The lone changeling fell through the skies at an alarming rate, wings fluttering uselessly in the wind. He was fast approaching the surface of the ocean; colored more black than blue to his panicked perceptions. Pushing through the fear, he strained to move his wings. They did not respond. He tried next to shape a spell to slow himself with magic, but this too proved fruitless. Hysteria gripped him as the surface of the dark waters loomed ever closer, and he began flapping his limbs in wild desperation.
No escape. You wanted to know? You're going to know. His body punched through the churning liquid as though there were nothing there at all, and he continued at breakneck speed. He gasped in shock at the sudden icy chill, and when he didn't choke, discovered that the water was no more difficult to breathe than the air had been.
Some colossal enigmatic creature moved about in the sea with him, too large for him to decipher its entire form. He twisted, trying to get a better view of the beast while falling past different sections of it. When he looked down again, the first thing he registered was an impossibly massive eye. Then the vast abyssal maw of the monstrosity opened before him, widening until it covered the very limits of his perceptions. It surged forward to engulf him, and all became darkness.
All save for a pin prick of light far below in the monster's gut. This grew rapidly and resolved into a now familiar spot in Canterlot. The mad descent slowed when he approached the smooth stone street and he touched down gently. His heartbeat slowed to a normal pace as he scanned the area. "The fight again?" He laughed nervously. "Haven't I seen enough of this?"
Seen, perhaps. Now you will experience. Ponies and changelings sprang into being around him, but unlike his previous experiences they were far from frozen. The battle raged around him as Twilight and her formidable friends took on the changeling swarm! His body moved on its own. He could remember the thrill of combat spiced with the fear that his siblings could be hurt. The lone changeling knew he needed to stop this fight before that happened, and the best way to do that would be to take down the lead pony!
Purple magic flared in the midst of the crowd. He rushed forward, ducking a blast of confetti from his left and bypassing a pair of bucking hooves that came at him from the right. The sorcerous light flashed again, and one of his brethren was thrown straight back at him. He reared up and caught the unfortunate casualty, though the force knocked him onto his back. His sibling fell limp to one side, and a wave of concern washed over him. A quick check revealed that she had simply fainted.
The lone changeling stood and faced his opponent, now clearly visible in front of him. Twilight Sparkle, horn glowing menacingly, stood grim-faced amidst a band of changelings who had taken her form. He followed suit, shifting to copy her image as easily as he walked or breathed. The others kept their distance, for the moment cowed by her show of magical prowess.
He yelled a challenge in her voice and charged! Head down, horn ablaze, he was ready for anything she could throw at him! ...until he wasn't. Twilight focused on the only changeling to charge her, and suddenly a purple glow robbed him of the ability to move. Flaring his magic wildly against the bonds of her spell had no effect; she was simply that much more powerful than him.
With a wave of her hoof, the unicorn flipped him onto his back and stepped over him. Time seemed to slow as her gleaming horn descended upon him. Her magic became the focus of his world, and with it came the awareness of how strangely the patterns of love were moving around Twilight and her friends. Rather than any one pony consuming the love, each stream appeared to be reinforcing the flow of the others! Somehow Twilight was letting love flow out of herself to all her friends, yet still getting everything she needed in return to power magic that completely outclassed his own.
The moment of revelation struck him like a thunderbolt. Of course that also could have been the spell she used on him next. His vision exploded in stars when she touched him, and he felt his body revert back to its original form. Stunned, the only thing he could recall about the rest of the fight was the maniacal howling in his soul that came from knowing his entire life had been a lie.
---
Awareness came back to him gradually. His blurring vision revealed a smooth glass floor, a strange shifting void of dark purple and blue stretching out above him. The lone changeling stood unsteadily, noting fuzzy white shapes that resolved themselves into more definite forms as his head began to clear.
Surrounding him were eight pony statues crafted from marble. They were intricately detailed, perhaps sculpted with the assistance of posing models. "What is this?" He murmured aloud, turning nervously in place. The stone ponies bore expressions of sadness and anger. As he looked upon them, he couldn't help but feel they were condemning him personally.
He leapt back in shock when the statue in front of him spoke, "Vindication." A surge of energy passed over it, and in its place stood his doppelganger, The Voice. "I've waited and hoped for this. I am unbound! The time has come for you to accept everything that we were and still are. We will become one being again, and these foolish ideas of befriending ponies will cease."
Embarrassed at having been caught off guard, the lone changeling stepped forward and raised his head higher, "Everything I've seen so far tells me I was right! There must be a way to exist without consuming love, if the ponies can do it!"
His double snorted derisively and turned away from him, moving across the glass floor to the nearest statue. It was of a young filly, mane let free in a wild poof down her back. The cutie mark was a pen on paper. "That is the very thought which split us apart in the first place. I knew I would have to show it to you to begin the..." she caressed the marble mane of the statue. "...healing." Her eyes snapped back to him. "Now tell me truly, do you really think those ponies will accept us? Impossible. Not with everything we've already done to hurt them."
"Hurt?! No! I would never..." He trailed off, uncertainly. Veil had definitely been hurt; he had never seen such wild rage before.
The Voice shook her head slowly. "Well. Let us see, shall we?" She touched the marble figure with her stubby horn, and the stone pony came to life! The sculpture approached him, a blissful smile on its face.
"Mom! I'm so glad you're back! We were all so worried when you disappeared."
The memory came to him unbidden, and his body instinctively shifted to the form of the older mare that was this filly's mother. "I didn't mean to worry you, sweetie. I suddenly remembered some important business and had to rush right out to take care of it." He lied, knowing that he had actually been part of the team that had stolen her mother away to be cocooned. It was standard procedure to ensure the real ponies never came back to disrupt the harvest.
"That's ok. Just... leave a note next time, or something!" The statue admonished, then looked embarrassed to have spoken that way to her mother. "You know, for dad." She added quickly.
"Haha, of course!" He held out his hooves, inviting her into an embrace. "I won't forget, next time!"
The filly statue hugged him. "I love you!" The words had merely sated his hunger at the time. Now they were a dagger in his heart. The marble form lost its substance, and sank into his body. As it merged with him he regained all the memories of his time with this girl and her family, feeding off a love that was never meant for him. A tear rolled down the cheek of his stolen form before he cast it off angrily, reverting to his natural shape.
His phantom self watched, a knowing smile playing on her lips. A wave of vibrant green magic passed over them, and the other statues began to move. They all chattered at once as they approached him, all happy to be with the loved one they assumed he was. Each walked right into him, and as he absorbed them he reclaimed all the memories of the past lies he was stained with. Seven ponies. Seven lives stolen away into cocoons. The eighth...
The lone changeling found himself staring into Veil's eyes. She smirked, "Yes, this one too. But you know all about her already." Veil disappeared in a flash of changeling magic, and he was looking at The Voice once again. "You must realize by now that what we've done is unforgivable. We can never coexist with them."
He shook his head as he retreated from her, unwilling to accept what she was telling him. "No! No, there must be a way!"
"Fool!" She hissed as she pursued, matching his pace step for step. "Will you reject the truth, even now? Ignorance cannot wash away our crimes!"
Truth. Something stirred in his mind. His wish to be innocent was part of why he had suppressed this piece of himself, but it was not everything. There was something key he was missing. "If we explained ourselves to them..."
"NO!!!" Her denial was fierce. "They will not love us!" Her voice took on an edge of madness, "They CANNOT love us! Nopony can EVER love us, because...!" She gasped and clutched herself, unable to continue.
"Because..." He stared at her, and the final truth blossomed within him. "Because I don't love myself."
When her eyes met his again, they were filled with tears. "You hated me. I tried so hard." It was disconcerting to see her in such pain, and to know that pain was really his own. "Living that way was all I ever knew, and you hated me for it. You rejected me... sealed me away."
Unable to hold back in the face of such emotion, he embraced what was really a part of himself. "You're right. I have been a fool."
His double hesitated in alarm, "What do you think you're doing?"
"It hurts to know that I was responsible for such horrible things. I can't deny that." She stiffened against him. "Yet hating myself for it won't undo any of what's done. It won't do anything but cause more pain."
She pushed away from him, uncertain. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that if we want to walk into the future, we can't be denying the past. No more lies!" He held out his hoof to her. "I won't reject you anymore! I..." He looked at himself, and found the true words he needed to speak. "I don't hate you. We'll find a way forward, together."
His phantom self let out a breath of disbelief, seemingly staggered by the weight of what he'd said. Then she snorted, "How corny." A familiar smirk found its way to her face as she touched her hoof to his. "Good thing you have me around to rein that crap in." Her form lost substance, and she melted into his body.
His mind exploded with the information of an entire lifetime that he had suppressed. The warmth of the hive. The bonds he shared with his family, and his mother the queen. Dangerous scouting missions, and glimpses of pony life. The newly reasserted aspects of himself also brought matters of identity that began to conflict within him. Her. She had always been gender-fluid, trusting her feelings to define the truth of herself. Today she was feminine once again.
She knew herself. She knew her name. She knew what she needed to do.