• Published 6th Nov 2016
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Change: Queen of The Hive - tom117z



Changeling hives are vanishing with no trace left behind, who, or what is hunting the changeling race? And what fate awaits Queen Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her hive?

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4 - Canterlot

A few days later



“It’s been a pleasure, as always,” Queen Twilight said to Queen Draco as they approached the hive’s exit. “But I suppose I shall be seeing you again soon?”

“If all goes to plan,” Draco confirmed. “But I never take anything for granted.”

“I know. Be cautious, and be safe, my friend; we know not what lies within that ruin,” Twilight stated.

Draco rolled her draconic eyes, giving Twilight a bemused look. “Who was it telling their inquisitive and overly curious friend to stay put until we know it’s safe again?”

Twilight chuckled, conceding Draco’s point. “Fair enough.”

The doors to the hive opened as Draco and her entourage moved on through it, Queen Twilight escorting them out. Beyond the large and heavily armoured doors there was a long rocky tunnel, at the end of which the light of the sun could be seen pouring in. It only took a few moments for them to walk from the doorway dominating the cave and out into the land of Equestria. The hive and the cave containing it was sat beneath a large lush green field in which trees could be seen dotted around the landscape. Aside from those, and a few boulders, it was rather bare. Fort Hurricane, a compound of the pony EUP military, was not too far away from the hive, said hive being located between it and the Badlands.

“One thing your hive has over the old, you cannot deny the beauty in the locale,” Draco commented, examining the area intently.

“A field compared to a desert,” Twilight stated, before solemnly adding: “But still, I miss it. It was where I was born, where my mother was born and painstakingly built up by my grandmother. I may not have lived there anywhere near my whole life, but it was still home.”

“Home is where the hive mind is,” Draco said, thinking back on their conversation a few days prior. “But this is your home now, and you made the best of it. You have created a hive worthy of you and your subjects. Your mother, Chrysalis, would be proud.”

Twilight offered Draco a, albeit a little sad, smile. “Thank you, I appreciate you saying that.”

“Your Highness,” one of Draco’s guards approached the queens and stood to attention. “We are ready to move at your leisure.”

“Thank you,” Draco said to the guard, turning from him and back to Twilight. “Well, I must be going. I have business I must attend to.”

“That you do,” Twilight stated as she smirked. “Don’t take too long, or I might get impatient and turn up on your doorstep out of the blue.”

“I’ll try to make haste, then,” Draco remarked. “Farewell, Twilight. May your fortunes continue to fall in your favour.”

Twilight nodded. “The same to you, Draco. Have a safe trip.”

Draco returned the nod, before turning and saying a few words to her drones Twilight didn’t quite catch. A moment later, the wings on the backs of the changelings buzzed to life and the entourage took to the air, moving away from the hive and heading northwards.

“That’s a long way to fly,” Spike commented, walking out of the hive and coming to a halt next to Twilight.

“I’m sure they will make a few stops along the way, the Crystal Empire for instance.”

“True. Anyway, Captain Scorpion wanted to speak with you.”

Twilight moved her sight away from the increasingly distant changelings to the dragon next to her. “Did he say what about?”

“Just a few changes to guard formations he wanted to run by you first,” he explained. “Nothing too urgent.”

Twilight nodded, beginning to walk back to the hive as her assistant fell into step beside her.

“I have time, I’ll head right over.”


Canterlot



Everything was well in the city of Canterlot. For the most part, Equestria as a whole continued as it always had, Celestia’s sun was high in the sky and individuals of various races walked the streets, even if the majority were ponies. Still, among the ponies one may see the odd griffon, zebra or a member of another species. Now, even changelings could be seen on occasion wandering the ancient streets, usually visitors from either the hive of Queen Twilight or Queen Draco. However, on occasion drones from other hives did make the trip.

In an agreement with the hives created in the aftermath of Queen Crudelis’ assault on Equestrian soil, hives were allowed to passively collect love from Equestrians as long as no effects occurred to the Equestrians. Disguises were permitted, but various means for the guards of Canterlot and police forces of other settlements to identify changelings were now at their disposal; many of these methods largely thanks to the assistance of the Changeling Queen, Twilight Sparkle, in setting up. However, the agreement explicitly stated that any changeling found collecting love by force, replacing a pony, or impersonating a guard along with any other authority figure would be punished severely under Equestrian law.

This agreement was the most contact the other queens had undergone since their reveal to the world; the changelings largely staying isolated and hidden from others, except from the odd love collector in Equestria. Most queens had abided by the agreement, fearing the consequences of ignoring it and being discovered. Those few who had decided not to follow the terms had suddenly found their changelings having great difficulty in gathering love energy as ponies and even other changelings would constantly discover them and punish the offenders until they abided by the set rules.

Admittedly, this had created a rather tense relationship with the isolationist queens. However, attempts to create more stable and beneficial deals akin to the one held with Queens Twilight and Draco had been rebuffed.

Changelings and ponies, despite the current overall peace, still had a long way to go.

Despite that, all was normal in the city, and amongst the families inhabiting it. One such family lived close to the richer districts of Canterlot, a benefit of the father’s job. They lived happily just like any other family, despite their dealings with the changelings being far closer than most.

“Got it!” Valiant Snow shouted happily, the eight-year-old colt hovering a little above the ground with a ball in his hooves.

“Good lad, you’re getting good at this,” Broad Sword remarked, hovering himself a little bit higher than his son.

As father and son continued to fly around above the garden while throwing the ball between one another, a unicorn mare, Scarlet Snow, watched contently from the open backdoor of their relatively large Canterlot home.

Valiant gave a groan of disappointment as he just fell short of catching the ball on the next throw, following it down to the ground.

“Don’t feel bad, honey,” Scarlet called out to her son. “Thirty-three is a good score.”

Valiant looked towards his mother, giving a still disappointed shrug. The colt had an alabaster coat like his mother and father; but while Broad Sword’s mane was blonde, the young colt had a scarlet mane and tail that matched his eyes, just like his mother. However, like his father, he was a Pegasus while his mother was a unicorn.

“Hey, isn’t Uncle Vlad meant to be here soon?” the colt asked his father as the older Pegasus landed next to his son.

Broad Sword scratched the back of his head. “He should be, but you know how busy the both of us usually are.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Valiant muttered, knowing full well about his father’s and Vladimir’s positions as captains of the Solar and Lunar Guard respectively.

“Hey, chin up,” Scarlet said as she cantered over to her family. “You know Vladimir always makes time.”

“She’s right,” Broad Sword added in. “That thestral always finds a way. It helps that Princess Luna has always been very understanding when it comes to family.”

The colt raised an eyebrow. “She is?”

Scarlet nodded, smiling. “It was the Princess who made your father’s proposal to me possible.”

Valiant only tilted his head questioningly, causing his mother to chuckle.

“It’s quite the story, I promise to tell you about it later.”

“But why would the Princess be like that? Aren’t princesses meant to be all stoic and stuff?”

“Family means a lot to her, all because of something that happened with her own a long time ago,” Scarlet explained. “But that is a story, as I said, for later.”

“Awww,” Valiant groaned. “You said the same thing about you being in the EUP, but you still haven’t told me!”

“You should make her Pinkie promise,” Broad Sword remarked with a smirk, only making the colt more confused.

“Pinkie promise? What’s that?”

Scarlet groaned in exasperation. “Something that should only be used sparingly and with great care. It is said by some friends of ours that if you break one such promise your friendship with the other pony could be ruined forever.”

At that moment, if one listened out, you could hear a distant feminine echo screaming out the word “Forever!” at the top of her lungs.

“Did anypony hear that?” Valiant asked.

Scarlet and Broad Sword both winced. “Just ignore it, dear.”

Scarlet and Broad Sword were saved more questions on the subject when a loud knock on the front door could be heard even from the back garden.

“Ah, that must be him,” Broad Sword stated, walking back into the house with his family not far behind.

It was a short walk between the kitchen, lounge and hallway to reach the front entrance, the figure of a pony visible on the other side of the fogged glass decorating the top of the door.

Broad Sword unlocked and swung the door open, revealing a thestral on the other side in full Lunar Guard armour, his helmet held under one of his leathery wings.

“Uncle Vlad!” Valiant rushed on forwards, glomping the prepared thestral.

“Hey, kiddo!” Vladimir Vespertilio greeted cheerfully. “Sorry I’m late, had to deal with this thief the changelings delivered to us.”

“Thief?” Scarlet asked.

“Yeah. It was just some punk who thought he’d try stealing from Queen Twilight’s hive. They shipped him back here where he’s been held in the embassy for a few days while the paperwork was written and filed. He’s now been moved to a cell pending trial, so it’s all been sorted out now.”

Scarlet just rolled her eyes. “Some ponies.”

“Indeed,” Vladimir responded, stepping into the home and closing the door behind him. “It’s been work as usual, except some of us got the day off.”

Broad Sword chuckled. “Oh? Who was that then?”

Vladimir gave him a deadpan look, placing his helmet down on a table in the living room before taking a seat along with the rest of them.

“How have you all been anyway?” Vladimir asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve visited.”

“We’ve just been playing a bit of aerial catch in the garden,” Broad Sword stated.

“Is that right?” Vladimir turned to face Valiant. “And how did that go?”

Valiant’s face lit up. “Really well! We went on for ages! But… then I dropped it.”

“Don’t worry kid, you only improve the more you do it. I’ll help in a bit if you want.”

“Yeah!” Valiant enthusiastically agreed.

“Have you heard from Shining Armor lately?” Scarlet added her own into the conversation. “It’s been a while.”

Vladimir shook his head. “Nah, being Prince of the Crystal Empire and a father doesn’t leave much room to travel half of Equestria to visit friends. It helps that we’re in the same city.”

“Are you talking about Flurry Heart?” Valiant asked. “Is she OK?”

“She’s fine dear,” Scarlet assured. “We were just talking about how long it’s been.”

“Yeah, she’s probably forgotten about me…” Valiant stated dejectedly, having known the young Princess Flurry Heart pretty much his entire life due to his father’s friendship with Prince Armor.

“Friends don’t forget that easily,” Vladimir stated. “You’ll see her again. There’s always something around the corner that brings them to Canterlot for one reason or another.”

“Giant rampaging centaurs, insane Changeling Queens bent on our destruction…” Scarlet listed in a deadpan. “The list goes on.”

“Not so much in the last eight years,” Broad Sword noted. “Things have calmed down since the Crystal Empire integrated with Equestria, Princess Luna adjusted to the last thousand years and Queen Twilight took her throne. Things seem to be returning to the peace we held before the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Vladimir warned with a slight smirk on his face. “Something always happens when you say such optimistic things.”

“Let’s hope to Celestia it doesn’t,” Scarlet said.


Canterlot Castle



Princess Celestia sat in her personal study, her attention fixated on the letter she was holding in her hooves, a smile on her face.

“Anything interesting?” Luna asked.

“Luna,” Celestia greeted, looking up from the letter. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“The shadows of the night are always silent,” Luna stated. “Who is the letter from?”

“Twilight,” Celestia responded, before her tone grew wistful. “Sent by Spike’s dragonfire as per usual, almost reminds me of the days of her friendship reports.”

“Oh? Does it contain any such lesson?”

“Sadly not,” Celestia stated.

Luna took a seat opposite from Celestia at the desk, the latter levitating two teacups towards them and pouring in some tea Celestia had already made.

“Then do tell, what does your daughter have to say?”

Celestia raised a curious eyebrow. “Since when did you take to referring to Queen Twilight as my daughter?”

“It’s always been obvious, and true,” Luna retorted. “Biological or not. You can’t hide your feeling from me, sister, and neither can she.”

“I suppose any effort to do so would be futile,” Celestia noted with a small smile. “As for your question, she was just telling me how Queen Draco’s visit went. And what she had to say is most intriguing.”

“How so?”

“Well, it would seem a great archaeological discovery has been made by Queen Draco, a ruin of changeling design predating even our own mother, or Discord.”

“Predating Discord? That is hard to imagine,” Luna stated. “We have lived so long, I forget there is even a history beyond us on occasion. What is inside?”

“She does not yet know,” Celestia responded. “Queen Draco is in the process of opening the doorway, and is making sure that it is safe. Twilight intends to explore it with her once those two things have been accomplished.”

“She loves her studies, and this goes a long way in that regard,” Luna noted. “Still, history beyond what even we have knowledge of, I’m surprised you are not going with her.”

“I was tempted to have Twilight write me a report as if she was still my student,” Celestia joked. “But alas, I shall simply have to find out the information at a later date anyway. Though I must admit, it has me curious.”

Celestia leant back in her seat, her gaze moving out towards the open doorway onto the balcony and the bright view beyond.

“I suppose time shall tell what will be unearthed.”

Author's Note:

Sorry there was no update last week, I was a little ill. Still, to make up for it there are TWO updates this day! The second shall be releasing shortly! :pinkiehappy:

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