Chapter 04.5 - Hivemates (1K Views Special)
Oh, one more thing. What's your name? the Young Queen asked, the question catching all her drones by surprise.
N-name, my Queen? a drone stuttered, worry and confusion on its mind.
Uhm… yeah? Now she seemed confused… The drones looked to one another anxiously, not knowing what to do.
I-it's not my place to decide, m-my Queen... the drone said meekly.
Of course it is! Everyling deserves their own name! Besides, it would be easier for me to remember all of you by. If you don’t want a name of your own, at least come up with a persona you can disguise yourself as, the Queen lectured her drones, not fully understanding why such a reluctance to pick a name for themselves.
Y-yes, my Queen. Then what should we call you? the drone asked in earnest curiosity.
That question caught her off guard, a little bit of guilt invading her mind as she thought about how she was complaining about her drones’ reluctance to pick a name for themselves when, in fact, she didn’t have one of her own.
Her guilt was picked up by her drones through the hivemind. Don’t worry, my Queen, you’ll earn your name soon enough, we know it! they encouraged her, quieting her troubled thoughts.
Thanks… the Young Queen replied sheepishly.
We’re going to work right away, my Queen, and we’ll come up with something… the drones said before cutting their connection to their Queen’s mind. An eerie silence filled the crowded throne room as all the drones tried to process their Queen’s wishes.
So, she wants to give us names? one drone finally asked through the hivemind, confused.
She wants us to pick a name for ourselves, another drone corrected, still unsure of its queen’s decision.
I guess she doesn’t know about the name traditions of changelings? a drone offered its explanation.
She didn’t spend as much time as an egg like we did, maybe she wasn’t able to receive much knowledge from Mother Elysia? Or maybe Mother Elysia didn’t transmit her knowledge to our Queen… the first drone mumbled, theorizing.
Well, it doesn’t matter, for now, our Queen gave us instructions and we are to follow them, a fifth drone interrupted the discussion. The workers can begin the preparations for the new hatchery and the others are free to do as they please while waiting for our Queen’s signal, let’s get to work, ‘lings! it rallied its brothers and sisters who took to the air and spread around the ruined castle, ready to fulfill their Queen’s wishes.
Buzzing through an empty corridor, two gatherers and an infiltrator roamed aimlessly around the castle while pondering what names to claim for themselves.
“Names, huh? That sounds like fun! Have you thought about something yet?” one of the gatherers asked its siblings.
“Well, I recall some pretty common names around mother’s hive, like Nymph or Pupa... Well, at least I think they’re common since they appeared a lot broadcasted through the hivemind,” the infiltrator mentioned.
“Ohh, Pupa sounds cool, I think I’ll take this one!” The gatherer smiled, clopping her holed hooves together in excitement.
“I’ll take Nymph then,” the infiltrator said, chuckling at her sister’s antics. Noticing how quiet the other gatherer was, she decided to bring it to the conversation. “What about you? Have you thought of something yet?”
Hiding a bit under its mane, the gatherer replied, “N-not, really. I don’t know if I want a name, to be honest…”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, maybe you could create a persona for yourself instead, like our Queen suggested? Ohh, I would love to have a pony form of my own! Why don’t we go to the library and search for some inspiration?” Pupa suggested, even more excitedly.
“That’s a great idea! I’ll broadcast my readings throughout the hivemind to help our siblings out too!” Nymph agreed, smiling.
Arriving at the library, the trio spread around and collected random books scattered among the shelves and began their research. It didn’t take long for Pupa to find a book that caught her attention. Her book of choice was a historical documentation of the Nightmare Night celebration and how it changes among different regions of Equestria.
As she enthusiastically read through the withered pages of the old book, she took inspiration from various Nightmare Night traditions and pieced together her pony persona. Igniting her horn, she turned herself into a violet pegasus mare with a pale white mane and orange eyes. A bucket filled with candy decorated her flanks while a beautiful skull painting adorned her face. She added a purple jacket with a hood as the finishing touch.
Happy with her disguise, she shared her findings with her siblings. “Hey girls, did you know that in southern Equestria there is a variant of Nightmare Night called ‘Dia de Los Pesadelos’ and that they paint these really cool looking skulls on their faces in honor to the dead spirits that are rumored to be allowed back in the land of the living during the holiday? That’s so cool!”
“Really cheerful, I think it suits you,” Nymph said, smiling. “I found a really cool archive with tales and legends of Equestria’s greatest warriors, the book was really damaged and I couldn’t find any relevant names, but at least I think I can take the form of one of these warriors…”
Putting the book aside, Nymph ignited her horn and focused on every information she managed to extract from the book. She turned herself into a grey coated unicorn mare with black and white mane and tail. Her eyes were of a greenish blue color and she had a shield and twin sabers as a cutie mark.
“Ohh, I like it!” Pupa cheered.
A big pile of open books sat in front of the gatherer’s frowning face. It didn’t find anything interesting. Giving up on the books, it decided to go to the window to get some fresh air. Looking through it, it found a beautiful flower field filled with pink and white roses just outside the castle. The flowers’ beauty captivated its thoughts as it mindlessly began shapeshifting to match their colors. The gatherer turned into a light pink earth pony with white and pink short mane and tail. A blooming white rose cutie mark decorated her flanks.
Deciding to go outside and appreciate the flowers, ‘Rose’ trotted out of the library and reached the armory corridor. The corridor was blocked by three drones disguised as earth pony stallions.
One was a bulky, charcoal pony with a black mane done as a ponytail. He had a cutie mark of two battle axes crossing each other, flanked by a tower shield. He was inspecting a heavy-looking battle axe that he took from one of the armor racks set in the corridor.
Meanwhile a light tan stallion with aquamarine mane and a bow and mixing spoons as a cutie mark held a set of metal boots in his hooves while chatting with the other drone, a light orange earth pony stallion with a darker shade of orange in his mane, tail, and hooves. He had a cutie mark of a blazing flame and held a pair of regal looking horseshoes.
“I mean, look at these shoes, they fit perfectly on your hooves, are easy to care for and look pretty comfortable,” the orange pony argued.
“Still, these iron boots not only keep you hooves from dirt, they also give you added protection in case you need to buck something, right Onyx?” the tan pony asked the stallion with the battle axe for support.
The charcoal pony just huffed his reply, it seemed like they were doing this for a while now.
Hey, Balto, I found some more books about baking. Want me to read them for you? Nymph’s voice could be heard through the hivemind as it was projected toward the tan stallion.
Oh, sure, please. Is there anything more about cakes or pies in it? Balto asked, his mouth watering at the prospect of those baked goods.
Do rodeos have cake? the orange pony asked, intruding in the conversation.
You really liked rodeos, huh, Black Star, Nymph teased him.
Well, they sound like a good challenge, and they have horseshoe throwing competitions!
Rose skidded past them and headed for the nearest exit. Noticing her leave, Onyx left the axe and followed her. Noticing her pursuer, Rose asked, meekly, “Uh, why are you following me?”
Onyx looked at her for a second before returning his gaze to the path ahead. “You’re going outside,” he stated, simply.
“Uhm… yes?”
“I’m a warrior, I keep the hive safe, that includes you.”
Three drones were hanging out around the throne room. One was throwing away the empty eggshells, the other was cleaning the mirror and stained glass windows and the last one was just lounging in a corner, watching its two siblings working and chatting.
“How exactly did you come up with your name again, Evening Star?” a white unicorn mare with a cutie mark of a red sun asked her sister in the corner. She had a dark blue coat with a silver mane and silver eyes, looking almost as if she was blind.
“Well, just like the evening star is the first star to shine after the sun is out, I too like to just keep my distance and watch the others around me,” she explained.
“You already chose your appearance, what about your name?” the other drone asked, he was disguised as a blue pegasus stallion, had a black mane and red eyes with cutie mark of a shield and telescope on his flank.
“Well, I haven’t decided upon my name yet, but I guess I’ll come up with something eventually. What about you, Farsight? What gave you the idea for your name?” the white unicorn asked, cleaning the stained glass window with her magic.
“Well, to be honest, I got pretty good eyes, and can spot an invader from pretty far away. That’s pretty much it, actually,” he confessed, done cleaning the eggshells and now sweeping the floor with his tail.
“That’s why you make an excellent cleaning buddy!” the white mare joked. While cleaning the last stop on the window, she moved it a little bit. This change of angle focused the sunlight that shone through the glass, hitting the mirror in full force and blinding her pegasus brother, stunning him out of the skies and into the floor.
“Not so ‘far-sighted’ now are you?” Evening Star mocked him.
“Oops, sorry,” the white mare apologized, she turned the window again, making the focused sunshine ricochet between the two mirrors of the room, illuminating the whole room.
Observing her sister’s prowess manipulating sunlight, Evening Star proposed, “Why don’t you call yourself ‘Sunstrike’?”
A male worker drone with reddish-green eyes named Redwood sat in front of the old pipe organ at the back of the castle. He was about to start playing when the buzzing of wings interrupted him. Turning around, he saw his brothers Lazy Mist and Apathy. “What are you doing here, Lazy Mist? Weren’t you supposed to be helping with the hatchery?” he asked, scowling in disapproval.
“Eh, that room is boring, besides, since Phengaris sent you here to make sure all the traps at the future hatchery room are found and disabled, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to find out how they work,” he explained, bobbing his shoulders.
“What about Apathy then?” Redwood asked, pointing a hoof at the other changeling.
“He’s my assistant,” Lazy Mist stated dismissively. Directing his attention to Apathy, he instructed, “See those pipes? They’re connected to all the traps on this castle, I need you to follow the pipes and tell me if anything happens when I give you the signal, you got that?” He pointed at the organ’s pipes who ran all the way up the wall and through the ceiling.
Apathy nodded nonchalantly, not paying much attention to the crazy drone, and left the room.
As they both watched Apathy exit the room, Redwood shook his head in irritation. “You know that Phengaris will come here and catch you if you don’t return, right?”
“Nah, she’s busy preparing that room for the…” Lazy Mist was cut off by the booming voice of Phengaris over the hivemind.
Lazy Mist, get back here right now or I’m gonna find you and drag you back myself, you hear me! she cried in anger.
Startled, Lazy Mist shapeshifted into a creepy-looking pony mannequin to try and hide from his pursuer.
Rolling his eyes, Redwood began playing the pipe organ, its pleasant song echoing throughout the entirety of the castle ruins.
Meanwhile, just outside the room, Apathy ran into a weird drone who seemed to have disarmed a spring catapult trap from the floor and was mindlessly chewing on its cogs while tampering with the dismantled trap. What’s with these crazy workers? he thought, rolling his eyes and continuing on his way.
In a few rooms just outside the throne room, Phengaris, a drone disguised as a green unicorn mare with dark chocolate mane and a blue pacifier as a cutie mark was inspecting every single inch of the future hatchery room with her two recruited drones, Farris and Devian Mality.
“Alright, Farris, I need you make ten lines of seven point eighty-seven inch diameter holes that are three point ninety-three inches deep and one point ninety-six inches away from each other. I also need you to construct a chandelier whose total weight doesn’t surpass a safe margin of one point seven pounds. While you’re at it remember that the luminosity of the bioluminescent lights should be around two hundred lumens to make the little larvae comfortable. Oh, and the building goo on the floor should be maintained liquid at a viscosity level of one poise to facilitate the larvae movement and minimize their attrition against the stone floor. Understood?” Phengaris blurted out, completely running over every semblance of a previous thought that permeated Farris mind.
“Uh…” was the most coherent sentence the dark teal unicorn stallion was able to muster after that onslaught.
Facehoofing more at herself than her assistant, Phengaris grumbled, “Ugh, at least make sure there are no active traps in the room please.”
Just as she asked that, High Tides, a drone disguised as a blue unicorn stallion with darker mane and tail strolled by, greeting everyone in the room. “Hello everyling, I just wanted to know if there is anything I can…” he was suddenly cut off as he stepped on a pressure plate by the door. He managed to dodge in the nick of time as the whole floor below him sprung up and forward. Losing his balance he skidded toward the wall on the opposite side, managing to regain his hoofing just as the wall slid around, almost kicking him out of the castle and into the garden where Rose and Onyx where. “...help with,” he finished his sentence.
Chuckling, Phengaris dismissed him. “Well, I guess you just did, thanks High Tides.”
“Glad to help.” He smiled and left.
Returning her attention to her assistant, Phengaris continued her instructions, “Alright, let’s just begin with the chandelier, just make sure it’s not heavy enough to crush the younglings if it ever falls, and that its lights aren’t bright enough to blind the poor kids, okay?”
Now with a simpler objective in mind, Farris nodded and went to work. Now turning to Devian, Phengaris found the worker trying to punch the holes she previously asked with little success. The poor drone had some complications while incubating that led him to be born with an incomplete carapace, his exoskeleton was soft and sensible, and he lacked the back shell and wings that came with it. He was also silent to the hive, the incubation damage proving to run deeper than his body, but also affecting his mind and magic.
Phengaris carefully stopped him with her magic. “It's okay, dear, I can do the holes, can you cover the floor with the building goo? And once we're finished, I'm sure our Queen will be able to heal you,” she comforted him in a motherly tone.
Nodding, he went to his work as instructed. Satisfied with how things were going with Devian, Phengaris charged her horn, she was about to cast a spell when Farris interrupted her focus.
“All done,” he said with a sense of pride for his work. He weaved the building slime like delicate but resilient threads across the entire ceiling. Four thick, anchoring threads bound the structure to the corners of the room, fortifying its entire structural integrity. Its center was a mess of well-weaved threads that kept the bioluminescent droplets of goo even-spaced and well-distributed, bathing the room in a soft iridescent glow. A work that would leave even a spider changeling jealous.
“Damn Farris, that’s pretty good!” Phengaris praised his great work. “I guess you’re dismissed for now, thanks for the help.” She waved him goodbye. Recharging her horn, she enveloped her hooves with magic and began punching the required holes in the walls like they were nothing.
A grey coated earth pony stallion with black mane and emerald eyes named Athro, strolled around the library, swaying to the music of the pipe organ while humming his own tune and carrying some old espionage fiction books on his back. Alongside him, Mask Charade, a feminine looking earth pony stallion with a blue sky coat and blonde mane, and Pencil Sketch, a tall light blue pegasus mare with a curly yellow mane, had just recently joined Nymph on her reading.
Charade was captivated by an old Equestrian map filled with airship trade routes and some old airship schematics while Sketch was just power-reading everything at the pile of books Rose left behind, only taking a few seconds to appreciate some of the old free-hoof drawings and illustrations or to fix her glasses that would slip from her snout from time to time.
Just outside the library, Largo, a large stallion with a purple coat and deep blue mane with golden strips, tried to appreciate some of the paintings of the old nobles of ancient Equestria by the banner of the two princesses while his brother, Insectsidous, a tan pegasus, pestered him about how the warriors should secure a perimeter around the hive to protect it from pony invaders.
“I’m telling you, the ponies must already know we’re here, our Queen could have been captured for all we know!” he argued.
“Again, Insectsidous, we would feel throughout the hivemind if our Queen was in danger. Besides, nopony knows about us yet, and they’ll never think about coming to this place, especially since it appears to be timberwolf season out there,” Largo countered, his deep voice giving off a sense of nobility.
Their discussion was interrupted when a drone suddenly darted past them, rubbing itself against the banner’s fabric, charging up with static. Searching for an easy prey, the drone found a distracted light gray unicorn stallion with a messy black mane with a yellow stripe in a form of a lightning bolt. He pounced at its target, releasing all the static into a powerful shock.
However, the shock seemed to cause no effect. The gray unicorn turned around, grinning. He rushed to the nearby banner and rubbed his horn on it, lighting up his horn with magic, he began chasing his attacker, shooting lightning bolts at him.
Largo and Insectsidous had to duck out of their way as some lighting bolts went wild. Before they could destroy what remained of the castle, a blue magic aura caught their ears and pulled them to a painful halt. The magic aura belonged to Facade, a light blue coated unicorn mare with a brown mane and a stitched up heart as a cutie mark.
She dragged them both to her with her magic, a fierce scowl on her face. “Cold Iron, Max Volt, what in Tartarus is wrong with you two?! You want to tear down the hive before even a single chamber is built?!”
“S-sorry, Facade,” Max Volt apologized, his horn’s yellow magic flickering out.
The mare’s scold deepened. “No sorries, go do something useful and help finish the hatchery!” she commanded the duo, who quickly ran to the hatchery room as soon as she let them go.
Chuckling, Volkarnor, a black stallion with orange messy mane and tail, who was observing everything transpire, rolled his eyes, smiled at Facade and said, “I’ll look after them.” And so he went to the hatchery as well.
Pencil Sketch was laughing her flanks off at the scene outside the library. Her laughter was soon heard by Facade who gave her a menacing glare, strangling her and making her drop her glasses.
Being so short-sighted, she couldn’t see a thing. She could feel someling touch her shoulder as it placed her glasses back in her snout. “There you go,” Mask Charade said, giving her a warm smile.
The stallion’s cute and delicate feminine look and their close proximity proved too much for the hopelessly romantic, yet shy mare. Her wings shot yup straight as she could feel her nose bleeding and a deep blush form on her cheeks.
But before anything else happened, Phengaris’ voice was broadcasted throughout the hive, announcing that the hatchery was complete.
My Queen, we have completed the hatchery without any complications, the workers are a bit tired, but able to work on your next assignment, also, the gatherers and warriors are ready for deployment at your command, Phengaris alerted her Queen.
Understood, Ponyville is secured, you can deploy the units. I’ll be back soon, the Young Queen instructed her drones, who dropped everything they were doing to prepare for their assignment.
Even though she was not present, the Young Queen was able to sense everything going on in the hive, and with a little smile on her face, she couldn’t help but think, What a peculiar, yet wonderful collection of changelings.
Hello everybody!
I hope you like this short special featuring all the changelings created by the community!
I left this Author's Note here to give a little bit of a warning. You see, when I first listed all the changelings available in the Hivemind, the votes were in favor of a unit of each kind, meaning the hive had five changelings of each class.
However, due to some delays, when I finally got around to writing chapter 2, the votes shifted direction in favor of a 2 gatherers, 1 warrior and 1 worker composition. But at that point, people had already claimed infiltrators for themselves, so I left the Hivemind page with 5 extra changelings.
With that in mind, I decided to keep these infiltrators for this chapter, since they don't deserve to be left out due to a mistake of mine. But keep in mind that the Young Queen's hive don't have any infiltrators!
With all that out of the way, since there are no choices to make in this chapter, I present to you, The newly built Hatchery! 
(Larvae not included
yet *wink wink*)
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 theSupport Page! We even have a discord server!
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
See you in chapter 5! 
-A.M.
Chapter edited by:EverfreePony
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Nice...
Noice!
Like it, I mean, each character felt alive with all the things they are doing. Can't wait for the next chapter!
Umm... Guys, Please conserve your love energy and disguise yourself only when necessary.
I don't want anyone coming into harms way because of our negligence and over-confidence. Although practicing your disguise is okay, moderation must be attained.
But... If you really need it, I might be able to spare some love for you OwO
- Mask Charade
P.S Amazing Story and Concept especially in implementing the reader's characters brings a tear to my eyes.
This is truly awesomely original, innovative, and creative. I am looking forward to the adventures our family will embark upon.
Thank you so much AniMun... or should I say "Mother"?
8825318
I glad you liked it! Thanks for the fave!
8825339
I'm glad you liked it! Chapter 5 may be arriving sooner than expected!
8825360
Well, the Young Queen isn't a mama yet, all her drones are actually her brothers and sisters, all children of Queen Elysia
I'm really glad you're enjoying the story and I'm honored to have such amazing readers!
Here's wishing for the well being of the hive and that your changelings don't die
Queen: Ask Derpy to assist you.
Warriors: Scout the area around Ponyville.
Workers: Build Covert Network and Gene Pool.
Know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will be in peril.
8825384
I have an idea so crazy it might just work. Can we all meet up in a Discord channel of your own creation so we might be able to discuss and plan our actions by units or as a whole hive.
I hope this will create more connections and immersion. Just an idea though.
8825432
Thanks for voting!
On your next vote, please also leave the number of your choices to make it easier for me to recount them when I'm writing the next chapter
8825439
Good idea, one problem: it requires participants to also have a discord account.
Whether that problem is an issue is a different question though.
8825439
)
8825461
Well, I think it's a great idea! I can create a discord channel if you want (I just don't know how to set up all those fancy bots
I don't think it can become an issue since discord isa free service that can be used in your browser, but hey, if it doesn't work, we can just close it and revert back to how it was before
8825470
good idea
keep me updated should the discord go live
8826073
I'm setting this up at this moment actually
I'll post a blog about it and another thing as soon as I finish it
Must say, great chapter! Thanks man!
All the characters so far (or most of them) now interacting and developing individual personalities is pretty great 
Also, the horseshoes I kinda imagined Black Star having nailed to his hooves were the normal u-shaped ones; however, I'm grateful Black Star, who is my current characters, is in and that this subject is started. Sorry for yet again for annoying/bugging you about this.
I also can't wait for the next chapter. It's going to be great seeing the results of the votes and how the hive has changed (even if only a little), as well as the storyline itself.
8826205
Well, I can give you a little spoiler about that
The current vote count is as follows:
Queen: 1
Gatherer 1: 2
Gatherer 2: 1
Warriors: 2
Workers: 5 (if the genepool wins, I'm adding my own changeling to the list
Love the chapter. Only thing though, it's Volkanor not Volkarnor.
8826290
fixed
Rose acted very much how I feel she would act she was her adorable timid self.
8826689
Glad you liked it
8826287
Interesting. Good to know.
Again, sorry for bugging you with Black Star and the nail-on horseshoes thing.
I guess I'm curious about that, along with the story and where it will go. I love it and hope that it continues.
Welcome to Ponyville
8827625
Thanks for voting and thanks for the follow! I'm glad to have you here
It seems he understands his job.
Now he only needs to learn how to explain it so the others actually understands it too...
We should remember those for later.
Maybe we can build/buy an airship and transform it into an flying (backup) hive once everything else is done.
A good summary of the chapter.
hello 8829817 (We should remember those for later.
that's what I thought for my hive.
Maybe we can build/buy an airship and transform it into an flying (backup) hive once everything else is done.)
Have you been to the websites spacebattles or Sufficientvelocity before? If you haven't you should check them out, a main part of what they do are quests, (Comment driven stories, like what your doing) there are many very good quests out there and maybe you could find some new ideas you hadn't considered before and would like to use in your story.
8831479
Thanks for the suggentions! I'll check them out
Beelzebub
Status: Undergoing class change from worker to infiltrator
Future Partner: Athro.
Busy busy! If the drones are bored maybe they can improve the structural integrity?
Keep going! ;)
Should we make a map of the hive and Ponyville with stats around it, like where drones are and what the reputation is with each town?
8870514
Well, it would be a good idea, but my photo editing skills are nonexistent
8870607
We could also just have stat pages for each area.
8870631
Well, if you provide a map, I can provide the data
8876680 They get love diabeetus.
8876772
Don't expect me to rock the boat then!
8877875
Why is there a spoiler for something that's in the story description
Also why do faces
show through spoilers like that? 
Get it together web developers. 
8904127
I have no idea
... I don't think I'm going to remember all those names, or descriptions.
Interessting hive... Things will be quite colorfull with so many Changeling that are as differect as the colorpalet is
Absolutely priceless random pranking fun ♡