The moon provided little illumination to the Everfree Forest. For Changelings it was the perfect time and place to set up a secret meeting away from the eyes of Equestria. Sclerite followed Queen Formic as she entered the main hall of a ruined castle with her personal escort of drones one of which was Tarsal. The entrance hall was crowded with Changelings of all kinds of colors. The Queens were all gathered on the staircase. They all looked similar to each other in the same way Queen Formic looked like Queen Chrysalis. Despite the crowd of Changelings, the room was dead silent. Not a single drone dared to even whisper.
Tarsal's voice echoed across the room. "Announcing the arrival of! Queen Formic of the badlands Hive! And Sclerite, apprentice of Queen Chrysalis!"
Queen Formic approached the other Queens, leaving Sclerite at the door with the other drones. "Queen Chrysalis. I must say you have a fine apprentice there. I am certainly impressed by what he was able to accomplish."
"Why thank you, but I suggest we move to a more private setting before we begin our meeting." Queen Chrysalis turned and walked deeper into the castle. The other Queens followed until they entered the throne room that contained two thrones, one for the sun and one for the moon, as well as a round table with chairs in the center of the room. They all took a seat in one of the chairs and Queen Chrysalis opened up the conversation, "I believe you all know why you have been called here if it wasn't obvious."
"What I really want to know is... Why did you hold a meeting with all of us over this?" Queen Formic asked.
"For two reasons. One I wanted to personally hear from you about Sclerite. And two, I need some help if things go terribly for my Hive," Chrysalis answered. "But first, how did Sclerite do?"
"He's certainly proven himself as a soldier, though his discipline isn't the best thing in the world. That's all I really have to say," answered Queen Formic.
"Very well. Now about Equestria. As you all know they have been growing during their thousand years of peace. In time their expansion will one day threaten our existence. Not to mention we are all stuck in a famine," said Queen Chrysalis.
"We've already built ships that can sneak up on the Equestrians and attack them from underwater. I'm pretty sure we can take whatever they send at us," bragged the yellow Changeling Queen Siphon.
"Let me ask you all a question. How much food can you give to each of your subjects every day?" Queen Chrysalis asked.
The purple Changeling Queen Venom responded, "Just barely enough for them to survive that day. After that our stockpile gets significantly smaller," the other Queens nodded in agreement.
"Well, what if I told you that I had a plan to allow you to feed ten times that amount each day without worrying about the stockpile?" asked Queen Chrysalis.
"What do you have in mind?" Queen Formic inquired.
"A simple policy. You provide aid whenever I ask and we will all feast off of the ponies when they are finally defeated. None of us will ever have to worry about food from that point forward for a thousand years," answered Queen Chrysalis. "Are there any objections?"
The Queens remained silent as they thought through this proposal. She wasn't asking for much and if it succeeded, they will all benefit for similar but slightly different reasons due to the unique emotions they feed on. Eventually they nodded making a unanimous decision to follow through with Queen Chrysalis' plan.
"Then from this day forward. We shall be known as the Allied Hives!" Queen Chrysalis stood up from her chair to leave the room.
"Before we leave. How are you even going to attack? Are you planning to just march on their capital city Canterlot and take it by force?" asked the green Changeling Queen Cicada.
"I am going to prepare my apprentice before I launch an attack. You don't have to worry about that. I will decide on the attack plan. You just need to hold your end of the bargain," Queen Chrysalis answered and proceeded out the door to find Sclerite in the entrance hall. "Sclerite! Time to go!" she ordered.
"Yes my Queen," saluted Sclerite as he followed her out of the castle and into the night sky where they could see the mare in the moon hanging overhead. It was finally time to return home after a long week.