//------------------------------// // It was not a threat // Story: Faux Mort: The Queen of the Still Hive // by Lightning Flicker //------------------------------// My mother was dead. No, that wasn't quite right. Our mother was dead. Chrysalis and I stared at what had once been our mother. We were supposed to agree on who would take over the hive, and as the elder sister, our Mother had said that I would be the one to take over the hive in her place. I had been unsure of the wisdom in that, I was older, but I was certainly not as vehemently against the ponies. I did not see them as merely food, I had wished to trade goods...food for food. We have a great number of changelings that can create candy that sated even the sweetest tooth, and the pony's could trade some love, just enough to sate, before moving on with the confection. They may have not been there for us before, when we had initially been tampered with by Discord, but... "My hive doesn't need you." "Sis...Chrysalis, the hive is to be mine. Mother said-" "SILENCE, Mother isn't here anymore, Faux," Chrysalis' words bit at my carapace, I raised a hoof up, bringing it to up to my chest...and I saw a fury in her eyes that should not be. "The strong will overcome the weak and the ponies are prey!" "Chrysalis! That is madness! The ponies will get past their fear of us, we'll just need to try again to start trade, and we'll be back to nearly how it was..." I argued the point, shaking my head. "Just because we have holes in our legs, our wings..." I slowly trailed off, surely there were many that had quite a few more holes than that. Some in their ears, even us as Queens had not escaped unharmed, our manes growing in thick strands and taking a holed pattern as well in some places. "Bah, we will long starve before we would have the chance. You would see our subjects wither and die, just for a hope that the bloody ponies would not run in fear of us." Chrysalis' fury had not calmed, instead it had seemed to only infuriate her further. I swallowed, "You will leave this hive, Faux, lest I do something...Extreme. Create your own hive somewhere, for all I care. But this is your only warning." "You would have us go to wa...AAAAHH!" The bolt of energy that struck me had been sudden, there was no warning, and I suddenly found myself tumbling across the room, giving a grunt as my shell, thankfully, took the brunt of my impact as I collided with the wall. But something felt...off. Wrong, I didn't know what it was but there was something that Chrysalis had done, something that..."What...What did you do?" I grunted, slowly pulling myself to my hooves. "Not war, we steal ponies and replace them, gather love for a time and then return them." Chrysalis huffed, she had ignored my question...and then I saw her horn gather magic once again. I couldn't help but brace in the case that she had plans to attack again. Perhaps I should have run, but I felt the need to try once more to appeal to my sister. Perhaps I should have been the one to go when mother had gone to try and get the ponies help once Discord's influence had been cleansed from the lands. But here we remained, black, chitinous...aside from myself. Oh, I am black and chitinous, but my body had developed white, bone like patterns on it, though unlike my sister my mane and tail were white, much the same as my eye color. "Sister...Please be reasonable." I grunted...and suddenly, the magic flared again, but this time I saw something bubble off of her and felt dread in my heart, just before the sickly magic hit me. Dark magic! My sister had just used DARK MAGIC on me! Her own kin, another queen! "I no longer feel charitable, leave my sight, and know that you and your eggs are dead." Chrysalis growled, and...to my shame, I fled. I wept as I ran, what had happened? Why had she done this? I hardly noticed as my hooves slipped from under me as I rounded a corner, only knowing I emitted only a faint cry before hitting side of the tunnel, I shakily made the rest of my way out, fast as I could, and once I was out did I know what it was like to be alone. I had my eggs, resting within my belly, but there was no hive mind, it had been cut off from me, I knew no other once I started hobbling my way away from the dark shape of the hive, and I swore that I could hear Chrysalis cackling from Mother...her tower. I would need to make my way to somewhere new, somewhere that I could start up a new hive and, perhaps, even try to start relations with our pony neighbors. I didn't want to consider just what I would have to do once I had found somewhere...perhaps close enough that I would not be spotted, somewhere that I could tuck into the land and remain hidden for a time. I knew i had to get somewhere...almost central to Equestria, but I could also not afford to be found either. The Royal Sisters...no, Princess Celestia had not heard out my mother and Chrysalis when they had gone for help from the Ponies. Our relatively new diet of the emotions of Ponies, Love being the most 'filling' as far as sustenance, and an omnivore diet compared to when we ate much the same as ponies. We still could, but leaves, grasses and vegetables in general did not help fill us. A few of our old farming changelings had tried to grow some, succeeded, but the hunger still persisted and we could not...manufacture, for the lack of terms at the time, our own edible emotions. We felt them, yes, but we could not feed one another, nor were many compelled to. When I had finally stopped running, I found somewhere that I felt relatively safe, digging into the base of the hill and going as deep as I could. This would have to be far enough, far enough from Chrysalis that I could effectively hide and try to set up myself to do...something with the ponies. But there was still something...that feeling of wrongness that had permeated further once the dark magic had been thrown at me. I did not find out just what she had done to me, done to my hive, until I had created a nursery and laid the first of my eggs. Long hours of work and pain, before I found out just what Chrysalis had done to me, done to my hive, that I found out what she had truly done to us.