Duty to the Queen

by Handsome Shadow

Nature of the Beast

A mind of your own isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I discovered this the minute I was given the authority to lead the biggest operation the Hive had seen. The weight of decisions and the lives of others are a constant concern. As a drone, you trust the Queen, without her, they look to me.

The preparation to help cater to the Gala is no small task, the number of drones I had was not nearly sufficient. I needed external help, and the next Hive was on the other side of Equestria. With this in mind, and the farm ledger tucked in a saddlebag, my horn emit a sickly green shimmer. My plates softened and my wings melded with skin. Hair grew inches per second to form a tail and mane. My softened plates started to take a sky blue tinge. With a shake, the greenish residue that settled over my false coat was dispersed. Grabbing the saddlebags, I started the trek into town.

***

“Glimmer? I need your help” I stood in the post office of Hollow Shades. Letters were strewn about in a sort of organized chaos, each clearly labeled. The same could be said for the olive mare. She had a daisy shaped hair clip in a mane of teal that seemed to do little to keep the mess in one place. Despite the messy environment, the mail pony seemed absolutely chipper, but the same could be said for many ponies. They’re all the same.

She holds the communication center.
She is a Pony.
Don’t trust her!
Don’t let her find us!

The trickle of voices from various drones, a constant reminder to the risk I’m taking. But this is my task, I will succeed.

“Oh! Sky Dancer! Sorry, I didn’t expect a visit today, let me clean some of this up” She moved to sweep the clutter with a broom, but I stopped her with a shake of my head.

“No, I have a favor to ask.” I opened the saddlebags and dumped a bundle of fliers on the desk, straightening them with a wing. “Do you think you could spread these around town? I got a big order coming up and could use some short term help.”

“But you’ve had that farm for months and never needed the help. What’s happened?”

“Just got a big order is all. I won’t bore you with the details.” She seemed about to ask another question, but thought better of it. She took a closer look at the flier, it was something I drafted and had copied by a local unicorn. There was only a few dozen or so, Hollow Shades wasn’t as big as Manehatten.

“I think I should be able to pass these around with the mail tomorrow morning. Actually, I know a few ponies who were looking for a bit of work, I’ll send them your way tomorrow.”

“Thanks Glimmer, this is important to me.” Her eyes seemed to light up. If there’s one thing I’ve discovered during a harvest, it’s that ponies become malleable as clay when you touch their pride or love. Whether through compliment or threat.

***

The farm was full up the next day. All applicants and quite a few drones were present to size up the work force. There was about 8 ponies, all but one a stallion, and all were of different races. The mare in the group was a dark red Earth Pony. She didn’t particularly stick out among the bucks, just a worker like any drone.

“It’s good to see so many people looking to help.” Inside I was cringing at the prospect of so many ponies interact with the drones, “We have a lot of work to do for the next harvest, and every hoof counts.” I turned to one of my drones, this one wearing the skin of a mustard yellow Earth buck. I had to be careful not to alert anyone to the link. “This is Grazer, he will be your guide today. He’ll show you all the chores that need doing around the fields and pick out which ones are unsuited to the job. With luck, all of you will be hired,” I said, artificially edging hope in my voice.

“What about you?” The red mare asked, she never took her eyes of the drone I called Grazer. “What do you do?”

“I deal with logistical stuff, planning, organizing, that sort of thing. I also man the stand during most days.” I was beginning to sense a problem with this mare. She was far too curious. “But I find myself in need of an assistant.” My drone led the bucks to the field. “What’s your name?”

“Scarlet Apple,” she said, a hint of pride in her voice. “I descend from applebuckers from beyond Galloping Gorge, found myself here after my family moved to Ponyville.” I gestured for her to follow me with a wing, walking toward the farmhouse.

“I need some help with a special project, otherwise, my… Family would be enough to keep the farm going. It would be an ease off my mind if I had someone to help shoulder my own work.”

“What’s so big that you need a bunch of ponies to do?”

“Manehatten is having an opening of a new museum arcane science. Their prospective financers are holding a soiré and asked us to cater to it, being the closest vineyard.” Luckily, Lying came with the territory of harvesting. And I was really good at it.

“Oh, I see. Well, why me?”

“Your curiosity leads me to believe you have a bright mind, I could use that. If you’d rather not, that’s just fine.” She seemed to mull it over in her head.

“I think I could do that.”

“Great!-” We stepped into the house I have made my dwelling over the past few months. “- Why don’t you go grab a few bottles of wine from the cellar and we talk over the specifics? I need to get dinner on anyway.” She seemed a bit surprised at being asked to dinner. Her mouth opened, but closed again before she could vocalize her line of thought. “Alright, anything specific?” she asked. I shrugged, “pick your favorite, I like all types. Pinto Noir, Marelot, Chardonneigh, it comes with the business you know.” She seemed to appreciate the small jest. My back was turned as she started climbing down the stairs into the wine cellar. When I heard the footsteps leave the stairs, I turned and opened the door, closing it behind me and bolting it shut, in addition to the chain lock. The cellar doubled as a shelter and the door was sturdy.

Do not let me be disturbed The words echoed to my drones, each sending back a frequency of affirmation. Slowly descending the narrow steps, I could hear the clink of glass on glass as bottles were rearranged. As soon as I was in sight, the red mare turned to me, “Oh, I thought you were getting your supper ready?” she looked a bit suspicious- as she should be -of my presence. To her credit, she pretended nothing was wrong, but I could taste her fear, it wasn’t as tasty or nutritious as love. It tasted of black licorice and did nothing for a changeling’s health, but I could taste it.

I came to a stop a few feet behind her, not close enough to scare her, but close enough to alarm her. “Find anything to your taste, Scarlet?” My casual tone seemed to catch her off guard.

“Uhm, y-yeah. I’ve always had a t-taste for a good Marelot.” I advanced a step closer, she took a step back. I grinned, “Come now Scarlet, what’s wrong?” Her eyes darted to either side of the cellar, avoiding my baleful grin. “I-I’m just a bit… Nothing. Nothing is wrong.” She hadn’t had the experience in lying that I had. I had the scars to prove that experience.

When I took another step, she backed up into the rack of wines, rattling the bottles and herself. I drank her fear, her confusion, the sensation set my working drones abuzz. They wanted a taste for themselves.

I would give it to them.

I shed my disguise, the blue coat fading and skin hardening. Feathers fell from wings that were absorbed into the morphing plates and my curved black horn sprouted from my forehead, once again dripping with the green energy. What put a smile to my insectoid lips though wasn’t her reaction to the metamorphosis to the rest of my body, it was the absolute terror I felt from her when she saw my eyes. The diluted solid cyan, would put anypony on edge, but as I said, I’m no ordinary drone. She could see the intelligence behind them, I could tell.

The mare screamed, but the cellar just reflected the sound back inward. I didn’t bother advancing as she tried to scrabble around me, trying to run, trying to get away from the monster in the room with her. Before she got to the stairs, I let loose a bolt from my horn. The sickly greed enveloped her and she twitched, her skeleton visible for no more than a second before she fell in a heap in the middle of the room. She was tough though, and kept trying to crawl to the stairs, despite her nervous system being overloaded.

Turning her over, I looked into her terrified eyes, flexing my paper thin wings. She tried to hit me, but, weak as she is, he hooves just bounced off my scarred plates. “It’s too bad you picked up that flyer. You’re a risk to us.” My words were deep and raspy, like someone had taken a cheese grater to it. My original voice and it dripped with hatred, hatred that this mare dare endanger us. “You were dead the minute you woke up this morning. You just didn’t know it.” I sank my teeth into her neck, pumping venom into her bloodstream. She struggled, trying to escape the iron grip. Her eyes shrank to pinpricks, glazing over as the venom rewrote her mind. It took about thirty seconds, but stopped struggling and fell asleep.

With a throaty chuckle, I observed my handiwork. She was going to be asleep for a long time, I made her convinced that her family would save her, I made the memories of them stronger. It wasn’t hard, and it would feed us the extra energy we need for the project. I spit a glob of a dark yellow substance into my chitinous hoof, using my magic, I wove the ball of phlegm into a string. The string was sturdy, nothing short of a counter spell would undo it. I thread the string around the shallowly breathing mare. She looked like she was being trapped by a spider. With another spell, the lines of thread closed the gaps between each other, securing her in a yellowish green cocoon.

I drank some of the residual emotion wafting off of her, treating myself to a reward for my efforts. My drones will have their fill, and the potential threat was neutralized. With a sigh, I wrapped myself in the skin of Sky Dancer once more, but I couldn’t help a small smile as I closed the door. Today was a good day. I pushed a bookshelf in front of the door to conceal it before leaving the house once again.

Despite the thrill of her fear, I couldn’t help but feel that her submission was perhaps unnecessary. I could have simply turned her down for the job, gave her other recommendations. I shook my head stubbornly. No, it had to be done, it’s what the queen would have wanted.

I looked to the noontime sky, Celestia’s sun was just starting its descent from the roof of the world. The buzz sounded in my head.
They will do, Klik. We will use them, then the harvest begins.

The Gala wasn’t for months at least, and even though the wine could be magically fermented, it still took time to grow the crop. Until then, the Hive needed feeding. Drone, find a suitable subject. The Queen expects another good harvest before the Gala. The buzz of confirmation was all I needed. with a deep breath, I started the long trot to Hollow Shades proper.

It was time to pay another visit to Glimmer.

Author's Note:

There it is, chapter 2. Unfortunately, I am inept at social situations and dialogue in my writing seems to have suffered from that. But I hope you guys enjoy it, feedback is much appreciated because I'd like to know how to make my writing better, or if I should keep writing at all. I hope this one wasn't too painful.