Back to the Swarm

by PointlessGizmo


Chapter 6: Where is Thy Sting?

Trixie paced through the barren and rocky landscape, with the overcast sky hanging moodily overhead and the constant winds buffeting her. She didn't like this place at all, but she felt compelled to find Leech. It had taken her nearly two days to complete the trip, even going as far as to modify her wagon's limbers so that she could pull it properly. She thought about what Leech had told her, and pondered whether he was telling her the full truth.

"Trixie does not understand!" she muttered to herself. "Leech always said how much he hated living in a swarm whenever we talked about his life before Canterlot. Why in the name of Luna would he suddenly decide he needed to go back? Whatever the cause, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall surely find out!"

With this, she strode on, towards a strange-looking cliff in the distance.

It seemed to have some kind of massive, greenish ball attached to the face of it. Little dots were constantly exiting and entering this ball - could this be a changeling hive? Maybe she'd find Leech near there - it was certainly the only clue she'd found in this Celestia-forsaken place. Her curiosity piqued, Trixie quickened her pace towards the strange structure. Her attention was so taken with investigating whatever it was she could see, she hadn't noticed five shapes hovering a hundred or so yards behind her.

Switcher had taken his team above the clouds to avoid being seen, they'd flown right over Trixie and then dropped down behind their target to take her by surprise. Switcher signaled to the Sentries to attack and seize the pony that stood before them, blissfully unaware of the danger she was in. The Sentries saluted, their unusually emotionless faces remaining as harsh and frozen as ever.

"And please," requested Switcher with a slight sneer, "try to take the pony alive. I've yet to test upon a unicorn - I can see these being a problem. Pegasi and Earth ponies weren't an issue, but then they had no innate magic."

Giving no indication of whether they'd understood the order or not, the four drones dived to intercept their target. Trixie heard an unfamiliar buzzing, and wondered if one of her wagon's wheels needed its axle oiling. She stopped, but still the buzz continued. Before she could wonder what it was, four changelings did a low pass over her, causing Trixie to yelp and duck involuntarily. The four sinister shapes doubled back, two going off to the left and two to the right. All four streaked back towards the helpless unicorn, who by now was attempting to undo the harness so that she could ditch the wagon and make a run for it. Alas, in her panicked state, she just couldn't focus her powers sufficiently to release herself.

"No! Get back! Stay away!" she screeched, as the four expressionless drones touched down and surrounded her.

She attempted to back away, but was stopped by the heavy wagon attached behind her.

"Now, now, calm down my dear!" said a smooth voice from behind the wagon, as General Switcher sidled up beside Trixie and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Theres nothing for you to fear, we just need you to come with us for a moment!" he oiled, with an unsettling undertone to his voice.

Trixie was having none of it. She knew straight away that these changelings did not have good intentions. Thinking fast, she was just able to focus her remaining magical energies into a panic teleportation spell. Before the assembled changelings' eyes, she vanished in a bright purple puff of magic, causing the now-empty harness to drop onto the ground.

Trixie rematerialized in an unknown location. She grinned and began to congratulate herself.

"HA! Changelings are no match for Trixie's amazing teleportation powers! I bet I'm a hundred miles from those creeps by now!" she laughed.

She looked around her, but could just see the same old plains and rocks that she'd seen everywhere else during her time in the Badlands. Looking ahead of her, she could see a similar cliff and changeling hive to before. In fact, it seemed to Trixie that they were almost exactly the same as the cliff and hive she'd seen previously. She tapped her hoof on the wooden boards beneath her as she attempted to make sense of it all...



"... wait. Wooden boards?"



Trixie looked down at the roof of her wagon that she'd teleported onto, and began silently cursing herself for not practicing her teleportation spell more. Presently, Switcher rose from the ground and joined Trixie on her rooftop perch.

"Teleportation... impressive!" he approved. "But as a little tip, you may want to work on your range."

He gave a laugh, and then ordered the Sentries to take Trixie back to the hive. Trixie was unable to fight back any further, having exhausted all of her magic, and so had no choice but to go with them.

----------

Back at the valley, Clone and Leech were having no better luck. Clone had called Leech away from guard duty to help decipher the mystery behind the glowing green monolith, but neither had figured anything out. Leech was getting a continuous signal from the smooth, solid block but due to his lack of experience didn't know what it meant. Clone probably could have worked out what the signal was if he still had his horn.

The two slumped against the unknown entity, Clone mentally exhausted from attempting to work out what the object was, and Leech mentally exhausted from having to think about more than one thing at a time. Leech suddenly remembered something from before.

"Clone... remember back in zzscary hive place, Clone uzze Leech's horn to focuzz hizz own powerzz? Why Clone not do that again?" he asked.

High General Clone's eyes widened, and he immediately got to his hooves. He turned to Leech with a smile on his face.

"Leech, why in Equestria didn't I think of that? I must've been so preoccupied trying to work this whole thing out, I missed the simple solution!" he exclaimed.

"Leech izz geniuzz!" buzzed Leech happily, unable to be more wrong if he'd tried.

As before, Leech placed his hoof upon Clone's head, and the elite changeling began to focus his energies through Leech's body and out through his horn. Clone's eyes closed in concentration. Making sense of the signal would still be tricky, as it was weak and he was interpreting it via another changeling's horn. Nevertheless, as Clone focused as intensely as he could, a message eventually began coming through to him...

"Help..." he whispered hoarsely, in the throes of fervent thought.

"What'zz wrong?" asked Leech with alarm. Clone stopped channeling his powers, and removed Leech's hoof from his head.

"Nothing, my friend." responded Clone, recovering his breath. "I was interpreting the signal. It says 'Help'..."

A glowing block in a remote cave that now appeared to be calling for help. Clone and Leech looked at each other in bewilderment - they'd hoped that finding the meaning of the signal would help them. As it was, the mystery made even less sense!

----------

In the hive, Switcher had organized a meeting with Queen Chrysalis and his fellow Generals. The Queen looked on as Switcher addressed the gathering.

"Your royal highness, and my fellow gentlelings." he announced snootily. "Having established a plentiful Necrosia supply with the Queen's ingenious new Necrosia selection criteria, we are now ready to unveil the second phase of our plan to conquer Canterlot once and for all!"

The Generals muttered among themselves for a moment.

"How are we meant to invade now that there are far fewer of us?" asked one. "Even with the Necrosia healing us, we can't withstand a sustained assault with our numbers as they are."

Switcher laughed. "Because, my ignorant comrade, the Necrosia isn't meant for healing. It's meant for converting. Our plan is to forcibly convert the entire population of Canterlot into changelings like us. Not only will it bolster our ranks with new, stronger, more durable troopers, but with the ponies' top brass under our control, the surrounding towns and villages will be easy pickings!"

Many of the Generals present became uneasy at this idea. Some looked towards the Queen who simply smiled and nodded to Switcher to continue. The Generals became less doubtful when they saw the Queen approving - she was their leader after all, and knew what was best for the swarm.

"Having experimented with several 'test subjects', I've deduced that converted ponies can, with sufficient patience, be brought under the direct mental control of a General, thus eliminating the need for mental conditioning." continued Switcher.

He nodded to his private Sentry troop, who stepped forward with the same blank looks as usual.

"These four were once ponies, who I have been... umm... forced... to convert at various points during the last 12 months when they discovered our location. Now, they operate solely under my control. All of you could have the same! Just imagine, your very own troops - troops who never question your judgement, and will perform commands before you've even said them!" he finished.

The Generals chattered among themselves again, some of them not especially fond of this idea. Synthetic changelings had always been a divisive subject among the swarm - even the Queen herself had not been sure of the practice until the failed Canterlot invasion, after which she seemed to be far more keen.

"But Switcher! Converting a pony takes many weeks in a Necrosia cocoon! How will we get the entire population of Canterlot into the hive and into cocoons?" enquired another General.

Switcher smiled. "Simple. We're not. My experiments have proven that it's also possible to convert a pony by implanting a dose of Necrosia directly into them. The process is far quicker, since there's no absorption time, and it means we don't even have to bring them back here to do it!" he explained, his face turning into an increasingly maniacal smirk.

"And how do you plan to do this?" Another voice piped up from the crowd.

"May I present to you the first in a new class of changeling drones..." responded Switcher, "... the Vector drone! A revolutionary hybrid changeling, created merely by immersing a common hornet in Necrosia."

From a corridor, a changeling flew into the room. The Generals gasped - this wasn't like any other changeling drone they'd ever seen before. It had very little armor on its body, possessed dark orange eyes and sepia-hued wings. A row of small, sharp spikes ran down its back, stopping at the beginning of its bulbous abdomen. Perhaps the most striking feature was the long, stiff, needle-like appendage protruding from its back end, where its tail would normally be. Four stubby fangs protruding from its upper jaw completed what would have been a very intimidating picture...

... if the creature had not been roughly the size of a domestic rabbit. Several of the Generals burst into laughter at the tiny drone, as Switcher scowled crossly.

"When you've QUITE finished..." he snarled. "Allow me to demonstrate... you see, being this size, Vector drones are ideal for sneaking into a populated area undetected, administering Necrosia to several targets and then fleeing. When a sufficient number of targets have been affected, ground forces can move in and secure the area." said Switcher proudly.

The Vector drone, which Switcher referred to as 'Vek' for short, simply stood looking up at the Generals, its eyes occasionally blinking at staggered intervals.

"Switcher... is this thing even alive?" asked yet another General.

"Oh yes." replied Switcher "However, I've deliberately limited its development to its base instincts. Due to this, it can be controlled in a similar way to my Sentry drones. Plus, if it had the capacity for decision making, it may catch on to the... morally dubious nature of its mission." he added.

More mutterings greeted this. Many of the Generals present were horrified, but dared not speak up against their Queen and her second-in-command. Switcher grinned at their subtle discomfort and proudly continued.

"But, enough talk. Allow me to demonstrate Vek's abilities to you. Sentries, bring out the test subject!" he ordered.

Two of Switcher's team, with some difficulty, dragged a kicking and bucking Trixie into the room from another corridor, eliciting another round of gasps from all present.

"My Queen, please! This disgusting display has gone too far, and-" began one General.

"SILENCE, FOOL!" came the stern reply from Chrysalis.

"Y-yes, your Highness." replied the General meekly.

The General shrunk back into the crowd, barely able to watch. Many of the others had concerned expressions on their faces.

Vek flew over to a pod of Necrosia resting on the ground by Chrysalis' hooves. He jabbed his stinger into it, and began sucking up the dark green fluid, his own abdomen swelling up like a balloon. When his sac was full, he pulled his stinger out of the pod and flew to Switcher's side, where he hovered. Switcher pointed to Trixie and simply said:

"Convert."

With this, Vek raced towards the struggling unicorn, his stinger poised and ready to strike. Trixie, who had been able to recover some of her power in the intervening time, prepared for another panic teleport. Her horn glowed with a bright aura, causing Switcher to widen his eyes.

"What are you doing?" he asked crossly.

"Like you said earlier..." strained Trixie, "... I'm working on my range!"

With this, Trixie vanished once again in a puff of purple magic, just as Vek reached her. Switcher howled in frustration, as Chrysalis glared and some of the Generals mopped their brows in relief.

----------

In the monolith's cave, Leech and Clone were still no closer to figuring out the monolith, nor the meaning behind its message. They were distracted somewhat by a purple haze materializing directly above them, out of which dropped a rather disheveled Trixie.

After Leech's initial shock at meeting his friend here, Trixie explained to Leech how she'd not believed his reasons for returning to the hive, and had followed him to find the truth. She explained her capture, and everything she'd learned from overhearing Switcher's demonstration - Vek, the plan for Canterlot, and the synthetic changelings. Leech was mortified, not only at Switcher's plans, but at the fact his dishonesty had put Trixie in such deadly danger.

"So Switcher's goons are actually ponies?" snarled Clone, visibly upset at the revelation. "I remember him being asked to deal with four trespassers about a year ago - Chrysalis ordered him to wipe their short term memories and deposit them away from the hive. He did NOT get clearance from myself or Chrysalis to change them like this!"

"Leech remember ZZSwitcher zzsaying he wazz protecting hive at the time." recalled Leech.

"Well he wasn't! And apparently everyone knew about it but myself and the Queen! Why didn't you say anything at the time, Leech?" Clone asked sternly.

"All dronezz azzume Queen gave clearanzze, nobody wanted to question Queen'zz judgement." replied Leech ruefully.

"There was a time many years ago that the technique was used, I admit." continued Clone. "It is a regrettable period in changeling history. But synthetic changeling production has been banned for generations! And yet the Queen has cleared him to convert an entire Pony town?! The world has gone crazy, it's official!" he said, morosely.

Trixie however, hadn't been listening to the debate. She was staring at her left hindleg, a look of sheer horror on her face.

A small puncture wound. Vek had seemingly managed to catch her with a glancing sting as she'd teleported. The fur around the wound was already beginning to darken in color, and take on a chitin-like sheen.

Leech and Clone soon stopped discussing the ins and outs of synthetic changelings when they too noticed the teary-eyed unicorn staring at her injury.

"I..izz...th-that...?" Leech shakily asked as he swallowed at the rising nausea in his throat.

Trixie simply gave a tearful nod.

Clone hung his head sadly, as Leech simply stared at his friend's injury. The usually passive changeling began to tremble, his jaws tensing and pushing together, his hackles raising and his breathing becoming heavier. Trixie blinked the tears from her eyes and took a cautious step back from the wildly enraged Leech.

"ZZSwitcher take Leech away from good life...." he panted, "but Leech can forgive that. ZZSwitcher put Leech in a prizzon. Leech can forgive that. ZZSwitcher try and make goo out of Leech! Leech can even forgive that."

His breathing became even more labored as his anger intensified.

"But ZZSwitcher hurt Trixzzie... LEECH NEVER FORGIVE!!" he shouted, his voice losing its usual high-pitched buzz and degenerating into a throaty roar.

Leech buzzed into the air, and began to dart around the cave in a bezerker frenzy, continuing to roar as he did so.

"ZZSTUPID ZZSWITCHER! ZZSTUPID ME! AND MOZZT OF ALL..." Not considering his actions in his rage, he gave an almighty double-rear buck to the monolith.

"...ZZSTUPID QUEEN!"

----------

Clone and Trixie - the latter of whom had stopped crying by this stage out of pure shock at Leech's outburst - watched as the monolith began to split where Leech had kicked it in his fury-addled state. Strange energies began to pulse and radiate from the crack. Leech, realizing what he had done, immediately calmed down and meekly began to back away from the strange object, which began to pulsate more vividly, and the crack seemed to grow taller and wider by itself. A brilliant flash of light momentarily blinded the three observers - when it died down, the three could see that the monolith had become dark. It was now split completely in half vertically.

All three watched, dumbfounded as a figure attempted to make its way out from between the two halves of the monolith...

"Switcher........ Aurora...... I will.......erase them.....from......existence.....for.....this!" it croaked, its voice barely audible.



Finally, after using what little energy she had left, the monolith parted, and the exhausted and bedraggled form of Queen Chrysalis slumped out onto the cave floor.