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// And Canterlot Will Burn 
// Story: Long Live the Queen 
// by Laarsgaard 
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	It felt good to be in the field again, especially on a day as important as today. I looked down upon Canterlot hidden behind its pink and purple shield. I smiled as I watched drones plow their bodies into it. There had already been casualties against the shield but they were only drones, rather easily replaced. I could feel my connection to my queen slowly growing stronger as the shield was weakened with every blow.

My queen had been in place for months readying this plan. Then she had sent me the signal. It had been quite the undertaking preparing the entire hive for an exodus such as this. I was excited to spill blood, it had been months since I had finished my initial repairs and now I was fighting fit.

My name is Krom. I am a changeling praetorian. I sit by the side of the queen in times where she is not embroiled in deep cover operations. I have been alive for four hundred years now and I have picked the last three rulers of the hive. My mother, Queen Gratia, helped me rise to where I am. Her death was a tragic loss, but it paved the way for our next ruler Queen Feroxa, and so on until now.

Queen Chrysalis had thus far led us to the best existence we could hope to have. We have not eaten this well in years and the rate that the nursery is churning out new brothers was an awe inspiring sight. But the decadence did not last. That is why I’m hovering over a giant pony city watching drones kill themselves so that the rest of us can survive. 

Cracks began to appear as the drones pounded on. It was a glorious thing, watching the hive working together ready for the fight. My blood sang through my veins as I watched guardsponies down on the ground pointing up at us in exasperation and fear. They were either the oddly dubbed unicorns or pegasus ponies. It was rather entertaining to see them scuttle about as we smashed against the shield.

Suddenly the shield cracked with a loud bang. It was done, the shield was broken. I smiled evilly.
“Onward brothers, feed and glory await us!” I yelled as I dropped out of the sky. I felt power surge through my boy as I fell out of the sky, like a fleshy torpedo. I landed with a loud bang and put a sizeable crater in the ground and took out three small, strange buildings.

I didn’t care what the buildings were. I did care, however, about the inhabitants therein. There were four ponies all in told and two small ‘foals’ I believe they are called. I charged them roaring. Two fled immediately but I did not care, they would be dealt with by my underlings, no, it was the foals I wanted. The young were always incredibly happy and their love tasted rather sweet compared to that of the other ponies.

I smashed aside the older pony that put his or her body in front of the foals. I felt its bones bones break on my impact, it was satisfying. The two younglings didn’t move, they put their hooves over their eyes and quivered in fear. I smiled wickedly and bent down. I could smell the fear on them, but I could also smell the delicious love that they had stored. I pressed my head onto the first on, he was the color of steel, I remember that. I began to breathe deeply and I felt his emotions slowly begin to come to me.

When I had finished all that was left was a husk of a skull of the child. I rarely took the flesh with the mind, but I had not eaten in some time and my hunger got the better of me. I turned to the next pony. It was trembling with fear. I stood over it and felt the surge of emotion come from it. I used that to grip onto his mind and soul and began to slowly pull. I kept my eyes open so I could see just how it effected him. His red colored coat slowly drained to grey as I pulled more and more of his emotion from him. He stopped shivering as I continued to pull his emotions apart, keeping all of the happiness and love to consume and shunting the fear and aggression into my waste sack to dispose of later.

Soon I was finished. The foal lay beneath me unmoving, uncaring, unfeeling his coat drained to grey. I used my foreleg to shatter his skull. Even his vitae was devoid of coloration from my gorging. I raised my head and looked around me. There was smoke pouring into the sky darkening out the sun. I saw the larger pony struggling to its feet. I pointed my horn at it and sent a blot of bright green energy out. The pony stirred no more.

I moved on from my feeding, feeling fit and nigh on invincible, almost like a hatchling again. I calmly strolled through the streets. Whenever a pony would stick its head out I would fire a bolt of energy, I did not miss. The streets I left behind were often littered with the perforated corpses of my victims as my casual stroll continued on.

I found myself in an alleyway between a building made of brick and a wooden structure. The architecture was still quite odd to me as I could not see any purpose to the structures. Didn’t these ponies live under the earth as all creatures do? I refuse to bother myself with such questions as I could not care any less about how the ponies lived. All I cared about was that my queen destroyed their precious princess, Terestia or Fillestial I think her name was, either way it was not important.

As I stepped through the end of the alley I was attacked from my left. The attacker smashed its body into me throwing me to the ground. I turned my head to see one of the royal guard, a unicorn, holding a spear. He pushed the blade to my chest.

“Surrender, scum.” He commanded. I smiled, I was, after all, a changeling. But I had one little trick up my sleeve the other brothers did not. I changed my form into that of what appeared to be a female pony. The guard flinched. I had reached into his mind and twisted the image of his loved one against him.

“You wouldn’t hurt me, would you Haven?” I asked, my voice coming out as a whiny soprano instead of my brutal and unforgiving bass. The spear fell from the guards grip as he believed my ploy. I could do few others could, I reached into the mind of this weak pony took all that he loved and turned it against him. I surged to my feet reverting back to my former self. The pony retreated his face lighting up with fury. I smiled as I rammed my massive horn through his armor and into his flesh. I lifted and threw the pony with my powerful neck. He flew through the air and landed some distance with a splat. I laughed gaily at the grizzly display. Today was going just perfectly.

I looked up as pegasus ponies flew overhead towards the palace. It seemed to be the direction of the heaviest fighting. I disguised myself as the fallen guard and charged to the palace.

The courtyard in front of the door was an abattoir of changelings and guardsponies alike. I ran through the ranks just managing to dodge the blows of two of my brothers and fall in with the ranks of ponies. I turned to face the oncoming horde of changelings. I saw the conviction and fury in the eyes of the brothers as they battled for survival against the guardsponies, and they were going to win. I slinked to the back and managed to get through the doors unnoticed due to the commotion.

I entered the palace proper and was struck aghast at the horrid beauty of the building. The walls were high and pillared, holding up a ceiling covered in wondrous paintings showing scenes from lost battles and forgotten times. I could have stared into those pictures for all of eternity if there wasn’t the inherit wrongness I felt with the place.

I gathered my mind and ran up the grand staircase. It split off and I took the left fork. At the top of the stairs I turned right and sprinted onward. I saw guardsponies piling their dead in front of a massive and heavily carved door. All around the door changelings and guards fought. I revealed my true form and bellowed my rage. My appearance startled the guards. It was just enough for the remaining changelings to attack. The ferocity of the strike pushed through the guards, rending and tearing as the smaller warriors and drones pushed through. I did not take part in the carnage, but instead, focused on the heavy and blockaded door.

I knew my queen needed me by her side. She would be able to control the situation for only so long by herself. She was not weak, but she disregarded the abilities of lesser beings far too often. I had seen it happen before, especially when the hive had gotten desperate in the past. But today was going just perfectly. 

I charged my horn and fired a massive bolt of ethereal energy into the door. The door was torn apart. I could see my queen through the opening surrounded by ponies who had panicked looks on their faces. The wave of emotions came crashing over me, filling me with pleasure as I charged through the door.

As I entered the massive chamber I watched as two ponies crossed their glowing horns. I decided they would be the first to die. I ran up the red carpet that had been laid down but I stopped as a bright light flashed before me. It was the two ponies. They floated in the air before my queen casting a rather magnificent light. I didn’t know what the light was going to do, but I would be damned if I let it hurt my queen. I rushed to push the queen out of the way. Before I could arrive, however, I was struck by a massive force that flung me through the air.

I felt myself sail through a window and continue going, nothing would slow my pace. The force from the blow forced all of the blood from my head and I passed out.

The last thing I remember seeing was my beloved queen, beloved Chrysalis flying through the air stone dead.