The cavern was closer to the surface than most of the other caves. That had to be why she had been climbing up a tunnel for what felt like an hour. Spectra's captain roughly shoved her to move faster. It wasn't easy, though. The walls scraped her knees, and many small stalactites threatened to scratch her head if she moved any faster than a trot.
"You could carry me if you're in such a hurry," she winced at another jab from his horn.
To that, he just laughed. "Does this tunnel look like a place I could fly in? If I carried you on hoof, it'd take twice as long."
Lunti huffed and pulled herself up the slope. She had to be careful. One wrong step and her hooves could slide off, and she had no idea how far she'd tumble before the captain would think to grab her.
"This tunnel doesn't seem efficient," Lunti grunted, lowering her body to the ground to squeeze under the ceiling of the tunnel. "I've seen those drones that make caverns. They could widen it, make it easier to climb through."
"They will, when the Queen tells them it's time," the captain said. "Worker-drones are simple, but they aren't cheap. Acid is physical material, it can't just be made from just magic, they need to eat a lot."
They were so close to the surface, her eyes started to ache once the groundskeeper caves came into view. And they were truly caves. It was like a pit had formed in the side of the mountain exposing the hive to a flood of green and blue. Vines, roots, and even fallen tree branches dangled from the mouth of the cave. The even line cut across them were telltale signs that it had been diligently maintained.
But the sight was still tempting. Lunti could not stop her heart from pounding, wondering how long she'd have to wait for the vines to grow to the bottom of the cave. Slowly, her eyes trailed down from the opening, following the cracks to the floor. As she looked on, the years ticked up in her head.
The eyes caught her attention as soon as she stopped gaping at the fresh air above her. Pairs of lidless, black eyes stared down on her from small nests woven out of the roots. She tried counting, but her whole body started to freeze up as every pair started to look the same, and she lost count.
"Here they go," the captain said, bucking Lunti into the centre of the cave. "You have fun. There's only so much of these freaks I can handle."
Lunti whipped around and reached after the captain. "Wait-"
A massive black body landed in between them, knocking her onto her back. Lunti kicked the air to defend herself from the Changeling, but all she felt was a tight grip around her hooves. "Howdy! I haven't seen you around here before!"
Lunti's whole body wobbled as the groundskeeper firmly shook her hoof. One by one, more popped out of their nests to greet her. Not all were in their Changeling form. Some sprouted out from the roots as cats or birds, others glided down from their nests as pegasi.
One of those pegasi nudged Lunti back up to her hooves. "Wow, are you a real pony?" it asked. "My nest's in the middle of a forest, way up north where it never stops snowing. I only get to see ponies when they go out to train their hunting hounds."
"Use your nose," scoffed another Changeling, waltzing into the middle of the crowd as a cat before revealing her true form. She spoke with a soft but fluid tone. "Smells like a pony, doesn't she?"
"Oh knock it off," the massive black Changeling replied. "North ain't an easy nest. Quick your teasing and give the pony a welcome."
Lunti blinked, twisting her head around to check for any traps or an ambushing Changeling. She had only met a groundskeeper outside of the hive. She didn't think they were any different from other hunter-drones.
"You're actually being, well," she hesitated to say the word, "friendly?"
The Changelings all paused and looked at each other. They traded sly and knowing looks until one of them couldn't contain themselves anymore. Once one groundskeeper broke into a laugh, they all did.
"Whatd'ya expect," laughed the northern groundskeeper, "more hunter-drones?"
The black-eyed Changeling patted Lunti on the back. "Bet you haven't had a good run of it lately, but you needn't worry." He peeled back his lips to reveal the rows of cutting teeth along his jaw. "If the Queen doesn't say 'bite,' we don't bite."
That didn't surprise her. The Queen, Spectra's mother, had a completely different aura about her. Lunti only saw her for a short moment, but she had still felt the confidence radiating off of her. Strangely, it made Lunti feel better about her place as a prisoner. She knew, in some little way, why Spectra was the way she was. With a mother like that, it could be impossible to escape her shadow.
"And if you get a new Queen?" Lunti asked. One way or another, however, Spectra had to outgrow that shadow. And Lunti knew she had to be on her good side when it happened.
A twitch in the black-eyed Changeling's smile cracked through his outside joy. It was small, but with real sunlight flooding down from the mouth of the cave, Lunti could see clearer than she had in months. The other groundskeepers hid their reactions well, but not as well. The furthest even dropped their curiosity completely and snarled at her.
"Hm, well," black-eye widened his grin, "the answer's a little hard to explain to a pony. What're you doing here, anyway?"
"Waiting for Princess Spectra to finish speaking with the Queen."
He tilted his head, his glossy, black eyes looking slightly blue under the light of the sky. "Funny thing to do, for prey. You don't have a knife tucked away in that mane of yours, do you?"
"Opposite, in fact," Lunti answered. "I've been treated like an animal for months, but when Spectra's sister dragged me to the surface as bait for their battle, I chose my side. I want your Princess to know what I can do for her."
"Got a lotta gumption, don'tchya?" laughed the northern groundskeeper.
Black-eyes seemed to agree with a slight nod. "Make sense. I'll bet you don't know how long they'll be talking, right?"
Lunti nodded back. "I wasn't given an itinerary."
"In that case," he smiled, "you should save questions about the Queen. The Princess can answer them if you see her."
If. Lunti withheld her curiosity. There was still a lot she needed to know about the hive, and especially the Queen. But the groundskeepers seemed to act only like Changelings when the Queen was involved. If she wanted anything out of them, they had to stay like they were now. With so many different personalities, anything the groundskeepers had in common could be a feature of Changelings in general, maybe even a weakness.
At least, she thought she'd have enough to pull more information out of them. But all of them froze as the cave turned nearly as dark as the hive below. The passing wind hurled clumps of leaves and dirt down the cave. The rattling of hardened scales tickled the air like a wall of chimes.
The body was so massive, even when it landed it blocked out a piece of the sun. And as quickly as the shadow covered them, from the depths of the beast came roaring fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spectra and her mother both felt their hive cry out. The panic and disorder from the drones above them flooded the hive's tunnels with the smells of the drones' auras. Spectra's eyes weren't on the tunnel back to the surface. She couldn't think about the hive at the moment. All that filled her thoughts was the look on her mother's face.
Her drones warned her, and she listened. She expected to finish off Halfwing later when she had the whole hive behind her. But the look on her mother's face, she was not prepared for it. Surprise, shock, and anger, they were all absent.
"What's happening up there?" Spectra quickly asked, probing for her mother's thoughts.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Don't play games. A dragon doesn't enter my hunting ground without me knowing. And it doesn't die without me finding out what in the world could be strong enough to kill it."
Spectra furrowed her brows. "So, you know it's her?"
"I've known longer than you have," Chrysalis said. "It's one of the tricks I'll have to teach you. Managing the network of groundskeepers that keeps the hive informed is part of the Queen's duties."
"Will there be time for that?" Spectra looked down to a little black bug crawling at her hoof, smelling for magic, as she recalled. "I've only spoken to her once. But I think Halfwing still hates you. When we were in Marblestop, and she had me held in a mine, all she wanted to ask about was her wing. She blames it on you and Tenacity the most."
Chrysalis shrugged. "I don't care about a dragon's feelings. That thing cannot be my daughter, let alone a Changeling."
A stomping rung down the tunnel they came. Spectra picked up Zorne's scent, the veteran hunter-drone captain she once commanded. Fear was heavy in his aura, without a doubt he was here to warn them about Halfwing. Spectra jumped, however, when it took just once hiss from her mother to halt the hunter-drone in place. He hadn't even reached them, but his unshakable obedience kept him steadfast and waiting in the middle of the tunnel.
Spectra turned her head away from the smell of Zorne's fear. "I don't understand. I was worried Halfwing had proven how strong she was by being a dragon, how is she not a Changeling anymore?"
Chrysalis snarled, though Spectra could smell that it wasn't directed at her. "You former sister was an idiot. If she hadn't gotten rid of her pack, she would have had a knowledgable captain to warn her. Changelings cannot turn into dragons after consuming their flesh and blood."
Flashbacks of her first months in the hive came back to Spectra. When they were all young, the only way they knew how to drain magic was by eating a living creature. In the process, she learned every done and muscle of every animal she ate. It was just how they learned to change.
"Why makes dragons different?" Spectra asked.
"It's like a curse," her mother answered, walking at the same time to head back up to the rest of the hive. "Dragons have a magic of their own, but it's not like ours. We are like most other creatures. Our magic is loose, the energy that fills every living thing is constantly releasing and absorbing magic. We are only able to drain magic from others because of how ready the magic is to escape its host."
They met Zorne, who was still bowing his head to the ground as they passed by him. Chrysalis made no sound, but Spectra smelled a sour surge in the air as her mother issued a command by magic.
"A dragon's magic is part of their blood," she continued. "Their emotions, especially greed, can affect their bodies and minds. And when a Changeling learns their body and how to transform into it, that magic never leaves. It takes hold in us until we can't control it anymore."
Spectra struggled to keep up with her mother's pace. She wanted to stop and process what she was hearing. Being Chrysalis meant having the memories of all Changeling history.
"So, this has happened before, right? You know how to kill a dragon?"
Chrysalis quickened her pace, her face grim. "No. Once, generations before my time, the hive fought dragons over hunting grounds. A young dragon was taken and studied so that some hunter-drones could infiltrate the dragon congregation. But just like your sister, they eventually became dragons in body and mind, betraying the hive. We lost that war, and the dragons gained their Dragon Lands after that."
Spectra gave the problem some thought. "The hunter-drones, do they know it's Halfwing?"
"No, and it doesn't matter. You will be Queen, and I am the hive's Chrysalis. Hunter-drones are our weapons, they will fight whatever we point them to."
The sound of hunter-drones began to swarm their ears now. Every crevice of the hive that held a hunter-drone had been emptied, all summoned by instinct to defend their home. But Chrysalis's power was absolute. A wave of magic washed over the teeming swarm and the hundreds of drones filling the hive's main cavern stopped in their tracks.
Only a groundskeeper, covered in ichor, kept his pace. He ran from the entrance and fell at Chrysalis's hooves. "It's burned all the nests surrounding the hive, Your Highness. I barely managed to escape."
"You got through the main entrance?" Spectra asked. Chrysalis gave her daughter a sideways look, but let her continue. "Why hasn't it filled the entrance with flames? The dragon should know that's the widest route to march out drones."
The groundskeeper shook his head. "I can't explain why, but it's just circling the hive. There's a ring of fire around the mountain, but it doesn't get too close."
Spectra turned to mother. "She wants us to face her, then. She wants to prove to us that she's become stronger."
"She wants me to face her," Chrysalis corrected. "You could be hunting anywhere. But she knows there's nowhere else I'd be. Her focus isn't on you."
"Does that matter? I'm here now to defend my home."
"No, the time for testing strength is over. You and I must do as the hive requires and direct the hunter-drones."
Chrysalis straightened her posture and raised her head as if the act of leadership itself empowered her. She called out to the hive, letting the very caverns and tunnels carry the command. Shrill screeches and sharp clicks shot through the hive, and one by one, hunter-drones organized themselves into their packs. Spectra recognized a smell she didn't expect to find the hive. Groundskeepers, even their more independent minds could not stand by and watch the hive burn.
A line of them flowed from a small tunnel in the cavern walls. The smells of their auras were clear even in a cavern packed with hunter-drones. Each one of them had a distinct flavour in their magic. Some were more joyful. Some were ready to fight. One smelled uncannily similar to a pony.
In fact, the pony's smell was too familiar. Spectra blinked and checked her nose. The cavern may have been dimly lit by the soft glow of the fungi on the walls, but her eyes were as sharp as her nose in the dark. And she was certain that, in the distance, Lunti was clinging on the back of a groundskeeper.
"Don't just dawdle around!" Chrysalis snapped Spectra's attention back to the hive. "You can't smell it on yourself, but the memory you saw has changed you. The hive will recognize you as a true Queen. Organize the pack captains and prepare them to strike the dragon from the sky. I will organize the ground distraction."
Spectra stepped back, examining how many drones would die by fire before they could get in the air. "She's probably waiting at the entrance. How will we get into the air without her noticing?"
Chrysalis pointed a hoof at the tunnel above, the one Spectra had seen Lunti come from. "The groundskeepers have their own caverns since the hunter-drones can't stand them. They reach up to the surface. Use it as an alternate exit."
Spectra nodded and bounded as fast as her legs would carry. Each step echoed heavier in the hive. Hunter-drones had paid attention to her before, but now it seemed as if they were scared to even look her way. Despite the crowded chaos filling the hive, Spectra realized there wasn't a single drone in her way no matter where she moved. The sea of deafening wings parted before her as she charged for Lunti and the groundskeepers.
"Howdy!" one of the groundskeepers greeted Spectra.
"Cut the act," she hissed, snatching Lunti out of his grasp. "What are you doing out of your cavern? I don't have time for you to play around. Go back, before-"
"-before what, Spectra?" Lunti shoved herself away from Spectra. "You're acting like I didn't just save your life. I'm here because I made sense to your drone."
"The captain?" Spectra tilted her head in disbelief. "He knows where you belong."
"And he knows what you want. I made him realize that letting me stay out in the hive was better for you. Face it, you need some pony who can give you a second opinion."
"There is a dragon waiting above the hive, burning down the jungle around us," Spectra hissed, annoyed. "Get to safety before the dragon eats you, or else I'll do it for her."
"Fine, but when you see your captain, tell him to exit the hive on the ground. Maybe he can be a snake or a rat. He gave me a chance, I'd like to repay him."
Spectra leaned back, sneering and taking a full look at Lunti. She smelled more confident than she remembered. Even with the hive packed with hunter-drones, her smell was still sharp in the air. At the very least, there was no dishonestly in her aura. Whatever she was talking about, Lunti seemed to mean it.
"Why should that help him? You're a pony who doesn't understand anything about how Changelings fight."
"I think I understand a little," she replied, "but this is about the dragon. I saw the smoke from their caverns, but it looked far away. Wherever the ring of fire is that you mentioned, it's not near the groundskeeper entrance. If you take the to air immediately, the dragon will see you. Sneaking on the ground would be better."
"Groundskeeper, is this right?" Spectra asked the one who greeted her.
He nodded. "Didn't measure it, but I reckon it's a few hundred metres from the groundskeeper caverns."
"Then why are you all here? You needed only one messenger, the rest of you could be preparing to attack right now!"
"The hive is in immediate danger. The Queen told us that we'd have to report to her in these situations."
"I am Queen now," Spectra puffed up her chest and lifted her head. "My mother holds the mantle of Chrysalis still, but she made me Queen."
"Reckon that's true, by the scent on ya," he nodded while gesturing to all the other groundskeepers, "but we only have one Queen. It's her orders we follow, not yours."
Lunti stepped between Spectra and the groundskeeper, boldly pressing so close to her that they could feel each other's breath in the darkness. The smell of fear lingered on her, faintly. What dominated her aura and the smell of the magic inside her body was determination. In a way, it was a pure scent, one that was honest by the very nature of its simplicity. It was her simple determination to live.
"There's a dragon above us right now," she muttered, "so you can stop worrying about what I might do because I don't want to die living like those ponies in your pen, stored up and eaten like grain. Even these groundskeepers can be mindless drones when it comes to their orders, so take my words as advice from the only other thinking creature who isn't your mother. You can't overpower a dragon with a swarm, you have to get close and find its weaknesses."
"You want a better life by helping me, is that it?" Spectra asked, filling her lungs with Lunti's scent. "You might get your freedom after all. Dragon scales don't have any weaknesses."
She stifled an internal scream. It was a lie, of course. Halfwing had somehow managed to kill the dragon herself, it was the only way she could have learned how to become one. Spectra cursed her sister. It was too late to leave and find out how she did it. All she could do was fight the way she knew.
But Lunti simply smiled. It would have been meaningly to a pony in the dim glow of the cavern fungi, but Spectra read her knowing lips like words on a book. For once, Spectra felt like she was the one being looked down on by Lunti.
"How long have you lived among my kind? If you won't listen to anything else I have to say, at least take this advice: read some of our books. Ponies have been fighting dragons since our first cities were established. Our gems and our lives both feed them well. I've read stories of heroes sneaking into their caves or tricking dragons to fight on the ground, and in most of those stories, they always go for the eyes."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Every single one of them hears you now, my Queen."
Even with the fires burning above them, Spectra's carapace tingled with excitement at her title. She had ordered her captain to collect every drone who wasn't directly following her mother, and asked that they gather in the groundskeeper caverns. Lieutenants and other captains lined up in rows before her. And the hunter-drones behind them, Spectra couldn't even begin to count them. Among them, only a few drones were her own children. Mutant Changelings, they stood easily a head taller than the rest.
At long last, the army she was promised since birth was hers. The only thing Spectra never imagined she'd have was a pony standing by her side. Lunti stared, but she stood firm. The sheer number of drones wasn't enough to impress her, it seemed.
Of course not, Spectra thought to herself, she doesn't know how much I've had to fight to earn this.
"Chrysalis has ordered her drones to attack from the hive's entrance," her captain informed, bring her attention back to her Changelings, "she awoke most of the worker-drone reserves to form the first wave."
"Workers? What are they going to do against a dragon?"
Her captain shrugged. "Buy time would be my guess. Chrysalis still has the majority of the hive's drones. It looks like she'll be rushing the dragon with numbers."
"That won't work," Lunti mumbled, though Spectra buzzed her wings to silence her prey.
"Fire is the biggest concern we have right now," Spectra told her drones. "We don't stand a chance if we fight at the dragon's range. We need to close in on our prey and make it our fight."
Her words echoed in the cavern. One by one, she could feel the energy from her drones building up from the front to the back, all of them preparing their magic to change into whatever form they needed. But her captain leaned in close behind her, talking into her ear.
"You are the Queen now, Your Highness," he said, "and orders by voice will make coordination too difficult."
Though she wasn't immediately next to them, Lunti could still read the Changeling's lips and hear most of his words. She glanced at Spectra and cracked a grin. "What is she supposed to do, wave around some flag signals?"
The captain snarled but stood obediently in place. Standing in the middle of all the tension, the eagerness from her drones to fight, the animosity between the captain and Lunti, but most of all she felt the anxiety in the back of all her drones' minds about following a new Changeling. It was by instinct that she could read their feelings.
Is that how she does it? She thought about her mother's mental signals. Spectra realized instantly that when it came to sensing emotions, hunter-drones were no different from her. They could read her aura, and know exactly what she felt, perhaps even what she was thinking. She allowed herself to indulge in her imagination, letting the magic that radiated off of her completely soak up her scent. The sensation she would feel as her army snuck up on the dragon, striking at its softer underbelly while she charged for its open eyes, Spectra let those thoughts fill her head and cook up a boiling pot of emotions.
Back to front, left to right, the scent of magic permeated the air and walls of the cavern. Lunti stumbled back, and even Spectra flinched from surprise as the drones locked themselves into marching order. They stood a hoof's width from each other, shoulder to shoulder, without a single noise or murmur. Even her captain, she noticed, had changed. Their carapace, though already black, seemed to darken. Spots of grey where injuries had healed, the equivalent of scars on their exoskeletons, vanished.
Ordered to stay silent, the drones did not make noise, but their wings shot up altogether, bristling and twitching, a reflexive reaction to their Queen's desires. Words no longer mattered it seemed.
"In that case," Spectra whispered to herself, feeling her own body shaking with anticipation, already imagining the smell of her sister's blood, "there's nothing left to do but to kill."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The worker-drones were a joke. Their bodies made a pile outside the hive entrance. Under the heat of dragon fire, their legs and heads shrunk to nubs as the juicy insides dried away. Changelings were, at the end of the day, insects. Magic or none, they burned like any other pest. Halfwing understood this now. Standing above them, she understood what it meant to be a desperate creature suckling the blood from some unwitting cattle.
Queen. The title itself wore lies like a crown. A throne of lies atop a kingdom of bodies. Her sole wing cast a shadow over that kingdom. A dragon could be a king. A dragon could be a queen.
She barely noticed as the hunter-drones flooded from the hive, hiding behind shields of dead workers. The burnt layers of chitin had become so thick the bodies of the dead insulated the other drones from her fire. They carried the stink of the dead with them, hoping to get closer and bite under her scales. Halfwing raged, swinging her tail at the drones and sweeping them aside.
"Mother!" she cried out, though her throat boomed like thunder confined in a tunnel. "The hive will die before you do unless you find the courage to face me. Look at me! Look! Are you proud? Didn't you want this, mother? I'm just paying you back for the lesson you taught me. The lesson given to me only minutes after I was born!"
Halfwing closed her eyes on instinct before she actually saw what happened. An arc of magic, burning bright green, plastered her face with painful sparks and dazzling light. From her sides, more Changelings attacked, turning to bears and manticores and massive horned beasts that Halfwing had never seen before. None of their weapons could pierce her natural armour, but they nevertheless harassed the dragon without end.
Halfwing wound up her tail again, but like stones doused in burning tar, bolts of Changeling magic lobbed themselves from the hive's entrance and struck Halfwing in the head. The shots were so intense they blew away the smoke from the dead worker-drones.
Standing at the mouth of the cave, flanked by two veteran hunter-drone captains, Halfwing saw the Queen. Over a head taller than the rest of the drones, she still walked like a giant, even in the face of a dragon. Halfwing took no time to lash out, striking at Queen Chrysalis with her tail. A barrier of light snapped at her tail, repelling the blow with impossible stability. Without a word, the two captains fired their volleys at Halfwing again.
Even if they were lower and aimed at her softer belly, her skin was too thick to be hurt by their magic. Halfwing rose her head, taking the shots directly in her chest, before sending more fire down onto her mother. When the smoke settled, the ground had turned to ash, save for a small circle where a barrier had been.
"This wouldn't be the first time I've fought a dragon," her mother taunted her, casually kicking away some soot. "You'd understand that, if you were fit to be Queen."
Halfwing's lips curled apart, exposing her fangs, each longer than a Changeling's body. "Queen? I am a dragon! Your kingdom is nothing compared to mine!"
"My kingdom?" her mother laughed. "I can't understand your feelings, but if you've come to prove your right to rule, you're a little late I'm afraid. Your sins are, frankly, unforgivable to the hive."
"You've taken much from me," Halfwing snarled, lowering her head to meet her mother's eyes, "but forgiveness is not something I'll allow you to give back. I've outgrown you and the hive. Quite literally."
Her mother flipped her mossy mane in disregard as if flaunting that she was still special. It had been a long time, but Halfwing still remembered how the hive was divided by birth. The Queen was the only Changeling with any kind of mane. The scraggly fibres of chitin weren't as glossy as a pony's hair, but they were as much a symbol of her power as her height and her magic. Just seeing the Queen for the first time since she left invaded Halfwing's mind with endless thoughts.
She wanted to pluck her mother's legs, clip her wings and snap her horn. She wanted her mother to tear her vocal cords screaming for help until she offered up the crown to the hive. Halfwing raised her claw over her mother's head, barely blinking as the two captains shot as her face. Bears and manticores snapped at her legs, but she kept them all away with simple sweeps of her tail.
Halfwing brought her claw down on her mother. Torture would take time, and in the end, she didn't care about the hive anymore. She just wanted to be done with her mother. But, of course, the Queen's horn sparked with magic and projected a barrier of green light right above her head, catching Halfwing's massive claw.
"If you could fly, this would be a very different fight," she said.
"I don't care. Drag this out and I'll leave you begging to give me the crown. I'll break you down but leave you alive, and I'll come back just to tell you how I killed each of my sisters. First Majesta and Spectra, then I'll find Tenacity and pluck her wings. Wouldn't that be funny, choosing which crippled daughter you like better?"
"As if I could call you my daughter after what you have done," her mother hissed harshly. "Don't try and fool me. I know what it takes to be a dragon. That magic in your flesh, it doesn't listen to you. You've lost control of yourself."
The crackling of the barrier above her mother grew louder as more magic was needed to fight off Halfwing's tensing muscles. It was a minor tell, but one that told Halfwing all she needed to know. She pressed harder.
"The funnier joke is the lie you're still telling yourself," her mother smirked. "Or, maybe I was right to let Tenacity cripple you if you haven't realized it by now."
"What are you saying?"
"You act as if you know me just because I'm your mother, but have you considered why I'm here? A Queen would never expose herself unless she wasn't the Queen anymore."
"Liar!" Halfwing yelled, her voice powerful enough to shake even the trees. "You wouldn't give Majesta the crown until Spectra and Tenacity were dead."
"Oh, but they are. Majesta and Tenacity at least. I would very much hope the new Queen I've given to the hive isn't dead." Her mother's knowing smile sunk like spears into Halfwing's eyes.
"Spectra killed them?" A flutter of hesitation was all the hunter-drones needed for their cue. They clawed and dragged at Halfwing's scales, tearing her down. Her powerful limbs tore off many of them, but one by one the drones found their grip on her body. No individual could slow her down, but dozens of drones in the forms of bears and massive jungle cats took their toll. Her tail slowed, her balance shifted, and Halfwing could not focus on crushing her mother's barrier.
But she had one weapon none of them could contend with. Halfwing snapped open her jaws, blazing fire boiling up to her lips. And waves of the flame washed down onto the drones. Dozens more died, unable to shield themselves while in their massive animal forms. The experienced drones moved swiftly, sheltering behind Halfwing's own limbs, but as she lowered her head to chase them down, even they were swept up by the fire.
Halfwing knew she could have easily taken them all, leaving nothing for her mother to fight with. But a sudden snap struck her face, and she found herself biting her own tongue. Out of nowhere, hunter-drones swarmed around the back of her head, linking hooves to form a chain of their own bodies around her jaw. Halfwing whipped her head around, searching from where they had come from.
The sky? She looked and found no birds. So then, the ground? A flash of green in the corner of her vision tipped her off, but the drone was so close there was no time to react. Halfwing reeled back, tripping over the piles of dead Changelings she had created. For a creature her size, the fall was exceptionally damaging. Her long neck snapped like a whip against the trunks of towering jungle trees, and a stabbing pain shot up her back as she landed on her own tail.
Her mouth burned, but there were too many drones to open her jaw. "Spectra!" Halfwing shouted through her teeth. "Is this you? Show yourself! Or are you a coward like our mother?" From the corner of her eye, one of the Changelings linked around her jaw stood up, walking gingerly over Halfwing's head.
"You want to see me? Alright." Spectra smirked, looking down into Halfwing's giant pupil, which was like a window as big as a pony's head. "You should have learned by now, sister, to be careful what you wish for." Spectra raised her hoof high, and before Halfwing could scream in protest, stomped it clean through to the back of the socket. The head-splitting howl flung Spectra back, and her spasms of pain began to shake off the hunter-drones.
"Don't let her go!" commanded Spectra, sending a wave of emotion to her drones. Despite Halfwing's struggling, they clung on. Changelings were crushed and impaled on tree branches with every violent twist of Halfwing's head, but they did not relent.
"Don't savour her pain yet," Chrysalis quickly warned her daughter. "The drones won't be able to fight any longer. We must finish this fight, now."
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Spectra covered her nose. "Sooner the better. The dragon's stench is everywhere, and the fires aren't making it smell any better." She ignited her horn with a blaze of green magic. "Her skull will be thick, though. I might need help blasting through-" Spectra turned to her mother, suggesting they kill of Halfwing together. Instead, she found a stone-tipped spear jutting out of her mother's chest.
"What is the meaning of this?" Chrysalis choked. Pain shot out from her mind like a knife. Even for Spectra, her mother's magic carved a hole in her thoughts, and it made it nearly impossible to focus. The other drones were not so fortunate, however. Their weaker minds could not withstand it. Only Spectra's strongest drones, and her mutant children, endured and clung onto Halfwing. The rest clutched their heads and screeched, completely wracked by pain.
Spectra tried to smell the air, but under all the fire and smoke, it was useless. Her eyes followed the length of the spear back to the entrance of the hive. How could anything get behind them? She charged an arc of magic to the tip of her horn. Before she could clear the bushes, a second spear flew from behind a nearby tree.
The thrower had moved, and Spectra didn't even smell it. She scolded herself. Relying on her sense had made her complacent. Her instinct now was to bring up a barrier, but her attack had already been charged. She loosed the bolt, aiming to blast the spear from the air, but both shots missed and flew by each other.
Spectra felt the ground hit her back as the spear pushed through her shoulder. As her magic blew apart the tree, a pony rolled away from the blast. A stallion. Spectra was surprised that she recognized him, but not surprised he was here. Septarian was stupidly loyal to Halfwing.
She felt her mother's temper flare hotter than Halfwing's fire. "A pony, here?" Chrysalis grabbed Spectra and shoved her toward him. "Hurry up and kill them. Our plan has run its course, this needs to end!"
But with fewer drones laced around her head, Halfwing growled and poured out streams of fire. Spectra put a barrier in front of her mother, sensing that she was already drained of most of her magic. Holding off Halfwing must've been harder than it seemed.
A third spear then flew toward Spectra. She extended her magic out to catch it, bouncing the weapon back at Septarian. But with a thinner shield, Halfwing was free to crush it. The feedback from her tail swinging vibrated through Spectra's body. The weight of the tail alone was greater than a house. It forced her to concentrate her magic again.
Without hesitation, Septarian hoisted the spear in one hoof and made a heavy three-legged charge for Spectra. She cursed the stallion's strength. Marblestop's tradition of debt slavery may have been oppressive, but the labour gave him a hard body for sure.
Spectra kicked her legs at him, warding off the spear point. Dealing with a pony was trivial if she had her magic, but one break in concentration would leave her exposed to Halfwing. Her mother hobbled back, retreating. Spectra followed her lead, trying to make space. But Septarian's spear shot in and out, slowly grazing more and more against Spectra's chitin.
Spectra eventually overreached, lashing out in frustration. Her balance was thrown off, giving Septarian a straight path to her head. Time seemed to slow at that moment as she panicked over a dozen decisions she could make. Run and scramble? Perhaps drop and duck under him. No. She stared down into the point of the spear.
The only answer she could find came from her body's instinct. Same as the hunger of the black insects at the bottom of the hive, a thirst for self-preservation took hold. Spectra reached out with a sliver of her magic pulled her own mother into the path of the spear.
Pain inhibited the drones. Death incapacitated them. All at once, every surviving drone around the hive shrieked as one. Age, strength experience did not matter. Even groundskeepers and mutants were not safe. Injured and standing hunter-drones pulled out of their animal forms and collapsed to the ground, grabbing their faces in a useless attempt to drive out Chrysalis's dying breath.
Septarian pulled his spear out and backed away. The shock in his face was equal to Spectra's. She still couldn't smell clearly, but the relief in his eyes said volumes. His violence came from fear. He didn't even expect to survive, let alone win.
She looked around at the burning field. While the drones were helplessly crippled, her mother's death came like a weight being lifted. She never noticed it before because it had always been there, and now was the first time she felt completely free. Chrysalis's body crumped at her hooves, a deep hole driving clean through the head.
But the strongest feelings were Halfwing's. Spectra couldn't smell her feelings clearly, but Halfwing's aura was so oppressive and apparent that it was impossible to ignore. Raw, unfiltered elation hung in the air like a thick fog, wrapping and entrapping everything it passed.
"Is that it?" Septarian shouted to Halfwing. "Are done here?" He pointed to Spectra with his spear. "Or do we have to kill her to?"
Halfwing didn't respond. She only walked silently up the body of her mother, looking down on such a tiny thing compared to her new dragon form. Without warning, she yelled, spewing fire over the corpse in a sharp stream.
"I hate you!" she roared. "You ruined my life. You took everything from me. Me! Your own daughter! You should have given me the world but you stole it from me, you useless bitch! Aargh!" Halfwing thrashed at the ashes when the body was gone. Tears the size of melons welled up and rolled down her remaining eye, sizzling and evaporating instantly over her dragon fire.
She only stopped when the crunching of ash under Spectra's hoof steps drew nearer. Halfwing's ragged breath sharpened as she neared, ready for another fight, but Spectra didn't put up her guard.
"You have what you wanted," she said frankly. "Please, take your pet and leave."
"You still a lot to pay-" Halfwing started.
"Tearing ourselves apart was mother's vision," Spectra cut her off. "Do you want to carry on her wishes? Or, I can heal your eye, you can walk away, and we can both finally begin our lives free of that twisted mare."
"Heal my eye?" Halfwing snarled. "You can't fool me with that. If my eye can be healed why not my wing? Nothing is finished except for the lesson our mother needed to learn!"
"You never had a wing," Spectra answered, "that's why I can't heal it back. Your own body has forgotten what it's like to be whole. But, if you stayed with the hive like you were meant to, you would have learned that we can speed up a body's natural healing. Our own, or the bodies of others."
"And from who did you learn this? My drones never had such skills."
Spectra nodded, unsurprised. "Too young. It's not an easy skill, I could only learn it from one of the best, Zorne. The veteran who probably numbers among the dead now, all because of our mother."
"Why would I trust you?"
This time Spectra snarled back at her sister. "Because we don't have to care anymore. Don't you get it? You were free ever since Majesta and I thought we buried you in the mountains at Marblestop. You could have done anything, become anyone, but here you are, dragged back by your own hatred. Now I don't want to fight you anymore. I don't even have to care."
Halfwing scrutinized her with her eye, looking for any sign of doubt or lies. But there was none. "Heal my eye, then," she laid her head on the ground. "Let's see if your offer holds up. If it doesn't, Septarian will kill you, and then I won't have to care anyways."
"I will?" He looked at her worryingly. "Uh, of course. What's one more... right?"
Spectra took a look at the eye. Damaged, sure, but most of the flesh was still intact. Healing was a delicate skill, and difficult for Changelings. It was the exact opposite of what their bodies wanted to do. To heal, she needed to channel magic into the wound and speed up its recovery.
She tapped into her best memories. Her first hatched drones, killing Tenacity and Majesta, even pride in finally Lunti's spirit finally giving in and admitting defeat. Spectra imagined rebuilding the hive with her prey at her side. Drinking the web of emotions within her, the feelings of a pony who had hope for a better life but accepted her fate as the prey of Changelings, it sounded utterly delicious in Spectra's head.
"Light?" Halfwing gasped, her massive jaw cracking open in shock. "You weren't lying. I can see light again. I can- Septarian, is that you?"
The stallion's own eyes bulged in shock. He didn't believe it either. The whole in Halfwing's eye was sealing itself, rebuilding just from the energy of Spectra's magic. Through the shrinking hole, he could even see the giant muscles and fibres reconnecting themselves.
"Yeah, I'm here," he mumbled.
In just minutes the only evidence of the wound was the bloodstains around Halfwing's eye. She could blink and her massive pupils could see just fine.
"Now will you leave?" Spectra asked.
Halfwing took a deep breath, looking around the burned field. The ring of fire she had set around her birthplace was still burning, slowly eating its way through the rest of the jungle. Eventually, the fires would hit a river or be put out by flames, and in a few years, all the fighting would be completely overgrown.
"There's no place for my memory here, is there?" she finally asked after taking in the sight.
Spectra shook her head. "Not for you, no. You are a dragon, but I must now be Queen and Chrysalis. Trust me when I say you have more freedom in your life now than me."
Halfwing nodded. "I can't promise I won't be back. I think... I think I still hate you, Queen Spectra. But you're right. I'm free now. Maybe I'll taste some of that freedom before I collect the rest of my revenge." She extended her wing down to the ground like a ramp. "Come on Septarian. It's a long way, and I still can't fly."
"Gladly," he climbed up without even a second look at Spectra. With her eye repaired, Halfwing barely looked like she was in a fight. Together, pony riding dragon, they took their journey away from the hive.
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Spectra dug through the bodies of the fallen, sorting the dead from the drones who were just unconscious from her mother's death. It was almost frightening how much reliant the hive was on the Queen. Now there was no failsafe. If she died, there was no chance for the future of Changelings.
Hours passed by until the sun started to set. Smoke from the fires turned the sky blazing orange, and Spectra wondered just how far it would go. She wondered if any of the hunter-drones would wake up before the fire put itself out. Tired and drained, she piled the last of the dead Changelings into the heap. She was glad worker-drone husks had been burned paper-thin. The pile of dead hunter-drones towered twice her mother's height.
Spectra spread her wings and fluttered up the hive's mountain. Her home had been the underground caves of the mountain, but she realized she had never actually climbed to the top. Slowly, she passed by the trees and bushes that seemed untouched by the fires below. Halfwing had taken care not to let the fire burn the mountain. Spectra guessed that's where Septarian must have come from, hiding his body in the bushes while his scent was masked by smoke and fire.
She passed the mouth of the groundskeeper caverns. The open caves seemed innocent from the outside, even though Spectra knew just how deep the tunnels below it ran. She wondered how long it would take for her to fill up the cavern again with her own groundskeepers.
By the time she reached the summit, the sun was half under the horizon, and Spectra could see just how far the fire was spreading. There was a river not too far from the hive. By tomorrow she expected the fire would reach it, and eventually put itself out. But even from the mountain, there was no way to see what waited beyond the jungle.
Spectra wondered where Halfwing had decided to go to now. Would she stay within their hunting grounds? If so, avoiding her wouldn't be too hard. She'd only need to listen to pony rumours about a one-winged dragon. Riverfork would be a good place. Not many secrets moved between pony cities without passing through Riverfork.
Hopefully, her drones in Riverfork were unaffected by the death of her mother. If her drone replacement had passed out and lost control of her form, Spectra suspected she would never be able to return as Marina Fisher. A pony replaced by a Changeling raised a lot of questions.
Behind her, the buzzing of tiny wings became faintly audible. They were worker-drone wings, but the ones of a newborn. This one was a runt, at that. Did it hatch in response to the death of the other drones? Or perhaps the remaining workers already knew that they had to increase their numbers to repair the damage the hive had suffered.
No, it was something else. Spectra's nose was still filled with soot and ash, but up in the mountain's fresh air, she could smell the aura of a pony. It was Lunti's scent.
"What in the world is she doing?" Spectra turned away from the sunset and followed the smell.
She found her on the back of a worker-drone flying up the mountain. The poor thing's wings were flapping erratically from exhaustion, but it fulfilled its goal once Spectra was in sight.
Lunti hopped off and hurried up to meet her. "What are you doing up here?"
Spectra tilted her head. "I should ask you that. How did you get one of the worker-drones to carry you out?"
"Oh, that?" Lunti looked at the panting worker-drone. "I told it left an order to take me to you if you weren't back by sunset. You won't believe how quickly it agreed."
"A good reason why we never send them on hunts," Spectra noted, "but it still doesn't explain you being here. The hive is nearly empty and weakened. Even you can outwit and escape worker-drones. Why come to me instead of fleeing?"
"If I run a dozen things can still eat me alive in the wild. That is if you don't track me down and eat me first." Lunti pointed to the ring of fire around the mountain. "I told you I don't want to just be a piece of food. You can accept my help and explain how we're going to fix this, or you can do it all on your own."
"Help? Ha!" Spectra laughed right in Lunti's face. "My mother thought we could overwhelm a dragon with brute force. Every hunter-drone involved is either dead or unconscious. Now I need the surviving drones to train new hatchlings and hunt down enough magic for me to grow the next generation of eggs. If you ran away you'd probably make it to the wetlands before I had time to focus on you."
"But not any further," Lunti lowered her head. "You don't have to try and put hope in my heart. I know you can sense how much I want to escape you. The least you can do is spare me the cruelty of tempting me."
"You're useless," Spectra scoffed. "Mope around me for all I care. I have a kingdom to rebuild."
Lunti clenched her jaw. "Or maybe I can talk to those ponies you have locked up in your hive. The ones who've lived their whole life."
"You mean the Pen?" Spectra looked confused. "I need them to feed my drones. What could you do with them?"
"Train them to act like normal ponies," Lunti suggested. "The guards standing around in the hive passed out just like the Changelings out here. I explored the hive a bit and found the ponies. They're completely devoted to Changelings. I think they might even worship your mother."
Spectra chortled. "Yes, I'm sure she enjoyed that the most about them."
"If I teach them to act like normal ponies, they'll be the perfect spies for you. Better than any Changeling, because they'll be the real thing. That way you can keep Changelings at the hive to do training or whatever."
Spectra thought about it. True, the ponies who were kept in the Pen were obsessive. She recalled how they celebrated when her mother fed on them, even when it killed one of their own. From her own experience with ponies and their faith, it seemed like they'd go to great lengths just for what they believed in.
Still, there was the risk that a pony could be changed. She'd be releasing a double-agent who knew everything about the hive. Total supervision would be necessary. Still, that meant only one drone had to be sent to keep an eye on a few ponies.
"One," Spectra told Lunti, "it's a good plan, but I want you to start with one pony. I won't go any further until they prove their usefulness."
"That'll take more time to get big results," Lunti said. "One pony can only lure so many."
"It is what you will get," Spectra stepped closer.
Lunti looked up at Spectra's eyes. "Fine," she said. "Getting used to being Queen already, huh? You even look the part."
Spectra barred her fangs, unsure if Lunti was trying to mock her. "What are you talking about?"
"I didn't notice before because the hive is so dark, but when you abducted me from Riverfork, we were the same height. Now I have to look up just to see your eyes."
Spectra wanted to taste Lunti again. She couldn't smell her very well, but that just made her hungrier. Her stomach growled as he imagined drawing the magic out of her breath. She wanted to hold her prey closer, her prey who was offering herself up so easily. A free meal.
"Uh, Spectra?" Lunti tried leaning away. But she was quickly dragged into a quiet embrace.
Without a word, the worker-drone seemed to understand a message from Spectra. It stood up and flew down the mountain even faster than when it came.
Spectra wondered if Lunti would taste smoky like the air. Smell and taste sometimes acted like the same sense. Whatever she was feeling, Spectra imagined it would all taste the same.
Lunti broke off her eye contact. "M-maybe you should save me for later. I can't train a pony if I'm too tired."
"I am tired," Spectra pushed Lunti to the ground, "and you are my sustenance. I agree you can help me rebuild my hive, but that includes your delicious magic." She leaned down, pressing on Lunti with all her weight. Slowly, her tongue ran down from her ear to her chin, sampling the flavour of her aura.
"Just don't be too-" Lunti's protest was shut down by Spectra's invasion into her mouth. This time, her feeding was feral, just like before. Lunti felt Spectra's hunger. She lost her strength a lot faster than just being crushed. The magic flowing out of her took her breath away, and Spectra's forceful kiss made it impossible to draw new air. She flailed and fought, but knew it was impossible to escape the feast.
Spectra broke off the siphon and picked Lunti up, bringing her to look off the side of the mountain at the sunset. Lunti wanted to ask what was happening, but once they sat down, Spectra was on her again. Lunti held her breath for as long as she could until she realized her magic was being taken much slower this time.
Moving out of Spectra's clutches was impossible, but the Queen's tongue moved a lot more gently across Lunti's neck. Her fangs nipped and bit her skin until it broke and a drop of warm, wet blood trickled down her neck. Spectra lapped it up, savouring the adrenaline that was rushing through Lunti's body.
"You chose this," Spectra whispered, her lips and tongue lightly brushing on Lunti's ears. Then, she pulled them even closer together, whispering straight into her lips. "You will rebuild the hive with me. I will have you by my side and you will never be treated like a prisoner again. Because from now on, sweet little pet, you are mine. You have all the honours of being mine."
She traced a line around Lunti's neck, encircling it like a noose. "And as soon as I can spare one, I'll have a drone go shopping for a good necklace for you. Oh, and a leash, of course."
Lunti's eyes widened. "Wait, you said I wouldn't be a prisoner! That doesn't sound-"
"Shh-shh-shh," Spectra calmed her, biting Lunti's lip to stop her scared whining. "It'll only be for my use when I want to take you out to the cities for a walk."
Spectra planted her mouth over Lunti's and drank deeply from her life force. Her prey's fears and regrets and hope swirled like a storm of flavour. Freedom was good, and she hoped Halfwing used that freedom to never return. Because, with a stomach stuffed with magic, Spectra realized how much she loved being a Changeling.
"I wonder how you will taste a few months from now," Spectra said to Lunti, "when you realize you've helped me bring a new age to pony lands. Every corner where your kind lives, my kind will hunt." Lunti looked with horror into Spectra's hungry, desirous glare.
"I will use every piece of you, sweet one," Spectra laughed, "and be the Queen who led the Changeling hive to a revitalized age of hunting."