Five for the Hive

by HypnoticGemini

Chapter 1

Five for the Hive

by HypnoticGemini

It was one week after the royal wedding, and Twilight Sparkle’s life had pretty much gone back to normal. Princess Celestia was recovering nicely from her battle with Queen Chrysalis, her brother and foalsitter-turned-sister-in-law had left on their honeymoon (Shining Armour had politely turned down her #1 assistant’s offer of a bachelor party, much to the dragon’s chagrin) while Princess Luna took over as temporary Captain of the Guard in his absence, and she had received her share of congratulations for her key role in stopping the changeling invasion.

All was well, so why did she feel uneasy?

At first, Twilight dismissed the feeling as herself feeling bad for letting a changeling invasion mess up her BBBFF’s wedding. But, she managed to convince herself that it wasn’t her fault, and that nopony could have known. In fact, it was because of her finding the real Princess Cadence that the changeling threat was even discovered at all. However, that feeling just refused to go away.

She lay on her bed, reading a book as she always did, when Spike came trundling up the steps carrying a feather duster.

“I dusted all the shelves and sorted all the books, Twilight. Anything else on your list that needs doing?” he asked.

“Nothing else for now, Spike,” replied Twilight. “Thanks a lot.”

Normally, Twilight would compile a long checklist of things that needed to be done and a tight schedule to do them. However, for the past week, Twilight had been somewhat... different. She often seemed lost in thought, and was often seen with her face buried in books... well, more often. Having been around Twilight for his entire life, Spike knew Twilight like the back of his claw, and he knew that something was bothering her. However, if he voiced his concerns, the conversation would surely end as soon as it started.

“So,” Spike began, trying to find something to talk about. “Whatcha reading, Twilight?”

Twilight looked up from her reading. “You see, Spike, ever since we came back from Canterlot, there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

“Well, what is it?” Spike inquired.

“The changelings,” Twilight sighed. “Somehow, I can’t shake the feeling that we haven’t seen the last of them.”

“Come on, Twilight, you saw Shining Armour and Princess Cadence!” exclaimed Spike, trying to cheer Twilight up. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they blew the changelings all the way to Las Pegasus! After getting served so badly, they probably won’t even be coming anywhere near here again for a long time, much less give us any more trouble!”

“Maybe,” said Twilight thoughtfully, “but they can disguise themselves as regular ponies, so what’s to say that they’re not hiding among us and biding their time?”

Spike put a claw on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about that, Twilight. After all, the Royal Guard did scour Ponyville for changelings at least twice in the last week. Everypony’s bound to be watching their steps. Nothing’ll happen, you’ll see.”

Twilight smiled. “I hope you’re right, Spike.”

The peace and quiet of the library was shattered by the sound of the door bursting open, heralding the arrival of a certain pink party pony.

“Guess what Twi? We have new ponies in town!”

***ONE WEEK EARLIER***

Many miles south of Ponyville, a mountain stood against the horizon. The hillside was covered in thick foliage, and the air was filled with the cries of birds and insects. To anypony that may be passing by, it seemed quite peaceful and tranquil.

But only on the outside.

Inside the mountain was a natural maze of caverns and tunnels. There are several colonies of changelings, each led by its own Queen, and in days gone by, one such colony had discovered the mountain and made it their home, digging more passages into the rock to make themselves comfortable. As such, the labyrinthine passages were often literally buzzing with activity. However, on this day, there seemed to be more going on than usual. Under the watchful eyes of the larger Taskmasters, changelings busily flitted back and forth inside the passageways, some clearing rock, some investigating reports of blocked tunnels, and others busy reinforcing tunnel ceilings using the sticky secretions often used to capture unfortunate prey. One of these many changelings was Pyralis.

Pyralis was larger than the average changeling and possessed a relatively long horn, and his black, chitinous carapace was reinforced in places like his shoulder and torso by thicker, green plates. His eyes were rather like those of a pony, with greenish sclera, lime-green irises, and pupils, unlike the uniformly-coloured blue ones of a drone. These physical features marked him as a Hive Guardian, an elite warrior tasked with maintaining order in the hive, separating him from the common worker drones. As such, he normally would not have willingly consented to this type of menial labour, but recently, the hive had been hit by a series of cave-ins, and the increased workload meant that every changeling was expected to pull their weight. Of course, being a Guardian meant that he was given a squad of drones to supervise, so he would only have to step in to deal with particularly large or troublesome chunks of rock while the drones dealt with most of the wall of rubble blocking the passageway he had been assigned to clear.

“I can hear them on the other side. Stand back!” ordered Pyralis in the series of clicks, chitters, and hisses that made up the changelings’ language, his horn glowing green.

The drones did just that as Pyralis fired a bolt of magical energy, blasting a sizeable hole into the wall of fallen rock. Once the dust had settled, he climbed through the hole to meet up with the other team assigned to the passage. The changelings there had either taken several steps back or flattened themselves against the wall, having heard his warning and knowing what he was about to do. However, a few of the slower ones were coated in dust and struggling to their hooves among the debris on the ground, evidently having been blasted backwards by the force of Pyralis’s spell. Standing in the middle of them was Pyralis’s eldest sister Anopheles (changelings considered each other siblings if they hatched in the same brood of eggs), who was dispelling the barrier she cast to protect herself from the blast. She possessed an iridescent green carapace, which marked her as a Taskmaster, and had a notch in the tip of her horn, which set her apart from the other changelings.

“We’ve cleared and reinforced the passage,” said Anopheles. “Let’s report back to Stinger.”

***

“Come on, you lazy excuses for drones! Hurry up, those boulders won’t shift themselves!”

When Pyralis and Anopheles showed up, the Taskmaster Stinger was busy doing what he did best. Every changeling had a job to do, and some of them had the job of making sure that the others did theirs and motivating them to do so if necessary. These were the Taskmasters, and the one in charge of the rest was Stinger. A rather large changeling with a thick, steel-hard carapace, any changeling who had the misfortune of becoming Stinger’s sparring partner could confirm that, in their words, he had quite a “sting in the tail.” He turned to face the two siblings and their worker drones as they approached

“We’ve cleared the south passage to the egg broods, sir. What’s next?” asked Pyralis.

“Anopheles, I need your team and Pyralis’s team to get to work on another passage on the south side. We’ve got a couple of Guardians trapped by a rockfall. Get moving, you’ll receive further instructions on the way.” Stinger commanded, in an authoritative voice that was obviously used to being followed.

Anopheles dipped her head as a sign of acknowledgment and took flight, as did the drones under her command. Pyralis was about to follow them, but was halted by Stinger’s voice.

“Pyralis, stay here. I’ve got something to tell you.”

Pyralis and Anopheles exchanged a glance. Both of them were thinking the same thing: This is either really good or really bad.

“Go on ahead, Anu,” Pyralis called, addressing his sister by her nickname. “Don’t wait. I’ll catch up... hopefully.”

“Good luck,” Anopheles called back as she and the drones flew off, “you might need it.”

Pyralis turned his attention back to Stinger. “What is it?”

“It’s the Queen. She has specifically requested your presence.” Stinger replied impassively.

Pyralis was stunned. Being talked to one-on-one by the Lead Taskmaster was one thing, but the Hive Queen? He couldn’t believe his luck, though he still couldn’t figure out whether it was great or terrible.

“I see... Did Her Majesty mention what this is all about?”

“Why the Queen wishes to see you is none of my concern, Pyralis,” replied Stinger. “You’ll have to find out for yourself. Now, if I were you, I’d get a move on. Surely I needn’t remind you that Her Highness does not appreciate being kept waiting.”

“No, of course not.” Pyralis spread his wings and prepared to fly off, but was stopped by Stinger’s hoof.

“Her Majesty told me that you might need this,” he said, producing a teal crystal pendant, shaped like a changeling’s head, on a chain. Given only by the Queen herself, these pendants allowed the wearer to freely enter or exit the inner sanctum, which was normally only accessible by the Queen herself and the Royal Guards.

“That would help.” Pyralis took the pendant and draped the chain around his neck, then flew off.

Stinger turned back to the drones, some of whom had stopped what they were doing to try and eavesdrop.

“Who said you could take a break? GET BACK TO WORK!”

***

It was difficult to find one’s way around near the heart of the caves, due to the many false passages and branching tunnels intended to conceal the location of the inner sanctum. With the recent cave-ins, doing so was even more taxing than usual. However, the Hive Guardian Gemini was often stationed in the area, so he knew how to navigate the area like the back of his hooves. He deftly flew through the tunnels, his keen red eyes roving around and searching for the paths he needed to take. The red hourglass marking on his left flank – in the exact same place where a pony would have their cutie mark – was only visible as a blur as he hurried through the tunnels, carrying in his forelegs a number of greenish, glowing crystals, which were used by changelings to store the emotions collected from ponies for later consumption. As he emerged from one of the narrow tunnels into one of the larger caverns, he noticed a changeling land in his path...

“Coming through! Watch out – Oof!”

Pyralis had just enough time to register the dark shape flying at him before it bowled him over. The two changelings hit the ground in a tangled heap, scattering crystals all over the ground. Pyralis quickly extricated himself and got back onto his hooves, aware of the many pairs of eyes watching them. He reached up with a hoof to make sure that the pendant was still around his neck.

“Uh, Gemini? Whatever happened to ‘watch where you’re going?’ That’s got to be, what, the fifth time?” said Pyralis, addressing the changeling on the ground.

“Well, why did you land in my way then?” asked Gemini indignantly as he pulled himself up and dusted himself off.

“Sorry ’bout that, just trying to find my way around. Navigating the place is a pain in the thorax even at the best of times. Are you in a rush to get somewhere?” Pyralis’s horn lit up as he gathered the scattered crystals into a neat pile. “Nothing to see here, you can get back to work now!” he called to the onlookers.

“Thanks for that, Pyralis,” said Gemini, indicating the crystals. “Gotta get these to the Taskmaster on the double. Say, you don’t show up much down here. Something going on?”

“Well, apparently Queen Arania wants to have a word with me one-on-one.” Pyralis responded, indicating the pendant he wore.

“Some luck you’ve got,” Gemini remarked, as he gathered the crystals in his forelegs. “Dunno if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Yeah, I know. I mean, of all the changelings in the hive, why me? I don’t even know what this is all about!” Pyralis let out his thoughts on the matter. Of all the changelings in the hive, Gemini was one of the few with whom Pyralis was open to communication.

“You don’t think it’s got something to do with those Diamond Dogs you kicked out a few days ago, do you?” asked Gemini.

“Probably not. It’s too trivial. We Guardians deal with Diamond Dog intrusions all the time, and they don’t seem like the type to make threats against the Queen.”

“And why’s that?”

“Too stupid.”

“Whatever. Still, not every changeling can say that they’ve beaten an entire pack of those things without backup.”

“Well, that’s only because they never tried. Anyway, shouldn’t you be going somewhere?” asked Pyralis, reminding Gemini of how they ran into one another in the first place.

“Shouldn’t you be going somewhere?” Gemini countered. “The Queen doesn’t like waiting.”

“You sound just like Stinger. All right, I’ll see you around.”

“Catch ya later, Pyralis!” Gemini flew off down a side tunnel, this time at a slower speed. Pyralis stayed for a second longer to watch him go, then continued on his way towards the Queen’s chamber.

***

Pyralis didn’t have to go far before reaching a tunnel guarded by two Royal Guards stationed on either side of the opening, which lead to the inner sanctum. As expected, the guards moved together to block the tunnel.

“State your purpose,” hissed one of the guards in a low, emotionless voice.

Pyralis wasn’t intimidated; he knew that this was them being nice. If an outsider attempted to gain entry, the guards would attack first and ask questions later.

“I have been summoned by Her Majesty, Queen Arania,” replied Pyralis. He removed the pendant from his neck, draped it around a hoof, and presented it to the guards.

The guards nodded and parted to clear the way, waving Pyralis through. “Proceed.”

Pyralis placed the pendant back around his neck and stepped into the tunnel. As he proceeded through, the buzzing of changeling wings died out, to be replaced by an eerie silence. He emerged from the tunnel to find himself in a high cavern, illuminated by torches burning with magical green fire that hung from brackets on the walls. Unlike the surrounding passages, the inner sanctum was rather simplistic: six caverns, like the one Pyralis was in, were arranged in a ring around the Queen’s chamber, connected by tunnels and routinely patrolled by Royal Guards. Pyralis proceeded straight forward, towards a passage on the other side of the cavern covered in a silken veil, flanked by another pair of Royal Guards.

“Pyralis, I presume?” one of the guards greeted Pyralis as he approached.

“Yes.” Pyralis replied, indicating the pendant.

“The Queen’s been expecting you. Go on.”

The guards lifted the veil, and Pyralis stepped past them. He found himself in a tall cavern, lined with glowing green crystals and lit by the same torches present outside, with six entrances covered by veils. In the middle was a pillar of stone that ran all the way to the cavern roof, with a small ledge sticking out near the top, marking the location of the Queen’s chamber. Most changelings would have to access the chamber by flying, but not a Hive Guardian like Pyralis, who could simply scale up the column like a spider – which is exactly what he did. In no time at all, Pyralis found himself standing on the ledge at the entrance to the Queen’s chamber.

“You have summoned me, my Queen?” Pyralis said in a voice of solemn reverence, bowing his head in respect.

Hive Queen Arania turned to face him. Like other Queens, Arania towered over the ordinary changeling, despite the fact that she was beginning to show her age. She wore a golden crown on her brow, and her horn had multiple bends and curves. She scrutinized Pyralis with her blue eyes. “Ah, good, you received my message. Please, enter. And lift your head up, that’s bad for your neck.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Arania turned away and strolled into the centre of the chamber as Pyralis came in. Like the rest of the hive, the chamber was hardly decorated. However, there were mushrooms and cave fungi, considered a delicacy by the cave-dwelling changelings, growing out of the corners of the chamber – the only place they were grown, aside from the caverns designated as farms. As well, there was a ledge sticking out of one of the walls with sheets made of silk that served the Queen as a comfortable bed, whereas most changelings slept on the ground. Another rock slab stood in the centre of the room, serving as a table. The walls were lined with green-flamed torches that bathed the room in a bright glow. There were small ledges hewn into the walls for the Queen’s few possessions (mainly scrolls), but they stood empty, while the objects they held had been swept into a cocoon lying on the ground. This struck Pyralis as being slightly odd, as did the fact that he still did not know why he was here.

“Pyralis, I understand that you still do not know why you are here, or why my possessions are packed away.”

The fact that the Queen could read her subjects’ minds was one that had registered in Pyralis’s mind long ago. “I can hide nothing from you, Your Majesty.”

“Well, before I tell you,” said Queen Arania, still with her back to the Hive Guardian, “let us wait for your friend Gemini to come in. After all the bribing he’s done to get this far, I would hate for him to feel left out of the conversation.”

Gemini’s head appeared over the ledge, and he climbed on. He shuffled into the room with his head bowed.

“How’d you get past the guards?” whispered Pyralis once Gemini was in earshot.

“I didn’t give all the crystals to the Taskmaster,” Gemini whispered back. “Even the Royal Guards need to eat, you know.”

“Rise, Gemini,” said the Hive Queen. “Now, the reason I have summoned you here, Pyralis, is because I have a mission for you. However, since Gemini managed to make it all the way here, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for him to hear what I have to say as well.”

“Secret mission, huh?” Gemini whispered with a grin. “I’m starting to feel glad for coming.” He then addressed the Hive Queen. “My life for the Hive, Your Majesty. What is our mission?”

“That’s exactly the kind of attitude I appreciate seeing, Gemini,” said Queen Arania, turning to face the two Guardians, “but the circumstances are grim.”

“What’s happened, Your Majesty?” asked Pyralis.

The Hive Queen turned away once more and began pacing the room. “First, let me ask you: What do the two of you make of the recent increase in cave-ins?”

“They are starting to get slightly bothersome, Your Majesty,” Pyralis answered, “but I assure you, the colony is working as hard as they can to clear the caves.”

“It’s nothing we can’t deal with,” Gemini agreed. “After all, there have been occasional cave-ins for as long as I can remember. This shouldn’t be much different.”

“Your confidence is appreciated, my little changelings,” said Queen Arania, “but I’m afraid that you do not grasp... the gravity of the situation. You see, I have done a personal inspection of the cave system’s integrity, and I must confess, things do not look good. Our ancestral home is beginning to crumble.”

Both Guardians had to pick their jaws up off the floor.

“Y... Your Majesty...” Gemini asked weakly. “Does this mean that... the Hive will collapse?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“But there must be something that can be done!” Pyralis exclaimed frantically, now beginning to pace the room himself. “I’ll get the drones to double their efforts to hold up the roof! This is our home. I’ve been trained to defend it at all costs, and that’s exactly what I’ll do!”

Arania smiled at her subject’s fervour. “Your spirit is admirable, Pyralis, but there is simply nothing that can be done to stop the collapse.”

“If that’s the case,” Gemini spoke up, “then why are we still reinforcing the ceiling?”

The Hive Queen stopped pacing. “The fortifications won’t hold,” she explained, “but they will buy us time. I have decided that it is time to order the colony to evacuate.”

“Abandon the Hive? But this is our home! Where will we live?” Pyralis asked incredulously.

“Deep breaths, Pyralis... Breathe in... Breathe out... In... Out... Better?”

“Yeah, thanks Gemini... So, um, where will we live, Your Majesty?”

“That’s why you are here.” Queen Arania’s horn lit up as she levitated a pony-drawn map onto the table and unfurled it. “A short time ago, I have sensed a large flux of positive emotion from about... here,” she said, indicating a point on the map a good distance north from their location. “The amount of love there should be able to keep the colony fed. Your mission is to scout the area as a possible site for a new Hive.”

Pyralis examined the map. “I don’t believe any of our scouts have gone that far north, Your Majesty. That’s uncharted territory for us. But... I never back away from a challenge.”

“I’m ready to move too,” Gemini piped up. “We’ll be going then...”

“Not yet,” said Arania. “There’s something else.”

She used her magic to pull aside a curtain covering an opening in the wall. Behind it was a changeling cocoon. Through the translucent shell, one could see a creature curled into a fetal position with its eyes closed, halfway between a grub and an adult changeling in appearance: a changeling pupa.

“Have you met my daughter, Princess Elytron?” asked the Queen.

Gemini nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty, I believe I’ve had that honour before.”

“I have now, Your Majesty,” said Pyralis.

“Very well, Gemini,” said Arania, turning to the changeling in question, “you must know of her... fascination with the upper world?”

“Too well,” Gemini sighed. He had never seen another larva that could jabber on for so long about surface-dwellers.

“Then it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, before her pupation, she expressed a desire to venture outside of the Hive – mingle with some surface-dwellers, if you will – and lately, I’ve been contemplating whether to humour her.” The Hive Queen had begun pacing again.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty,” Pyralis interrupted, “but I personally don’t see why any changeling would take interest in prey.” Pyralis had seen enough ponies (mainly ones inside cocoons) to mark them as inferior creatures. After all, every changeling had wings and could channel magic through their horns, some better than others, while ponies only had one or the other. Or neither. He also noticed that they lacked the protective carapaces that all changelings possessed, instead having a layer of fine bristles called “fur,” and just by looking, he could tell that fur only provided very limited protection. It was little wonder to Pyralis why ponies were the prey and changelings were the predator.

Arania stopped in her tracks. “Your opinion is respected, Pyralis,” she replied with a shrug, “but the Crown Princess clearly does not share your opinion on our primary food source.”

“If I may say something, Your Majesty?” began Gemini.

“Speak.”

“I think – and this is just my opinion – that some fresh air would do her a lot of good. Maybe she’ll get the chance to try that little experiment of hers.” Gemini and Arania exchanged a significant glance, which did not go unnoticed by Pyralis.

“Um, am I missing something?” he asked Gemini.

“You’ll find out later,” came the nonchalant reply.

“I suppose you’re right, Gemini. After all, we’ll all be leaving shortly anyway.” Arania nodded. “Very well. You will be taking Crown Princess Elytron with you on your expedition... and I take it that Anopheles will be coming along as well?”

Pyralis opened his mouth to reply, but Gemini beat him to the punch. “I suppose so, Your Majesty. She’ll find out about this conversation from Pyralis sooner or later anyway.”

“Probably sooner,” said Pyralis with a dejected sigh.

The Hive Queen gave a slight smile, which quickly faded as her voice became authoritative, as it always did when giving a royal command. “Then you, Hive Guardian Pyralis, and you, Hive Guardian Gemini, along with Taskmaster Anopheles and Crown Princess Elytron, are tasked with the scouting mission to reconnoiter a possible location for a new Hive. I have spoken!”

Both changelings bowed to their Queen. The command was now set in stone; going back was no longer an option.

“Hive Guardian Pyralis hears and obeys.”

“Hive Guardian Gemini shall not let down the Hive.”

“Good. Rise.” The two Hive Guardians raised their heads. “Now, fetch Anopheles. I will go over this with her as well.”

The two Guardians turned to leave, but before reaching the door, Pyralis turned around, the question that had long been bugging him resurfacing. “One last question, Your Majesty: of all the Hive Guardians, why me?”

Arania smiled again. “I would have thought that after taking care of a dozen Diamond Dogs single-hoofed, a simple scouting mission would be no problem at all.”

Gemini grinned. “Told you so.”

Comments

[SomeRandomMinion]

Looks good so far, keep it up!
Pyralis sounds like quite the badass, and I can already tell Elytron is going to be adorable.

Can't wait to see how this merry troop takes to the surface world (and finding out that that "burst of positive emotion" was responsible for the en masse pwnage of another swarm of Changelings. Let's see how "inferior" ponies seem then; eh, Pryalis? )