//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Kept in Reserve // Story: Back to the Swarm // by PointlessGizmo //------------------------------// The dumbfounded Leech attempted to find the right words to sum up his feelings on this revelation. But he couldn't - he simply could not believe that after making an effort to fail, he'd somehow still ended up being given this special task. He didn't want to do any tasks, special or otherwise! He just wanted to go home - or rather, his real home, back at the wagon. Attempting to articulate his disbelief, Leech simply stood in front of the Queen making stuttering, unintelligable sounds. "Queen...bu-but....you........Leech means, he.....no.....uh?" he rambled, the shock rendering his mind unable to string together a cohesive thought on his situation. Queen Chrysalis simply laughed. "Oh yes indeed, 1017 - you are definitely the kind of changeling I am looking for. You see, I have created a special squadron whose sole purpose is to create Necrosia. You may already have noticed the above-average amounts of it already present in the hive, thanks to this squadron's valiant efforts. Now you, 1017, will have the honor of serving me in the N.R." she explained. "N.R.?" asked Leech, his voice returning. "What doezz that mean?" "It means," interjected Switcher, "Necrosia Reserve. That is the name of the new squadron." His eyes then looked to Queen Chrysalis, who gave him a harsh glare for interrupting her speech. He immediately looked at the floor and shuffled his front hooves. Chrysalis turned her attention back to Leech. "As my General says, you are to be a part of the Necrosia Reserve. Necrosia is absolutely vital for my new invasion plan for Canterlot and beyond - so those who are part of this squadron should consider it an honor to serve me in this way!" she said grandly, turning her nose upward. "But... izz Chryzzalizz not worried Leech mezz up like Leech mezz everything elzze up?" enquired Leech, shakily. "Ha! I think this job is one even you could not fail at! In fact, your previous failings make you more suited for this job than most other changelings!" replied Chrysalis, with more than a hint of menace to her voice. She turned to face General Switcher. "General! You and the guards take 1017 to the Necrosia Reserve headquarters, then return to me. I have another aspect of the invasion plan that I wish to consult all my Generals on." she ordered. General Switcher nodded to Chrysalis, then pointed to Leech. "Guards, grab that idiot and follow me!" he barked, before turning and flying out of the Royal Chamber. The two sentry drones dutifully grasped Leech using the aura from their horns then took off, with one either side of Leech, in pursuit of Switcher. As Leech floated helplessly between the two guards, he shouted back to Chrysalis. "But Leech doezz not want to go to rezzerve.....!" he yelled, his voice trailing off as he became more distant. Chrysalis did not notice the little changeling's plea, and most likely would not have cared if she had. She nonchalantly strode through another of the chamber's exits to work on another phase of her invasion plan. ---------- Switcher, Leech and the guards flew seemingly for hours, through a maze of hive tunnels. They passed through various chambers where the remaining drones worked, then out of the hive and back into the cliffs. Leech deduced that this was a different cave than before - this cave was far damper and mossier than the storage cave, and had many smaller dead-end caves branching off the central one. It must have been towards the top of the cliff face, as it was dimly lit by natural light coming through cracks in the ceiling. He could see that the majority of the dead-end caves had a translucent blue-green webbing material over the entrances, although most were empty. To Leech, it seemed more like a prison than a squadron headquarters. Presently, the four touched down at the entrance to one of the smaller caves. General Switcher's horn glowed, and an opening appeared in the webbing material covering the mouth of the cave that stood before them. Switcher walked around behind Leech and gave him a brutal shove, sending Leech stumbling through the opening and into the waiting cave. His horn then ceased to glow, and the opening closed up, leaving no way out. "Wait here, maggot!" sneered Switcher. "You'll be called up when it's your turn to help with production." With this, he and the guards took flight once more and left the cave, Leech watched them through a gap in the webbing and began muttering to himself. "Wait here." he buzzed bitterly, attempting to mock Switcher's voice. "Azz if Leech hazz choice, cave hazz no exit!" ---------- He turned around and surveyed what, if anything, he was sharing the cave with. Narrowing his eyes in the dim light, he noticed five changelings laying in various places around the cave. To Leech's surprise, they were all of moderate to high rank. There was an Espionage drone, three Scout drones and a Siege drone. Leech looked closer, and noticed all of them were sporting injuries of some kind, mostly severe. All had at least one leg held at an unnatural angle, the Siege drone's horn was broken and two of the Scouts also sported torn wings. He approached the Espionage drone, as it was the closest to him, and tried to strike up a conversation. "Zzso... been here long?" he asked, attempting to break the ice. "It is beneath me to speak with you, laborer!" sniffed the superior drone haughtily. "Yeesh." remarked Leech. "Tough room." His attempts at conversing with his other four roommates were met with similar disdain. All simply lay still with their heads held high and their eyes closed. Leech slumped near the mouth of the cave and wondered what to do. Being part of the Necrosia Reserve seemed a pretty boring job, there was nothing to help pass the time! Leech gazed through the webbing into the main cave, but saw no activity other than occasional drips of water from the ceiling. As his mind began to wander, he wondered if he could make an opening in the webbing the same way that General Switcher did. His horn glowed, and Leech concentrated his hardest, but sadly to no avail. The webbing remained as solid and secure as ever. His attempt at creating an opening had however produced some sniggering from the back of the cave. "That webbing will only part for a General!" laughed one of the Scout drones. "A useless hatchling like you can't make an opening! And why would you want to anyway? Necrosia duty is the absolute highest honor a changeling can have!" The other high-ranked drones muttered in agreement. "But if izz zzsuch an honor, why webbing needed?" asked Leech, believing himself to be making a valid point. However, more mocking laughter met this question. "The web is necessary to contain little fools like you who do not appreciate the magnificent honor that has been bestowed upon them!" hissed the Siege drone fiercely. More muttering from all five drones followed this. Leech couldn't make it all out, although he did pick out several insults aimed in his direction. "ZZStill" thought Leech. "At leazzt zzsnobby dronezz talk to Leech now!" With this in mind, and nothing better to do, he began telling the other drones stories of his and Trixie's exploits. Leech thought that he could perhaps win them over and get them to open up a little bit. However, after several hours, Leech's unwilling audience were gritting their teeth, and the ones with intact front legs were attempting to cover their ears. "And...and thizz izz bezzt part..." giggled Leech, telling yet another story. "Trixzzie dropped the combuzztible lemonzz she wazz juggling and one rolled under the Griffin King'zz throne! Then it exzzploded, and zzent him 20 feet in the air! Trixie and Leech get chaszzed out of Griffin Kingdom after that!" he finished, in fits of laughter. ---------- Leech's hysterics were interrupted by General Switcher entering the cave through an opening he had made in the webbing. Several Sentry drones followed behind him. These were different to the guard drones that had accompanied him before. They possessed vacant, cold eyes set into expressionless and emotionless faces. "Alright." he said gruffly. "You five are up next." he nodded towards the five higher-ranked drones. To his surprise, they all immediately got to their hooves, despite the multitude of broken legs, and began to walk towards him. "Yes!" "Please, let's go!" "Anything's better than staying here with him!" "I'm ready!" "Get us out of here!" The drones were desperate to not spend another minute listening to Leech's stories of his life outside the hive, and willingly followed Switcher and the guards as they exited the side cave and walked deeper into the main cave. As the party of changelings departed, Switcher stopped and looked back at Leech. "Don't get too comfortable, 1017." he said, sealing up the webbing once again. "You're up next!" Leech once again sat down and let out a long sigh. The superior drones hadn't been very good company, but at least they'd been some company. It had been months since he was last alone - Leech was really missing Trixie by this stage, and longed to return to his life of travelling. He began to make plans of how he could foul his Necrosia production job up, when a sound interrupted his thoughts. "Pssst!" Leech looked around, but couldn't see where the sound had come from. He could have sworn it sounded like a changeling voice. The "Psssst" came again, this time louder, and almost sounding desperate. Leech had been able to get a better idea of where the sound had come from this time, and walked over to the webbing. He peered through a gap and noticed an elite-ranked changeling in the cave opposite him. He had a much bigger body than most of the other drones, with ornately carved off-white armor upon his head, shins and thorax. "Psssst! Over here!" called the voice once more. "High General Clone!" gasped Leech. He began to think the Necrosia Reserve really was a high honor, if he was sharing duty with changelings of such rank! Leech noticed that Clone's horn was broken, and appeared to have been for some time. "What happened to High General'zz horn?" asked Leech from across the cave. "General Switcher happened, that's what!" snarled Clone. "He and his goons broke my horn, and then had me assigned to the N.R. for being a 'traitor'. My only crime was investigating an issue of great importance to the swarm! Switcher and Chrysalis, they're the only traitors around here!" he spat, bitterness dripping from his every word. "What did High General do to dezzerve that? And why High General so upzzet about being in N.R., Leech hazz been told thizz izz great honor!" asked Leech, confused. "Being in the N.R. is no honor!" began Clone, urgently. "It's..." "Silence, usurper!" bellowed General Switcher, returning from the deeper part of the cave. He opened the webbing at the front of Leech's cave, strode inside and levitated Leech in his magic aura. "Come on, 1017. Your turn to help make some Necrosia." he said darkly. "Let him go!" yelled Clone, making a futile attempt to push through the webbing. Alas, the thick, rubbery substance held firm against his efforts. "Don't worry, High General." said Switcher, mockingly. "You'll get your turn soon enough." With this, he marched deeper into the cave, with Leech in tow. ---------- After a short walk, Switcher took Leech into a much larger side cave, once again illuminated with lamps that burnt with a distinctive green flame. In the center of the cave was a large Necrosia pod, much bigger than the ones he had seen back at the hive. This particular pod had an open top, and was filled with a thick, almost colorless, green tinted fluid. Next to it were a multitude of regular sized, but empty, Necrosia pods. Leech wondered what it could all be about, as Switcher set him down next to the large pod. "Where are other dronezz?" asked Leech. "Let's just say they're doing their bit for their Queen as we speak." Switcher replied with a wicked grin. Something about his tone made Leech feel even uneasier. Leech's breathing quickened, and his eyes began to dart around the room to see if he could get an idea of what he'd be doing as part of this special job, but couldn't see anything else apart from the pods he'd seen on the way in. He didn't want to continue any conversation with the General, he just wanted to get on with his job so he could get out of the hive. "ZZSo, what will Leech be doing?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly. "You'll be assisting me in adding the secret ingredient to the Necrosia" replied Switcher. He pointed to the large pod. "This fluid here is called Necrosia Base. It's produced by certain members of the hive, but is almost useless on its own. It needs an active ingredient before it can be used properly." "Where izz ingredient..?" asked Leech, even more nervously, unable to see anything in the room that could possibly be used as an ingredient. Switcher laughed a hearty laugh, and put a mock-friendly hoof around Leech's withers. "Oh my Chrysalis, 1017... you still don't get it, do you?" he said between chuckles. "You weren't being tested for your usefulness yesterday, we were making sure you were useless enough to spare for this job!" "Tezzted for uzzelezzness?" thought Leech, the last part not sitting well with his tendency to buzz. But why would... Leech suddenly felt his blood run cold, as his slow wits finally put the pieces together. Things he had seen and heard during the last 36 hours flashed through his mind... ...Far fewer drones than usual working on the storage chambers... this meant that injured drones hadn't been going back into service.... ...All the other changelings in the N.R. holding area were either severely injured or supposed traitors... in other words, useless to the hive... ...Leech had been tested, and was also deemed useless... ...Necrosia supposedly contained changeling essence... lots of it was present in the hive... and there were fewer changelings... No! It couldn't be! "It's just common sense!" continued Switcher. "Making the useless useful! We started with the injured, but we worked out that they wouldn't be sufficient for the plan. That's when we started tracking down the deserters, the mutants and then... the incompetent!" he grinned, looking Leech straight in the eye on the last word. Leech cried out as Switcher's aura surrounded him, and lifted him into the air. He was unceremoniously deposited into the pod filled with Necrosia Base, and the General's magic sealed the top. Leech looked on in horror as the General's horn glowed brighter and its power began to engulf the entire pod. Leech felt the surface of his exoskeleton begin to tingle, as he thrashed around uselessly in the gel-like fluid. "So to answer your question, 1017" laughed Switcher, "The active ingredient..." "... is YOU!"