, it's got Pinkie pie so lots of love to feed on, the ever free to hide in.
I vote for Ponyville.
I say Ponyville. I'm going off the idea of going into a brand new game, with no prior knowledge. Ponyville seems to be a tutorial city and would be a good starting point until we learn the finer points of the game and feel ready to tackle harder locations.
I'm gonna go with Ponyville. It doesn't have that many guards so, the hive will be safe and it has tons of love to feed on. The population isn't too high, but not low either. As long as we play strategically and carefully, we should be able to feed our hive without being noticed. However, we would need to be excerise extreme caution of the Main 6 since one of them has direct contact with Celestia. The last thing we need is to have the princess of the sun come and destroying us before we got started. Ponyville has its pros and cons, but it is the best place to start our hive. Here goes hoping that we don't die in the first week.
Manehattan.
Having high population offsets the low love income. Medium guards may prove problematic at times, but it's manageable. After the city is charted, it should be easy enough to lose any guards chasing lings and having tunnels made in the sewers would facilitate easier escape. Hidden tunnels that lead to various places with illusions to fool ponies traversing them. More can be done once the hive has grown and it can set up smaller outposts in other places like Ponyville to make up for the low love income in Manehattan.
Ponyville is close to Canterlot, so it can quickly become a hotspot and the hive will be in danger.
Baltimare has high guards and population, but very low love so long term it is not suitable as the hive grows larger.
Appleloosa has too low of a population to make it worth much.
Las Pegasus is risky, but short term it is too dangerous when the hive has low ling power and resources. The high guard presence makes it more more riskier.
Canterlot could be made into a small outpost and it could mend the low-medium love income so that the hive can be upgraded and strengthened further quicker. But that is after the primary hive has grown enough to warrant outposts. The very large guard number is too high to make a larger outpost. But long term it can be worth it after the primary hive has grown.
I shall begin with subterfuge and when the primary hive has grown, i shall make outposts that will decide the location of when the time comes. After i have managed to do this, i will look into getting an audience with Celestia and try to get on good terms with her so i might try integrating the hive to pony society.
More plans are to come after more intel has been acquired.
Queen Misthal
Ponyville
Also there's the everfree forest to hunt and hide in.
CANTERLOT
I'm going to agree with the others and say Ponyville would be best place to start.
8624483
good points. Thanks for participating
8624504
Thanks for participating and for the favorite
8624552
Straight to the hardest difficulty I see
hollywoodredux.com/wp-content/uploads/cache/2016/06/dark-souls-welcome/3828873118.png
8624556
Thanks for participating, and thanks for the fave!
8624483
8624510
8624515
8624536
I see our master strategists have arrived
Thanks for participating!
Ponyville.
Ponyville. And love the story.
8624599
I'm glad you enjoyed it so far!
8624593
thanks for participating!
I would like to point out that setting up a hive in a city is a bad idea a sudden increase in the population is suspicious, replacing pony's attracts unwanted attention therefore I will leave the surgeston of the Mountain range in between ponyville and clouds dale because it's got 3 sources of love which will reduce suspension
8624635
I was actually planning on having smokey mountain as a possible hive location, but chose otherwise in the end
Thanks for participating
I would chose somewhere near a rail or airship depot.(although the locations of those aren't indicated)
Why? It makes moving the hive much easier should the need arise.
Why a depot and not a station? It would make it easier to get an entire train/airship for oneself without as much suspicion as hijacking one that is already in use.
I suspect that the large cities will have train or airship depots.
If it were an option I'd have suggested building the hive on/in a train. A target that constantly moves is harder to subject to a brute-force attack than a stationary target. It would also allow a wide distribution of love-collectors, increasing the area from which the hive could farm, while keeping changeling concentration in settlements low, reducing detection chance there.
The only problem: how do you keep an entire train hidden from the guard, or at least camouflaged as a normal train.
I'll likely read this in the car or something, but I'm crossing off Ponyville as the location you head to. That's the last place I want to be, with all the disaster's that befall that town. Even if you're going for a pacifist run, you could very well end up dead when the demigod of the week shows up and throws down with the local superheroes.
Ponyville. Low Guards, high love, and decent though not stellar population. It probably won't be too difficult to establish a hive in the woods nearby (unless you're in the Everfree Forest, but that's not recommended). I'd have gone for Appleloosa, but the population isn't big enough to gather enough passive love to feed a hive of thousands.
8624695
I was planning on having Cloudsdale as an option since it's a mobile city it would be the closest to your suggestion, but I eventually chose otherwise 'cuz it would be really weird to build a hive in the clouds...
But hey, there will be an opportunity to expand the hive to other locations in the future, keep your idea close to you when that moment arrives. It was a good one
8624723
Please be careful
You made a good point against Ponyville
8624728
Thanks for voting!
8624536
I agree with your assessment of Manehatten. In addition to the points you made, it is also a hub for information and commerce.
Also, Ponyville would be easy mode. I would prefer a challenge. Not to mention, a Hive in Manehatten? If pulled off successfully, such a move could garner respect amongst the other Hives.
8624772
Respect goes a long way in politics. But not as far as one may think. It will also paint a target to your back.
But allying a few hives together might be ideal. More ling power and more ways to use subterfuge and misdirection. More soldiers to protect the hive as well.
Ponyville
Ponyville seems the logical option, given the stats, however I think more story-related problems might crop up in the future.
With that in mind, I vote for Las Pegasus.
Ponyville. Due to the Everfree Forest we will have acess to rare alchemical ingridients in the future (if we need them). And old castle will give us opportunity to obtain information of exotical forms of pony magic, some dark magic trinkets and probably some other resourses. Also we could mine gems here to sell them/create artifacts (if we learn how to do that). So, it is perfect location not only for starting hive but for developed hive too. Also, later we could dominate minds of forest monsters, and force them fight for the Hive or, if we discovered and ponies assemble their forces to strike us, lure some of monsters into populated area to by us some time.
Settle in Appleloosa. Not only is Ponyville a deathtrap (canonically), but with the easy access to the rail line and the low guard population give you an easy way to basically ship love in with minimal worry. A tight knit group of "Family" moving into town will be welcomed with open arms, ensuring a bounty of love to use in construction. Small towns trying to grow need more workers. Become established, prove yourselves trustworthy, wholesome neighbors. Anyone comes looking for trouble, the townsfolk will stand up for you. Trust begets trust.
8624858
8624864
8624896
Thanks for participating!
With your votes Ponyville hit 14 votes!
8624744
No problem
Merry Christmas, and God bless!
I think ill rule out Baltimare/ Las Pegasus/ Canterlot
Ponyville has good values but the added risk of the mane 6.
on the other hand the presence of them means will be well informed about certain happenstances and a great possibilitys for official and inoffcial diplomacy also everfree forest is a exelent and well hidden location if you can handle the wildlife.
Appleloosa is very safe but possibly too small. Also it might be close to the badlands and thus Chrysalis hive (but im not sure about that) wich WILL cause problems althought it might offer opotunities once King Thorax happens, who will probably help out if you arent a douche.
Manehattan has large population and an urban envioment wich offer quite some advantages but one would need some cash to throw around too really prosper there.
I think ill choose ponyville.
Ponyville
Ponyville seems like the best option.
Question: Which a timeline this take place? In the past ( before the events of the show. ), In the middle ( Which Chrysalis planning invasion on Equestria. ) or in the future? ( When The changelings are facing the civil war between the Reformed and the original changelings. )
Ponyville seems like the obvious 'pick me' choice presented to us, and while I'd like to be a rebel and pick something else like Appleloosa or Manehattan, I think Ponyville is the best and most interesting choice plot wise.
Manehattan's guard population shouldn't be too much of an issue, but the low love yield and high population worry me. Yes, the high pop technically offsets the low love, but it makes discovery all the more likely, which is something that we want to avoid early on.
Appleloosa would be a decent starting point were it not for the woefully low pop count and it's remote location. We want to be hidden, yes, but not at the cost of being isolated. And if the hive grows quickly, it'll be difficult to explain away the additional inhabitants without getting the locals suspicious.
Baltimare, Los Pegasus and Canterlot aren't worth considering with their high guard counts unless we were doing a YOLO run. As such, while things may get hectic in Ponyville, it gets my vote.
If you wanted to thrive I would choose Ponyville but only if you could get at least the main (the mayor/Twilight) or unofficial (Apple clan/Pinkie) authorities permission due to the number of incidents that happen particularly after the start of session 1. If it was after the invasion then this permission is vital unless you want the population and heavy hitters against you when you are inevitably found out.
If you wanted obscurity them Manehatten as despite the low returns few would bother to look in to the occasional disappearance particularly if it is a less moral world you set this in.
Appleloosa You could scrape by in but now live well. You could supplement with traveling changelings acting as independent merchants and performers but keep such enterprises small to prevent being summon or forced to work ing places where scrutiny is high like Las Pegasus or Canterlot.
As someone who like co operation I would vote Ponyville but ask for a unique spin to separate this story from the various others
Based purely on stats I say ponyville since it's got very high love compared to others given its medium population and low guards.
Like 8625155 says, I'm worried that the Mane 6 may become a threat. Of course, that's what makes it fun!
I'm interested by how higher population increases the spread of rumors/the truth about changeling activity, wouldn't a lower population mean knowledge would spread faster? Sure, more ponies would end up knowing in a larger population, but it is your rules.
8625641
Like I mentioned in the story descrption, the story is set after the invasion of canterlot, so its between season 1 and 2
8625683
Leeeeroy Jenkinnsssss!!!
8625818
A smaller pop would know about you quicker yes, but the Anonymity "meter" in the game is a global attribute. Think about it like a pandemic, once it hits a highly populated city, it spreads like a zombie apocalypse while a smaller town still can be contained.
8625729
Noted, I'll try my best to keep things interesting