An alert inside my head wakes me up, and I immediately tap into the surprised mind of Three. In the next instant I’m looking through his eyes, and into the golden ones of One.
”What’s up, Three?”
”Hello, snack,” One tilts her head, examining Three.
”Boss? I think she wants to eat me,” the drone takes a step away from the vastly taller changeling.
”A changeling fairly full of love, a drone on top of it. It’s been a long time since I saw that.”
”Umm, I can share some, miss… but who are you?”
”Share some?” she shows Three her wide, needle smile, ”I could eat you all up, little drone.”
”Boss? Should I call miss Eight? I don’t think this lady likes me.”
One darts in and licks his nose. Three yelps and falls on his butt.
”But I DO like you. So much that I could suck you dry on the spot.”
”Uh… I don’t think boss would want that.”
”Three, mind if I take control for a moment?”
"Sure thing, boss," he touches my mind lightly. Is he learning to communicate like the others?
I take a step in Three’s small hooves.
”One, stop scaring him. If you want some love, you can share, but don’t forget that what’s a little lick to you might completely-”
”Drain him? Of course I know. I’m just playing, fake king,” she answers, completely unfazed by my takeover, ”I’m working with Four right now, and I need to pass time somehow. Mind returning the drone? He’s fun.”
”One’s on probation, Three. If she does something too weird, just tell Eight and she’ll sort things out. Oh, and if she asks you to take the ring on her horn off, tell me or Eight immediately.”
"Sure thing, boss."
Three hugs One’s leg. Her eyes bulge.
”You said you wanted some love, right? Boss said I could share, and I’ve got enough, I think.”
Tapping into One, I send a warning.
”He’s a small drone, One. Both he and I have very bad experience with high ranks. Be careful.”
"Yes yes yes."
She’s already kissing absolutely stunned Three’s scrunched nose, taking away his energy with surprising care. He quickly goes limp in her one-legged embrace, and she pulls away.
”Happy, snack? I know I am.”
”Whmmmhm,” Three’s making some strange, confused tapdance with his forelegs, not really focusing on anything.
Alright, time to stop messing around.
”How long was I out?”
"Twenty-eight hours."
”One, can you not answer when I’m talking to someone else?”
"Your conversations via the hive link are to me as if you were talking normally. Is it different for you?"
”Yes, I need to transmit to others one by one unless I specifically focus to say things to everyone.”
"Hmm, I guess I shouldn’t expect much from you then. Anyway, you got your answer. However, mass communication is extremely useful when planning something, maybe something such as the breaking into the Royal Guard prison?"
How did she know that’s what I was going to ask about next?
Nevermind.
”Everyone, Three is back with the mine plans. Can you come back here? I don’t want to waste our energy talking in this fashion.”
"Give me an hour, King. I’m busy harvesting. By the way, did One already stage a coup and is eating your brain?" asks Eight.
I ignore her snide remark.
"I’m on the way back already, boss, and I’ve got some real love for you all," announces Four.
“I’m already here, boss,” says Three out loud, watching me as I sit up from my new sleeping corner.
“Now, let’s see how resourceful you really are,” One looks straight at me.
“Three,” I nod at him, “Did you find a way in?”
“Yes, boss, and even more. I can lead you to-hey!” he shakes his head, looking around, “What’s going on?”
“Calm down,” One rolls her eyes, “I’m inside your head. Stop resisting and I’ll show you something interesting.”
“Okay, miss One,” he quietly sits down next to her.
Moments later, I can feel One’s presence inside my head, reaching deep and putting something in.
All of a sudden, I know exactly where Three’s been, and I know the layout of the tunnels as if it was me who scouted it.
“This will make explaining the route easier,” One winks at me, “I’m transmitting to Four as well. Oh, and Eight too, no matter how much she’s trying to stop me,” she grins, “Heh, warriors...”
"I’ll break your horn off this time and shove it so far up your ass no one will spot any difference!"
Eight’s mental threat goes unanswered.
“Three, go on,” I gesture at Three to continue.
“Alright, boss.”
One walks behind me, sits down, and wraps her forelegs around my barrel. The next thing I feel is my link to everyone strengthen immensely, but also take far less power to maintain. I know Three’s next real words will be resonating within every mind I’m connected to along with the tunnel complex map.
”Four’s information was right. The mining tunnels lead all the way up to upper Canterlot sewers. All we need to do is go into the central shaft, walk about halfway up, and follow a certain tunnel directly to the sewer system. I found more tunnels connected to it, but they have been boarded up and I didn’t want to draw attention by breaking the walls or barricades. If we want to, we can get to the upper sewers from more places that way. The entire eastern edge of the sewers, I think, belongs to the castle. It took me a while to crawl through everything as a spider, but I got it. I found the prison. I even spent few hours around the other changelings in case I triggered some alarm, and nothing happened. We can get there if we’re tiny and can crawl up a vertical pipe. They are being held in separate cells, and there’s…” he stops for a moment to think, shortly looking at his hooves, counting, and then blushing, “thirty-two of them. I don’t know how we’re supposed to get the others out, boss. They’re in a really bad shape,” Three sighs, “Little more than shells. I doubt we can pump them with enough love to make everyone transform. Changing into something so small takes a lot of love.”
“Hmmm...” I hum. What to do? What to do? “One, any ideas?”
”Me? Are you asking your prisoner for help?”
“One, you’re not a prisoner. I hope you can be a friend, but for now you’re almost making me goop myself whenever you show me something new you can do.”
”Ooh, I like that,” she smiles, and licks my ear, “Ideas, ideas… are the changelings hurt, or just empty? Any high ranks?”
"Both hurt and starving, miss One, and I don’t think there’s any changeling like you or miss Eight there,” frowns Three.
One clicks her teeth.
”Four is returning with a lot of real love. Hah!” she laughs out of nowhere, “And your watchdog is practically brimming with lust, trying to one up my teachings. She must have boned half of Canterlot to get that much. Kinda impressive, even I must admit. We’ve got few options. One, we can keep the raw love for ourselves to be as powerful as possible in case something goes wrong. Then we use Eight’s lust to temporarily overcharge the low ranks so that they can transform. We get them here safely, and then decide on our next step. After the pure lust runs out, some will die of exhaustion, but we’ll be alright. Option two, we combine our love with lust to create a vast quantity of proper nourishing energy, and then we feed the prisoners over the course of several days to make them recover. It will be risky, and we won’t have any real burst power in case of trouble, but I’m pretty sure all prisoners will survive the extraction. I… wouldn’t recommend this one. I’ve gone through Three’s memories and looked for any signs of power, and most of the changelings won’t be of any major use. The investment of time and energy compared to their possible use is… heavily disproportional. Third option is to use our love to feed them, heal them quickly, and get them out. This is the easiest route which will keep all of the prisoners alive. However, this brings the obvious problem of them being well-fed instead of us. If they choose to eat us as an easy source of more energy, it won’t be easy to fight them off. If I wanted to bother with rescuing others at all, I’d choose option one. It’s the smart choice.”
“Eight?” I ask, knowing she can hear me even if I talk normally.
"I hate to agree with the changeling who will inevitably betray and kill us. Using our precious resources for shreds of information that might not even help us isn’t a good idea. I say we lust them up, and keep the ones who survive around to help with your hive mind problem."
“Hive mind problem?” One raises an eyebrow, squeezing me tighter.
“Later,” I try to pry her off of myself, which she answers by wrapping her hind legs around my belly as well. Breathing gets significantly harder. After a moment her grip on me eases up, “Three, what do you think?”
”I don’t know, boss. I’d like to help as many friends as I can, but we both know the higher ranks aren’t too nice,” he looks at One, examining her from head to the hind legs binding me, ”On the other hole, miss Eight is awesome, and miss One seems to like you too. I think we should feed the prisoners properly and get them out as safely as we can. After all, even if ponies realize something is going on, we’ll likely know more about the situation than them and can change the plan.”
The door opens, and Four enters, dropping her unicorn disguise. She’s practically glowing with love, real love with barely any venom behind it. I’m drooling, and I can’t help myself at all.
“Four?”
”Normally, I’d agree with Three, but after the mess miss One and I made with the guards, they might get suspicious as soon as they find ANYTHING out of place. Maybe we can use the better part of the presented options, and combine them. We rush in, charge the prisoners with lust, an in case some start collapsing, we give them a good helping of love? I’ve got loads. I can barely hold it."
”Don’t worry, I can take care of that.”
“Back off, One.”
She freezes, letting out a quiet growl only I can hear. Nothing more happens, though.
“One, is Four’s solution possible? You know the most about changeling anatomy and health,” I ask despite her apparent disagreement.
"Says who? I know exactly where to punch for maximum pain. I offer a demonstration for both you and One as soon as I get back," Eight growls.
Once again, her input is left unanswered.
”In theory, it could work,” One admits, ”It wouldn’t save the weakest ones who collapse, but it might save… some. It’s not worth it, though. Not at all. If you want information, I could copy the prisoners’ minds through Four well enough to gain a good idea about what happened.”
“I must save them, One. It’s connected to the ‘hive mind problem’ Eight mentioned. We’re going with Four’s idea.”
”You’re making me extremely curious,” she squeezes me harder and bites my neck.
“You know what? I’ll tell you all about it if you stop chewing on me. We need to wait for Eight anyway.”
The terrifying teeth leave my chitin.
”I am one big ear.”
***
“Wait, WHAT?!” yells One, “I EARNED it! I EARNED most of it!”
Furious One standing and screaming in my face is pretty scary. The only reason I’m not running away is that I’m surrounded by everyone else, and I’m at least sixty percent sure Eight would punch One in the face rather than me.
“One, I know you earned the love. You and Four, but you won’t be going on the rescue mission. Eight, Four, and Three will.”
”I used MY experience and knowledge for which I risked MY life over and over in the hive. The love is MINE! Fill them with lust your whorse dog brought if you must, but I DESERVE the love!”
“One, I am giving up most of what I’ve got as well. I don’t need it, they do.”
”You stupid creature! I was responsible for your survival in the hive, for the survival of ALL OF YOU. I and infiltrators directly under me worked day after day so that our workers had at least SOME love to spread among you. I saved your sorry asses in Wet Soil! I WANT MY LOVE!”
”So, do I finally get to kill her?” asks Eight with a grin.
”Don’t you DARE touch me, warrior,” One snarls at her, “Ring or not, I will make you eat your fake king.”
One forgot to break the link between all of us off, so I know that she can’t do that, and that Eight’s treat genuinely scared her.
“Eight, no,” I sigh, “One, calm down. I told you my reasoning, and I think it’s sound.”
”Screw your reasons! You’re just playing favorites.”
Focusing, I draw some love from Four, and give it to One. She calms down a little, but never looks away from Eight who is watching her with an amused grin showing her fangs. Considering how much love and lust she’s got inside her, I don’t doubt that right now she could rip One in half.
”Alright, alright,” One starts pacing back and forth, then she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, ”I may have… overreacted a little.”
”You do realize that if you did this in front of Chrysalis you’d be dead by now, right?” sneers Eight, ”And speaking of playing favourites, who did you sleep with to get the top rank?”
“EVERYONE! That’s my job, you muscle-for-brains. I worked hard for my rank. It took me centuries to get it. You will NOT spout this nonsense again,” One’s voice ends in a venomous hiss, ”You can’t imagine what I endured to get that power. You think rank eight is something? You. Are. A. WORM! PATHETIC LITTLE NOTHING!”
“ENOUGH!” I interrupt Eight taking a breath to doubtlessly egg One on even more. Both of them look at me, making the situation suddenly extremely dangerous. Where and when did I get the courage to stare two of the highest ranks down? Either of them can quickly and very physically remind me that I’m just some drone who got forcibly transformed without knowledge or power,“We are here to rescue the invasion survivors before ponies torture them and learn too much about us changelings. I know neither of you particularly cares about us low ranks, but I do. Someone has to. You both agreed to go along with it, so now shut it and do what you must to make sure this operation succeeds! One, I don’t doubt that we’ll be running away from Canterlot afterwards, so you are free to leave if you want when this is done, I promise,” I have to try really hard not to allow my voice to tremble.
“Wooo, go boss!” Three cheers for my suicidal courage.
To my surprise, it’s One who reacts first, clearing her throat.
“I may have overreacted a little, as I said, but you’ve got long way to go if you want to earn my trust, fake king. For now, I will help you, but I expect you to fill me to the brim as soon as you can,” she playfully snaps her jaws in front of my muzzle.
“I’ll make sure no one is starving, and THEN I can indulge your need for love as much as you want,” I look straight into her eyes.
”Huh, who’s talking about love?”
”HEY, that’s my line!” objects Eight, ”I am number two of this hive-”
Oh, great. Drones aren’t allowed to even think about breeding, but once you grow a belly plate, all the mares grow crazy. Damn high ranks…
Although considering what Eight is into… One… oh holes...
I shudder, recalling those blurry moments in the cellar under Trunechon’s house.
”Agreed, you definitely are a steaming pile of horsesh-” sneers One.
”Okay, that’s it! I’ll show you how warriors deal with minor inconveniences like you.”
”Oh bring it on!” laughs One.
Amidst the furious threats, I hear a faint:
”Should we do something?” from my little infiltrator.
Four, standing next to Three, is looking from her spot by the closest window at the two big changelings snarling at one another. Thankfully, they haven’t unleased the apocalypse yet.
”I dun wanna die...” sqeaks Three.
“A-HEM!” I raise my voice. To my complete astonishment, One and Eight look at me again. I nod towards the cellar stairs, “Rescuing the survivors, remember? You know, the big PLAN.”
Eight straightens up, and salutes:
“Three, Four, let’s go!”
“One?” I ask.
”With that thing on my horn,” she carefully pokes the suppressor, ”I can’t do much. Still, faker here can’t make a proper link so I will be connecting all of you. When you’re inside the upper sewers, we’ll estabilish the communications. No need to waste energy while you’re just running through the mines.”
“Good luck, everyone,” I smile at the leaving trio.
Finally, silence. Nothing moves for some time, and the only thing I can hear is One’s breathing as she once again sits behind me and wraps her forelegs around my barrel. We simply wait as minutes pass.
”Hmm, they are finally far enough,” mumbles One, and I immediately feel her searching presence inside my head.
I can’t push her away.
Suddenly…
“Aaargh!” my eyes cross from the pain from behind my forehead. My nose starts bleeding, and I can barely focus with the agonizing pounding in my skull, “Whah?”
One doesn’t let me keel over.
”Just making sure you stay true to your word, fake king. Thanks to me, you almost had enough real love to fix that little part of your damaged brain that allowed you to shapshift. But what then? What would you do when you no longer needed your underlings for survival? Would you simply find a pony to replace, and disappear? Now you can’t.”
“Owwww… what?” I groan, clutching my head as another spike of pain shoots through it.
”I destroyed your shapeshifting ability for good. I had to wait until the others were too far to stop me, or too far for you to quickly show them what I was doing,” she stands up, circling around me.
“So… what now…?” I stand up to face her, tears streaming from my eyes. The best I can do is resist whatever One wants to do for a second or two while standing, “Are you going to eat me?”
”Oh no,” she waves her foreleg dismissively, ”What happens now is entirely up to you. You can connect to others, and tell them what I did, in which case I’ll simply walk away as your potential enemy. OR you can stay quiet about this, everything will keep going as it was. None of them have to know that the new reason why you won’t ever be able to shapeshift is me, and I will keep helping you with your silly rescue plan.”
“But… why did you do it?” I croak, slowly gaining control over myself through the pain.
”Consider it an ‘insurance policy’ against your fear and possible selfishness. Without your happy little troupe, you’re dead. Ponies fear us, griffons despise us, minotaurs kill us on sight. Without an escape plan, you don’t have much choice but to work around your group, fake king. Rule, or starve.”
She’s right in saying that from practical standpoint nothing changes right now. My endgame does, though… all I wanted was to get rid of the hive mind, and heal enough to hide and feed among ponies.
Alright, alright, don’t panic! Take it one breath at a time.
THINK!
One, right now it’s important to stop ponies from learning enough about us to use some blanket magic to uncover any hiding changelings. Two, according to Eight’s plan, I need more changelings to help me protect myself against the hive mind. Three, no one deserves to endure the torture of slow starvation and go insane from it.
That means the rescue operation is still the foremost priority.
“One, link us. We’ve got changelings to save.”
”As you wish, fake king.”
Immediately, I’m seeing everything the three changelings are. It’s confusing at first, but it seems I’m made for it now, so after few minutes I stop suffering from the effects of ‘being’ in five places at once, and simply become them.
I understand. I am the hive, and they are my eyes, ears, and limbs.