//------------------------------// // 1: Wakey wakey, hooves off ovipositor! // Story: Halls of the Changeling King // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// It’s so quiet. Everything is pitch black. Can I even hear my own breathing? I can, I can. Good. “Helloooooo?” Alright, my voice is working as the big hole in the sky intended. “Mister shiny wing antennae changeling?” I call out. It’s weird. I remember wanting to shake the hoof of a unicorn, some pain in my head, and then everything went dark. I woke up here, the big, bad, angry changelings were standing all around, and the boss was here too. I wanted to help as the big baddies started draining him, but then the weird invisible ground here just turned to goop and… ate me. It wasn’t all bad. I met the big, colorful changeling who didn’t have sharp teeth, and wasn’t mad all the time. In fact, he just looked really tired. He told me to hide, and showed me how. I could dig a tunnel inside here, but in reality I wasn’t digging a tunnel, but it did hide me from the angry lings. I think I even saw mom at some point! I mean, queen Chrysalis isn’t really my mom, but in a sense all of us hive lings are hers. Still, I don’t like her very much, and boss is much nicer. Anyway, the other big and scary changelings aren't shouting anymore, but I can't find the nice bugling either. He had antennae instead of a horn and these big butterfly-like wings, can you believe it? “Speaking of which,” I mumble, “Where is my…?” Some poking around in the inky blackness with my forelegs reveals a long, rusty spear tip. One quick clearing of my throat later, I spit a wad of green goop that’s big enough to cover the whole thing. As it hardens, it starts glowing. There’s only one thing left to do. A hole opens in the chitin of my foreleg, and I wedge the spear tip into it to serve as a makeshift lamp. The light doesn’t illuminate anything, nor does it help me see the invisible floor, but it reminds me of the good days in the old Castle of Two Sisters with the boss. I got distracted. So, some time later while I was hiding from the totally not scary please stop asking changelings with big teeth who screamed and growled a lot and definitely didn’t make me almost goop myself when they passed by, everything went quiet. I wanted to look around, but I was scared that it was just some trap for me, and that as soon as I left my nonexistent but totally real and helpful tunnel they would pounce at me with their open jaws. But nothing happened for so long I think I fell asleep until a crushing tidal wave of emotions woke me up again - fear, anger, sadness, and so much raw hatred… and then everything went silent for good. It drained me so much that my legs were shaking, and I had to lie down again. I think I slept for a really long time afterwards, because… ...uhh, I dunno how to explain it. In this weird place that isn’t completely real, and where time doesn’t pass like it normally should I know I took a really long nap. “Big words are hard,” I mumble, “Anyway, let’s go!” I point in a random direction, and walk forward. To bolster my courage, I start making up a song as I go because, to be honest, it’s sorta boring. I wouldn’t bother the boss with it, but I like places with ponies a bit more than the underground. I mean, tunnels are awesome, but there’s nothing to explore here, even the ground doesn’t shake. I like sensing the little tremors my hooves make, bringing with them a map of fractures deep underneath, possible new tunnels, crystal deposits. Here, I feel blind. So, a song about tunnels? About changelings and tunnels! “All drones of the hole rejoice, sing sing sing with me. Raise your hooves and raise your voice dig dig dig with me,” I chuckle at the first verse, “Down and down into the deep, who knows what we’ll find beneath? Diamonds, Shuffles, mom’s big throne, miss One making ponies moan. Ta dum ta dum ta dum ta dum!” Grinning into the darkness lit only by the sickly green shimmer of my gooped spear… ...I realize I’m wrong. There isn’t only green around. Something yellow is glowing in the distance, a moving dot. Maybe a fire? The scary changelings weren’t too keen on colors, so there’s a chance I might not have to run and hide again. “Helloooooo? I’m harmless and friendly!” the flame seems to flicker, as if turning towards me, “...I hope you are too...” I add, not exactly sure. The yellow dot grows and grows, until I feel some presence surrounding me. When I turn my head, everything wobbles, and suddenly I’m faced with a golden leg. Time to look upwards. Please, no teeth. Please, no teeth. Please, no teeth? Awww… why is it always teeth? “Who are you?” it’s a pony, and thankfully the teeth near my face look like a wide smile. It's a lady, one of the all-in-one ponies, like princess Big Butt Cake! Umm, without the hive mind connection it's kinda hard to think. Celerystick, right! This one is gold, though, and her mane is this weird white that makes it look like liquid more than hair. I should follow her, perhaps she knows a way out of this place. What to do? What to do? Infiltrate, of course. "Bzz bzz, I'm a fly," I wave my legs. Wait, I have wings. Dammit, gotta stick to the act now! "A fly you say? A fly without a body?" she asks, "A little incorporeal fly in my spiderweb," her darting tongue licks my nose. I boop her in return. "You're not a spider, miss. I had a coloring book with them, and they didn't have four legs. You're the horny, winged pony like princesses Celerystick or Moona." The big mare chuckles. "You are smarter than you look." "Hey, miss One said that about me often. She also said it wasn't too hard, though." She rears to her full height, making me turn my head so far up my mouth opens. "My name is Scream, and I am the patron saint- well, just patron of changelings." "A patron? But we didn't have a bar at the hive." Her eye twitches. “No, I mean I protect and guide changelings through hard times.” “So… all the time?” I tilt my head. Something comes to mind, “Hey, do you know the boss? He’s been through a lot, and we even survived a mountain dropping on us. Did you help him get us out?” I narrow my eyes, “Are you miss One in disguise?” “One? No, I’m not her. Nice girl, but a bit too vanilla in bed for my tastes. Besides, she spent most of her time with Wistful before someone cleaned this place out. I’ve been talking to Chryssie mostly in past centuries.” Miss One tastes like vanilla? Or just in bed? Maybe after she wakes up? I’ve got so many questions. “So, miss Cream, what are you doing here… and… where is here?” “Scr- nevermind,” she facehoofs, “I felt a changeling presence in need of guidance, and I was bored- I mean I answered the call. You, my little drone, are dead.” GASP! SHE SAW THROUGH MY FLY STORY! I poke her leg. I wanted chest, but I can’t reach that far up without standing on my hind legs. Everything feels solid. “You must be mistaken, miss. I’m here, all real.” “Your connection to your real body is severed. Right now, you are inside a small hive mind belonging to someone. Alone.” “You’re here too,” I point out her obvious mistake, “miss Cream spider.” “Stop interrupting,” she taps my forehead. “Okay!” “Now, since it’s the end of your life, I think it’s traditional for a soul to judge itself,” she says in a booming voice, “Arise, drone!” “My name is Three, miss.” “I told you not to interr- wait, Three? Really Three? Like rank Three? You mean like One, the blonde, chatty nerd with interest in history and hive management, Two… the… I actually don’t remember and frankly am far too powerful to care, really. Three? You…? A drone.” Ah, an obvious misunderstanding. “No, miss. I’m just a drone, but my rank started with three, and there were some five digits after it, I think. Mom made me as a front line to break through the bubble during the Canterlot invasion, but I kinda… didn’t get there because I didn’t have wings at the time. Then I met the boss. I call him boss because he’s smart and gave me a spear tip, which was the first thing I’ve ever owned. I’ve been helping until...” unfortunately, there are parts I am starting to recall with unpleasant clarity, “...until… until… a paladin pony killed me...” I stop, biting my lip. “A paladin, like one of those holy zealots of Celestia?” “Yeah her - princess Caloria.” “I think I’ll keep you,” beaming Scream pats my head. I can barely feel it through the creeping cold of horrible memories, “Hey!” she raises her voice and stomps her hoof, making gold sparks fly off from the impact. “Hmm? Keep me?” I blink, “Wait, I have to tell the boss not to be mad at ponies just because of one bad guy! I mean, I’m not the smartest hole in the leg, so maybe the paladin just wanted to give me the knife as a friendship token, but I took it the wrong way and started bleeding.” “Shhh...” she scoops me up with her foreleg, lifting me so that we can look eye to eye, “We still need to do something before I decide whether to leave you here, or maybe to help you just to spite old Sunbutt. Hmm?” she winks at me, and I nod, “Alright, hop off.” A short drop later I’m sitting back down on the ‘floor’, looking up at Scream again. Her horn flashes, and- “Hi!” -another Three appears sitting next to her, waving at me, and smiling. “Oh, hi, me,” I walk over, and poke him. Yep, as solid as my chitin. We both look at Scream, “So what now?” The big mare clears her throat. “As I said, it is time for a soul to render judgement on itself. The current you will have to face the best you, your full potential, the best version you could have been. Now speak, perfect Th-” “He’s okay!” the other me immediately grins. Scream leans backwards, blinking. “Don’t you want to think about-” “Nope, we’re cool. High one!” other me hoofbumps my own outstretched foreleg, “I mean, we made it this far. We didn’t get smooshed in the invasion as we should, we found the boss, miss Eight, Four, Ten, Miss One, and even Nine.” “And Shuffles, don’t forget Shuffles,” I correct other me. “My bad. See, miss Scream? He’s smart too,” suddenly, other me pouts, “Waaaaait… what if I am the Three being judged? Oh no… he corrected me, which means I’m the stupid one and he’s the perfect one. I failed? Did I fail-” “Wait, no, that’s not-” Scream facehoofs, “Urgghhh!” “Nah, you’re awesome!” I pat the panicking other me’s back, “I was here all the time and miss Screech-” Huh, where did she find a wall to start smashing her face into? Princess ponies are weird. “-here summoned you out of nowhere. You did the judging, and I passed, I think. So that means I can have you pass too as a judge thingy.” “Really?” other me jumps at me, hugging my neck, “Thank youuuuuuuu!” “ENOUGH!” Scream’s voice booms through the place, and the other me vanishes in a puff of smoke. The mare is giving me a glare, grinding her teeth, “You pass, we’re leaving.” “Leaving wh-” A white square appears mid-air, and without further ado she steps through it. “Umm… you said I was dead. Is that my afterdeath? I’m not sure I want to go...” Silence... …at least until I hear a new voice say: “Who are you supposed to be, hot lady? And what’s with the floating pictures of my life?” My ears perk up. “Boss...?” “Dunno, I heard Celestia does alicorn ascension like this, so I sure as hole won’t be outperformed,” says Scream in a tone that must be shrugging, “I’ve got the music queued up for later too.” “Cool, you’re an alicorn but you curse like a changeling.” Is that really boss? Do I dare peek through the white square door thingy? “My name is Scream-” “Spooky,” the maybe boss’ tone must be raising an eyebrow. “Ecstatic Scream, to be accurate.” “That really doesn’t put me at ease. I slept with One, and I still feel holes I don’t have anymore twitching.” That’s it! I gotta see. With that, I jump through the doorway. “Hey, what does ex-tictac mean? Did you use to be candy?” I ask, landing in the same darkness, but this time one lit with flickering squares depicting many changelings, situations, and sights. I am in some too. Neat! “What? THREE?!” the boss jumps on the spot. “Well, I have been licked through and through on occasion- oh what’s the point? The drone doesn’t even know what sex is...” Scream suddenly looks depressed. “Hi, boss!” I wave at the stuttering boss who looks about to cry now, quietly opening and closing his mouth, “And that’s not true, I know what sex is, miss Screech. When miss Eight loves the boss very very much, she drags him kicking and screaming to the cellar where he begs for mercy and my help the whole night while miss Eight yells at me that I shouldn’t go down there because the boss is just being a big larva. The next morning she comes up filled with eggs while I drag unconscious boss upstairs and make sure ponies don’t find him.” The alicorn’s eyes bulge, and she starts choking. A moment later she clears her throat as if nothing happened, and says: “I missed something fun, didn’t I?” “Three?! But you’re dead!” boss finally manages to speak again. “No, boss, you’re dead. Miss Scream said this was my afterdeath, which means you’re dead after being dead… like super dead.” “Three, I’m definitely NOT dead,” he waves his hoof around to encompass the flying windows showing what have to be boss' memories. Yep, there’s one of him giving me my spear tip. There’s miss Eight punching a manticore. Huh, Ten got a princess Celeria plushie somewhere? And there’s miss One with Four riding on Nine’s back, “I don’t know exactly WHAT this is, but unless Eight lost my cocoon somewhere I’m not dead.” “Wow, why were you in a cocoon, boss?” “Long story, Three, but the paladin who killed you went crazy, and found us while we were hiding in Las Pegasus. Short time before, One decided it was time to make my half-drone body into one of a fully fledged changeling ruler, and made a cocoon in which I could rebuild myself from scratch, and fix my shapeshifting. Unfortunately, it exhausted her so much that when the paladins attacked… they killed her along with the egg she was carrying,” boss goes quiet, then shakes his head, “Eight… Eight ran off with my cocoon to keep it safe on One’s orders. They tortured and killed Nine,” he looks at the floating screens, one showing a huge changeling warrior disintegrating under onslaught of red light. The screens move, and now one shows a small, scrawny, grey and black changeling covered in blood being pulled by a big unicorn out of a locker, “I hope Four and Ten survived. If not...” “Hmmm,” Scream looks around, “So you’re saying Celestia’s fanatics hunted your group down and murdered most of them on her orders?” The floating images shift once more, this time revealing the unicorn who grabbed Four in the previous memory being behind bars with Four talking to him. His lack of armor in this memory reveals that his mane is blond, and his coat is pure white, making him look like the most stereotypical Canterlot unicorn ever. “No,” boss shakes his head, “I don’t think she knew what exactly the paladins were doing. This happened shortly after Star Trail killed you, Three. I don’t think Bright Star was lying when he told Four that the paladins were doing this independently, especially when he later saved Ten and Four from Star Trail killing them outright.” The screens shuffle, and this time they show a tall changeling mare with bright yellow mane and golden eyes, her belly bulging with eggs. Boss touches the screen, and sighs. “One… you caused us so much grief just for your own amusement, and yet in the end you saved us all.” Scream leans closer to the picture. “Yep, I remember her. Chrysalis’ second in command and later, I suppose, yours, judging from the rank. As I told your drone here, she was always a bit of a nerd, but she kept Wistful company while the other hive mind rulers just kept calling for blood of ponies.” “Yeah,” boss nods, walking over to a different screen, this one showing a muscular female changeling with wine-red mane and dark green eyes just like mom, “Eight. How I fell in love with Chrysalis’ direct daughter I will never understand. I’m still pissed off that she betrayed me, though. I told her to stay and help One fight, but she disobeyed the one time it mattered. She could have ripped Star Trail in half.” The screens flash, one now revealing an adult infiltrator hugging a giant white alicorn plush toy. Ten looks super happy, just sleeping with his hooves wrapped around fake Sunbutt, and drooling green goo all over her. Scream frowns. “Seriously, why do they all like her? Is it just the ass? It has to be the ass. I can have that kind of ass, but I don’t have a castle with custom made door frames.” Boss just smirks, poking the screen with a hoof, and when it slides away, letting another one float close instead, he stops it. It shows the beaming noodly changeling mare with completely random grey and black pattern again. I was so glad to hear Four most likely survived the final paladin attack. I liked her, she was fun and happy despite tripping and falling all the time. She tried her best to be like me, but without the dumb. Hey, we can’t be all smart like miss One or Eight. There was a place both in the old hive and the boss’ group even for me. “The first changeling in ages born of true love,” boss smiles, making Scream whistle, "Eight's and mine... as Three here so accurately described." The alicorn examines the memory closely. “That hasn’t happened since Wistful’s days. A pacifist who barely feeds on any lust and finds it easy to get love? You gotta change that! She can become the most powerful and perverted changeling in the history of your race.” “If One was still alive, she would take that as a personal challenge,” boss makes the memories shift again. Out of nowhere, music starts playing: ”You’ve come a long long way- -and I’ve watched you from the very first day-” Scream stomps her hoof, and the voice shuts up. “Was that princess Celestia’s voice?” asks the boss. “No!” Scream frowns. “I could swear-” “No, it wasn’t! Next memory, now!” Aaand the incoming screen now shows me and the boss sitting atop a broken turret of the Castle of Two Sisters, watching the sea of green treetops. When he sighs, tears forming in his blue eyes, I jump on his back with a quick buzz of my wings. He’s a bit taller than before, actually. Leaner, too. The boss slumps a bit, making me slide off from the right side. Forelegs wrapped around his neck, I swing all the way and land on his back from the left. That was fun. “Wheeee! Can I go again?” “Damn it, Three, you’re making me miss you even more.” I give him the wibble lip. I don’t know how chitin can wibble, but I am Three, the wibbledrone! Boss cracks, and starts swinging his head around while I hold on like a living hoola hoop. My forelegs slip, and I fly off before I stop in mid-air, enveloped by golden glow. Miss Scream levitates me down. “But I AM real, boss! I think. I told miss Scream how the loud and big changelings tried to eat me, then there was a male one who had antennae, and he showed me how to hide. After some time he disappeared, though, and I was wandering this place until I met this weird lady. I think she’s like miss One, only even more so.” Or… am I real? The boss is sleeping in a cocoon, a paladin killed me, the screens showed others mourning me, even how miss Eight painted smiles on ponnequins in the castle armory and… ...surrounded my... corpse with them so that I wouldn’t feel alone. Suddenly, it all comes together. I didn’t stay in the hive mind so that I could come back. I stayed because… because… I had something left to say. I walk in front of the boss, and look up into his eyes. “You were the best boss I could have ever met, boss, but now it’s time for you to wake up. I’m happy I lasted long enough to have a chance to say thank you for everything and goodbye," I take a deep breath and smile at him, "Goodbye, boss.” This time even Scream stays quiet when boss starts crying. I patiently wait, trying to stop myself from sobbing too. If I start as well, we won’t get anywhere. “G-Goodbye, Three,” he finally gathers himself, sits down, and gives me a hug, “I’ll never forget you, even if I live as long as Wistful did.” I gently push him away, then boop his nose. “That is the biggest honor a little drone like me could want, but this is your time now. Time to wake up, boss- no, King.” *** My eyes shoot open, and I gasp for breath, lungs filling with airy jelly. It doesn’t take long to get used to the gel surrounding me on all sides, and I quickly identify the crystalline surface of a cocoon so charged with love it could likely survive even being delivered by Derpy in one piece. Yet, while being completely surrounded by goo, I clearly feel that the sides of my muzzle are wet for a completely different reason. Despite everything, I can’t help cracking a smile. “Thanks for keeping an eye on me, Three,” I let out a message into the hive mind, hoping against all hope there will be an answer, but none comes, ”I will make sure no changeling has to suffer your fate ever again, either being born just to die, or to be brutally murdered by a pony. And if I have to do it by force, then so be it!” I punch the cocoon as hard as I can. *Crunch!* My broken fetlock floats past my head. I think that if it could talk it would be calling me an idiot. “Hmm, maybe I should drain the love from it first,” grabbing the free piece of chitin with my mouth and pressing it against the stump of my leg, I focus on the solidified love surrounding me, and feast. It takes minutes and minutes. My body feels vastly different than before, but the warmth of One’s love drained from the quickly drying out goo and slowly crumbling cocoon seeps into me, healing my foreleg, revitalizing my nerves, and helping me ease back into the world of living. I’m inside a pitch black cavern, I can’t feel anyone with my mind links, and the cocoon is nothing more than some dry grey dust anymore, but I’m back, and I will either find everyone again and make sure they’re the happiest little changelings in the damn history of the world… ...or I will make sure Star Trail’s agonizing death spans centuries.