//------------------------------// // Small Victories // Story: A new era // by Spiders Are Bae //------------------------------// "Would you look at that, you actually did it! You've forsaken your role as heir to the throne, fled the hive, and still survived long enough to become a full grown queen. And you have your own hive too," Nymph said with a gleeful but mocking tone.  "What are you doing here? H-How did you find our hive?" Necifera asked, a mix of fear and annoyance in her voice. "Why so dismissive? Didn't you miss me? It was very easy to find, you know." Nymph responded with a smirk before taking on a more somber tone.”Your security is lacking, sister. Or should I treat you like mother now?"  Necifera narrowed her eyes and bared her fangs. ”Have you come here just to mock and threaten me? I kept my promise, I will bring us together. Tell me why did you come here right now.” “Calm down sister, I'm outnumbered after all, I wouldn't be able to harm a single ling. You don’t need to worry about me revealing the location of your hive to our mother either.” Necifera kept her gaze fixed on the purple maned changeling. “Why should I believe you?”  “Because I'm not going back,” Nymph explained. “What? Why?” Necifera asked, caught off guard by the answer. “Things haven’t been the same after you fled. Mother became more agitated, no doubt because of your actions. The hive is stable, but tension rose and many drones fled as well,” Nymph revealed. The anger in Necifera’s expression and voice faded quickly. “I see… It wasn’t my intention. I knew she would be extremely upset, but knowing her, it would pass quickly, or so I thought. But, why did you decide to leave too?” “I remembered what you said, and, I admit, I was worried about you. I wanted to see how you were doing or even if you were alive at all,” Nymph smiled. “I’m happy to see you’re ok. And congratulations on forming your very own hive. I see mother has taught you well, my queen,” she bowed before Necifera. “Eh?” Blurted out Necifera, confusion in her voice. “Oh, come on, you should know how this works by now. I want to join your hive,” Nymph said without hesitation. “I appreciate your concern and I thank you for checking on me, but are you sure? You're willing to abandon mother that fast? How will she react to your treason in her current state?” “Listen, before you left you told me you were going to show how we can live in harmony with the other races. I also want to be able to live freely, without needing to hide all the time. You know how mother is, she is stubborn. We need to show her how we can fulfill that dream of yours, the hard way. Without a hive, she is weak. Once she inevitably finds your hive, she will not be able to ignore your power and influence. She will see you as a threat, yes, but given how well you're doing now, something tells me you would be able to handle yourself.” Necifera pondered for a moment before replying. "I see what you mean, i just hope i don't have to hurt her when the time comes,” she sighed and looked at Nymph. “Very well sister, just like many have before, and just like many will in the future, you may join my hive," Necifera proclaimed proudly while placing a fore hoof on Nymph’s back. "It's good to have you here Nymph, sorry for the hostility earlier."  "Don't worry about it, you were just watching out for your hive after all, and I didn't necessarily act nicely either,” Nymph gave a small grin. “Speaking of which, you seriously need to increase your security. The entrance is way too open." "We've got scouts at the edges of the swamp, we can see any threat coming and prepare in advance. And, on the matter of security and caution, what about your link, is it still active?"  "The link is there, but don't worry, I've used a spell to block it," Nymph tapped her horn, causing a faint purple ring circling it to appear and flicker momentarily. "It's still there, but it's getting weaker every second I'm away from the hive, and mother cannot interact with it in any way. Being a queen yourself, you can help me get rid of it and replace it with your own link. You already have a link, right?" “Yes, and it’s holding strong. All my subjects are linked to me.” “Good,” Nymph gave an approving nod. “And what about food? Surely you must have some form of sustenance to be able to make so much progress.” Necifera smiled. “Well, dear sister, I developed my own method of hunting, and all my subjects have adapted to it. We found a small pony village nearby and have been infiltrating it ever since. With stealth and hypnosis, we have kept a stable love supply without the ponies suspecting a thing.” Nymph seemed surprised and impressed. “Really? I never thought you had it in you. And how did you go about setting up this feeding method?” Necifera explained how the hive had been feeding off of these ponies. The drones were careful to pick lone targets, and they would hypnotize their prey with what they learned from their queen, getting their sustenance that way while making sure to not take too much. This would make it so other ponies wouldn’t get suspicious and would also allow their oblivious prey to recharge quickly for the next feeding.  In some rare cases, they needed to replace ponies in order to learn more about the area, and the real pony would be kept safely asleep inside the pods they made, having pleasant dreams to help the extraction of emotions while they slept. It wasn’t as bad as the queen thought after all.  However, Necifera also revealed another plan to Nymph. She didn’t want to keep this strategy up, eventually they would be found. So, after thinking about it for a while, she decided she would reveal herself to them.  “WHAT? Are you insane? Revealing ourselves would be the worst decision ever!” Nymph protested. “Calm down, if it doesn’t work out, we can erase their memories about us easily,” The queen reassured her, which calmed Nymph down slightly. “Are you sure this will work? Remember what’s on the line.” “I know, I know. Listen, Nymph. You believed in me back in mother’s hive and look where we are now. Can you believe in me again?” Nymph remained silent for a while before she locked her purple eyes with Necifera’s glowing red and smiled. “Yes, my queen. I believe in you and I'm with you.” *** The next day, early in the morning, Necifera walked out of the woods connecting the swamps and the pony village together. She walked slowly, undisguised. The moment she came into view, many ponies immediately panicked and began fleeing or hiding in their homes. Some, however, perhaps intrigued or braver than most, stood their ground. Necifera, stopped at the edge of their village, sighed, and began her speech.  "Do not be alarmed, ponies. I do not seek conflict. I come to you to humbly request an alliance. Me and my swarm have made our home nearby recently, and have been feeding off of your village to sustain ourselves," Necifera revealed without hesitation, her calm and soft words still shocking and scaring many ponies, but catching the attention and curiosity of others, as well as some glares."I reveal this to you now, because i believe that in order for us to trust and potentially live alongside each other, we cannot lie behind backs. I also want to ask, to those of you who are angry because we have fed on you, have you noticed anything bad happening lately?" Many ponies started whispering among themselves, some previously hiding now joining in, before almost all shook their heads."As I assumed. We do not seek to harm you as I said, and we made sure that your lives were not in any danger during our subtle feedings. We are just trying to survive and we are willing to offer protection from outside threats, as well as safe passage to our hive in return for this alliance between our races. If you wish, you may also come and live in our hive. I promise you, no harm shall come to you, and like this, we no longer need to hide and steal from you in any way, and can instead share our resources. What do you say about our offer? Can changelings and ponies live in harmony?" Silence fell for a moment once the queen finished her speech. Then some ponies moved forward slowly and began questioning her on some details of her offer. She answered all their questions with patience and sincerity, glad they seemed to be trusting her. After some back and forth, the ponies asking her questions excused themselves and began talking with each other. Necifera merely waited, silent, anxious and unmoving, like a fragile statue. After what felt like hours of whispering and nervous glances towards her, they finally addressed her directly.  To her immense relief, they agreed with her plan to form an alliance, but with a few exceptions. They would allow the queen’s changelings to freely visit, but they couldn’t yet stay at the village if they wanted to. It sounded reasonable, better to wait awhile and get used to the change before allowing changelings to live among them. Necifera agreed with the terms laid out and promised that she would uphold her side of the deal, hoping the ponies would do the same.  With the alliance formed, she bid the ponies of the village farewell and made her way back towards her hive. It was easier and went better than Necifera thought. And with another small victory, she got closer to her dream. *** The next few days after the alliance was formed, changelings began visiting the village, slowly at first to help the ponies get used to their presence. The ponies seemed to adapt quickly and were very welcoming, even if some were still a bit hesitant, but even those eventually grew used to it. They also began visiting Necifera’s hive and were impressed at it’s design and size.  They were even more surprised at the sheer number of different changelings they found inhabiting the hive, as well as the generosity and kindness each offered. With their friendship bonds strengthening every day, ponies and changelings kept interacting with each other more and more, and the ponies soon began allowing changelings to live in their village.  They gave love freely, while the changelings offered products to use, made by the different races in the queen’s hive, which helped with the work the ponies did daily. Necifera noticed that in addition to the love her hive was receiving, she could feel herself get stronger, as the kindness and compassion between the races grew more and more. It seemed like she was benefiting from this union in more ways than she thought. Their food reserves became plentiful because of this, and all achieved without harming any of the ponies. The ponies also seemed to grow a liking and increasing interest in learning more about the changelings in the queen’s hive, and some began moving in to live in it. She allowed it of course, and worked on making comfortable chambers for each. “Yet again, you did it!” Nymph proclaimed as she entered the throne room. “You actually managed to make ponies and changelings live in harmony with one another.” The purple maned changeling was promoted to an alpha with the help of the queen’s blessing and magic after she joined the link. Necifera knew Nymph well, and she trusted her abilities and loyalty once she chose a side or goal. Nymph’s status as an alpha was showing through her increased height as well. She was now taller than most normal drones and stronger too, and was the second in command after the queen, staying by her side most of the time.  “This is just the start, but I must admit, a very good one,” Necifera affirmed, smiling while looking at the activity outside her hive through a window. Then she sighed. “Now we just need to do the same with the rest of Equestria,” she says, chuckling. “Don’t push yourself so much, small victories are always good news. Take this time to rest, you earned it, trust me,” Nymph reassured the queen. “Yeah...I think you're right. You’ve been quite the moral support Nymph, thank you for that.” “It’s the least I could do, after you not only allowed me to join your hive and link, severing mother’s with so much precision I barely felt it, but you also made me an alpha. Such an honor needs to be repaid in some way.” “I’m glad you're happy with your current position, sister, my alpha. You may leave now, go get some rest and free time for yourself.” Nymph bowed before the queen and began making her way out of the throne room. “Thank you, sister, my queen.” Necifera nodded in acknowledgement before heading to her personal chambers, laying down on her bed and drifting off to sleep, pleased with herself. Her hive was even bigger and healthier after this new development and Necifera couldn’t help but smile as she slept. She was proud of everything she accomplished so far, and she didn’t plan to stop now.