“So, what did you want to know?” Twilight levitated a small scroll and an owl feather pen before her. After a few tense moments, I managed to convince her I was not a madpony hypnotist, and that Pinkie Pie was not in fact a slave to my powers.
“I want to know what you think the changelings wanted when they attacked Canterlot, and I’d like to know where you think Queen Chrysalis resides now. Any of your theories about changelings might also help.” I said.
“Well, first,” she marked her scroll with a series of scribbles “I believe the changelings wanted to control everypony in Equestria. Chrysalis had a lot of mind magic around my brother, Shining Armor, and the changelings captured in Cloudsdale used similar spells. As much as I hate what they did to Shining Armor and Cadance, I think they just don’t know any other way.”
“Do you believe there is another way?” I asked. Twilight proved useful, even if her views were at most half-right. The Hive was running low on love and our territories could not support more population growth. Queen Chrysalis decided to domesticate the ponies, and gain both a stable, renewable food source and territory at the same time.
“You must already know this, but the earliest mention of the changelings appears in The Book of Long Winter. A small number of black-shelled ponies approached the gates of the polar guard post. In exchange for blankets and a few hours inside the building, they helped the royal guards and three magicians working there escape from a dangerous creature. Nopony died, and one royal guard even said that his headaches, caused by an overabundance of magic at the pole, bothered him less around the changelings.” Twilight explained, all the while writing what she said down.
“They’re like leeches!” Pinkie Pie bounced, her hooves squeaking with each landing. I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. “I visited the hospital, and there were all these leeches there that helped the doctors save lives! I even got to pet one! They don’t taste good, though. I should taste a changeling to see if they taste better!”
“I doubt changelings taste better.” I quickly said. Although, imagining Pinkie Pie trying to lick my Queen Chrysalis was funny.
“Yes…Well, what I’m trying to say is that changelings could be our friends one day. They clearly have something to teach us about mind magic, if they can help a pegasus suffering from Magical Tide Syndrome. Maybe, we will all live to see royalty marry a changeling for who they are, not for who they’re pretending to be.” Twilight nodded, checked off something on her scroll, and continued.
“So, you believe mind magics used by the changelings are a feature of their culture, not something they must do by nature?” this was proving fascinating. I never had the chance to discuss the Hive with any being alien to it. Besides, I reasoned, moving the conversation towards the location of my Queen so quickly would be suspicious.
“Um. Not exactly. I noticed something strange when I fought the changelings in Canterlot. Each one was connected to the others through a spell which looked a lot like Chrysalis’ mind control.”
“Maybe Chrysalis was forcing them to be mean!” Pinkie looked shocked.
“I’m sure that’s not the case. My own studies suggest that changelings have free will.” Food would never understand my kind, I decided. They just accused my beautiful Queen of being a tyrant, when she was chosen from among the females for her beauty, love for the Hive, and ability to handle the Hive’s vast connections. Perhaps she was not the kindest of Queens, but she cared for the Hive’s wellbeing, and would never force any of us to bow to her will!
“Actually, I think Chrysalis helps the changelings use their minds better through an inversion of the mind control spell. So, maybe mind magic IS natural among changelings. The choice not to use mind control on ponies remains, though. They could just ask to live with us and be our friends.” Twilight scribbled something else unto the scroll. I never considered befriending ponies before.
They were afraid of creatures like me, and most of them were far too stupid to understand why the Hive mattered, let alone appreciate our art and music. The only way we could coexist peacefully would be if my Queen Chrysalis forced them to accept our Hive on their territory. History proved this time and time again. Still, it intrigued me that Twilight possessed such detailed knowledge of the one peaceful interaction between changeling-kind and ponies. She also had a unique perspective of mind magic. Magical inversion of mind control spells never even occurred to any changeling of the Hive, let alone as an explanation for the wonders achieved through mind expansion. I will have to test her theories, I decided, if only to prove her wrong.
“Indeed.” I finally said. “Could we perhaps go to my next question?”
“Yes, the whereabouts of Queen Chrysalis and the other changelings. When Shining Armor and Cadance created the new spell, their love threw most of the invasion force west, out of Equestria, and into the ocean. If I had to guess, there’s a lot of wet, unhappy changelings somewhere near the Golden Isle.” Twilight drew what I suspected was a complex diagram of my Hive’s trajectory.
“They shouldn’t have crashed a wedding.” Pinkie Pie said. She sat against a book shelf, reading a book. I never noticed her move away from me. The spine of the book read ‘Cupcakes and the Ponies who Love Them’.
“Right. My brother’s wedding was going to be perfect, if not for the invasion. He had every right to throw them out.” Twilight said. I nodded. Mentally, I congratulated myself. Peace won’t come any time soon. Ponies, like changelings, tend to think of their own.
“A few changelings, were flung north and east. Ten changelings were captured in Cloudsdale, three in Manehattan, and five near Canterlot itself. The royal guards also found a number of shell fragments as far as Everfree Forest and the mountains.” Twilight continued.
“Do you think I could meet any of the captured changelings? And how far away is the Golden Isle?” I hated the thought of my Queen and the Hive trying to survive on a small island.
“I will ask Celestia for permission next time I write her a letter. I’m surprised you didn’t request an audience with her, instead of visiting me.” Twilight Sparkle said.
“I didn’t want to disturb her so soon after the invasion.” The truth, as usual, served very well. “Perhaps you can ask her later.”
“Okay….The Golden Isle is about two hundred miles west, off the shore of Los Pegasus, well away from Equestria. I don’t think anypony will be sailing there soon, but just in case, I told Celestia that the sailorponies should be warned.”
“Wise.” I muttered, imagining my Queen trying to find the mainland. It would take her several weeks at least, and I could not help her. Perhaps, I could go on the road, and rejoin the Hive? Then, I could help!
“Woorali? Are you alright? You froze…” Twilight poked me with a hoof.
“I was just thinking about the changelings.” I forgot, as usual, just how easily an unexpanded mind could be distracted.
“You stood really, really still! You would be great at Statues!” Pinkie Pie said.
“Statues?” I asked, bewildered.
Pinkie Pie looked confused by my question for a moment, then opened up a dark blue book I could have sworn was hidden under an astronomy manual across the room, showing five gray ponies standing around in various poses while another, looking suspiciously like Eon Smith, looked directly at them. The next picture showed the gray ponies moving towards the brown colt when he was turned around.
“It’s a game, silly!” she cheerfully exclaimed. “Ponies have been playing it ever since Handsome Troy invented it back in… a long time ago!”
“How did you do that?” I asked. Not even in my confused state would I have missed a bright pink pony bouncing across the room to fetch a book.
“Do what?” Pinkie looked at Twilight, then back at me.
“It’s Pinkie being Pinkie, Woorali. And, don’t worry. She won’t make you play Statues if you don’t want to. Now, we were talking about the Golden Isle. I just said I think Chrysalis will escape eventually.” Twilight levitated the odd blue book back on a shelf, away from Pinkie Pie.
“You are right. What do you plan to do?” perhaps, if I could not help my queen actively, I could at least warn her.
“If she won’t listen? We have to use the Elements of Harmony.” She then went on to explain the way these weapons functioned. Nothing about them made any sense, but one thing was clear. If I did not take over Ponyville and neutralize these ponies, they would kill my entire Hive. I would have to give up on rejoining my kind, for now.
I excused myself, gathering up the study materials Twilight Sparkle loaned to me, and left to contemplate the best way to make the Hive safe. Sitting at the local park, thinking about the morning’s events, my thoughts increasingly turned to Twilight’s theories about mind magic and Eon Smith.
If I could expand my mind using a spell for controlling the ponies, instead of relying on the Hive, I would be able to do far more to help my queen. And, if it did not work, I could still create loyal zombies to take over Equestria, thus saving the Hive from the Elements of Harmony. What kind of evil creature would call a set of magical weapons that rip apart metal armor and turn creatures to stone “harmonious”, anyway?
As for Eon Smith, after a bit of thought, I dismissed him as irrelevant. The few time travelers my kind encountered, while dangerous, were easy to destroy, and could not change their fate after a fight. Therefore, the earth pony would fall without trouble once I had an army of loyal ponies.
Looking over at three young fillies running around the park screaming something about their cutie marks, an idea for testing Twilight’s theory came to me. I forced my magic up to the surface, careful not to draw attention to my spellwork, and began combining my own sense for the Hive with a simple mind scrambling trick I learned as a grub. Then, I forced the magic to turn, imagining its new shape as a connector between pony and changeling. The magic felt slippery, almost as if the energies within my horn turned to oil, but nevertheless, I aimed at the three ponies, and fired.
((Hi, everypony! Now, I know this chapter’s ending isn’t very nice to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so I’ll let you in on a little secret. Woog’s spell will only work on one of them! You get to choose which one. Send me a note with the name. The pony with the most votes will be changed, possibly forever, by Woorali’s spell. You'll have 'til the end of next week, 12/09/12, to decide! In the meantime, I'll write a couple other stories to pass the time, and complete some IRL business.))