//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: In Service to the Queen // by vger //------------------------------// “Your orders are simple,” the Queen tells me. Yes, you sure can make them sound simple, however, 'infiltrating the most heavily fortified city in the land and insinuating myself amongst the population, while awaiting further orders,' is far more difficult than it sounds. I decide to keep this point to myself, however, as I like having my head attached to the rest of my body. I know it's a sentimental thing but I've become rather fond of living over the years. Saying that these orders could quite easily change that; perhaps I could save myself some hassle and get it over with now? “What are you doing standing there; get on with it!” Once again to the point. I lower my head in a sign of deference, keeping my face as neutral as possible. Not that it really matters, I'm pretty sure that she can sense the fact that I'm so afraid right now that I'm about ready to lose control of some of my bodily functions, that or have a heart attack, which to be honest would be preferable. I then raise my head make a sharp about face, and march out of the opulent throne room as quickly as possible. Just fast enough to show that I'm not dawdling, but not so fast as to show disrespect to the Queen, far more difficult than it sounds. The two guards on either side of the double doors look surprised when I emerge, only minutes after I had initially entered; it's not often a changeling comes out of the Queens chambers unscathed. I don't give them a chance to stop me and move off into the gloom of the tunnels, my eyes quickly adjusting to the near total darkness of the rest of the hive. Only the Queen chose to live with such brightness all the time, no one knows why, the rest of the changeling’s preferring near darkness of the caverns. In fact, it was only this Queen who has chosen this, all others before had chosen to live as the rest of their subjects do, taking the role on as a duty. Where as our current Queen has chosen a different path re-directing resources to serve her rather than her serving the rest of the hive; saying that it was this Queen's decision to have me elevated so I can't really complain. Safely far enough away from the royal chambers to not be seen or heard by the royal guards, they do like to find excuses to impression changeling’s of my level for the smallest transgression, all to curry favour with the Queen. I decide now would be a good time to start breathing again. A quick check to make sure I'm all still here, I wouldn't put it past the Queen to rip out my heart and eat it in front of me without me noticing because I was so paralysed with fear, yup, all still here. I breath a sigh of relief, and take a moment to thank the Queen for being merciful. Suddenly the fear I had felt at being called to a personal audience before the Queen seems almost silly, I quietly chuckle to myself. Normally someone at my level getting called before the Queen could only mean one thing; that I had displeased the Queen in some way, that or one of the guards had taken it upon itself to improve its standing by reporting me to the Queen for some none existent infraction. Instead, all I had received were orders, which is strange, normally my orders are relayed to me by an adjunct the Queen having delegated responsibility of the day to running of the Hive, leaving her with the time she needs to do whatever Queens do. Something strange is going on, but it is not for me to theorise, well above my station. Enough thinking I should get started before a guard takes it upon themselves to actually do their job and find me standing around getting my breath back, surely something worthy of another audience before the Queen. I quickly return to my chamber collecting my saddle bag, the only thing I can actually call my own, which is more than most changeling's own, except of course for the Queen. I stole it from a pony while in Manehattan on a scouting expedition, to carry my findings without drawing attention to myself, I could have used my magic, but at the time my skin was that of an earth pony and earth ponies using magic inevitably leads to more attention than I wanted. Since then I'd found it useful and become rather fond of it as it accompanied me on my missions. Strange when I think about it that I would become so attached to such a simple item, but I guess that's why ponies have so many things, they are just to attached too them to get rid of them. Leaving the simple chamber I'd been assigned I head to quartermasters office, the changeling that owns the most, I say own, all the items he possess actually belong to the Queen, but the Queen rarely pays much attention to items once they have been catalogued and filed. I take a route down tunnels that are patrolled less frequently by royal guards hoping to avoid any unpleasant conversations about my saddle bag, like I said any excuse to gain favouritism with the Queen. Upon arrival at the dimly lit cavern, that served as the quartermaster’s office, I pressed the bell resting on a plinth by the main entrance. The bell is an oddity within the hive itself, it was one of the first things brought back when scouting missions to the surface were instigated. I believe the changeling that brought it back had thought to gain favour with the Queen by offering it to her as a gift, instead it lost its head. The Queen was not interested in trinkets, she wanted intelligence on the outside world. Since then all items that had been brought back were evaluated for their usefulness before being presented to the Queen, hence the establishment of a quartermaster's office, and it's caretaker. After a minute of waiting a small, thin changeling trotted out of the gloom, the caretaker. “Hmm off out again are we?” “Why else would I be here.” I respond. As neutrally as possible, you never know who's listening. The Caretaker walks past me, checks up and down the passageway I'd just come from, then turns back, “Perhaps you want to elevate yourself even further by finding some inconsequential infraction of mine to inform the Queen about?” “I don't need to find anything on you, I already know enough.” Which was true the Caretaker's behaviour while never disloyal had always strained the social norms of the Hive, it is a far more social changeling than most with just a hint of insanity, this had of course got it into trouble with the royal guards looking for a quick elevation many times, however each time it had managed to come out unscathed and the guards that had brought the Caretaker before the Queen had never been seen again. After a while, the guards learned that the Caretaker was off limits, perhaps because it did its job so well, or perhaps because it held some sway with the Queen, no Changeling really knew, or dared ask. The Caretaker walks back in front of me then moves behind the plinth raising his front hooves to rest on it next to the bell. “True enough, my friend, so where is it this time, some back water provincial settlement to gather some information, or maybe someone a little busier, like Manehattan of Las Pegasus?” “Canterlot,” I respond watching closely for the caretakers reaction, I'm pleased to see that this news actually makes him pause to process the information, however he quickly recovers. “Really, very interesting, you will be the first then, at least for a number of Generations. I guess you will be after some bits for the journey then.” Oh yes bits, Equestria's native currency, it had taken early explorers a while to figure out the use of these pressed lumps of metal, the concept of an economy or exchanging tokens for items or services being completely alien to the Hive. If something needed doing, then someone was ordered to do it, and what the Hive had was for everyone in the Hive, but mostly the Queen. Once the idea of bits and their use was figured out, then several operations were undertaken to gather a small surplus to be distributed to agents as they went into the field, as an agent with no money inevitably had more difficulty getting around and ended up drawing more attention to themselves than was preferred. “Canterlot being the capital, I'd imagine that it will be a little more pricey than my usual destinations.” “Fishing for a bigger wage are we?” The Caretaker always likes to wind up agents when they come to him, purely because it knew that any reaction could be construed as seditious, so it knew they couldn't respond, I however had long ago mastered the art of sarcasm, which was largely lost on other changeling’s. “Of course not,” I say with false agitation, then switching to a lighter tone, “I'm merely making an observation about my destination.” “Hmm, well you’re not wrong, I'd imagine this could turn into an extended assignment; you may need to consider getting some work, this should last you a while anyway.” The Caretaker pulls out a bag from behind his plinth and hoofs it over to me. The idea of having to work didn't appeal as it leads to more exposure to ponies which made my assignments more complicated, hopefully the assignment would be short so I wouldn't run out of bits. “Oh, and since you're going to Canterlot, I may have something that could prove useful to you.” The Caretaker disappears amongst the shelves, re-emerging a minute later levitating a small book next to him. “Now this was brought back a while ago, so it may be a little dated, but it should have some useful information for you.” I take the book in my magic levitating it close to my face so that I can read the title in the dim light. “The Foals Guide to Canterlot,” then some text at the bottom of the page read, 'A beginners guide to having fun in the capital.” “Yes, I'm sure this will prove to be a wealth of useful information.” I say while rolling my eyes. “Well, it's the only book we have here on Canterlot, other than some heavy history volumes, but they are all the way at the back., and your saddle bag doesn’t look big enough for them.” “This will have to do then.” “That's the spirit, oh and I don't want to spoil anything, but it's a pop up book as well.” “Marvellous.” I slip the book into my saddle bag along with the bits and turn towards the tunnels that will take me to the surface before the Caretaker can find something else that could prove 'useful.' “Oh, one more thing before you go.” “What?” I say rather irritated, thinking I'd managed to get away. “Bring me back some nice trinkets” “There may not be time for souvenirs, but I will see what Canterlot has.” The tunnels take me to the higher levels of the Hive, reaching the older sections and then move into the abandoned caverns. Each generation of Hive had dug deeper into the earth, abandoning the tunnels behind them leaving a maze of caverns behind that to a layman would just look natural. I have to be careful in these tunnels, one wrong turn and I could be lost forever. Many Changeling’s were lost in the early expeditions trying to find their way to the surface, it would make my life easier if the route was marked in some way, however those markings could be used by anyone to find their way to the Hive, and after a thousand years of no contact with the other creatures of Equestria we are not eager to reveal ourselves especially since our innate imitation abilities made us untrustworthy in their eyes. This is what drove us underground in the first place, the persecution we were subject to drove us into the shadows, or at least what our spoken history says, after a thousand years of isolation the reasons for isolating ourselves are bound to have become twisted to suit others desires. The journey through the dark tunnels takes several hours, but eventually I see a dim light ahead, it looks like my memory hasn't failed me, I slow my pace donning a generic skin of a a blue earth pony, while no expedition had ever emerged from the tunnels to find ponies near by, protocol dictated that I should not be in my native form when emerging from the Hive. I leave the caves to find a clear night sky above me, the moon shinning brighter than I could recall it doing so before, the stars complementing the moon twinkling softly in the tapestry of the sky that almost looks alive. It takes my breath away, quiet literally as my chest tightens in a panic, after spending most of my life in a closed space to have to deal with such an open space always took some practice. I close my eyes, and concentrate on breathing ,trying not to think about the vast open nothing around me, slowly my chest starts to relax. After a few minutes I can open my eyes and enjoy the view without panicking, but I still feel nervous, this feeling never goes away, at least not until I'm back underground again, but that could be for a while. Looking around I find the small hill in the dim light that marks the direction of the nearest Pony settlement, a days canter away, one last deep breath and I'm off with purpose, the sooner I get started the sooner I can return to the comfort of the Hive.