//------------------------------//
// An opportunity of a lifetime 
// Story: Changing Fates 
// by Ulthor 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 06







*In front of the Ponyville Library, slightly after Twilights left Luna's mansion*


Twilight was surprised when she got to her library, only to find she was unable to actually get to it because of a commotion in front of it, caused by about twenty ponies.

She quickly looked over them as she then saw the mayor with them, as she then headed over to the mare. "Mayor, what's going on here?"

The mayor looked at Twilight and let out a relieved sigh. "Twilight Sparkle, I was hoping you could tell me, these ponies just showed up out of nowhere all around the town, asking where the library was, several townsponies said they acted oddly, and when I got here they refused to answer any of my questions, all they did was ask when you would be here in fact, you don't think their dangerous or anything, do you?"

"They just showed up out of nowhere and asked for me?" Twilight asked as she looked at them and noticed they were now all staring at her with mixed expressions, but it seemed all of them had a slight look of respect on them, and as she noticed that the buzzing sound in her head had only gotten louder as she came closer to the library, it suddenly clicked. "Ah! I uh… I think I know why their here, no worries mayor, their not dangerous at all, and I promise they won't cause any problems."

"Well… If you say so." The mayor said and sighed. "Honestly though, if it were anypony else, I would have questioned it some more, but you saved us plenty of times already, so I'll just leave it be. Now if you'll excuse me, I still have some important documents to look over, so I'll leave you to it." The mayor then left for the town hall.

Twilight made sure the mayor was gone before she looked at the ponies there and sighed. "Let me guess, you all remembered the dream and decided to come here straight after you woke up."

A collective nod was seen, before a red mare with a blue mane spoke up. "We didn't all remember straight away, but those that did jolted the memories of the others thanks to the hivemind you enhanced your highness."

Twilight's ears jolted up as she quickly looked around to see if anypony else heard, before she put a hoof to her muzzle in a hushing way. "Shhh! Do you want the whole town to find out? Let's talk inside." She then headed up to her door and unlocked it, after she opened it she stopped for a moment before looking back at them however. "Uhm… I'm not sure your all going to fit inside actually."

The ponies looked at each other as if in conversation, but didn't say anything, then the red mare spoke up once more. "That won't be an issue your highness."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked as she was answered with a nod, she then stepped aside to let them inside and to her surprise, they just kept going in as if there was plenty of room, once they were all inside she followed them in and closed the door behind her, locking it just to be safe, when she turned around however she was surprised to see foals rather then adult ponies. "What the? Why did you all turn into foals?"

A red filly with a blue mane stepped up, likely being the same mare as before Twilight thought to herself, the filly then spoke. "We figured this was the best option, as we can all fit this way without obscuring you, your highness."

"Hmm, I suppose that's true… Also, could you stop with the your highness part? I'm fine with just being called Twilight, in fact I'd prefer it." Twilight then responded, she did find it a little odd to suddenly have a whole library full of foals though, and hoped nopony would think oddly about it if they looked in the windows… In fact, just to be on the safe side, she closed the curtains.

The red filly gasped. "That won't do at all your highness! We're but lowly drones, exiles at that! For us to call you by your name without a tittle would be blasphemy, especially after we swore to serve you for the rest of our lives."

Had Twilight had some kind of beverage, she would have likely had spit out whatever she had in her mouth, but as she didn't have any, she instead just looked at them with a look of shock. "Excuse me? I mean I know you promised to keep me safe and all, but where did this serve part come from?"

The foals looked slightly nervous as the red filly spoke again. "W-we didn't mean that we'd become your hive or anything, we know we're not worthy of that, we're still just lowly exiles, b-but we want to serve you the best we can after what you've done for us, you protected us and even avenged one of our own that you thought had died, plus you gave us a stable and clear hivemind once more, saving even more of us when we woke and were able to connect them to it, so we wanted to do anything we could for you, even if we'd never get out of a exile status… Though we hope to at least be granted a slave status by you when you do create a hive of your own if possible…"

Twilight blinked as she tried to absorb the new information, before she then placed one hoof between her eyes in a thinking way and the other in front of her. "Now hold on there for a moment, what do you mean I saved more of you by doing that to your hivemind? I'm still not even sure what I did in the first place… And what's this about wanting to be slaves? Why would anypony even want that?"

The red filly blinked for a few moments before realizing. "Oh, right, I forgot you told us that you don't know anything of Changeling culture your highness, and it sounds like you don't know much of the hivemind either, if you'll allow us your highness, we would gladly tell you everything we know."

Twilight contemplated the possibilities here, she could gain so much knowledge that not even that book she had gotten from Discord had been able to give her, and it would likely be a good idea to know more about her real body aswell, because what if she ever got some kind of Changeling disease without knowing what it was? Or if she got hurt? "Please do, I really want to know more about what I am, I'm especially interested in what you meant when you said the hivemind saved them, how does that work?"

"The details are a bit hard to say since none of us are scholars, but what we do know is that the hivemind is like an important organ to us, being cut off from it cuts our lifespans to about a fourth of the lifespan a pony has, but it also affects our mental states, seeing as we get connected to our queen the moment we're hatched, though at that point we're not yet fully integrated and can't get any real orders, but it's what keeps our thoughts clear and focused." The red filly said before she then thought for a moment.

The red filly continued soon after. "I suppose losing the connection could be seen as slowly losing your mind, and when your exiled you get disconnected from the hivemind you were part of, so us exiles try to create a rough version between each other when we find others like us… But it's but a weak imitation, as only a queen or princess can make a real hivemind, so our minds still slowly slip away, just a lot slower then it would otherwise, and it can't replace the really important part either, so our lives are still shortened… But when you tried to connect to us your highness, you cleared it up a lot, it's still an imitation of course, but at least you halted our minds from slipping, which made it possible to save some who were on the brink of losing their minds."

Twilight was writing it all down on a piece of parchment she had gotten while it was being explained, but she stopped writing it down and looked at the fill with a worried look. "Wait, if what you told me is true, then while I may have saved their minds, your lives are still in danger, is there anyway to prevent that from happening?"

The filly shook her head. "Not that we know of at least, though we have heard of one that redeem themselves and were allowed back into a hivemind get half of their lifespan back."

"Is that much?" Twilight asked in a concerned response.

The filly thought for a moment. "It depends on what you call much, I suppose it would be for a normal pony, it's about five times their full lifespan."

"Five… You mean to say Changelings can get up to five to six hundred years old if their lifespans is halved?" Twilight was baffled as she asked this, she never even considered having such a long lifespan before she was told she was a princess, and even then she hadn't really considered it, though that was likely because she didn't want to think of living longer then her friends, so she had simply not thought of it before now.

"If their lucky, it's not often a Changeling gets to live out their full lifespan, or even a half one for that matter, since we require more love as we grow older, so most Changelings decide against living that long as it would likely starve the rest of the hive quickly without a large supply, at one point they just stop taking more so the rest of the hive can survive." The filly said, she then saw how Twilight seemed to look sad at this, so before Twilight could say anything, she continued. "Don't feel sad your highness, it's often seen as something to be celebrated, as they teach the new generation everything they learned themselves, and it's to keep the hive safe, it's the most honorable thing we can do, and it's not like any of us wants to live by taking the lives of others, especially our families… Plus once they do, they know the exact amount of time they have left, so they can spend it happily with their loved ones, something you'd normally never be able to do when you don't know it."

Twilight still looked slightly sad. "I… I suppose so, but is there really no way for them all to survive?"

The filly placed a hoof on Twilight's hoof as she replied. "Not without draining other beings completely for generations on end, the hives we came from knew that this was not a good thing, and we all accept that, just because we can live for longer then other races, doesn't mean we should either… There can be… Complications for those that live too long, mutations that can certainly help the hive in the long run, but there can also be those that endanger both the hive and other races, and we know we would be hunted down if we were to actually show hostility to them."

Twilight wasn't sure how to react to that, but she swallowed the chunk in her throat in order to ask another question. "S-so… You said something about families… What did you mean by that? I don't know how it works for Changelings to be honest, but from the fact that you live in hives and are bug like, I had considered if it was like ants where the queen births you all… I… I must admit this isn't something I'm looking forward to."

The filly blinked for a few moments before she put her hooves to her mouth, as did most others, after a few awkward moments more, it was clear that they were doing all they could to prevent laughing, perhaps because she really didn't know much, but likely more because it would be rude and perhaps even sacrilege in their eyes to laugh at royalty, once they regained themselves, the filly spoke. "S-sorry your highness… We couldn't help it, but to answer your question, it's not unlike how ponies have families, we chose our own loved ones and can decide to have offspring with them if the queen allows it, since having more offspring would mean more mouths to feed afterall, so the queen decides which families are allowed to have a nymph if they want to reproduce, and how many of them they would be allowed to have."

Twilight seemed to have picked up her quill and parchment during the explanation, since she was noting it down again, while also mentally noting down that the offspring of Changelings were called nymphs rather then foals it seemed. "Interesting, so how does that work? How do they decide who's allowed and how do they enforce the amount of offspring they can have?"

"Well, it really depends on the type of queen, most tend to look at the parents and what kind of offspring they would likely produce, since those of the warrior classes tend to have offspring that will likely want to be a warrior class themselves, same with those of intelligence classes, builder classes and so forth, but that's not always the case either." The filly took a small breath before continuing. "Drones however have less chance of producing offspring that will be anything but a drone, but at times it does happen, and it's not like drones get less chances because of this either, if anything they get more chances, since they can do a bit of everything, their just not as specialized as others, but this does mean that when there are times when one job is less required, drones can easily switch what they do, while a warrior class wouldn't be able to do something a intelligence class would be able to do for instance."

The filly then thought for a moment before answering the other side of the question. "As for how they enforce the amount, that really depends on the queen, for some they alter the amount others can have by the amount it goes over or under the previously stated amount, while other queens could take the amount that's too much and trade them off with other families or even hives if it comes to that… It's not an easy decision for any of them in that case, but it is done… And there are some queens that take more… Drastic measures for this issue…"

Twilight winced slightly at this, she felt like she shouldn't have asked for a moment, and thought at how cruel this sounded… But then she surprised herself as she realized she also was thinking about how necessary it might be for the benefit of the whole hive and she cursed herself for even thinking that, surely there could be other options, perhaps a stasis spell to do… What was pretty much done to her… No, that would likely just cause other new issues, perhaps even similar ones as what she had gone through.

Feeling that Twilight was slightly pained about this and seeing that she was trying to think deeply in order to find other options, the filly decided to say something. "Your highness, you don't need to think about a solution to this right now, it's likely best to wait till you have a hive of your own before deciding on this, since it would take quite a while before a hive becomes big enough for this to matter, if doing it in a normal way that is."

Twilight's ear flicked at this. "The normal way? You mean there are other ways?"

The filly seemed unsure if she should say it, but as Twilight had asked for it, she answered. "I'm not fully sure, but a few of us have heard some scholars speak when we were still part of our hives, they mentioned some kind of ritual that could be performed by a queen if there would ever be a need for a large amount of Changelings, it sounded like this was meant more for emergencies when a hive would be almost completely wiped out, one even said a queen would give up their own natural way of reproduction to do so, and what would happen would be that the queen would indeed do what you thought a queen did, your highness."

"You mean they would then birth all Changelings for their hive?" Twilight asked slightly surprised that they could switch so easily.

The filly nodded. "Yes, but I don't know if they could switch back, and it sounded like it was just a one time thing aswell, not to mention that it sounded like those Changelings would grow up at a rapid pace, plus since they'd give up their normal reproductive way, they wouldn't be able to produce an heir at that point either."

Twilight was slightly troubled by how this was worded. "What do you mean? Wouldn't the ones they birth at that point all be their offspring?"

This time the filly shook her head. "Not in the same way your highness, you see only queens can birth other queens, and they do so in order to have an heir if something were to ever happen to them, they often decide against having more then one till one leaves a hive to make a hive of their own, this way a hive is always able to continue, but a queen and a normal Changeling are born in completely different ways."

"Different ways? What do you mean?" Twilight quickly asked as she was noting it all down, not even looking up as she asked.

"Well, a Changeling normally lays eggs, out of which a larvae then emerges that later on makes a chrysalis around them before becoming a normal nymph, something I'm quite happy for since a Changeling nymph already has a sharp horn when they emerge, but a queen births a nymph straight away, much like how ponies birth foals… It can be quite painful I've heard, but it seems like it causes no permanent damage for a queen, and if done correctly it causes no real damage to start with." The filly answered.

"I see, I see… I suppose that means my birth likely went like it would have normally have happened anyway then." Twilight said more to herself then to them, as she considered what might have happened to her mother if it had been different then what it should have been.

Twilight thought as she considered what she should ask next, when she remembered something else they said earlier. "Earlier on, you said you would like to become slaves to me if I were to ever make a hive of my own, why would you want that? Why not just stay as servants or something?"

There was a short buzz as the Changelings talked to each other through the hivemind, before the filly spoke up. "Your highness, we may serve you and do anything you'd like for you, but you should know that our status has not changed, we are still exiles and not servants, we serve you by force in a way, we may have asked for your permission, but other queens would never accept it in that way when you have your own hive, they will only see it as ourselves forcing our services on you, while actual servants need to be part of the hive, they allow such selfishness when a queen has yet to form a hive in order for them to quickly get a working hive, but they will hunt us if we continue to do so once you have one… But a slave status will mean we are in their eyes forced to serve you, regardless of whether we became as such willingly, we also won't be allowed to get linked up to the actual hivemind, and they will allow at least that much, but we at least will also be allowed to retain this clear false hivemind you have provided us, they would likely take it away from us forcefully otherwise."

"What!? But I'm the one that gave it to you… Granted I didn't realize I did, but you did nothing wrong, why would they take it from you just because your exiled?" Twilight asked in a worried rush.

"It's exactly because we are exiles, your highness." The filly answered. "They can't risk us getting our thoughts together in an orderly manner and possibly try to form some kind of rebellion, and becoming exiles wouldn't be much of a deterrent to others if all that happens is we lose our life force, seeing as we tend to already give it up normally to protect the hive, even if it is allot more this way."

"I-I see… I suppose it makes sense in a way." Twilight replied, when another thought came to her. "Hmm, I really don't like the idea of slaves though, so since you want to be that close to me and I don't want slaves, how about instead I take you as my own hi…"

"NO!" All the foals in the room suddenly shouted at the same time, startling Twilight who backed away while also feeling a bit hurt from the sudden rejection, the red filly quickly spoke before the feelings could fully manifest themselves though. "We're sorry your highness, but you mustn't! It's not safe for you, there's already a great risk taking one exile into your own hive, but to take a whole hive worth of exiles as your own would… Well, I'm not really sure what it would do, but it can't be good, that's for sure… So we won't let you do that, we won't let you risk yourself, even if you order us to."

The reason for their outburst made Twilight feel slightly better, but a questioned started to nag at the back of her head after that. "But didn't you tell me earlier about an exiled that returned to a hive? What could be so dangerous that you'd refuse? They even got to live to about half the normal age for a Changeling, didn't they?"

"Yes, and that's also exactly why it's dangerous your highness, and why you mustn't do it." The filly replied, making Twilight only more confused, so the filly continued explaining. "I also told you that when Changelings grow older they require more love, right?" As Twilight nodded, the filly continued. "Well even if they were accepted back into the hive, a previous exile should still be seen as less then other Changelings, and it's already hard for Changelings to grow that old normally, yet that one was given all the love they needed to grow that old, it likely starved the rest of the hive, so something must happen to the thought process of the other Changelings and perhaps even the Queen's thoughts when a exile is brought back into a normal hivemind, so you mustn't ever do so your highness, not even with a single exile, let alone a whole hive worth of exiles."

Twilight wanted to say she would be able to find a solution to this, but she also knew that at the time, she knew too little of this to even start thinking of other options, what if there really wasn't a solution? Or what if she only made things worse? Perhaps some day she would find a way, but for now she knew it was best to just leave it at that. "I see…" She then sighed, before she looked back at the filly before her. "If I ever do find a way to solve that issue though, will you at least consider joining a hive again?"

The filly looked to be in thought as the buzzing sound filled Twilight's mind again, and once it stopped the filly answered. "Normally we'd say no, but after what you did for us and what we saw you were capable of, we'll consider it… But we won't join yours till it's proven to work at least! So you'll have to find another queen that's willing to let you try on her hive, we don't want you to risk your own mind your highness, we owe you too much for that, and your likely meant for great things in the future."

She wanted to say that she wouldn't risk others for it, but Twilight knew that they wouldn't accept no for an answer, perhaps she could convince them over time however, or find other exiles to try it with, so for now she agreed to their terms. "Alright, and I have to ask, but I keep hearing a buzzing sound every so often in my head, I'm guessing that's the hivemind, or the false hivemind you have, will this be a problem?"

"As far as we know it shouldn't." The filly replied as she thought for a moment. "Queens and princesses have at times spoken to exiles through false hiveminds, in fact their the ones that originally made it and gave us the knowledge for it, they did so in order to know when we're around and want to tell us something, usually it's used to simply let us know of certain expansions of their territories and that we're too close to them, but at times it's also used for small orders when a princess wants to start a hive of her own and has too few drones at the time, after that we would still have to leave their territory unless we're enslaved however… But as far as we know, you’re the first one to clear up the hivemind as you did…" The filly thought again and Twilight heard the buzzing sound again soon after, but this time it almost seemed to suddenly cut off partly through, the filly still seemed to think for a few moments more before she looked at Twilight again. "Sorry your highness, but because we don't fully know what you did, we felt it best to cut you off from it for now, we'll see if perhaps we can make a second false hivemind over this one just to be able to communicate with you, and perhaps not use the one you gave us for when another queen would try to talk to us aswell."

"So that's why it felt like it suddenly cut off… I'm sorry, I suppose I made things more difficult for you in the long run huh?" Twilight replied as she felt a bit responsible for any future issues they might get with some hives.

The filly shook her head. "Not at all your highness, it may cause a few issues if a hive tries to contact us before we figure it out, but you saved the minds of many of us already, and there aren't many of us to start with."

Twilight looked slightly confused. "What do you mean? I mean there's about twenty of you here right now, surely if so many of you are able to come here freely, then even more of you must wait back where you came from."

The filly however looked to the side with a sad expression. "Most of us don't survive for very long on our own, many of us go insane before we even find other exiles to form a false hivemind with, and at that point there's no saving them… We have about a dozen others adult Changelings back home, and most of those are the ones that are recovering from almost going insane, but a few others were left to take care of them and some of our nymphs. The rest of us wanted to come and thank you for what you did for us in fact, and to see you in person, we wanted to make sure you were really real…"

Twilight looked down a bit as she regretted saying that. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize there were so few of you left, I didn't mean to… Wait, did you just say nymphs? There are nymphs that were exiled!?" She was shocked by hearing that.

The filly quickly spoke up before Twilight could say or do anything else. "Ah! Of course not your highness! No queen would condemn a nymph for something… Well, as far as we know of at least, the nymphs in question are our own, most of us know not to get them since we'd only condemn them, but some of us just want to have families… Even if we regret it shortly after we do so, since we know what's in store for them in the future… We can't even connect them into our false hivemind either, since the first connection with a nymph can only be made by a queen." Tears were forming on the filly's face before her disguise suddenly fell and a female adult Changeling stood there, who suddenly busted into tears. "I'm sorry little one, I was too selfish and yearned for something of my own, I didn't know!" She then suddenly yelled at nopony in particular.

Twilight was stunned, shocked and felt sorry for her all at once, she then hugged the Changeling before her once she got over being stunned. "I shouldn't have said anything there, I'm sorry."

The Changeling didn't know what to do, no queen would show such weakness in public, sure they knew the queens cared for those in their hives, and Twilight showed the same care for them as a queen does to their own hives, but even then they would only do such things in private, yet here Twilight was, doing just that, for a moment she wanted to push her away as it felt disrespectful, but the gentle care and love she felt in the hug made her tear up even more and she fell into the hug as she hugged back, her tears fully flowing out now as she cried till she couldn't cry no more, and the other Changelings there let her, some even joining in the hug as they cried and dropped their disguises aswell, likely for their own nymphs or for hers.

After everyling was done crying and regained themselves, they thanked Twilight and apologized for doing so. "Please, there's no need to apologize, I just did what I felt was right, and I'm sorry for asking in the first place." Twilight told them as she thought to herself, wondering if there was a way to save the nymphs, when all of a sudden a idea came to mind. "Wait, if a nymph can only make their first connection to a hivemind with a queen, then that means they don't have whatever a exile has that causes the issues, right"

"It could be inherited from us perhaps." One of the still disguised Changelings said in reply.

Twilight shook her head however. "No, if it effects the mind directly, then it wouldn't be inherited just one generation over, perhaps if dozens of generations all had the same thing it could become intertwined with their DNA, but before that it would likely just be some kind of mental issue caused by something going wrong with the mind of the individual, even beings that have genetic memory aren't influenced that quickly, so their shouldn't be effected."

"If what your saying is true your highness… Then our nymphs have a chance to live if a queen would allow them to connect with them." The Changeling that ha been talking to her all this time said, but quickly looked defeated with her thoughts. "But where would we even find a queen willing to do so? They likely would just think we'd be lying…"

Twilight puffed her chest. "What do you mean where would you find one?" Magenta fire flashed over Twilight as she turned into her true form. "There's one standing right here, isn't there?… Though I have to admit that I don't exactly know how to create a whole hivemind from scratch, but I'm willing to try at least."

The Changelings were torn between what to do, before the one that had done most of the talking spoke. "We can't ask that of you… We'd love to save our nymphs, but you should think of your own hive first, other hives would only think yours is infected if we did so, they wouldn't lend you any aid, perhaps even attack you to root out any problems they'd think you'd cause for them, you won't be granted any aid from any of them… Plus our nymphs are likely only ever going to be simple drones who would be unable to aid you as much as a special type would, we'd only drag you down more."

Twilight looked at her with the same commanding look she had when she had commanded them in the dream scape. "I won't condemn a child for the actions of their parents, plus they don't need to know, I could just tell them that the hive I was originally from was destroyed or something and I managed to escape with those nymphs only, which would also explain why I'd sought out you exiles in order to build us a new hive, and if any of them knew any of you had nymphs, then you could simply tell them they died shortly before I showed up, perhaps a beast came along and stole them, the everfree forest is awfully dangerous afterall, now isn't it?"

The Changeling before Twilight was a bit overwhelmed by this, as she then considered it. "I… I suppose so, but we couldn't just go and lie to a queen while we're exiles, that would be disre.."

Twilight was the one interrupting her this time round. "Disrespectful? That's only if you don't belong to another hive, now isn't it? And while a slave isn't connected to the hivemind, from what you told me, they do still belong to that hive, right? Then there really shouldn't be an issue there, right?"

The Changelings all blinked for a moment before what she told them sunk in, and the one before her stared to talk. "Are… Are you saying you'll accept us as a slave class your highness?"

A slightly sour expression appeared on Twilight's face for a second before she recomposed herself and took on a serious expression once more. "If that's what it'll take to save those nymphs, then yes, but I'd like it if you didn't think of yourselves as such, besides being unable to connect to the real hivemind and being called as such, I won't see you as slaves, and neither should any of you, or any that will be in this hive for that matter, though I suppose we would have to pretend if other hives visit." She wondered if there was some way around it if others were to visit though, especially if that book had been right about ambassadors being a thing between hives.

Twilight suddenly felt several emotions that felt like hope, happiness and a few others she couldn't quite place, perhaps a happy kind of sadness or something was there aswell, but regardless of what they were, they seemed to come from the Changelings themselves, as happy tears seemed to flow from some of their faces, including the one that had talked to her so often now.

Twilight couldn't help but let out a small smile as she realized just how much this meant to them, but it turned to a slight frown soon after. "I don't want to create another problem here, but I still need to learn how to make a hivemind from scratch though, I don't even know how to use it yet either, I mean I never even needed it or connected to one before, perhaps I didn't need it because I'm a hybrid or perhaps because of the spell that kept me in stasis, so could any of you perhaps teach me how to do it?"

The Changeling in front of her thought for a moment. "We don't know how one is created to be honest, but we do know that a queen decides to integrate their daughter in a hivemind when they notice them making a small hivemind of their own with another nymph, which creates a special bond between the princess and the nymph it happened with, that nymph then usually becomes something like their personal maid or advisor or something depending on their class, it tells the queen that the princess is ready to be connected into the hivemind while they slowly learn how to deal with it, together with the other nymph… We don't know how it happens, but I think it means it's inherent, that the first connection just happens… I don't know if it would teach you how to do it, but perhaps it would give you a hint to simply try."

"Hmm, it's our best bet… Alright, let's try it, take me to them." Twilight said as she reapplied her disguise.

The Changelings bowed in respect as if just given an order and one by one headed for the door, quickly turning back into their adult pony disguises before going outside, once the last one went through the door Twilight followed them as they headed for the forest.


=====+++=====


As they went through the forest and dropped their disguises, Twilight noticed they didn't seem to come across any dangerous creatures, sure they came across some woodland critters like a bear or some squirrels and such, but no timberwolves and what not, even though this part of the forest tended to be known to have plenty of them, she wondered for a moment if these Changelings simply knew how to evade them, or if the creatures were afraid of them, perhaps the Changelings were the dangerous creatures of these parts themselves and acted like them just to keep ponies out of these reaches, she quickly made a mental note to ask them at a later date though, since she could see some buildings through the trees in the distance.

Once they got closer it reminded her of the one she had seen in the collective dream, though it had seemed allot nicer in the dream itself, these houses looked like they were just barely standing, they even resembled sheds more then actual houses, there were also allot less of them, there couldn't be more then three or four of them, and in the distance she could see the mountain that in the dream had held the entrance to that cave.

As the mountain got closer into view however, it seemed like they had attempted to carve a cave into it, but unlike in the dream, this one only went several feet in, as it looked like amateurs had done it with crude tools rather then have that professional look from the dream, clearly they needed more then just a clear hivemind, they needed a leader, someling that didn't just tell them what to do, but also how to do it, and it dawned on Twilight that she had volunteered for this position, this realization made her swallow as she wondered if she was up to the task, but she also didn't plan to back down now that it had come to this.

When they got to the buildings, some of the Changelings that had stayed there to recover or take care of them got outside to bow before Twilight, she wanted to tell them they didn't need to, but from what she had been told, she doubted that they would listen, so she just let them before looking around a bit more. "Where are the nymphs? I don't see them anywhere." She then asked.

One of the Changelings that was bowing raised his head and pointed at one of the buildings. "Their in there your highness, we thought it was safer for them to stay in the same building till the others would return."

"Thank you… Hmm…" Twilight thought for a moment as she realized that she never asked the names of any of them… Did they even have names of their own? She certainly hoped so, it would be troubling to have to call to them with a 'hey you' kind of way, she also wondered if perhaps Changelings had some other way to call for each other or perhaps the hivemind had some way of making it easier, she then realized that the Changelings were staring at her as if wondering what they should do, and then she realized why. "Ah! Sorry… I tend to get lost in my thoughts sometimes…" She then looked at the one who had just answered her, before she looked at the one who had answered her questions while still at the library. "It also dawned on me that I don't know your names, do Changelings have names?"

The Changeling from the library made apologetic bow. "I'm sorry for not telling you straight away your highness, I'm N194TD454, and the one you just talked to is called 74CK544D3."

Twilight blinked for a few moments, they called those names? They were designations or classifications at best, this just wouldn't do. "Right, first thing first then, I'm not going to call any of you like that, those aren't names, and while I definitely could remember all of them, I need something I can say quickly in case of an emergency, plus it would make talking to any of you troubling if I had to keep saying that."

The Changelings looked at each other confused, since this was what they had always thought as normal and didn't see anything wrong with it, plus a queen never really 'talked' to lowly drones, let alone exiles unless they needed something specific, normally a single command was given either to all of them at the same time, or other Changelings would relay said orders, it was already odd for them to answer questions, but to have conversations with a queen? That concept didn't ever even come to their minds, 74CK544D3 then decided to speak up. "Well… I don't know why you'd bother your highness, but the nymphs have lately been playing some game that might help slightly, though I don't know if it'll really work."

"Hmm? A game? What kind of game would grant you names?" Twilight asked a bit confused about this.

"It wouldn't really grant us names as much as change what we already got, since they may not be names to you your highness, but we have used them all our lives and for us they are names, so perhaps we could use their game to make it so we keep our names but their different for you… At least I hope it'll work." He then replied.

Twilight contemplated this for a moment before she spoke again. "Alright, so how does it work?"

"Uhm… I think they do something to numbers and letters, I don't truly understand how it works to be honest, I only heard them mention it a few days ago to be honest, but I'm sure they could tell you your highness." 74CK544D3 then told her.

"Hmm, very well, I suppose I have even more of a reason to go visit them now then I originally had." Twilight then said as she headed for the building the nymphs were at, but not before thanking him for his help.

Once she stood in front of the door however, some slight doubt crept in the back of Twilight's mind, something N194TD454 quickly noticed. "Is something wrong your highness?" She then asked out of concern.

Twilight looked at the Changeling and then at herself. "It's just that… I don't want to scare them, I'm not sure how they would react to me being like this…"

N194TD454 slightly cocked her head and raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Like what your highness?"

Twilight let out a deep sigh and motioned for her pony parts before motioning to her Changeling parts. "I'm a hybrid, and not even a fully fused one at that, I actually look more like I was assembled with parts from both races, I know you and the others accept me as I am, but I'm imagining a nymph isn't much different from a foal mentally, so they might get frightened if they see me like this… And I doubt they'd trust me if I turn into my pony form…"

"Ah, I see what you mean…" N194TD454 said as she thought for a moment. "Well, if that's the case, then why not turn into a full Changeling form your highness?"

"You can turn into other Changelings?" Twilight then asked, wondering if that was ever used to infiltrate other hives.

"Well, sure, we can turn into pretty much anything or anyling with enough skill, magical energy and training, it doesn't really do much good to turn into another Changeling normally though, as we can instinctively notice when someling isn't who they appear, it's even easier if their from another hive since their not connected to the hivemind of that hive, it's usually just used for party tricks or… 'Nightly events'…" N194TD454 then paused as she blushed slightly, clearly there was a story there, but Twilight wasn't sure she'd want to know, she's never been one for romance or… This anyway. "But I've heard that if you put a disguise of yourself over yourself it won't be noticed, I'm not sure how they found that out though… But perhaps it means that if you imagine your full Changeling form and turn into it, it'll work in the same way."

"I see…" Twilight replied and wondered for a moment if it would be as easy to her as putting on her pony disguise had become, she also wondered for a moment just how exactly she would look like as a full Changeling, though since only her left hoof and wings looked truly like that of a pony, it wasn't that hard to imagine, but then she remembered how Chrysalis had looked when she first showed up and realized something, Chrysalis had some kind of band around her mid section, her hair also looked tattered and filled with holes, and all the Changelings also had some kind of shell that was oddly enough under their wings, this just made it harder for her to decide.

N194TD454 got a bit concerned that it took so long for her to decide since it seemed simple enough to just alter the few obvious pony parts she had. "Are you alright your highness?"

Twilight snapped out of I and looked at her. "Oh! Heh, sorry, I was just thinking…"

"About what your highness?" N194TD454 Asked in return.

"Well… Do queens and princesses look different from regular Changelings by any chance?" Twilight then asked.

N194TD454 Was shocked that she had forgotten to mention it. "Forgive me your highness, I forgot to mention it, but that's correct, their eyes are just like yours while ours are mostly one color, they also tend to have different color schemes from each other, though it's not uncommon for a princess to have the same color scheme or something similar as her mother." She had planned to just keep it to the royalty side, but remembered that Twilight liked to know as much as possible, so she added to that "Us normal Changelings tend to inherit one of the colors in the color scheme from the queen we're linked to, though that can take a few generations to fully kick in if it's really different from our original one"

"I see, anything else?" Twilight asked as she wanted to know just how generic some things could be for Changelings.

"Well, a queen also has antennae on her head in the shape of a crown, though a princess doesn't have those, she usually gets the first one when she makes her first connection, and as she grows used to it, more keep coming and fusing together till the form the crown like shape, so you shouldn't have to worry about that at least, and queens and princesses have manes and tails much like ponies do, though not as intact as them… Let's see, what else…" N194TD454 said as she thought for a moment. "Oh! That's right, you may have noticed, but some of us have slightly different wings from each other, that's got to do with the queen aswell, our wings resemble the wings of our queens slightly, though not by much, but their always membrane type wings… Also, we all have a shell on our backs and queens and princesses usually have a discoloration around their mid section as if some kind of band is around it, the colors for those tend to vary aswell though."

"Hmm, so I was right about that at least." Twilight thought to herself. "Thanks, that really helps, I think I can form a complete picture now."

"It's my honor to be able to help you, your highness." N194TD454 replied.

Twilight now focused on what her full Changeling form would look like, she imagined holes and a slightly tattered look for her mane and tail, yet otherwise it would look the same, imagining how her hoof would look like was easy, and the band around her mid section would have the colors of her mane, while the shell on her back would be a full lavender color instead of a blackened version like her carapace was, as for her wings, she decided to have them look as much like her normal wings as possible, yet turned into bug like membrane wings filled with holes, the crown she left away as it seemed like that might come on it's own, lastly she figured she might just aswell add a little height to herself, since it seemed like Chrysalis was allot bigger and so were Celestia and Luna, she wondered if she simply had yet to grow to her actual size or if this had a different reason, but she would leave that for another time, once she imagined her new form completely, she then let her purple flame roll over herself.

N194TD454 looked as Twilight started to change, she hadn't expected her to make several of the changes like the wings looking as they did or the sudden increase in height, but she couldn't help but think she looked so much more regal now and couldn't help but bow down before her.

Twilight then opened her eyes and felt like everything looked a bit smaller now, checking herself over she saw that it had all been a success and realized she was about the size of Luna now. "Hmm, perhaps I overdid it a little bit with the hei…" She suddenly noticed that N194TD454 was bowing before her. "Uhm… What are you doing?"

"Excuse me your highness, but I can't help but bow before your radiance, you truly are worthy of being a queen in my humble opinion." N194TD454 replied.

It was making Twilight a bit uncomfortable however. "Please rise, I didn't mean for you to suddenly bow like that… Perhaps I should tone it down a bit afterall."

N194TD454 looked at her a bit shocked. "But your highness, this is surely what you would look like if you weren't a hybrid, any changes to this would likely all just feel false, and the nymphs might not accept it unless it feels as natural as this."

Twilight sighed. "Fine, I'll keep it, but just for them, and please don't bow like that again, for a moment there I thought you were actually trying to stick your head through the ground." She said jokingly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Alright your highness, I will keep any bows from this moment onwards to a honorable degree." N194TD454 as the joke went over her head as if it was Pinkie Pie seeing a cotton candy cloud.

Twilight grumbled inwardly before she looked at the door. "Alright then, how about you do the honors? I'm sure they'll react better if they see a familiar face first."

"It would be my pleasure your highness." N194TD454 said and she opened the door, a small chirping sound could be heard at first and Twilight realized it wasn't inside her head.

Then all of a sudden a small Nymph looking like a small and cuter version of N194TD454 suddenly came running and jumped towards N194TD454. "Momma!"

N194TD454 caught the little nymph with her hooves and a smile on her face. "Hello there my precious little one, have you been good?

The little nymph nodded furiously. "I have momma, I did just as I was told, we all did, we didn't let out a single peep till you would all return and…" She then noticed Twilight. "W-who is that momma?"

Twilight walked up to them with an as gentle smile as she could manage, which was a bit hard as she wasn't used to her sharp teeth just yet. "Why hello there little one, my name is Twilight Starshine, what's your name?"

The little nymph tried to hide a bit in her mother's hooves, as the toothy smile looked more scary then soothing, even to a Changeling, but N194TD454 gently shook her head. "Don't be rude to the queen little one, you don't need to be scared, she's going to help you and the other nymphs survive." Some of the other nymphs came out of the darkness and into the light when they heard N194TD454 mention a queen, as she then looked at Twilight apologetically. "I'm sorry your highness, she's never seen royalty before… And she doesn't have a name yet, the queen is usually the one to name our nymphs when their integrated into the hivemind, plus we couldn't bear to name them if we were going to lose them at some point."

Twilight looked a bit sad at that, anyling deserved a name, no matter how silly of a name it seemed to her, and she also noticed that she was talking about their immanent demise with them just standing there. "Is it really alright to say that with them right here? What if I can't do it in the end?"

N194TD454 shook her head slightly. "We don't keep anything from our kin and we don't lie to them, to Changelings death is a time of celebration aswell as sorrow, though I must admit it's more of the latter when their younger, but we won't let that stop us from spending as much time with them as possible and let them have as many good memories as we can give them, for that we let them know so they know they don't need to hold back and can ask us for anything, and if we can do it without putting anyling in danger, then we will."

Twilight was about to respond to that, but N194TD454's daughter suddenly looked at Twilight with hopeful eyes larger then should be possible and asked. "Queen Twilight? Are you… Are you going to save us? Does that mean I can spend more time with momma?"

It almost didn't seem fair, the look almost melted Twilight's heart right on the spot and made her yell out that she would for the whole world to hear, she managed to compose herself before she did however and instead looked at the nymph with a gentle smile, this time it actually resembles a gentle smile aswell, the words of N194TD454 about how they respect death and don't lie about it still ringing in her ears. "I will try little one, I will do all I can and I won't give up till either I succeed, or the time comes."

The little nymph smiled and looked at the others. "Did you hear that everyling? Queen Twilight is going to do all she can to save us, we might be able to live with our families!"

Some small happy chittering could be heard, as they seemed hopeful and happy, at this point Twilight knew that she wouldn't allow herself to fail, she would save them, even if it was the last thing she would ever do.


=====+++=====


It turned out to be allot harder then Twilight had hoped it would have be, now it's not like she had expected it would be easy or anything, but she had hoped that it would turn out allot easier then she thought it would be, just so she could save them quickly, unfortunately it was likely going to be just as hard as she had though it would be, seeing as it had already taken a few weeks and she had yet to make any progress whatsoever.

A few days after she had started this project, she had let Luna know what she was doing in the dream realm, Luna had been surprisingly supportive of this, it once again reminded Twilight that she truly excepted her for what she truly was and she couldn't help but feel happy as her sense of duty to her Changelings was slowly being reinforced, Luna had also told her she would tell her friends she was save and sound.

Twilight then sighed for a moment as she realized she hadn't really thought about anypony during the time she had spent here, perhaps after she was done after this all, she would go and visit them to see how they'd react to her real self, if she wouldn't go straight for their raw thoughts in their dreams like last time that is, she really cursed herself for even thinking it was a good idea at the time.

During her time here Twilight also had them construct a actual decent house for her, she had given the Changelings some pointers on how to make some structurally sound buildings, and they had taken to the instructions extremely well, doing it all till the smallest detail, which was a good thing as she really didn't feel safe sleeping inside or outside of the buildings that were there originally, she also didn't want them getting hurt in those buildings, so she ordered them to make several of those buildings for themselves and then take down the old ones.

In fact they had taken to it so well that rather then just four buildings that could fall apart at any time, they now each had their own small house that would pass any safety instruction, actually turning this place into a small village, they had even started to try to improve the buildings on their own by making them blend in a bit with their environment without skipping any safety issues, it almost seemed like they were starting to thrive more then they had been while they had been alone, and with each new house they seemed to be able to do it quicker and quicker all the while never skipping on any part, Twilight wondered if it was because of the clearer false hivemind, or if it was more because they now had a queen once more, perhaps it was even just because they felt hopeful for the future once more.

"… Huh, I wonder when I started to actually consider myself as a queen." Twilight suddenly asked herself out loud, she hadn't realized how quickly or easily the thought had come to her, but before she could further this thought, she heard a knock on her door and broke out of her thoughts. "Ah! I didn't realize it was this time already." She then got up to open the door to see a familiar Changeling and her daughter standing in front of it and she smiled gently at the little nymph. "Hello there little one, are you ready to give it another go today?"

The nymph nodded and looked at her sympathetically. "But only if you promise not to go overboard again your highness…"

Twilight was a bit surprised by this as N194TD454 then spoke up. "I got to agree with her, last time you were so out of it at the end that you had to rest up for the rest of the day, it's no good for you to overexert yourself your highness, you haven't even gone to get some love energy ever since you came here, you may not need as much as anyling else because of your true self, but that's no reason to starve yourself of it completely."

Twilight had a slightly sheepish look on her face, in the time she had been here the Changelings certainly had opened up to her way of thinking slightly, but only with moments like these, she was touched by how much they cared for her though. "I'm sorry Nightdash, it's not like I don't want to, but I don't want to risk having to deal with anypony that might recognize me till I get this solved at least."

Nightdash who had been known as N194TD454 before the nymphs had explained to Twilight how their little numbers game had worked then sighed. "I understand your reluctance your highness, but you could just turn into some other pony form in order to harvest some love for yourself at least."

This time it was Twilight's time to sigh as she looked apologetic. "I know… But I don't feel comfortable taking on the forms of other ponies just yet."

Nightdash shook her head slightly. "I know, I know… But we worry for you your highness… Tell you what your highness, you focus on doing what you need to do for today, and I'll go to Ponyville to harvest a bit more then I normally do, but you have to accept it this time, no backing out like last time, you hear me?"

Twilight winced slightly before she let down her head in a slightly defeated way. "Alright… I promise."

It's not like Twilight was against taking the love they would offer her at times, but when she had first asked how they transferred the love energy from one to another, she was shocked to find out the actual way, while they had told her that large hives had actual storages for doing so, the knowledge to do so was not something that any of them had here, so instead they used a much easier and older way by holding it inside themselves, and if they hah to feed another they would transfer it directly by opening their mouths and putting them together, it looked to Twilight like they were kissing passionately, but for them there were no actual romantic feelings involved, this didn't stop Twilight from thinking of it as such however.

The nymph smiled as she looked up to Twilight. "I hope to one day become a collector and get the best of love for you your highness."

Twilight was a bit touched, but couldn't help have a shiver go up her spine as she didn't even want to think of that. "Perhaps one day, but I'd like to find out how to store the energy before that day if possible… Now then, let's get started, shall we? I'm sure your mother has to go now if she's to make it back by nightfall" She then quickly added as she tried to steer the conversation away from this topic.

Nightdash bowed slightly. "I suppose I should." She then looked at her daughter. "You be good now, you hear?"

The little nymph had a happy expression on her face as she nodded. "I will momma, happy hunting's."

Nightdash then left with a smile on her face as the nymph went inside, ready to once more try to form a hivemind with Twilight.


=====+++=====


It had taken a little longer then Nightdash had wanted to get to Ponyville, mostly because the Timberwolves in this side of the forest had gotten a bit more active in the last week, but it was nothing for a Changeling to worry about, they knew these woods better then anyling and could easily disguise themselves as a part of it if they needed to.

She had of course put on her disguise before she got out of the forest itself, so she walked into the village with confidence as she looked around. "Hmm, now lets see, which of these ponies are emitting plenty of love energy?" She then thought to herself, before a certain pink mare suddenly made her jump as she just seemed to appear behind her out of nowhere.

"Hi!" Pinkie exclaimed as the new mare jumped from her appearing as she did. "I haven't seen you around here before, you must be new in town!" Her mane then deflated slightly as she looked sorry. "Normally I'd throw you a party, but I'm currently looking for a friend of mine, perhaps you've seen her, she's a purple unicorn with a dark indigo mane and tail that have a pink and purple streak through them, she goes by the name Twilight and has a star like cutiemark."

Nightdash blinked a few times. "N-no, I can't say I have… I-I got to go now, bye!" She then quickly ran off, this had to be one of those 'friends' queen Twilight had told her about, one of those that in Nightdash's eyes had betrayed the queen.

After running for a while, she ducked into one of the alleyways and looked back. "Good, she's not following me."

"Who's not following you?" A voice behind her then asked.

"Some odd pink pony that…" Nightdash suddenly realized somepony was behind her so she turned her head, only to find a gryphon look at her, startling her and making her fall backwards towards some rocks.

The gryphon quickly caught her before she fell though. "Whoa! Careful there, those rocks could leave a nasty gash if you fell onto them." She then put her back down. "But your running from a pink mare huh? Must be Pinkie Pie I suppose, she's the only one of these ponies that's crazy enough to cause such a reaction on their first meeting." She said before she put out her claw as if wanting to shake her hoof. "The name's Gilda."

Nightdash was a bit careful, but she had just saved her, so she decided to return the gesture. "I'm Nightdash."

"Nightdash? Really?" Gilda replied as they shook. "You’re the second Dash I've gotten to meet then I suppose."

"Uh… Say, excuse me for asking, but what are you doing here? And how come your so.." Nightdash began.

Gilda smirked a bit at that. "Friendly? Heh, you should have seen me when I first came here, I didn't think much of any of the ponies but my friend Dash and couldn't care less, heck I didn't even think much of any other gryphon, but after what happened here, I was in a really bad place and had planned a bit of revenge… Then I had a really fateful meeting with a unicorn called Twilight, she invited me over for dinner as I was starving and we talked, I never thought I'd ever think an egghead like her would be so cool, it really changed my perspective a bit, so I'm more… Open these days."

"O-oh, I see…" Nightdash said as she then thought to herself. "That's odd, the queen didn't tell us she had a gryphon friend living here, I didn't even know gryphons were allowed to take residence in Equestria."

"In any case, I'm actually visiting today, I was hoping to see Twilight today, but everypony here seems to not have seen her for weeks now, could you tell me where she is?" Gilda then asked.

Nightdash suddenly stared at her with wide eyes and slightly shocked. "M-me? W-why would I know where she is if any of the ponies actually living here don't even know? I-I’m just visiting you know."

Gilda raised an eyebrow, before she leveled her head towards Nightdash and glared into her eyes. "I'm a gryphon, I can smell her scent on you, and it's fresh, so I know you met her recently, now tell me where she is, or I tell the ponies here that they have a Changeling amongst themselves, and don't try to deny it either, I saw you long before you came out of the forest, so I saw you disguise yourself."

That quickly made Nightdash back away slightly as fear ran through her, but she quickly glared back with determination. "Go ahead! Tell them! I won't betray her, no matter what any of you do to me!"

This made Gilda look at her with confusion. "Betray her? What are you talking about?… Wait, what's going on here, are you trying to say she's hiding from the villagers here? What about her friends?" She saw that Nighdash didn't plan on talking however. "I'm not going to betray her either you know, she's the first real friend besides Dash that accepted me completely even though we're not even from the same race, plus she makes a mean burger, no way in Tartarus am I gonna betray her, so just cough it up already."

Nightdash was adamant about not telling her though. "No! I promised not to tell anypony.. Or anyone really."

Gilda just put her claw up to her own face and grumbled behind it. "Forget it, could you at least let her know I'm here?... No, tell her I'm at those ruins she told me about in the forest, I'll wait there for a day or so, if she really doesn't want to see anyone right now and doesn't show up, then I'll simply come back another time, but I want to return the favor and be there for her like she had been for me at least, so please tell her, alright?"

Nightdash was still a bit wary, but if it was just a message, she could perhaps do it, she was sure that even if Gilda tried to follow her, she could lose her by going to long way and through all the hidden caves and such, especially if she would turn into several woodland creatures whenever she would be hidden from sight. "Alright… But if I see you or anypony try to follow me, then the deal is off, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Gilda then sighed. "To be fair though, if you really met Pinkie already, then there's a chance one of them will try to follow you already, seeing as you get flustered easily when Twilight is mentioned."

"What? N-no I don't…" Nightdash said before she sighed. "Oh great, I should never have come here in the first place…" One pursuer she could easily shake off, but several? Especially without any specific numbers? That was going to be tough.

Gilda noticed her troubled look and sighed. "Listen, I could drop you off in the forest if you want, you can even pick where you want me to put you down, just turn into something they wouldn't find odd if they saw me hold it, this way even if they follow me, they would ignore you."

Nightdash didn't really want to rely on her, but it did seem like the best option right now, plus it would allow her to keep an eye on the environment a bit more then if she had to walk or fly back on her own. "I suppose so… Alright then, I'll trust you for now…" After she said that, she turned into what appeared to be a small wooden box.

"Yeah, that should work, they'll likely just think I came to pick something up or drop something off or something." Gilda said as she picked up Nightdash and took to the sky, before she headed for the forest.

Once in the forest and back down on the ground, Nightdash thanked Gilda for her help, and promised she'd let Twilight know as long as she would keep her promise to not follow her, after that they both headed in different directions, Gilda heading for the ruins while Nightdash went back to the village, but she still took the long way and used many hiding spots to often change into different woodland critters and such to prevent detection, eventually she made it back to the village though.

And once she did she instantly headed for Twilight's house and knocked on the door, as Twilight saw her she looked a bit confused and looked at the sky. "Nightdash? What are you doing back here already? I wasn't expecting you back till before sundown, it's just a bit past midday." Twilight then asked.

"Excuse me your highness, I had to cut my gathering short." Nightdash said, but before Twilight could ask what it was, she continued. "Pardon me for asking, but do you by any chance know a gryphon called Gilda?"

Twilight blinked a few times. "Gilda? Yeah, I do, she's one of my friends, why do you ask?"

Nightdash looked away slightly ashamed. "She smelled you on me and asked me to deliver a message to you, I'm sorry, I didn't expect a gryphon at all, so I didn't take any precautions for it."

"That's alright Nightdash, it's not like you could have known, I hardly ever know when she decided to just show up myself… So what's the message?" Twilight asked.

"She wanted to speak to you, she said she's in the ruins you had mentioned to her once before… Also, she saw me transform before I came out of the forest, so she knew I was a Changeling… I'm sorry." Nightdash said as she still looked ashamed for her mistakes.

Twilight sighed. "Well, that could have gone better then… But it seems like your fine though, so it's not all bad…" She then thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose I should go and see what she has to say then, it's not everyday she comes to these parts, and I suppose I should at least let her know I'm fine, it's not like Luna is in touch with her afterall." She then looked back inside. "Your mother is here for you little one, we'll have to postpone our session for today, it seems I have something to do right now."

After saying goodbye to the nymph and Nightdash, Twilight headed into the forest with the male Changeling named 74CK544D3, the one that had helped when she first got there, though by now his name had changed to Jackshade thanks to the numbers and letters game the nymphs had made up, traversing the forest was allot easier with one of them around, so they made quick progress, and they had taken on a pony form soon after leaving just to be on the safe side.


=====+++=====


Once they got to the ruins, Twilight had said she'd go in on her own, Jackshade didn't really like that though. "Your highness, are you certain that's wise? What if there are enemies around?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Jackshade, I'm just meeting up with a friend of mine, one who doesn't even know if I'll show up in fact, if anything I'd say that I'd have the drop on her if something were to happen, seeing as I'm likely here faster then she'd even expect." She could see he was still uncomfortable though. "If it makes you feel any better, then stand guard here for me, if you see anything worth noting, come tell me immediately, will that do?"

Jackshade thought for a moment and then nodded. "Very well your highness, I will let you know the moment something happens."

"Good, now then, I'll be back soon enough." Twilight replied before she went into the ruins and looked for Gilda, she didn't have to look for very long though, as she found her at the library. "Now here's a surprise, I didn't take you for the studious type." She then jokingly said as she walked up to the gryphon.

Gilda looked back at her and gave a small grin. "Yeah, well, you know how it is, you always seemed to like these things so much, I figured I may aswell give them a try for once." She jested back as she took a random book and opened it while pretending to read it, before she realized she really couldn't. "What the? What is all this gibberish?"

Twilight took one look at it and snickered. "That's in ancient ponish, I doubt most would be able to read it, so don't feel bad about that."

Gilda raised an eyebrow. "Judging from your reaction, you can though huh?"

"I won't deny it." Twilight said with a bit of a sing song voice.

Gilda let out a small laugh, before she looked at Twilight a bit seriously. "So then, all jokes aside, how are you doing? Are you in some kind of trouble or something?"

Twilight stammered at the sudden change. "I-I don't know what your talking about, I'm fine."

Gilda looked at Twilight with a deadpan expression. "Twilight… You can't fool me, there's something going on here, your hiding from your friends, or perhaps your hiding from the village itself, but your friends there are definitely included, and your even hiding where Changelings are, something is going on here, and I want to be there for you, like you were there for me when I almost did something I would have surely regretted." She then smiled as gentle as she could. "Now come on, tell me, you can trust me, I promise."

"I… I…I…" Twilight didn't know if she should really tell anyone, but she wanted to confide in someone, at the very least she wanted to let one of her friends know, and at first she had thought of doing so with one of the other elements, but Gilda was her friend aswell, and she had actually managed to find her, plus there was the fact that she would likely not tell anyone even if she wouldn't like her afterwards anymore, as such Twilight gave in to her desires to tell someone and sighed. "I… Found something out about myself… Something I never even knew and I'm… Afraid of what the others might think if they found out…"

Gilda raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That so, something you never knew about yourself huh?" She thought or a moment. "That wouldn't happen to be something along the lines of finding out you’re a Changeling yourself, now would it?"

Twilight sputtered. "You… How? How did you find out?"

" I did some thinking while I was waiting, with you eating meat as much as you did, even though I found out that ponies can't really process meat as well as carnivores or omnivores, aswell as you hiding with Changelings, and you telling me you were adopted a while ago, it all seemed to point to you finding out you were a Changeling and didn't know how to handle it… Also, Changelings don't really tend to be as protective towards others unless their Changelings themselves." Gilda said with a big knowing smile. "What? Did you think I was just some muscle brain that likes pranks?"

Twilight blinked a few more times as her mouth made a few motions while Gilda talked, as if she was trying to say something but didn't know where to start with, but that last part snapped her out of it. "What? No! Of course not, our conversations were getting more and more intellectual as time passed… But… You really don't care I'm a Changeling then?"

Gilda looked at her with a deadpan expression. "Twilight, you and Dash were the only two to ever look passed the racial barrier and made friends with me, plus you even saw who I could be and not just who I was at the time, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't return the gesture to you? Plus us gryphons never really had any issues with Changelings to start with, they let us be if we let them be, it's been that way for ages."

"I… Really? Gryphons really never had any issues with Changelings?" Twilight asked as she felt a bit more comfortable with her secret out and Gilda not really seeming to care.

"Yeah well, I suppose that's only logical though, gryphons aren't exactly know for their love and compassion, in fact most of us tend to be the complete opposite… I was even like that before I met you and Dash." Gilda admitted.

Twilight let out a small chuckle. "I'll say."

"Hey!" Gilda pretended to be hurt by that, but her smile gave it away and soon the both of them laughed at it, she then hit Twilight slightly on the shoulder. "So? How are you feeling now?"

Twilight let out a small relieved sigh. "A bit better, thanks… But to be honest, there's more to the story then me just being a Changeling."

"Oh? Now this I got to hear, what else is there?" Gilda asked as she was interested in hearing more.

"Well…" Twilight started and thought for a moment how to explain it properly, but instead opted with just saying it straight away. "I'm actually a Changeling, pony hybrid."

"A what now?" Gilda asked confused.

"A hybrid, it's when two races are combined int…" Twilight started, but was interrupted as Gilda placed one of her talons on Twilight's muzzle in a hushing motion.

"I know what a hybrid is Twilight." Gilda started. "I'm just a bit confused there, from what I know Changelings are closer to bugs then mammals, from what I know that should be impossible."

Twilight sighed. "Yeah, I think I should probably tell the whole story as it was explained to me, it might make more sense that way."

One explanation later, Gilda was looking at her with a expression that showed she was impressed. "I can't believe your father was that impressive, though seeing as he's also seen as the greatest unicorn amongst ponies till this day, I can certainly believe it… So you’re a thousand years older then you originally thought huh? And your not just any old Changeling but a princess or queen or whatnot, I have to say Twilight, it's never dull with you around."

This made Twilight giggle. "I'm glad your taking it so well, I certainly didn't."

"Yeah, well, I think it's easier to accept it if it's not happening to yourself I think, I likely would freak out if I ever found out something like that about myself." Gilda said as she seemed to think once more. "Alright then, show me."

"Huh? Show you what?" Twilight asked confused as to what Gilda might mean.

Gilda rolled her eyes. "Your true self egghead, I want to at least know what you really look like."

Twilight went slightly wide eyed. "Oh… Uhm… You won't freak out or anything, right?"

Gilda let out a frustrated sigh. "Twilight, we've already established that I do in fact not care what you really are, why would that change just by showing it to me? Plus I know what normal Changelings look like already, I can sorta imagine it already, even if it's different from their normal shape it's not that different, right?"

"Well… I suppose so." Twilight replied, before she sighed and focused, soon her purple flame went over her body and changed her back into her real form. "So… What do you think?"

Gilda looked her over a bit. "Not bad Twi, but how come it looks more like your parts were just thrown together rather then transition into one another?"

Twilight scratched her head as she thought about it. "I'm not sure, I think it has to do with both sides originally rejecting each other, I doubt anything other then chaos magic could have let parts that conflict with one another work as one in fact."

"Hmm? Why do you say that? Wouldn't something like those elements of harmony have helped aswell?" Gilda asked as she thought back on all those stories Twilight had told her.

Twilight shook her head. "No, I don't think so actually, while they do seem to balance things out, it seems like something that's completely the opposite of harmony has a too powerful a reaction rather then a solution to the problem, and the state of your own mind and heart also seem to influence them… When Celestia had used them on Luna she banished her to the moon, but when we used it, nothing happened at first and she released her Nightmare form herself." Twilight rubbed her chin. "I think that's because the elements didn't really see anything wrong with her other then a terrible rage, but Celestia did, so they opted for banishment till she would calm down or another solution was possible, and we just happened to be that solution, which is why with us it just did a lightshow basically."

"So where's this too powerful a reaction come into play?" Gilda asked.

"Well, you remember when I told you about Discord right?" Twilight started and continued after Gilda replied with an acknowledgement. "Well, when Luna and Celestia had wielded them, they turned Discord to stone, and the same happened when we used them on him, I think that's because of what he said about being the embodiment of chaos and 'disharmony', the two powers don't react well together and turning to stone might just be the least that could happen in my opinion… I've been doing some thinking as to why he would be as such though, seeing as it's not like he tried to cause disharmony on purpose, the chaos he caused was troubling yes, but it didn't feel truly evil or meant to cause any real issues other then annoyances, as extreme as some of them might have been that is… So I thought about what about him might be disharmonious then and came up with the thought that it could be his body itself." She then looked at her hooves. "So it likely would have had a bad reaction to me if it had been used on me."

Gilda thought for a moment. "But don't you use this harmony magic yourself now?"

"Well yeah, but that's different, my father learned it and because of that it was dormant inside of me, it might even be another reason why I was stillborn as it may have reacted badly to my body, but the chaos magic likely found a way to solve the conflict while it was finding ways to save me over those thousand years in stasis, so now it won't cause any issues with me, but had it been used on me before then, something bad would have likely have happened." Twilight told her the explanation just as she had formed it herself these past few weeks, she did have allot of time to come to terms afterall.

"Huh, I suppose so… This magic stuff goes over my head anyway, but I'm glad it worked at least, I wouldn't have had you as a friend if it hadn't, and I would have likely have done something bad." Gilda replied with a grin.

Twilight rolled her eyes." Oh please, you may have been a pain in the flank back then, but you weren't a bad gryphon at all."

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm the most badass gryphon out there." Gilda stated and took a pose she thought would look badass, but after a few seconds she could hear Twilight snicker, at first she then looked at her with a expression of false shock, before they both started laughing once more.

After their laughing fit ended, Twilight rubbed away a tear of joy. "Oh wow, I needed that, thanks Gilda."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Gilda then replied with a grin. "I'm here for you if you ever need a friend to talk to, remember that."

Twilight smiled gently. "I will, thanks again, though I highly doubt you'll be here precisely."

Gilda tapped her beak as she thought. "You never know, I may just decide to move to this place, I don't really feel at home back at gryphon rock anymore, but it's not like I could just move to a place where lots of ponies live just yet, not all of them are as friendly to other races as you or Dash afterall, but this place is far enough from Ponyville to not matter and it seems to be near where your staying right now aswell, so it only makes sense to stay here."

"Really? But these are just the ruins of the old castle, it's not like these are really livable, plus there's monsters out there." Twilight said out of concern.

Gilda just let out a phsth sound as if it was no big deal. "You should see the stuff we call houses back at gryphon rock, this place is a huge upgrade to that, this place at least has actual walls that seem to be able to hold their own weight, and those monsters out there are no big deal, that whole ravine that surrounds the place holds back most of them, and anything that could pass it likely isn't a big deal or if it is anything dangerous, I can just run away." She then looked at Twilight with a comforting look. "I can handle myself Twilight, you don't have to worry about me, us gryphons are plenty tough to start with… Unless you don't want me here that is."

"What!? No! That's not what I mean at all, I would love to have you nearby, it's just th…" Twilight was interrupted once more.

"Good, I'm glad you agree, I'll take this place as my new home, be sure to visit every so often now, you hear?" Gilda said with a victorious look.

"You…" Twilight let out a sigh and then chuckled. "Alright, you win, stay here if you want the forest is outside of Equestrian authority anyway, so it's not like anypony could stop you from claiming it… And I could use a friend nearby I guess."

Gilda nodded. "Perhaps when your comfortable and such, you could tell me where your staying so I could visit you aswell, but this will do for now, I wouldn't want to cause any unnecessary issues with the other Changelings there afterall."

"Yeah… Well, I should probably get going then, it's getting late and their probably getting restless with me gone for this long." Twilight then said as she saw the sun was starting to set.

"Alright, I should go back to gryphon rock myself, to get my stuff I mean, I should be back in a few days though, it's not like I have a whole lot there anyway, but there are one or two things I don't want to just leave behind at least." Gilda replied as they both headed for the exit.

After they both left the ruins, Twilight turned back into her full Changeling form and smiled, Jackshade who was with her while they walked back noticed this, aswell as something else and decided to speak up. "That must have been one good friend your highness."

Twilight looked at him slightly confused. "Huh? What makes you say that? Were you listening in or something?"

"Of course not, you told me to stand guard your highness, I wouldn't abandon my post just because I don't trust it, I was sure you would have a way of letting me know if something went wrong." Jackshade replied.

"Then what makes you say that?" Twilight asked even more confused now.

Jackshade smiled. "That's easy your highness, your smile is genuine and your completely full with passive love energy once more, and seeing that you both came out at the same time while you weren't wearing your disguise anymore, I can only imagine that she must truly care for you as a friend."

"I… Huh?" Twilight hadn't noticed it till now, but she really did feel allot more energetic and didn't feel hungry at all anymore, she realized that Jackshade was right about Gilda truly being a great friend then aswell, it's not like she didn't think it already mind you, but this just cemented it in place, and once more she smiled with a genuine smile. "She really is, huh? Let's go home Jackshade, I feel like perhaps I might be able to do this now."

That night, after they had gone back, Twilight asked Nightdash if she could get her daughter because she wanted to try it again, this time Twilight was allot more comfortable about the whole thing and she realized that she had subconsciously been holding herself back, she likely was afraid of what her friends would say if they found out that she wasn't just a Changeling hybrid, but that she decided to accept them as her own aswell, and it likely prevented her from forming a hivemind of her own, but now she knew that at the very least, she would always have one friend that supported her no matter what, so she tried once more.

And it had come allot easier to Twilight then she expected, the connection was almost instantaneous in fact, and it was so clear aswell, it was as if she couldn't just hear the nymph talk to her through her mind, but it was like her mind was connected in more ways then one, she felt as if she could use the nymphs mind as her own, as if her own mind was expanding in this way, and she could also notice that this was in fact not the case for the nymph herself, while she could definitely hear Twilight talk to her through the hivemind, she couldn't use it in the same way to expand her mind, Twilight wondered for a moment just how much potential this had, but she was brought back to reality when she realized that the Changelings around her had started to bow once more, when she asked why they were suddenly bowing, one of them pointed out that she had gotten her first antennae, which for some reason suddenly made her feel as giddy as she had been when she had first gotten her cutiemark, she almost would have jumped around in glee while shouting yes once more, but she managed to keep it to a single gleeful 'Yes!'

This day marked the first day of her own hive, and her ascension from a princess, to a queen, and Twilight couldn't be happier.

In the Badlands however, another Queen was plotting against Equestria, she would likely have decided against it if she had known of this new hive, but it's not like it was common knowledge afterall.