For the Hive

by law abiding pony


9: Fallout

Twilight Sparkle walked through the marble hallways of Canterlot Castle with a calm presence in her step and Ratchet at her side. The morning was just starting to creep over the horizon so the tall regal passageways were still lit by torchlight. As the moon slowly gave way to the sun, a few yawning Night Guard were leaving their posts as their day aligned counterparts relieved them.

A few of the passing thestrals gave the pair of changelings a passing glance or respectful nod. Whether this was respect was towards Twilight’s station or for her person the pair didn’t know.

Ratchet glanced at his queen every so often, unsure about what he wanted to say exactly. “Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“A good idea? Perhaps not, but I feel it is something I have to do. There were too many witnesses, and the press is classifying the whole monastery furball as a diplomatic incident.”

“Which means…”

Twilight stopped walking with a heavy sigh. There were a few passing servants and guards silently walking past, but she didn’t care for privacy. “Which means the princesses have to get involved with mother’s trial personally, and they have to come down hard. So the PCE and Vel… my mother will be petrified in stone.”

A hot tear dampened her face. She could feel more slowing creeping down her face. “I just have to see her.”

He nodded silently. “I'm afraid I don't understand, but I’m here if you need me.”

“Thank you, Ratchet.” She leaned forward and kissed him. Although the act was simple, the warm blanket of her freely given love addled his mind for a brief moment with its intensity.


There were two types of prisons in Equestria, one for commoners, and one for the nobility. The latter was rarely used, if only because none of them dared do anything to end up in one. The only real difference between the two was one being located a floor higher than the other.

She found the warden, a stocky earth stallion, sipping his coffee upon her entry into the cold unwelcoming stone prison. “Ah, Queen Twilight,” he said with a hasty bow. “I honestly expected you earlier.”

She draped a wing across Ratchet. “I needed a couple of days to cool off after everything that’s happened.”

“Aye, you don’t have to explain anything to me. I don’t know what I’dda done in your shoes.”

The sleepy warden quickly shut up at the somber expression leaking through Twilight’s regal mask and grabbed the keys before heading to the cells.

Twilight turned to Ratchet before leaving the warden’s office. <I’d rather do this alone.>

<…As you wish, my love. Just be careful around her.>

<Thanks, I will.>


Cold grey stone, iron bars, wooden cots, and a musty stench lingered through the air. It was the last place she ever wanted anyone to end up. Then again, she never thought a family member would try to kill her either.

The warden was a few paces ahead of her and rapped his iron shoed hooves across the bars. “You got a visitor.”

The warden stepped aside to let Twilight enter. Velvet had not moved from the warden’s call and had propped herself up on the edge of the barred window to watch the sunrise. The view of the sleeping city backdropped by the rising sun among the clouds would have brought a tear to her eye on any other day. “Tell me, changeling, did you spare me to maintain your cover, or to use me for a show trial?”

Without the adrenaline rush from her last encounter with Velvet, the festering hate wafting off of her would have caused some to be ill at ease. However the loss of a mother’s unconditional love and hate being its chief replacement was physically painful to the point where the nerves all over Twilight’s body felt like they were being dipped in acid. She briefly contemplated leaving the room, but held fast against the intense agony. The building migraine didn’t help either.

She did her best to try and ignore her agony, but it was far from easy. “As ashamed as I am to admit it, neither. It was only because Aged Page talked me down that I spared you.” Velvet turned her head askew to eye the queen. “All those times you’ve called me a monster…” She briefly wondered if she was only giving Velvet more ammunition, but it had to be said. “Y-you don’t know what that does to an empath… Especially from somepony who I thought loved me.”

“I love my daughter Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn, student of the princess,” Velvet replied with a vicious scowl. “You are not her!”

Twilight had prepared herself for hostility, and each drop of verbal venom felt very much real. “Am I really so alien that you cannot accept me as your daughter?”

“Do you even need to ask, empath?” Velvet returned her gaze to the window. Her tone never lost its hostile edge. “Why do you even bother with the act anymore? You’ve got the princesses wrapped around your hoof, and now I’m going on trial for treason. You belittle us both continuing with this facade!”

“It’s not an act, mother, it never was.” Velvet finally backed away from the window and shot Twilight a disbelieving scowl. Twilight grit her teeth from the waves of disgust and loathing but refused to show it or raise her voice. “Okay, I’m different than I used to be, I’m a changeling through and through, but I’ve never, not even once hidden that fact.”

“My issue was never with the fact that you hid what you were, but the fact that you never wanted to be a pony again,” Velvet said as if she had been repeating the same reason a million times. “My Twilight Sparkle would have agreed to this… procedure to save her own life, true, but to stay as one of you freaks? No, you are somepony different. The only thing you have in common with my daughter is that you stole her body!”

She’s… she’s gone completely insane! Twilight masked her slowly weakening agony as exasperation. With Velvet casting her daughter aside so definitively, Twilight’s body started acclimating to her loathing. Bit by bit, the pain she suffered from the middle aged mare’s disgust was beginning to lessen. “Mother, have I really changed that much? Yes, physically, but mentally? Why can’t you see I just wanted us to be a family again?” Velvet said nothing, prompting Twilight to continue. “But that wasn’t enough for you. You couldn’t let me live my own life, could you?”

Velvet scoffed a short mirthless chuckle. “You call that a life? You can’t even see how much of a slave you are to Cadista. You’ve spent almost five years spewing eggs and propagating Equestria’s mortal enemy!”

Twilight was utterly dumbfounded and couldn’t speak for several seconds with her mouth hanging open. Velvet only saw it as mockery. “Should I bother mentioning the warship hanging over our heads, or is that too obvious?”

Twilight’s train of thought had a sluggish restart. “First off it’s a colony ship outfitted to survive the jungles, not a warship. Secondly, how can you hate my kind so much without even knowing how we changelings work? I’m a queen, I alone dictate the purpose of my hive, and I want to be allied with Equestria, my homeland! Haven’t you even cared to notice how fundamentally different my drones are compared to Chrysalis’ own?”

A niggling thought wormed its way into Velvet’s mind. Fancy Pants, and a few others were quite enamored by them before I left for the monastery. She smashed the thought down hard. “You’re arguing semantics, nothing more.”

“Am I?” Twilight shot back. With her body growing increasingly numb to Velvet’s hatred, Twilight was feeling energetic enough to put some fire in her speech. “Have I ever once done anything to threaten or weaken Equestria since becoming a changeling?”

Velvet chewed on her lip and turned back towards the country she had risked everything for. “Plenty.”

“How? I’ve increased trade between Equestria and Stripped Gear, and I personally oversaw the return of all love prisoners from the other queens. I risked my hive’s future by pulling too many drones to help Ponyville against Discord’s plunder vines while my friends and I stopped them at their source.” Celestia still wants to minimize public knowledge of the Tree of Harmony. “Should I even bother mentioning the incident at the Equestrian Games? Or how about the ten other times my friends and I saved Equestria?!”

“It’s all just one big ruse, Twilight. You changelings don’t want Equestria’s destruction, just our enslavement. What better way to do just that, than to earn our trust first?”

It’s always the same excuses and self-deceptions with her. She mentally asked Ratchet to fetch the warden. Velvet’s presence still grated at her, but the most she felt now was phantom pain. “I think I know the real reason you can’t accept me, mother.”

Only stoic silence filled the room. Velvet tired of her presence. A thought came to Twilight, but she stopped as she noticed something. She could still sense Velvet’s emotional poison washing over her, but she had gone completely numb to it, as if Velvet was just another stranger. The realization caused her ears to fall flat and her wings to droop. Twilight cast a quick spell to dry away a few resigned tears. There’s really no hope… is there?

Velvet almost called for the warden to get the silent queen to leave that much quicker, but Twilight spoke out before she could act.

“It may just be a dying light in a sea of ink, mother, but I know you actually do recognize that I am still your Twilight Sparkle. You’ve been fighting my desire to remain a changeling so long you’re too frightened to admit it.”

That niggling voice in the back of Velvet’s mind gave unwanted weight to Twilight’s observation.

“I may never see you again, but… I forgive you, mother. I am sorry we could never make it work between us.” The cell door’s lock clanked loudly, heralding the warden’s return. “Good bye, mother.”

Velvet’s head ached at the nagging voice that casted doubt on the one thing of which she had been absolutely certain. Fear wormed its way in. Not for her own well-being, but there was actually the possibility she had been wrong all along, so utterly preposterous though it may be. No, I must have been right, I must!

The only other alternative was too heart wrenching, too terrifying to even consider. Yet that small whisper that would not be silenced, kept speaking of that horrible possibility. By the time she glanced back, Twilight and the warden were already halfway down the hall.


Later that day, Rainbow Dash was headed towards Twilight’s chambers aboard the Ashes of the Phoenix with a plate of blue bacon balanced perfectly on her back with her wings spread out to give additional support. It was either that or the bacon was causing quite a stir with her. One of the god-sent strips of meat was currently being teased by her tongue as she savored every last bit of texture and flavor. “Oh Celestia, this bacon is orgasmic. I don’t care what it takes, I have got to convince Twi to let me stay half 'Ling so I can keep eating this ambrosia.”

Rainbow polished off the last of the bacon by the time she reached Twilight’s door and found a few caretakers carting away twelve eggs resting in a padded trolley. The trio of drones snickered at overhearing Rainbow praise her meal. “So that’s all it takes, Aunty? I guess we know what to tell the next colt that catches your eye, huh girls?”

Far from being embarrassed, Rainbow smirked at her adopted nieces. “Then be sure to tell him to get me a pack of country style. Salt plus bacon equals one happy mare,” Rainbow ended with a wisecrack grin and causing the drones to burst out laughing. Rainbow eyed the egg trolley. “You gals busy running off with the daily dozen, or giving them a tour of the ship?”

The new chief caretaker, Gear Ratio, had originally been slated to join the engineering corps, but her preference and talent for nymph care superseded that and joined the caretakers instead. Gear smiled warmly at the hive’s favorite person, outside of Twilight herself. “No tour today, I’m afraid. It's a shame this’ll be the last clutch for a week or so until more slots in the incubators open up.”

Feeling a little love hungry, Rainbow smoothly placed the now empty plate between the eggs and briefly nuzzled Gear. “How are you holding up in your new position?”

Even with Rainbow’s extremely limited connection to the Link, sensing their aunt’s desire was trivial, and the three caretakers were quick to wrap Rainbow Dash in a group hug. “It’s tough work,” Gear admitted with tired joy, “but highly rewarding.”

It was weird at first, needing to feed on love. However, it was easy for the brash pegasus to let her guard down around her adopted nieces and nephews. I guess that it’s not so bad, as long as it’s with these purple ponies, she thought while ruffling the youngest caretaker’s mane, eliciting a lighthearted giggle out of her. The act signaled her desire to end the hug.

Rainbow gently rubbed one of the still glowing lavender eggs. “I better let you get your future sisters to the tube farm.”

“Sure thing, Aunty,” Gear replied with pride, sneaking a loving nuzzle on her aunt. “Say, are you still up for flying lessons tomorrow? The nymphs love it when you teach them.”

“Sure thing,” Rainbow replied with a huge grin. “Speaking of which, you still remember the lessons I gave you right?”

“Don't fight the thermals, let them take you to new heights” The trio of caretakers recited energetically from memory. The trio flapped their wings in a crisp salute.

“That’s my Buzz Bug crew! I’ll see you later, oh, and can you take care of my plate for me?”

“Absolutely, Aunty! Cya!” The caretakers waved their wings in farewell, prompting the half pegasus to reciprocate the adopted changeling gesture.

With the caretakers leaving, Rainbow was left to knock on Twilight’s door. Actually, if I’m going to keep this, I might as well give the brain web a try. She pinged Twilight for entry and was promptly answered.

<I just got out of the shower, so I’m free to see you, RD.>

The pegasus in question poked her nose through the door to find Twilight stepping out of her bathroom with a towel wrapped around her mane and tail. Her large red wings were splayed out and flapping lightly to air dry. “Hey Twi, I needed to ask you about something.”

Twilight sat down by a mirror to use a spell to dry the holes out of her legs. “If it’s about progress on reversing your condition, I’m sorry I haven’t made much progress as of late. All I know is that it was meant to work on people who have not been affected by alchemy, it's not intended to be reversible.”

“Funny you should mention that,” Rainbow replied as she flew into a low hover near Twilight. “I’ve been thinking of staying a half 'Ling, permanently.”

Twilight’s spell fizzled out and she turned to her multicolored friend in surprise. “Come again?”

“Well you know,” she replied as if it was no big deal. “I really like the meat thing, I mean, damn. Also these fangs are really starting to grow on me, and this brain link’s freakin’ awesome! Soooo yeah, I want to stay like this.”

Twilight's first response was to outright deny her, but Velvet's actions were still fresh on her mind. The chance of inadvertently repeating her mother's mistakes stayed her hoof. “This isn‘t exactly something to take lightly, Rainbow. Why do you want this?”

Rainbow landed to use her feathers to count off. “Well the ability to eat meat regularly is off the awesome scale by like five factors because of bacon and steak, I mean wow.” Twilight restrained an eye roll as her friend continued. “I already mentioned the fangs, I mean for a soldier like me, you can’t dismiss the intimidation factor. I mean, who’s going to mess with a Wonderbolt with fangs eh?” Twilight couldn’t discount that on an academic level, but still felt it was flimsy. “The brain hive thing I still have with Aegis and her crew is just crazy cool, but I guess I’d be preaching to the choir telling you why.”

Twilight slapped herself. “Oh no, how could I completely forget about that? I should have throttled your connection days ago.”

“Well I’m glad you didn’t,” Rainbow replied a bit defensively. “Sure the brain hive’s not for everypony, but it’s crazy cool like I said. You saw me fight back at the monastery didn’t you? It was like having eyes in the back of my head, I knew where to move and when!” She jumped back into the air and started play fighting an invisible foe.

Twilight took the opportunity to sigh at her rambunctious friend giving a devastating uppercut. “What about your career, Rainbow?”

The Wonderbolt’s cheery demeanor dampened immensely. “Look Twi, it’s like this. One of these days, you’re going to be the first Equestrian 'Ling-Queen, that’s a fact. And who knows, maybe one day some of the grubs will want to join the Bolts. Even if I never make captain, I want to be there, ready to welcome you guys in.” She smirked at Twilight’s warming mood. “Assuming of course, that I can whip some of your rugrats into Wonderbolt material.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?”

Rainbow’s face twisted in thought. “I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. Whether it’s this whole political crap with my career or what this half lingification’s done to me, is up in the air. But, yes, this is what I want, for real.”

In that moment, Twilight had a strange sense of déjà vu. This must have been how Celestia felt when I told her I was going to stay a changeling. If that’s so, then who am I to stop you? “I guess we should be glad this happened to you, and not somepony who’d start a changeling plague craze or something.”

“That’d be our luck wouldn’t it? So umm…” She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck while trying to word her request correctly, but the question was so loud in her mind that Twilight sniffed it out from the Link without even wanting to.

“You want full access to the hive mind.”

Rainbow gave a wide grin coupled with a nervous giggle. “I gotta admit, Twilight, just the tiny bit I have with Aegis is freaking awesome to the max.”

While Rainbow’s massive pleading grin and clasped forelegs smacked of an impulsive decision, Twilight felt the pegasus' underlying determination and assuredness. I can’t keep prying like that, but if she truly wants this, who am I to stop her? “Alright Rainbow, I’ll do it.”

“YES!” Rainbow pumped an elbow. “Brain hive and Arcane Wing is going to be awesome!

Twilight brought all of her psychic control to bear and slowly pulled Rainbow’s mind from its semi-quarantined state and gently pushed her into the heart of the sea of voices. A tidal wave of noise crashed into Rainbow Dash’s mind. Every last one of them quickly realized who this unexpected addition was, and overwhelmed Rainbow with a dominating sense of heartfelt welcomeness so profound it made her fall to the ground with tears in her eyes.

A lopsided smile crossed Twilight’s face. I wonder how I would have reacted to being inducted if I had been conscious. Still…

Rainbow couldn’t help but to unconsciously hug herself as thousands of minds took her in as one of their own. A feat made easier with her long standing relationship with them. “It’s… it’s beautiful, Twilight. T-thank you.”

And this is why I didn’t want her even touching the hive mind in the first place. Once you’re in, you never want to leave. “I hope you never come to regret this, Rainbow Dash, but you’re welcome.”

It took Rainbow Dash half an hour to finally come down from the high her welcoming committee inflicted on her. By then, Twilight had finished preparing herself after the shower and had a pot of tea delivered. Rainbow’s brow furrowed as she swam in the sea of the Link. “What gives? Why can’t I actually understand anypony? It just sounds like background noise in a restaurant, but I can’t make anything out.”

“Give it time, Rainbow. Your brain has to learn how to deal with so many voices at once. Plus it doesn’t help that you’re only partially a changeling,” Twilight explained matter-of-factly.

“I’m 'Ling enough to hear it, so why not understand it?”

“To put it simply, because you’re picking up a weaker than normal signal. To help with long range hive communications for infiltrators and love collectors, my ancestors modified the changeling nervous system to have hundreds of small receptor nodes throughout our bodies. Given that you’re only a changeling from the neck up, well… who knows how long it’ll take. But I’m sure you’ll be able to converse over it in due time.”

Giving Rainbow Dash a chance to contemplate the information, Twilight slowly drained the last of her first cup of rich honey spice flavored tea, and offered a second cup Rainbow more out of courtesy than any expectation of it being taken.

Already being in an adventurous mood, Rainbow took the offered drink. “Thanks, I actually could go for a drink right now.” Too bad alcohol and tea don’t mix. I need something stiff.

“Glad I could help. How is everything else going; you’re getting a decent supply of love every day, right?”

Rainbow took a deep breath to feel out how energized her mind still felt from the caretakers’ love. “Yeah, yeah, I got a ton from Gear and her crew on the way over. So I think I’m set for the day.” Although she was not really expecting to like it, Rainbow took the whole cup in one gulp just get some water in her system. But that one fleeting taste of honey and spices wrapped her tongue in such an explosion of flavor that it left her groaning in a way she had thought impossible for frou-frou tea. Da hell is with this day, first bacon, and now some bang'n tea!?

The mostly cyan pegasus was licking the last drop at the bottom right as Twilight turned back around after filling her own cup. She couldn’t help but tilt her head at her friend. “And here I thought you were just being polite. I didn’t know you liked tea.”

Rainbow forcibly put the cup down. “I don’t usually. What’s in this? It’s like amazingly good stuff!”

That produced a curious eyebrow out of Twilight. “It’s tea made from royal jelly. Normally, I’m the only one whoever eats it, or drinks in this case. But some drones have been known to use it as a spice of sorts.”

Twilight watched in bemusement as Rainbow snatched the teapot, with a silent request first, but stopped short of pouring a third cup. “It’s not rare is it?”

“No, it’s just a nutrient rich jelly made from various ingredients and salve, along with some other little bits. It's perfectly safe for anypony to eat. The jelly allows me to keep from having to eat so much food during full egg production.”

Sensing the silent permission, Rainbow started guzzling the tea straight from the pot’s spigot. Twilight was about to say something, but Rainbow threw up a hoof asking to not be interrupted. Twilight gave up and waited for the pot to run dry. It was only then that she realized what her lavender friend was trying to say. “Wait, this isn’t going to make me fat is it? I mean… twelve eggs a day can’t be cheap.”

I want to see if I can find a way to safely bump that up to fifteen a day. She refocused on her friend. “Knowing your workout regimen, I doubt it,” she said with a casual shrug, “and I still eat the usual three meals. The rest of the supplements would only affect a royal like myself anyway. I can tell the kitchens to increase production for you.”

“Sweet, thanks! I’m going to go find more of this stuff.”

Right as Rainbow was about to take her leave, Ratchet entered the bedroom with a few newspapers on his back. The spring in his step lifted Twilight’s spirits. “Hey Honey, RD, have you checked out the latest headlines? The press are at war with each other on whether or not the monastery incident was a sign of our willingness to be true allies with Equestria.”

Confusion rocked through the mares as Ratchet took the top newspaper in his mouth and gave it to Twilight who took it in her magic.

Foalnapping of Changeling Queen Twilight Sparkle Prompts Military Response!

According to Princess Celestia’s press conference yesterday, the changeling queen’s hive ship S.G.C.V. Ashes of the Phoenix bombarded the Celvard Monastery that had been occupied by an unsanctioned mercenary army. In a surprising turn of events, this army was funded and commanded by none other than Noblemare Twilight Velvet who has been revealed to be a chief member within the Ponies for the Conservation of Equestria. This group is known for openly defying the will of the crowns by conducting population screenings looking for changelings and torture of those they find.

The changeling use of “less than lethal” weapons that only did cosmetic damage to the historic monastery was intensely surprising, as one captured mercenary had to say. Was it an act by this Queen Twilight Sparkle to back her honeyed words with actions, or something more? Article continued on A6

Twilight was dumbstruck. “I don’t believe it… This is from The Canterlot Chronicle! They hate changelings!”

Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow at that. “It wasn’t exactly glowing praise, but considering the source…”

Ratchet grabbed a second newspaper. “Here, I circled the good part.”

Even under threat of her own life, Queen Twilight used nondestructive means to defeat the foul mercenaries. The historic monastery suffered more damage from the PCE than from the changeling technophiles’ bombardment. It is this reporter’s opinion that these changelings are putting on a show of good faith. Perhaps this reporter might have been wrong to blanket all changelings as enemies of Equestria. Those that hail from the Ashes of the Phoenix at least, have proven their willingness to defend Equestria with their lives. Although, considering that their queen is a former Equestrian, hindsight should have made it more obvious.

Twilight fell on her rump at the implications. Rainbow Dash snickered at her hanging jaw until she waved a hoof in front of her eyes to snap Twilight out of it. “You’re a popular mare, Twi.”

The euphoria that Twilight had saved for this day was blunted harshly by what it had cost both her, and her pony family. I wanted unity, but not like this. She sighed and put the paper down on her bed. “I’m sure Pinkie will be adding that into the hive warming party. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Ratchet. I really needed to see this.”

He moved in close to nuzzle her affectionately. <I thought it might be your silver lining.>

Twilight’s heart swelled at his thoughtfulness and a warm smile blessed her face. Twilight pulled him in close for a more passionate embrace. Rainbow arched a wolfish eyebrow. I better skedaddle and let these lovebugs have some room.


“I’m torn, Aged Page,” Celestia stated coolly from her perch on the throne. The cavernous chamber was vacant of all others save for Princess Luna standing at her sister’s side. Where Celestia wore a dark but controlled expression, Luna was unreadable to the old stallion. “On one hoof, you were compliant in the foalnappings of Queen Twilight and Rainbow Dash.”

“And on the other you assisted them in escaping and neutralizing the situation,” Luna finished dryly. “What kind of game are you playing, Archmage?”

“I wanted to test my old student; to see if she truly still held Equestrian values in her heart, or if she had become a second Chrysalis. To be blunt, your highness, I felt you were too close to Twilight to gauge her properly.”

Celestia weighed his words for a few seconds. “…We have had a long standing arrangement, Page,” Celestia started slowly. “I turn a blind eye to much of your dealings, because you have proven time and again your unshakable loyalty. But this… this crosses the line.”

“I knew that there were only two possible outcomes going into this, Princess. That I would have found Twilight wanting, or that she would prove herself. I am glad it was the latter. I was not expecting to walk away a free stallion in either event.”

Celestia’s brow twitched at his callousness and opened her mouth to speak, but stopped short when Luna resting a hoof on her foreleg. The siblings shared a tense moment before the elder sister conceded. Luna addressed the stallion who stood unrepentant, waiting to be exiled. “Would it surprise you, Aged Page, that Twilight requested you to be pardoned? As reparation for what her kind did to your son?”

A guilty look passed over Aged Page’s face as Celestia went from confused to irate understanding. “Funny you should mention that, sister. My secretary recently mentioned that Inked Quill recently won his reelection campaign.”

“I – I may have fabricated a sob story to convince her of my reasoning for joining the PCE. I simply haven’t had the opportunity to inform her of the truth.”

“Such is the harsh nature of prejudice,” Luna rebuked coldly. “I remember having to make large concessions to the aristocracy to keep them from snubbing my Thestrals in their ridiculous little politicking games.”

Celestia finished Luna’s point without missing a beat. "Despite my best efforts, after my sister's banishment they were persecuted harshly, for so long that they become the recluses they are today."

Luna kept her profound irritation in check, but it was no small feat. “I have only just recently been able to restart introductions in court within the past month. Needless to say, my Thestrals have been unjustly subjected to persecution just as harsh, if not more so, than Twilight and her drones are now.

"However, it seems your actions have allowed public opinion to turn where we have failed. Whether that was your intent or not is irrelevant to me as you have ended up doing far more good than harm. Personally I feel we should leave your punishment up to Twilight Sparkle. She’s the one whose trust you have betrayed most, and regardless of the outcome, you still put her in mortal danger.”

Catching onto her sister’s meaning Celestia nodded in agreement. “Due to the number of witnesses to your presence, it will be up to her to decide what your role in all of this will be to the public.”

The archmage was quick to reign in his surprise. Celly never liked going with traditional punishments. He bowed deeply. “I will see her at once… and I will tell her the truth about my son.”

“Be sure that you do, Page. I would hate to see you fall in disgrace. Dismiss—” Celestia paused abruptly and her face scrunched in thought.

Luna and Aged Page shared a glance. “Sister?”

Celestia studied the archmage. “You lied to Twilight about your son, but changelings are naturally empathic. How did she not pick up on that? You’re a good liar, Page, but not that good.”

“The PCE discovered some interesting things during their… autopsies of captured drones.” He adopted an academic, almost wistful tone, as if he was reliving his days as a lecturer all over again. “It appears that a changeling’s horn is not just for wielding magic, but is actually a sort of hardened antenna to detect and feed on emotions. They are insects after all. Oddly enough, it seems to require a changeling quite some time for their innate empathy to attune to an individual before they can detect anything besides love. But as an extra precaution, I wove a spell ahead of time to emulate old emotional pain, just to make sure I sold the lie.”

Luna already knew much of this from her past dealings. “Clever. I don’t know if I should be worried or congratulate you on a ruse well played.”

“I’ll hoof over all the findings the PCE granted me. I hope it can be put to better use. If that is all?”

Celestia mulled over the information for a bit. “No, that’s everything. Speak with Twilight before the trial in the morning.”

“As you command, Your Highness.” He bowed before departing without further discourse.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Luna sighed forlornly. “And here I thought rule was much simpler than it was a thousand years ago.” She turned to give her sister a bemused eye. “Since when did the position of archmage have such lack of oversight?”

“Well-earned trust, dear sister. I keep ponies like Page around me, to make sure I never become too distracted from threats here at home. He’s caught quite a few in his day. Strange it backfired this time.”

Luna turned to the door the archmage had just departed with a ghost of a smirk haunting her face. “Perhaps…”


If there was one thing an Equestrian never wanted to be, it was the defendant in the Court of the Sun and Moon. It was being held in the throne room of Canterlot Castle with ponies of all walks of life flanking the wide aisle where Velvet Sparkle was being escorted by two Royal Guards on one side and an equal number of Night Guards on the other.

Sitting upon their thrones were the royal sisters, both wearing carefully constructed expressions to conceal their thoughts. But everyone knew how this was going to turn out. This court did not recognize due process, there would be no jury of her peers, no waiting for months for the trial to actually begin. Twilight Velvet was found guilty the moment she set hoof in the room, and she knew it.

Twilight sat in a raised balcony along with Shining Armor, Night Light, and Cadance. The princesses had informed them of the sentence ahead of time, but with emotions running high through the broken family (as well as the entire chamber), it gave them little time to prepare.

The ponies crowded to the sides insistently murmured to themselves, each wondering a hundred different things as the unrepentant Velvet marched her way to the thrones. She glanced at her one-time supporters, former acquaintances, secret allies, and enemies all.

I gambled everything and lost. Damn that archmage. Twilight would have been freed if not for him. She tried to look for him, but the crowds were too thick, and she didn’t want to appear frightened. By the time she was more than halfway to the thrones, she gave up trying to hunt for him and stared straight ahead.

The cold, lethal glares of the princesses finally sliced through her calm mask. They wouldn’t execute me would they? Discord did way more than I ever did, and they pardoned him for Pete’s sake.

After reaching the end of the parted crowd, the guards backed off to let Velvet stand alone. The eyes of Equestria were upon her in the worst way possible. Celestia enhanced her voice to carry over the chamber. “Twilight Velvet of House Sparkle. You stand accused of high crimes against the crowns included but not limited to: foalnapping, conspiracy to incite social unrest, raising an unsanctioned mercenary army on Equestrian soil, attempted regicide, and instigating subversion within the guards of the twin crowns.”

Twilight blinked at that. “When did that happen?” she muttered quietly, but her brother picked up on it.

Shining Armor leaned into his sister’s ear. “Officially, I was called into Canterlot to witness this…” Even he had difficulty maintaining his composure, and couldn’t find the right words. “…But Princess Celestia wants me to do a clean sweep of the Guards to wash out any PCE supporters.”

Twilight’s reply never came as Luna took center stage in grilling the still defiant unicorn. “All evidence against you, including the confessions of your fellow conspirators is now public record for all to see. Your guilt is a foregone conclusion. What say you in your defense?”

Velvet could just hear all of the silent jeering from the crowd behind her. Barely two days ago, she had dined with many of them at a ball, now they judged her as harshly as the law did. Velvet squared her shoulders to address the diarchs. “I have tried to do what you failed to do: protect this great nation from those who would destroy it.”

Celestia scowled at her to obscure the heartbreak Velvet’s actions inflicted within her. “This group of yours, the Ponies for Equestrian Conservation, I believe. I find it difficult to believe that you could ever produce change for the betterment of ponykind by spreading fear and racism. Your group’s propaganda officer was captured at the monastery as well. I’m sure the warden gave you a public copy of his confessions,” Celestia ended with a hostile frown.

“Your Highnesses, we were trying to raise awareness of the changeling threat—”

“While we were trying to bridge peace with them!?” Luna retorted bitterly. Velvet flinched at the intensity of the outburst, with the crowd doing the same. The lunar diarch calmed just enough to keep her tone level. “While the law allows anypony to be open about their opinions, even those that in direct opposition with our own, that does not give you carte blanche to terrorize those sympathetic to peace with the queendoms!”

Velvet stood her ground. “B-but you opened the door for more of those insects to steal children, husbands, and wives! You can’t deny the fact that we had changeling infiltrators in all levels of government before the invasion.”

A few murmurs of agreement filtered through the courtroom.

Luna cooled off at the sight of a cautionary glance from her sister. “Ponies like you, Velvet Sparkle, are the reason peace between our neighbors took centuries of warfare and misunderstanding to realize. History likes to forget that the zebra states tried to apologize after causing the Demanescus incident, and their king offered his life in recompense. So how did Equestria respond? By mutilating the king’s body and sending the messenger back with an army on his tail.”

A collective gasp and shudder of disbelief coursed throughout the court. A few ponies shared awkward glances at the small number of zebras in attendance. The scattered few foreign dignitaries, griffins, minotaurs, and Saddle Arabians were all reminded of the more hostile moments of Equestria's history.

Not exactly the phrasing I would have used, Celestia mused dryly.

Luna gave the crowd a few moments to let her words sink in. “So long as I draw breath, I will not let that cycle of xenophobia to continue. Even if every other changeling queen becomes hostile to Equestria, Queen Twilight Sparkle, your own daughter, and Queen Cadista have done everything in their power to maintain the peace between us.”

She gave the floor over to Celestia with a nod. “My sister and I are in complete agreement that Equestria will do the same. For each changeling queen who truly desires peace, we shall share it. Which leaves us with what to do with you.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Velvet stated coldly, her voice echoing throughout the halls. “Don’t you see what those insects are doing? My daughter was our best hope in stopping the changeling takeover, and it is rather convenient that now she’s spearheading ‘peace’ between us. Can’t you all see those bugs are naught but corrupting demons that look upon us as nothing but food?!”

“Some might,” Luna admitted. “Just as there are ponies like you, who hate changelings because you feel wronged, there will be queens who feel the same about us. But that is no excuse for warring against the queendoms as a whole.”

Velvet ground her teeth at such nonsense. When did the princesses become such hypocrites? “Would you have sat there and done nothing if you had a daughter taken from you!? I did what had to be done, and you would have done the same!”

A flash of indignant fury sliced through Celestia’s calm mask, but she recovered quickly. “This is no time for jests. Your daughter was injured, I grant you. The only way for her to survive was to become a changeling. And once she recovered from her brief amnesia, where did you think the first place she wanted to go was? Home. To her friends, family, and you. But ever since then I have heard nothing praiseworthy about your treatment of her.” She pointed at Twilight sitting with her family. “There she is. She’s been here for years, and you’ve treated her as less than dirt! Which is why I’m under the distinct impression that you are no longer fully in control of your faculties.”

“That thing is not my daughter anymore! She’s been corr—”

“That. Is. Enough!” Luna shot back while casting a spell to silence Velvet. The cold fire of her outburst would have silenced the now trembling noblemare anyway, but Luna would brook no further interruption. “I am in full agreement with my sister. Your actions thus far have convinced me that you are wholly unrepentant. You have also clearly demonstrated that you are mentally ill. I hereby remove you from House Sparkle along with your noble status. I will not have your actions stain that longstanding loyal and noble house.”

Celestia leaned forward, her regal voice hiding the pain she felt from having to do this. “It is with a heavy but firm heart that we sentence you to Arcmane Asylum, Institute for the Criminally Insane.”

Velvet took an involuntary step back. “I am not insane! Why am I the only one who can see Twilight Sparkle is deceiving all you?! She wants your trust so she can enslave us all!”

“Captain, escort the patient out of here,” Luna commanded tersely. “I hope that you will live to see the day that you recover.”

The lead thestral grabbed Velvet, only for her to struggle to free herself. “The changelings will ruin Equestria, mark my words!”

The quartet of guards manhandled her until she stopped resisting and was dragged out of the chamber, leaving the whole room in a buzz.

There were only a handful of things that taxed Celestia’s composure. Sentencing Twilight’s mother to an insane asylum ranked high on the list. “May she act as a warning to all about the twisting nature of fanaticism. I call this court to a close.”

Applejack craned her neck to look over the crowd to see Twilight and the remains of her pony family silently depart. Even though she was half a room away, she could see all four of them were beyond depressed. “I hate thinking ill of somepony’s kin, especially a good friend, but I thought she would have been executed or imprisoned in stone for sure.”

Rainbow Dash’s disguise as her normal self was starting to buckle under having to hold it for so long. The last thing she wanted was to go out in public as a hybrid and give Velvet a chance to use her as an example. Just one more day, RD. Keep going. Applejack’s comment gave her a welcome distraction. She waited for the mass of ponies thin out as she and the rest of her friends exited the throne room.

She kept her voice low and pulled everyone close to hear. “Actually, AJ, Twilight asked for Velvet to get the insanity sentence instead of getting stoned.”

Fluttershy wiped a tear of sympathy away. “Do you really think Twilight’s mother will get better?”

“I doubt it,” Rainbow huffed irritably as she led the group out of the castle. “That mare’s gone completely nuts.”

Applejack pulled Fluttershy into a sidelong hug, giving her friend a shoulder to cry on. “The whole thing just feels rotten. I just hope Pinkie Pie doesn’t try throwing that party too soon. Everypony’s mood would just kill it.”

Perfect excuse to go back to the ship and let my disguise go, Rainbow Dash thought before trying her hardest to put out a single loud request over the hive mind for a shuttle. She was rewarded with an incoherent garble. Oops, maybe I yelled too loud. Wait, I think somepony actually understood me… or is he saying something about pizza? “Guys, we should go check on Pinkie on the ship. Who knows what she’ll do once that Pinkie Sense of hers detects the low pressure wave of funk headed towards her.”

“I reckon yer right. We should give Twilight and the others plenty of time to come to terms before we throw any celebrations. Go fly on ahead and stop Pinkie. We’ll hitch a ride on one of them steam carriages sittin' at the docks.”

Rainbow gave the orchard farmer a crisp salute. “On it, AJ.” With a prismatic blur trailing the speeding pegasus, Fluttershy regained some of her composure and started flying low to the ground.

“You girls are right, if anyone should be crying, it's poor Twilight. I’ll find Rarity so we can think of a calmer way to cheer her and her family up, so that Pinkie can throw her party sooner.”

“Sounds like a plan to me, Shy. Anyway I can help, you let me know.”


To Brass Excursor, Stripped Gear was his home and the jungles were his playground. The fire pits, undead wyrms, acid viper nests, and the Vale of the Dead were among his favorite places. There were few other locations where his resolve to survive could be tested to his satisfaction. The place he was headed to now was one of them.

The great stretches of dense sunlit vegetation were bordered by a tall earthen wall that rose barely high enough to touch the low ends of the branches. A single changeling sentry watched from its perch on the wall. He settled into a nook in the trees to watch his mark.

If it’s watching over the wall, then it must have a direct link to an overseer, and then to Chrysalis herself. I just gotta do this quick before they try to kill me.

Seeing no other changelings or jungle predators in the area, Brass waited for the unsuspecting drone to turn away from him before beginning a slow creep along the jungle floor. Even with a disguise hiding his form, he was not so arrogant as to believe the sentry wouldn’t spot the shaking ferns or his buzzing wings if he flew.

Inch by agonizing inch he crept forward, eyes always glued to his target, and that, of the jungle immediately around him. More than once he missed a shadow scorpion along his path. In fact, one was currently sitting in front of his nose, invisible save for a slight shimmer when it moved. To think I can thank this little guy for our ancestors learning how to give us all disguise magic.

It took him over an hour to crawl thirty meters undetected, and find a location at the base of the wall that wasn’t coated in the most horrendous repellant so foul it burned his nose hairs. Glad it rained last night, the dummies haven’t had a chance to recoat the walls yet.

With the wall blocking the sentry’s vision, he crouched low and jumped into the air, and leveraged his large wings to bolt up and over the wall, and tackled the sentry dead on. The black changeling cried out in surprise as the pair fell into an orchard tree.

Brass briefly scanned the fruit orchard to find several drones nearby. However, most were completely unfazed by the intrusion, but he could hear several soldiers on their way. The sentry pinned between his hooves and the swaying branches hissed at him only to receive a mostly harmless punch to the jaw.

“Listen up no-brain, our queens gotta have a little chat.” He pulled a white runed stone emblazoned with a black carving of the Ebony Castle. The drone stopped hissing, and the encroaching soldiers backed off into a hover. Brass pocketed his rune stone. “Yeah, even you numbskulls recognize the Seal of Parley.”

He let his chitin bound counterpart up at the same time its eyes lost their blue glow to reveal reptilian slits. A sneer crept over its face as savage intelligence replaced savage instinct. “My my, you’re one of Cadista’s brood. To what do I owe the pleasure of Parleying with my favorite furry queen?”

As much as he would have loved nothing more than to kill the puppet, he did have to act diplomatically. Glad I don’t have to talk long. <I have her, my queen.>

Brass felt Cadista’s presence upon the Link suddenly expand a thousand fold until it supplanted his mind entirely. As with the other changeling, his eyes were replaced by Cadista’s own. Chrysalis purred with malevolent mirth. “Cadista, it’s been far too long, how have you been?”

“I did not come here to gossip,” she spat back harshly. “I want whatever you’re doing to Twilight Velvet to stop, now!

Chrysalis’ puppet made a show of deep thought while tapping its chin. “… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do not insult my intelligence by playing dumb. That’s beneath even you.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “And what makes you think I have anything to do with dear, poor old Velvet losing her mind?”

“Because it’s exactly the sort of twisted game you would play.” Cadista was holding back a tidal wave of hatred, held in check only by the fact that the drone was a mere puppet. “I swear by the First Mother’s honor I will not let you do to Twilight what you did to me!”

“Funny you should speak about honor.” Chrysalis sighed with faux moroseness. “As much as I would like nothing more than to rip both of your furry hides from your bodies, I am honor bound not to interfere with Twilight… for the time being.”

Honor among changelings was a strange thing. When it came to infiltration against other species, there were no laws, no codes of conduct, no rules of engagement, nothing but the objective mattered, whatever it may be. However, there was honor among royals.

Cadista was caught flatfooted. “Y-you made an agreement with her?”

“Oh, didn’t she tell you?” Chrysalis replied with a superior sneer. “I promised that I would not interfere with her during her little errand, provided of course that she finds the true homeland and returns with artifacts in hoof. A queen’s word is her life, and I intend to keep it.”

Cadista’s first reaction was to immediately check with Twilight, but she checked herself in time. Asking too quickly would reveal our unified hive mind. “I will check with her, and if I find out you’re lying—”

“You’ll what?” Chrysalis interrupted with a coy flare. “You may have been powerful when Yumia was around, but now you barely have the strength to keep the other queens from annexing your lands.”

Cadista’s puppet sniffed indignantly. “That may have been true a few years ago, but now I have stronger allies than you. For all those centuries you’ve been feeding off ponies, you seriously don’t know how Equestria works, do you?”

“I know that when the time comes to settle our account, Cadista, your allies won’t save you.” Chrysalis lost her false jovial tone for one of venom. “Yumia paid the price for trying to ponify herself by shedding her chitin, and both you and Twilight Sparkle will pay for that as well.”

Cadista’s puppet growled as it stepped forward and slapped Chrysalis’ drone across the snout, splashing crimson blood across the tree’s branches. “Don’t you, dare talk dogma to me! We are changelings! It is our right to adapt and alter ourselves to survive and prosper. Yumia paved the way to our future!”

Chrysalis spat blood at Cadista’s puppet, snarling all the while. “It's disgusting. Have you ignored the jungle’s teachings? Prey masquerade as predators to hide from danger, not the other way around. It is one thing to disguise ourselves for infiltration, but to intentionally weaken yourself to be more like ponies, and then have the audacity to want to ally with them is vile!” Chrysalis pulled the other puppet’s face in close so Cadista could taste her rage and hatred. “I will have no part of that future, and neither will you.”

Before she could get a word in edgewise, Chrysalis shoved Cadista’s puppet away from her. “Now get out.”

Cadista saw the black drone’s eyes return to normal, along with several others pressuring her to leave. One of these days, that witch will be dead at my hooves.