“Excuse me my queen, but everyling is ready,” said Odonate, standing back in the tunnel with the remainder of the hive’s population behind him.
“Very well,” Chrysalis said, turning away from the scene outside and looking over the gathered changelings. “Have the larva been fully accounted for and carefully secured?”
“Yes my queen,” both Lacewing and Katydid called out in unison.
Together the caretakers flew forward, buzzing their translucent wings. The sisters each held a woven basket, ellipsoid in shape, against their bellies and set both down before Chrysalis. The changeling queen’s horn glowed softly, her magic manipulating a latch on the side of each container and causing both to pop open in a way reminiscent of a clam’s shell. A multitude of hissing larva squirmed inside, crawling over a lining of thick green moss that had been adhered to the top and bottom halves of the baskets.
“Excellent,” said the queen, carefully securing the lids once she was sure the young where away from the edges. “Have Vespa or Scarab returned?”
“Not yet my queen,” answered Odonate, the corners of his mouth creased down in a frown.
“I can understand Vespa still being away but Scarab should have returned by now…” Chrysalis muttered, looking back over her withers at the caverns exit where the light of the sun was beginning to wane. “I guess it can’t be helped, I’ll just have to leave a mark so they’ll know where to go.”
Moving over to the caverns entrance, Chrysalis began to run her side against the stone leaving a trail of pheromones behind. Weak at the start and strong at the end, the mark was a directional guide for the missing changeling’s to travel.
“That’s it then,” the queen said and lifted Pupa up with her front legs, safely holding the nymph to her chest. “Everyling, scatter out and then make your way to the chosen location. If you even have the slightest inkling of anything suspicious, take extra care to not reveal our destination.”
“Yes my queen!” said every changeling as one.
Lowering her head and resting the side of her horn against her daughter’s, Chrysalis channeled her magic to assist the nymph in her transformation. Then the hives entrance lit up a bright green from the combined magic of all within as they morphed into their disguises. Alone, in pairs or in small groups of three to five, the changelings began to fly off in different directions until only a few were left.
“My queen?” Phasmid asked, the guard now in the shape of a dull blue pegasus and looking uneasy about something.
“Is something wrong Phasmid?” Chrysalis inquired of the young guard.
“Is… Is what you said about the other changelings true?” Phasmid timidly asked and his voice came off sounding slightly dry.
A tired sigh passed Chrysalis’s lips and she held Pupa slightly tighter for a moment before setting the nymph back down onto her hooves. Interested in the exchange, a few of the stragglers moved in closer with their ears perked.
“It is true,” the queen admitted, “there have been ‘reformed’ changelings in the past and they have all succumbed to an illness.”
There was only the sound of the wind blowing past the caverns entrance now. Some of the changelings looked to one another questioningly while others just shook their heads and flew off into the evening sky.
“Why didn’t you ever tell anyling?” the young guard asked, unable to look up at the queen. “Warn us about it?”
“Because it’s much less likely to happen when it’s not common knowledge,” Chrysalis said. “It becomes an extremely rare anomaly and it keeps the rest of changeling kind from perishing. In the past there have been changelings who reformed for varying reasons. Some were tempted to reform so they wouldn’t have to devour love to survive. Others triggered their transformation accidentally by becoming too attached to their prey. One even did it thinking it might bring her more power; but no matter the intentions it always ended the same for them.”
“So you just give up on them?” Phasmid rasped, now trembling.
“I have to,” Chrysalis growled, “There is no cure for them, no way to reverse the change and dwelling on their fate is only a distraction from keeping the rest of the hive healthy. Knowing that, yes, I do just give up on them.”
“I-I’m sorry my queen,” the clearly distressed guard whispered, bowing his head. “I just…”
“Keep thinking about your family,” Chrysalis finished for him.
Phasmid exhaled shakily and nodded.
“It’s best to forget them,” the queen said, lifting Pupa up again and turning away from the grieving changeling. “Now we need to get going…”
Taking the hint, the remainder of the changelings trotted past the queen and began taking wing off into the moonlight. Phasmid did his best to pull himself together and walked toward the cavern exit but the queen stopped him with a raised a hoof that crossed firmly over his chest.
For a very brief moment the guard thought it was doomed.
“Phasmid,” she began in a stern tone, looking out into the night’s sky. “I mean it, it’s best to move on; and you’re of age now, you could start a new family of your own. However, if a lack of closure is going to be too much of a distraction for you, I’ll look the other way if you get lost and arrive at the new hive a little later than everyling else.”
At first confused, Phasmid just stared up at Chrysalis. Then the guard’s heart began to race as he realized the veiled consent hidden away in her words.
“T-thank you, my queen,” Phasmid stammered, completely unable to help but crack a small smile.
“Just don’t give me cause to regret this Phasmid,” Chrysalis replied. “You could have a long life ahead of you at the hive. Don’t give in to the temptation you’re about to face.”
Without another word the disguised changeling queen unfurled her feathery wings and glided off into the twilight, leaving the young guard alone to ruminate on his next course of action.
With the Foal Mountain range so far off in the distance, Chrysalis decided to use the moment to arrange her thoughts.
She looked down at the small disguised foal she held in her hooves, fast asleep after the days hectic events. How she had truly hoped that the first few years of the nymph’s life would be stable, with both time to play and daily studies to help her future as a queen. Now she just wished for a break in the chaos.
The harsh life lessons the nymph had to learn so early also pained the queen. The loss of her siblings was a horrendous experience to suffer and without changelings her own age to interact with, Pupa had been forced to use a pony as a substitute. That also made for another unfortunate learning experience, one that she herself had to nudge along. Of course she didn’t enjoy having her daughters feelings hurt, but getting attached to ponies would only cause her more problems later in her life.
Luckily the nymph handled the revelation in a mature manner, if one didn’t count the little poisoning incident; and other than the ‘Twilight bite’, Pupa really hasn’t acted out negatively. Sure she had been a little pushy here and there but she never threw a loud squealing tantrum to get what she wanted or outright refused to listen to instructions. The nymph actuality did quite the opposite and immersed herself in learning.
It had only been a week since Pupa left her cocoon and she could already talk, levitate small objects, pick locks and hopefully, soon, be able to protect herself with a shield. Chrysalis swelled with pride that her daughter was such a prodigy.
A smile grew over the queen’s lips as she thought over the possibilities. With the nymphs help, creating a new throne with anti-magical properties could be done in a greatly reduced rate of time.
The amount of magic required was immense however, and it wouldn’t be healthy for Pupa to assist in something like that until after her third molt; or maybe her second one if she continued to develop at her current rate. That was something best to think about later, after all her first molt wouldn’t be due for a year from now.
Pupa did have her issues too through. That strange nightmares that caused her to fall into a state of misery really troubled the changeling queen. Bad dreams happen, but how greatly it affected her was disturbing for Chrysalis.
“Hopefully it won’t trouble you again,” Chrysalis whispered to her daughter.
As the Foal Mountains slowly began to grow larger, the changeling queen let her thoughts drift away from her daughter and onto the tasks ahead she and her changelings would need to focus on.
Finding a safe location to keep the larva while searching out a place to excavate a new hive was the number one priority. After that, they would need to gather the energy to undertake the task.
Hollow shades would be the closest place to gather love, but it was mainly home to bat ponies, and they tended to have better natural resistances to changeling magic.
“It would have to be Fillydelphia then,” grumbled Chrysalis to herself.
Chrysalis detested cities. The more populated the city the more the emotions seemed to blend together. To her the love tasted diluted. It wasn’t as rich in flavor and the energy didn’t go as far. But there are changelings that thrive better in that kind of environment, like Cicada.
“It might be best to have her relocate from Las Pegasus,” Chrysalis thought aloud.