Quiet ‘tap tap tap’ of hoofsteps can be heard through the dungeon deep down under the Castle of Two Sisters, heralding the hesitant arrival of a small, thin female changeling whose chitin bears the black and grey streaked pattern resembling camouflage. As Four passes one of three locked cells, the hornless unicorn paladin inside scowls at her, and she looks away. Several cells further, Star Trail is unconscious but still alive despite the horrendous crippling wounds he suffered. Four isn’t exactly sure whether that is a good thing.
Her target, though, is the only captured paladin still in good health who looks up and narrows his eyes as Four stops on the other side of the bars. He’s tall, with muscles clearly defined under his white coat. He must be old, because his blond mane is filled with grey streaks like his very short beard, but he doesn’t look… withered. Four’s guess is something over forty, but in excellent shape. When he strides meaningfully towards the bars as well, Four backs off, completely overshadowed by the comparatively massive unicorn.
“What do you want?” he asks, hostility dripping from his voice.
Four has trouble stopping her voice, and herself as well, from trembling.
“I-I want to know… I want to know why you killed Three.”
“How about you come inside and ask me here? Maybe we can have a little chat about my dead comrades as well as the guard YOU murdered in Canterlot,” he grumbles.
Four whimpers, her shoulders sagging in tune with her ears.
“I already told you what happened...” she whispers, “I told you it was an accident. I told you I didn’t want to do it. The other guard scared me and I bit down on reflex. I just wanted to soften him up with my venom so that he’d fall asleep.”
The paladin points at a spot right in front of him.
“Then come over here and say it to my face, changeling.”
Four shakes her head.
“N-No...”
“Thought so...” he turns away, “Coward.”
“Y-YES!” Four takes a step forward, her voice squeaky, shaking, but now angry, “I am terrified of you! Why wouldn’t I be? You’re huge, you’re strong, and you hate me so much you want to kill me! What can I do? Most changelings would be terrified of you, and also completely defenseless. All you scary, evil ponies are like that. Normal drones aren’t much of a match against your big stallions. Only a hoofful of us can defend the rest against trained killers like you. Of course I am scared! You chased us down, you mercilessly killed some of us even if they tried to surrender. We just wanted to hide, and you’re on our tails again even though we didn’t do anything bad to anypony around here!”
“You think I am the scary one here?” the paladin leans back after Four’s outburst, “I can’t pretend I’m somepony else and then stab them in the back, I can’t mind control ponies, and I don’t have teeth sharp enough to bite through a magically enchanted platemail. I also didn’t attack Canterlot, I didn’t try to take over Equestrian royalty, and I didn’t knock princess Celestia out and put her into a damn cocoon!”
Four’s voice grows softer.
“...but neither did I.”
“What?”
“I told you before, I wasn’t even born before the invasion. The boss wasn’t there, miss Eight wasn’t there, Three wasn’t there… and your… friend just killed him… when all he wanted was more crayons for his colouring book and some ponies he could talk to because there were no colours in the old hive, no friends, no possessions, nothing. There was just hunger and the Queen...” Four sniffles and turns around, sobbing quietly, “I’m not old enough to have seen it, but everyone else knows.”
The paladin glares at her, then notices that in her angry monologue before, she walked over a little too close to the bars.
“AAAAH!” Four yelps when she feels a pony foreleg wrap around her barrel and pull her towards the prisoner, then his second one wraps around her neck…
...before she’s turned around and her back is pressed against the pony’s barrel and she feels him patting her head.
“Huh?”
“Are you trying to tell me that none of you were there during the invasion?” he asks, “How did you know about the prisoners then?”
Four, failing to wiggle out of his grasp, whimpers.
“No, Ten, Nine, and miss One were there,” she admits, “We learned about what happened from them. From Ten mostly. He said there was an explosion during the invasion which tossed him into a small town called Wet Soil where we found him. He really likes your princess Celestia. That’s the white one with the big backside, right? It’s a bit hard to sort through his memories and other information to compare how she looks with how he sees her.”
Behind her, one corner of the paladin’s mouth curls upwards.
“My name is Bright Star, little one. How about you tell me about your group?”
“I’m Four. I… don’t know how much I can tell you without asking miss One, miss Eight, or the boss, but...” Four stops, shaking her head, “No, Three was right. If we don’t end it… who will?” she takes a long breath, pressing her head harder against Bright Star’s hoof not stopping to pat her, “The first thing I remember are eggs all around me, and that I was really hungry. The boss and miss Eight were looking at me and arguing-”
Time flows as Four tells Bright Star everything, hoping against all events proving her wrong that this is a chance to maybe take the first step towards… if not peace then at least less hostility.
“-and then that… Star Trail pony killed Three. I doubt the boss will ever forgive you for that.”
At some point in the story, Bright Star stopped stroking Four’s head, and just sat there, eyes closed.
“Why did you have to kill Three?” asks Four again, “He didn’t do anything bad to anypony.”
Bright Star takes a long, deep breath.
“Have you ever heard about a town called Riverside, little- Four?”
Four shakes her head.
“I don’t think I could get anything even from Ten’s memories.”
Bright Star took a deep breath.
“It is… no, even few weeks ago it used to be a bustling little town similar to Wet Soil you mentioned, only north of Canterlot. However, unlike Wet Soil which sits in the middle of a swamp, Riverside was a rather prominent train stop for all travellers. Unfortunately for everypony there, it became the target of your queen and her servants who needed to replenish her forces after being defeated in Canterlot.”
“Oh no...” Four imagines how furious hungry Chrysalis had to be.
“There would have been no survivors were it not for a group of ponies… and a changeling.”
“Huh?”
“In short, at least from the official reports that I read, several hours after the invasion a female changeling landed in Star Trail’s backyard, blind and crippled. She was found by Puff, Star Trail’s… squire whom he tried to train to become a paladin one day. Star Trail loved the young stallion like his son. Anyway, I and the paladins who on Star Trail’s request joined the search for you in Canterlot, we have known Star Trail for decades, and we’ve gone through thick and thin, fought darkness, and saved innocents, because we are paladins. However, we often faced changelings, an enemy we could easily fight straight up, but an enemy we could never expect. Each of us lost too many friends to you, and that’s why when we heard some changelings survived the invasion and were responsible for rescuing the attackers from prison AND murdering a guard we answered Star Trail’s call for help even if he’s retired now. The princess didn’t know about the first operation, we don’t have to report all our activities to her.”
“How is that connected to Riverside?”
“I’m getting to it. You see, the changeling who dropped in Riverside called herself... Sixteen.”
“That’s a really high rank! Boss always says they are really nasty, but he likes miss Eight and miss One, and they are real old hive ranks, not like me. I’m Four only because it’s easier to remember than some five digit number. ”
“I’ll take your word for it for now. You’ll have to explain the numbers properly to me later. So, Sixteen was blind and crippled, but smart, and managed to survive Star Trail’s… interrogation,” Bright Star frowns for a moment, “Long story short, Riverside became the meeting spot for changeling survivors of the invasion for some reason, and your queen herself with the survivors took over the city. Sixteen, aided by some members of Riverside police force managed to escape and warn us in Canterlot in time to send paladins and Royal Guards there.”
“Why did she help you… and them?”
“She said that in her shape she’d just get ‘mulched’ even if she got back to the hive. Her words, not mine. Now, when we got to Riverside, we saw the cocoons we hoped never to see again, but thanks to Sixteen’s warning only few ponies went missing instead of the whole town.”
“I see, so Star Trail saw everyone from the town where he lived get hurt and that’s why he’s after us no matter what?”
“Not… exactly. I started the story talking about his squire… ex-squire, Puff.”
“Oh...” Four hung her head low, understanding now.
“Star Trail really lost it after Riverside and, honestly, I can’t blame him. His acquaintances hurt, the pony whom he considered family gone.”
Four shakes her head.
“I suppose there’s no use telling him that what he did to the boss was the same. Boss and Three were buddies from the old hive. They survived after everyone left, they saved miss Eight, they made friends in Wet Soil. Real pony friends. Three was one of the batch of front line drones who were supposed to suicide in order to crack Canterlot protective barrier. I… can’t put it into words how important Three was to the boss.”
“How old do you think I am, Four?”
“Umm, forty-something?”
“I’m much over a century old. Being a paladin so close to the alicorn of the sun and life has its advantages. I have outlived my grandfoals, and I know the pain of losing my family and friends, whether peacefully or violently. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. If more changelings were like you then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Four closes her eyes, and pushes against Bright Star’s forelegs. To her mild surprise, he lets her go. She turns to face him.
“But how do you know if this is who I am? The most powerful changeling from the old hive other than the queen herself is teaching me infiltration. How do you know I’m not lying to you? How do you know I won’t turn into you and use your form to interrogate your friends?”
Bright Star grits his teeth.
“I… don’t,” he admits, “You fooled me completely.”
Four walks over to him, and presses her head against the confused unicorn’s chest through the bars. He waits, brows furrowed, uncertain whether to hug Four again or strangle her on the spot.
“I didn’t fool you,” she says quietly, “but this is what you ponies think whenever we changelings are mentioned. This is why no peace has ever happened before, says miss One.”
“Four, there ARE changelings who returned to their lives as themselves in Canterlot once we estabilished that they hadn’t replaced anypony. After the raid in Canterlot where I met you, I started digging into the details about the trials a little, and despite what happened, I think you could successfully plead your case before the princesses. It would take time, observation, and you’d likely won’t be allowed to transform, but it could work.”
“Lives as ponies...” mumbles Four, “Miss One has gone through few attempts like these over the centuries, and none worked. Starving changelings always realized that they had to remain disguised, or to be in control, otherwise they would die. You see, we’d die before we could build trust and feed. On top of that, miss One said we needed fresh love to avoid hunger, and according to her love fades over time, changes into comfort. What you’re saying gives me hope that there’s chance for at least some of us, but just your constant hunting, our need to shapeshift, and the fact that we need to change partners… thanks to that I know there’s no hope for all of us, and much less is we ever try to stay… us.”
Bright Star sighs, watching the dejected changeling talking to his chest, puts his foreleg under her chin, and starts scratching Four with the sharp tip of his hoof. He can’t help cracking a real smile this time when her eyes close almost automatically, and the tip of her tongue goes ‘blep!’ right out of her mouth.
“You might be right,” he says, unsure if the softly purring changeling is even listening to him, “Especially this soon after Canterlot, but I refuse to believe the trust problem can’t change over time.”
Four snaps out of her pleased trance, and shakes her head, blushing a little.
“From what miss One told me, the invasion happened exactly because there was no time anymore. When boss and Three got out of the hive, they followed a trail of dead changelings through the Badlands in hope to find everyone. As far as I know, about a third of the hive dropped dead just on the way to Canterlot. You’d have to ask the boss for details, but I doubt he’ll talk to you now, not after Star Trail killed Three...”
“I had no idea it was this bad,” Bright Star sighs, “I will never agree with what you did in Canterlot, but I can understand the desperation.”
The two sit there quietly for a moment, before Four stands up.
“I think I’ll go see if the boss doesn’t need anything. He’s hidden himself somewhere in the castle, blocked our links, and ordered even miss Eight to stay away. I don’t think he should be alone right now.”
“I don’t know anything about him, but give him my condolences.”
Four takes a breath as if she wants to say something more, but in the end she just turns around and leaves.
***
A gust of wind blows through my mane, and whispers in the treetops all around me. I’m sitting on the top of the broken turret Three showed me, my muzzle resting on the crenellation.
I could have prevented it. I SHOULD have prevented it. How could I have been so stupid and not ordered anyone to take care of Star Trail’s horn? It’s my fault Three’s dead. Others were fighting for me, and it was my job to tell them what to do so that we’d get out of danger alive. I failed.
Not feeling anyone other than Eight in my mind, as well as the fresh air are helping me clear my head a lot. I know I should have ordered her to dissolve and eat Three’s body like One did to hide our presence, but…
Eight finishes rearranging the ancient, rotten ponnequins in the castle armory. They are standing close to a small cot in the corner, all turned towards it with green smiles painted on in Eight’s blood. On the cot lies Three’s body wrapped in a ripped off piece of tapestry depicting the two princesses, his chitin cleaned up and the monstrously destroyed eye hidden behind a pirate eye patch.
Eight felt it was cheap, but I told her how much Three liked books about airships and pirates both in the sky and on the seas.
“Now you won’t be alone, even if we might have to leave,” whispers Eight, pointing at the ponnequins, and kisses Three’s forehead.
When she blinks, it’s my own eyes which open for me.
I hear a small piece of rubble behind me crumble, and Four pushes herself up through the pieces of rotten trap door. She dusts herself off, and gives me a hesitant smile.
“Hi, boss.”
“How did you find me?” I shouldn’t really ask. She’s a smart little cookie.
Says the changeling who is only some month or so older than she is…
She slowly walks over, looking at the forest canopy.
“Three often updated the castle map as he explored it both above and under the ground. I gave the place he tagged ‘I like it here!’ a shot. I guessed he must have taken you here too at some point. He showed me the way here once, but for me it was just… trees.”
“That’s the main difference between you two, and between Three and everyone else,” I prop my chin against the crenellation again, “He was still able to enjoy the simple things. We aren’t. Why are you here anyway, is someone in the castle again?”
She shakes her head, worms her way between me and the masonry I’m leaning against, and presses herself tightly against my chest.
“I want you to stop hiding, boss. You made sure no one other than miss Eight could easily find you, but that isn’t helping anyone. I can feel the others, it’s like a dark cloud hanging over everyone. Even Nine feels more stiff than usual. Closing yourself off like this is just hurting those who love you… all of us.”
I feel my eyes tearing up a little. However, a little spark of warmth and love is echoing between me and Four. It’s not the simple, pure joy Three could conjure up, but it’s genuine.
“Four, I don’t know what to do. I feel empty. Protecting Three was what was driving me all this time. I knew I wasn’t a real king or a leader, but at least I could help a drone like me be happy for a while. Now he’s dead, killed by ponies he found amazing, and it’s my fault. I should have ordered Eight to break Star Trail’s horn off immediately, but I didn’t. I failed both as a friend and as… the boss. None of you need me anymore, all of you are strong and smart enough to survive on your own. Three wasn’t. In fact, I am actually your biggest problem. The hive mind shared with me that they won’t try to negotiate anymore, they’ll destroy me and take my body over as soon as they can. They would have done it if it wasn’t for One and Eight stopping them as I was being sucked dry. The smartest thing you could do right now would be to find the darkest crypt you can find, lock me there, and let me starve to death with the core of the hive mind inside me,” I chuckle, “That would probably be less painful than sitting here, reminiscing about Three.”
I find myself on my back a short distance away with my chest stinging and two small hoofprints on my chitin as the green glow around Four’s forelegs fades away. She advances on me, frowning.
“What are you-”
She steps on my chest, and slaps me.
“SHUT UP!” she’s mad at me, I can feel it even through the locked link. I freely admit I have never been so scared of something so small, “Yeah, we might not need you for sheer survival anymore! So what?! We need you if we want a future that isn’t just hatred and fear. Don’t think even for a second that miss Eight or miss One would entertain the idea of being nice to ponies like they are now if it wasn’t for you! We would be predators, and they would be prey. Nothing more. And don’t even try to tell me miss Eight doesn’t need you. She IS you now, and you can’t take that back anymore. IF THE HIVE MIND WANTS WAR, IT WILL GET WAR!”
She’s standing on me, breathing heavily, and her now acidic saliva is hissing on the stones unpleasantly close to my head.
“Four?”
“DON’T INTERRUPT ME, BOSS, I’M REALLY MAD!”
I wait, but she doesn’t say anything else. Gradually, her spit stops hissing, and simply dries up.
“You done?”
Her breathing is slowly calming down. Her legs are shaking.
“I… I think so… boss...”
Sitting up, I scoop Four into a hug. She’s so light…
I sigh, and allow myself a small, partially fake smile. In my mind, I open up all my links to others.
“I guess we’re long past the point where we could just run, aren’t we? Well, I mean you. I never could.”
“Sorry, boss, for blowing up like that,” she nuzzles my chest, adding quietly, “but you were being really stupid.”
“I was. No matter what happens, we’ll have to deal with it,” I feel my words resonate through the links, “together.”
What returns to me is the feeling of collective relief. It looks like I was the one believing in me the least.
“Glad to have you back,” I feel my favourite second body answer. Eight is patrolling around the castle right now, and from what it looks like she’s following someone.
“Sorry for keeping you away, Eight.”
“YOU SHOULD BE! It’s not like you knew Three for much longer than I did,” she’s invisible, her hooves are transformed so that they make barely any noise, and yet I can hear a female voice near her say:
“Somepony must be tracking us. Our hair standeth on edge.”
I raise my eyebrow.
“What was that, Eight?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. We’ve got another group of five adventurers.”
“How dangerous?”
Her answer makes chill run down my back, and my chitin crawl.
“Call One.”