As Twilight woke up in her room, she took a moment to see around and remember that she wasn't sleeping on Ponyville, she slept on a royal changeling hive and she could barely stop herself from trying to investigate more of this place. She turned around and saw her friends, now starting to wake up, as they all noticed how they were all being woken up by natural light.
Twilight, being the one most woken up, tried to search around for the light source and found it. It was a small window on the upper sides of the room, said window had near it a series of mirrors that reflected the light around the room, creating a lot more light than what would be usually possible and made the room more lively.
"Good morning girls... wow, I didn't notice how fancy this room was last night."
As Twilight turned around and saw Rainbow Dash, she followed through and looked at the room as well. The walls were well cut and painted with beautiful mixtures of orange, brown and dark yellow, making the illusion that the room wasn't carved out. The furniture was all of cedar and coated so it wouldn't fall victim to the problems of time and there were paintings everywhere.
"Ohh, I have to agree with you, darling" -, answered Rarity, - "All these furniture looks wonderful and the paintings are of great quality and they look so well preserved" -. She took a moment to look at the painting of a young, golden and regal changeling queen holding a golden scepter with a big, red jewel, on the top. Looking at the royal garments, the changeling's demeanor and the dark colors surrounding the figure, Rarity took a guess to value the painting. - "Well, this painting must be worth hundreds upon thousands of bits. I wonder who this changeling was."
"Well" -, Fluttershy guessed, - "she probably was a queen, if we go by her looks."
All the girls looked at the painting, wondering who probably was the imposing figure, before their stomachs reminded them of their hunger.
"Well" -, Twilight giggled, - "we can probably guess while eating. Let's go girls."
They were about to leave when they noticed two ponies still sleeping, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and as they got closer to wake them up, shock overcame and forced them to gasp at their appearance. Both mares started to wake up and greeted their friends, not getting why they were looking at them with complete shock.
In the case of Applejack, a simple move of her hoof towards her head told her all that was needed to know, as she felt a small protuberance on her forehead and quickly covered it with her hat. In the case of Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, she wasn't immediately aware of why her friends were looking at her with those faces but, as she waved at them, she then noticed some pink hairs falling from her hooves; she then looked over at her body and saw how there were many parts lacking any type of hair, but that wasn't what scared her (or her friends) it was, rather, how instead of flesh, on the hairless spaces, one could see blackness that was slowly expanding on her body.
Seeing Pinkie Pie quickly hiding under her sheets brought some concerns on her friends as Pinkie started to peek out her eyes from the bed.
"How much did you see?"
Twilight and the other girls started to look at each other, worried, and answered.
"Not much" -, answered Twilight Sparkle with a calming voice, - "don't worry, Pinkie, you aren't the only one going through it. We can keep it a secret."
Pinkie took out her head from the bed's sheets and responded with some hints of worry on her voice.
"I know you're also going through it, it's not that; it's just... it's not so noticeable on you. How am I going to explain the Cakes or the other ponies at Ponyville that I'm losing hair? We can't tell anyone or else we might get disappeared... girls, I don't want to disappear."
Twilight tried to think of something to help her friend, but she came up with nothing. She had no knowledge of illusion spells at the moment and she wasn't sure if she could come up with anything at the moment, but she then had an idea that would help, not only, her friends, but also the other ponies that were being transformed into Changelings.
"I know, considering we are in a hive belonging to a Changeling Queen, maybe they have something in its library that could help me to create an illusion spell to cover us up."
Twilight's friends gave her some questioning looks but didn't have anything good to retort, so they conceded on her plan. It was in this moment when the room's doors were opened and a group of changeling guards entered in, they looked at Twilight and her friends with certain scrutiny, while keeping their faces neutral, and asked with an even tone.
"Greetings, did you rest well last night?"
All the ponies nodded before the guard continued.
"We're here to escort you, so you can have your breakfast. Are you ready to come?"
The ponies looked at each other, noticing how they still needed to brush themselves before answering.
"Would you mind if we take a few minutes before departing? We've just woken up."
The guards nodding and were about to close the door before Twilight moved towards them.
"Uhm, excuse me" -. The guards stopped and looked at Twilight to see what did she want. - "You see, we are transforming into Changelings but we still live among ponies. So, I would like to know, if you could escort me to your library and see if there is some book on illusion spells, so we could keep our transformation a secret."
The guards looked at each other before muttering something for a moment, they then turned towards Twilight and nodded.
"Follow us."
Twilight quickly followed them and took the opportunity to give a bigger appreciation to the well made halls, as the walls were so nicely chiseled, and painted, that it didn't look like they were carved out to begin with. She also noticed how the lights came from the wall themselves (as the candles were off) and gave the illusion of natural light by shining a small yellow glow from the upper sides of the walls to the roof itself. She looked down and noticed how the red carpet was still there, it even felt as the same fabric to the one used in Canterlot Castle.
This Changelings may be a completely different species that lived underground, but their royalty wasn't very different from Equestria's.
In the end, after crossing many doors, passing many halls and going through many floors; the guards stopped in front of a big, ornate, double door that had a Changeling Queen carved on the right side and a manticore carved on the left side. All Twilight felt as she looked at the doors was the majesty of the place. As the doors opened, Twilight saw, to her delight, a big amount of books that, while not as big as Canterlot, it easily surpassed Ponyville's library.
"Here it is, miss pony" -, said one of the guards, - "you can ask the receptionist for the magic section. Once all your friends have been moved to the dining room, we'll come to get you, alright?"
Twilight nodded and went to the receptionist, a young female changeling (Twilight was wondering how she knew her gender) that looked too bored to even care of where she was.
"Hum, excuse me" -, asked Twilight in a very low volume, - "you see, I am in the middle of a transformation and I would like to know if you have anything on illusion magic."
The receptionist gave Twilight a look and, what originally looked as a face of disgust, was quickly replaced with a face of curiosity, before she told Twilight where to go.
"Third hall to the left, I recommend you 'Introduction to Shape Shifting' by Dulimax and 'The Secrets of Shapeshifting Through the Lenses of Science' by Darix. They are on the upper side of the hall."
Twilight was going to ask about the face of disgust, but she preferred not to, she just wanted to focus on the spells she needed right now.
As Twilight moved through the files, she managed to find the, very thick, books that were recommended to her; that didn't stop Twilight from looking at the other books, on the shelfs, and realize that some of this books were either novels or historical records of the hive's past. It took a lot of effort from Twilight but, remembering that she was going to leave the hive later that day, she decided to focus on the books she just acquired and sought for a spell that she could use right away to cover her friends's changes. She would later see if she could get a copy of this books.
As she was reading the books, Twilight was suddenly visited by a figure she didn't expect to find on the library.
"Greetings, young pony."
Twilight almost screams from the shock, but she managed to refrain herself from doing so and noticed how the one talking to her was none other than Queen Fortis. Twilight quickly knelt but Fortis rejected this gesture.
"Please, do not kneel before me, we're not on an official meeting and I've always been a bigger fan of casual conversations."
Twilight raised herself from the floor, surprised by this revelation, and decided to make the situation more casual, as requested.
"Oh... ok... well... hi Queen Fortis, what are you doing in here?"
Fortis kept her smile as she started to move around the books.
"Well, as the new Queen of Hive Castleen, I must asses the state of my hive and determine what changes are needed for our survival" -. She picked a book, read its title, and then put it back where it was. - "The same way, since I was never properly trained to rule, I also need to investigate more on certain aspects that has been brought to my attention as of late" -. She then picked another book and, after reading the title, she held it with her magic and sought for another book. - "Granted, some of this research is only to reinforce some ideas that's been crossing through my mind as of late but, after our situation with Diamantis was brought up, I've forced myself to do much more research than I thought was needed."
As Fortis picked up another book and grabbed it for herself, Twilight tried to take a better look at the books she was taking as she tried to keep the conversation going.
"And, have you found something of use so far?"
Fortis gave Twilight a quick look before a smile was drawn on her face, much to Twilight's curiosity, and answered with a motherly tone that reminded Twilight a lot of Celestia.
"Well, considering the great hurdle that will come from the deal your princesses did with Queen Valeris and I, I am very certain that I'll need a lot of historical and legal help for the oncoming days."
Twilight's curiosity started to pick up as she now wanted to know what kind of problems was Fortis going to face.
"Really? I mean, I understand that there were some things that really angered the other queens, but, I've never been told just how badly the situation is, actually."
Fortis' face remained neutral as she considered Twilight's words.
"The problem goes beyond just Valeris and I acting rashly but I'm not sure we have the time to properly explain all of that. After all, you must leave in a few hours and you must have something important to do if you need those books."
Twilight looked at her books, reminding her of her friends in need, and made a sheepish smile as she tried to explain herself.
"Well, yeah. You see, my friends and I have been transforming more and more, each day, and, since we must keep all of this a secret, I was searching for an illusion spell to keep us all disguised while you and the other queens try to fix all of this."
Fortis gave this a thought and, after looking at the books Twilight just picked, she decided to search for the specific spells Twilight needed to disguise both herself and her friends. After a few minutes of search, Fortis materialized a parchment and started to transcribe the details of the spells that Twilight needed for her friends and gave it to her.
"Here, you can read the details of how such spell can be applied and how it works" -. She then started to smile as she started to move out of the library. - "I hope this helps you out, we really don't want you to be discovered before the discussions begin."
Fortis then started to check out the books she was looking for, Twilight in tow, and continued to talk to Twilight.
"I'm certain that the next reunion in the Collective's Palace will be in a few days and, until then, I feel it won't be safe for any of you to be around by showing your transformation."
As Twilight heard this, there was a word that picked her interest that she wanted to understand now.
"Collective's Palace? Is that where the queen gather to discuss about legislation and the relationship with other species?"
Fortis looked at Twilight with her motherly smile and answered Twilight's question.
"Yes, although we discuss more than that."
Twilight wanted to ask many more details, but she then remembered her mission and decided to ask more on the pertinent questions.
"And you are planning to discuss about the deal soon? What do you plan to say in there?"
As Fortis was about to answer, the librarian finished checking the books and gave them back to Queen Fortis with a very pleasant smile. As both Fortis and Twilight were about to leave, the librarian gave Twilight another glance and shot her another look of disgust as the doors got shot down, although Fortis apparently didn't notice this and continued answering Twilight's question.
"Well, I do have planned some things to say but, overall, that's the main reason why I'm picking up this books. I'll try to research as much as I can about this subject matter before the reunion of the High Chamber begins."
Twilight gave Fortis another look of confusion, a look that Fotis quickly answered.
"The Collective's Palace is divided on two chambers: The High Chamber and the Low Chamber. Each chamber is composed by Great Queens and Lower Queens respectively, with the High Chamber being the one in charge of the relationship between the changelings and other species."
As Twilight and Fortis were moving out from the library, they were greeted by a pair of guards which then decided to escort the two of them to the dinner room, so they could eat along the rest of Twilight's friends. As they were moving along, Fortis continued her explanation.
"All the Great Queens must gather on the High Chamber, at the very least, once a week and discuss about the latest advances they have gathered both on the development of their hives and the committees they work on" -. Seeing Twilight's confusing stare, Fortis decided to explain a bit more. - "A Committee is a branch within the Collective's Palace that focuses on a certain aspect of the changelings' development, determine if a new law is needed or if something important has been found, and work with the other committees to ensure the stability of the Changelings in general."
"Well, I must say" -, Twilight added, - "for a system like this, which requires of other queens to keep it going, that means you and the other queens must really trust each other to be able to work this out."
Fortis made a small chuckle, befuddling Twilight, and clarified.
"Oh, no. It's not that we trust each other; it's more that we all find the other alternative to be much worse."
For a brief moment, Twilight wondered what could she possibly mean by that but, she then remembered something last night that the other changeling princesses mentioned, something that made her fur shiver.
"War... you prefer to work together to be at war with each other out again."
"Indeed" -, Fortis responded as she nodded at Twilight's realization, - "we are going to be at ten years since all the changeling queens vowed to never go back to war. I must say, back then, I was skeptical of how this could work but, I'll admit, this resulted far better than anyone anticipated... I suppose we all are indebted to Valeris, even if most of us will never admit it."
Twilight quickly glanced at Fortis, remembering what kind of queen Valeris always looked like to be, and asked for a clarification.
"Well" -, answered the queen, - "when Valeris started her war against the other queens, she wanted to impose this system, alleging that it would stop the wars, and I remember many changelings being doubtful of it. In fact, I remember one newspaper predicting that we would have a new war in less than a year but, look at where we all are, almost ten years later."
Twilight gave this a thought and only one question came out of her mind.
"But... is just that... I didn't think of Valeris as the one who wanted peace" -, seeing Fortis' looking at her with a slight tone of severity made Twilight flinch, - "sorry, I really thought she was the kind of queen that only wanted to rule over all the other queens."
Fortis smile was then completely erased from her face as she looked at Twilight, no longer looking motherly or well meaning. Her silence made Twilight feel anguish as she worried over the idea of saying the wrong words, but Fortis then relaxed her features and answered as if nothing wrong was said.
"Well, you aren't the first one to think like that."
Twilight's face quickly changed from worry to curiosity once more as Fortis continued talking.
"You see, many queens doubted Valeris' intentions when she defeated the other queens ten years ago; they all thought that she was going to crown herself queen over all queens, which has always been the desire and fear of any queen involved in a war, and this fears were further increased when she started to work as the Lady of the High Chamber but, surprisingly, she hasn't done anything that implies her will being imposed on other queens. In fact, she even made it a rule that, any queen chosen as the Lady of the High Chamber will have her term lasting for 5 years, with a reelection for another 5 years to be allowed, but anything beyond that is banned."
Twilight gave this a thought and made some speculations but Fortis simply clarified them for her.
"That means this is her last year as the Lady of the High Chamber and some other queen will have to take her position. That doesn't sound like a queen wanting to rule over all of us, doesn't it?"
Twilight reflected on this and, after seeing some truth in Fortis' words, she decided to apologize.
"Sorry, I suppose I jumped to a few conclusions back then."
Fortis smiled once more and released a chuckle, answering with a lighthearted laugh.
"Oh, don't worry about that. You aren't the only one letting prejudice judging her before getting to know her, and you'll probably won't be the last either. Just learn to not judge a book by its cover. That's a lesson that, I'm certain, both of our species should learn, don't you agree?"
Twilight got surprised by that, as she remembered the librarian and how she looked at her with disgust, while she and her friends felt disgusted with their own non-pony parts and decided to think about that later on. Meanwhile, without even realizing it, the two of them were already at the doors of the dining room, with a growl on Twilight's stomach being the one thing reminding her of what she needed the most right now.
As the doors opened, Twilight saw, to her delight, her friends, and Diamantis, eating happily their breakfast of hay with cooked eggs, while Diamantis ate a pair of cooked fish with fried eggs which were adorned with a pinkish kind of syrup. They were all together eating in a very well polished table, adorned with flowers of multiple kinds, and each of her friends had fruitful drinks, served in golden cups, as Fortis and Twilight sit on the table and ordered their food. The ponies were going to salute Fortis, but she asked them to remain casual and continue their conversations as if nothing happened.
As the ponies, and changelings, finished their morning food, Twilight decided to share with her friends the illusion spell she found and how she was planning to study it on the way home, while Diamantis and Fortis were discussing the final arrangements for the members to be sent into Ponyville.
"So I have to prepare rooms for six more changelings?" - Asked a thoughtful Diamantis. -"Well, I'll see what I can do but it won't be simple. I don't have the bits to pay for an hotel and the cave in White Tail Woods is quite far away, but I think I can still do something" -. She then asked for confirmation. - "And they'll be there to help me build the hive?"
Fortis nodded as she started to clarify.
"Yes, my little one, since you'll have to teach the future hive members to be part of changeling society, and you'll have to move to other queens to ask for more members, I thought it would be best if these drones I give you are focused on building your hive."
Twilight and her friends listened with extreme care as they tried to search for anything that could help them. Sure, they have enjoyed their stay on Castleen, but they were still loyal to Equestria and it would require much more than a good meal to make them change their allegiances.
"Thanks, your Majesty" -, responded Diamantis, - "that only leaves me with one problem, so far. While I am planning the details for my hive, I am quite needing some kind of help for information" -. Fotis raised her eyebrow in curiosity as Diamantis continued talking. - "You see, I don't have much time to focus on reading the news so, I fear, I won't have the time to follow what you and the other queens discuss on the Collective's Palace."
As Fortis heard this, and seeing an opportunity, she started to smile as she called one of her maids and whispered something to her and, whatever was whispered, made the maid to quickly leave the room. Both the ponies and the young changeling queen wondered what was she planning, but they got their answers as the maid returned with a couple of radios, made out of a dark polished wood, being transported with magic.
For Twilight, this was a mystery but Diamantis could only grin at what she was seeing.
"Two specialized radios? For me?" - Seeing Queen Fortis nod with her head only made Diamantis to smile with happiness and almost jump in the air. - "Yes! Things are going to improve so much now!" - After turning around and see her future administrators confused with the exchange, Diamantis decided to clarify. - "Well, Twilight, Rainbow, you must be aware of how there are changeling news diaries."
As both ponies nodded, all their friends freaked out at the piece of information that wasn't shared with them, but Twilight and Rainbow promised them to explain about it later. They then asked DIamantis to go on.
"Well, in the last few years, changelings have been developing to also enter into the radio broadcasting. The problem is that, since we have to remain hidden, we must use magic to tune up the changeling radio waves; that is, unless we have a specialized radio that can catch both radio waves, and this is such type of radio... but why two radios, your Majesty?"
Fortis smiled as she looked at Diamantis with care.
"Well, the first radio is for you, so you can listen to what happens among Changelings on the radio" -. She then looked at Twilight and her friends. - "The second radio is for them, so you can either listen for yourself what happens among us."
Twilight and her friends got shocked as they heard this. They didn't expect this kind of generosity from Fortis, it was kind of strange.
"You see" -, Fortis explained with complete calm, - "after discussing a bit with Valeris, we agreed that it would be beneficial for us if Twilight had a personal radio, that way she could research on her own about our society" -. She then gave a sly smile and added. - "She could even share this piece of information with Celestia, of course, I only hope she doesn't mind you using it" -. Fortis looked at the ponies, focusing on Twilight, as her smile gave a sensation of deviousness that started to creep out Twilight. - "After all, what better way to know about us and report to Celestia, while preparing yourself to be Diamantis' speaker, than having a source of information to use on your own time?"
There were many questions and doubts Twilight was having at this very moment, this felt so out of place and dubious but it would be very counterproductive to reject the offer. Twilight could later ask Celestia about it but, for the time being, she had no other choice but to accept the offer.
"Thanks... Queen Fortis. I deeply appreciate your gift" -. She then gave the two radios a look and, after seeing how shiny they were despite being of a dark tone, she added. - "Wow, this must have been very expensive."
"Indeed" -, responded Fortis with deviousness now gone from her face, - "I had to buy them from Hive Miria, for it's the only place where this are produced."
Diamantis wore, briefly, a shocked face before going back to normal and continued talking.
"Well, that explains it" -. she then started to give it a look and saw with a better detail the dials and buttons it contained as excitement filled her voice. - "Oh, I really want to start using it. It will help me so much to be up to date with the changeling news."
As she said this, a soldier came and announced what many knew was going to happen but weren't sure when.
"My queen, I am here to inform you that the cart to escort the guest is finally prepared to transport them back home."
All the ponies were sad after hearing that. They were expecting to stay for a few more hours but, after reminding themselves that they had other things to arrange in Ponyville, they accepted this and moved on to leave.
The farewell was quick but nice, with Princess Veritis promising to visit them sooner than they thought, as the cart was moving them back to the Magnus Farm. Just like the first trip, the journey with the cart was almost uneventful, with the difference being that Twilight was now studying a new spell, and Rarity was discussing with Diamantis about how beautiful was the palace in Hive Castleen, and how dreadful it was from them to not have proper clothing, Diamantis would remind herself to never summon Rarity's wrath ever again, while Rainbow was trying to talk with Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie about the changeling news diaries.
After reaching the Magnus Farm and taking the train back to Ponyville, Rarity decided to ask about one last thing she remembered from Fortis' coronation.
"Now, there is something I would like to know. What was that of calling the queen 'The Manticore of the Plains' all about?"
Diamantis looked at Rarity with certain level of doubt but answered nonetheless.
"Well, that's her title."
All the ponies were confused at that and asked Diamantis to continue.
"It's a custom between the Changeling Queens to earn titles, since that is what define their figures. In example: Queen Luxis is known as 'The Lightning Queen' while Queen Amaryllis' title is 'The Insectoid Dragon'. Most of this titles are earned through military actions but there are queens, like Lixis, that earned their titles through other deeds. In the case of Fortis, she earned her title after leading and winning The Battle of the Green Fangs."
This caught Rainbow's attention and prompted her to ask about it. Diamantis then decided to tell the story of how Queen Fortis, being on a huge disadvantage, managed to defeat on her own an army that surpassed her on numbers 3 to 1 and leading her armies with the bravery of a manticore. While Rainbow was the one listening with more intent, and Twilight being the second most attentive to the tale, the other ponies weren't so keen on the idea of war, even though it was quite awesome to hear how Fortis managed to win with so many odds against her.
"Hold on" -, said Twilight as Diamantis finished her tale, - "if almost all the queens have earned their titles through military actions, does that include Queen Valeris?"
Diamantis nodded unconcerned.
"And what did she do to earn 'The Unifier' as a title?"
Remembering hearing that title on the meeting between Celestia and Luna, Diamantis decided to clarify a bit more.
"Well, technically, she earned it after unifying all the changeling hives, but that is a title that is more oftenly used by her supporters than by her" -. After seeing the ponies confused, she decided to explain some more. - "That meeting was the first time she ever used it to refer herself, I don't know why but she only uses her other title when referring herself."
"And what is her other title?"
Seeing Rainbow actually invested made Diamantis strangely proud. She never thought these ponies would be interested in Changeling history so quickly.
"The Warrior Queen."
None of the ponies were impressed by that and even finding it a bit cliché until Diamantis clarified why she earned that title.
"She earned it because she won all the battles she lead on the war."
None of them noticed how there was some doubt on Diamantis' face as she said that, their bodies were to focused worrying to the idea of how dangerous was Queen Valeris, especially when having such a lovely and, at the same time, dangerous queen as Fortis.