The badlands bordering Equestria were harsh environments. Scorching heat during the day and freezing cold at night, these vast expanses of desert were commonly referred to as hell on Earth. And much like hell, the badlands’ inhabitants were not the kind one would like to meet in a dark alleyway. The Changelings, surprisingly enough, were the badlands’ most tame native species and rarely could they be seen outside their huge cavernous homes (‘seen’ being the key word there). Dug deep into the earth, these massive caves were guarded zealously by their Changeling occupants, against both foreigners and other hives. The species lived up to its reputation as ‘big bugs’ very well.
Queen Carapace’s particular hive was on the outskirts of the badlands, concealed under the lake of a rather large oasis. The roof leaked a bit and the tunnels were a little too close to the ground above for an average Changelings’ liking, but the perks greatly outweighed the minor annoyances. Even Changelings needed water to survive and Carapace’s hive took full advantage of that. By selling their water for extra food, the drones of the hive never went a night without a full belly. Was it wrong to capitalize on a scarce, much needed resource and ask for another much needed scarce resource as payment for said resource? Maybe, but it did give Carapace a lot of political clout she would not have had otherwise, so she did not give a damn.
Deep within the tunnel system of the Hive, a lone unicorn pony walked with single-minded purpose. She had a rust colored coat accompanied by a grey mane and sporting cyan irises. A slight frown on her face, the mare turned a corner and walked for another two minutes before coming up to a wooden door that looked rotted. Caring little for manners, the unicorn opened the door and stepped into the bedroom of her charge.
The pony walked up to the sleeping form currently nestled in bluish sheets and nudged her. “Miss Cadence, it is time to awake from your slumber.” Her voice was annoyingly monotone and devoid of any emotions. As for Cadence, the Alicorn paid no heed and continued to sleep. “Please ma’am, if you do not awake immediately I shall be forced to expunge you from your place of rest in a most undesired manner.” Still Cadence did not move.
A passerby Changeling nearly jumped out of its shell when the loud scream crashed through the tunnel. Cadence, the Alicorn of Love, was on the floor rubbing her pink backside and muttering curses towards her servant.
“Chitin! What the heck?! You just tried to stick your horn up my…!”
The pony bowed. “My apologizes, miss, but as of yet it is the only way I have been able to awaken you on time.” The pony stopped bowing and looked at Cadence with her usual emotionless stare. “I am simply doing my assigned task.”
Cadence gave the pony an angry stare down before getting up. “Stop doing that, please, it’s starting to get annoying.” Chitin nodded at the command. “Besides, I demand a proper date before you start sticking your horn in weird places.” The Alicorn chuckled at her vulgar humor. Chitin continued to stare emotionlessly.
Cadence sighed. “Shape Shift would have found that funny…”
“Apologizes, but I am not Shape Shift.” Chitin bowed in a mournful manner.
Cadence gave the disguised Changeling a saddened sigh. She knew all too well how unlike Shape Shift her new servant was. She was just like all the other Changeling drones around with her lack of real individuality and blind obedience to the Hivemind. Even her name was something Cadence had given her. It sounded a lot better than Taskmaster Drone Four-Two-Seven. Cadence wished she did not have a servant in the first place, but Carapace had insisted upon an escort.
The Alicorn of Love stretch her legs a bit before walking over to the light leather armor Luna had given her. Grabbing the first piece off the rack and strapping it on she turned to Chitin. “Alright, so what’s my chore list for today?”
“Mostly nursing duties, as per the usual.” Chitin spoke as she began making Cadence’s bed. “Other than that the Queen would like you to help with lighting a new tunnel the diggers have started.”
Cadence strapped on her armor’s chest piece. “Alright then, let’s go.”
~~~~
Underground Hive Level Seven: Hatchery Four
“And that batch should go with Nursing Drone Two-Three-Eight. After that, the newborn larva over there needs to be moved to Nursing Drone Three-Five-Three for feeding.” Chitin read off the tasks while Cadence raced from duty to duty.
“Maker it never ends…” Cadence blew out with a heavy sigh. She grabbed the basket hold a number of Changeling eggs and rushed it to Two-Three-Eight. Emptying her basket she ran over to a wiggling pack of newborns. Picking each one up individually and placing them in the basket, the Alicorn of Love huffed her way to Three-Five-Three.
Chitin checked the boxes off on the checklist she kept in her mind. Nodding, she spoke. “Excellent, we are ahead of schedule. We might even be able to rest a bit before helping the diggers.”
Cadence looked at the Changeling hopefully. “Really? How much of the list are we done?”
“We’ve complete twelve of the hundred tasks assigned for the nursery today. You’ve done them in record time Miss Cadence, I applaud you.”
“Twelve out of a hundred?” Cadence felt her eye twitch.
After another four and a half hours of handling, transporting, and feeding baby Changelings, Cadence plopped down onto the hard nursery floor. “Are we done yet?”
“It appears so.” Chitin said. “Very good. We’ve got twenty minutes until we need to be at the tunnel for the diggers. Use it wisely Miss Cadence.”
“I think I’ll just sit here for the duration…” Cadence huffed out. Chitin nodded and left the nursery; there were some other tasks she needed to fulfill.
Cadence watched Chitin leave before falling back into her thoughts. She did this often nowadays and it offered her a lot of comfort in this otherwise foreign environment. The Alicorn’s thoughts wandered to Equestria, as they often did. She wondered what Aunt Celestia or Aunt Luna was doing. She wondered what adventures Twilight and her friends had gotten into the past month. Most of all, however, the mare wished she could see her husband.
The mere thought of Shining Armor was enough to bring a tear to her eye. Cadence quickly stopped herself from crying, she would not cry with the Changelings watching. Still, the Alicorn longed ever so much to be back at the Crystal Empire, secure in the strong arms of her beloved. She missed Shining Armor and the rest so much that at times it was hard to bear.
She cursed herself often for her own stupidity. It was her own damn fault she was here and she knew it. Her bigotry, though debatably understandable, had cost her so much. She wanted nothing more than to cast it away, to be as accepting as an Alicorn of Love should be. But even now, a month later, every time she saw Chitin undisguised or mostly any other Changeling a knot twisted in her stomach. A voice in the back of her mind told her they needed to die. It told her to tear off the inhibitor ring on her horn and lay waste to their evil. The voice was always so convincing… Cadence knew it would be so easy to crush this Hive if she used her…
“NO!” Cadence screamed aloud, catching the attention of the nearby Changelings.
One of the nursing drones, One-Three-Nine, walked up to her and transformed into a zebra mare in a flash of green. “Miss Cadence, is something the matter?”
Cadence looked at the transformed Changeling with a look of fear at first. It quickly subsided into appreciation. The nursing drones were some of the only Changelings Cadence could stand for extended periods. There was an abundant, selfless kindness to them that Cadence had not expected to find in a Changeling Hive. “I… No, I was just thinking of something. Thank you though.”
The Changeling nodded and left to attend to the young. Cadence let her head rest in her hooves. “What’s wrong with me?” Cadence asked herself quietly. She knew that having prejudice was a normal pony emotion. Every pony, nah every sentient being that had ever lived, had some prejudice towards something else. It was not wrong to feel that way; at times it was an unconscious thing. But what Cadence felt was different. It was bigotry on a whole new level of insane. Without her emotions running wild Cadence could see that now… but it scared her even more. It was because of this that what became a punishment for her transformed into a zealous desire. She would beat this feeling and return home a pony worthy of the title Alicorn of Love.
“Cadence? Are you ready to get going?”
The mentioned mare jumped in surprise from the quick interruption of her thoughts. Turning, Cadence was met with Chitin’s blank face and emotionless aura. The Alicorn nodded to her Changeling. “Yeah… sure.”
Bidding farewell to the nursing drones, Cadence and Chitin made their way to the tunnel that led to the newest expansion to Carapace’s Hive. Cadence had found herself regularly delegated to either moving rocks with her magic or providing assistance as a magical lantern, her magic being much stronger than the Changeling’s.
When the duo reached the tunnel Cadence decided to have a snack while Chitin went over the orders again with the diggers. The Alicorn of Love found it odd that the Changelings insisted on verbally repeating commands sent over the Hivemind to each other. Queen Carapace had told the mare it was just a part of drone culture and held significance only to the Changelings involved. Munching on an apple and watching with interest, Cadence wondered how this little ritual started.
The Alicorn would not get the chance to ponder long, the orders were repeated and the drones readied for the task. Cadence finished up her apple just as Chitin reached her and prepared her magic for lengthy output. Chitin could tell instantly that Cadence already knew what she was supposed to do and simply stepped aside for the Alicorn to enter the dark tunnel behind the diggers.
Once the lights from the already illuminated tunnels began to fade, Cadence ignited her horn. The blackened passageway lit up with a light blue glow. After a few quick chitters in their native language the diggers went to work. Cadence simply sat down towards the middle of the tunnel and watched the Changelings work. The Alicorn was still unsure how the Changelings could be so good at digging with their hoof-like appendages. But they were and within an hour the tunnel had expanded tenfold in most directions.
“Very good. We should be done with the forward digging soon.” Chitin remarked as she strode up beside Cadence. “Then we can begin the outward digging and make this a proper chamber. The Queen will be very proud of our work today.”
“Speaking of Carapace.” Cadence said. “Where is she? Usually she’s come by to make sure I haven’t killed any drones yet.”
“Queen Carapace is currently away attending a High Council meeting.” Chitin responded immediately. “She will return later.”
“Why is she meeting the Council?” Cadence asked. “She doesn’t hold them in high regard from what I heard. ‘Excluding the Matriarch, there isn’t an iota of brain matter between the bunch of them’ is how I believe she put it.”
“Regardless, one does not simply turn a deaf ear to the High Council.” Chitin looked away from her Alicorn charge. “To do so is… not advised.”
“Duly noted.” Cadence replied.
“But you have no need to worry about the Council for the moment… not if our Queen has anything to say about it.”
~~~~
Carapace lowered her head to the large pool of water and took a swig of water in a vain attempt to drown out the annoying voice ringing in her ear. She really wished it would work…
“How could you goad Hexa like that?! I mean I know that usually all she does is blow hot air but from what I heard she is really getting behind this and is not going to be intimidated to stop! Oh Carapace, you treading on loose sand here!”
Throwing her head up and gulping the last drops of water down, she turned to the Changeling Queen next to her. “Bree? Please, for the love of the Creators, shut up! I know what I’m doing.”
The cyan colored mane of Queen Bree of the Changelings waved back and forth as the mare shivered uncontrollably. “But… But… Hexa…”
“Is a whore that couldn’t lead a proper military campaign unless it involved screwing her enemies to death.” Carapace snorted. “She just a big nuisance is all.”
Bree sighed heavily and scoped out the room to ensure they were alone. “But if she’s poking around too much she might find out about the plan. And… And if she finds out what you’re trying to do then… URK!” The Changeling jumped as Carapace shoved a hoof in her mouth.
“She won’t find out and it's about time for you to stop being a pushover. Grow some chitin and stand up for yourself! You know you could kick her ass halfway across the badlands.” The Queen removed her hoof from Bree’s mouth.
“I don’t like it when we fight amongst ourselves. I’d rather we all strive towards the same thing instead of hoard everything individually.”
Carapace rolled her eyes. “Congratulations, you’re an idealist, for all the good it does you.” The Changeling turned and began to walk out of the underground waterhole. “I’m going back to my Hive now, I expect you to do the same got it?” Bree nodded at the statement.
“Good.” The Changeling replied as she walked out. “I’ve got preparations to make.”