Necifera was chatting with some ponies in the main hall one early morning, when she felt something….unusual. It was as if a shockwave passed through her body, and she could have sworn she heard a distant explosion.
“Is something wrong, my queen?” A pony she was talking to asked, confused at her sudden stiffness and change in expression.
Necifera snapped out of the trance and blinked. “I’m...I’m fine, thank you for asking, dear. I need some time to think right now. I’ll be in my chambers if you need me.”
The pony nodded and with that, Necifera made her way up the spire, towards the throne room. The queen wasn’t sure what she felt, and she had a bad feeling about it. The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out what might have happened, contacting her scouts and questioning if they felt the same. When some revealed they felt something similar, Necifera noticed only those who claimed to be from Chrysalis’s hive answered. She asked her scouts to check on her mother’s hive and see if anything happened.
Necifera mostly kept to herself for a few days after the event, waiting for answers, and the feeling subsided slightly, but when unexpected and startling news came via the link from her scouts about her mother’s hive, she immediately understood what she felt. They told her that Queen Chrysalis was defeated, dethroned, which baffled her and made her doubt what she just heard.
Her scouts further confirmed what happened by telling her the hive was shattered, it’s top half was gone, and her mother’s throne was nowhere to be found. That explosion she heard must have been related to it. As for the weird feeling she felt, it must have been a side effect she felt after her mother’s throne shattered or disappeared, it’s nullifying magic dissipating as a result.
When she asked how something like this could ever happen, her scouts told the queen that they saw a new race of changelings, or what they assumed were changelings, around the destroyed hive. They had a variety of colors and lacked any holes in their body, and that perhaps it was their doing.
Things got even more bizarre when her scouts noted that they couldn't take on such a form, as much as they tried, which puzzled Necifera even further.
Sudendly, Nymph comes rushing into the throne room, interrupting her scouts’s reports.
"My queen, have you heard? Mother and her hive…" Nymph said while panting lightly.
"Yes, Nymph, my scouts told me what they saw, but I still don't know where these new changelings came from or how they accomplished such a task."
"It seems everypony is talking about it, even our pony allies seemed to have gotten word of what happened,” Nymph began.“They say a traitor to Chrysalis, named Thorax, was the culprit, who worked together with ponies in order to bring Chrysalis down,” she paused briefly to catch her breath, before continuing. “Apparently, by sharing love with others instead of taking it, he and many other changelings evolved or reformed. I’m not exactly sure what happened either. The results are these colorful bugs now occupying our mother’s old hive, and it seems that with her throne gone, flora around the Badlands began growing again."
"That is quite intriguing, I have never seen or heard of such things," Necifera pondered. “Are you sure those are changelings now inhabiting the hive? And what about Chrysalis? If she wasn’t with them, then surely they saw where she last went.”
“I’m still not sure what they are. As for mother, they say she fled after being offered to join them and share her love. I’m not too surprised she refused, it wouldn't be like her to join those who beat her.”
As she took it all in, it puzzled and fascinated Necifera at the same time, and she tried to make sense of it all. She made her way to one of the many windows of the throne room and looked in the direction of the Badlands.
<Keep spying on these new changelings and keep me updated on the situation, we may be able to benefit greatly if we approach this the right way,> her scouts confirmed they received the orders, but before they could leave to do their task, the queen gave one more order. <And have smaller groups sweep the area around the Badlands. If Chrysalis is still out there, we need to know exactly where.>
Necifera sighed deeply. She was glad Chrysalis was pushed away from where her hive was, but she was also worried about her mother. Did Chrysalis deserve this? She almost lost everything in just one day...
***
Necifera waited for any kind of news for days after she learned what happened, her stress being at the highest it has ever been. When reports finally came confirming that Chrysalis had set up a second hive in Ghastly Gorge, surprisingly close to major pony territory, Necifera was relieved that her mother was doing ok, but was just as worried that she was still a threat and already had another hive ready.
Still, in spite of that, Necifera turned her focus to her own hive, now considerably more calm, and began planning how to best contact the so called reformed changelings and their new king, Thorax, who now occupied her mother’s old hive.
During the next two days, she gathered opinions from her subjects and asked them about the ordeal, getting mixed responses in return. Some of her subjects didn’t seem to mind or actively expressed their excitement to meet these new changelings, while others weren’t as excited or happy about it. As far as they knew, these new changelings weren’t a new unknown race, but instead were merely normal changelings that received a new form by sharing love with others.
Necifera was positive that they would find solutions. Maybe getting a chitin rework wouldn't be so bad, and perhaps they could still change to their old form despite reforming. With those observations, most of her subjects’s opinions changed, mostly towards the positive.
Pleased with the shift in agreement, Necifera decided she would take one changeling of each race in her hive, as well as one pony chosen by their allies to accompany her. This would allow her to show the reformed how much diversity and teamwork existed among the different races in her hive. Reassuring those uncertain with the plan that everything was going to be fine, the queen made her way to what once was her mother's hive, her chosen group of 5 in tow.