Chapter 19--The Changeling Hive
As we approached the hole, the changeling said to me, “My name is Mirror. I am a high ranking officer of the changeling army. If you need anything, ask for me.” We got to the hole where another changeling was waiting. “This is Ludo, the queen’s assistant, he will take you to meet the queen.”
I looked down into the hole. There was no ladder, there were no stairs and the wall was smooth as a beer bottle. “How do you expect me to get down there?” I asked.
Mirror was already flying down so Ludo just said, “You can ride me.” That’s what she said. He grew in size--because apparently changeling magic can do that--to about the size of a horse and I climbed onto him as we glided down into the hole. It would be really nice if I had that low-light seeing ability of the lunar guards right now. We reached the bottom and I could see nothing. Luckily, I had stuffed a few candles in my pocket which I lighted so I could make sure I didn’t trip over my own feet. I already had pretty good low-light seeing from all my years sneaking around in the dark so I was able to make out a bit about this cave.
What I saw was kind of creepy. There were large buildings around this cavern that were made of either rock or some weird glowing green stuff, or both. I also noticed that some of these buildings hung from the ceiling or were carved into the wall and I figured the only way to get to them was by flying. Ludo changed back to his normal size as he lead me down what appeared to be the main road. I saw at the end of the road what appeared to be a giant castle made out of that weird green stuff. I figured that was where the queen was and, despite not wanting to go anywhere near that stuff, I followed, knowing bad things would happened if I disobeyed creatures that could turn into anything.
“What the fuck is this stuff?” I asked as we entered the castle.
“It’s called chrysalis,” Ludo answered. “It’s the signature building material of the changelings. Despite its fragile appearance, it is actually stronger than diamond.”
“Stronger than diamond? That could be very useful. Why haven’t other races tried to buy it from you?”
“Most races don’t trust the changelings. The only known race that has even attempted to make peace with us was the ponies. But when we refused to give them some chrysalis, they ended all attempts for an alliance.”
“Hmm...” I thought back to what I had read in Clover the Clever’s journal. I remembered there being something about changelings but I couldn’t remember what.
“Well, this is her majesty’s throne room. I’m not certified to enter so you’ll be on your own. I don’t know what she wanted you for but usually a personal summoning is either really good or really bad. Either way, good luck.”
He stood outside the door as I walked in to meet the queen of the changelings. “Ah, the human. I’ve been waiting for you,” I heard her say. Then I saw her walking out from behind the throne all dramatically like that. She looked like any other changeling but with the key difference being that she had much longer hair that had a dark musky turquose color and a crown. I also noticed that she, like the other changelings as it turned out, had many holes in her legs. There were also holes throughout her hair and her horn was twisted and bent in the most peculiar way.
“And why have you summoned me?” I asked.
“As I’m sure you’ve found out, I have many spies throughout the world, blending in as a part of the population of the native race. I hear things rather quickly and one thing I’ve heard is that there was a strange new creature in Equestria who calls himself a human. I can only assume that was you. So when my spies caught on that your pony friends were going to Appleoosa, it was inferred that you would be going to. I ensured that all my spies in the area knew that you would be coming and that if they saw you, to bring you to me. I hear you’re well acquainted with Celestia. How has she been?”
“Why does it matter to you?”
“I’ve been ruling these changelings for almost 1000 years. Celestia attempted to form an alliance after about 200 years but when we refused to give up our chrysalis, she never tried again.” That’s when it hit me. The queen of the changeling, who goes by Queen Chrysalis, used to be Celestia’s youngest sister Animia but after Discord showed his ugly face, she was transformed into the changeling queen and lost all memory of ever being a pony and, more specifically, an alicorn.
I tried to think of how I could use this knowledge but I couldn’t think of any way to make her see who she really is so I decided to just carry on with the conversation. “Well, I haven’t seen her for a little over a week but she seemed to be doing well at the gala. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, just trying to find common grounds.”
“What for?”
“How much do you know about us changelings, Síor?”
“Only that you feed off love.” And that you used to be Celestia’s sister.
“That’s actually only partially true. We are actually able to feed off of any emotion, love is just the most common preference.”
“Most common? So there are changelings that prefer other emotions?”
“Yes there are. Lust is a common one. As well as happiness. There’s also sadness, fear, and the dreaded anger. Changelings that feed off of anger are typically killed early, they have no place in my kingdom for anger is the most vile of emotions and causes changelings that feed off of it to be very undesirable.”
“I see. You still haven’t told me why you summoned me.”
“Ah, yes. You should know that other beings tend to not understand us changelings. To feed off of emotion is typically looked down upon. My people have to go into other areas in disguise in order to get sufficient nutrients to live. But our larva and foals are too young for that. We need a reliable food source. We asked Celestia if she would provide us with enough ponies that had been love poisoned in order for us to survive but when she asked for our precious chrysalis, a substance which can only be made with enough substinance, we had to decline for we had no way of making sufficient amounts of it to give her and to keep our hive protected as well.”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that. What is chrysalis?”
“I suppose you could say that chrysalis is what changelings secrete when nutrient levels are high enough.”
“So in other words, it’s basically shit?”
“Essentially yes; however, changeling digestion works very differently than normal creatures. I won’t begin to try explaining the process to you because I imagine you would have a hard time understanding it but basically we take in emotions and put out chrysalis which we use to build our hives.”
“So you couldn’t give any to Celestia because you didn’t have enough food to produce any more than what you needed?”
“Correct. I had tried asking many other times but I was continually rejected. That is where you come in.”
“And how can I help?”
“You are a personal friend of the Princess. If you explained our situation to her, maybe she would be willing to give us a chance.”
“Have you not already tried explaining your situation?”
“Whenever I try she just thinks we are making excuses. But if you explain to her why we cannot give up our chrysalis until we have better nourishment, then I think she might be willing to see things our way.”
“Hmm, what’s in it for me?”
“Well, what do you want?”
“I want a list of all the changelings residing in Equestria. This should include their changeling names as well as their disguise names.”
“I was planning on giving you that anyways if you agreed. Anything else?”
“When do I need to have this done?”
“I have an invasion on Canterlot planned for this Spring. If you don’t make an agreement with Celestia by then, I will carry out the invasion. If a treaty has been drawn, I will call off the invasion. Do we have a deal?”
“Spring, eh? A lot can happen between now and then but I think I can make that work.”
“Excellent. Oh and I have one more favor to ask.”
“Ask away.”
“I would like you to take my maid, Mim, she is being rather troublesome. I need a way of punishing her and I think that sending her away would be the best option due to how much she seems to adore me. She will need to be fed though.”
“What does she like?”
“She prefers lust. Luckily it is one of the easiest emotions to feed off of, all she has to do is have sex with another creature. Sentient creatures work best though.”
“Is it possible for changelings to get pregnant from other animals?”
“It is possible, though the offspring are almost always changelings.”
“Does she have a gender preference?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Alright fine, I’ll take her.”
“Splendid. She will be waiting at the exit of the hive. Oh and one more thing. If you wish to speak to a changeling that is disguised simply say ‘intelligentia, sentient, drone’ and they will reply with ‘egg, larva, foal’ allowing you to speak.”
“Thanks. If I need anything, I’ll send word your way.” And with that, I was carried back out of the hive by Ludo.
I saw who I assumed was Mim waiting on the edge of the hole. My main resoning for this was because she looked more like a girl changeling than a guy because she, like the queen, had longer and bluer hair. Ludo flew back down the hole leaving me to talk to Mim. “So you’re Mim?”
“Yes, sir. The queen said I was to obey your every command,” she said.
“Well, you can start by not calling me sir. My name is Síor and you will call me that and nothing else. Do you know how to get to Appleoosa?”
“Yes, Síor. It’s right this way.” She lead me to the town and we arrived right around sunrise the next day.
“Another night with no sleep. I really need to fix my sleeping schedule. And as for you. These ponies probably wake up at the crack of dawn so you’ll need a disguise. And remember, it needs to be something you can keep while you’re in Ponyville, too.” She transformed into a midnight blue unicorn with straight blonde hair that had red streaks in it and dark green eyes. “Not bad but you need a cutie mark.” She concentrated as an image of what looked like a galaxy appeared on her flanks. “Hmm, I feel like it needs something… Do you think you can add glasses?” She worked her magic and went through a few different pairs of glasses before settling on a pair of simple oval shaped ones. “Perfect. Now how about a name?”
“How about Pyra?”
“Sounds good to me. It doesn’t look like much is gonna happen any time soon so I’m gonna take a quick nap by this rock here. Wake me up if something starts to happen.” I sat by the rock and covered my eyes with the cowboy hat that was randomly lying there as I took my nap.
I was jostled awake a few hours later by Pyra who said, “I think there’s gonna be a battle.”
“A battle? What do you mean?” I looked over the rock to see the entire herd of buffalo perche on top of a hill facing the town where the ponies were all preparing to defend. “Oh great, it’s cowboys and Indians all over again. At least ponies don’t use guns.” Not yet at least.
Then, the clock tower struck noon because that’s the only time things ever happen in western towns. I looked up to Chief Thunderhooves who was leading the buffalo as the clock rang out on its final chime. He looked like he wasn’t going to go through with it. But then Pinkie had to come in and mess everything up. She was wearing this fucktarded western showgirl outfit and singing the most annoying song I had ever heard. This was apparently enough to drive the Chief to begin the stampede as the buffalo raged down the hill.
What commenced afterwards was a series of events that looked like they would have occurred in a children’s cartoon show that didn’t promote violence. The buffalo rammed into everythin and everyone they could and the ponies threw pies at them and hid anvils in hay. The battle--if you could even call it that--ended when the Chief was hit by a pie which then slid down his face and onto his tongue where he tasted it and proclaimed that the orchard could stay as long as a path was cut and they could have some pie. Conflict solved and everythings good so we all boarded the train and went home after planting Bloomberg.
“Hey, Síor, who’s your friend?” Pinkie asked.
“Everybody, this is Pyra,” I said. “Pyra this is Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike. Pyra’s going to be staying with us for a little while while she gets back on her feet, er, hooves.” Introductions over, the train took off and we went back home.