Aegis and Blitz all but burst from the moving freight train in a dead heat as it settled into PR North Station. It had pulled into the railyard deep within the eternally busy industrial sector of the hive. Had it been any other occasion the pair would have waited for a passenger train, but time was critical. Both proto-queens’ only goal was reaching the hatchery. Profound aggravation and jubilation coursed through them in almost equal measure. <Why did Princess Celestia have to host that joint conference with us on the same day our first eggs were hatching!?> Blitz cried for the thirtieth time in the past three days.
Aegis only spared her counterpart a pained glance before returning her attention to the front so she could weave around an aluminum foundry. <That’s running an alliance for you.> Can’t believe I’m the one telling her that.
The pair made their way through the hive with prismatic and lavender contrails racing after them. They even fought to ignore their rapidly shortening breath, such was their haste. By the time they reached the Tree of Harmony, the proto-queens were dead on their hooves. Aegis had to lean against the wall while Blitz morphed to stand on four legs in order to keep from dropping fully to her belly. It actually surprised her on how odd it felt to have hooves instead of hands.
<I really wish we’d finish growing already so I can work to get my old stamina back,> Aegis said mentally so she didn’t interrupt her heaving breath. Everything from her wings, legs, and chest were crying out in pain. No wonder Aunty hated her time as a proto-queen.
<At least we can’t get fat cause of the egg laying,> Blitz jested in her silver-lining approach. “It’s only for seven more weeks.”
Except Aunty never got even half her old speed back. “Fair enough, I guess.”
Blitz’s small smile faded a little after noticing some of Aegis’ disapproval was directed at her, so she shifted her stance to bipedal again before she was ready.
She was overcome by a dizzy spell, but Aegis used her magic to catch her before shuffling forward to support Blitz in her arms. “Come on, Blueberry, we’re close enough to practice teleporting.” Blitz raised an eyebrow at the new pet name, but didn’t complain.
The enchantments powered by the Tree normally made it impossible to teleport into and out of the entirety of the hatchery complex, but the proto-queens’ royal bloodline allowed them to partially bypass that security measure. With a series of three quick teleports, Aegis and Blitz blinked their way past nymphs, caretakers, and the hundreds of incubators.
While the hatchery was the name for the entire complex, the nursery was only a subsection of it, albeit a big one. The division between the main chamber of incubators and the nursery was nearly fifteen meters of solid rock with numerous entryways behind noise dampening doors, making the separation a stark one.
Unlike most places within Phoenix Roost, the nursery was completely coated in purple and blue wax in symmetric patterns all over the floor and walls. The nursery itself was partially under construction with work crews striving to expand the subterranean complex as a whole. The nursery was grid-like in its layout of hallways and rooms, so Aegis and Blitz found their destination with ease.
And there they were.
Bouncing around in a playpen with two supervising caretakers, Blitz and Aegis found their first three sets of hatchlings. They were rolling around and playing with pillows, plush toys, and each other. However, the moment they saw their mothers, all twenty four nymphs rushed to the fence jumping for joy as they tried to reach the proto-queens.
<Shall we?> Aegis asked Blitz with a grin cleaving her muzzle.
Blitz responded by flying over the fence and settling down on her belly while her blue nymphs raced over to jump all over her. Aegis quickly followed suite by landing near Blitz, allowing her purple nymphs to tackle her.
Aegis held four nymphs in her arms and lovingly squashed them, completely forgetting her earlier fatigue. Each nymph was mesmerized by their mother’s large eyes, chirping and trilling their delight at her presence, while the other nymphs crowded around Aegis’ neck and torso. While the nymphs in her arms nuzzled Aegis’ arms and face, the proto-queen herself was shedding tears of unadulterated joy. All the misery about how restrained she was due to her maturation into a full queen fled her mind now that she was surrounded by her children. Aegis started rubbing a nymph’s mane, making the little bug curl up into her hand. Last but no less important, was the love the nymphs poured into her. It was like nothing she had ever felt before, pure, innocent, and absolute. Only Twilight’s love for her was superior to this, but Aegis’ mother was only one person, not a dozen. I’m finally here, Aegis thought as she magically pulled more nymphs into her hug. All the work, all the tests, it was all sooo worth it.
Aegis’ ear perked up at the sound of sobbing nearby. She turned her head to find Blitz with a huge smile and misting eyes as she had gathered as many nymphs into her arms as she could fit. Aegis smirked as Blitz buried her muzzle into the pile of nymphs as they all clung to their mother. Slowly, Blitz wormed her muzzle free of her children while able to have one eye on her counterpart. “I can’t thank you enough, Aegis.”
“I told you being a queen would be the best feeling in the world,” Aegis shot back with a ‘told-you-so' smirk.
Blitz sniffled and nodded while ignoring a few accidental horn pokes and jabbing little hooves. On a scale of insignificant prices, they were mere drops compared to an ocean. “If you hadn’t talked me into joining you into becoming a royal…” Blitz couldn’t find the proper words in the face of the mind-numbing bliss of her nymphs’ presence. Just how close was I to declining Aegis’ original offer? A whim? What if she had asked me on a different day? What if I had been assigned a long-term project, would I have dropped that for the tests? She turned away from Aegis and pulled her head back a bit to look at her gathered nymphs. Their glowing eyes full of wonder and love, the little tuffs of multi-colored manes that sang a sonnet that resonated with her heart on a level rocked Blitz to her core. I don’t care if it’s the royal blood making me think this way, I love being a queen-mother.
Both proto-queens and nymphs cuddled in peace for several moments until a familiar voice cut the silence. “Kinda reminds me of you when you cuddled your first nymphs, Rainbow.”
Both Aegis and Blitz snapped their heads around to the pair of caretakers bearing the eyes and cutie marks of their mothers. Twilight Sparkle held a knowing and proud smile while Rainbow Dash did the same with even more excitement. “Can’t blame her,” Rainbow snarked with her grin widening at the sight of her granddaughters. “They’re awesomely cute.”
Aegis took her nymphs into her magic so she could stand up. The nymphs giggled and squealed at the sensation of levitation. Since the caretaker drones were so short compared to her bipedal stance, Aegis dropped to her knees so she could rope her mother into a crushing hug. She nuzzled Twilight, while the matriarch lovingly did the same. “Thank you for believing in me momma.” Aegis finally caved in and started crying as well. She floated the nymphs over so they could climb over her again. “I promise to be worthy of this.”
Twilight pulled out of the hug and planted a motherly kiss on Aegis’ brow. “My dear, you’ve already proven yourself time and time again. A queen must keep the best interests of the hive in mind, and you have yet to cause any doubt.” Aside from the pyromania, but that’s controllable.
For her part, Blitz giggled as she wiggled her way out of the swarm of sky blue nymphs to glomp her mother. She started whispering hushed gratitude over and over in her mother’s ear as she didn’t trust her cracking voice. Rainbow Dash bore it all with knowing grace, with her own first nymphs being pushed to the forefront of her mind. “So what’d I tell ya, girl? Being a momma is the best feeling in the world isn’t it?” Blitz could only reply by nodding and hugging her mother even tighter.
Eventually, Blitz remembered she didn’t have to vocalize to speak. <It’s indescribable, momma. For the first time since my rebirth, I feel so… complete.>
<Well, as Granny Caddy/mother always tells me, no queen is complete without her children,> the two queens said in unison.
The four royals, plus twenty four nymphs, basked in each other’s presence. It was Aegis that let go first, if only to remove the three little changelings hanging on her mane. She turned around and levitated all of her nymphs to sit in front of her, making Rainbow and Blitz break contact to observe. “What’s up?” Rainbow inquired with a short pained yelp when one of the nymphs poked her puppet’s ribs with a horn.
“I know the caretakers usually name us, but between you and momma, I think we have a tradition to maintain.” Aegis hummed in thought as the nymphs started swarming over her again.
Blitz walked over on all four legs so her nymphs could ride on her back. “What tradition?”
Aegis started rubbing her drones’ heads, finding it oddly soothing to pet their manes and scratch behind their ears. “I got my name after catching momma’s attention, as did you when Aunty Rainbow first saw you.”
Blitz gave her mother a sidelong glare to which Rainbow snickered and shrugged. “Hey, your name fit like a glove at the time, Blitzkrieg.”
Twilight watched in silence at what her daughter would see in her first few children. She was all too familiar with the rather loud, and sometimes obnoxiously cute, chirping and trilling from recent hatchlings. So who’s it going to be, young one?
Following Aegis’ lead, Blitz tried to think of a way to reveal something special about a particular drone in her three clutches as well. Her attention spread out among the toys as her children returned to gathering around her like ducklings. Blitz discarded the pillows in lieu of the plushies and baby blocks. Well… If Aegis was named because she defended Aunty from a clockwerk head, and I got my stupid name from running all over the place to chew on things, then maybe I can find someling who stands apart.
While Blitz’s thoughts were kept to herself, Aegis was thinking on almost the exact same lines. Looking around, she found a giant stuffed teddy bear easily the size of a queen off in the corner. Just like momma did, I have to find my little protector, Aegis mused with bubbly laughter.
Twilight and Rainbow shared quiet snickering, knowing full well how their royal daughters felt. The two matriarchs drew close so they could lean on one another. While the war over the jungle weighed heavily upon them, Twilight and Rainbow Dash allowed themselves this little moment.
Aegis watched helplessly as her progeny climbed all over her, completely ignoring the teddy bear with mild exasperation. Taking a page from her mother, Aegis used a touch of magic to throw her voice into the bear. “Rawr! I’m going to eat you all!” she growled while making the bear take swipes at herself.
It took the nymphs barely a moment to take notice of the supposed threat before most of them charged in wings buzzing. Aegis grinned with glee as one nymph starting biting the bear’s paws, while others jumped on the legs and swarmed over the brown plushy like ants. Yessss… goood. One of you will be my champion for sure, just like I was… am to momma.
Aegis continued to throw growls and childish threats through the bear while her dauntless warrior brood stalwartly acted in her defense. Even some of Blitz’s nymphs heard the terrifying monster of ultimate fluffiness and joined in on the assault. “You think you can defeat me?!” Aegis all but snort-giggled at the scene. “I am Commander Bear of Bearington!” It was only then that Aegis noticed one nymph was crawling her way towards the head of the bear. Aegis angled the plushy so the hatchling wouldn’t fall, in addition to allowing the nymph to reach the head more quickly. She waited for the nymph to reach the face before throwing her voice again. “Rrraaawwrrrr!”
To Aegis and Twilight’s surprise, the nymph immediately looked to Aegis while the bear roared. The little changeling waved at Aegis frantically with her left foreleg that was shakily trying to morph into a hand, but she couldn’t get much further than the hoof splitting apart for a few moments before reverting back. Does she know it’s a trick? both purple royals inquired.
Scanning her other children, Aegis saw each and every one of them, including Blitz’s nymphs, were attacking the teddy bear, but the one on it’s face was nuzzling the bear. Twilight’s face lit up at the little one’s actions and leaned into Aegis’ ear. “Looks like you found the smart one, relatively speaking.”
Nodding, Aegis allowed the bear to admit defeat and fall limply to the ground while she levitated the investigative little nymph and cradled her in her arms. “Looks like I found my little... Espy.” Aegis rubbed the nymph’s mane, making her curl up in her mother’s hands while letting off a content trill.
Espy didn’t have her mother alone for long before all her siblings rushed back over to tackle Aegis.
For her part, Blitz was having less luck. With Aegis’ interference with the bear, her attempts at finding her special little ling among her hatchlings with a few building blocks was thwarted. <Aegis! You know how protective hatchlings get.>
<Sorry, ‘bout that,> Aegis replied sheepishly with a shrug. She started tickling Espy while levitating some of her nymphs on top of her while giving some to Twilight to cuddle.
Scrunching her muzzle, but letting the issue drop, Blitz hummed at her nymphs while Rainbow Dash cantered over to be beside her. “Don’t worry too much about finding a point-one percenter now, Blitz, so long as I’m here we’ll find...” Rainbow trailed off as she spied a nymph crawling up on top of Blitz’s head. Blitz’s eyes went crossed as she attempted to follow her mother’s gaze where her horn was. The nymph buried its muzzle below Blitz’s mane and started licking her horn. Shivers of all kinds ran all up and down Blitz’s spine and deep in her brain at the slobbery assault. Every attempt to try and levitate the wily hatchling sputtered and died since Blitz couldn’t focus properly. Rainbow Dash would have come to her daughter’s rescue, but Blitz was cringing so badly it looked like her face was being stretched. Rainbow Dash let off in full tilt laughter as Blitz curled in on herself while her magic sputtered and spat erratically out of her horn in useless attempts to get the nymph away from her head. “S-s-stop that!”
Aegis and Twilight looked on in bemusement until Blitz finally gathered enough wits to grab the nymph with her hands and removed her from her perch. Blitz shot the nymph a scowling the likes of which has not been seen on this Earth, but the little drone only chirped happily and wiggled in her mother’s hands.
“Hey Blitz,” Aegis said with a smirk, “you should name her Slobber Dog.” Renewed chuckling came out of Rainbow while Twilight hid her giggling behind a hoof.
Blitz huffed and turned away from her counterpart. “And inflict my misery on her? No thanks.” Rainbow gruffed and waved a dismissive hoof at the verbal jab. That’s one family tradition that’s never getting off the ground. Cradling the nymph in the crook of her arm, Blitz did her best to wipe away the drool from her horn. “I think I’ll name you Gremlin.” The filly let off an evil cackle at her mother’s wiry grin. “Fitting to be sure.”
Hours later, Aegis and Blitz laid their eggs for the day, which gave Twilight and Rainbow an unwanted excuse to return their full attention back to the jungle. Shortly thereafter, the caretakers were in the process of shooing the proto-queens out of the nursery. In fact, Chief Caretaker Gear Ratio had just finished physically pushing Aegis over the threshold between the nursery and the hatchery-proper. “You can play with them as much as you like later on when they’re old enough to leave the nursery, but as you can see,” she waved a wing back at the hundreds of young nymphs they had just walked by, “we have our hooves full here, and I’m sure there’s lots for you to do too, sister.”
Aegis had to buzz her wings at the door to keep from falling. She glanced at Blitz who was equally miffed at being separated from her hatchlings. “Come on, Gear, they’re our first kids. Can’t we at least get the day with them?”
Caretaker Feather Soft, who had been escorting Blitz to the door, bowed placating to the proto-queens. “Don’t worry, we just want to make sure they’re all well fed and healthy enough in the four months before they can attend school. You know how much work goes into each nymph right?”
“Ah…” Aegis drew a blank along with Blitz. <Did you ever take part in the caretaker corps before going into engineering?>
<It doesn’t work like that,> Blitz corrected, <Not that you would know going straight into the military arm… but ahhh.> “Okay, you win,” Blitz relented with Aegis reluctantly doing the same. “I still need to check up on the aeronautics retooling of factory seven anyway.”
“Oooh, I’ll go check on the R&D girls about that bullet cartridge Lyra gave us.” With a happy spring in her step, Aegis skipped her way through the hatchery, singing the praises of queen-hood.
Satisfied the proto-queens were going to occupy themselves, the caretakers left Blitz standing there and retreated into the nursery. Blitz’s gaze turned to a small subsection in the hatchery-proper at the very far north end. That’s right. I haven’t seen Lyra since I saw her enter the cocoon. I know it’s only been a few days, but, it couldn’t hurt to see her.
Blitz took the time to walk down the vast subterranean complex, rather than teleport or fly. The massive support pillars blanketed in chrysalises and the constant movement of blue and purple changelings of all ages brought up a of surge of anticipation that filled her chest with joy. Even after so many years, it’s crazy to think that I’ll have a hatchery like this running at full steam once Tradewinds is founded.
Surrounded by all of her brothers and sisters, Blitz wanted to go back to using four legs, but Aegis’ words ran in her mind at the thought of it. “I have faith that our adaptation is far and above any other single generation improvement ever before. The only difference is that we have to work to prove it. We can only really do that if we start thinking on two hooves by living on two hooves.”
Ultimately, Blitz allowed herself to drop down to four legs anyway. You know what? I believe we should think of this as having the benefits of both worlds, and we shouldn’t neglect one form for the other.
Smiling at her new revelation, Blitz mulled over how to express this idea properly to Aegis. Unfortunately, Blitz had gotten into the habit of rubbing her chin while in thought, and it was annoying difficult to do that while on all fours. With a grumble, Blitz held her ground and tried to walk on three legs. This isn’t over, Aegis!
She lost herself in thought for the rest of the walk over to the rebirth section until she almost tripped over several bundled small tubes. “Woaah.” Blitz took to the air slightly before looking around to catch her bearings. She was halfway into the rebirth section, which was really little more than a small alcove in the granite walls. The stone was covered in purple wax while five alcoves consisted of the entirety of the area.
With the sheer expense of rebirth, there were only two filled pods. One was a volunteer to become a new strain of drone for future consort purposes while the other housed Lyra Heartstrings. Blitz was taken aback when she saw Cadista munching on a plate of tacos while watching over Lyra, and hadn’t noticed the grey matriarch until now. “Gramma Cadista,” Blitz announced reverently, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Cadista swallowed her bite and turned her gaze away from the sleeping form of Lyra to take in her favorite blue granddaughter. “I’m somewhat of an expert on pony-to-changeling rebirths, so I thought that my eye could be of some use here.”
Blitz cantered up to her. “Come on, gramma, you know as well as I that Gadget wanted you to get some fresh air. At least during lunch.”
“And I’m getting so much of that down here, now aren’t I?” Cadista added with an amused sniff. “It’s been a few days, girl, how’ve you been?”
“Well I just got back from playing with my children for the first time,” Blitz replied dreamily. She twirled in the air as the memory of it made her yearn to return. As a compromise, she brushed her nymphs’ minds with her love and attention.
I guess there’s no hope for any of my royal descendants being as aloof as queens should be, Cadista shook her head before taking on an edge of command in her tone. “Well we better make sure their mother is healthy. Stand up straight!”
Purely out of reflex, Blitz jumped up to two legs and stood at attention with her arms spread out. Cadista’s horn started to glow as she started her inspection of Blitz’s coat around her stomach and flanks. “I assume Gear or one of the others has already done a check up on you today?”
“Yes, ma’am. I couldn’t stomach doubling my milk intake, so I figured I could mix in evaporated milk into all the jelly I’ve been eating.” Blitz turned a little green around the mouth, “wasn’t my best success.” That stuff is gross after the first two glasses.
“Lateral thinking, glad to see Twilight’s efforts on you are bearing fruit, even if you only achieved moderate success. Now if only I can get Aegis to do so more regularly,” Cadista deadpanned with a flat expression.
“She tries, gramma, but you know her brain’s on security and war all the time.”
“Yes, yes, I know all too well how the militant queen operates,” Cadista replied with a huff. “At any rate, about the milk. Your brood will probably need to keep a high calcium diet more than any other.” Cadista scrutinized Blitz’s coat, and was pleased at the rich color and fullness of it, indicating excellent health. “I would suggest finding a way to alter your personal taste to enjoy milk rather than tolerate it. In the meantime, try yogurt and cheeses instead.”
“Yes, ma’am. But you know how Aegis is,” Blitz stated almost automatically. “She’s probably more of a reason we have the two queen system than any sort of tradition you and Yumia started.” By now, Blitz only fidgeted and flinched briefly at the poking and prodding. Cadista only hummed in muted contemplation at the comment. “I swear, sometimes I wonder if she should be the one with blue fur instead of me,” Blitz added while idly tugging on her forearm’s fur.
“Are you saying you would switch?” Cadista replied. She started pulling the fur apart to inspect the skin underneath.
Giving a smirk Cadista missed, Blitz flipped her rainbow mane to cover her eye and played with it in her fingers. “Not a chance, I love mother’s mane colors. Aunty Twilight’s colors are nice, but mine are just too perfect.”
“Hmm. A nation of purple and blue queens. That’d be a sight to see, though I wonder if you might add some variety to the colors later on.”
Blitz’s ears wilted along with her good cheer fading. “You are going to see it, right, gramma? New colors or not?”
Cadista adopted a thin smile and nuzzled her granddaughter. “Don’t worry about me, young one, you’ve got enough on your plate as it is. How’s your hip? Has going back and forth revealed any abnormalities?”
Rolling her eyes at the obvious topic shift, Blitz started an old exercise of switching back and forth from biped to quadruped stances. “I start to get a little sluggish if I switch too often in a day, and I start to get sore.”
“Hmm, could just be fatigue, the fact that you’re still growing, or any number of things. We’ll have to fully investigate after your maturation is complete.” Cadista placed an ear against Blitz’s hip and motioned for her to continue. “And your forelimb shifting?”
“Same thing, too often and I get slow and sore. Plus I get really hungry if I shift them more than once or twice a day.”
When Blitz’s hip joints didn’t make any unordinary sounds, Cadista stepped away and appraised her bipedal granddaughter. Her inspection complete, she brought forth the plate of food which still had three more tacos on it. Blitz’s eyes dilated in stark hunger that blasted its way to the front. Blitz didn’t even hesitate as her body demanded what had to be done. She wolfed down all three before having the wits to even ask. “I’ll have some royal jelly tacos brought down for you.”
“Eww, jelly on tacos?”
Cadista tittered inwardly as she inspected Blitz’s hands as they slowed their transition between hoof and hand so they could be better evaluated. “You need more than just calories, child, properly made royal jelly has the majority of everything you could possibly need.”
Blitz had eaten the tacos so quickly she had barely tasted any of it, but the thought of more jelly unsettled her stomach. “I wouldn’t mind if I wasn’t already eating three pounds of it a day.”
“Such is the life of a queen, child.” Cadista hummed approvingly at how smooth Blitz’s hands morphed into hooves and back again. I must say, Twilight, you reverse engineered the sphinx shifting beautifully. “Your progress is excellent, as expected.”
“Thanks, gramma.” Blitz flexled her hands a bit before looking over at Lyra with her lighthearted smile fading a bit.
“Something troubling you, child?”
“Well…” she started nervously fiddling with a lock hair while her wings twitched. “I don’t know how to feel about Lyra.”
“What is there to fear, young one? She is becoming one of us, and will have a drone’s love and loyalty to you. She knew all of this going in.”
“It’s not that so much.” Blitz took a deep breath to buy time to think. “Lyra’s almost forty years old, I just turned eight last month.” She looked into her grandmother’s eyes, looking for answers. “What does that make us besides queen and drone? I mean, biologically, she’d be my child, but how can I call someone four times older than me my daughter, or hell even sister? She’d be more of an aunt than anything else. I mean, isn’t that why momma and Twilight act like sisters instead of mother and daughter?”
“That would put a damper on the queen-mother stance. Saying she is anything other than daughter would put her on equal or superior position. It may not sound clean and efficient, but you’ll just have to live with it.”
Blitz plopped on the floor while dragging her palm over her face. “I was so sure, you’d have an answerrrrr.”
“If it’ll put your mind at ease,” Cadista said with a brief note of humor, “physically, Lyra will be no older than any other changeling that has hatched into an adult.”
“What really?” Blitz asked with a head tilt.
“Yes. While a royal rebirth allowed me to keep Twilight’s age the same, a drone rebirth always resets the age to a new adult.”
“...Huh. I didn’t know that.” Blitz brightened a little and flashed a warm smile. “Thanks, gramma.” She roped Cadista in and gave her a kiss on the cheek before buzzing over to touch Lyra’s chrysalis. I hope you accept that. The only thing left is to figure out what to do once you’re awake.