Purity, now known as Princess Purity, was learning quickly what it meant to lead. Chrysalis and Celestia were teaching her separately at the time being, but overall she was guided down the path of good. Word spread that the next queen of the changelings was found, and people all over Equestria were talking about it. On top of all of that, Celestia gave Chrysalis permission to leave her cell due to good behavior, when she could walk of course. But the doctor did say that by now she should be fine, and should try walking soon.
“Ready?” Amor was sitting next to Chrysalis in the cell.
“Ready.” With that, Chrysalis began to rise, putting most of her weight into Amor. A look of pain was in her face, but subsided soon after.
“You’re doing good. Don’t strain yourself, we’ll be searching together soon.” A smile took its place on Chrysalis’s face.
“Let’s try getting up the stairs. I’m tired of this dreaded scenery.”
“Do you think you’re ready so soon?”
“One way to find out.” Before the last word was out of her mouth, her front legs were up the first two steps. Now for her bad legs. Slowly, her first one rose and a look of pain was in her face again. Her hoof hit the first step slowly, and her front moved up one more step. Her other back rose up past the first step and onto the second. Five more steps and she reached the first landing.
“You did good, but you still have your wings. Perhaps that would be a better choice for now.”
“Oh. I’ve been sitting around so long I forgot about them.” With a rapid beating of the wings, Chrysalis began hovering over the next few stairs, Amor beside her. They were soon in the throne room, Celestia watching. “So many memories. So many bad memories.”
“Well, Queen Chrysalis, I am glad to see you up and around again.”
“Mommy, you’re walking!” Purity ran towards the queen, who bent down to meet her.
“Yes I am, little one. What have you been up to?”
“I’ve been learning so much from Miss Celestia about equal treatment and showing respect to those below and above you.”
“Ah, a good lesson indeed,” Amor said, helping Chrysalis back to her feet.
“Come now, Purity,” said Celestia. “Let’s leave these two to explore.”
“Actually princess, I have a question.”
“Yes, Amor?”
“Well, it’s just that, Chrysalis is starting to walk again, and she’s been down in that cell for some time. I don’t feel comfortable leaving her side. Would it be okay if we moved her into my old room?”
Celestia smiled at Amor. “Of course. You two are to be moved back into the extra room.” She then looked down at Purity. “Would you like your own room? If it’s okay with your parents, that is.”
Amor looked at Chrysalis, who soon answered. “If she would like one.”
Purity’s looked up at Celestia. “Do I really get my own room?”
“Of course. Change of plans I guess. Amor, you two will be moved to a different room, Purity will be across the hall.”
Amor was about to thank the princess, but was stopped when Escara and Avispa rushed into the room, followed by two royal guards.
“Escara, Avispa, what do you have to report?”
“Sir,” Avispa paused before continuing. “A changeling entered Canterlot moments ago. He said he is from the new hive.”
Amor looked at the guards, thinking this whole thing was a joke. Moments later, he realized it wasn’t. he looked at one of the royal guards.
“Soldier, look after the young princess for a moment.” He then bent down to speak to Purity. “Stay here with the nice guard, okay?”
“Okay.”
Moments later, the rest of the group flew through the door, Avispa and Escara leading, followed by Amor, at his side Chrysalis was hovering, behind them was Celestia and the remaining guard. They were soon at a small cell holding a single changeling. Amor stepped forward.
“You are either the bravest changeling I’ve met or the stupidest. What are you doing here?”
“I heard that the next changeling queen was being housed here. Is she?”
“Why do you want to know? The ‘new hive’ was trying to kill her!”
“I-I wasn’t part of that! I never wanted them to hurt her, but they would have killed me if I said anything!”
Amor stepped closer to the cell, almost pressing his head to the barred door. “You are going to talk, and you are going to tell me everything. Now.”
The changeling stepped back. There was a small quiver in his voice, but he spoke. “Wh-what do you want to know.”
“Where are the rest of you, how did you get here, what has become of our hive, why are you trying to kill each other, and who is leading you?”
The changeling stepped back again, shaking in fear at the sight of the furious king. “Alright, I escaped from the hive. We were held up at the remains of the old hive, your hive. Soon after, when the queen had gotten away, our leader was furious. Soon after, rumors spread that the former king and queen had returned, and that they, along with the next queen, were held up in Canterlot. Panic spread through the hive. We were gathering what we could, and I saw my chance to escape. Did I forget anything?”
“Who is leading you? Why are you trying to kill each other?” Amor was beginning to calm down, but he needed these answers.
“We had orders to either leave the weak or kill them. Our new leader gave us orders to kill any royalty born. Our new leader was one of the top soldiers due to his aggression and power, he goes by Hornet.”
“Hornet?”
“He prefers ‘King’ Hornet.”
“Alright where did King Hornet say you were going?”
“I don’t know, he never told us. He just said we were leaving Equestria, said it was too dangerous now that the former king and queen, along with three alicorns and the next queen, were all living here. Not to mention the Elements of Harmony.”
Amor let out a sigh. “Well that’s good news and bad news. Good news, the rest of the brutes have left Equestria, we have the next queen safe, and we may be able to save some more changelings. Bad news, we have a whole hive of aggressive changelings out there and we don’t know where, other than being savage these changelings have some ability to strategize and plan, and they may have already killed any changelings who tried to escape.” He thought for a moment. “Princess, I need three small strike teams, five to ten soldiers each. Avispa and Escara, you two have already been in the hive before. You two are to lead two of the strike teams, I will lead the third. Be prepared for an ambush, we don’t know if what he said was true. We are looking for any changelings we can find. We will save any if we can, but if they fight, fight back.”
Chrysalis stepped towards him. “I’m going with you.”
“No. You’re still too badly injured. If anything happens, I’m not sure if you would be able to get away. I just… I just don’t want you to get hurt again. Stay here with Purity.”
An hour later, the three strike teams were set up, eight members each, each led by a changeling. Amor stood before them, a satchel on his back.
“If any are found, Escara or Avispa are to approach first. They may be more cooperative to a fellow changeling. Make sure to mention that you were sent by the former king. Say nothing more and watch their reaction. If they still cooperate, take them, if they attack, strike. Let’s go!”
With that, the twenty-four pegasi and three changelings began flying through the afternoon, flying in three awkward triangles in the sky. After almost seven hours of nonstop flying, the team found the old hive, half destroyed, but still standing. When they entered, the inside was destroyed. The pegasi marveled at the changeling craftsmanship.
“Alright, we will split up from here. Keep your eyes open for anything. Avispa, lead your team through the east side of the hive, stopping at the castle. Escara, you take the east with the same instructions. My team, we go straight north and into the castle. We will then regroup at the castle gate where Escara, Avispa and I will search the hatching chambers. The rest of you will stand guard. Go!” At the call, the three groups were dispatched.
They searched for hours. Amor’s group had no luck, but he was hoping they would find something soon. I wonder if the others are having any luck. Just as he finished his thought, he heard one of his soldiers.
“King Amor! We found one!” Amor was quickly at the soldiers side. In front of him was a small female changeling, battered and beaten. She was stuck under fallen rubble, but it wasn’t crushing her.
“Ma’am, do you know who I am?”
The changeling looked up at him, and a smile spread across her face. “Of course I do. Your our king, the real king. You’re the best thing I’ve seen for weeks.”
“What happened to you?”
She looked down to the ground. “Well, I’m sure by now you have heard about the attack on Canterlot. Well, I wasn’t part of the attack, so I was waiting for their return. When they returned, they were crazy. They said only the strong would be accepted, and that we needed to prove ourselves. If we failed, we would be sent out on our own. After the remainder of the hive passed, he took power. King Hornet he called himself. Things just got worse from there. They started taking their anger out on each other. When the hive was in panic, I heard a loud crash and I was stuck. They thought I was dead, didn’t even bother to check. They just left.”
Amor looked down at the changeling. “You’re safe now.” His horn began to glow and the larger rocks slowly rose. He then looked at two of the soldiers nearby. “Help her to her feet. She will need help standing for some time, so stay by her at all times.” There were no more changelings on their route, so they entered the castle.
“Spread out. Look for anypony who survived.” He looked at the two pegasi and young changeling. “You three, stay here and wait for the rest of them.” Amor wanted to search his room, alone. He made his way up the large staircase to the room, only to find it nearly empty. The mirror, cracked and slightly ajar, was still on the wall. He walked up to it and stared at himself for a while.
“I haven’t changed since the last time I looked into this. I failed, just like I said I would. So I saved a lucky few who survived, but for what? I’m still the same abomination I was the last time I was here, lucky to have what I have.”
“King Amor? Is that you?”
Amor spun around quickly to see another changeling standing beside his old bed.
“How long have you been there?”
“Since the new hive left. I figured they would never look in the royal chambers for a lowly worker. But what are you doing here? Last I heard you were in Canterlot.”
“I came to search for any signs of the hive. So you’re certain they have left?”
“I haven’t heard anything.”
“Well, go downstairs and report to one of the pegasi there. Give them your name and wait with any others down there.”
The changeling was about to leave, but Amor stopped him.
“Wait.”
“Yes, my king?”
“You…you are not to tell anypony what you heard up here, understood?”
“Understood.” With that, he continued downstairs.
Amor continued looking through his room, only to find the only thing salvageable was a large amount of bits he left when he left, the blanket on the bed, and the bed itself. Well, it’ll be the only souvenir I can find. He folded the blanket up and stuffed it into one side of his satchel and took all the bits he found. It was then that he noticed the picture frame on one of the tables against the wall. Something little that he hadn’t paid much attention to when he lived here, but looking at it now, it brought him back years. In the picture, he was standing in the forest outside of the hive, Chrysalis was hugging him, hanging off of his neck while they looked at the camera, both smiling. Amor couldn’t help but smile at the picture. He took it out of the cracked frame and carefully slid it into the satchel. Soon after, a soldier came into the room.
“King Amor, the other two teams have returned. More survivors were found, some in the castle while you were up here.”
Amor walked downstairs into the throne room. There were definitely more than four changelings in the room, but not enough to be happy about. Avispa and Escara walked towards him
“Sir, my team found three more survivors,” Avispa said, looking straight at Amor.
“My team found four. Sadly, only two were saved.”
Amor looked down at Escara. “Did they attack?”
“One did, yes. I mentioned that you were here and he threw himself at me. I had to fight back. The other we found very weak. It was evident he wasn’t going to survive.”
“I see. This is very sad to here. Well, we saved some at least.” He walked to one of the nearby guards. “I want you to get the names of all the changelings we have found so far. The three of us are going to the hatching chambers.”
Amor walked to the hatching chamber in the far east of the hive, followed by the two changeling soldiers. Escara got closer behind Amor.
“Sir, why are we the only three going to search?”
“Because, I don’t think the royal guards know what to look for in here. As for the changelings we saved, I don’t know if they can be trusted yet.”
The three finally reached the hatching chamber, nearly empty other than a few empty pods.
“Just as I thought. They took the young, too. Look around, see if they missed anything.”
The three searched for hours, finding only one unhatched pod.
“Alright, we need two of us to carry this. Are you two willing?”
“Of course we are. Let’s get this thing out of here.” The pod was detached from the ceiling and was carefully attached to the two soldiers, now having to fly in harmony.
Amor entered the throne room once again and the guard he ordered to write down the names came forward, handing a piece of paper to him. Amor looked down at the paper.
“Ten changelings.” He then made his way to the front of the room before calling out to the changelings in the room. “Alright, I need all the changelings found today to line up before me!”
Quickly, the changelings lined up in front of the king.
“I am going to call out your names. Say ‘here’ when you hear your name. Deciet?”
“Here!” called one of the changelings near the middle.
“Serenity?”
“Here,” called the changeling Amor’s team found stuck.
“Agony?”
“Here.”
“Rapture.”
“Here.”
“Respite.”
“Here.”
“Reverence.”
“Here.”
“Cielo.”
“Here.”
“Souls.”
“Here.”
“Apostate.”
“And Penance.”
“Here.”
“Anyone I did not call?” Silence filled the room for a moment. “Okay. We found one pod in the hatching chamber. Would anyone be willing to take the pod?” Silence filled the room once more.
“I’ll take it,” a changeling, Cielo, said as she stepped forward.
“Okay, now that that’s out of the way, we need to go over some rules. You are to be kept in holding cells during the beginning of your stay. If and when you prove you are willing to put your old ways behind you and live a peaceful life with the ponies of Canterlot, you will be free to roam. Any questions?”
Once again, silence.
“Good. Welcome to Canterlot.”