Changeling agent Protonus, in the guise of the pegasus Iron Shield, came flying full tilt into the citadel's main courtyard at a little after ten o'clock in the morning, still an hour earlier than he was supposed to arrive. Rather than alighting nimbly with a backwing, he hit the ground at a gallop, and charged up to where a group of guardsponies were hitching themselves to one of the V.I.P. Carriages. Built in a similar style to the guard chariots, this one was fully enclosed, and had upholstered seats. The siding was armored, however, to protect the occupants.
That was the last thing on his mind.
“Strike! Swift Strike!” He called out to the other lieutenant, his former superior officer, drawing his and the attention of every other pony in the grounds as he came to a screeching halt that had his armored hoofshoes sending up sparks.
“WHOAH! Iron, what in Tartarus-?” Swift strike said, rearing back slightly, along with the other guards in the courtyard, those who were being hitched up, and the others nearby.
“Hah... whoo... gimme a second...” The out of breath lieutenant gasped out, taking in big gulps of air.
Recovering from his surprise, swift strike settled back down to the stones and looked at the winded pegasus with a level gaze. “Let me guess. You just heard the news.”
“Yeah, about that,” the pegasus form changeling said, lifting himself back into proper posture. “beg your pardon but WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON!?” he snapped. One would imagine a guard who just learned that a known enemy had been secreted into where they were supposed to be protecting would be surprised and upset at learning this, but Protonus' anger and irritation were no play act.
“Seems the changelings sent an 'ambassador', and he's got the princess's blessing, for the moment. They've got him up in the palace, and they brought in the element of magic to begin talks with him.” Swift summarized.
Protonus was going to have quite a lot to say to the council tonight when he got home from work.
“Great...” he groaned. “I'd better go get my marching orders from the captain then.” he said, moving to trot past Swift.
“He's at the palace.” Swift said, without turning his head to follow the pegasus lieutenant.
He paused. “Already? Why?”
“Turns out the princesses have arranged a little tour of canterlot for the ambassador today. He's going to be heading it up.” Swift turned and looked at his compatriot. “And I could really use the genius who devised our anti-glue-spit training on the escort detail. Care to come with?”
Protonus blinked. He wasn't sure if he should get too close to this 'ambassador' when he hadn't been alerted to this beforehoof. This could very well be a trap, his paranoia (a healthy thing to have in small doses when one is a spy) was telling him.
On the other hoof, if this was the actions of another rogue hive, or gods forbid, Chrysalis trying something again, he needed to get in close to verify just who it was.
He came to his decision in under five seconds.
“Count me in.”
* * * * *
The carriage rolled out, passenger-less, from the citadel at 10:22 AM, and moved swiftly through the side streets of Canterlot. Armored guard carriages weren't exactly a normal sight out on the streets, and they wanted to keep ponies from getting panicked by seeing it go down the main thoroughfares. It was a curious sight, an empty carriage being escorted by five unicorns, and five pegasi, and not a single one below sergeant in rank.
They arrived at the gates to Canterlot palace to find a crowd of civilians being held back from the vicinity by a wall of guardstallions.
Both masses of ponies the carriage needed to get through to get into position.
“Dis-perse! All civilians to make way immediately!” Swift Strike called out over the milling crowd, flying in over their heads..
“Official guard business! Make way!” 'Iron Shield' belted out as he came up with his squad, trotting just in front of the four burly earth pony guards-they were quite necessary, the armor plating on that carriage weighed a near literal ton- as they moved towards the crowd, with no intent to slow down.
The civilian ponies, more than half of them nobles, looked up sharply, and grumbled as they stepped aside. The way clear, the carriage and its escort moved up through the suddenly parted ranks of guardstallions to the center of the front gates, where Captain prince Shining Armor was waiting.
“Secure transit and escort for one 'V.I.P.' captain, as ordered.” Swift Strike announced with a salute.
Captain Armor nodded. “Just in time, here he comes now.”
Protonus turned his head as he hovered in place above the carriage to get a look at the party that was just exiting the palace.
He missed a wingbeat and nearly fell out of the air before he caught himself.
'You gotta be kidding...!' he thought, shock and recognition passing through his mind as the orange and black changeling prince walked alongside the purple unicorn mare with the purple dragon hatchling riding on her back towards the portcullis.
“Iron, you ok?” One of the other pegasi asked.
Memories of playing hide and seek in a forest of giant mushrooms flickered through his brain. “Sorry, just... didn't expect him to look like that.”
“Ready to go ambassador?” Shining armor was saying, his posture as stiff as his tone.
“Yes, captain. Thank you.” 'the ambassador' was saying.
Shining stepped aside to allow him to enter the carriage, then the purple mare and the little dragon, then the captain himself entered and the door closed.
“Move out!” Lieutenant Strike called out, and the team of heavy earth pony guards began trotting up the road, and the escort moved along with them.
'Max... they sent you, and you didn't tell me. Why?' Protonus thought as he kept his place in formation.
* * * * *
The carriage ride was silent at the start. Maxillus watched the view out the window, this being the closest he'd come to seeing the city since he'd arrived, even if the view was partially obstructed by a pegasus guard who was keeping pace with the Carriage. Shining sat there with a small scowl as he watched Maxillus with a sideways glance every few moments. And Spike was just sitting there kicking his heels idly.
“So! What do you think of Canterlot Ambassador?” Twilight finally broke the silence.
“It's very bright.” he said, rubbing his head, the aspirin was helping, but perhaps gazing at the brilliant white and gold architecture of the noble district of Canterlot while you had a simmering headache wasn't a good idea. That was a lot of white walls and gold roofing. “It's almost overpowering.” Maxillus responded.
“Big, shiny and impressive. That's Canterlot alright.” Twilight agreed with a smile.
“What's your home like?” Spike asked.
Shining's ears flicked in Maxillus' direction intently.
“Dark.” Maxillus said, chuckling as he turned to look at the little dragon. “But then, it's a cave after all.”
“Is that normal for a Changeling kingdom?” Twilight asked.
He shifted his gaze to her. “They're called hives, Miss Twilight. And yes, most of the hives are subterranean. There are a few exceptions though.”
“Really? Can you give me an example?” Twilight asked.
Maxillus was about to answer when the driver called out “Arriving at Canterlot hospital!” just as the earth pony guards who were pulling the thing pulled up and brought the carriage to a neat halt.
Shining Armor snorted at the bad timing. That was actually starting to sound like something he could've used.
As they stepped out of the carriage, Twilight looked around. “Huh, that's funny.”
“What is?” Maxillus asked.
“Princess Celestia herself arranged our visit. There should be somepony here to greet us.” Twilight said, glancing around uncertainly at the conspicuously vacant main entrance to the hospital.
“Eh, it's probably nothing.” Spike said, walking ahead of her.
Maxillus raised an eyeridge, but said nothing and followed. The pegasi and unicorns fell in two ranks on either side of him, Captain Armor bringing up the rear himself. Maxillus acknowledged this with a small sigh, but said nothing as they advanced in a group up to the glass doors of the main entrance to the hospital. Lieutenant swift strike opened the doors with his magic and stepped through first, followed by the changeling ambassador and the lavender unicorn mare.
The decibel level rose to a normal pitch as the group entered the main lobby of the hospital. There were ponies, so many ponies, all milling about. Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns all. There was even even a pair of gryphons -an adult and a cub- sitting in chairs in the waiting area amongst the equestrian natives. Doctors, nurses and orderlies were going about their business, and half a dozen mares sat behind the desk opposite the main doors. Perfectly normal for a major medical center in a large city.
At least, things were normal, until one of the receptionist mares looked up and saw who was walking through the door, and let out a shriek.
“CHANGELING!”
In less than five seconds, every other pony in the lobby had either fled down the halls, or were pressing themselves against the walls trying to get as far away from the ambassador as possible.
“Wha-hey! What're you- He's not going to- if everypony could please just-” Twilight balked, whirling around, trying to catch the staff and patrons as they all scrambled away.
Shining Armor snorted in annoyance and, with a flash of magenta light, every single frantically fleeing creature was encased in a bubble of magical force.
“Citizens of Equestria, your attention please!” he spoke loudly and clearly as the bubbles returned everypony to approximately where they'd been when they'd come in.
Once he settled them down, Shining glanced at Twilight. “This is your show Twi, you explain this to the good citizens.” he said.
Twilight glanced around at the still very fearful looking ponies -and two gryphons- encased in mini bubble shields, blinked, and had to visibly compose herself. The terrified reactions of the populace had alarmed her, and her heart was beating so fast...
She cleared her throat. “Yes, well...” She looked around... no handy newspapers laying about. “As you may have seen in the papers this morning, the changeling nation has sent an ambassador here to Canterlot for peace talks. The ambassador has sworn not to harm, or do anything, to Equestria's citizens, while he is our guest. He is here now on Celestia's invitation. So, really, there's no need to be afraid of him.”
Shining stepped forward once his sister was done speaking. “Now, if everypony-” there was a grumble from the gryphons in their bubble. “is done panicking, I can let you go, and we can all get on with our day.”
There was a wave of nodding heads, and after a breath, shining dispelled the shields, and everyone in the hospital lobby glanced around, then, with looks of extremely forced nonchalance, went about their business... pointedly NOT looking at the group of royal guards and their changeling charge.
Twilight suppressed a groan, then turned back to the extremely embarrassed receptionist. “Now, if you don't mind, we have an appointment.”
* * * * *
The 'imaging center' was on the hospital's sixth floor, and the group was faced with a problem. There simply wasn't enough space in the elevator for every one of the guards who were escorting the ambassador to be in there at the same time as Maxillus, particularly with Twilight and Spike at his side.
Needless to say, Shining had insisted on them taking the stairs. The long trip up those flights of stairs quickly started to show on the ambassador, as he kept stumbling as they climbed the steps.
As soon as they finally emerged into the sixth floor, a dark colored pony in a white coat looked up, with a smile on his face, and briskly trotted over.
“Ah! Welcome! You must be the ambassador. Princess Celestia sent word this morning. We had to bump an appointment to fit you, so we're a little pressed for time.”
Maxillus glanced at Twilight and raised an eyeridge, and the unicorn mare giggled. Maxillus grinned and turned back to the doctor. “You must be Dr. Scalpel, the receptionist told us you'd be meeting us.”
“That'd be me. And, can I say, it's so exciting to be the first pony to examine a new species!” the doctor said, sounding almost giddy.
Shining leaned to one side, taking in the doctor properly. Dr. Scalpel was a dusky blue unicorn with a gray mane and, what else, a scalpel for a cutie mark. The fact that it was backed by the red cross mark established that he was a surgeon.
“Wow, you're taking this a lot better than everypony we saw downstairs.” Spike commented.
The doctor's smile fell for a second into a confused and concerned frown. “Was there a problem?”
“Oh, nothing much, just a moment of mass hysteria as soon as they saw me.” Maxillus said, rolling his eyes.
Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Oh, well... I guess they just weren't expecting to see you up close. If I recall the article I read during my coffee break this morning, princess Luna wasn't particularly specific on where you might be seen about Canterlot.”
“That seems readily apparent.” Maxillus said, glancing back at the stairs they'd climbed. “Anyway, as you said, we're wasting time. Doctor?”
“Ah! Yes, of course, follow me.” The doctor said, then turned and clip-clopped as he walked down the hall, the group, and the guards all falling in step. “You'll have to forgive me, I'm not typically the doctor involved with these kinds of things, but they needed somepony well versed in anatomy to oversee this scan and the usual doctor wasn't feeling well today. When the director explained what he needed in a replacement I leapt at the chance.”
Maxillus cocked his head and looked at the Doctor. “Why is that?”
“Because 'exotic' is my specialty. I'm Canterlot's premier surgical expert on many other species. Gryphons, Minotaurs, Cows, Sheep, if it talks and isn't a pony then I'm your stallion.”
Maxillus smiled. “Well, I know who to go to if I need medical help while I'm here.”
“Not exactly.” Dr. Scalpel said.
Every pony in the group, even the stoic, blank faced guards, blinked when he said that.
“Why's that?” Spike asked.
“I'm an expert on a lot of other species, but changelings? No offense, but I didn't even know your kind existed until a few months ago Ambassador.”
“We're here for a scan though, wouldn't that help?” Twilight asked.
“It's a starting point, my lady.” Twilight blushed at the formal address. Here in Canterlot, at least, she was technically nobility, what with being the princess's protege, and sister in law to a princess. But it had been so long since someone had showed her such deference that it caught her off guard. “A single scan will help us learn any major differences, but a single sample isn't exactly conclusive. I'd need to do such scans on several dozen different changelings just to get started and...” The doctor stopped walking, and the whole group paused as well. “If I'm not mistaken, he looks very different than the changelings that were running around the streets a few months ago.”
“Drones, Doctor. Those were Drones.” Maxillus said.
“What, like ants or termites?” The doctor asked.
Maxillus nodded. “Yes. There are two kinds of changelings. Drones and Nobles. I happen to be Noble caste.”
“Are there any differences you know of between the two?” the doctor asked.
“A few, some are superficial, others... not so much.” Maxillus said.
“Hmmm...” The doctor rubbed his chin with the back of a foreleg briefly. “Well, we'll discuss this further once the scan's done, and we have something to look at, eh?”
With a nod the group followed the doctor through the double doorway that led to the brand new T.R.I. Facility at the end of the hall, and into the main chamber.
Maxillus stepped into the chamber and stopped, looking around. There were large... machines, were the only descriptive word one could think of. Machines the size of large china cabinets-several rows of them- on either side of the room, with banks of of flashing lights, dials, switches, buttons, and rolls of magnetic tape. Deeper into the chamber, past all these large machines, beyond a glass wall and a set of glass doors was an even larger, albeit lower to the ground, machine. The machine was a half circle with it's flat side on the floor. About ten feet wide, ten feet deep, and eight feet high, with a tubular gap about two and a half feet wide in the middle. Extending out infront of this was a rather thin, ergonomically padded 'shelf' that looked to be on rollers, able to slide into the opening in the machine. The outside of it was encased in smooth metal, painted white.
“Ok, this is rather impressive...”
“Thank you, now if you'll come this way.” Dr. Scalpel said, gesturing for Maxillus to follow.
Maxillus did, and the group as a whole followed., Dr. scalpel looked back at the group of guards and paused. “Ah, captain, could you please have the guards wait outside? There's a lot of sensitive equipment in here, and we do need some space to work.” he said, gesturing with a foreleg to the areas of the room with the racks of machines... and several technician ponies Shining hadn't noticed at first.
Shining snorted in annoyance, but he could see that arguing was not going to help him here. The turned around. “Stallions, take up positions out in the hall. Keep an ear out though, if I call, you come charging, am I clear?”
“Sir yes sir!” the unicorn and pegasi in gold armor said, snapping smart salutes.
“Good, now get to your posts.”
The guards all smartly about faced and trotted back out into the corridor.
“Right, let's get this over with.” Maxillus said, tossing his mane.
Dr. Scalpel led Maxillus in to the machine itself. “Very good, Now, if you'll just lie down on the table here...” he said, indicating the padded shelf.
Maxillus trotted up to it, looked it and the machien over for a moment, sighed, then hopped up onto the shelf and laid down on his back, his head resting on the pillow and all four legs in the shaped depressions in the padding.
“Now when the scan starts, just close your eyes and try not to move too much.” Dr. Scalpel instructed.
“Do I need to hold my breath or something?” Maxillus asked.
The doctor chuckled. “No, as long as you don't yawn or cough while the scan is being taken that should be fine. Now, just relax.”
The doctor's horn lit up with a pale pink glow and the table slid into the tube in the machine. There was two hoofspans of space between the changeling and the walls of the machine on all sides. Satisfied, the doctor turned and trotted over to the control room, where Twilight was looking over the equipment.
“Have an interest in medical science, Lady Twilight?” he asked, hopping into a chair in front of a console where he started to turn dials, press switches and buttons, and move levers to control the device.
“In most sciences really.” She said candidly. “Also, about the whole 'lady' bit.” She started to say as a resonant hum started to come from the device in the next room, the sound reverberating through the air, the machinery, and everypony there.
“Is that normal?” Shining asked, his voice raised over the sound. His enchanted barding was starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable.
“Oh, completely!” Dr. Scalpel replied.
“Is this as loud as it gets?” Spike asked, covering his ear fins.
“Not quite. But don't worry, it doesn't get that loud, really!” he said, slowly working the controls to bring the machine up to full operating power.
It took Twilight a minute, and it was rather hard to make out, but after focusing on the noise for a few moments, she was able to make out that there were infact a number of different distinct droning magical noises coming from the T.R.I. Machine. Over a dozen if she wasn't miscounting. That fit with what she'd read in the magazine 'Science and Sorcery' almost two months ago. Numerous visualizing, scanning, and probing spells, layered over each other via a crystalline lattice that surrounded a pony on all sides, investigating their bodies and magical signatures on every level. The point of this to show where things were, how they were doing, and what, if anything was wrong.
Once the droning cacophony of magical hums reached it's zenith, the doctor turned to Twilight. “And now we simply wait for the scan to complete. Now, it's a full body scan, and we usually analyze various bodyparts individually, so this scan is going to take a bit longer than normal.”
“How long, exactly?” she asked.
“Well, I’d estimate about an hour, approximately.” The doctor said.
“An hour of this noise? Ugh, Twilight, can I go out into the hall, or something? Please?” Spike said.
“Oh, wow... the noise must be really bad in there... not to mention the magical resonance.” Twilight said, standing up on her hindlegs and resting her forehooves on the glass and looking in at the device itself, with the changeling laying on his back within. “You can go wait outside Spike. I don't think I'll need a notetaker right now. Just don't wander off. I don't want you getting into trouble.”
“Feh, you act like I can't take care of myself.”
Twilight frowned slightly. “No griping mister. This is a hospital. Promise me you'll behave.”
Spike sighed. “Fine, I'll stay close.
* * * * *
An hour later, Maxillus's head was pounding. As the table withdrew from the scanning aperture of the now thankfully silent machine he rolled off the ergonomic padding and hit the ground with wobbly, shaking legs. The lights of the scanning room hit his eyes and he winced.
“I don't understand, the image is nowhere near what it should be.” Dr. Scalpel was saying as Maxillus tottered towards the voices.
“Well it's new technology, it probably doesn't have all the bugs worked out yet.” Shining said.
“If there was something wrong with the equipment, captain, the image we got back would've been garbled, distorted in some way. But this?” the doctor was saying as Maxillus stepped into the room. “This is just... oh! Ambassador, I'm terribly sorry, I should've gone to fetch you as soon as the scan was done.”
“I think I need some more aspirin...” Maxillus said, then stumbled heavily on his forelegs, nearly falling onto his face before he was caught in Twilight sparkle's magic.
“Oh my goodness! Ambassador! I didn't think it'd gotten that bad, here, let me help. I actually do know a few headache remedy spells.”
“That bad...? Is something wrong?” The doctor asked as twilight cast a spell that caused a glow to settle around maxillus's forehead for a moment.
“The ambassador woke this morning with a headache. He took some aspirin before we left his quarters in the castle.” Twilight said. “Is that any better?”
“A little...” Maxillus admitted, blinking.
“Hmmm...” The doctor rubbed his chin with the back of a foreleg. “I think we should move this discussion to one of the general exam rooms anyway.” The doctor said, turning around and going over to one of the machines, and removed a small glowing crystal, which was apparently projecting an image of Maxillus, in three dimensions, showing every internal organ in his body -a rather disconcerting image, to be sure- and popped it out of it's socket, whereupon the glow ceased, and the image vanished. “Please, follow me.”
* * * * *
A few minutes later, with the entire escort squad now taking up positions outside of a small, cookie cutter exam room, and Maxillus now siting up on a basic exam table, Dr. Scalpel began looking him over in a more common fashion. At the moment, he was shining a little light into maxillus's eyes, which was getting him a distinctly changeling hissing reaction. “Gah! That hurts!”
“Sensitivity to light, is that normal?” The doctor added.
“No! I've got a migraine you....” Maxillus snapped, then ground to a halt as Shining suddenly snapped into a broader stance, his horn lighting up. Maxillus froze.
“Shining, what are you doing?” Twi said, her voice cold.
“Uh...” Shining faltered.
“Put the combat spell away Shining. We're in a hospital.” Twilight almost growled.
Shining looked away, his aura winking out as he allowed what he'd summoned to disperse harmlessly.
The doctor blinked, looking between the captain and his sister. Then shook his head. “I, ah... I apologize for that, Ambassador... perhaps it's better if you just tell me the symptoms.”
Maxillus had been staring at Shining Armor wide eyed and rigid. The doctor's prompt seemed to snap him back to reality, and he unfroze and shook himself slightly. “Uhh... well, I've had this low grade headache for a couple days now... I'm shaky on my hooves, and, yes, bright lights are getting difficult to handle.”
“Any nausea? Loss of appetite?” Dr. Scalpel asked.
“No... infact, I’ve been pretty hungry.”
Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Uh, when you say hungry-”
“He eats normal food like anypony else, doctor... or gryphon for that matter. They're Omnivores.” Twilight explained.
“Oh?” Dr. Scalpel said, raising an eyeridge. “Then the 'eating love' bit?”
“It's how we charge our magic, not how we feed our bodies. There's a difference.”
“Quite a large one, I'd say.” the doctor admitted. “Out of curiosity, how many other rumors of your species are wrong?”
“I don't know, I haven't heard a lot of what ponies are saying about us, to be honest.” Maxillus admitted, then winced at a throb in his temple. “Ugh, but can we please save that for AFTER my diagnosis?”
Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Oh, yes, well... your symptoms mirror something seen occasionally in unicorns. Typically it's not anything threatening, in and of itself. It's called 'caster's fatigue'.”
“Caster's fatigue?” Twilight asked.
“Didn't you used to get that while you were at the school for gifted unicorns Twilight?” Spike asked.
“For a while, when princess Celestia started teaching me the advanced spells.”
“Pardon?” Maxillus asked.
“Caster's fatigue happens when a unicorn casts too many spells in a short time. They drain their mana reserves and their bodies start to show negative physiological symptoms until they recharge-oh!” Twilight exclaimed, a hoof going to her mouth as she suddenly realized what she was saying.
“Wait, you mean he's got a headache because he's got no magic?” Shining asked, tilting his head.
“Well, he's been here for days without absorbing love energy. Ambassador, how long can changelings hold onto a mana charge after absorbing love?”
“Depends entirely on how much love is gathered, and how much of it we're forced to use. But there is a constant slow drain. Our bodies do use the energy for certain things automatically.”
“Hey!” Shining snapped. “I thought you said you didn’t need love to survive!”
Maxillus gave Shining a cool look. “You were asking about food and basic nutrition, and I answered. But look at you, apparently the same thing happens to unicorns when they're drained. You just happen to have the good fortune to regenerate your mana reserves naturally. We don't.”
The doctor hummed, rubbing his chin with the back of a hoof in thought. “Well, if you were a unicorn, I'd tell you to go home, take some aspirin, get a good meal in your stomach, and go to bed early, and that you watch the spellcasting for a few days. That's typically all it takes. But in your case... I suppose you need a proper recharge.”
“Oh that's IT!” Shining snapped. “We are not handing him a pony just so he can suck the love out of them!”
Both other ponies, the changeling, and the young dragon in the room gaped at Shining's outburst.
“Now I didn't mean-” Dr. Scalpel started to say.
“Shining, dude, calm down-” Spike said, holding his paws up.
“I'm sure there's some other way-” Twilight stammered.
But when Maxillus started to speak it was with such vehemence that he silenced the other three. “As if I'd WANT to forcibly take a pony's love! Ugh!”
All four other creatures in the room froze, and turned to look at him.”
“Uh... Ambassador?” Twilight ventured.
“Yes?” Maxillus replied.
“You can forcibly take love from a creature?”
Maxillus sighed. “Technically, yes. But it's expressly forbidden to do so except under very explicit emergency conditions.”
“Why?” Twilight asked.
“First, you get a fraction of the energy you'd get from simply letting a target passively give you the love as you mask yourself as their loved one. Second, the process can make a target emotionally numb for up to several months. Third...” he trailed off for a moment, looking down at his knees and shuddered.
“What?” Twilight asked. Everyone in the room waiting with baited breath for the last reason.
“The sensation of ripping the love energy from another creature is... intoxicating. It's a sudden rush of power, and the temptation to pull out everything contained within can be hard to deny once you've started... and if that happens... if all the love is torn from a victim... the victim is converted.”
Shining felt his blood run cold. A memory of Crysalis-as-Cadence's horn glowing green before she cast a spell at him flashing before his eyes, dredged up from the dark recesses of his mind where it had been suppressed.
“C-converted?” Spike asked, voice shaking as much as his knees.
“Transformed into a changeling drone.” Maxillus said, looking down at his knees. “With none of their own love remaining to protect them, our magic residue transforms the victim.” Maxillus said.
Shining Armor stood rigidly, staring at Maxillus with a slackjawed, horrified expression for a full ten seconds.
“WHAT!?” He then shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the changeling to wince. He then lunged forward, slamming his forehooves down on the exam bed as he nearly locked horns with the changeling. “Who? When? I want names!”
“Shining!” Twilight yelped in alarm, Reaching out with her magic and pulling her brother off the ambassador.
Maxillus blinked and flinched back in alarm, then his features twisted into a glare. “Apparently I didn’t make myself clear enough. I've never, ever 'converted' any pony, or any other thinking, feeling creature, in my life. Infact, no changeling, in my hive, in my lifetime or several generations back has either, and I'll tell you why. Converting ponies leaves you with the problem of another changeling to worry about in the hive who was never there before, one who doesn't know how to get on by itself. They become a burden. And you sure as Tartarus can't leave them where you found them. It'd expose us. And even if you do take them in, there's a missing pony report, a search you have to avoid, and then there's the mental and emotional trauma the new changeling has to deal with.” Maxillus snorted angrily. “So no. I have not and WILL not forcibly take what I need from a pony, or anything else. I will not risk dooming them to my own kinds cursed existence!”
Everyone in the exam room was silent for a span of heartbeats, Shining staring at the Changeling, Twilight still holding her brother in her magic aura, and Dr. Scalpel looking back and forth between them. Finally, Spike broke the silence.
“Whoah, heavy.”
“Yes... that's...” Twilight started, searching for what she wanted to say.
“I've had enough.” Shining practically growled.
“Shiny...?” Twilight said, looking over at her brother, her magic grip on him dissipating.
“I've had enough of waiting. I want to know every sick, twisted 'power' you changelings have, and how I can protect my ponies from your kind right now. And don't think you can weasel you way out of it either. We're not leaving this room until I'm satisfied you've told me everything.”
Maxillus snorted. “How convenient then, that I just went through that scan. It should help. Doctor?”
Dr. Scalpel blinked. “Ah, right... now, there was... some concern over the image quality...” he said, taking out the crystal and putting it in a machine that was attached to a ornate device that looked like a projector without tape reels. The instant the stone clicked into place, a miniature three dimensional image of Maxillus' body appeared about a foot in front of the projector'. It was however transparent, and rather faint... and blurred somewhat. All in all it was rather ghostly looking. “Now, the ability to visualize the body's internal structures is intended, but even so, it's normally it's a lot more opaque than this. However, now that we've discussed it, I think it has something to do with you not having a proper magic charge. The scan relies on the natural magic found in most ponies bodies to take the image and readings. If you're low on power, then, well... apparently you get this faded, fuzzy image.”
“You're probably right about the fading... but as for the fuzziness, that's probably got more to do with what we changelings are.”
Twilight, who had been looking at the projected scan image, turned to face the ambassador again. “Explain.”
Maxillus returned her look. “What are Unicorn illusions like, Miss Twilight?”
“Light and sound, constructed by magic to make something that isn't there appear to be there.” Twilight replied instantly.
“And what happens when you touch a unicorn illusion?”
“Nothing, you just go right through it.” Shining answered before she could.
Maxillus nodded. “Now... what happens when you touch a changeling illusion?”
Shining's eyes widened. “Oh my stars... you can feel them! Chrysalis felt exactly like Cadence, right down to the fur when she touched me after the rehearsal!”
Maxillus nodded. “Our 'illusion' is a form of transformation, enabled because our very bodies are more malleable to magical energies than any other species in the world. We literally reshape our flesh and bones into any form we need it to be.”
“How?” Twilight asked, fascinated.
“I'm no theorist, myself. But I've been told, in layman's terms, that a small charge of energy rearranges our beings, and can hold us there almost indefinitely. But release the charge, and we snap back into our original forms.”
Twilight's eyes widened. “A thaumic instability, it has to be! No wonder the image is all fuzzy!”
“Twilight!” Shining snapped.
Everyone whipped their heads around to look at him.
“Don't get sidetracked, I need to know what else they can do.”
“Uh... question...” Spike said, raising his claw.
Maxillus sighed. “Go ahead.”
“Is that the only way changelings turn other creatures into changelings?” Spike asked.
“No. There's one other way.”
“And that is...?” Shining prompted, a dangerous edge to his voice.
“Cocooning.”
Twilight blinked. “Wait, you mean like the cocoon princess Celestia was in?”
“Suspended from a ceiling, made of smooth, semi-opaque green hardened gel, filled with a viscous fluid?” Maxillus asked.
“That's... about right, yeah...” Twilight said.
“That fluid is changeling royal jelly, and it takes a good bit of magic for us to produce it. When a creature of another species is submerged in it, they fall into a coma and the magic in the jelly sustains their bodies. They no longer need to eat, drink, breathe, or answer calls of nature. They essentially go into stasis. At least, that's what happens for the first four months.”
“And after four months?” Twilight asked.
“They begin a six month metamorphosis into a noble caste changeling. A queen or a prince, depending on the gender of the creature you put into the cocoon. Releasing early can have... complications, especially the further you go on into the transformation.”
“Why the delay? Why doesn't it start transforming the subject immediately?”
Maxillus shook his head. “I honestly couldn't answer you there, Twilight, I'm just glad it doesn't.”
“Why's that?” Dr. Scalpel asked, breaking back into the conversation.
“Because that's our primary, ethical method of keeping the replaced target out of the way while we gather love energy. Our harvest agents couldn't work without it.”
“But... Cadance wasn't in a cocoon, Crysalis just locked her in the crystal caverns.” Twilight said.
“You just told me Celestia was in a cocoon, right?” Maxillus prompted her.
“Yes...” Twilight said.
“I'm not surprised then. It takes a good deal of magic to make royal jelly. Chrysalis probably didn’t want to waste any power she didn't need to. And if she was going to put Celestia in storage...”
“She didn't want to have to do it to Cadence too. That makes sense.”
“It makes SENSE that she stuck my fiance in a cave to starve to death!?” Shining snapped.
Twilight glared at her brother. “Shining, I'm every bit as angry as you are at what Crysalis did to Cadance, but can we please focus and try to learn something here?”
Shining was taken aback at his sister's tone, but she struck a chord, and he subsided.
Dr. Scalpel had been half listening to the explanations, and half examining the ambassador's T.R.I. Scan, attempting to clear up the image. He'd succeeded, he thought, and cleared his throat to gain the others attention. “Ah, ambassador...?”
“Yes Doctor?”
“I notice much of your internal anatomy follows basic pony anatomy, but these...” he said, his horn lighting up and manipulating the image to focus on the head, neck, and upper barrel, then highlighting a set of pouches in the thorax that fed tubes that led up to the mouth. “these don't correspond to anything on pony anatomy... and then there's these:” he highlighted a pair of smaller sacks in the upper cheeks, apparently backed by muscle, that fed into tubes that lead straight into Maxillus's oversized canine teeth. “I've never seen anything like it, it's almost like they're-”
“Venom glands, doctor, you're thinking of venom glands.” Maxillus said.
“Venom!?” Shining snapped.
“It's a harmless Paralytic. Does nothing more than make a pony fall into a deep sleep that they won't wake out of for a few hours, and disrupts the conversion of short term to long term memory, effectively blanking out the previous hour. It's how we catch the 'replacement' target in a couple.”
Dr. Scalpel looked at Maxillus with wide eyes. “C... could you repeat that?”
Maxillus sighed. “Our venom is a paralytic, shutting down conscious motor function for several hours without overly suppressing the autonomic body functions.”
“So it's... like an anesthetic?” Dr. Scalpel asked.
Maxillus blinked, then nodded. “Yes...”
“And do you know how much of a dose do you usually use on a pony?” Dr. Scalpel asked attentively.
“Doctor?” Shining said, looking confused.
“Well... since our agents don't actually bite their targets anymore to dose them with venom, I can tell you one of the darts they use typically holds about two cc's or less than half a teaspoon for the average adult pony, male or female.”
“And how long does it last?” Dr. Scalpel asked.
“About two hours.” Maxillus replied.
“And they never wake up within that time?”
“Yes... it's a very potent substance.” Maxillus admitted, shifting his legs slightly, confusion growing on his face as much as Shining Armor's.
“And you're sure they don't remember anything that happens just before or while they're dosed on it?”
“Doctor, what're you-” Shining tried to break in.
“Yes, I'm sure. No memories of the event of being dosed are formed, and by the time the drug wears off, they're in the royal jelly sleep, so they never know anything even happened, which is essential for our gatherers. Once the mission is over, they remove the replaced creature from the cocoon, wash them off, then use a bit of magic to simulate a minor head injury -a bruise on the temple usually- and stage an assault which the released subject 'escapes' to go run back to their loved one with a case of 'concussive amnesia'. At least, that's how our operating protocols state it's supposed to work. Some more advanced magic users know how to alter memories, but that's a rare skill. Chrysalis literally broke every rule we have when she attacked you.”
“You have rules for this?” Shining said incredulously.
Maxillus nodded. “We wouldn't have stayed secret for two and a half thousand years if we didn't have official guidelines, Captain...” Maxillus broke off, a faint chuckling was coming from the doctor.
“Dr. Scalpel, are you ok?” Twilight asked.
“Am I okay? Am I OKAY!?” He nearly shouted. “I just listened to the ambassador tell me that his entire species naturally produces what amounts to the perfect surgical anesthetic! Safe, potent, long acting, and it even prevents memories from forming while it's active. Do you have any idea what kind of a nightmare it is when I have a patient wake up in the middle of a procedure while we've got them under our current drug? It's an expensive cocktail of several different herbs that half the time I swear doesn't even work. And sometimes, even when I'm certain they never woke up during a procedure, I hear later that they had dreams disturbingly similar to what was happening in the operating room.” the doctor turned to the by now wide eyed changeling. “Please, Ambassador, I'm begging you, you HAVE to give us some of your venom. If you're right, we need to begin testing immediately. The benefits a compound like that could have for modern medical science is astronomical!”
“You're not serious...” Shining said, disbelief painted across his face.
“Of course I'm serious!” Dr. Scalpel said with a huge smile plastered across his face. “We've been searching for the next breakthrough in anesthetic technology for the past fifty years, and it practically just fell out of the sky and landed at my hooves! I am NOT going to turn this down!”
Maxillus chuckled at that. “In that case... do you have a clean glass jar?”
“I've got some sterile sample containers.” he said, whipping one out of a cupboard and levitating it over to the changeling.
Maxillus opened his mouth, bared his fangs to the fullest, and lipped them over the edge of the container, then flexed his facial muscles. A transparent yellow-green fluid poured down the side of the container to pool in the bottom. Shining could actually watch the muscles in the changeling's cheek, just under the thin facial carapace, flex before a spurt of venom emerged from the tips of his fangs. At least the first few were spurts, then they turned to individual drops, before they ceased altogether.
“About twelve cc's. That should be plenty for a proper chemical analysis. Thank you ambassador.”
“You're welcome.” Maxillus said simply.
“What about those other organs though?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, those produce the royal jelly, and our cocoon material.”
“Just out of curiosity, how does the cocoon get so strong?” Twilight asked. “Most of the guards that were in the battle that day were stuck to the ground by it and they couldn't move, and they've got pretty intensive strength training regimens.”
Maxillus looked at the unicorn surgeon. “Doctor, can I get one of those tongue depressors?”
“What?” Dr. Scalpel said, looking up from where he was sealing the container of venom. “Oh, of course. Here you go.” his horn lit up and one of the small strips of wood levitated over to the ambassador.
Maxillus took the thing in the crook of his foreleg,, then after studying it for a moment, made a motion like he was spitting, and suddenly a long, thin, slimy looking strand of green goo stretched from his mouth to the tongue depressor. The ponies and dragon in the room flinched at this, but stared in disgusted fascination as Maxillus continued to produce a long, two millimeter thick strand of gooey gel which he slowly wound around the tongue depressor by turning it with his other hoof carefully. After about a minute, he had a mass of gel the size of a golfball that looked like it was made out of green slimy string.
Finally, he clamped his mouth shut, cutting off the strand, and he finished wrapping that up into the ball. He handed the stick to Spike, who cringed even as he accepted the stick, keeping his claw well away from the ball of green goo.
“Let that dry overnight, without touching anything else, then boil it for about five hours, skimming the gel off the top and you'll end up with a ball of changeling silk strands.”
“Silk?” Everyone else in the room said, almost in unison.
“Yeah. The fibers are in the gel to add strength. When you extract it from the gel it can be refined into thread, and then cloth.”
Maxillus then turned to Shining armor. “Transformations, forced power drain, royal jelly, venom, and sturdy cocoon building material. Besides that and a few physical differences on the surface, that's all there is to know about us, Captain. Are you satisfied?”
Shining armor glared at him for a second, before he looked over at the surgeon. “Is there anything else 'unusual' about the scan that catches your eye, doctor?
“Well... besides what I've already pointed out, there are a few things. Firstly, it is a bit odd that the ambassador's mane and tail showed up as clearly as they did on the scan... it usually doesn't pick up dead protein very easily.”
“That's because my mane isn't made of hair.” Maxillus said.
“It's not?” Twilight asked.
“No, it's a cluster of fleshy ribbons. Like the fins on a fighting fish, only much thinner and longer. They can sometimes merge into a shape, but other times split into individual strands or bunches. They act like hair, they aren't, exactly...” he chuckled. “Why else do you think I have 'holes' in my mane? It's not like I can go and get a manecut. Taking scissors to this stuff hurts like Tartarus.”
Twilight nodded. “I suppose not... Is there any way you can control how it looks?”
“Not really. Genetics determine how it ends up looking. For instance, one queen I know has an extremely short 'mane'. It's basically just a bunch of little pink spiky tufts on top of her head.”
Twilight giggled. “Oh dear, that sounds like something that'd make Rarity faint.”
“Rarity?” Maxillus asked.
“She's a friend of mine.” Twilight said.
Shining snorted. “Was there anything else doctor?” he asked, loudly.
Dr. Scalpel looked over at him. “Huh? Oh! Yes, well... there are these glands ringing the inside of these very curious 'holes' in the ambassador's limbs, but they're very small...”
“That's because princes don't use those much. And drones only have vestigial ones.” Maxillus said.
“What are they?” Twilight asked, examining the image.
“Pheromone glands.”
“Pheromones? For what?” Dr. Scalpel asked.
“Fertility.”
“Fertility?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, so we can have offspring.”
“That's what fertility means?” Spike asked.
“When relating to animals, yes Spike.” Twilight said quickly.
“Wait, children? Doesn't the queen just, you know, pop out a bunch of eggs?” Shining said.
“Excuse me?” Maxillus said, one eyeridge raised.
“You know, big eggsack, loads of eggs, something like that.”
Maxillus's eyes went wide. “What in the... UGH!” he made a retching sound... several infact. “Where... where in Tartarus did you get an idea like THAT from!?”
“So you guys don't reproduce like termites?”
“NO! Gods no! UGH! That's disgusting!” Maxillus exclaimed, then put his hoof to his mouth as his cheeks puffed up, then forced whatever it was back down. “Ugh.... now I feel even worse...”
Twilight turned to glare at her brother, but stopped before she could say anything. For once, Shining looked mollified, or even a little embarrassed that he'd done that.
“For the record, Ambassador, could you explain how these glands work?” she asked a minute later, after Maxillus had composed himself.
Maxillus was taking careful, even breaths to contain his budding nausea. “A mature female noble caste changeling, a queen, produces a cloud of pheromones. They are long lasting, and spread far in a contained system. The pheromones affect both male and female drone changelings, unlocking their fertility, and allowing them to breed.”
“And without these pheromones?” Dr. Scalpel asked.
“Without the pheromones, we're sterile. And like the royal jelly, a queen cannot produce the pheromone aura without an adequate supply of mana, which as you know, we can't get without going out and absorbing love.” Maxillus sighed. “So there you have it. If we don't go out and get love energy, and give it to our queen, we can't have children. We can't have children, a hive can die out in the span of a generation.”
“That's... wow, that's...” Dr. Scalpel said, trying to process it.
“What about the rest of the noble caste?” Twilight asked.
“What about it?” Maxillus replied.
Twilight rubbed her chin with the back of a hoof in thought. “Well... you're a prince. Does that mean you're supposed to be a queen's mate?”
“A prince mating with a queen has only a marginally higher chance of producing a noble nymph than a queen mating with a male drone. And princes themselves sometimes are born randomly from pairings of two drone parents, so our role is negligible. Infact, if not for a slightly greater aptitude for transformation and greater physical strength, princes wouldn't be any more valuable to a hive than a regular drone male.” he shook his head. “No. The driving force behind every queen is to produce a proper heir, a female noble nymph. The best way to do that is for her to load up on as much magical energy as possible, which greatly increases the change the offspring will be a 'princess'.”
“Ambassador...” Twilight said, looking very thoughtful. “It sounds like there's a whole array of factors going against your species when it comes to reproduction, especially if everything hinges on those rare queen foals... What happens if a queen never has any princesses?”
“I think we already know.” Shining said, his voice almost a growl.
“We do?” Spike said.
“You heard him. Leave a pony in a cocoon long enough and they turn into a queen!” Shining snapped.
“Now, shining...” Twilight started.
“The captain has the right of it, Miss Sparkle.” Maxillus cut her off. “At least, if there are no excess princesses from other hives to fill the role, and no room in the other hives to take in the drones of the queen-less hive.”
“Well.. it sounds like you have quite a few safety nets to prevent all that from being necessary.” Twilight said.
“When was the last time changelings manufactured a queen like that?” Shining said.
“Thirty years ago.” Maxillus answered, instantly, before Twilight could object to the aggressive question.
“Only thirty?” Twilight said.
“Yes.”
“What's this queen's name? What's she like?” Twilight asked.
Maxillus started laughing.
“What? What'd I say?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, you already met her, Miss Sparkle. A few months ago at your brother's wedding.”
Shining's jaw went slack.
Maxillus nodded. “Queen Crysalis was once a pony.”