//------------------------------// // 26 - Troubling News // Story: Change: Queen of The Hive // by tom117z //------------------------------// Ponyville The earliest of the day’s light began to creep over the horizon, indicating that a new day had begun. Spike was already wide awake, by now being used to early starts given Twilight’s busy royal schedule. He was observing Ponyville from the clock tower as still as a stone gargoyle, his draconic eyes patiently examining the slowing stirring town. There was no sign of trouble, no immediate danger, but the previous day had been far from uneventful. The few changelings in the town had all simultaneously been subjected to a severe shock of pain, followed by panic as they all came to one terrible conclusion, a conclusion that told them their hive mind was gone. The staff over at Ponyville’s hospital had given them all a clean bill of health, physically there was nothing wrong with them. After all, the hive mind was a mental feature and doesn’t tend to correlate with the body. And yet Spike knew that would change if they remained without the hive mind. Having lost such a crucial part of themselves, their bodies would slowly begin to fail, before dying an extremely unpleasant death. That death would still take years to occur, but the effects would be ever present, and only getting worse by the day. But there was nothing Spike could do, and that only served to aggravate the dragon. He puffed some super-heated steam from his nostrils, glancing back over to the distant golden oak. While he wouldn’t have minded staying at his old home, it still wasn’t his home any longer. Thus, he had been staying at the local hotel along with the changeling visitors. His friends had of course offered him the chance to stay with them individually, but he couldn’t impose himself. Unless it was Rarity perhaps, but she wasn’t there. Spike shook his head as he chastised himself. ‘No Spike, let’s not go there…’ “Spike? What ya’ll doing up there?” a country accent indicated that Applejack was at the bottom of the tower. Spike looked down towards the orange pony. “Applejack? You’re up this early?” “Shucks Spike, you know I’ve always been an early riser,” Applejack pointed out. “What about you?” “I’m used to it with Twilight’s schedule,” he replied. “I couldn’t sleep anyway, I needed somewhere to think.” “Well, could you think down here?” Applejack shouted back up at him. “It’s a little annoying talking like this.” Spike had to concede her point, and thus opened up his wings and simply glided down to a controlled landing next to the earth pony. The apple farmer gave him an appreciative nod, but wasn’t planning on holding back any punches. “I know you are worried about Twi, Spike.” “As blunt as ever,” Spike muttered. “It seems I am right then?” “Ya think?” he snidely responded. “She’s gone, I have no idea what is going on with her, and I haven’t received a letter from her addressing why every single one of our… her drones have suddenly disconnected from the hive with no warning. I’m one of the Queen’s closest confidants. Hay, she practically raised me! And here I am, useless.” “How do you think the rest of us are feeling?” Applejack responded. “We just need Rarity here is all, then the work can begin.” “We can’t exactly go rushing in to save the day,” Spike stated. “We don’t have the faintest clue what’s going on.” “Since when has that stopped us?” “You sound like Rainbow.” Applejack chuckled. “We’ve all rubbed off on each other in one way or another I guess. But it would be nice to have some good honest information about what the hay is happening. What about the princesses?” “I might send a message in a while, if we still hear no word from anypony,” Spike said, his stomach suddenly rumbling a moment later. “Though I could use some breakfast.” “Big Macintosh is still making breakfast, Apple Bloom is helping. You should join us.” “He’s doing breakfast, huh?” “Granny Smith taught us all a thing or too,” Applejack responded, if a bit sadly at the memories. “Rest her soul.” Spike gave her an apologetic smile. “Yeah. I’d be glad to join you.” “Great! There’s plenty to go around!” “I’m sure,” he stated. “Afterwards, we should collect the others and check up on our changeling friends.” “Yeah,” Applejack agreed. “Celestia knows how rough their night has been.” Spike hummed in agreement, but then smirked evilly. “Rougher than sleeping in an apple barn in a rogue rainstorm?” Applejack glared. “Countryisms are my thing, don’t steal them!” “Would I do that?” “Don’t bullshit the living bullshit detector.” “You’re overselling yourself,” Spike retorted. “I’m still pretty good,” Applejack maintained. “Uh-huh,” Spike simply replied, deliberately acting unimpressed. “I could rescind the breakfast offer.” “Would you?” “Well, no…” she replied honestly. “Unless ya’ll really pushed me.” “I won’t go too far then,” Spike jokingly assured. “So… about that breakfast?” Canterlot Celestia had been up all night, the hospital was filled with changelings kept overnight for observation and rest. She didn’t know how others around Equestria were dealing with the situation, but in Canterlot the princesses were taking no chances. It had started the previous day, where Celestia and Luna had been visiting the embassy to see if there were any updates from Twilight on what she and the council had potentially already discussed. The Ambassador had only just informed them that nothing had come out from the council, when all of the changeling suddenly befell the same ailment. After raising the morning sun she went and stood in the now eerily empty changeling embassy, staring out the window in the changeling ambassador’s own office. Documents were spread around the changeling’s desk, Celestia having hastily browsed through to find anything that could be of help. Of course she had the Ambassador’s permission since the embassy was technically part of the Equestrian Hive, even if he had been less than lucid at the time. It was for nought, as the information held in those documents shed no more light than what she already knew. Celestia sighed. The view of the world beyond the window seemed… peaceful. Normal, even. That was wrong. How could her ponies always be so oblivious to the coming storms on the horizon? Though, perhaps that was for the best. The things she had seen in her long life, the knowledge she held, not everypony could handle that. There were a special few who could, like those deemed worthy by the Tree of Harmony to wield its elements. Though, she feared another wakeup call might have been on the horizon for the rest of the populace. Celestia turned to leave the office, there was no use ruminating in there any longer. She moved through the nearly abandoned embassy until she reached the main entrance, where only a few pony guards were now on duty. Then, of course, there was also the other alicorn waiting for her elder sister. “Did you find anything?” Luna enquired. “No, nothing of use,” Celestia grimly replied. “Any word on the Ambassador and the other changelings in Canterlot?” “Recovering from their shock, reports indicate they are being discharged and should return soon,” Luna explained. “No change in their hive mind.” “So, Twilight’s still gone?” Luna looked apologetically at her sister. “I’m afraid so.” Celestia resisted a groan. She had hoped to hear something, anything, from Twilight by that point. Nothing came through. There was the obvious conclusion sitting above them like a bothersome storm cloud that had slipped through the weather pegasi, but it was one she simply didn’t want to accept. Luna, however, decided to ignite that storm cloud. “Sister, I think it’s time to accept the very real possibility that Twilight and the other queens have fallen victim to the same affliction as Queen Draco.” “No, she’s too clever for that,” Celestia dismissed stubbornly. “She’d think of a way if something went wrong.” “She did,” Luna sternly stated. “She saved as many as she could, even if she could not save herself.” Celestia looked away from her sister in anguish, her regal mask faltering. “It’s my fault. I knew there was something wrong with her, I knew it when she bypassed us on her return from Draco’s hive. I let her go with far too little resistance.” “She had already left, you couldn’t have stopped her.” “I could have tried!” Celestia snapped. Luna sighed. “Sometimes our trust in others can compromise our own decision making. We trusted in Twilight too much.” “And what’s that meant to mean? Does she not deserve out trust? After everything my little filly has done for us all?” “She’s no longer a ‘little filly’, Tia,” Luna reminded her. “And that is not what I meant. All I meant to say was that we were too quick to let her go off believing she had it handled. She shouldn’t have had to do this alone.” Celestia bit her lower lip, closing her eyes. “Even now I fail the ones I love. Have I learnt nothing?” “Tia…” Luna muttered, draping a wing over her upset sister. “The blame lies with all of us, but we cannot ruminate on it. What we must do is find a way to help her, for it appears that she is the one that needs saving for a change.” “But it wouldn’t be the first time,” Celestia retorted, images of the faux Broad Sword’s poison coated dagger filling her mind. “I’m meant to protect her. I’ve sent her into enough danger in the past as it is, I can’t let her be harmed.” “She is a Changeling Queen, she makes her own path and you can’t always be there,” Luna stated. “If Queen Chrysalis were still alive she would be ready to carve a bloody path to save her child. And I know your love is strong enough that you’d do the same.” A few moments passed them by, Celestia taking several deep breaths to calm herself. She knew her sister was right about everything, she just had to vent to somepony. But now she had vented, and her conviction returned, little could stop her and keep her away from Twilight Sparkle. “Then we must prepare,” Celestia suddenly commanded, walking out from under Luna’s wing. “Word from the Equestrian Hive?” “None thus far. What of the Element Bearers?” “Without Twilight their power is useless,” Celestia noted. “Keep them all where they are now, facing the swarm on their own would only lead to their deaths. Unless the situation changes, that is how things must be.” “I’ll see to it.” Ponyville “No change?” “Nothing,” Spike responded, he and the four ponies sitting in Ponyville’s park. “Damn,” Applejack said. “Guess this is really happening, huh?” “Things are going downhill fast,” Rainbow Dash stated. “They have to call us up to Canterlot soon!” “There could be a lot of reasons why Twilight did what she did…” Fluttershy suggested. “We shouldn’t jump to the worst conclusion.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. That’s what you learn as a bolt.” “This is a real bummer,” Pinkie stated unenthusiastically. “I’ll have to throw a really big party once all this is over just to make up for it.” “Celestia knows we could use it,” Rainbow muttered. “We still have to wait for Rarity to arrive,” Spike reminded them. “But with Soronis and Puellula…” “She’s going to have her hands full,” Fluttershy finished for him. “Those poor, poor changelings. I feel so bad for them, imagine how scared they’re feeling.” “And it’s the second time for Soronis and Puellula,” Spike grimly noted. “I hope Rarity can help them. I don’t think-” Spike stopped mid-sentence as he gagged momentarily, before a scroll burst forth from a torrent of flame. “Urg… I still hate that spell, by the way,” Spike moaned, rubbing his throat. “Super uncomfortable, a bit like throwing up to be honest.” “Lovely image, thanks Spike,” Rainbow snarked. “What does it say?” Fluttershy asked, peaking at the scroll. Spike picked up the letter and opened it, a frown descending onto his face as he read the contents of the message. “That bad, huh?” Pinkie asked, noting his frown. “Yeah… Princess Celestia and Princess Luna want us to stay here.” “What!?” all the mares shouted in shock. “Are you kidding me, I can’t stay here while there’s a war brewing!” Rainbow Dash angrily exclaimed. “I’m a wonderbolt! Elite EUP pegasi squad, hello!? I should be with them if I can’t be with you girls!” “They mean all of us, Rainbow,” Spike sternly stated. “Since the elements are useless without Twilight, they want you all specifically to lay low unless things change.” Rainbow Dash was not happy. “Drat!” The others had similar sentiment, but there was not much they could do about it. Applejack sighed. “I suppose we’d be no help getting ourselves killed, now would we?” “We just have to be patient,” Fluttershy said. Spike hummed in half-hearted agreement. “I’ll send another message to Rarity, let her know to stay put in Manehatten for now. At least that’ll give her more time to help out Soronis and Puellula.” “This still doesn’t sit right with me,” Rainbow Dash argued. “We’ve always stood with the egghead during times like this; Nightmare Moon and Discord, then there was Sombra and Tirek, and then we all even had roles in the battle that took place in this very town! You girls helped keep the ponies of this town safe, and both me and Spike actually fought in it!” “We might yet,” Spike replied. “But… if it is the worst case scenario then when we next see Twilight she may not be standing with us…”