Twilight tried to make herself comfortable on her bed, for she was shaking all over due to the wealth of knowledge that lay before her. The chest was large, filled with dozens of crystals, and many tomes which smelled of old times long forgotten, scents which made her want to sing, but she was able to control herself.
For now, she had a particular subject she wanted to get information on, specifically relating to the anatomy of changelings queens. Luckily her search was not too hard, for many of the crystals were labeled in japony, which allowed for several words to be fit on small surfaces, and she quickly found one pertaining to changeling queens.
However, when she activated the crystal, she was not ready for the pony who appeared before her, for it was the spitting image of the great Starswirl the Bearded, the greatest mage of Equestria.
“This is Starswirl Stargazer, here with another recording for her Royal Highness Princess Platinum. I hope you appreciate this princess, because it practically cost me my horn to be able to study one of their queens in detail, for they are very guarded about their queens…anatomy.”
“Like all changelings, their queens are all female, but also like regular changelings, they carry with them the genitive organs of the male gender, so they are capable of breeding with both sexes…”
Twilight stopped the recording, blushing profusely as she tried to quite the many thoughts racing through her head. Part of her brain, the part that was connected to her hormones and her lower regions, was coming up with some very perverse ideas regarding changeling anatomy. However, the louder part of her brain, the one governed by science and reason, saw many possibilities this presented, but she would go over them later, and instead returned to the recording.
“…and producing children with other races. However, unlike regular changelings, changeling queens are only capable of producing other queens when breeding with other races. Changeling queens can only produce drones through the use of a large embryotic sack, which I am displaying beside me.”
His horn lit up, the image of a queen with a large embryotic sack coming from between her hind legs and expanding behind her, the sack being nearly four times the queens size.
“This embryotic sack is capable of producing one hundred drone eggs per month, allowing them to produce up to twelve hundred changeling drones every year. However when it comes to producing new queens for the hive, the new queen is usually grown inside the womb of one of the older queens.”
“Now from my research, I have actually found that there is a separate pouch located above the womb which allows for the carrying of multiple unfertilized queen embryos, allowing for…”
Twilight stopped the recording once again, her eyes widened in realization as the facts dawned on her. This was how Chrysalis was able to carry the child with her in such without it being bonded to her; she must have been carrying the embryo in this pouch. But…it still didn’t explain how that embryo had ended up in her, though hopefully Starswirl would have the answers.
“…the queens to carry unfertilized eggs till a new queen is required. I have also discovered through my studies that in periods of high stress and extreme danger, a subconscious instinct with the changeling queen will use there reserve magic to transport it into the closest non hostile entity, though it seems to target those females with exceptionally powerful magic.”
“I know this must seem farfetched, but I was allowed to test this many times, and each time I put the queen who allowed this study under duress, the embryo in her carrying pouch would teleport into the womb of my student Clover, despite the fact that Pansy and Smart Cookie were also in the room, for it targeted her magic. However, it did not teleport into her when I had her putting the queen under duress, instead putting it into Smart Cookie, who has stronger magic then Pansy in regards of shear power.”
“If a queen embryo is teleported within a new host, any queen has up to a month to retrieve it and return it to its carrying pouch, otherwise the embryo will merge with the womb of its new mother, and pregnancy will begin. I will be remaining longer to study more about this new race, and hopefully we will soon be able to open better trade negotiations with them, till then, this is your faithful servant Starswirl Stargazer, sighing off.”
The recording ended, and Twilight sat there baffled, for this was beyond anything she had ever expected. It now made sense why she was pregnant, and why the embryo had ended up in her, instead of anypony else that had been in the room.
However, she now had a new problem which was troubling her. Chrysalis had stated when they had met that her race was dying, but Terror had said during their meeting that regular changelings could breed, which didn’t make any sense.
She began browsing once again through the crystals and books, quickly finding a new recording by Clover the Clever, activating it and being presented with the image of Clover the Clever, who much to her shock looked almost exactly like her save for her eyes.
“This is Clover the Clever reporting on my findings pertaining to the importance of changeling queens in changeling society. As my teacher Starswirl no doubt reported, regular changelings are able to reproduce with other ponies or with themselves and produce young, so a lot of ponies have started to wonder what the queens provide that makes them puts them so high in changeling society.”
“Many changelings were not willing to talk to be about why the queens are so important, but finally I was able to get the answer from a willing source, one of the queens themselves. As it turns out, the queens are not only the ruling body of the changeling hive, they are also the physical manifestations of the changeling hive mind…”
Twilight stopped the recording; her eyes widened in shock at Clovers words. The physical embodiment of the hive mind, it seemed hard to believe, for she couldn’t think of any being capable of this feat. After the first changeling invasion, scientists had discovered the fact that the changelings were connected by a hive mind, and those that had touch it for long periods had gone mad from the mental backwash alone. If what Clover was saying was true, then the mind of a changeling queen had to be something built for that kind of mental stress, so with that thought she started the recording again.
“…Without the changeling queens, regular changelings would have no sense of self, and would basically be mindless automatons functioning only to feed and procreate. However, this is not a one sided relationship, for the changeling queens need the other changelings as much as the changelings need them. As I know from my own studies, the brain of a changeling queen is one of the most complex ever encountered in our world, rivaling the mind power of even the oldest of dragons. Despite this though, they still cannot survive the mental stress which comes from being the embodiment of the hive.”
“From what the queen I talked to was able to tell me, it is like being born with thousands of voices inside your head, all of them wishing to be free and all of them vying for control. When queens are younger, they are able to handle this mental stress due to not having any concrete sense of self. But as they get older, and they begin to form their own voice, the mental pressure from the other voices begins to take its toll. This is the reason why Changeling Queens are able to produce so many drones in such a short time, for each drone that is born takes control of one of these voices, giving it a body with which to walk the world in.”
“This connection between a queen and her drones results in a constant exchange of information, for when a changeling dies, the voice given to them by the queen returns to her, allowing her to absorb all their experiences and memories before releasing them back into the hive mind to await a new vessel. This is why the death of any queen is so tragic for a hive, for when the queen dies, the voices have nowhere to return to when they to die, and everything that they are and were is lost to the hive, never to be recovered.”
“Now a changeling queen can survive such mental strain for a long period, but it is not recommended, as it can lead to severe mental degradation. This degradation can take many years to accumulate, but from what the queen I was talking to said the maximum a queen can go before the degradation begins to take physical toll is one thousand years, then the queen in question will begin to…”
Twilight didn’t wait for her to finish, instead bolting from her bed, her horn ablaze as she wrote a letter to the princess as fast as she could, bursting into the room that the girls were in and turning toward Spike.
“Spike, I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia now!”