I felt... weightless. The ground was nowhere to be seen, and the same for the sky. I couldn't tell if it was black, or white, or an absence of both. Maybe that's what death was - a combination of neither black nor white. But it sure was peaceful. I could hear noises, somewhere in the void.

I can feel a numb feeling that starts around my belly. I try to move my wings. I can't feel anything, but I don't know if they're nonreactive or gone...

Something jabbed my shoulder. Who knows what it was, but it hurt like burning Tartarus. The voices became strikingly clear, ringing in the back of my head. I went to open my eyes, but there was something covering my eyes. Some kind of bandage, I think. I move my legs, my wings, my ears, testing to make sure all my body parts are still attached. I think everything's still there.

The void was still dancing on the edge of my eyes, sprouting golden swirls as I woke up.

I go to talk, but my whole mouth is dry. I get the sudden feeling that I'm falling.

The blindfold lifted from my eyes, and everything glared bright for a few seconds. The sky and ground came into glaring focus, as well as the massive sprawl of Changelings lying around. By the color of the sky, it was either just after sunset or just before dawn.

The nearest Changelings opened their eyes as we started moving around. A ripple of excitement started to form, Changelings shoving each other awake and turning their attention to us.

352 glanced over at me, smiling slightly as he projected a shimmering green wall between me and the Changelings. "It's for your own good."

"The complete opposite." 1416 replied from my other side. "The only reason we need the barricade is because you're still recovering."

The Changelings were... smiling? They were looking at me, and positively beaming. I started to feel a nag in the back of my mind, like something important was going on and I was missing it. I glanced over at 352, who was grimacing, and 1416, who was looking between 352 and the shimmering wall.

The mild nag exploded into a fiery-doom-laden-migraine-to-end-all-migraines. I almost collapsed, but 1416 pressed up against my side. "Hold on."

I straightened up, feeling the pain - which I soon realized was a massive quantity of love energy - slowly fade away as I closed my eyes.

When I opened them, I felt... different. The ground seemed far away. I seemed further away. I looked at... looked down at 1416. "What happened?" My voice sounded different too. Echo-y.

1416 closed his eyes for a second, conjuring up a reflective square of magic flame. I squinted at my reflection.

Well, that was only partially-expected. I shook my head, my mane - now longer and softer - shaking with it. With a bit of stretching, I could see my wings had grown, and the exoskeleton bands on my sides had turned wide and green. My tail was longer too. Turning back to the glassy fire, I scanned my face. I lacked Chrysalis's 'rotting horn' style, instead having a more blade-like bone. My eyes hadn't changed much either, although the lighter blue area was more defined.

I walked in place, trying to figure out how much my walk would change. It had been hard enough before. Actually, this seemed more natural than before, my body swaying in pace with my hooves instead of staying almost-still.

I blinked, focusing on the swarm in front of me. "I thank you for your love and devotion, but I insist that I am no more royalty than any of you." I waited for the expected mutters to quiet down. "I am sorry in that you have lost your ruler today, and many kin. I assure you, the lost will have a proper funeral, either here or in Equestria."

I surveyed the land around us; a meadow in the middle of nowhere, with a couple of trees strewn about. I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the reaction about to come.

I opened my eyes, something I had been doing quite a lot in the past minutes. The Changelings were still smiling, getting up and stretching as they prepared to leave.

I smiled gently. "You shall be sent home shortly. For now, you can feed." I looked at 1378, gently filling her up with energy. "Would you feed our guests?"

She nodded, her horn blazing as she discharged the access energy. A glowing pulse expanded from her, flickering between green and pink, spreading over all Changelings present with a warm breeze.

"What happened to Chrysalis?" I asked 1416 quietly, not looking away from my sw- the swarm.

"We've got her tied up over there." 1416 tossed his head towards a distant tree. "She was in quite a state when her subjects turned their love to us instead of her."

I sat calmly in front of Queen Chrysalis. She was not like me anymore, as I had guessed. She was back to the size of a regular Changeling, but still had a gap in her horn and her trademark eyes. Her mane was back to being jagged, but was still a blue color.

She was restrained, standing on her hind legs. Arcane chains linked each of her hooves to the tree, as well as one at the base of her head and around her belly. Her wings were spread out against the tree, useless.

She still looked pretty angry, though, hissing and yelling and struggling against her bonds. She also smelled kind of like urine, and I quietly wondered how long I had been unconscious.

"She's been here for five days." 1416 responded, as if on cue. "She's been too aggressive to be untied.

"Chrysalis," I repeated, letting a bit of a growl slip, "do you know what you have done to your people? How many died?"

"That's a lie." 1416 whispered to me. "Our rule was that we would not harm civilians unless they were directly attacking."

"Chrysalis, we are going to give you a choice; you may swear that you will assimilate peacefully into the hive and not oppose the leader chosen upon the return..."

I narrowed my eyes. "Or we return the rest of the hive and we return home, and you remain here until you die of starvation."

"After the deaths of civilians that you have caused in your efforts to thwart a currently-harmless enemy, your death would be little less than a celebration."

She turned away, staring off across the field. She relaxed against the tree, a tiny space opening around each of her bonds. I noticed her neck band moved with her; she must not be able to transform with that.

Something in her voice changed. "Unlike you, I was born royalty. Ponies respected me from birth. Then... my parents were killed in a purge by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Many of the royals were killed as well. Soon, I was the only one left - I had turned into a regular Changeling to hide. Since then..." she frowned, "all I've wanted to do is get those murderers back for what they did. But I don't think I'm ever going to do it. So go ahead." She tilted her head back. "Just kill me quickly."

"I told you!' She shouted. "There's no way I'd be able to watch my hive work alongside those vile creatures!"

1416 warned me to stay quiet with a gentle tail flick to my leg. I waited until she stopped glaring, and her head drooped to her chest in defeat.

She closed her eyes. "I would rather choose to leave my world than to be ruled in it."

I stood up, slowly walking over. 1416 stayed where he was, a mixture of pity and anger on his face. I moved so that he couldn't see the chained Changeling.

I took a few steps back as Chrysalis fell forward. She twitched for a moment, and then lay still.

"You're right." I lay down the rest of the way, our eyes almost level. "I wouldn't take a life."

She laughed weakly, and I could almost hear her racing heart slow a bit. "I should have guessed. You saved that old cripple."

"I don't want to send you back to Equestria. Your hive would kill you, if the ponies didn't. I'm giving you a third choice."

"You stay here on Earth, alone. Find yourself a human body, fall in love, start a family. And if you stay hidden, I won't hunt you down, and the others will have no reason to."

"What did you do with the body?" 1416 asked quietly when I walked up. He still looked a little shaken, and I wasn't going to blame him.

He nodded, pupils contracting as he retched slightly. I draped my wing over his back, calming him down.

"You refer to the species as 'us', or 'we'. I never suspected you to be the one who would do that."

I paused, looking at the living Changelings around us, and remembering the bloody sheen on my wings after the battle. "You helped me. You gave me love. You let me fight for us, and you led me up to becoming... this." I tapped a hoof to my chest. "To me, it only makes sense that I'm a part of everything now."

-----

A few days later...

I smiled a bit, one hand absentmindedly petting the replica of my cat lying beside me. "I have something I need to tell you..."

-^-^-^-^-

FIN

Thanks to everypony who supported me along the way; this is my most popular story so far! Close to 100 favorites, exactly 100 upvotes as of this comment, various groups and referrals, a bazillion views and even more comments - it makes every day a little bit better!

So thank you, everyone. You all helped make this story into what it is today, and I hope you all keep an eye on me in the future, 'cause I have a lot more stories planned!

For anyone wanting loose threads tied up, feel free to message me here or at my DeviantART page, here, and I'll try to help. And epilogue is planned (which may or may not induce tears) as well as the second section of Biology of a Changeling.

Thanks again!

Hive Mind

by canonkiller

In Closing