//------------------------------//
// Interlude: The New Queen Meeting Her New Drones 
// Story: The Fractured Unity 
// by Time Reaper 
//------------------------------//

As the hours were passing by in the Ponyville Town Hall, all Twilight could feel was a extreme desire of waking up and feel that all of this was just a dream but she had to face reality: she was now transforming into a changeling, and she was now helping Princess Celestia in figuring out intelligence, to defend Equestria from the changeling queens that posed a threat to her nation.

It was hard to think about, but she was willing to put aside her nerves and fears to stay on track, and that was why she was waiting for Diamantis, inside the Town Hall, just a couple of hours after the press Conference between the monarchs and the press. With all the ponies being turned into changelings also waiting for her to, finally, know what was Diamantis planning to do with all of them.

"So..."

Twilight turned down and saw Spike finally gaining enough courage to talk after that little show Valeris did with the journalist.

"What do you think Valeris did to that journalist so it could get so scared and why do you think it got so scared?"

Twilight gave it a thought, it was a strange sight indeed, whatever Valeris did to that pony asking for a hint of her identity, it was a good enough hint to scare him but it only left a lot of questions for her.

"I honestly don't know Spike. On one hoof, it could be that he thought it was Chrysalis but it makes no sense because there is nothing on Queen Valeris's appearance that resembles Chrysalis; on the other hoof, she could have told him her identity but it makes no sense why it scared him because there is no way he could have recognized her unless..."

In that moment she held her silence, too afraid to even think on the possibility.

"Unless it was a Changeling and Valeris knew it from the beginning..."

"Twilight?"

Spike's voice took her out of her thinking but it didn't change the fact that she wasn't sure what to think of it.

"Nothing Spike, something I need to test first to make the assertion."

As they were thinking, Rainbow Dash came and got close to her ears as if it were about to tell her a secret.

"Hey, Twilight" -. The fact that she was speaking on a low voice made Twilight very curious what it could be about. - "Diamantis wants us on one of the Town Hall's room."

Twilight was perplexed by this.

"What? Why?"

Rainbow simply shrugged before responding.

"I don't know, all she said is that it was about our positions in her hive and she wanted to share it and foremost with you, I and the rest of the girls."

Twilight, not being on the mood for correcting Rainbow on her pronunciation, decided to follow through and go to her room and, as she was joining her friends, she noticed how they were very close to the door.

"Hey girls, what are you-"

"SHhhhhhh."

It was all the girls said before telling her and Spike with their body language to get closer and, as she was getting closer, she started to hear voices.

"-ne, its understandable to be so nervous when addressing your hive."

Twilight recognized that motherly and affectionate voice belonging to Queen Fortis.

"Really? Well, alright but how do I know I'm doing well?"

And that was Diamantis's young but confident voice. Twilight quickly understood what was being discussed and decided to listen as well.

"You know you'll have done well if you manage to convince your hive that you are taking them in the right direction, and that will only start when you believe in what you are doing."

It was impossible for the girls to not notice how motherly was Fortis's voice and how it felt as if she actually cared about Diamantis.

"So, how do you know this? My apologies but, from what I remember, you never held such positions, your mother and sister were the ones who talked to their Hive."

Twilight's attention increased at this piece of information, now she was figuring out something worthwhile she could tell Princess Celestia.

"Well" -. Continued Fortis. - "It is true that my mother and Manticoris were the ones that did all of that but I also had to address the hive during the wars. I was in charge of the Third Division and more than once I had to encourage them to fight whenever we were invaded or I had to lead a charge."

"I suppose that makes some sense but I remember your division wasn't in any particularly big battle."

"I'll guess that you weren't taught about the Battle of the Green Fangs then."

As Twilight heard Diamantis gasp, it was astounding for her to notice how Fortis always remained calmed with comments like those. Sure, she remembered how Celestia would allow her to make some remarks but it was because of how close were both Twilight and Celestia themselves were, meanwhile, Diamantis and Fortis weren't even close to begin with, so why was Fortis allowing such treatment and questioning?

"You were the one leading that Battle!?" - Diamantis then started to squee and the sounds made by her gave everybody an idea of how she was moving her hooves, particularly, in a manner that reminded Spike and many others of certain purple unicorn . - "I can't believe it! That is one of the greatest battles in changeling history! Castleen was outnumbered 3 to 1 against the invading Visectia and, not only, did they won but they even crushed Visektia to such levels that they were annexed to Castleen as a minor Hive. That was you?"

The mares could hear Fortis making a simple and innocent laugh, making them all shiver in fear as she talked about pulverizing her own enemies with no signs of worry or lament at what she did.

"Yes, I did. It was a tough battle and a simple mistake would've meant the potential fall of Castleen, which is why I am so proud of how it came out."

"Yeah, kind of weird the books don't mention you like that. Why do you think that happened?"

Silence was the answer that followed that question, silence that made even the ponies feel uncomfortable, as if a delicate topic was touched but Fortis quickly answered before it could get any worse.

"We can figure it out later, for now, let's go out and see how well can you fare with your hive, alright?"

"Ok, I guess... will you be there to help me the same way Valeris helped me with the press?"

"Well, I won't be besides you, but I will be there to give you support."

"Oh, sure. And will Valeris be there as well? She hasn't returned from the Press Conference."

"I fear Valeris won't be here for that, there are other things she has to do on the region, so she had to leave."

In that moment Twilight could feel a mental tension being released on her mind at the knowledge of a queen, that, made her feel so scared wouldn't be any closer to her. For the time being at least.

"Now, before you leave" -. Continued Fortis. - "There is something Valeris communicated me, to tell you. Something I agree with: you cannot tell the ponies why you had to leave your mother's hive."

This brought Twilight's, as well as her friends, attention to the max. She could still remember Diamantis' story when they met those days ago, so now she wanted to see how much of it was true and there might have been something important to know, because Diamantis' voice raised to be shocked.

"What!? Wh-" - in that moment she realized that she was raising her voice to a queen and quickly dropped it into a calmer, and more respectful. one. - "Why? Wasn't agreed that they would have to keep it a secret?"

Fortis' voice kept its calm and motherly tone, but it was quite apparent that it also gained a worried one as well.

"Yes, since they will become part of your hive, they must follow our rules and not share changeling secrets; at least until both Valeris and I convince the other queens to change the laws and, even so, the changeling society may know what happened but we cannot trust the Equestrians with that information... not yet at least."

"But, my queen-"

"No buts" -. It was surprising to sense how Fortis's tone of voice was getting more severe as she was asserting her position which only made Twilight more curious about this subject, especially when Fortis continued talking. - "We still don't know how much of a threat Celestia is to what we've built in this almost ten years of peace. So, until we can be certain that she will be a help to our cause, neither her nor the equestrians must know about Anidis."

*achoo*

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack saw Spike as he was scratching his nose while he was looking at them with shame on his face.

"Perhaps" -, continued Fortis, - "it would be better for us to continue this later. You have a speech to make and to make sure our spies don't go around saying what they heard. I'll be waiting for you on the meeting room."

All the ponies, and dragon, quickly left the door and faked ignorance as the door was opened and an orange mare came out from the door, looking at them with suspicion in her eyes. Not too long after that, a brown mare, that, looked like she was in the middle of puberty, came out of the room with a dejected look that was too heavy to look at as she called them into the room.

When they all entered, they could see that the air still felt tense as she was looking at them with a face that showed signs of doubt and a possible hint of sadness.

"Alright, before my addressing begins, you need to know what are you going to be doing in all of this."

The girls looked at each other in curiosity.

"Making a hive isn't a simple thing to do, so I'm going to put you in charge of important positions in my hive so you can help me to smooth things up as we are preparing for The Great Council of the Queens."

Twilight's friends widened their eyes at this, the idea of them getting important position wasn't exactly what they were expecting, especially Twilight, who saw this as an opportunity to have more chances to spy on the changelings. So, as they were filling their minds with expectation, Diamantis continued with her talk.

"You, Applejack, are going to be in charge of the treasure as well as the land in the hive."

Applejack got weird out by this choice.

"Me? Treasure and land? Where did you get that idea from?"

"Well, it took me a while to think about it but you have a family of apple farmers, so you must be knowledgeable around stuff like production and trade, something that will be very important for the hive to develop. I would have picked Rarity but I wasn't sure how experienced she was on this subject matter."

Rarity simply harrumphed at the indignation for that statement as Diamantis continued.

"I also picked you to see the Hive's expansion since you must know the land around Ponyville well enough, so you would be helpful around where we can go as well as to ensure that no Apple land will be touched by accident."

Applejack gave it a thought and considered it was fair, making her accept, which lead Diamantis to look at Rarity.

"You, Rarity, will be in charge of the Hive's cultural development."

Rarity's face went from indignation to shocked at what she heard.

"Me? Culture? But I am a simple fashionista, I know little about changeling culture, how am I going to do it."

"You are forgetting that 30 of the 50 changelings I need to have the Hive approved are Equestrians. You have a good connection with them, so you will know what to do to attract them as well as been able to mix pony culture with changeling culture. It will make our hive unique."

Rarity gave it a thought, how would her business could thrive under the idea of mixing changeling culture as well as equestrian culture through her designs, it would certainly be unique. But she then remembered something.

"Hold on, I was informed that changelings aren't allowed to talk about their secrets to the ponies, how am I supposed to mix them if that would be banned?"

Diamantis' face remained stoic.

"It's very likely those laws will be removed or changed by the time our hive start running, so you have plenty of time to do that as we are preparing ourselves for this."

With that, Rarity accepted, which lead Diamantis to look at Fluttershy.

"You, Fluttershy, will be in charge of the health and environment of our hive. You'll make sure that the place is healthy both physically and mentally for us and anyone who decides to visit us, including Equestrians depending of how the law is changed. Does that sound good? It won't even interfere with your current life."

Fluttershy gave it a quick thought before accepting, clearly enjoying the idea of having more influence on the nature and how to take care of it. So then Diamantis looked at a happy Pinkie Pie.

"It took me a while to figure out what to do with you. I was planning to put you in charge of the culture but I feared that you would focus too much on parties and trying to keep us all unnecessarily happy."

"Hey! What is wrong with that!? The party part, I mean I know that it isn't good to be happy all the timebecuaseit'simpossibletoremainhappyallthetimesoIamawarethat-"

Diamantis simple made a sound with her throat as a mean to calm Pinkie, which made her realize that she was talking too much and allowed her to talk again as she sheepishly grin.

"As I said, since I wanted to avoid that, because culture is more than parties" -. She ignored Pinkie's indignant face. - "I decided to put you in charge of communications so you can help the hive to know what is going on as well as to keep us all aware of what is going on around the hive and, yes, you can organize one or two parties if you want but only with both Rarity's and my consent."

"Wait" -. interrupted Rarity. - "Why mine? I have nothing to do with parties."

"Because, from what I know of Pinkie Pie, since she likes to make themed parties you could either put your input or learn a thing or two from her."

Both mares gave it a thought and while it wasn't exactly how they would do it, they agreed since it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Which lead Diamantis to look at Rainbow Dash.

"You, Rainbow Dash, will be in charge of the defense of the hive."

Rainbow Dash shouted 'yes' as she was getting an awesome position on this administration and with Applejack being the one asking about it.

"Wait a minute, why is she the one getting to be in charge of the defense?"

"What? Jealous?"

"No, it's just that Ah don't see you capable of being in charge of somethin' so important as the protection of a hive."

"Hey!"

Diamantis then interrupted before the conversation could get any uglier.

"I chose Rainbow Dash because she had the mental attitude to do it, all she needs now is the discipline which I'll be overseeing. Understood?"

All mares nodded begrudgingly as Rainbow remained with her smug smile before Diamantis added.

"Besides, there was no other position I could give her and the rest of you were already picked."

Statement which made all the mares, except Rainbow Dash, to chuckle. Then, Diamantis decided to finally look at Twilight.

"And you, Twilight Sparkle, I chose for you the greatest honor a changeling could ever be granted" -. Twilight's features started to light up at the prospect. - "I chose you to be my Speaker."

Just to be replaced by confusion on her face.

"Speaker? What is that?"

Diamantis kept her smile as she spoke.

"A Speaker is a changeling that works as a representative of the queen whenever she cannot go to a place or cannot directly address her hive. All queens have one, no exception, and they can even be in charge of the hive, whenever the Queen needs to leave the hive to an important meeting she cannot avoid."

All the mares froze at the prospect of what they were given, it was just so perfect for them to influence on the changelings for the benefit of Equestria and yet...

It was too perfect.

"Wait a minute" -. This were Twilight's first words after hearing Diamantis's offer. - "Why are you giving us this positions? You know we are the Elements of Harmony, right? We are close to Princess Celestia, not only that, I am Princess Celestia's protegé. Very few ponies are closer to her than that, so why are you giving us this positions that will compromise your status with the changelings?"

Diamantis stood there looking at them for a few seconds before answering with a sigh as well as a normal statement.

"Because you were the ones I saw with the most merit to do it. When I came to Ponyville I did it with the idea of making a new hive, I need to have one and I cannot choose those who are weak or brash to lead it. You showed me with your actions that you have the capabilities to do this and it isn't as if you are the only ones doubting it. Queen Fortis already told me how much doubt she had on picking you but I have faith in your abilities and that we'll make it through. Alright?"

The mares looked at each other before agreeing on the silent promise of discussing this later on the night and nodded to Diamantis, at which she gladly said.

"Excellent then. Now let's go to the meeting room where I will be addressing the other subjects regarding the direction our Hive will be taking."

She was about to leave the room when, before being completely out, she stopped and moved her head to address Twilight and her friend before asking with a somber tone.

"Before that, though. How much did you listen?"

The mares entered in the denial so hard that it was obvious they did listened until Rainbow made the question.

"Who's Anidis?"

Diamantis's flinch made it clear to them that it was a touchy subject before Diamantis stopped looking at them and simply said.

"We can discuss about it on another day, just, please, don't ever mention her name, not even to Celestia. Please."

"I don't get it" -. Continued Twilight. - "How are you related to her? Does it have anything to do with you running... away..."

In that moment the mares made the connection based on what they knew about Diamantis's backstory and realized who was the invader force that forced her to run away from home.

"Just, let it pass."

That was all Diamantis said, at which a resolved Twilight answered.

"Wait, was she the one that invaded your home? Why hasn't the other queens helped you fight her back?"

"Yeah!" - Continued Rainbow Dash. - "Just tell us where she is and we'll kick her flank back to wherever she came from. Those changelings queens may be too cowards to fight her but we have defeated worse-"

"I said! Let! It! Pass!" - Diamantis's angry tone shook Twilight and her friends as they could hear some slight whimpers coming from her. - "We can discuss it at a later date, for now... we'll discuss about what the hive will be about."

With that said, Diamantis moved a hoof at her face, she removed something from it and then left the room, leaving six mares and a dragon on their own.

"So" -, Applejack wondered, - "what do we take from it?"

The six mares wondered until Fluttershy answered.

"I think it would be best if we gain her trust before jumping to any conclusions."

"I agree with Fluttershy here, darling. I feel there is more to this 'Anidis' than what we are being told, but it would be for the best to wait and see before determining what is going on between them."

They all agreed and then went outside to see what Diamantis was planning so far.

When they finally got to the room, they saw to their sadness that the room was too small to house so many ponies so, after a brief discussion with Diamantis, it was agreed to move all the ponies to the library so they could have the briefing under more comfortable positions.

Not too long after that, and with the Elements of Harmony behind her, Diamantis finally started to address the ponies that were captured by her, something they quite remembered well as the way they looked at her showed nothing but disdain to her figure.

"Greetings" -. Started Diamantis as she tried to gain the confidence on this particular hurdle. - "For those wondering, I am Queen Diamantis. You may remember me as the changeling that foalnapped you and tried to turn you into changelings."

The angry looks from the ponies told Diamantis all she needed to know respecting how they felt about it, nonetheless, she continued on her speech.

"Right. So, I was tasked to inform you what Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Queen Valeris and Queen Fortis agreed upon but I will explain a bit of what happened."

The ponies didn't changed their features, as Diamantis tried to look for any sign of openness, she saw on the distance an orange mare giving her an approval glance.

"You see, as a new queen. I need to create a hive to be recognized as such, but to have my hive recognized by law, I need to have a certain amount of changelings living and working in it, which is why I tried to turn you."

This only enraged the ponies as they started to look at her with predatory glances, with a brown mare with an E Key as a cutie mark saying what everypony else were thinking right then.

"And who gave you the right to foalnap us and force us to work for you? You had no right to take us away from our lives and separate us from Equestria to live underground for you."

Diamantis flinched at that but remained even on her tone as she tried to appease them.

"Well, technically, I have the law on my side" -. She would never tell them the law, specifically, explained that there was a process to transform ponies into changelings and, that, she practically broke it, though. A headache that would later be solved mainly by Fortis with the help of Cerebelis, Luxis, Lixis and Valeris on the Collective's Palace. - "But you are morally right on that regard, although, you wouldn't have been separated from Equestria neither be forced to live underground."

This got the attention of all the ponies in the place, with the same brown mare asking about it.

"What do you mean we wouldn't be separated from Equestria?"

"Well, it mostly has to do with how changelings have to live by. We cannot go with just love, we also have other needs but, since we live between ponies, we need to live among you to keep our society healthy" -. All the ponies started to look at each other as she said this. - "For our drones to be able to gather the love and money their hives need, they also need to be able to live among ponies and follow the Equestrian laws so nopony suspect of them. So, for you to live in my hive you would still need to live under Equestrian laws, pay your taxes" -. Everypony groaned at those words. - "Have a respectful life, etc. The main difference is that you would also have to live under Changeling laws, which means not tattle other changelings, don't abuse the ponies, pay your taxes" -. The groans became even louder. - "Help your fellow changelings, etc."

Diamantis noticed how the ponies looked more annoyed than angry now, but she still needed to talk, so she continued.

"Now, as in any other civil society, you pay your taxes and follow the law to have certain benefits from your political system, like guards that protect you from insecurity or keep your roads and parks clean. This remains true for us."

The ponies started to look at each other with curiosity now.

"Under our system, you would have security aiming to protect you from being discovered as well as from being attacked either by bandits or by changeling invaders."

"Wait a minute."

Diamantis turned and saw Rainbow Dash, who was besides her, looking at her with a questioning look.

"What do you mean by changeling invaders?"

Diamantis started to sweat at those words but, after seeing Fortis on the background giving her a nod, she continued.

"Well, you see, even though the current system of government for all the Changelings have worked so far, to the point of being at peace for over nine years, there are still some changelings that don't like it and has tried to subvert it in some way or another. A good recent example you must all be familiar with, is Queen Chrysalis."

This time it was Twilight the one asking.

"Wait, so Chrysalis isn't part of what you did? She was a rogue one?"

"Exactly!" - Answered a confident Diamantis. - "Chrysalis disobeyed the rules so she has been given a punishment until she decides to accept being trialed by us."

This brought many questions to Twilight's mind, but she decided to not dwell into it for the time being.

"If you pay your taxes, then we can have a proper guard capable of protecting us from rogue changelings, who want to attack us and steal our love."

The ponies started to give it a thought as Diamantis was feeling well at how she was dealing with the situation. Then a Green mare with a lyre for a cutie mark raised her hoof as she made a new question.

"But none of us are warriors, who are going to protect us in the case we pay our taxes to you?"

The ponies were slightly annoyed for the question suggesting the idea that they would accept being subjects to Diamantis, but they were actually curious for the answer.

"Well, that's the thing" -. She answered. - "You see, to have a Hive recognized by law I need a minimum of 50 drones living in it and I only managed to foalnap 30 of you" -. The ponies understood the math but Diamantis continued the answer before they could jump at any conclusion. - "Since part of the deal between the Equestrian and Changeling monarchs was that I cannot foalnap anypony else" -. In that moment all the ponies released a relaxing breath at that knowledge. - "I now have to go to other hives to ask for drones they could give me to help in the development of our hive."

Many of the ponies felt a chill going through their spines as they heard those words, even though only a few of them understood the magnitude of what it meant. Thankfully, a black pegasus which Rainbow Dash recognized as Thunderlane decided to ask.

"Hold on, why are you saying it as if it were a bad thing?"

Surprisingly though, it was a reddish mare known as Cherilee the one who gave the answer.

"To ask for drones to a foreign hive means that she will have to give or assist them for something. Not only that but it also means that other hives would have influence in what this hive says" -. Then, as all the ponies gasped at the revelation, Cherilee looked at Diamantis and asked with a worried tone. - "I don't get it, why are you going to this length to have a hive made? Can't you just wait until you have the drones to work with?"

Diamantis looked at the pony with a stern look and responded with a resolute tone.

"I am aware of the dangers of it. Do you think it didn't cross my mind? That is why I was going after ponies first. I would rather face Celestia to ask to a foreign hive for drones but I am forced to do it, mainly because I cannot wait. I am too young to reproduce and my mother cannot help me. I need to have this hive done and approved before the Great Council of the Queens is here so I can start helping society."

Diamantis saw how many ponies were now going to ask about her age, at which she quickly decided to avoid them by continuing her speech.

"But enough of that. We are derailing this. What you need to know is that, even with those 20 drones in here, I would still have the protection of a Great Hive."

"Great Hive?"

Diamantis looked at Twilight and answered with a smile in her face.

"Yes, Twilight, a Great Hive" -. She then looked at the ponies. - "You see, many queens tend to have very small or unstable hives to sustain for themselves so they tend to ask more powerful hives for help, both in security and in trade. Since I am under the protection of Queen Fortis, I will ask her first but since the system between the higher and lower queens is kind of complicated (to the point of being something to be taught in history books) I will save this conversation for another date, alright?"

All the ponies looked at Twilight as she started to hold herself at the information that was being kept from her and nodded just for the sake of not being trapped in there for hours and let Diamantis to be her prey later. And, with that said, the queen continued.

"Now, there is also the fact that becoming part of us will mean that you will have access to what the changeling society can offer, from our education to our technology and information which you can use at your discretion as long as it doesn't break our laws. Does that sound good?"

The ponies gave it a thought until an orange mare came out from the group and stated.

"It doesn't matter how good it sounds, we have no reason to accept you when we are no longer being transformed, we aren't changelings on the first place to even think about it."

Diamantis looked at the mare with a scrutinizing eye as she simply asked.

"You have a good point Jutterbug" -. The mare known as Jutterbug got surprised at the queen remembering her name. - "But you should know that you actually don't have any other choice. The transformation began in the moment you were put into the transforming wax and once it begins, it cannot be stopped. You'll be transformed into changelings which is why the deal between our monarchs was made in the first place."

All the ponies froze as a chill went through their bodies. Now grasping their current situation as Diamantis continued talking, mostly to keep their minds occupied from the inducing panic of being transformed into changelings.

"The deal was more than just me being banned from transforming ponies. You see, current changeling laws protect changelings but once you start to transform, you'll be in a position of limbo where you won't be neither ponies or changelings. So Celestia and Luna offered that you would be part of my hive under the promise made by Fortis and Valeris that you would all be protected under our law, so you cannot be targeted by any third group wishing to use you against any side."

By this point, Jutterbug, Cherilee and many other ponies were starting to feel depressed and even betrayed at what they heard. Why would Celestia allow something like this? They were starting to feel anger and wishing to vent their anger at what was at their disposal when Diamantis quickly took the opportunity and talked in a tone that demanded respect as well as showed authority.

"Before any of you start raging about this, think. Do you think this was easy for Celestia to do? Don't you think she preferred this over risking your lives for being on a legal loophole?" - The ponies gave this a thought, which started to calm them down as Diamantis continued. - "Do you think I wanted this for you? No. I wanted to live with my mother, I wanted to inherit her hive and continue her work, but I no longer can as I no longer live with her" -. She then started to notice the curious glances of ponies wanting to know more of her circumstances so she decided to quickly change the topic. - "Which is why I learnt that, sometimes, we have to chose between hard decisions and our choices may never be liked by others, but we chose to do them because we believe they are for the best, which is what Celestia did for you so, please, I ask you in exchange that, if you aren't going to do this for me, then do it for Celestia, who decided to take a hard choice for your sake."

The ponies looked at each other, thinking about it, and, after a long deliberation, they decided to accept Diamantis' words and agree to her idea, to a certain degree, after all, she still foalnapped them, but the small acceptance still made Diamantis glad.

"Great, now with that said, we can solve the little technicalities (like where will I live so you can ask me for questions) later, but I still have two more things to address you. The first one is that you cannot tell anyone of what you heard here on this meeting, or anything related to the changelings, not even to your families, understood?"

"What?" - Asked Applejack with indignation, representing the sentiment of many of the ponies in the room. - "Why Ah cannot tell mah family about this? Ah was foalnapped and they deserve to know happened to me."

"You are right but the laws are very strict regarding changeling secrets and you are no exceptions. As Queen Fortis will be trying to modify the laws so the secrecy barrier is lowered, we have to obey the law in the meantime and you don't want to break them, the punishment is severe."

"Oh yeah?" - Asked a defiant Rainbow Dash. - "What kind of punishment are we talking about, banishment?"

Diamantis looked at her and the ponies with a fearful glance as she answered.

"Possibly worse: Disappearance."

Many ponies were know thinking of asking Twilight to do something about the cold, for how strong was the chill that went through the blood as they lost the color in their coats as Diamantis continued.

"It is a popular secret how many changelings that have tried to break the secrecy law has been disappeared from society. It can be a common drone or a high elite. Some even say that royals have suffered from this as well, with the difference that what happens to them looks more like an accident."

The ponies, including Twilight and her friends, started to get closer to each other as they heard the utter terror and severity of the changelings with the idea of secrecy, and even Twilight was wondering if Celestia was aware of how much danger she put her into by giving her that mission.

"Chrysalis is among the few that has survived, which is why the queens decided to restrict her until she accepts being arrested but, other than that case, more often than not, whenever a drone decided to break the secrecy it would end up with a visit from Hive Logos' Secret Force and nobody else would ever know about them. Which is why I ask you to never say what you heard in here until the laws are changed, understood?"

All the ponies, even Twilight and her friends, nodded with fear in their eyes and let Diamantis to finish her speech once and for all.

"And, lastly, to not end this in such a low note. We now have to talk about how are we going to finance the hive."

"Didn't you said that we would have to pay taxes?"

Asked the brown mare from the beginning, who was quickly recognized by Diamantis.

"Yes, Octavia Melody, I did say that but that would work for the little things and only if we want to keep the hive small but I'm not planning to keep this hive small. I plan to expand and have more drones once I can reproduce and more drones are willing to join us, which is why I am opening right now a search for a job to finance."

This gave a hint of curiosity to all the ponies.

"Finance? What does that mean?"

Diamantis looked back and saw that it was Pinkie Pie the one making the question now, which she answered gladly.

"You see, I can ask for a bit of money to Queen Fortis and invest it in one (if not some) of your jobs to make sure it gains more money and that revenue will be given to our hive both to pay our debt as well as to help the hive to pay the cost of expansion."

The ponies started to become extremely curious with this, which forced Rarity to make the cursed question.

"And how much money are we talking about here?"

Diamantis looked at Fortis in the background, who moved her lips to try to make the words for her to know, at which Diamantis answered.

"We are speaking about five to ten million bits as a front investment, why?"

As all the ponies heard those numbers, they all started to think about it the dreams they always envisioned as foals, how this amount of money could help them make it a reality and that, quickly, lead to all the ponies to fight among themselves and to impose their ideas over the others. Meanwhile, Twilight gave it a thought about how sustainable was the system on its own.

"Well, it sounds interesting. I mean, try to sustain through a job but a simple job isn't enough to sustain a whole hive. It would need something bigger than that, and I doubt any of us have something that big that could keep the hive running on the long term. Perhaps that is what she meant with some small hives being 'too unstable' to be run on their own. What do you girls think?"

As Twilight turned around at her friends, she got in shock as she saw her best friends fighting each other out to have the money, wondering how it was possible that they were fighting each other over money. 

Meanwhile, in the back of the room, an orange mare was surprised that the friendship lover ponies were so willing to gith each other for such measly amounts of wealth.