“Damn it!” I curse, pulling myself back on all fours, and rushing as fast as my tired self can up the cellar stairs.
”Eight! Trouble.”
Please, don’t ignore me.
I hear three loud crashes, each one signalling Eight’s jump down multiple stairs and cracking the wood in the place of impact.
She looks around, narrowing her eyes.
”What’s going on?” she says in a no-nonsense tone.
“Something happened to Four right outside,” I sneak towards the window.
The main door opens, and Four slinks inside. Eight watches her, scowling.
No… not her. Her eyes are locked on a spot behind her.
Nevermind.
“Four, what happened?”
She doesn’t react, only stares blankly at a wall like a doll.
A dusty vase in a corner flies through the air like a bullet…
...shattering mid-air behind Four.
The air at the spot where the vase would have gone through shimmers, gradually revealing…
...a changeling.
She’s about as tall as Eight. However, Eight is bulky around her barrel and hips due to the thick chitin armor of a warrior giving her a nice hourglass figure nonetheless. In the same way, her teeth are larger, fangs longer, her long legs are thicker, adorned with jagged chitin at the back of her fetlocks for surprise attacks, and her hooves larger to strike like a hammer. She has even grown her secondary dark purple belly plate back for even more combat resilience.
The new changeling is slim. Not in a skinny, starved way, though. Her chitin is sleek, each plate neatly fitting with the rest. Without the clearly visible segmentation it would look like smooth, slightly shiny skin. She’s not well-built like Eight, but she looks fit nonetheless. Sort of like the supermodel disguise Eight was teaching Four to use, without the overblown proportions. Her blond mane, tail, as well as the golden eyes and secondary armor only accentuate the feel. Like Eight and now me, she clearly is a royal changeling. Every step she takes, she daintily puts one leg in front of another like a real model on the catwalk. Eight might be a warrior, but this changeling…
...is a hunting predator.
“Good ears, watchdog,” she says with an amused smile. I shudder. Her teeth are like small needles. If Eight can bite through a brick, this one can bite through finely crafted chainmail like butter, “So you are the ones messing with guards’ heads.”
-Don’t bother moving, watchdog.-
I look at Eight, who looks as if she’s straining against a massive force in order to pounce at the other changeling.
“Yes, we are. We’re trying to find out what happened with the invasion, and save whoever can be saved-”
She bursts out laughing, tears streaking from her eyes.
”Eight, what’s going on?”
"I can’t… move…"
”Got any idea who she is?”
"I… I… she said she’ll kill you… if I tell. She’s in my… our heads. She’ll make me… do it…"
”Eight, I know you don’t trust me right now, but I trust you to do what’s right, and that we can stand against anything- why is she snickering?”
"Because I can hear you, little changelings. A mental link between a warrior and… fake king may as well be you screaming your thoughts in my face," the evil changeling simply speaks through OUR link.
”Eight, I ORDER you to tell me who she is!”
I’m starting to understand. The changeling isn’t forcing Eight to stay silent. Eight herself, in response to the threat, is.
“N-No...”
”Eight, if there is anyone whom I trust, then it’s you.”
”I d-d-don’t… trust… m-myself...” she groans through gritted teeth.
”Tell me, please.”
Eight stops resisting, taking a deep breath.
“My King, you’re making a horrible mistake. Although, it’s been refreshing knowing a changeling worth protecting despite your BLATANT STUPIDITY! Meet One, the right hoof of Queen Chrysalis, the head infiltrator, and the one high-tier changelings call ‘The Succubus’. Congratulations, you’ve just killed Three, Four, yourself, and me.”
One giggles.
”I like a changeling who can show proper respect.”
“Greetings, One,” I give her a deep bow, surprised that I can move, “Wait… Hun, One… clever. I KNEW the voice sounded familiar.”
One blinks several times, staring at me, then raises an eyebrow.
”You are full of surprises. First, you actually befriend ponies, although without me the ponies in Wet Soil wouldn’t have been so… trusting. And now, you’re polite even despite your watchdog revealing my threat. However, you are also full of love- well, lust mostly. Love too, though, and that is hard to get around here these days. Delicious… love...”
-Freeze, fake king!-
She walks over as I find myself paralyzed again, and licks my muzzle over an over, drooling over herself.
”Changeling love, too. Not stolen, but freely given,” she sniffs the air, “Some from the young infiltrator over there, more from… hmm, AHA! There was the suicide squad drone with you last time, wasn’t it? Heh… and no true love from your watchdog. Pity.”
I feel her needle jaws press against my neck.
”What happened to your little loving drone?” One purrs straight into my mind.
-Speak!-
“H-He’s sc-scouting out the mine tunnels,” I groan, trying in vain to resist One’s mental orders.
”Call him here. I don’t have time to hunt down stragglers.”
“N-No...”
-Obey!-
“N-N-N...” I feel my mental link to Three lighting up despite my mouth doing its best to say no.
It’s just… what I feel as words are commands as powerful as if Chrysalis herself said them. My body knows how to obey no matter what “evolution” I’ve been going through. One is linked directly to the minds of everyone around, asserting her influence as the second in command of the whole hive.
She’ll hurt Three. She’ll suck us all dry.
Chrysalis, though, was a tyrant. There actually WASN’T a second in command. There was Chrysalis, and there were the slaves. Some slaves infinitely more powerful than others, but slaves nonetheless.
One must know how to obey, and if she’s in my head…
-Hurt!-
One recoils, blinking. Eight, though, groans in pain, her breathing deepening immediately.
”Sorry, Eight.”
I’m not sure whether or not she feels my mental apology, but I just had to say it.
“What are you playing at, drone, faker?” sneers One.
-BOW!-
My legs immediately give out, and I kneel before One. Out of the corner of my eye I see Eight do the same. Well, she exists to be submissive and she still does it more reluctantly than I do. That kinda stings.
-Break!-
My order makes One wince before she bursts to open laughter. Eight drops on the floor, grunting in pain. Green blood pours from her muzzle as she must have bitten her tongue.
Eight is far more susceptible to my orders than One’s. Sadly, One barely feels any mental attack I try to conjure up.
One sighs.
”I guess I’ll just have to silence your little drone myself. He has to come back here at some point.”
-Submit!-
On my knees already, I feel my body focusing all my love and energy into my horn for easy access. It needs to be devoured by One, that’s its entire reason for existing. My body knows it now.
Wait, there IS something I can do. Well, not for myself, but I might save at least someone. Eight feels the orders I force onto others like One does stronger, and maybe if I can’t use the hurtful commands like One can, then…
Eight, if this works then it’s up to you what you choose to do. If I were you, though, I would run.
-Freedom.-
*Crunch!*
I barely catch the black blur before the cracking of chitin makes me grit my teeth in sympathy. The first one, I mean. With the second one accompanied by breaking wood I lean backwards in horror.
Eight, her hoof covered in green goo is standing above One who got punched in the head so hard she hit the floor with the other side, leaving a green smear and bits of chitin. On the floor, and eyes wide, the supreme changeling has no idea what happened, but recovers quickly and covers her muzzle with her forelegs right before the second blow from Eight arrives with the force of a freight train behind it.
After this punch, some of One’s teeth join the blood on the floor, and Eight puts her hoof on One’s horn, read to stomp it off.
”Wait...” groans One, and spits out more green blood.
”No way, parasite!” cracks start spreading through One’s glowing horn.
”No, please… I can be useful!”
“Wait, Eight,” I stop Eight about to execute One, or at least rob her of her magic forever.
She growls, but by One’s relieved breath I recognize that the pressure is off despite Eight’s hoof still on One’s horn.
”If you throw this one chance and get us killed, King, I’ll be so pissed off!”
“If you feel funny for even a second, Eight, do what you want with her,” I look at the wide-eyed changeling on the floor not daring to move, “Speak.”
”You’ll die if you keep going like this. I can prevent that,” says One as quickly as she can.
”Is that the best lie you’ve got?” Eight kicks One’s head. Not with any real strength behind it, just for attention.
”Gee, put your watchdog on a leash, fake king, will you?”
“Eight, kick her again,” I'm in no mood for nonsense.
”Oh for f-OW!” One clutches her head.
“You’re not being useful.”
I return One’s teared up gaze, trying to look as tough as possible. I don’t really want to torture her. If she’s evil, we need to get rid of her, but not deliberately slowly and painfully.
”You’re all running mostly on lust. The little shreds of true affection your infiltrator and the drone have aren’t enough to offset it. Pretty soon, you’ll suddenly get weaker and starve,” explains One.
”I’m calling bullshit. I’ve never even heard about that,” frowns Eight.
”Colour me surprised, warrior. I know everything about running the hive, and your little group has no chance if you kill me.”
“We’re about to rescue the changelings locked in the castle dungeons. I’m pretty sure some of them will know something useful without being powerful enough to stab us in the back at any point.”
”Please, I can help!” she pleads, now openly crying, ”I am the best. What do you want, pleasure, more love, power? I can teach you, I can make you more powerful than Chrysalis. Please, just don’t cripple or kill me...” she keeps sobbing.
It hurts seeing a changeling like this, no matter what she’s tried to do.
“Eight?!” I gasp as she kicks One again.
”She’s a hostile infiltrator, you idiot.”
I look at now snickering One, tears nowhere to be found anymore.
”Smart watchdog, ow- wait wait wait wait!” she grips Eight’s hoof with her forelegs in an attempt to stop Eight from stomping her horn off, ”I can really help, and I REALLY don’t want to lose my horn. I wasn’t lying about you starving.”
“We can’t trust you, One," I render my judgement, "I really don’t want to hurt you, but you caught Four and she’s still out of it. I’m not strong enough to resist you if you catch us off guard, and-”
”GIVE ME A SECOND!” One shrieks, ”Just make sure your watchdog doesn’t do anything stupid, will you?”
“Eight?” I raise my eyebrow.
”You’re testing my patience, both of you...” the warrior growls.
”Uhh, boss? I feel dizzy...” I hear Four who has until now been standing stock still, ”Um, who is that lady?”
“She’s the one who attacked and mind controlled you.”
”HEY!”
“Her rank is One.”
”Okay.”
“REAL One.”
”Eeep!” Four darts behind me.
“She came here to eat all of us.”
Four is just trembling now.
”Great, now you scared her,” One rolls her eyes, and accompanied by the exceedingly careful and faint glow of her horn a ring appears, ”Do you know what a suppressor is?”
I shake my head.
”When put on a horn, it completely blocks magic. This one is improved to work on changeling-specific abilities like transformation. If you put this on me, I won’t be able to use my powerful magic, my force commands, or shapeshift. That way you don’t have to be so afraid of me, although I appreciate the respect.”
”Don’t trust her,” Eight snarls, ”How do we even know if it works?”
”You can put it on to test it for yourse-OW!” Eight kicks One again, stopping her taunting.
”Over my dead body. If I put it on, likely literally.”
“Four, will you?” I tap the cowering changeling's head.
”Sure, boss,” she levitates the ring up, and screws it onto her horn. I immediately feel her link to me weaken, ”She’s right, boss. I can’t change. It feels really weird...”
”What’s stopping you from just taking it off?” Eight eyes Four suspiciously.
”Go on, try it,” One smirks. I don’t like that smirk.
“One, what’s going to h-” I’m far too suspicious to let this slide.
“Aaaaaaah?!” Four screams, bolts of lightning running through her forehead and forelegs as she touches the suppressor to unscrew it, “Ow ow ow ow…” she immediately stops.
”She can’t take it off by force or she’s ruin the spiral on her horn, and if she tries to unscrew it properly… well, this kind of painful feedback. Someone else has to take it physically off. Convinced?” One winks at me.
I carefully take the suppressor off of Four still blinking out of sync after the shock.
“Eight? Do we give One a chance?”
”Are you insane? You are freaking insane! Kill her RIGHT THE HOLE NOW!” she grinds her hoof against One’s horn again, ”And if your soft heart can’t. then I don’t have such problem. This is ONE we’re talking about.”
One sighs, closing her eyes. They shoot open as she feels the suppressor held in my telekinesis slip onto her horn and fix itself at its base. My grip fades as soon as it’s locked tight around it,
”YOU FREAKING- AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Eight screams in frustration, raises her hoof, and slams it down so hard the wooden floor shatters, ”STUPID, IDIOT, GONNA GET US KILLED, DAMN, STUPID, DUMB...”
She stomps around, punching the walls and yelling incoherently.
One, gasping for breath, is watching the destroyed floor few inches away from her horn.
”Pheeew… okay okay okay...” she rubs her cracked horn, careful to avoid touching the suppressor, ”I’d keep an eye on her if I were you.”
”WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT?!” screams Eight, stomping up the stairs. I still hear the muted thuds, though.
“One, don’t question Eight. If there’s some changeling I trust, it’s her.”
”Hmmm...” One stands up, dusting herself off and trying to look calm and collected despite the disheveled mane, lost teeth, and the bleeding on both sides of her head, ”A-hem, alright then, I guess. You haven’t ordered your watchdog to kill me, so I guess I can... assist you for a while. Where do we start? I know some real sensitive parts of your body you have no clue about,” she leans in, whispering in my ear.
I slowly push her away.
“We start like this,” putting my horn to hers, I feel a faint link open. Within a moment, I realize the connection is fully under One’s control, and I’m only a temporary guest in her head who has no say in anything. She blinks, as I pour some love into her, but her cracked temples heal immediately, and her teeth regrow. What she can’t fix immediately is her horn, but the quick recovery is crazy anyway, “Whoah! You can do so much with such little love?” I step away in complete shock.
”I can do a lot with very little. I can do what you’d consider miracles when I’m fed. Now for my part of the bargain - I told you you’d starve if you kept going like this.”
“Yes,” I sit down, and so does One. Behind me, taking me into a hug, and licking my ear, “Uhh…?”
”Heh heh heh. Using me only for information would be such a waste, fake king,” she drags her teeth along my neck, leaving faint scratches in my chitin, ”Now tell me, what’s with the ranks? Your Four is frankly a no one. Three digit infiltrator at best.”
”Umm, well, I’m trying...” I twitch as Four speaks up. Under One’s ministrations, I completely forgot about my surroundings.
“One, please stop insulting my companions. Four can learn, and will get better at infiltration, and as a changeling,” I defend the little critter, if only to raise her spirits.
Four beams at One who simply raises an eyebrow.
”Insulting? I am merely… observing. I took your Four over. Even with a huge investment of love and time, she’ll become a low double-digit rank AT BEST. Calling her Four is an insult… both to me AND to your watchdog.”
”It’s okay if-” Four starts mumbling.
“Four, you’re Four. One, leave the ranks to me. If you want to stay around for a while, you can be One, but don’t bother others about it.”
To my surprise, One only shrugs. I know it because her barrel is pressed so tightly against my back I can feel her heartbeat.
”Alright, I was mostly just curious. As long as you don’t try to take my rank away, I don’t mind sticking to your… names. Mmmm, faint love from your Four. Delicious,” she licks my neck, ”Now, the love is important, and most of what I can sense from all of you is stolen lust. You’ll weaken and die if you keep this up. Venom-tainted love works, but it’s not good enough. Lust needs to be filtered through love, that’s why we’re not a species of whorses, no matter how much some used to call us that in the past.”
“What are you talking about?”
”Lust is delicious, lust is powerful, pure lust is poison. Delicious, addictive, deadly drug,” she whispers, ”But if you add love, there’s antidote. You boost yourself to keep you strong, but then you must cure yourself and defeat the addiction. If you can’t get enough love to offset all the lust you’re using to survive, you’ll die. You won’t even know it until your heart stops, until your legs fail to move, and then there’s no saving you anymore. Proper infiltrators don’t harvest through the crotch, but through the heart and mind. Without so much lust, your watchdog wouldn’t be so strong, but if she keeps going like this, she won’t even know it that she’s on her final mission until her heart stops right before her victorious strike,” she runs her hoof down my belly, ”However, building true love takes too much time, and stealing it poses a risk when you replace a pony. If you want to rescue the invasion survivors, then your food trouble will only get worse.”
“You were digging around in Four’s head a lot, weren’t you?”
”I can copy such an inexperienced infiltator within seconds, fake king. Even your watchdog’s mind wouldn’t take too long.”
Hmmm… I wonder. If One really is interested in helping, whether out of fear, amusement, or genuine interest, then she can be a priceless resource.
“How about you share a bit of your mind with Four?”
”Oh my? Teaching my secrets to your little newbie? That’s a bold request. What if I say no?”
“Uh, nothing?”
One stops groping me, stands up, walks around me, and frowns.
”You’re terrible at negotiating.”
“I... guess? I mean you told me about the lust thing, so we’re even. I’m just keeping you around because I’m terrified of you.”
She grins.
”Afraid of poor old me? My my, you should be shaking with lust and need, not fear. I can’t have that,” she chuckles, ”Alright, you, Four, I can’t go outside like this, but I can maintain a passive connection with you. Up for a practice run outside? You might be fun to play with.”
”Boss? She’s weird,” Four pouts.
“Do you think she can be a good teacher? I don’t doubt for a second she knows a lot,” I ask.
”And you’re exhausted from the mind blast I stunned the bar with through you,” One gives Four a smug grin, ”You need a refill. All of you do, especially after trying to resist me.”
“Four, you’ve got talent. Use One’s knowledge, but stay yourself. If you feel weird at all, tell me,” I take a deep breath, and slowly let it out, “One… please don’t hurt my changelings. I’m still leaning towards thinking this will bite me hard in the ass. Please, prove me and most of all Eight wrong.”
”Prove ME wrong, fake king, and I just might prove you wrong,” One laughs, walking over to Four and booping her nose, ”You’re coming with me.”
Exhausted, both physically and mentally, I go curl up into a corner, and lightly tap into Eight.
”Eight?”
"Are we or her dead yet?"
”Neither. She’s with us now and teaching Four how to infiltrate.”
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCC-"
*CRUNCH!*
Whoah, that one must have broken a wall.