//------------------------------//
// June 14: Solution 
// Story: My Little Queen: Friendship is Salvation 
// by AilingStar 
//------------------------------//

Deep inside the Everfree Forest lay one of many changeling hives. The Everfree Hive was not just any hive though; it was an elder hive, ruled by a descendant of one of the six heroes of old, who saved the changeling race from extinction long ago.

Inside this hive, two hoofmaidens, identical twins, looked at each other in worry, then to the young princess that they worked for as she frantically rushed around her room filled with books and scrolls.

One of the hoofmaidens cleared her throat. "Princess, maybe you should calm down a bit."

The young changeling princess turned to the hoofmaidens, her eye twitching slightly. "I told you two, this is a very very important meeting! It could very well change the fate of the entire hive! I can't afford to waste time by calming down!"

"Are you sure things are that serious?" The second hoofmaiden asked. "Her Majesty would not likely get us into a dire situation, as she is cunning and resourceful." She stopped for a moment, realizing what the statement sounded like. "A-as are you, milady, I didn't mean to imply-"

"It's alright, Twinkleshine," The princess interrupted. "I know what you meant, and the fact that Mo- I mean, Her Majesty has ruled our hive impeccably is not lost on me. In fact," she gathered her notes and quickly stuffed them into her saddlebags as her tone grew more frantic, "that's the reason I am so worried! I have to be at my best- no, better than my best, if I have any hope of solving a problem that not even M- Her Majesty can!"

The first hoofmaiden rolled her eyes, though no pony would have been able to tell. "Really, Princess, you won't get anything productive done if you're all tense. Just calm down!"

That calmed the princess down a bit. "You're right, Lemon Hearts... I just need to calm down... hoo..."

Lemon smiled. "There, isn't that better, Princess?"

"Yes..." The princess smiled at her hoofmaidens as she left. "And how many times have I had to tell you two that you don't have to call me Princess?"

Lemon Hearts rolled her eyes again. "Whatever you say, Twilight Sparkle."





Queen Chrysalis III was not a happy hive queen. 

She had one problem that ought to have had a simple solution, and yet nothing she could think of worked out. "Let me think... if I had more infiltrators in high positions in Canterlot... No, they'd be found out too quickly. I might be able to get more harvesters in Las Pegasus, but... no, that wouldn't get nearly enough... AAARRGH!" Her head hurt, only in part because she was banging it against the table in the center of the conference room. "I just want a way to gather food for my subjects that doesn't involve kidnapping the princess of love! It should not be this difficult!"

"My queen, you called?" 

Chrysalis perked up upon hearing the voice of her youngest daughter. "Twilight, how many times must I tell you that you don't have to act formally when we're in private?"

"B-but Twinkleshine said-"

Chrysalis put a hoof to the young princess's mouth. "Twinkleshine is just my subject, not to mention a 'huge stick in the mud' as your sister so eloquently puts it." The two shared a small laugh before Chrysalis continued speaking. "You are my daughter, Twilight. You do not have to follow the same rules that she does."

Twilight reluctantly nodded. "Alright, Y- Mother. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Chrysalis sighed and pointed to the map on the table, riddled with scribbles, calculations and arrows. "As you may have noticed, Our hive is slowly but steadily starving. I have tried to think of some method to save us without invoking the ire of Equestria, but I can think of nothing." Chrysalis shook her head with shame. "I was hoping that you might have a solution."

Twilight thought for a moment, then turned to Chrysalis. "I've actually been thinking about this for some time, but... maybe we could find some emotion that's a lot easier to obtain than love, but still powerful enough to feed the hive effectively?"

Chrysalis thought about this for a moment. "That could work in theory, but... what would it this emotion be, if I may be so bold?"

Twilight was practically aglow with excitement, both pleasing and worrying Chrysalis. "Well, my studies into pony behavior have found one promising candidate: Friendship. I have a good idea of what someling needs to do for ponies to be willing to share it with us, and it seems pretty easy!" She had gotten pretty excited at this point, her wings quietly buzzing with excitement as she delved into 'full-scholar mode'. "Furthermore, friendship and love seem to be very similar. Ergo, there is a large chance that friendship just about as nourishing as love!" 

There was a bit of silence as Chrysalis waited for Twilight to recover. Once she was visibly calmer, Chrysalis sighed. "I think that if it were that simple, Twilight, we would have learned of it already."

Twilight's wings visibly drooped, and even her teal mane and purple eyes seemed to dim a bit.

"However," Chrysalis continued, "I would be remiss to ignore this possibility completely. Twilight, I am leaving this task up to you and you alone."

"Really?!" Twilight bounced up and down with glee. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

Chrysalis chuckled. "Calm down, Twilight. You know I have confidence in your abilities, but you need to keep in mind that there is still a chance that it may not work."

That calmed Twilight down. "You're right, I... I'll need some sort of plan."

"I already have one for you to use." Chrysalis pointed out a map of a town called 'Ponyville'. "Ponyville is a small town less than a day's flight north of the hive." Her hoof traced a line from the area marked 'Everfree Forest (enter at your own peril!)' to what seemed to be an orchard with the words "Sweet Apple Acres" in the middle. "The Apple family has been known to be very hospitable to travelers. As long as you work hard in helping out on their farm, they should be willing to lend you a room."

Her smile turned to a grimace. "Unfortunately, they have a strict 'no-magic' rule, and I haven't been able to come up with an earth pony cover for the mission. You would have to use your unicorn guise."

Twilight smiled and in a flash of purple fire turned into a lavender unicorn, though she was too proud of her cutie mark to disguise it like other changelings. She turned back into her normal form and grinned. "Not a problem at all. I should be there by tomorrow morning if I take the tunnels."

Chrysalis shook her head in exasperation. "I swear, your father, Queens bless his soul, passed on a bit of his foolhardiness to you." She let out a small sigh. "Very well, I'll have a contingent of guards ready for you by the time you're at the entrance to the tunnels." A few moments before she wrapped her daughter in an embrace. "Stay safe, my little lightningbug."

Twilight separated from the embrace after a few seconds. "Don't worry about me, Mom. I'll be fine, no need to worry."

The queen could only shake her head as she watched her daughter confidently buzz out the door. "It's when you say that that I worry about you the most."





"So did she say yes?" Moondancer asked as Twilight emerged from the meeting room. Upon seeing the Princess's beaming face, she smiled. "I'm guessing that smile means that yes, she did."

"Yeah, I- I mean... it still feels kinda surreal." Twilight replied, tripping over words in her excitement as the two walked through the narrow tunnels of the hive. "I mean, we, we worked on this so long, and it finally comes to fruition! Not only can we prove that changelings and ponies can live in peace, but we can save the hive at the same time!"

"Wait, 'save the hive'?" Moondancer looked at Twilight, startled by her words. "I'm sorry, when did the fate of the hive start hanging in the balance?"

Twilight landed, now visibly drooping a bit. "The hive is starting to starve."

Moondancer blinked, then smiled a bit. "And here i thought we were just being overzealous when naming it..." She shook her head, her face becoming a solemn mask. "Alright, so when do we leave?"

In response, the princess only drooped more, almost cowering. "Mom wanted me to do it alone."

It took a few moments for Moondancer to process what Twilight said, but when she did she simply shrugged. "Eh, it's probably for the best that you handle it anyway. You know how I get when I meet new people, and we need an actual 'ling on this mission, not a social tortoise like me."

"But-"

"No 'buts', Sparks." Moondancer interrupted, her face grim. "We've been working on Project: Salvation for four whole years. I, for one, am not going to take any more chances than necessary."

Resigned, Twilight sighed and gave her friend a quick embrace. "Alright... I'll miss you, Dancer."

Moondancer chuckled. "You too, Sparks."





"Are you absolutely sure you can do this, Twitch?"

Twilight groaned at her elder sister's nickname for her. "Minuette, How many times do I have to say 'yes' before you get the point?"

The elder princess crossed her hooves. "Until you tell me why you think that you can handle this better than Shiny or I can."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she put some memory crystals in her bag, along with emotive gems and a few bits. "Well, let's compare our strengths: You are an incredible tactician and field medic. You know how to run a hive, and you have a personality that makes you easily approachable. Only one of those would help you in this mission.

"Shiny's great at battle magic, and he's learned how to fight effectively in the air and on the ground, with or without magic. He's the eldest, which means he has more experience than you or I, but his personality makes him awkward and inapproachable, except for when he's in the heat of battle. He would be terrible for this mission.

"I am better at illusion magic than either of you, having already created a guise for myself, which you have yet to do and Shiny did only recently. I know a wide variety of spells including teleportation, major telekinesis, misdirection, and memory record, all of which will be useful for a venture of this nature. Furthermore, if I'm attacked, it's most likely going to be a one-on-one fight, and I'm trained in Karate, Tai Chitin, and mage fencing, and have beaten both of you in sparring matches!" A few hairs in Twilight's otherwise well-kept mane sprung out of place. "Most importantly, Moondancer and I have studied pony culture! Extensively! Perhaps obsessively!" She stopped to catch her breath and her mane returned to normal. "Your personality may be better suited for this task, but that's it. Also, Mom put her trust in me and I am not going to betray it, no matter what!"

There was a bit of silence before Minuette chuckled. "That's all I wanted to hear, Twitch." She took out a towel from her dresser and tossed it to her younger sister. "You're going to want this. It'll be more useful than you think."

Twilight giggled in spite of herself. "Minuette, you are so weird."

Minuette just chuckled. "Love you too, Twitch. Stay safe, OK?"





"Are you sure about this, Twili?" Shining Armor asked his sister for the fifth time since they had started the trip through the dark, subterranean tunnels. "You don't have to do this."

Twilight shook her head in exasperation. It was enough that he had personally led the whole of the first legion into this simple escort mission, so Twilight just thought that this was adding insult to metaphorical injury. "First Minuette, and now you? What is it with my siblings not being willing to put their faith in me?!" 

Shining Armor opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by his sister, now speaking more calmly. "Seriously, why are you so worried about me, Shiny? I mean, you are my big brother and all, but-"

"No, you're right." The heir to the Everfree sighed. "Twilight, some hive - we don't know whose - is destroying other hives. No survivors are left behind."

A cold feeling ran through Twilight's body. "H-how many hives have been destroyed?"

"Eleven." Shining Armor looked at his sister with concern. "Cutting you down would be a good first step towards them taking their lucky number twelve."

"Eleven hives gone..." The princess shuddered. "Has Mom and the rest of the Circle of Elders met and talked about this?"

A faraway look entered Shining Armor's face. "As of right now, Mom is the Circle of Elders."

Twilight's stopped in midair, her face ashen. "No, th-that can't be right! Petra, little Thetis, they can't just be gone like that!!!" She turned on her brother, tears in her eyes and fury in her heart. "You can't be telling the truth, you're just... lying! You're a lying li-"

"SHUT UP!" Shining Armor roared, frightening Twilight and the rest of the guards. "You think I'm HAPPY about what's happened?!"

Twilight just stayed there for a few seconds, silent save for the faint buzzing of her wings, then looked down in shame. "I-I'm sorry... I forgot that you and Petra were-"

A hoof met Twilight's mouth, and Shining Armor spoke. "It's okay, Twily. I should be the one apologizing. Mom and I have been hiding this from you and your sister, but you two deserve to know." With those words said, the prince started moving forward again, and Twilight and the rest of the guards quickly followed.

They continued flying for a couple of minutes before Shining Armor spoke up again. "Mom sent out seeds for the destroyed hives last week."

Twilight grew somber. Seeds were a last resort, only to be used if a hive was completely and utterly annihilated beyond all repair. They would spread around Equestria and 'plant' themselves in a pony that lined up with the last queen in personality, skill, behavior, etc. Within eleven months, they would go into a cocoon and emerge a month later as the new queen of that hive - just in time for them to be officially recognized as such at that year's Queens Council.

The problem was that the ponies in question didn't know. They would be completely clueless until they found themselves with a strange urge to eat anything edible, followed by an urge to wrap themselves in whatever they could find and seal it with spit. This would draw attention, of course, and the pony wasn't likely to survive the ponies declaring them a monster. And yet the reward so very greatly outweighed the risk.

Using seeds threatened to reveal the very existence of changlings, so the queens avoided complete obliteration of hives. Even the more violent queens would leave some of the royal family of a captured hive alive so that the destroyed hive at least had a chance to carry on without risking exposure.

This mystery hive wasn't playing by those rules. But then again, they were attacking elder hives, in itself a major taboo. That could only mean one thing.

"They're trying to kill us all." Shining Armor numbly said, mirroring Twilight's thoughts. "These aren't changelings we're dealing with, Twilight. These are monsters."

Twilight didn't know how to respond to that, but in a a strange, horrifying way, she knew he was right.

The rest of the flight was silent save for the buzzing of their wings. "I still think that this is too dangerous," Shining Armor said as they reached the rest point just before Ponyville, where they would spend the night. "You could be seriously hurt, and..." Tears filled his eyes. "I don't want to lose you."

Twilight's heart ached, but her resolve steeled more than ever. She now had more riding on this mission than anyling else knew now. If she could forge bonds with the ponies, that would be that. Celestia would surely protect them, just like she'd protected so many of Equestria's other ally nations. No more danger.

She looked her brother in the eye once he had checked in with the changelings manning the point. "Then I guess I'll just do my best not to die." Twilight smiled a bit, trying to reassure her brother. "If anything happens, I'll let you, Mom and Minuette know over the hivemind. No need to worry."

Shining Armor just shook his head as he walked to his room. "Good night, LSBFF."

"Good night, BBBFF." Twilight whispered as she and her brother entered their respective rooms. Sleep threatened to overtake the young changeling queen, but she knew she had something to do first. She took a memory crystal out of her saddlebags and projected her thoughts into it.

Everfree Hive Princess Twilight Sparkle, June 14
Day one of Project: Salvation (a study looking into the effectiveness of Friendship as a source of nourishment)
Today I have embarked on a journey that (I hope) will change life for not only our hive, but perhaps all changeling kind.
Our hive, the Everfree hive (currently under the rule of my mother, Queen Chrysalis III), is facing possible starvation in the near future. In an effort to solve this problem before it is too late, I proposed a study into a concept that ponies hold in high regard, calling it 'Friendship'. I had already done some research on the subject, and I observed a wide variety of similarities to love, and yet this 'Friendship' seems much easier to come by than love. I can't help but think about why noling has discovered this. It actually seems to come right before true love blooms, so why hasn't it been discovered and documented? I can't help but think that there is some missing component that I have yet to find.
On an unrelated note, I have learned of a mysterious hive that is destroying all other hives, leaving no survivors. The elder hives seem to be the primary target, as the Everfree hive is the only one left. We are all in grave danger thanks to this strange adversary. I have to (Redacted) before it's too late.

Signing off, Twilight Sparkle.

Once she had finished recording the day's events, the princess finally let sleep overtake her.





Applejack raised an eyebrow as she saw shadows flitting to and fro under the trees of the Everfree Forest. "Wonder what that's all about..." She muttered before returning to her work.





"Princess Celestia!"

The solar monarch yawned as she woke from her slumber. "Yes, Spike? What is it?"

Her loyal dragon assistant looked in, somewhat grumpy. "Prince Blueblood came by, said that some stuck-up nobles are wondering why you're holding the one-thousandth summer sun celebration in Ponyville instead of Canterlot."

Celestia shook her head sadly. Most noble houses had become much less than what their noble predecessors were. Blueblood himself, that bundle of joy she was proud to call her nephew, would likely have turned out the same way if the Twilight Velvet and Night Light hadn't treated him like the son they never had. 

"I suppose I'll have to make an announcement on that later today," Celestia mused. "Can you fit that on the schedule, Spike?"

The young dragon grumbled as he pulled out a long sheet of paper. "Not really, between that dinner party with Fancy Pants, that concert featuring Octavia Melody, and your monthly summit with the heads of the military, your schedule's pretty much full for today." His eyes traveled down the page. "You've got a lot of free time tomorrow, though!"

"I suppose that will have to do." The princess sighed in depression as she lost herself in remembrance, as she had been doing a lot as of late.

This worried Spike. The princess was like a mother to him, to see her so depressed... "What's wrong Princess?"

"Nothing, Spike," Celestia lied between her teeth before an idea came to her. "I've just been thinking that maybe you and Blueblood need a break, I've been working you much harder as of late."

"Really?!" Spike excitedly asked, his worries forgotten.

"Well, you will have to do something, but it won't be much," Celestia smiled warmly. "All you have to do is go to Ponyville the day of the Summer Sun Celebration and make sure everything's going smoothly. You can have the rest of the day and the day after off."

"Awesome!" The dragon cheered. "I've gotta tell Blueblood!"

"Could you tell Cadence to meet with me while you're at it?"

"Sure thing!" Spike beamed and rushed out the door.

Now alone again, Celestia dropped the facade of peace and serenity she was forced to wear on a daily basis. Sorrowfully, she looked out the window to see the fading moon making way for the sunrise. A tear ran down her face as she whispered, "You have no idea how much I miss you."

As the moon faded, Celestia sung a lullaby, as she had done nine-hundred-nintey-nine times before.





Princess Cadence looked over the Everfree Forest in apprehension as the sun set in the distance. "I still don't get it... why would Auntie Celestia want me to retrieve the Elements? They've been inactive for centuries!" Her wings started to beat a bit faster in agitation.

"No," She whispered to herself, forcing herself to calm down. "I can't be making excuses. I've got to do this. Auntie trusts me with this, I can't let her down!"

After only a brief moment of apprehension, Cadence steeled her determination and flew into the dark forest.

She shivered at the sight of the twisted trees and flinched at the bestial sounds emanating from deeper in. She was not used to battle, but she had to do this, even if it meant getting her hooves a bit dirty. She really didn't want her aunt thinking less of her.

Pushing her fear aside, Cadence put up her pegasus disguise just in case she came across a curious pony, and continued into the forest, unaware of a pair of eyes watching her from the bushes.