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// Chapter Two: Passive Vengeance 
// Story: Devourer 
// by Croabadrake 
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	Queen Chrysalis looked over the village before her. Her swarm had found it not long after the beacon was activated, and they'd been using it for shelter ever since while they waited for their lost siblings to return. It saved them a lot of trouble since they didn't have to start temporary burrows from scratch, and the structures provided more comfort than simple tunnels. Exactly why the village was abandoned when they found it, they had no idea and the reason didn't pop up in the course of the three months they'd been there so nobody cared.

She turned and looked to the horizon, spotting the last group of her swarm that still hadn't made it. The swarm was almost complete again, and it relieved her... at least partially. Her ability to feel the connection to each of her swarmlings was both a gift and a curse, as she could feel whenever the journey for the lost ones became treacherous; a few nights, she was kept awake as she felt connection after connection closing off and disappearing as unlucky changelings on their journey to her lost their lives to whatever they may have encountered.

...but that was now over with. This was the last group, and she was delighted to see that they were mostly intact and unharmed. This group hadn't had much trouble and lost very few of her swarmlings on the way. She greeted them as they approached and as usual the rest of the swarm erupted into cheering at seeing another group of their fellows having made it back. When they had had a moment to enjoy being back with the swarm, Chrysalis turned and looked over them. She spotted a few crying at having seen some of their close friends safe, and almost shed one or two herself simply due to knowing that this little nightmare now almost over.

She shook the emotion out of her head and then called for her swarm's attention. "My swarm!" She called out, catching the attention of the entirety of the swarm, all of whom had come out of the small structures to welcome their siblings. "My swarm..." she said again, a little quieter, "we.... are once again whole."

At the realization of what the statement meant, the crowd again erupted into cheers of happiness knowing that none of them would have to be separated from the swarm for so long again. There was hugging in some areas while a bit more happy crying went on in others. Once the swarm calmed down, they once again looked to their Queen for direction.

"We are together once again, my swarm, but we are not done just yet," she said as she turned and began pacing in front of them. "There are two more tasks that we must attend to. First, we must make the journey back to the nest. We cannot begin this journey until Commander Dapul returns with news of its state of being, and it may be some time before he does. Until then, we are to concentrate on the second task..."

Queen Chrysalis stopped pacing and fell silent for a moment. The Devourer's presence could still be felt all the way back in Canterlot, and she hadn't told the swarm about bringing it since it made them nervous. She remembered what it was like having it back at the hive, a truly unique experience.

The Devourer had been with her swarm for as long as she could remember. She recalled it being around from her earliest childhood, and it could be seen in carvings in the art hall depicting many old events including her own birth. When she questioned her mother and father about it, they refused to tell her any more than the fact that it was "helpful" to the hive.

And indeed it was helpful, if mysterious. The Devourer lived near the bottom of the hive, in its own little self-made den. It followed the order of her parents, and later of her; for whatever reason it was loyal to the hive, it was loyal enough to remain so throughout her entire current lifespan of 400 years as well as some period of time in or beyond her parents' lifetimes. While it did follow orders, it seemed clumsy at best when it came to normal activities that would be no problem for normal changelings, possibly due to it being so big and not having wings.

However, it did have its place in the hive. It was excellent at taking care of changelings that were still the young stages of their lives, and had been noted to have protected them fiercely and effectively during some intrusions by outside armies. It was a sort of gentle giant, being fond of any in the swarm smaller than it... which is of course to say anyone. Outside of taking care of newborns when needed and playing with young changelings, it was also very good at demolition of unneeded parts of the hive. When a section or room complex was close to collapsing, the Devourer was sent in to take it down due to its incredible durability.

Possibly the most intriguing part of it, though, was its ability to eat virtually anything; hence its name. If it couldn't fit something in its mouth, it would break it down until the pieces were, and then it would consume all of them. When it set its mind to eating something, it was almost passionate about consuming every single piece of its target, and it used this to great effect when taking down walls or rooms. It could not feed off of love, nor did it require any specific type of food: pretty much literally anything would do.

The Devourer, when not following orders, would reside in its den that it had down near the bottom layers of the hive. It usually stayed in there and came out only on orders or to feed, but didn't have any problem with a changeling or two coming in for whatever reason... if they ever would. Even though it loved the children of the hive and was very friendly to anyone there, it also had a sort of fearful aura. Anyone that came near it felt uneasy, even those that it had taken care of when they were children. Exactly why this was, no-one knew, but her swarm's fear of it was enough reason for Chrysalis to keep its presence in Canterlot a secret.

Chrysalis' thoughts snapped back to the present as she looked over her swarm again. She took one last moment to contemplate whether or not to tell them, and then solidified her decision.

"You are not all that I brought for the assault on Canterlot," she began. Ripples of murmuring went through the crowd. "Indeed, I decided that since this raid seemed to be such a success, I wanted to make absolutely sure I had the victory in grasp. So..... I enlisted the help of one that many of you do not like."
Many of her swarmlings seemed confused, but she could spot a few that had already realized what she was talking about.
"As you can see, this one did not impede our unexpected loss. For that, I apologize: if it weren't for my own arrogance, you would be feasting on love even now as we speak. This extra measure that I brought along... was the Devourer."

The silence was almost deafening as the swarm stared at her in shock. They weren't anywhere near criticizing her for bringing it, but... none of them suspected that the Devourer had been with them in Canterlot.

"However," she continued,"you should know something about the Devourer that I felt necessary to keep a secret until we were all together again."

The crowd stopped murmuring. Not a single pair of eyes was wandering; they were all watching their queen, wondering what she meant.

"Somehow.... the Devourer... is still in Canterlot," she finished.

The crowd collectively gasped, and they began talking amongst themselves again. "How could it still be there?" "Where was it?" "I didn't see it there, did you?" "You know, I didn't see before OR after the banishing..."
Queen Chrysalis waited for the talking to die down before she moved on. "The Devourer is currently cut off from us: as we've learned through testing, the banishing spell prevents us from setting foot back into Equestria. Somehow, it is unaffected. It is without order, and without orders it may behave strangely. I doubt it will leave its post anytime soon, but we must do something to contact it and find out what it is doing. It may even be carrying out our vengeance as we speak!"

Chrysalis smiled as her swarm expressed happiness. Perhaps the Devourer being left in Canterlot was indeed a good thing. Again, she waited for them to die down before continuing.

"We will need another beacon, this one specialized. It will require special parts from special trees and plants as well as more than just my own concentration. We will need a collective concentration for the communication spell itself since it needs to pierce the spell keeping us out. Even though we cannot enter it, our magic should be able to if it is made powerful enough. When the beacon is completed, we will cast the spell and send a message to the Devourer, but not otherwise attempt to reach it. When it receives the message, we shall continue to wait for Dapul and send the message again periodically until we receive a response. Is this understood?"

The crowd began murmuring yet again, many of them nodding.

"Then let us begin our work!"

Chrysalis began directing the tasks of her swarm, relishing in the thoughts of what the Devourer may have done or is still doing to Canterlot Castle while they were out here.