The infirmary of Queen Draco’s hive had been just as empty as the rest of it, but it was now bustling with activity as the group of eight ponies and changelings, plus a single dragon, had set themselves up. One of the changelings and one of the ponies respectively were seeing to Captain Vladimir’s wound as the others scavenged what other medical supplies they could from the abandoned infirmary. Part way through the search, Shining Armor beckoned Captain Broad Sword and Spike over to one corner while the others continued on, speaking to them both in a hushed tone.
“Twilight has been gone a while, hasn’t she?”
“The changelings haven’t mentioned that anything is up,” Spike noted. “They would mention it.”
“Do they trust us?” Shining asked.
“Shining, do you really need to ask that?” Spike rebutted. “I live with them, and you’re the Queen’s brother. Yeah, they trust us. You would know if they didn’t.”
“Sorry,” Shining apologised sheepishly. “I’m just getting a little nervous. This whole place is giving me the creeps.”
“It all seems pretty empty,” Broad Sword stated. “But I get what you mean. This place is… unsettling. Doesn’t help knowing the something went down here, but not knowing exactly what.”
“I think I’m getting an idea,” the Queen of the Equestrian Hive declared as she entered the infirmary, her features grim. “What happened to all these changelings, it was caused by a third party.”
“Twilight?” Shining called out on seeing his sister. “What happened? Where did you go?”
“I had to investigate what Draco discovered,” she stated in reply. “It’s empty now, but what was there definitely is related to all of this.”
“You went alone!? What happened to not splitting up?”
“Shush,” Twilight said with a slight smirk. “How is Vladimir?”
“He’s fine, my Queen,” the changeling seeing to the thestral reported. “We changed his bandages and used some of what the doctors left around, which was pretty much everything.”
“I can speak for myself, thank you,” Vladimir stated. “I could be better, but it beats how I felt this morning. I can manage.”
Twilight nodded. “Good, because we need to leave, and soon.”
“Leave!?” Broad Sword blurted out. “What about the investigation?”
“I think we’ve found everything we are going find already, unless the hive itself shows up,” she responded. “Draco’s note indicated some female outside force invaded their hive mind and forcibly enslaved all of them.”
“Enslaved?” the three changeling drones all said, glancing between each other nervously. “My Queen, what do you mean?”
Twilight grimaced. “My friend has been resisting, and in a brief moment of freedom she described her suffering in a hastily scribbled note. She also mentioned something was attached to her chest, and she couldn’t remove it.”
“And what does that mean, exactly?”
“Whatever Draco discovered in that ruin is what has attached itself to her, and I believe it’s through this object that some mysterious individual filled with ill intent has been taking over the hive minds of several Changeling Queens. Who this person is I do not know, but I don’t think those answers will be found within these empty halls.”
“So what exactly is out next move?” Shining Armor asked.
“I need to report what we’ve discovered to the council first of all. After that, our target should be Queen Draco herself. That’s where the answers that we seek shall be found. That, and getting that thing off of her chest.”
“Do you know if that would actually work?”
“No,” she grimly responded. “But it’s our only lead thus far. We have to act on it.”
“It’s a plan,” Vladimir stated. “We don’t have a better one, so I’m all for it.”
“It’s going to be getting dark soon,” Broad Sword pointed out. “We going to be travelling in the dark or are we going to be staying here for the night. To be honest, I’m not sure I like the idea of traversing that forest in pitch black conditions.”
“I agree,” Twilight said. “We cannot risk travelling at night, so we shall remain near the hive.”
“Near? Not in it?”
“We’re too enclosed here,” the Queen noted. “We could all too easily be trapped if something were to get the jump on us while we slept, even with a watch. It would be better to make camp on the surface where we can see everything around us. That would allow us to both fight more effectively and flee if necessary.”
“Fair enough,” Shining said. “We’ll take turns taking watch, like last night.”
With agreement to Shining Armor’s statement, the group left the infirmary with as much medical supplies as they could feasibly carry and began their journey to quickly exit the hive. Doing so was about as eventless as their entrance to the hive was, even if one of the drones did jump at his own shadow at one point. When they finally returned to the embrace of the comforting open sky, the last few embers of the day’s fiery sun were just slipping below the horizon and the night was beginning to make its presence known once again. The shadows of the mountains ominously bore down upon them, only increasing the unease amongst the group. As they created a bright fire some of those shadows retracted, which helped a little, but not a lot. Broad Sword and one of his ponies took the first watch, though it wasn’t like the others got much sleep themselves. The sole exception to this was Spike, who blinked out like a light the moment his eyes closed.
They stayed close to the fire to keep away the coming cold, which was one disadvantage of choosing to remain outside the hive. Still, they could see the surrounding area decently enough, even with the night in full effect; though the glow of their horns helped when necessary. For several hours the group slept as much as they could, swapping the watch out every two. It was still completely dark as the early morning came, and at this point it was Vladimir and Queen Twilight Sparkle herself on watch. They sat in silence for the most part, at least until the Captain of the Lunar Guard broke that silence.
“So, any idea?” Vladimir asked.
Twilight glanced at the thestral. “Idea?”
“Do you have any idea as to who could have done this?” he clarified. “The power to overpower a Changeling Queen within her own hive mind… that is no small task; the power required for such a thing must be phenomenal.”
Twilight sighed. “You’re right, whoever has done this is most definitely a being of great power. But even then, taking over a hive mind with such ease? There should have been more resistance than this, and then there’s the amount of hives that have fallen under this individual’s control. It shouldn’t be possible…”
“I feel an ‘unless’ coming on.”
The Queen nodded. “Unless, that individual has much knowledge and experience with changeling hive minds, very intimate knowledge. Such knowledge can only be known to a changeling.”
Vladimir blinked. “A changeling? You believe a changeling is behind this? But it is changelings going missing, every single Changeling Queen unaccounted for has fallen victim to this and the rest are at the Council Hive. I mean, could a drone do this?”
“Possible, but highly unlikely. If a drone trained himself enough in dark magic like King Sombra, but no Changeling Queens have any such drones under their command. And then if a drone without a hive tries to go it alone, it would be difficult. As if they had lost a vital organ, without a hive they would begin to fail over time. Soronis and Puellula, for example, suffered during their time alone. For a drone to be able to survive learning such dark magic with no hive is… well, near impossible.”
“Near impossible, but not completely?”
“If such an individual existed, we’d know,” Twilight rebutted. “No, this isn’t some dark magic infused drone. This is… something else, something more. And far more dangerous than some insane stallion or mare.”
“Well, if it can’t be a changeling, or a Changeling Queen even, then what could it be?” Vladimir enquired, concerned.
Twilight looked up at the moon, sitting high in the sky amongst all the twinkling stars with a thoughtful expression on her face, thinking back to a conversation with her mother so very long ago. She had been interested in the Council Hive, and the history of said hive. That conversation led to a discussion of its origin, and the one who dominated over it all around it. It all happened eight years previously, during the last council her mother would ever attend…
Chrysalis took a moment to recollect the old story, but it quickly returned to her.
“It is said long ago, all of our kind was ruled over by a single changeling, a single unifying, and oppressing voice among a single hive mind.”
“A single hive mind ruled by a single individual?” Twilight gasped. “How is that possible? If a drone tried to actively link with an entire hive as we do it would drive them insane. Only queens are able to handle that many voices at once over the Head‐based Internal Vocalisation Egregore, whereas most drones merely are able to sense most in the hive and are only actively able to speak over it to us, those in their class and family! And even we have our limits.”
Her daughter’s information dump over, Chrysalis deadpanned, “Yes Twilight, I am fully aware.”
“I know but, if a queen tried to connect every changeling in existence at once it would tear them apart!”
“This changeling was anything but ordinary.” Chrysalis continued on despite the ramblings of her daughter. “Her power was extraordinary, as was her ruthlessness. She ruled over all changelings with an iron hoof, effectively robbing all, even the queens of their free will. Our kind was completely bound to her will, we couldn’t say no. We couldn’t rebel. In short, we couldn’t truly live.”
Queen Twilight’s mind began to connect the dots, but that couldn’t possibly be the truth, could it? It was just a story, a theory, and one of several surrounding the Council Hive’s origins. But it made too much sense, and yet even then she was killed a little over four thousand years previously, it was impossible.
“There was one, according to legend, who lived a long time ago.”
“Is this the story of Nightmare Moon all over again?” Vladimir quipped. “It is said that there is always a bit of truth in legends.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Twilight responded, a small smile on her face. “It has happened much in my life thus far.”
“So… who is it? The legend?”
“A changeling. A Changeling Queen so powerful she became… something else, the Changeling Empress. It was said she ruled much of the land from what is now the Council Hive, before some queen broke free and killed her.”
“Killed her? Then how…?”
“No clue. It’s likely not the case anyway, but still…”
“Queen Twilight, over there,” Vladimir suddenly stated, quickly rising to his hooves and pointed to some far off shadows.
“What is it?”
“I swore I saw something, but… WATCH OUT!”
Vladimir drew his blade swiftly into a changeling as it rushed the Queen, bisecting the unfortunate drone. The commotion woke up the others, who all scrambled up as many more changelings converged on them from both the ground and sky.
Twilight erected a bright lavender shield around the group just as a large barrage of green magic slammed against its surface, pushing outwards with it and knocking backwards all the changeling closest to it.
“To arms!” Broad Sword shouted, riposting a changeling that charged at him.
The drones seemed to target the ponies, but Twilight provided support to them as their blades clashed and Shining Armor broke the bodies of one group with a wave of his combat magic. Twilight made sure that her companions had suitable protection as the fight continued on, administering mostly shields and healing spells for what minor wounds the hostile changelings managed to admit. Whenever one was injured, in a feral rage they got back up and kept fighting no matter what wounds they received, forcing the group to kill the attackers instead of simply stopping them. Twilight tried not to allow her thoughts to shift to how these, judging by their red armour, were her friend’s own subjects, attacking through a will not of their own. These efforts were not all successful, and it was with a heavy heart that she cut down the red eyed changelings as they came.
Spike snapped his fangs at one changeling as Prince Shining Armor ducked under the sword swing of another, seeing one of his ponies a moment later take a cut to the leg. Shining thrust his sword forwards with his magic, killing the attacking changeling and saving his subordinate; while that had happened he administered a buck to the changeling he had been fighting, knocking them backwards. The changeling fell back and hit his head on a rock, proceeding to spasm on the ground before coming to a stop, the red magic in his eyes dying away to reveal the normal bright blue colouration that changeling drones generally shared.
A couple more tried to get the jump on Shining Armor from behind, but two of Queen Twilight’s own changelings intercepted them and tackled them away. One of the hostile drones was promptly skewered by both of the blue armoured changelings while the other was knocked back into the grasp of a certain dragon, his chitin unable to resist the flames that subsequently consumed him.
As the short lived battle dwindled down two final drones approached from the air, and Queen Twilight caught them in her magic before twisting both their necks to unnatural angles and dropping them to the floor.
The clearing became silent.
“Well then, that was surprisingly easy,” Shining Armor noted, panting slightly.
Two dozen changelings laid dead around them and, thanks to the efforts of the Queen, no fatalities existed among the group. Had the changelings intended on defeating them while a Changeling Queen was present, that had not been the way to go about it.
“That was a test,” Twilight stated. “Drones sent to their deaths to both test our strength and to weaken us if possible.”
“The rest of the hive, and Queen Draco, won’t be far behind then,” Broad Sword said in realisation. “We need to go, now!”
“Weren’t we wanting to find Draco?” Spike asked.
Twilight shook her head. “Not like this, we can’t fight the entire hive in our state. We need to go while we still can.”
A groan caught their attention, and they turned to see the changeling that Shining Armor bucked was still very much alive. However, his eyes had since returned to normal.
“Hello?” Twilight called out, rushing to the changeling’s side and crouching beside him. “What happened here? Who are you?”
The drone coughed, blood being spit up as he began to violently convulse. Acting quickly, Twilight placed some healing charms upon him, but she could tell he was already too far gone. At least she could ease his suffering, and perhaps get some information.
As the convulsions died down, he took a few moments to catch his breath, studying the group of ten.
“She… wants you…” he finally spoke.
“She?” Twilight enquired. “Tell me, who do you speak of?”
The changeling seemed to struggle with his thoughts, his eyes squinting and an extremely pained expression crossing his features. Twilight did her best to help with her magic, but he was failing fast. Several times the drone attempted to form an answer to the Queen’s query, but only after several attempts could he force himself to speak with his final breaths.
“The demon…” the drone muttered, the convulsing starting up again. “The she-demon, she took them all! My family, the Queen… You need to run! You can’t stop… stop…”
The drone went limp, his eyes becoming glassy as he looked to the sky lifelessly.
The group all shared glances, the drone’s final words sending chills down their spines. Queen Twilight just stared at the body, her fury rising, but at the same time so did her worry. Along with this, back in Canterlot the Princess of the Sun began to raise her majestic orb into the sky, allowing the first rays of the dawn to illuminate the area.
And the buzzing of distant wings too became apparent.
The group all turned to the mountains at their backs, and it was there that they spied a black cloud of many, many changeling drones bearing down upon them. It was no force to test their power, to scout for weaknesses like the one that had just attacked them. Twilight Sparkle, seeing the incoming swarm with horror filled eyes, knew this was not a winnable fight coming their way. This one was going to be decisive, intent on killing the ponies and the dragon while taking the changelings for their growing army. It was, in fact, the entire hive of Queen Draco.
“Run!”