//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: The Locust Hive: Maternal Madness // by Petro Beherha //------------------------------// Every Changeling in the Locust Hive cheered in celebration of Mother Mae-Eye's defeat, and their safe return to Equestria. Though tired and suffering a terrible headache from using all of her magic, Queen Erranda was glad to see them happy and safe from calamity, and Mae-Eye recieve her just reward. But the good feelings were short-lived, for Chitin groaned painfully as he laid on the ground. The drones made way for the queen, who ran quickly over to him. "Chitin!" She tried waking him up, "what happened? Are you alright?!" He breathed shakily as he looked up to see her. "I... I am sorry... mother," he answered weakly, "that witch... struck me down... after I used her wand." The changelings gasped. Scratt galloped to him, "Chitin? Oh my gosh, are you hurt? Is he dying?! Oh no, please don't die on me!" The queen snapped to him, "Scratt, step out of this! I'm trying to help him!" The drone shyly backed off. Considering he suffered from blunt damage rather than cutting, there was no bleeding on Chitin. Regardless, she gently scanned his body with her hooves for anything that might represent an injury. When she reached his shoulder and upper torso, he groaned in pain, and she stopped. "Oh no," Erranda gasped, "his bones are shot." The drones gasped again. She continued, "I could cast a healing spell on him, but my magic is depleted right now. I'm afraid we'll have to care for him until I regenerate enough magic to do one." "No," he protested weakly. "I can... still..." When Chitin tried to get up, he would only jerk in pain and go back down. "No, Chitin." Erranda told him, "stay down. We'll find another way to heal you." "You have nothing to worry about, your highness," a soft, mysterious female voice assured. "I will take care of that." Queen Erranda's ears perked, and then looked back up to see, to her surprise, another figure in front of her. Everypony else did the same, and it turned out to be a tall, beautiful mare of Queen Erranda's size. Her smooth, clean coat was colored white, though with a very faint tinge of pink. Her sparkling, perpetually flowing mane and tail sported about four light colors, and part of her mane covered one of her purple eyes. An elaborate cutie mark of an orange sun was emblazoned on her flank. Interestingly, the pony possessed both a long unicorn horn and large, powerful pegasus wings at once, meaning that this was no ordinary pony. She wore lavish gold horseshoes and a large sort of breastplate necklace adorned with a diamond-shaped purple gem. And finally, behind her horn, she wore a golden crown that also had the same sort of gem. The graceful mare calmly trotted toward their direction. The changelings, especially the queen herself, stood themselves ready as though she were an intruder. But she showed no sign of fear or aggression, only a calm smile. "Coming through," she said politely as she entered the crowd of changelings, who cautiously backed away from her and hissed in fear. By the time she approached Chitin, Queen Erranda readied herself against her. "Step away, pony." She threatened the alicorn, who only raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know why you are here, but if you dare harm Chitin, so help me I will make sure of it that-" When she closed her eyes, the alicorn's horn glowed with a very light gold aura. She gently lowered her head to him and touched his shoulder, and soon his body was awash with the same golden aura. After it faded, Chitin's pain disappeared from his body, and then he slowly got up on his hooves without any problems. The queen was left breathless by this mare's mysterious power. The drones stopped hissing at her. "But... why did you heal Chitin?" She asked still in awe, "and why aren't you attacking us?" The alicorn giggled. "Because I saw the pickle you were in. And don't you worry, little ones. I am not here to harm you, but to tell you a message." "Pardon me for asking," Erranda said more diplomatically. "But who are you?" "My name is Celestia." She introduced herself, "Princess Celestia, and my sister and I are the leaders of Equestria. Pleased to meet you!" If Erranda wasn't so overwhelmed before, now she was, due to the fact that Celestia both healed Chitin's broken bones where she couldn't and that she was the ruler of the pony nation. Well, Erranda thought to herself. She did heal my son, so I guess it'll be worth a shot. "I too am pleased to meet you, Princess of Equestria. I am Queen Erranda of the Locust Hive, and thank you for saving my son here." "My pleasure! Although it looks like you need help yourself," the princess added when she noticed Erranda wincing from her headache. "Here," her horn glowed again, "let me set you right." "No, it's quite alright. I-" Princess Celestia already touched the queen's head with her horn, and she was surrounded with the aura, alleviating her headache and restoring her to full strength. "Okay then," she resumed. "You said you came here to deliver a message, what is it you wish to tell us?" "I sensed a terrible presence lurking in my kingdom, so I sent some scouts to investigate. Three days later (that is, this morning), they reported to me about a mysterious shed in the middle of this forest inhabited by a never-before-seen being, who captured an entire swarm of changelings and defeated their queen with her magic." "Wow," Scratt commented. "That sounds like us." "I was going to send my students to deal with this crisis," Celestia continued, "but then something unexpected happened. Her presence disappeared, along with all traces of her magic. I was very intrigued at this, so I teleported here to check, and saw the very same changelings from the report. "So let me ask you a question, Queen Erranda. What happened here?" The queen told the princess about her whole experience in detail. She started with how the witch named Mother Mae-Eye did not actually defeat her, but rather knocked her unconscious. When she woke up, Erranda went to rescue her drones, which led her to an artificial reality hidden underneath the shed. She then elaborated on Mae-Eye's entire plan to destroy Equestria through her bake-and-sell method (to which the Celestia shuddered), and then gain enough power to defeat her former adversaries back on her home world. The queen went on to her own plan to restore her hive, including the cure through slapping, and how she succeeded. And finally, Erranda described her final confrontation with Mother Mae-Eye, how they banished her, and then how she herself sealed her fate. "Oh," Princess Celestia surmised, "so it was you who vanquished her?" "With the help of my son, yes," she answered confidently. But she suddenly gradually lowered her head down and turned away from the princess. "Is something amiss?" She lost her smile, "are you not happy your children are back in one piece?" "I am, but..." she sighed. She thought about how she treated her drones this morning, and how it led her into almost losing her hive, and therefore her dignity as queen. Would the princess judge her? She knew that ponies and changelings do not go well together, especially with the latter's treatment of the former. "You know, princess," Erranda confessed. "I may be to blame for my loss of the drones to Mother Mae-Eye. They were behaving a bit unruly lately, so as the queen I had to control them by monitoring their behavior in any way I can. But this has made me unpopular with my subjects, so they rebelled against me and allowed themselves to get captured by her. I wish to apologize to them and reform my policy so we can live more at ease." Princess Celestia smiled again, "you have no need to apologize, it is good to see that you care for them. Though you are right that you'll need to make better decisions next time, because while your intent was good, it's how you do so that is equally important. "And I have some good news for you," she added. "Not only have you bravely stood up to rescue your subjects in a time of need, but you also saved Equestria from a potential threat. This shows you have much greater compassion for your subjects, and the world as a whole, than most of your kind. Another Changeling queen would simply abandon them and replace their numbers." Erranda felt a bit flattered. "You know," she figured, "that is true now that I think about it." "Perhaps what I should really say is," Princess Celestia corrected herself, "thank you for saving our kingdom, Queen Erranda." Queen Erranda had mixed feelings about this. While she stopped Mother Mae-Eye partly with Equestria in mind, she didn't save it out of concern for the native ponies, but rather because the land itself could be in danger, as the lack of food would starve the Locusts to death. But then again she and her hive cared for the land, too, because they are a fundamental part of the world just as much as ponies, animals, and even grass. So perhaps that still counts as saving Equestria. "Our pleasure, Princess Celestia," Erranda smiled. Princess Celestia smiled back, and then turned to the drones. "And to all of you, as well!" The changelings responded in various responses of bashfulness, modesty, or pride. "Oh gosh, you make us blush!" "You're welcome!" "Don't thank us, we get these things all the time!" Celestia giggled again as listened to them amusingly. "Now, please excuse me," she turned to walk away from the changelings and towards the edge of the clearing. "I must return to Canterlot to fulfill my duties." She stopped to look back to the Locust Hive. "Oh, and one more thing. Please stay out of trouble with the ponies, we are the rulers and guardians of their kingdom after all. Enjoy your day!" And with that, she cast a magic spell and teleported away in a bright flash of light. Queen Erranda sighed as she turned to her subjects with ears laid down. "Look, everypony," she started. "I'm sorry that I've been such a foal to you guys. It's just that because I'm queen, I wanted things as smoothly as possible. I wanted you all to behave just so there won't be any problems. But... it looks like I got so carried away with it that I didn't stop to think about how I made you feel. "I know this might sound a lot to you guys after how I've been," she continued. "But will you please forgive me?" The drones all exchanged glances, and stared at each other, and then to the queen, and back to each other. After they all finally turned to back to her, one of them endeared, "not to worry, queenie. We forgive you." Queen Erranda sighed in relief, and felt her spirits suddenly lifted as though they were dragged down by some weight that she carried for a while. For some funny reason, she even felt a little younger. "Thank you," she smiled. "Now," she turned back forward and stood proudly in her renewed enthusiasm. "Shall we all chow down this place like before?" The changelings protested loudly behind her. When she checked back on them, Erranda was shocked to find they were still full and exhausted from earlier. "Oh... shoot." Erranda retracted embarrassingly, remembering the events from before. She eased back up, and smiled. "You know what, take a break. It's been a long day." The End