//------------------------------//
// 3 - Knowledge is Useful 
// Story: Hive Alive 
// by BlackWater 
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Chrysalis had suggested going over to Fluttershy's for a reason even if she would not outright tell her Queen. It was for the best, since it was all for Twilight's ultimate advantage. But then maybe she was lying to herself. Sure, she wanted Twilight to have everything she could ever want but perhaps it was more than that. Changelings were not, after all, exactly like ponies in how they thought and acted.
“That was not exactly what I was thinking but I suppose we could,” the purple alicorn said to her carapace-covered companion. 
They had just walked out of Fluttershy's cottage, as Chrysalis had told the pegasus everything she needed to know about the sleeping ring and got her to promise that she would use it when night came around. There was honestly not much to tell when it came to sleeping in a ring. The changeling basically just told her not to cover the ring light with blankets or pillows if the unlikely event occurred in which she found need of them.
Now, Chrysalis had just suggested that they head over to Pinkie Pie's place. Twilight had actually thought to visit Applejack next but didn't have any reason to make her visits in alternate order. The whole while she also had to put her two guards to the back of her mind because they were not an issue for the now. As ordered, they had followed her at a respectful distance when she took the walk with Fluttershy and, of course, they were following her now. The orders they did not follow, however, were those similar to “stop following me” and “what are your names.” The alicorn would have to deal with them at another time.
Even if it meant walking a little bit more, Twilight had learned that taking extra time could be beneficial to building one's patience. And by Celestia's crown, Twilight needed patience when it came to Pinkie Pie. That pony had more energy in her than the sun itself.
“Excellent! I'm sure she will love the ring as well,” Chrysalis said aloud as they walked the path that would eventually take them to Sugar Cube Corner.
“The ring?” Twilight questioned with a challenging tone, glared at her companion, and stopped dead in her tracks.
The changeling noticed immediately that there was an issue and turned to face the alicorn on the road. She kept her smile and happy tone, intent on not losing her cool. “Don't you think she would get better sleep with it? I'm sure her current means of nightly rest couldn't hold a candle-”
“Sleep better?” the purple pony interrupted. “You want Pinkie to have more energy every day?” Twilight shook her head to clear it of the images of a Pinkie Pie nuclear disaster. “Why would you make a ring for Pinkie?”
The pseudo-pony tried to keep calm. “So she could sleep-”
“No!” Twilight bit back more harshly than she intended to. “You gave me the ring as a present and now you've made one for Fluttershy. You didn't tell me why you wanted to go to Fluttershy's, but I think it's pretty obvious that you planned to make a ring all along.”
Chrysalis cursed herself for going one step too far. She should have taken things slower. Twilight was smart and perhaps the most intelligent pony in all of Equestria. Of course she would catch on. “I'm just trying to be friendly,” the changeling tried one last time, futilely.
“No,” the princess countered, this time lowering her voice to normal and calming herself down. Barking at somepony was not going to get her anywhere and she knew it. “I trust you, Chrysalis. But I can't have you building changeling stuff everywhere. At the very least, I need to understand why you are doing this. We're going back to the library where we can sit down and have a talk.”
Chrysalis felt like a filly that just had her hoof caught in the cookie jar. She was confident she could smooth things over but the plan would be next to impossible to pull off if she didn't get to the guards before nighttime. She had to deal with them quickly or else the princess sisters might find out.
“But you were going to visit your friends,” the changeling tried to salvage the situation even as the purple pony turned and headed down another path towards the place they both called home.
“My friends live here. They'll still be here tomorrow if I can't see them today. Now come,” Twilight ordered firmly.
“I'm sorry,” Chrysalis hung her head as she followed her leader.
Twilight didn't look back. “I'm not looking for an apology. I just want answers.”









Princess Twilight Sparkle laid down into her own sleeping ring that was still as comfortable as it had been last night. Spike had been surprised to see them back so early but didn't complain. He was too busy with an organization project that Twilight had given him. Chrysalis was still hanging her head down in defeat but she followed the princess' order to make all of the windows transparent. The room needed light, after all.
“Now come over here,” the pony ordered as she looked more carefully at the ring around her. Suspicion was etched on her face. Once the changeling stepped down into the shallow depression and laid down next to Twilight, the purple mare looked straight into her eyes and continued. “I'll admit that I was a little uncertain at first when you made the offer to Fluttershy. But I now know for a fact that this is really serious. I felt something when I was coming back to the cottage with Fluttershy.”
Chrysalis winced.
“Ah, I thought so,” the princess confirmed her theory. “You used magic. But you used more than it probably takes to make these rings. And you had to sneak some magic out of me to do it. I may not know too much yet about how changelings interact with a pony's emotions,” Twilight admitted, “but I suspect it might not be a stretch to siphon bodily energy or even magic. So why did you do it?”
The changeling didn't respond at first as she tried to come up with something to mask what she had done. She had been careless, as she had used up too much of her energy to rush the job and should have known that the alicorn would feel a leech of her own magic. 
Twilight took the silence as intentional and continued. “Well, I can tell there's another problem so let's take care of that first. I've done the best I can to try to monitor your health but I have to admit that changeling physiology is frustratingly elusive. If I'm not mistaken, which I may be, you've exhausted yourself and you're really hungry right now.”
It was true. Perhaps her hunger was starting to interfere with her ability to come up with an excuse – even interfere with her ability to make good judgments. Perhaps that was why things had suddenly gone downhill. “I need food,” Chrysalis finally looked up to the purple pony and relented. 
Twilight didn't know how Chrysalis had been getting by since she had picked her up and brought her in. It saddened her to think that the changeling might not trust her enough to tell her things about the basic needs of her species. So all she could think of to do was what she had done that night that they had looked up at the stars. She scooted up against Chrysalis and stretched a wing and hoof around her, feeling the faint warmth of the carapace. “I'm sorry but I don't know how to get you what you need. Really,” the mare confessed honestly. “I've been trying to figure things out but it seems like every step forward is three steps back. So if there's something you need me to do then just tell me. I'm not your enemy. I'm your friend and I'm here for you, Chrysalis.”
The large changeling stretched her wings reflexively and sighed in relaxation. “You've become a real Queen, Twilight. Giving orders, making decisions, caring for your underlings.”
“And still wanting those answers,” Twilight added as she leaned her head against the other's neck. Unlike Fluttershy, Chrysalis' mane had a scent that she wasn't sure of. It was something like morning dew and...honey?
“You don't have to order me. I'll just tell you,” the changeling finally said in confidence, having formulated her response. Twilight's gentle embrace was working, as she could feel a soothing flow of energy enter her. But she was starting to get warm in the face and didn't realize that the flow was turning her secrets and half-lies into honesty. She started speaking things that were too close to the truth. “This ring is special. Different from Fluttershy's,” Chrysalis explained as she turned against the princess so she could wrap a fore hoof across the other's shoulder. She needed more contact for her move to work.
“It sure looks different. It's quite a bit larger,” Twilight commented lazily as she too turned on the floor of the ring in an attempt to get more comfortable.
“This is the Queen's ring. Somewhat like your princess-sized double beds,” Chrysalis practically cooed as she rolled onto her side and dragged Twilight into a full hug, working an old changeling trick. “I activated the connection feature on Fluttershy's ring so that you can communicate with her. On something of a sub-conscience level. At least, that's the closest I think I can get to an explanation that you would...”
The purple princess was starting to feel sleepy in spite of the fact that it was not yet noon. Her eyelids started to droop and she struggled to comprehend Chrysalis' words. Did she say something about Fluttershy?
The changeling joyfully but gently squeezed the princess in her hooves. Laying her head down into the deep blue and purple-accented mane, she breathed in and sighed as she spoke calmly to the princess she knew was now asleep. “Such an interesting Queen. Giving me so much without even knowing what it is you're giving.”
Chrysalis was no longer hungry. She felt full but was intrigued by the odd sentiment that she had just fed upon. It wasn't like the leeched love that she had siphoned out of Shining Armor. But if she had to guess, it couldn't be true love. She had vague understandings of friendship and kinship as it might pertain to edible forms but none of these or any of the others quite fit the sensation that she had experienced from Twilight. It was as if the mare expressed an altogether new kind of emotion towards her.
Well, thought the changeling, it works. She wasn't about to complain even if she didn't understand it quite yet. On the other hoof, the warmth and softness of the Queen's sleeping ring and the pony's coat were proving hard to detach from. Chrysalis had to move fast but she felt pained to leave the comfort that she was currently invested in.
Finally convincing herself to leave by promising to spend triple time in the ring later, Chrysalis gently released Twilight from her embrace and moved to the chamber door. The princess would be asleep for a few hours since she had been drained directly rather than passively, as Chrysalis usually did.
A few hours would be enough to handle the guards. Pinkie Pie would be easy but Chrysalis needed permission first or else the whole thing would blow up in her face. Arriving downstairs, Spike asked what was going on and she gave a casual response and wave that successfully fooled the dragon. He was easy to handle if one didn't act suspicious. The guards outside were wary of her but didn't make a fuss when she told them that she was just running an errand for the princess.
She was out of the library and making her way out of town hastily. Keeping as much out of sight as possible to prevent startling the townsfolk, she got to the distance she needed and started to hover above the ground. Her wings buzzed rhythmically as she skirted around the town's edge and made her approach to the inconspicuous guard house. Dropping back to the ground, she snuck up as best she could to one of the windows and heard voices. 
“Come on. You have any idea what Princess Celestia would do if she found out?” one guard pony said.
“Princess Celestia is not in charge of us anymore and, besides, I can't help it. It's not like we're devoid of emotion, you know. I can't just throw away my feelings,” replied the other.
“Yes, you can,” countered the first. “Out of all of the bad crushes in the world, this is the worst. You need to get over it before you get us both in trouble.”
“And how would I get you into trouble?” the second one argued.
Chrysalis counted herself in luck that the two were obviously distracted with their conversation. It gave her the opportunity that she needed. Cautiously using the new energy that she obtained from Twilight, she gathered some nearby detritus, started the material transformation, and made her way around the cottage to another window. This time it was the window for the bedroom that held the guard bunks. She opened the window from the inside with magic and levitated the clod inside, giving a lop-sided expression to the ease with which she had just gained access to the quarters. It didn't speak well of the guards' sense of security. In any case, this had to be done extremely quick without them noticing and the window was too small for the changeling to get in, so she would have to make do merely by sticking her head through the opening and using a series of magically-created mirrors to give her any of the impossible visual angles.
On one hoof, it had been too easy for her to gain access. On the other hoof, what she was doing was quite unusual and took a great amount of magical strength. Hopefully, Twilight wouldn't feel another magical tap since she was currently asleep via changeling sedation. Still, Chrysalis couldn't be too cautious and so would go straight back to the treehouse after her work was done.
With the green glow of her magic dying, the large changeling finished what she needed to do and removed herself from the window. The guards would never know what she had done until the matter was out of their hooves and into Twilight's. It would work. It had to.
Too much relief at having finished made Chrysalis careless. As she took a step back from the window, her hoof crunched a twig and some dry leaves. The resulting crackle was loud to the point that she wondered if the detritus personally had it out for her on account of their lost brethren. The voices from inside the cottage suddenly stopped and were replaced a second later by the sound of hooves. 
The changeling cursed herself under her breath and leaped into the air, her wings buzzing her out of sight as quickly as they could. Since the cottage had been on the edge of Ponyville, Chrysalis managed to get a sufficient amount of trees between her and the guards before they exited the building and got around to the back. They hadn't hurried since they probably thought it was nothing but a squirrel or a badger but she could only hope they didn't hear the buzz of flight as she fled. Pegasi didn't exactly make that kind of sound and she could only hope to write it off as wild bees or hornets if it ever became an issue.
As she circled around to safely enter Ponyville once more, she decided on buying something in town as an additional cover-up.









“Chrysalis!” Twilight Sparkle shouted angrily as she stomped her left forehoof. “I should have left you to die when I had the chance!”
The changeling was laying on the ground, starved and seemingly injured. They were just outside of the library.
“You're evil!” she shouted to the black thing.
The townsfolk were gathering around, repeating the words. “You're evil!”
Suddenly, one of them charged at the helpless changeling...
Twilight sprung up from the position she had taken on the sleeping ring. She had been having a nightmare with a cold sweat thrown in for terrible measure. Only, she remembered the nightmare unlike so many nicer dreams that she had forgotten throughout her life. So much for good luck.
She looked down to see a pair of shaking hooves. Her hooves. They were shaking now in fright but they had been shaking in anger when she was in the dream world. More specifically, they had been shaking in anger against the one that she had come to know as a close friend in recent months. Chrysalis...
Was that what is was like to feel no compassion towards another? To be angry all the time...even hateful? Was that the end result when one didn't want another to be saved? Death?
“What if I had been mislead by hate or greed?” The alicorn thought aloud, painfully. “And nopony wanted me to be redeemed? Would I...”
“Die?” buzzed a familiar voice.
Twilight spun around to face the entrance to her new changeling bedroom. She suddenly remembered that she had fallen asleep aside Chrysalis, who was strangely now on the other side of the room. 
The changeling began walking towards the one she now called Queen Twilight. “I think that is why we feel so strongly about the concept of salvation. It is the continuation – even creation – of life where there would have been only death. You ponies are not the only ones to have salvation as a theme in your literature.”
Chrysalis smiled warmly as she settled into the ring, trying to put the shaky mare at ease, who asked a question out of renewed curiosity. “You've been reading pony literature?”
The changeling rolled her eyes as she put a forehoof on Twilight's back and started rubbing the mare's wings, still trying to cease the alicorn's shaking. “We live in a library. How could I not?”
“So changelings have...literature?” the princess inquired again as the last of her shaking stopped.
Chrysalis frowned. “No offense, my Queen, but sometimes I have to work really hard not to be offended by you ponies. It's as if you assume every other race is a swarm of drooling savages.”
Twilight blushed, realizing how simple she sometimes thought the black shape-shifters were.
Resuming her smile, Chrysalis spoke again. “Yes, we have literature. My favorite has always been As a Star. It's a classic about a changeling princess named Novo who changed herself to appear as a star in the night sky.”
The purple alicorn tilted her head in curiosity and asked her companion to continue when she did not. Such interest warmed Chrysalis' heart. It was nice that somepony was interested in a changeling story for once.
“But she became consumed by her own beauty and began to hate all who lived below her on the ground. She used her magic to do terrible things to the changelings below, convinced it was her duty to carry out terrible judgments against them. But every time she did something bad to them, she only hated them more. It continued until she was prepared to end the life of all changelings. That's when The Hive Spinner, an all powerful-being that began the first hives, came down from the stars and stopped her. The Hive Spinner showed that Novo was only a changeling and not a star of the upper reaches. And so Novo was given two options by The Hive Spinner. She could sacrifice her life to pay for her injustices or she could sacrifice her magic and, by physical strength alone, mend and recreate everything she had broken and destroyed.”
Twilight's eye sparkled, begging to hear the end. It had been far too long since Chrysalis had seen that look from the younger changelings.
“Novo chose to live but, as such, she lost her horn, her magic, and her place as a princess. She had to spend the rest of her life in toil to rebuild homes and even bear a new life for every one she had snuffed out. She died before she could replace everything she had taken, since it was really an impossible feat to begin with. But she died with a smile upon her face because all of the changelings had gathered around her in those last moments, praising and thanking her for all the good that she had done for them. She had been redeemed, but not by paying for every bad thing. She was redeemed because she turned from her evil ways.”
The shape-shifter felt an ache of regret. She had known the story her whole life so why was it affecting her now?
“I suppose I see now how ironic it is,” Chrysalis realized. “I seem to have mirrored much of the story in my own life,” she giggled sadly. Such a sound was odd to hear from the changeling but Twilight decided that she would rather have liked it if it was not for the sad hue of it. Somehow it made her seem more real, if that made any sense. 
The black being lowered her head to the soft floor of the ring before saying one last thing. “We tell the young ones to look at the night sky and find Novo's star. It reminds us of her and keeps us from being prideful or judgmental against each other. Well,” she admitted, “it's supposed to.”
Twilight didn't speak immediately but rather thought about what Chrysalis had said. “I had no idea. Changelings...” the alicorn trailed off as she noticed her companion had her eyes closed. Touching a hoof to the pseuo-pony's carapace, she could detect that the female was very low on energy. Suspiciously low considering that she should have had more than she did when the two of them had gotten back from Fluttershy's.
“Rest up,” the princess said, returning the rubbing gesture that Chrysalis had given her earlier. With that, Twilight got up and out of the sleeping ring. She had a question for Spike and it was rather important.
It didn't take her long after going downstairs to find the small purple and green dragon. He was reading a book at one of the tables. “Now there's a rare sight,” she kidded. “Spike reading a book.”
The young male rolled his eyes before narrowing them at his “sister” in a deadpan expression. “Very funny. I just thought that I'd get this one over with before you got on my case for the millionth time for not reading it.”
“100+1 Ways to Manage Your Gems,” Twilight grinned as she leaned around and read the cover.
“I'm insulted,” Spike deadpanned again.
“Well,” the alicorn lifted her chin, proud that the dragon was finally going to be improving his knowledge base. “I'm glad you're following my advice. If you apply the lessons in that book then you won't be constantly running out of your weekly gem allowance.”
Twilight then walked over to one of the bookshelves and looked across some titles, missing the gagging gesture that Spike gave her in return. Almost immediately, she found the folk lore section. “Spike?”
“Uh-huh?” he replied as if he expected some kind of jab. He didn't look up from the book he returned to but kept on reading it, using the cover to hide his frown from the purple pony.
“Did Chrysalis come through here earlier? After we got back from Fluttershy's?” Twilight stuck her tongue out in concentration as she got closer to the title she was looking for.	
At that, Spike did look up from the book, this time with a confused expression. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “You didn't know? She said you knew.”
The alicorn's eyes narrowed but not because she had found the book she was looking for. It was because Chrysalis had obviously just done something behind her back. Now what was it? That was the question.
“It's no big deal,” Twilight half-lied so that Spike wouldn't hyperventilate. He could be something of a perfectionist when it came to very specific things (i.e. being her #1 assistant). She had no clue where he got it from.
Using the purple glow of her magic, Twilight pulled Folk Tales for Parenting from the shelf and placed it over on a table for later reading. She would have to keep asking around until she found out what Chrysalis had done while she had been asleep in her room. So, she walked out the front door and addressed the two stallions that were guarding the entrance.
“Did either of you see Chrysalis go in or out recently without me with her?”
Both the stallions stiffened at being addressed directly and looked to each other in what might have been panic before one of them answered. It was the one on the right with the dark blue coat and silver mane. “Y-yes! She said she was running an errand for you,” he replied, obviously questioning if he had somehow failed in his responsibility.
“Errand?” the princess mimicked out loud. She had not given the changeling any kind of errand, so Chrysalis had obviously lied. Which could mean...
“Oh no! Pinkie Pie!” Twilight suddenly widened her eyes in horror. Her shape-shifting friend had insisted on going to Pinkie's place after the visit to Fluttershy. She might have gone there to give the Earth pony a sleeping ring. Celestia knows what the physics-defying pony would do with changeling technology. Twilight could only hope that the floor of the sleep ring couldn't be used as a trampoline. Or that it would not somehow immediately give the pony more energy. That was one of many things that Pinkie Pie and, more importantly, Ponyville did not need.
The alicorn took off into a run, startling both the guards. Their responsibility was running into the distance and they had to follow, but they had never experienced anything like this before with the more predictable royal sisters. So, abandoning their posts in front of the library, they took chase.