That doesn't sound good, said Ambassador Wildcard as the disguised changeling vanished around a corner.
No, it doesn't. I think you had better go tell Celestia about this, right away.
Yes, my queen. He gave me a sort of mental salute, and I pulled myself from his mind.
Standing once more in the midst of the hive, with drones resuming their business around me, I considered what I'd just heard. I hoped that when the other changeling had said we would suffer the consequences, she merely meant that she thought our hive would fail if we tried to live without hiding. But I had a feeling that she'd meant something a lot worse and more direct.
Her mention of allied hives worried me too. Assuming Chrysalis' claims hadn't just been propaganda, this hive was one of the largest in the world. But even so, enough other hives banding together could outmatch us considerably. I decided it was time to call a council of sorts.
I turned and headed back to my rooms. There was no reason to do this standing in the middle of the corridor. I could consult with the drones and under-queens I needed anywhere, so I might as well do so in comfort.
Is everything okay? You feel really worried all of the sudden, said Pinkie.
I'm not actually sure. But you've got a party to plan, don't worry too much about me. This is probably nothing.
If it turns out to be something, you know you can count on me to help, said Pinkie.
I know. Thank you.
I had been walking as I spoke with Pinkie, and now I was at my room once again. I flopped down on the bed with a sigh. Minder, who had shadowed me through all this, settled herself next to me and started grooming my wings. I relaxed a little bit.
Closing my eyes, I reached out to the hive. I touched each of the under-queens in turn, and asked them to share what they knew of other hives with me. Only a few of them knew anything. I sought the knowledge of the hive itself next, the combined experience of all its drones. I found several who had been used by Chrysalis to speak with neighboring hives, and even a few who had served the old queen Sepal in the same fashion.
From this knowledge I pieced together a rough picture of what we might face. It was not good. There were at least six other hives out there, perhaps more. All six of the hives we knew were within Equestria itself. My hive claimed Canterlot, and all of the smaller towns immediately around it, plus a great deal of territory that was mostly wilderness, but we did not claim any of the other major cities of Equestria. They were held by other hives. Manehattan, in fact, seemed to be shared between at least two hives. I could believe it from what I knew of that vast, teeming gathering of equine life.
Beyond the fact that they existed, however, I knew little about those other hives. Chrysalis had asserted that we were one of the largest hives, but there was no actual evidence of the size of any of the others. I had a few scraps of information—queen's names and drone's colors, mostly—garnered from the rare meetings between their drones and mine. I knew too that relationships between this hive and the others had often been tense. Chrysalis' aggression, and her predecessors' capable expansion, had meant that most of the interactions I could find memories of were disputes over the borders of our territory. Beyond that, the only other thing I had was the knowledge that they, like us, had always followed a code of secrecy. Changelings were never to be seen by ponies. We were to live and feed in hiding, always. It was a way I myself had been raised to follow. Knowing what I did now, it seemed utterly pointless. Foolish, even. It was far easier to gain positive emotions simply by living among ponies. There was no need to hide and steal their love.
I asked the under-queens for their advice, and got only the suggestion that I should warn our infiltrators and the others who were living outside of the hive of the possible threat.
I did so, wishing I had more to do. Beyond taking reasonable precautions, however, I didn't know what else could be done. The strange drone's threats had been nebulous, and I knew so little of the other hives. Hoping that all this would prove to be nothing, I rose and prepared to fly to Ponyville for Pinkie's party. I could use some love, and a couple of cupcakes, to cheer me up.
The party was a Pinkie Pie party, that was the only way to describe it. There was music, and cake, and punch. There were balloons, and streamers, and confetti. There were also, of course, ponies, including the guest of honor who'd just moved into town. And there were changelings. I was just one—though probably the most noticeable one—of more than a dozen that mingled with the Ponyville crowd. Pinkie Pie parties were prime feeding occasions, so few changelings ever missed a chance to attend one.
I smiled as I savored the emotional flavors in the air. It was quite a mix, but the overall taste was that of sugary happiness.
"You must be Sweetcake." I turned to see a stout earth pony mare with a green coat. Her ladybug cutie mark told me that this was Ladybird, tonight's guest of honor.
I gave her a nod and a smile. "Indeed I am."
"Pinkie Pie has been telling me about you, and about the hive. I find changelings very fascinating!"
I smiled. "Most of us find ponies fascinating as well."
"If it isn't rude, can I ask a possibly personal question?"
"Sure, ask whatever you like." I wondered if it was going to be a question about changeling sex. Some ponies seemed nearly obsessed with the subject, I'd noticed.
"You're the queen of your hive, yes?"
"Yes."
"But Pinkie calls you 'he' and I've been told you use a stallion's appearance when you're disguising yourself. Why? I'm told changelings are much more like insects than like ponies. So you must be female if you're the queen, yes? Why not 'she'?"
"Ah. Well..." I groped around for a proper explanation. "Imagine that everypony you know is a mare. The princesses are, but so are all the soldiers, all the fire-fighters, all the doctors, all the nurses, all the teachers, all the farmers, just... everypony. Eventually 'mare' would stop really having any meaning as a word. You wouldn't think of things like being a princess a something mares do, because there would be no stallions to compare them with, it would just be something ponies do. They'd be special because they were rulers, but not because they were mares, right?"
"Ah. I think I see. But wouldn't that mean you'd be kind of genderless, not male?"
"Changelings in general have no gender roles, and no personal idea of gender, but those of us who've trained as infiltrators and gone out among ponies had to learn pony gender roles in order to fit in. There's no reason to learn both male and female roles, so it's easier to just pick one and get comfortable with how to act in that role. It happens that the first pony I copied was a stallion, so I've always taken male roles. 'Queen' doesn't seem female to me, and I got comfortable with 'he' among ponies, so..." I shrugged. "That's just the way it worked out. I'd feel very strange calling myself a mare, even though yes, technically I'm female."
"I see. I have about a million more questions to ask you, really. Though I rather hope that someday I might be allowed to visit the hive and see it for myself."
My ears perked up at that. Changelings visiting ponies was only one half of the two races learning to not fear each other. Ponies visiting changelings was important too. Few ponies seemed to want to, though. "I'd be delighted to have you visit," I said. "In fact-"
I was suddenly cut off by a ripple of alarm that swept through the hive. My head snapped up, but my eyes weren't seeing the party anymore, I was looking through a drone's eyes, miles away from Ponyville.
It was Ambassador Wildcard again, and he was staring in shock at a squad of Royal Guard unicorns that had just burst into the embassy. Lying at the feet of their captain was another drone, whose pain had started the alarm call. She was barely conscious, having been taken down by a bolt of unicorn magic.
"What is the meaning of this?" hissed the ambassador. "How dare you barge in here and-"
His angry tirade was cut off by a gasp of shock as the captain's horn lit and shot another beam at the helpless drone. It was not a mere stunning spell, it was far more powerful than that. I felt a spike of pain from her and then she was gone.
He had killed her.
The ambassador, and the other drones with him, all stared in horror. The captain grinned. "Kill them all," he said, and the room erupted into chaos as attacking spells shot out into the unprepared drones.
The pair of warrior drones I'd assigned to the embassy raised a shield, dividing the room in two, but not quite in time to prevent several more hits. The air was full of screams, while the hive buzzed with mental shouts as the drones sought to coordinate some kind of defense.
The shield shuddered as the full power of more than a dozen unicorns slammed into it. Wildcard snarled defiance, his horn blazing, and added his magic to the warriors', strengthening it. Several other drones joined him. The unicorns had them outnumbered more than two to one now, though, and after less than a minute the shield shattered. The unicorns charged forward.
I reeled from the pain and death that erupted into my mind. Wildcard was fighting like a maniac, his magic lancing out at the unicorns. He even bucked one of them, a solid, crunching blow that staggered the big pony. But despite his efforts, and those of the increasingly outnumbered drones, I knew they were all going to die. Within minutes Wildcard had been backed up against a wall, both of the warriors were down, and there were only two more drones still on their feet elsewhere in the room.
Suddenly a wave of darkness swept over the room, knocking all the combatants from their feet. Wildcard fell against the wall with a stunning thud, but he was still conscious enough for me to hear the overwhelmingly loud voice that filled the room. "WHAT IN THE MOON'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE?"
Wildcard looked up to see Princess Luna standing in the doorway. I could feel the relief that washed through him. He scrambled to his feet. The attacking unicorns were rising as well, though.
"WELL?" thundered Luna.
There was a flash of red fire, and the unicorn who'd had Wildcard cornered vanished. All around the room the others did too, in a rainbow of differing colors, leaving only the broken forms of the drones they'd killed and wounded behind.
As Wildcard started to explain to Luna what had happened, something drew my attention back to my own body. I became aware of a pair of hooves wrapped tightly around me, and a familiar voice, sounding as though she were about to cry, saying "Sweetcake, please, be okay. Please, please, please, be okay." I was lying down in the middle of the room, with Pinkie hugging me desperately. Around us was a ring of drones—every changeling who'd been at the party—on high alert, glaring at the ponies. I could see Twilight and a few other familiar faces outside of their guardian circle, looking concerned and confused, but they wouldn't let anypony but Pinkie near me.
I wrapped my hooves around Pinkie, clinging to her. "I couldn't save them. They're dead, and I couldn't save them. I couldn't do anything. I felt them all die." My voice was sobbing, and I wanted to cry, but in this form I couldn't shed any tears. Instead I just held Pinkie tightly while I shook.
Eventually I lifted my head from Pinkie's shoulder. The protective circle of drones around me relaxed. The danger was past for now. I felt stunned, more shaken than I'd been since the day when I'd first lost my hive bond. The hive was still there, of course, but its hum was an agitated buzz of fear and aggression. It was also five minds smaller than it had been. It didn't make a noticeable difference in the sound of the hive, but I knew they were gone. I'd felt each one of them die. I could still feel the injured survivors too. They were being tended now, and as far as I could tell they would all live, but their pain wouldn't leave my mind. I knew I could block it away from my awareness, but I didn't want to. I'd failed my hive, I deserved to suffer with them.
"Sweetcake?" I looked over to see Twilight standing next to me. "What happened? Every changeling froze all at once, then Pinkie bowled over half the party-goers running to you, and then you screamed and collapsed, and the changelings all circled around you and wouldn't let anypony touch you. They were being kind of scary. They wouldn't talk or anything, they just hissed at us!"
"The hive has been attacked," I said. "They were responding to that by protecting the queen."
"Attacked? By who? And why?"
I thought about the red fire I'd seen, and a certain red-eyed changeling who'd delivered a threat earlier today. With that added to the astronomical unlikelihood of a Royal Guard captain deciding to wipe out the changeling embassy, I could probably jump to certain conclusions. "I'm not entirely sure, but I have a suspicion, and it's not good."
I looked around the devastated embassy. The walls were scorched and battered. The desk had been broken in two. Green changeling blood still stained the floor where the drones had fallen, though their bodies had already been taken away, to be returned to the hive for burial.
Wildcard came up to me, a resin bandage glued to his side. He bowed, and I could feel the anguish in his mind as he said, I failed them. I should have been more alert. I should have been ready. I knew to watch out for the other hives, but I didn't pay enough attention to that warning.
It's not your fault. What else could you have done? None of us knew that they were going to attack like that. I'm the one who failed, I should have sent more warriors here to guard you. You did very well with what you had. This is my fault for not realizing how serious the threat was.
You said yourself that none of us knew they were going to attack. Even if you'd sent more warriors, they probably wouldn't have been here by now in any case. Don't blame yourself, please.
I sighed. I knew he was right, but it didn't make it any easier. I was the queen, I was supposed to care for the hive. Instead, my refusal to betray Celestia had killed five of the people I was supposed to protect.
I finally pulled my mind away from my failure. You said there was something else?
Yes. Here. Wildcard led the way across the room. A sheet lay draped over a mound of something in one corner. He lifted it, and I saw the blood-spattered body of a warrior drone. But not one of mine. This drone had emerald green wing cases.
So. It was definitely the other hives, I said.
Yes.
A deep voice interrupted us. "Sweetcake?" I turned to see an armored guardspony standing beside me. "The princesses would like to speak with you."
"Good," was all I said in reply.
I followed the guard to the palace in silence. I had a pair of warrior drones with me, but was otherwise alone. Minder, for once, was not at my side, for she was back at the hive, making certain all ran smoothly there in my absence. Pinkie Pie was already in the palace, I'd sent her ahead of me rather than let her see the bloody mess at the embassy.
The silent journey, thankfully, did not take long. The embassy lay very near the palace itself.
Inside, the guard escorted me not to the throne room, but to a smaller private audience chamber. I was glad. I didn't really want to have Celestia's entire court listening.
I went through the doors to find Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Pinkie Pie all there already. Celestia was seated on a low, simplified throne. Luna as well had a silver, throne-like chair to match her sister's golden one. The other two simply sat on the carpeted floor. I walked across the room, feeling suddenly nervous. I had failed as queen. How could I stand in front of the princesses and ask them to aid the hive? Yet how could I not? If I did not, no one else would.
Pinkie was instantly at my side, offering me a physical as well as a mental hug. I seated myself in front of the princesses with her at my side. My warriors took up station by the door, flanking the guardsponies already standing there.
Celestia regarded me with sorrowful eyes. "I must first say that I am sorry, Sweetcake. The ambassador warned me of the threat to your hive, but I did not take it seriously enough. It is my fault that your people were killed. Were it not for Luna noticing that something seemed amiss whilst raising the moon, it would have been a complete massacre. It is unforgivable that we did not take measures to keep your changelings safe. I know my apology cannot possibly make up for your loss, but I am very, very sorry."
"We are taking further steps to protect the embassy," said Luna, "and are replacing the anti-changeling spells around Canterlot that we had let lapse since capturing Chrysalis." I could taste anger from her, surprisingly hot, given her calm demeanor. From Celestia I tasted sorrow and regret, softly bitter on my tongue.
I nodded. That was a start, but I knew I had to ask for more. "That almost certainly won't be enough to protect the hive. We're badly outnumbered in this fight. How badly I don't know exactly, but there are at least six other hives I know of, and they're all probably allied against me. My hive has less than fifty true warriors. We can't fight them alone."
Celestia did not reply immediately, and I felt my stomach sink. Finally she said, "I understand what you are feeling, Sweetcake. You care for your hive greatly, I know. Yet I care for my ponies in much the same way, and I cannot recklessly throw them into a conflict with a complete unknown. Their lives are precious to me."
I knew. Yet the fact that I knew meant I could not accept her answer. "You've said that you want to foster better relations between changelings and ponies. How can such relations be fostered when the only changelings who are willing to come out of hiding and have relations are dead?"
"What would you have me do? If I asked it of you, would you send me your drones to fight and die for Equestria? Would you send them into a total unknown, from which they might never return, just to save the lives of some of my ponies?"
I looked away from her rather than spit back the angry reply that came to my lips. She had a thousand thousand ponies, I only had two thousand changelings. Yet I knew perfectly well the lives of her thousand thousand were individually as precious to her as the lives of my drones were to me. Finally I looked back at her and said, "Then my hive may well be doomed."
Now it was her turn to look away, and the sorrow I tasted from her grew stronger.
"Please understand," said Luna, "if we knew the size and location of the other hives it might be different. Especially if they lie within Equestria's borders. If I had that information I would likely favor a preemptive strike against them in your defense. But as it is, it is entirely possible that the forces arrayed against you could outnumber our own military might."
"We are a peaceful kingdom," said Celestia. "We have not known war in centuries. We cannot go to war with a power that may outmatch us, not even for you."
Hearing that was as bitter as sorrow. "I could almost wish I hadn't chosen to stand by you rather than betray you."
The taste of Celestia's sorrow was joined by the deeper bitterness of guilt. "I am genuinely sorry, Sweetcake. I am glad you did not, and I do wish I had more to offer in return than this. Yet I cannot simply send my ponies to die."
"Celestia," Twilight broke in, "there can't possibly be that many changeling warriors, can there? I mean... changelings feed off of ponies! We have to outnumber them; prey species are always more numerous than predators. Uhm, no offense, Sweetcake. There is no way that there can be more changelings than ponies."
"That is true. Yet I have learned over the centuries that acting on such assumptions can all too easily backfire horribly. To dive into the unknown in hopes that all will go as you wish is to ensure that all will go terribly wrong. In this case it is true that there must be more ponies than changelings. Yet how many more is an unknown. Only a very tiny proportion of ponies are soldiers, Twilight. What proportion of changelings are warriors?" She turned to me as she said this, so I answered.
"In my hive, perhaps one in fifty."
"Oh." Twilight looked a bit deflated. "Ponies don't have one in fifty who want to join the guard. It's not even one in five hundred. It's more like one in a thousand. Outside of Canterlot it's not even that high. If we assume one pony out of every two thousand..." Her eyes went a bit abstract as she did mental math. "All it would take is one changeling to every forty ponies, and they'd be an even match for us. Given what I know about the relative populations of Sweetcake's hive and his territory, that's a completely reasonable number."
"Indeed," said Celestia with a nod. "And there is no certainty that Sweetcake's hive is typical, the other hives may have even higher ratios. Consider this too, Twilight; changelings need not feed on ponies alone, and we do not know how far this alliance goes. What if changelings from among the gryphon nations, or from Zebrica, are involved?" Twilight's eyes went wide, flicking back and forth. I could practically see her doing the rest of the math. Celestia gave her a small smile. "You see? Perhaps this is only a small threat. Perhaps these changelings would be easily deflected. Yet perhaps not. Perhaps I would be miring my kingdom in a war that would require me to not only spend the lives of those who have chosen to be soldiers, but also the lives of those who have not. Changelings live among us, my student. Outright war with them would be bloody, difficult, and cost many civilian lives, even if they do not have us outmatched." She turned to me, still sorrowful, but firm. "This tangle is far more thorny than it first appears, and I know too little to commit the lives of my ponies to it."
I sighed and bent my head in defeat. "You're right. But what would you have me do? I don't know anything of what I face either, and I can't stand by and let my children die. I have to do something for them."
I tasted sympathy, sweet to the tongue, and yet bitter in my heart, from Celestia. "Take heart, Sweetcake. I have never favored a military solution where other solutions might be found. I am not abandoning you merely because I cannot give you my soldiers. I cannot consider you one of my subjects any more, much as I was delighted to have one of my little ponies be a changeling, but you are my ally, and my friend. I will do what I can."
"We need to know more," muttered Twilight. "More about changelings..." Suddenly she sat bolt upright. "The book! The library! At the empire!"
I blinked at Twilight. So did everyone else. "Say what?" said Pinkie, summing up what we were all thinking.
"Three weeks ago we were at the Crystal Empire," said Twilight. I nodded. I had been unable to go with Pinkie, but I remembered her rather eventful visit there with her friends. "When we were going through the library, looking for the book we needed about the Crystal Fair, I happened to open a book and see a sketch of what was definitely a changeling. I would have stopped to read and see what it had to say, but we were kind of in a hurry. Still, if we need to know more about changelings, there is at least one book that says something about them. It may be nothing, but it may have information we could use!"
"Yay! We can go find it, and read it, and then maybe Celestia can help the hive!" said Pinkie, bouncing to her feet.
Celestia chuckled softly. "Do not pin your hopes too firmly on this, my little pony. Any book from the Crystal Empire will be a thousand years out of date, at least. Yet it is true that it may contain useful information all the same. I agree that finding it is a goal worth seeking."
"Let's go then!"
I sighed. "Pinkie... whatever else happens, I can't go. The hive needs me here."
"Oh. Right." Pinkie plopped back down on the carpet. "I don't know if I wanna go without you. I don't mind being apart sometimes, but right now maybe you need me too."
I put a wing over her. "Thank you Pinkie. I think maybe I do need you right now."
"Somepony should go," said Twilight. "I probably could, I wouldn't mind seeing Cadance and Shiny again. And I never turn down a chance to do research!"
"If you go, I'd like to send a drone with you, if you don't mind, so that I can know what you find out as soon as you find it," I said to Twilight.
She nodded agreement. "No, I don't mind. I think we have a plan."
I hesitated, then said, "Celestia? Would you object to my asking for willing ponies to come live in the hive?"
"So long as all who go are willing, I have no objection, no. Though I admit I am somewhat curious about the reason for this request."
"The changelings living openly at the embassy were the first targeted. I am fairly certain that the next target will be those living openly in Ponyville. I have already recalled them to the hive. Yet the hive depends on the love energy they bring. We don't have enough covert infiltrators right now to keep the hive fed. If a few ponies who are friends with the Ponyville changelings will come with us, though, we will at least be able to get by for a time."
"Ah. Yes, I fully support that idea."
Pinkie was frowning though. "I dunno, Sweetcake. It might not work. I know every single changeling friend in Ponyville, and most of them won't be able to come. I mean the Cakes won't want to leave their business, and even if they could, I dunno if they should bring the babies into the hive, 'cause there's this war now and everything. Bon Bon just told me that she's having to work extra hard right now because she's had a bad year at the sweet shop and if she leaves it she might lose the shop. Lyra probably won't go without her, she's still a little skittish about you guys sometimes. Daisy won't go because there's no way Lily and Rose would go. Ladybird would probably go, but I can't think of very many other ponies who could come to the hive for more than a super-quick visit. They all have stuff they have to do. So you won't get very many."
I felt a knot of despair forming in the pit of my stomach. "What do I do then, Pinkie? How do I care for the hive? I can't let them starve."
Pinkie hugged me. "We'll think of something."
There was a long silence, in which Twilight slowly said, "I may have thought of something. Princess? Does this qualify as a national emergency?"
"I believe it does, my faithful student. Sweetcake's hive is an ally, just as the Crystal Empire is. If saving the one qualifies, then so does saving the other."
"That's good. Then the fund will be available for myself and the other element bearers. That means we can go and help Sweetcake. If we all go... I know I remember him saying that when we were all together, there was a magnification effect on the level of friendship energy."
I nodded. "Yes. The whole when you are together is far greater than the sum of what I've been able to draw from any of you alone, or any incomplete group of you." I thought about what I'd sensed from the compared to the needs of the hive. It would not be enough for us to prosper, but it might be enough for us to survive.
"We'll go, then." Twilight smiled a little wryly. "I'm sure we can find somepony else to go find that book. I know I'm not the only pony capable of searching a library. But I am the only pony capable of completing my circle of friendship."
I looked at Twilight. I could taste a hint of regret from her, but mostly she was filled with sympathy that bordered on love. She cared for me. She was willing to give up something she wanted to do in order to help me.
Her smile perked up a bit. "Anyway, this means I can work on my paper about changeling social norms! I've been neglecting it lately. A prolonged visit to the hive will give me the perfect chance to gather some in-depth data!"
A little laugh went around the room at that.
"I was going to send a drone to the library anyway," I said. "I can send one without Twilight."
"Then I believe all is in order," said Celestia. Luna yawned, covering it with a hoof, and Celestia added with a small smile, "I also believe that Luna should go to bed."
I rose and gave Celestia a small bow. "I still can't help but wish you were willing to do more, but I understand why you can't. I do thank you for what you have done. And thank you, Luna for saving those at the embassy. Thank you Twilight, too, for being such a good friend to me." I bowed to each of them as well, then turned and left.
Pinkie walked with me as I went. Thank you too, I said softly to her. I don't know how I would deal with any of this without you.
I just hope that everything gets fixed soon. I still want you to be happy, Sweetcake. You've been very happy the last few months. You're not happy at all now.
I sighed. I have good reason not to be. But I too hope that this will be resolved quickly. I hoped, yes, but I didn't believe it would be. In fact I couldn't help but think that the only way this would be resolved quickly was if the other hives wiped mine from the face of the world. I was all too aware that they might well be capable of doing so. Twilight's book was a very thin thread, quite likely to break if I hung all my hopes on it. Yet I had nowhere else to hang them.
The afternoon sun was bright as I walked back to the embassy. I felt anything but bright myself. Thankfully, by the time I arrived the place had been cleaned a little bit more thoroughly. The bloodstains were gone, and the ruined desk had been removed, making the front room seem oddly bare. Half a dozen Royal Guard ponies stood along the walls, with another pair at the door. I'd passed by several squads of guard unicorns stationed outside as I entered, too. So Celestia was definitely taking her promises seriously.
I yawned. I hadn't really slept last night, I'd been too disturbed by what had happened. I'd taken the first train to Canterlot. In fact I'd even considered just flying straight here myself, but that would have been only slightly faster than waiting for the train, and would have left me exhausted. Not to mention that warrior drones were hardly swift fliers, so I'd have ended up leaving them behind. They had been very firm about coming with me. I got the sense that they'd been ashamed that no warriors had been present to guard me when the hive had been attacked. I would probably be unable to go anywhere outside the hive without them from now on, but I didn't really mind.
I'd stopped at the hospital before heading for the embassy, and had found the pair of injured drones there doing well. I'd known they were alright through the bond, but I'd wanted to check on them personally all the same.
Now I went to personally look in on the trio of survivors still at the embassy. None of them had more than light injuries, the sort easily mended with a little attention and resin. Physical injuries, however, were only part of the trauma of such an attack.
I walked into their living quarters and looked around. The room held several bunk beds, no doubt left over from when this building had been owned by ponies, but none of the beds contained drones. Instead there was a pile of mattresses and blankets in one corner, with a pair of drones curled up together in the center. They both looked up as I came in. I walked over and laid down next to them, offering the nearest a comforting nuzzle. Pinkie Pie snagged a pillow and set it on my withers, draping herself over it comfortably. She was well used to changeling piles by now.
The two warriors sat down nearby, relaxing a little, but making certain to place themselves between me and the door. I began grooming the crest of the nearest drone, who let out a soft sigh and relaxed.
All will be well, I told her gently.
My queen, she said simply, and began grooming me in return.
I looked up at the sound of hooves. The warriors snapped to alertness, even though they must be able to sense who was approaching as easily as I. It was the third surviving embassy member, the ambassador himself. He stood in the doorway, looking at us.
Wildcard, come join us, I said. I could sense the tension in him, and the tiredness. He hadn't slept any more than I had, I knew.
He hesitated, then replied out loud. "I think I've lived as a pony for too long. I've gotten too used to sleeping in beds and taking showers. I feel as though I've forgotten how changelings do things."
"You don't have to join us if you don't want to. If you do want to, though, you don't need to worry about what you may have forgotten."
He sighed. I know, he said silently. The hive knows, so I know. I just... sometimes I think maybe I should be a pony, and not a changeling at all.
Ponies and changelings are not all that different.
"I'm a pony, and I'm here," said Pinkie, apparently having been listening in my mind. She had difficulty hearing what other changelings said to me, but she could hear my responses, and was often quite good at figuring out what I must be replying to. "You should come join us. You're all sad and tired and I bet you could use a hug."
He gave her a small smile at that. "I probably could." He walked over, and when he reached the edge of the little nest, Pinkie rose and gave him a hug. He hugged her back tightly. When he let go, she drew him into the pile. Soon he was curled up next to me, letting a little of the tension go out of him. I bent my head and began to groom his wings. He sighed softly, relaxing a little bit more. His eyes slid closed and moments later he was asleep.
Somehow that made me feel a little bit better. I still feared for my hive, but I'd managed to help one of my changelings today, even in such a small way as this. Perhaps I wasn't a complete failure as a queen after all.