//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: A Queen's Final Revenge // by Little Wood //------------------------------// A Queen's Final Revenge Chapter Four Twilight lay in bed peacefully, dreaming of the beauty of her hive. Ever since she accepted the fact that she was the new queen, she no longer feared the future in fact she was looking forward to it. So she lay there peacefully until soft beams of light began streaming through her bed room window, and onto her face. Twilight's eyes flitted open, and she sat up trying to figure out what had disturbed her sleep. That's when she looked out her window, and saw a beautiful sunrise of gold and purple hues. It looked as if Celestia had taken a paint brush to the sky and made a master piece. The view was certainly something nice to wake up to. She decided go get some oats for breakfast, maybe check up on Rainbow and go over some plans for when she meets her parents. She got to the kitchen and found that there was already a pipin' hot bowl of oats waiting for her on the table. Spike was sitting on the other side of the table with a stupid smile plastered on face. He's nervous about something, let's find out what. "Hey, there's my number one assistant. I see you made breakfast, thanks." "No big, it's just something any number one assistant would do." he spoke with a shaky voice. "Okay Spike let's get this out of the way right now. If you're nervous around me now that I'm a changeling just tell me." "Oh no It has nothing to do with that, it's just I'm worried about you, being a whole new species and everything it has to be hard to adjust." Spike said with both worry and shakiness in his voice. "I'm fine, really. True it'll be weird for a while but eventually you'll get used to it and the girls will never have to know." Twilight punctuated her sentence with a spoon full of oats. "What do you mean the girls will never have to know! You can't just not tell them about something this big!" "What are you talking about, I've hidden bigger. Don't you remember that one time when I messed up a spell and ended up a alicorn for a week. That was even harder to hide than this, I mean like this I can disguise myself." "I still don't understand how you did that." , Spike said trying hard to remember how she'd done it, "You can't just not tell them about this ,especially considering it's permanent." Spike has a point. I won't be able to keep this hidden forever, three weeks at maximum. Okay so I have to options, tell my friends about me and Rainbow or I can convert them.....hmm.....convert them. Wonder what class they'll turn out to be. I'll have to think of some names for the classes, but for now I'll have to decide which of my friends is next. "Okay Spike I'll tell when the time is right okay." "Thanks Twilight, you have know idea how much better that makes me feel. Better than you going crazy trying to hide it from them huh." he chuckled to himself. "Yea I guess so. I'll be in my room for awhile seeing what I can find on changelings. While I'm doing that would you mind reorganizing the library?" Twilight spoke innocently. "Sure, but when I'm done can go over Rarity's?" Spike asked with the biggest puppy dog eyes Twilight had ever seen. "Of course you can, but you have to get the entire library, no funny business." "Of course Twilight when have I ever tried to deceive you?" Spike asked insolently. "Just get to work, I'm going up to my room." "Yes ma'am." Spike said with a left clawed salute. __________ Twilight had been in her room now for a bout two hours trying to fine-tune her new changeling magic. It was now about 8:30 in the morning so Rainbow would be waking up shortly. So Twilight waited until she could the one other conscious floating around in the hive mind. After a few minutes Twilight could feel that Rainbow was awake and decided to try and talk to her through the hive-mind. __________ In Rainbow's house she was getting up when she was startled by a voice in her head. "Good morning Rainbow how was your first night in the hive." Rainbow had no idea what was going on so naturally she stated yelling at the voice. "Who are you. What's going on and what do you mean in the hive." then, as if in response, all the memories of yesterday came rushing back to her. She immediately looked at her hooves in panic, and sure enough her cyan coat had been replaced with black chitin and her hooves were riddled with holes. Then, suddenly, she felt calm. "Rainbow am I going to have to calm you down every time you see you own hooves or are you going to get used to this soon." Then Rainbow did what came by instinct, she thought back. "I'll get used to it eventually I guess. So why the morning call anyways." "I'm here to help you and see just how good your power of deception is." Rainbow by now had walked to the kitchen to get some breakfast and was poring herself a bowl of Wonderbolts "Why would I have to deceive anypony I'm just at home getting some cereal." Knock-Knock "That would be why Rainbow. You have to deceive your parents." Rainbow was freaking out a little but Twilight quickly put a end to that. "It's okay Rainbow you just gotta disguise yourself like we practiced and you'll be fine, I'm here for you okay." "Okay." Rainbow quickly preformed the transforming spell Twilight had taught her. It was sloppy but it would fool some one who had never seen her before. With her spell in place she quickly ran over to the door to answered it expecting warm reception. She opened the door and found two pegasus ponies. The one on the left was a mare with a navy blue coat and prismatic mane like Rainbow's. Her cutie mark was a diamond with wings. She had a snooty air about her, she seemed to emanate a feeling of I'm-better-than-you-ness or whatever. On the right was a brown coated stallion with a slightly darker brown mane. His cutie mark was hour glass. "Why hello darling Rainbow dash right. Simply delightful to finally meet you. May we come in." "Of course you can, make yourselves comfortable." "Thanks Dash this place seems pretty cool. How much it cost ya." "Well to tell you the truth a wing and a leg, but it was worth it this place is great. "Remember Dash you have to make it believable. Try acting a little nervous." "Why would I would have to try, I'm the great Rainbow Dash there's nopony I can't fool." Twilight gave Rainbow a mental scowl that told her that she had no choice in that matter. "Fine, fine I'll do it." "Why don't you guys take a seat in the living room and I'll be right back with some tea okay>" "That's cool." "Of course darling, some tea would be lovely." Rainbow flew into the kitchen and put some water on the heater for the tea. "Okay so what do I do now." "Well from what I can tell you talk with them, have a few laughs, and generally have a good time with them. I have some business to attend to so you'll be on your own for awhile if you need me just think into the hive-mind. It'll come naturally to you, don't worry." "Don't worry Twilight, I got this." "You sure." "Yea I'm sure, now go do your business or whatever." "Okay, don't forget to call me. Bye." "Bye." The tea kettle began to whistle and Rainbow's solo act was about to begin. __________ Twilight woke up from the trance like state she had been in while guiding Rainbow. She found that she was still in her room. She also found something else, she was hungry. She considered eating at home but decided against it. If she wasn't seen in town for two days strait ponies might get suspicious. After some thought she finally decided that she would eat at Sugarcube Corner. Besides Pinkie asked her to help with the cupcakes and she never got the chance. So she trotted down the stairs and saw that Spike was still puttering away at taking care of the library. He can be so cute sometimes. "Spike I'm going out for awhile don't forget to lock the library when you go to Rarity's place." she yelled behind her as she trotted out the door and into the streets of Ponyville. __________ As Twilight trotted through town she noticed something, nothing insane was happening. No ursas raging through the town, no crazed dragons demolishing everything in sight, no jerk griffons. It was just a nice quite day. So she trotted through town she waving at whoever happened to be there. As she trotted along she thought to herself, "I think I'll start the hive small. I'll start with my close friends of course, but other than them who should I assimilate,and more importantly how? The cocoon may be affective but it's to bulky, it takes to long, and it's to hard to hide. I bet i could modify it to be better. Let's see, the cocoon works off magic channeled into its walls, the liquid acts as catalyst for that energy, so if I were to take the liquid and channel the magic into it directly then it could be ingested and transform the target instantly. I'll test it on Pinkie maybe I could slip it on a cupcake or....." As Twilight was busy thinking of ways to trick Pinkie into ingesting 'instant changeling' she walked right into Surgarcube Corner. "Ow, guess I should look were I'm going next time." she said to only herself "Well of course you should silly, if you didn't then you'd run into everything and that would hurt and you'd have bruises and scratchs all over and you'd need lots lots and of band-aids and....." Pinkies sentence ended abruptly when Twilight put her hoof in Pinkies mouth. "Hi Pinkie, you asked me to come over and help with the cupcakes right?" "Oh yea your number did come and then I was so excited and......." "Wait, what was that about a number?" Twilight questioned "What are you talking about, I never said anything about numbers. Anyways come on we got cupcakes to make." "Okay Pinkie, lead on." __________ Twilight's eyes opened reluctantly reveling a pitch-black room. She had no idea where she was, last she knew she was in Surgarcube Corner helping Pinkie bake cupcakes. Pinkie had offered her a cupcake and she had accepted the offer. Then she blacked out. As she thought about how she'd ended up here the room suddenly light up reveling the most horrifying thing Twilight had ever seen. The floor was covered in dried blood, the walls were covered with mounted pony heads (and one griffon), and the tables were covered with blood stained killing tools. Then she saw her. It was Pinkie,no doubt about that, but yet it wasn't. She looked exactly like Pinkie accept for one thing her, her hair was flat. She was standing on the other side of the room, sharpening a huge butcher knife. "I really didn't see this one coming, not in the slightest, when I knocked you out I thought you would just fall to the floor like the rest of them. But no, not you, you turned into a changeling. I've never disected a changeling before, I wonder how you'll taste." hearing those words Twilight decided to check look at herself by doing this she figured out two things at once. One: she indeed was in her changeling form. Two: she was strapped to a bloody surgery table. Now at this point most ponies would be freaking out, begging for mercy, and screaming bloody murder. Twilight wasn't most ponies, no she was a changeling queen but not just that she was a changeling queen with a plan. "Hey Pinkie would mind loosening these straps, there chaffing." "Sure thing Twilight, I don't want my friend to die uncomfortably." Pinkie walked over to where Twilight was strapped down and loosened the straps, not enough for her to escape but enough for them to stop chaffing. "Thanks, so what are you planing to use to kill me with anyway?" Pinkie was surprised at how well Twilight was taking this. The rest of her victims had all begged her for mercy, some had even offered to be her apprentice, but none had ever asked her what she was going to use to kill them. She knew eventually one would come to die with grace, but she never in a million years had thought that it would be Twilight. "Well I was going to use the hack saw but now I'm leaning more toward the chainsaw. I must say Twilight, of all my victims I never expected you to be the one that died with grace." Pinkie punctuated her sentence with the ripping of a chainsaw. "Oh that's just it Pinkie, I'm not dying." Pinkie brought her chainsaw down on Twilight's hide. __________ "Told you Pinkie, I'm not dying today." Twilight said with a smirk. The changeling and the crazed pony stood in the middle of a bloodied room, dull and broken knives littered all around them. "Well Twilight I gotta to give it to ya, that's one hard shell. So far I've broken three chainsaws, twelve scalpels, fife-teen butcher knives, and forty-two bone saws." "Really that many." Twilight did her best to shrug while retrained to a table, "Well before you break anymore of your tools I have a offer for you." "Oh and what would that be?" Pinkie asked in far to low and menacing to belong to the real Pinkie "I can make you one the great changeling race. If you agree you will be of the highest class, besides the myself of course. You will command great armies, you will cause untold destruction, and you will be able to be anyone at any time. You fly through the heavens and command magic of untold power. You will be one of the few, the proud, the predators. "Interesting offer, but I have two questions before I answer. First, where did you get the name; and two, what's the catch?" "Well I just thought it up I have had alot of time to think while you've been trying to kill me. As for the catch, you become one with the hive and as such your undying loyalty will be mine and mine alone. You will serve me, your queen, until the day you die." "You know Twilight, you got a deal just let me get you down from there and I can join your ranks, but I do have one more question." "And what is that Pinkie." "Is there anypony else in the hive or will I be the first." Pinkie asked cheerfully as she undid Twilight's restraints. "You will not be the first. Dash has also joined the hive." "Really Dashie's a changeling, that's great. Will we be like sisters or will we be more cousins........" Pinkie continued to rant on like this until Twilight was out of her restraints and on the ground shoving her hoof in Pinkies mouth. "Yes, you will sisters in the hive. Now I'll need a few minutes to prepare the spell so why don't you wait here and I'll be right back, okay?" "Okay Twilight." So Twilight went off to prepare the spell she'd figured out while Pinkie was trying to kill her. It's interesting what a mind can do while a mad pony's trying to kill you. __________ After a few minutes Twilight came back her spell flaring on her horn. "You ready Pinkie." "You know it." "Okay then, here goes nothing." Twilight let her spell fly and it Pinkie square in the chest releasing a blinding flash of light. After the light was gone standing where Pinkie was moments ago was a changeling bouncing in place with a huge pink mane and smile so big it looked like her face was about to be torn in half. "So Twilight what's first."