Chapter 02 - The New Hive
After careful thinking, you’ve made up your mind. Ponyville.
You were about to touch the projected image with your magic, when an idea occurred to you. You quickly ran to your mother and gave her a tight hug, catching her by surprise. You didn’t know if you would have another chance to see her, so you wanted to give her a proper farewell.
With a soothing voice, she calmed your worries, returning the hug, “Don’t worry little one. It’s not a goodbye, it’s just a goodbye until next time.”
Queen Elysia’s attention was brought to the throne room door as she noticed something through the hivemind. Smiling, she let go of the hug and nudged you toward the door. “It seems that there’s someling that wants to say goodbye too.”
As you wondered what she meant, the throne room door opened, unleashing a bolt of pink and black energy that dashed straight to you, tackling you to the ground.
Cicah held you on the floor in a crushing hug, her monochrome eyes and cheeks soaked with tears as she cried hysterically, “Please, don’t go!”
Struggling, you managed to free one hoof from her embrace, patting the crying cicada. “I’m sorry, Cicah, but I have to…”
“But you didn’t even have the chance to properly meet my broodmates! They would love you so much!” the pink mess of a changeling exclaimed, crying even more.
“I know… Why don’t you visit me in Ponyville once everything is settled? I would love your visit!” you offered, trying to console your friend.
That seemed to work, as the changeling’s crying began to calm into a sniffle. “You mean it?”
“Of course I do.” You smiled at her, getting a faint smile in return.
“Okay…” Cicah said, getting off of you and helping you get up. You gave her one last hug before returning to the table, finally touching the mirage with your magic.
As a surge of energy began enveloping you, spinning rapidly as it prepared you for the teleportation to your new home, Queen Elysia and Cicah waved you goodbye. “I’ll see you soon!” the pink changeling said before the whole world disappeared.
After what felt like half an hour of falling, you woke up nauseated and disoriented, lying on what seemed to be grass covered dirt. Shaking your head to force the world to stop spinning, your eyes hurt under the oppressive brightness of the sun. After a few seconds, you finally managed to stand up and look around you, your vision finally adjusting to the bright, clear skies.
You were standing a couple of meters away from a steep gorge, a frail-looking rope bridge connecting the two sides. Taking a glance over your shoulder, a dense and shadowy forest greeted you, a sense of dread crawling down your spine. Creepy eyes stared back at you from the distance. In front of you lay the ruins of an ancient castle, a thin, blue glowing thread tying its doors close.
Not wanting to meet your creepy neighbors, you flapped your wings to cross the gap, not trusting that bridge one bit. Landing on the other side, you approached the castle doors to inspect that weird thread. Feeling it strangely familiar, you touched it with your hoof. Suddenly, a barrage of senses took hold of your mind as the phantom image of two spider-changelings formed behind you. They looked similar to the image projected by your mother’s crystal table but different… like their image had been implanted in your memory, it felt like a deja vu.
An echoing voice broke you out of your stupor as the changeling on your right seemed to speak to you, “Greetings, Princess, or should I say, Queen.” The changeling bowed. “I’m drone SC-2223 and this is my broodmate, SC-2224, but you can call us just Twenty-three and Twenty-four.” The older looking changeling said, “As you can see, we’re spider-changelings, that means that we can weave memories of others like we weave our webs! We’ll give you a tour of your new hive location, so follow the threads!” said Twenty-four, the younger changeling.
With that, the changelings faded. Follow the threads… Opening the double doors, you found out that most of the castle’s ceiling had collapsed, chunks of stone filling the main hall. Dark blue and golden banners stood proudly at its end, carrying the symbols of a crescent moon and the sun respectively.
As you navigated through the debris, you saw six corridors branching from the hall. It must be really easy to get lost in this place, you thought. Noticing another web near the lunar banner, you flew up to it and touched it, activating the memory, but suddenly the whole wall began to spin, throwing you into another part of the castle.
As you landed not so elegantly on the floor, the two spiders returned. “As you can see, this castle might be a mess, but it has a lot of trapdoors that make for great security or additional chambers if your changelings ever need them. Follow us,” Twenty-three said, crawling on the wall and hitting the center of the banner before fading through the wall.
Cautiously, you levitated the banner with you magic, revealing a small stone button. Tapping it, the wall turned again, throwing you back where you came from and swinging the banner out of your magic, slapping you with it right on the flank.
“Oh, just a quick warning, don’t raise the banner with your magic! It’s too heavy and it might swing and hit you on the other side!” warned Twenty-four before dissipating. A little too late..
Blowing a strand of hair out of your face in frustration, your eyes followed the thin string leading to another web just ahead the corridor. Getting up as cautiously as you could to not activate anything else, you walked to the web.
The spider-changelings returned, walking down the corridor as Twenty-three continued her explanation, “Your workers will love these spinning walls as they give them nice shortcuts to travel around the hive to do their chores.” Turning around, Twenty-four continued, “There are also some hidden chambers that may be of use, like the one you just activated a few steps back!”
What? you thought. Looking back, you saw a sunken stone on the floor as you stepped on a pressure plate. A faint click could be heard, and the floor slid open beneath you. With no time to react and flap your wings, you fell.
“Come on!” you whined in annoyance as you landed on your face for the second time. The ceiling sealed itself again, leaving you in a pitch black room. You lit up your horn so you could see your surroundings, finding nothing other than stone walls and a small hole. Peeking through the hole, you saw a hall full of pony hooves holding unlit torches and another blue web.
You reached for the web with your magic and the changelings were summoned once more. “You can use these chambers as prison cells in case you want to capture some ponies for love,” Twenty-three suggested. “Whatever you do, just don’t let Cicah know of these rooms! The whole hive knows she plans on visiting you in the future at this point. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a nice changeling, but she has some real problems regarding guards, especially beetles. I don’t even want to know what she would do to them in a room like one of these…” Twenty-four warned, earning a jab from her sister. Rolling her eyes, Twenty-three continued, “Anyway, just pull the lever and you’ll free yourself.”
A little bit disturbed after Twenty-four’s warning, you quickly searched for the said lever so you could get away from that room. Finding and pulling the lever, the wall spun around, throwing you out of the chamber, but this time you were ready, quickly maneuvering with your wings to land on your hooves, the small victory bringing a sly smile to your lips.
“Well, meet you at the top of the tower!” Twenty-four called to you from the end of the corridor, pulling herself up with a string of silk.
Visibly deflating, you let out a heavy sigh of defeat as you flapped your wings and began your flight up the stairs, forgetting your previous victory.
Completely exhausted, you reached what appeared to be a library. Thousands of ancient books lay forgotten on the shelves and the floor as the room accumulated more and more dust. Why didn’t anypony try to recover these books?
Noticing a blue web at the corner of the room, you activated the next memory. “This library will be the heart and soul of your sorcerers. One of the problems that we changelings face is how to translate unicorn magic to our changeling magic, but I’m sure your researchers will be able to translate some useful pony spells with the aid of these books. You could even trade some of these with other hives if you deem it appropriate,” Twenty-three explained, stopping next to an inviting set of chairs and a table.
You decided to take a seat on the chair to rest, but like everything else in this castle, it leaned backward and sent you tumbling to the floor, revealing a secret room behind two bookshelves.
“And the cooler part is that there’s a hidden room right there that contains a book written by the pony princesses themselves! You could even make it your personal chambers if you’d like to have a nice view from the tower window!” said Twenty-four, dangling from the wall next to the room’s entrance.
You just accepted your fate and facehoofed at this point, this castle hated you...
“To the second tower we go!” you heard Twenty-four squeak as she bungee jumped down the tower stairs.
…or maybe you hated the spider sisters.
Thoughts of just flying through the window to the next tower ran through your mind, but the spider sister didn’t do that. Maybe this castle will shoot magic fireballs at you if you tried! Who knew at this point?! So, you decided to follow them in pursuit.
As you traversed the aisle between the towers, you mindlessly activated a nearby web and continued your arduous journey. “These walls have weird old pony painting frames with hidden chambers in them, but why would you need something like that is beyond me…” Twenty-three said nonchalantly.
“They make for cool hide-and-seek spots too,” Twenty-four added.
Why would ponies need this kind of stuff anyway? you wondered, confused as well.
Reaching the top of the other tower, you could feel the faint signature of a long gone, but powerful magic. Passing by the broken door, you found a strange statue; a stone pedestal containing a big orb in its center and five smaller empty pedestals branching from it.
“A strange artifact indeed,” Twenty-three said from behind you. “We don’t know what it is, but it’s somehow connected to a weird crystal tree a few meters away from the castle, hidden inside a cave. It would be wise to study it and be careful with it. Only a few rooms remain now, follow me outside,” Twenty-three said before simply crawling out the window.
You mean I could just have flown up here from the other room?! By the Queen Mother, why didn’t they tell me this before?! you yelled in your mind, banging your head against the wall in defeat. Of course, the wall spun in place and you ended up dangling from outside the castle tower!
You quickly grasped a nearby gargoyle statue for support when you saw the phantom of Twenty-four swinging at her web and phasing through the wall just beneath you. I’ve come this far… you thought, before taking to the skies and charging against the wall. Your impact sent the wall spinning, throwing you on top of an old pony armor set that flipped itself, sending you and the heavy metal armor rolling down a long flight of stairs to the very bottom of the castle.
Every inch of your body felt like you’ve just been thrown into a blender and mixed together. You thanked the Queen Mother that Changeling Queen carapaces were as hard as those of beetle-changelings.
Checking the room you’ve just fallen into, you found an enormous pipe organ on the far end of a darkened hallway with a web next to it. You activated the web, bracing yourself for impact.
“According to the journal of the two pony princesses, this pipe controls all the traps and hidden passages inside the castle. It would be a perfect place to station some workers so they could manage the castle with more ease. And according to some local pony legends, the few ponies that dare to enter the Everfree Forest think that this castle is haunted by what’s left of Nightmare Moon’s dark magic. You’ll be able to keep your hive hidden, even if you use this pipe organ. Still, remember that the more you change the outside of the castle, the more potential attention you’ll draw,” Twenty-three warned you.
“Now, this key will activate a spring trap that will launch you back to the throne room where we left you your last parting gifts! Why don’t you go on and press it?” Twenty-four asked you with a gleeful smile.
“No way!” you shouted, despite knowing that they were pre-recorded messages and couldn’t hear you.
“Well, okay then…” Twenty-four said, shrugging. A devious smile crossed her face.
“What the…?” You heard a clunking sound coming from the staircase. The pony armor helmet rolled down the stairs at high speed, you barely ducked out of its course. It landed on the pipe organ, a clicking sound coming from beneath you.
For buck’s sake… you thought before being forcibly launched into the air by the spring trap.
At the end of your ride, you landed in the middle of the throne room on your rump, beaten and defeated. This was your home now.
Forgive me mother, but I’ve failed you… you thought through your pain.
You noticed one last web dangling right next to you. Almost throwing your body, you slumped toward it and activated it.
Twenty-four’s phantom seemed to be caressing the air just a few centimeters away from your head, a miscalculation from your trajectory it seemed. “Hey there, sorry if the ride was a bit rough, we just wanted to pull a prank on you.”
“We?” Twenty-three asked her sister with a raised eyebrow and a frown.
“Okay, I wanted to pull a prank on you…” Twenty-four corrected.
“But there was also something to be learned here,” Twenty-three interrupted. “Now, you know the castle in its entirety and now you know how it is to be a lone changeling; you get beaten and defeated. Queen Elysia took it upon herself to make sure that no changeling had to live like that, and now it’s your turn to do the same, with the help of her last parting gifts.”
Confused, you rose from the floor and followed the phantoms as they guided you toward the two old thrones of the pony princesses. Sitting atop the lunar throne was a fragment of a dark crystal, similar to the crystal that composed your mother’s throne and on top of the solar throne was a small cluster of changeling eggs.
“Now, there’s one more trap that flips the thrones to the outside of the castle. Could serve as a good escape route if things get messy…” Twenty-four said, but you completely zoned her out. Your instincts hit you in full force as you dove toward the solar throne to keep the eggs safe.
Nothing happened. Twenty-three’s phantom hit Twenty-four’s head as she laughed. “Don’t worry, we disabled that trap so it wouldn’t damage the eggs. You can activate it again in the pipe organ room,” Twenty-four said.
“Now, pay close attention, even though we call ourselves siblings, we aren't actually from Queen Elysia’s hive like you. Queen Elysia only had one royal egg and egg cluster in her entire life, you and your brothers and sisters,” Twenty-three said, pointing toward the eggs on the throne. “She did everything she could to help you in your journey since the beginning, now it's up to you. Make sure that you balance well the units of drones you will spawn and choose carefully so your mother’s legacy wouldn’t go to waste.”
Noticing Twenty-four beckoning you to a mirror on the other side of the room, you gently placed the egg cluster back down.
“Of course, part of being a Changeling Queen is providing for your subjects so they, in turn, provide for you in the future. One of the most important things every changeling must have is a default pony form, name and story! You can always steal somepony else’s identity, but a smart changeling always has an identity of its own, so why don’t you create one for yourself and go meet your neighbors in Ponyville? This will give your siblings enough time to hatch and be ready for work!”
“We have to get going, remember; a changeling is nothing without a hive as much as a hive is nothing without its changelings, keep both in check and you’ll be alright,” Twenty-three said with a bow and faded away.
“Bye!” Twenty-four waved and joined her sister.
This was it. It was all up to you know.
You threw a quick glance toward your siblings. I won’t fail them… Then your gaze returned to the mirror. I won’t fail myself!
Hello there players! Today I bring you your new hive! In this chapter, I sprinkled some tips here and there of what types of rooms and activities you can do on your hive.
Now comes the important stuff, Today I give you two tasks;
1) Basic changelings units work in units of 5 individuals, that means that 5 basic changelings occupy 1 love supply for your hive. (Advanced changeling breeds like sorcerers spawn two individuals per love supply and special breeds like the spider-changeling occupy 1 love supply each!)
You have 4 love supply available so that means that you have to choose 4 classes for your 20 changelings! Here are the units and their basic functions:
Gatherers: Changelings specialized in passively gathering love on nearby settlements, increasing the hive's maximum love supply. They have their own personal pony form and spend most of their time living among them.
Workers: The hard working class. They're the ones that build new chambers that unlock new units and upgrades and keep the hive alive. They're also a secondary line of defense in the absence of warriors.
Warriors: The main line of defense and attack force of the hive. They work in conjunction with the infiltrators to make sure the hive is safe and secured.
Infiltrators: The most versatile basic changeling breed. They can gather active love on pony settlements by replacing one of their kind or scout the area ahead for the warriors to work with.
Now, would you like to have 1 supply of each kind? maybe 4 supply worth of warriors? The most voted combination of units win!
2) One of the most important things a changeling can have is a solid disguise, and our queen needs one! That's up to you to customize the character the way you want! Here are some things to take into consideration:
Pony Name!
Pony Breed! (only the basic earth, pegasi and unicorns)
Eye, mane and coat color! (magic color in case of a unicorn!)
Cutie mark!
And most importantly, Backstory! There's no point in having all the cuteness if you can't keep a solid story!
The vote will be chosen based on the coolest design and backstory!
If you'd like to create a changeling for the story, learn about the game rules and mechanics or check all the details about the character's statistics, you can find all of it within the Support Page! We even have a discord server!
Leave your votes in the comments below! The next chapter will be announced... soon-ish 
Bye!
-T.M.W.D.
Chapter edited by: EverfreePony
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2 Gatherer Units, 1 Worker Unit, 1 Warrior Unit. Increase love gathering as quickly as possible, but we don't have enough warriors to defend ourselves so we'd want Gatherers, passive collectors. We also need to start working on our hive, so a unit of Workers. But we need some defense, in the case that someponies find their way through the forest, better safe than sorry, so a unit of Warriors.
As for disguise:
Crystal Comet, a Unicorn with a soft blue mane that sparkles slightly in the moonlight, and a coat of soft orange-yellow. Her eyes, blue carbunkle in color, are sharp and piercing, like she's studying you under a microscope. Her cutie mark is a simple book and quill, alluding to her talent of writing and history recording. Her magic is a deep purple, a unique color indeed.
Crystal left her home of Hollow Shades after recording many of the legends there. She carries a book, wooden cover and waterproofed sheets, alongside a quill and inkwell. She came to Ponyville after hearing about the many legends that surround the town, while also hearing about the rare and unique creatures that lived in the forest nearby. She anticipates spending a lot of time in and around the Everfree forest, though she's make an effort to meet the locals and have some fun, as she's always enjoyed the nightlife and sampling some of the town's finest delicacies. She can only hope that most ponies would let her come to them when she needs to, as she appreciates a deep sense of respect and isolation during her work.
Units:
1 Gatherer
2 Worker
1 Infiltrator
Reasoning:
The Hive is currently too small to have a need for warriors. It would be easier to hide in case of unwanted visitors right now.
2 Worker Units as there should be infrastructure to build.
1 Gatherer Unit to expand love supply for more Units in the future. Only 1 Unit to not create a sudden influx of new ponies.
1 Infiltrator Unit for opportunistic replacement of ponies. (maybe you catch the Mayor, but more likely you will replace ponies that currently have no permanent acquaintances [perhaps orphans, if there are any])
Disguise:
No solid idea, I'll leave this one to the others, although Unicorn would be useful: Telekinesis/Levitation is the most OP spell there is if you know how to abuse it. halt the bloodflow to your opponent's brain levitate your opponent somewhere they can't harm you
I love that, even though this is a comment driven story, we're all accepting of the decisions made. I'm also glad that AniMun is giving everyone a chance to say their part, and he's listening to each and every one of us before making a choice. It really makes me feel like this story is going to be awesome, and we'll all help make it that way, even if our choices aren't used.
Each new chapter deepens the desire to see this turning into a game.
I would choose 1 of each changeling type the infiltrators could be used to protect the love gatherers, and the changeling warriors could be set up near the thrones and by the entrance. the workers could convert a few rooms to be barracks and such. they could also make an armory and blacksmith section by converting more rooms.
1. Preferably, it would be one of each. That gives you a jack of all trades and master of none kind of deal (for now, at least) but grants you the best versatility.
2. Pegasus or unicorn mare. One would allow you to fly, the other would naturally give you a better ability to defend yourself if you must fight in your pony form. Preferably a tall, unicorn mare (similiar to Fleur de Lis). Normal accent (not southern, British, or any analogous accent types in Equestria).
Blue eyes, a bay coat, and a black mane, with a cutie mark featuring a heart with a light-bulb in the center. Your name is... Bright Heart.
Bright Heart was born in a pious family of inventors. After becoming a great tinkerer and historian in her own right, she left the family business to seek her own fortune in the world beyond her home town of Baltimare, determined to turn the small amount of bits she carried into a fortune to charitably aid those in need.
Sorry if it's not perfect.
8646711
8646762
Hey, thanks for voting!
8646705
Thanks for voting! Love your Crystal Comet idea!
8646730
I'm really glad to hear that! I'm really hoping that I can make everybody feel like their participation is meaningful and I have some pretty cool things planned for the story!
I plan on dividing the story into 2 simple systems; 4x strategy for the hive building and RPG for the queen herself so players will have to choose if they want to spend their resources upgrading the hive or the queen
8646814
Hey thanks for voting! I really liked your character idea!
Question: Are we capable of getting Advanced Units yet?
I would go with 1 unit of gatherers, 2 units of workers, 1 unit of warriors.
My reasoning is as such: 1 unit of gatherers is 5 changelings, so they could disguise themselves as a new family moving to Ponyville. 10 ponies moving into town at the same time would be harder to sell as not related. The Castle of the Two Sisters is bigger than the show makes it out to be, and so it would be hard for 5 worker changelings to cover it all efficiently. And the 1 unit of warriors would be adequate to protect the castle for now, as it is relatively isolated. I say no infiltrators because Ponyville is not that big a community, and as a result, it would be harder to pass off any mistakes in behavior or habit made by an infiltrator since the pony they replace would be known by a decent chunk of the town. Not to mention, the Elements LIVE there. Do you REALLY want to risk Applejack finding the truth? Because it would be even harder to sell those lies to her. Not to mention, Rainbow Dash can grow suspicious of anypony she thinks acts weird very fast.
Two groups of gatherers, one infiltrator group, one worker group. Build carefully, (I cannot stress this enough!!!) STAY HIDDEN, and be ready to bolt at need.
If you keep it low key, you have a better chance of thriving.
8646911
Good points, thanks for voting!
And no, we can't build advanced units yet because the hive lacks the proper structures to "unlock" them. We can build these structures in the next chapter however
8646934
wise choices! thanks for voting
Units:
1 Gatherer
2 Worker
1 Infiltrator
Disguise: Crystal Comet (Phazon_Corrupted_Unicorn Description)
2 workers,build rooms or defense's or items for other units.
1 love gatherer, collect passive love to feed the hive.
1 warrior, can defend the hive from threats in the everfree forest and act as guards for the prison cells.
Queen disguise, stormy night a dark blue pegasus with black eyes and a cutie mark of a moon with rain clouds in front of it
Backstory, stormy night was always bullied when she didn't have a cutie mark when she got one she new her talent was related to the night (sorry but I have nothing for its meaning) when she was 21 she started to travel before eventually settling down in ponyville
8646944
That was unexpected XD Thanks for voting!
8646958
ok then, I'll change your vote
Okay.
1 unit of Gatherers (posing as family, that decided to move to Pnyville). In begining hold them in castle.
1 unit of Workers. Their first task to search suplies for Gatherers (such as money they will need).
1 unit of Wariors. Defend Workers and remaining Eggs.
We still have 5 eggs to use in case of an emergency. Now we should wait until they hatch and give them their tasks. After that, we can go to Ponyville, to survey surrounding territory while our drones do their work.
As for disguise:
Name: Enigma.
Pony Breed: Unicorn.
Eye mane and coat color: If possible, we should try to simulate our original coloration. If in the future our Changeling nature will be revealed, the choice of colors can cause more trust in our pony allies.
Cutiemark: Book and magical sparks.
Backstory: Enigma is a self-taugth mage from Manhattan, which arrived in the city to explore the Castle of the Two Sisters. She also hopes to explore the local exotic animals and plants, maybe learn something about alchemy. And, of course, to relax from the hustle and bustle of the big city, that "actually" is her main reason for coming to Ponyville.
For hive make up my vote would go
6 gatherers
5 workers
3 infiltrators
6 warriors
In terms of teams I think the groups realistically would work better with flexible numbers but your choice.
I would say put a team of 1 passive collector (gatherer) and 1 warrior into the school as foal (maybe a twin who is protective of their sibling for the warrior) with another warrior as backup hidden outside nearby. Too many gatherers or an infiltrator would be detrimental as parents would notice the overdraw of energy being removed from their children and a replacement wouldn’t work as their friends would notice they acting differently no matter how Subtle.
This early on unless you only plan on being in the area for a short time, replacement is a bad option as you would have to release the victim or slip up which would be suspicious if people start losing their memory or have conflicting ones.
The workers I would keep as close to the hive as possible with the ones that are better at blending in for short periods being used as delivery bugs for any currently hidden gatherers or infiltrators, possibility using both in person meetings, dead drops and ‘bumping’ (physically and metaphorically) into each in public places.
For the disguise I would make the queen someone with a botany background maybe a gatherer or researcher (journeyman level) to give her a reason and cover for going into the Everfree on a regular basis. Having a warrior as a bodyguard (safety of the queen is paramount) and an infiltrator as an assistant (who could go off at odd times on various ‘tasks’ for their employer ) would help complete the image. As long as the queen has or obtains without the locals notice the knowledge needed to provide she knows what she is talking about.
Name - Green Thumb (the Thumb could be used as a talking point as other ponies wouldn’t know what one is. (After all who would expect an infiltrator to get something like the name of a digit wrong?))
Species - personally I would go for Pegasus though with knowledge of Rainbow Dash I can see it being a bad choice as she would enlist any spare Pegasi to help the weather team in an emergency and try to race against the newcomer.
Eye Colour - something Piercing giving her a commanding look
Mane & tail - colour shouldn’t be too garish or plain, green with a brown edging, done up in a practical style that won’t catch on any bushes or branches.
Coat - a light green to offset the Mane colours
Cutie mark - a basket of herb & berries but the basket to has a distinctly spiky or thorny look
Backstory - apprenticeship to a non famous apothecary owner but leaving without completing her training due to a dis agreement that she will not elaborate on (owner expected her to take over his shop but she wanted to find her own place). Guard is a former friend who she has an amiable but professional relationship with. Assistant is someone she met along the way who had recently received a plant based cutie mark and was setting out to find an healer or plant gatherer to learn from when Green Thumb came through his town and took them on with the parents blessing (like how I imagined Pinkie came to be apprenticed to the Cakes despite her parents living far enough away that she does not regularly see them).
Unfortunately No matter how you put the story I can see Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow tiring to involve or find out more about the new arrival (Applejack on her tree knowledge, Twilight on knowledge in general plus paranoia from the wedding before, Rainbow on if the new Pegasus has the same interest as her, Pinkie so she can plan parties for her and her associates.
Did you get the idea for this from the Overlord game series (“evil always finds a way”)?
1 gatherers, 2 workers and 1 warrior.
1 gatherer because Ponyville is a small town/village and thus there is no need at the moment for more than 1 unit of GH.
2 worker units to start building the hive and expand it fast enough to make a proper eggchamber/nursery and some other rooms.
1 warrior unit because the Everfree forest is dangerous and the hive needs protection from any beast that might wander close. Warrior are also required to protect the workers when out harvesting for materials.
--Changeling warrior--
Name: Fergus
ID: RH-97
8647116
I chose this model 'cuz it would be easier to work with when we hit the hundreds
The story is set before the Canterlot wedding, so nopony have any knowledge of the changeling race existence (yet)
Good way to implement some security into her disguise, thanks for voting!
8646868
Thank you, and you are welcome
May God go with you, and all of us!
Changeling Force
2 gatherer's to get our love supply going
1 worker to make a start on construction
1 warrior to guard the hive in case for any surprise attacks (Rush attacks)
Pony disguise
Name - Soaring Sky (or Sky for short)
body - Pegsi
Colour - Cyan mane. Blue Body
Cutie mark - Arrow flying clouds
Back Story
- Soaring Sky was born in the North east land of Equstria with her mum and dad. She wanted to join in the Wonderbolts but her parents forbid her saying it is too dangerous for her. Angered by it of denying her a chance of her dream. Soaring sky would fly away at night to practices to prove to her parents how good she is. Each night she was getting better and better. But then tragic struck a massive gushed of wind blow her of course and landed in the river. The tide forced her down stream. She collided with some rocks on the way which broke her left wing and blacking her out.
When Soaring Sky awoke up she was washed up on land. She doesn't know where she is and where her home is. Sky was lost. But she didn't give up Sky is determine to survive and find her way home. she fixed her broken wing with a splint by using sticks and some of her mane and tail to tie the splint up. Form there she made it her mission to make it back home here family must be worried about Sky. It took about a two weeks for her broken wing to heal she didn't want to fly to much in case her wing gets broken again. But she won't give up She will find refugee, attend to any of her wounds, survive any threats and she is going to live.
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You’re welcome. Thanks for giving us readers the chance to express our opinions on the story direction.
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Good idea! Thanks for voting!
As much as I wanna go for a greedy build considering our current <HIDDEN> status (2 gatherers and 2 workers), a 2 gatherers, 1 worker and 1 infiltrator build is probably the best. The reasoning here is mainly flexibility with a production boost.
While I would have considered a warrior squad necessary considering our location, the presence of traps gives me enough confidence to not require spawning a squad, allowing us to allocate our available resources to spawn an additional gatherer squad to boost our spawning capacity and give us more options later. The worker squad is fairly self-explanatory, and the infiltrator squad feels like a great long-term investment that is best to spend our last five eggs. Ponyville will be of fair import as it'll be the home of the Elements of Harmony, and we need to start building a profile on them ASAP.
As for our backstory... why not multiple identities? Having maybe three different personas to fall back upon might seem like a bad idea if we're forced to juggle between the three of them, especially if we must have all three present at the same time, but I do think that this can be managed with a select few infiltrators working with us.
But if I must choose only one, I'd say Ereg's pony race, colorations and name are good. The only thing I'd change would be to make the disguise be an elder mare who wishes to become a hermit, having become disillusioned with Vanhoover life and seeking to find a connection to nature, one as separate from civilization as possible. Why? Mostly to try to gain as much privacy at the start. We don't want our presence to be revealed outside of circumstances that we can control.
1 gatherers, as a new Familie in Ponyville
2 workers for reparing, restoring and creat new rooms
1 warrior too protect the workers and the queen from foes and Animales
Disguise:
(Zecora, Zebra Shaman 😅)but I would definitely recommend a unicorn Magic color: maybe red or pink
appearance: mmmmm.......... Fluffelpuff?
Name & Backstory: i not really good in that so i let this be open, but i have a question: Is this a sidequest so we get a reward for having a Good Name and Backstory? and do we get abillitypoint for completing missions like that somethink like in Starcraft 2 Heath of the Swarm
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This is not a sidequest, the queen will need a persona if the players want to have peacefull interactions with the ponies. Think about as a character creation from skyrim or something like that.
However, there will be plenty of sidequests, that like heart of the swarm, will provide the players with aditional resources and unlock some cool stuff like new spells and units
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Having muntiple identities is a basic ability for all changelings, but like Twenty-four said, the wise changeling should always have that one identity, the identity that never was compromised, the identity that is the last (and best) disguise in case something goes wrong.
Thanks for voting!
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Thx for the reply that give me more enthusiasm for the following chapters, I'm not very good with the persona but I recommend the one from Ereg
8647356
Ok then. I'm glad to know you're liking the story so far!
Two (2) Gatherer Units, One (1) Worker Unit, One (1) Warrior Unit.
Anyways, the two (2) Gatherer Units will help us get us the love we need, the one (1) Worker Unit will help fix the Castle up, and the one (1) Warrior Unit for defense.
And for disguise I say unicorn, I can't come up with anything else.
Units: 3 Gatherers and 1 Worker.
Reasoning: The fifteen Gatherers can slowly integrate over time creating a new pony for each one until fifteen new "ponies" move in. At that point have them occasionally visit the hive to deliver important news and other details about what is going on. After all of the gatherers move in have the workers start expanding the hive.
Disguise: 3 options depending upon choice of race
Disguise 1: Clean sweep. A Earthpony Mare responsible for making and selling cleaning supplies. Appearance: A very light brown coat with a dark brown mane Cutiemark is a broom and mop crossed over each other. A simple mare who as a filly helped her mum around the house and when her mothers broom broke she worked all night making a new one. When she woke up in the morning she found out she had earned her Cutiemark. And later in life decided to move out of her mum's house and live on her own.
Disguise 2: Painted beauty. A Unicorn Mare who paints wonderful landscapes and captures the natural beauty of an area. Appearance: Rose red coat with a Sandy blond mane Cutiemark is a paint brush next to a painting of a tree. A mare from Canterlot who went to the park everyday with her father to admire the beauty. She earned her Cutiemark after she decided to capture the beauty on a canvas. She decided to move after running out of inspiration in Canterlot. (And after getting tired of the nobles).
Disguise 3: Wing zing. A Pegasus Stallion who is a great comedian and entertains crowds. Appearance: A grey coat with a black mane usually wears sunglasses Cutiemark is a pair of comedy masks. A Stallion from Manehatten who tried to keep ponies from being sad in various ways. When he was but a Colt the death of his friends parents saddened not only his friend but everypony who knew the fillies parents. He tried to cheer her and everypony up but he failed initially eventually he stayed up for several days thinking of ways to cheer them up until he decided that he would use a comedy act. After he finished cheering up his friend and everypony else he found he had gotten his Cutiemark. He decided to move after his usual comedy club closed.
My aprroach for this is similar to everyone else: 1 gatherer unit, 2 worker units and 1 warrior unit. When you said that each unit of a basic changeling unit will have five changelings, having more then one gather unit will be far too risky. It would be best if we just use one gatherer unit and give them a coverstory as a new family moving in.
Since this is before the changeling attack, I highly doubt the main six had done some repairs on the castle so, we will need worker units to fix the place up. However, we can't fix it too well because the last time the castle was seen, it was in complete ruin. If ponies or even worse one of the main six started to show up and see the castle in better condition, they will get curious and might see what is going on. So we should have the workers focus on just cleaning up some rubble and debris inside the building and leave the outer appearnce of the castle alone in hopes that ponies wouldn't give it a second glance. Also, they are also a defense line for the hive in case there is a lack of warriors, but they might be similar to a milita and shouldn't be our main defense.
I'm also not foolish to believe that we don't need troops to defend ourselves. Personally, I hope that we could go down a peaceful route and try to make it so that ponies and changelings would live in peace together, but that will soon become easier said then done quite soon. You did say this story takes place before the changeling invasion, but you never said it wouldn't happen. When the invasion does occur, ponies will have a negative view on the changelings, thus giving us a diplomacy penalty. This would means that when a pony sees a changeling, they would run to civilization and warn the others of nearby changelings. Obviously we need to avoid this, but I have a feeling that we will encounter this problem at one point we will need to be prepared. We will need warriors units to defend the hive when the ponies come to erraticate us. I really don't want to see anyone hurt, but the safety of the hive is top priority.
Now I have nothing for backstory to be fair since I'm not good at creating pony OC. I will just focus on the strategy and try to help us survive this game. Here goes hoping that we survive the first week in our new hive.
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Actually, the elements of Harmony are currently still stone orbs within the castle. This means that Twilight has not yet visited the castle. Maybe she didn't even arrive in Ponyville yet. Our Queen wouldn't know anything about the mane 6 though.
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A pony that wants to be alone is less likely to be visited by others. If you claim to be a researcher or explorer, you will have curious Twilight or adventure-seeking Rainbow on your tail immediately.
I second the hermit mare option
1 worker, 2 gatherer, 1 warrior for changeilngs. I'm thinking unicorn mare with blue magic, I got nothing else for the disguise
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Mistakes were made!!! I'll post a blog about it soon!
8648408
Ouch. Well that complicates things. I was expecting the Hive trying to hide from Nightmare Moon in some future chapter.
My vote remains unchanged however, our Queen cannot use knowledge she doesn't have to make a decision.
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Thanks for voting!
8647724
Cool disguise options! Thanks for voting
8648446
Yeah... sorry about that...
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ok then
8648486
OK then, thanks for voting
And indeed a love matching job would be a good way of harvesting it without much exposure
8648579
Oh, you don't need to worry about copyright with that kind of stuff
And yes, I had read that before it was deleted
Actually, I just had an idea. Why not take 2 of the 20 eggs, and carry them with you into town(claiming to have found them abandoned in the everfree forest)? [and leave them in the care of a local pony you deem trustworthy enough to not mess with the eggs in a way that would harm the drones inside]
After all, it is only a matter of time until the hive will be found by someone, and not having to immediately face a hostile population upon the discovery would help. Letting the ponies have some experience with self-hatched/raised "hiveless" changelings (that are still under your command but simply pretend to be hiveless) would make it less likely for them to immediately turn hostile upon discovering your hive, unless they discover the cocoons containing the replaced ponies.
While it is a risky move, sacrifices two eggs, and would alert anyone knowing of changelings that some were in the everfree forest, it could pay off.
Especially since those that know about changelings likely also know how protective queens are of their eggs, meaning that abandoned eggs imply a dead queen, meaning whatever hive there "was" is not a threat anymore.
The question is if a queen's instincts allow such use of two eggs.
Also: why two eggs and not just 1?
Such that the "hiveless" changelings can introduce the ponies to the basics of the hivemind. [any member of the hive CAN be used to speak to the whole, if needed]
1) I agree with M127 when it comes to units.
1 Gatherer
2 Worker
1 Infiltrator
Seems good to me. However I am curious about his other idea about us giving some unhatched eggs to a trustworthy pony in Ponyville. If done right this could help improve relations between the two races also it could work with the disguise I had in mind.
2) Here is the Disguise idea I had.
Name: Truth Trotter
Species: Pegasus -logically I'm not sure how close unicorn magic is to changeling magic (if it looks different it could cause some issues) and I'm not sure we have access to a teleportation spell. So assuming that we don't, in the situation that we have to run away or make our way back to the hive in a hurry, being a pegasus would allow us to fly (which we know we can do).
Appearance: Light gray coat, salmon pink mane, lime green eyes and a cutie mark resembling a scroll with a magnifying glass examining one of the pages.
Backstory: We are a researcher from Baltimare trying to discover how ponies interact/co-exist with other races in the hopes of improving relationships between ponies and other species. It isn't threatening and it allows to grow close to others for "research." Also we could try to pass off some of our offspring in a manner that would allow us to gain love while also supporting our research. In the worse case situation that we are discovered we can explain that we meant no harm by our actions and they would be deemed non-hostile. Also I can think of a few pony researchers who would love to see our findings.
Well, that's just my thoughts, I look forward to seeing what happens next.
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Hey there, I have two new blog posts that may be of interest to you
I say one of each unit and go with nameless_person’s idea in using them. I agree with the idea M127 has with the eggs and I say the researcher profile is a good one to use to help the idea after you go to town a couple of times. A idea to get love is collect some of the herbs in the forest to sell at town as traders.
the spiders must have uncanny future eight.
Keep going! ;)