In The Rough

by BlackRoseRaven

Epilogue: A New Change

Epilogue: A New Change
~BlackRoseRaven

In a few short months, everything changed: well, alright, that was a bit of an exaggeration, the Changeling thought. But everything had changed, for her, even if so much of Equestria was still the same as it had always been for everyone else, with the addition of a few new residents.

At first, only a few dozen Changelings had been willing to leave the safety of the Hive. But it was better that way, though: no one had really stopped to think what it would have been like if a few hundred Changelings suddenly marched into Canterlot. A few dozen was much easier to explain, and much less threatening.

Celestia had been gracious in accepting them into Equestria: volunteers had taken Changelings into their homes, to share what comforts and warmth they could. And to keep an eye on them, of course, to see what the Changelings would do.

It had taken a few days, but the Changelings settled. And after they had shown no signs of hostility, Celestia had her Luciferin begin work on a project in the mines beneath Canterlot: an artificial Hive, where the Changelings could live in comfort.

Scientists, including Octavia, visited the Hive alongside diplomats and soldiers, studying its structures and how they could best replicate them. Chrysalis made it a point to ignore them as much as possible, and the Diamond Dogs that were still lurking around the Hives were disgusted and wary... and clearly going to be a problem, if they weren't dealt with.

But Diamond Dogs were creatures of greed: they didn't work with the Changelings because they wanted to, but because of the spoils that had been promised them, and how 'strong' the Changelings were able to make them by taking away their pain and replacing it with anger.

So when they were offered a bounty of treasure to simply go away, the Diamond Dogs took this with little hesitation. Some of them wanted more, but as their pack thinned and the pressure built, they quickly turned tail and fled into the wilderness with whatever little bounty they could take.

It took less than a month for the Luciferin, with the assistance of the Changelings who had transferred to Canterlot, to construct a working, if crude, artificial Hive in the expansive tunnels beneath the capitol. It included sleeping quarters, food and resource storage, and Equestrian touches like entertainment areas and false windows looking out onto painted skies and horizons.

But it worked. It had given the Changelings a home of their own, and more than that, a place to store the love they were learning to passively harvest from the ponies they mingled with during the day. They were changing: no, more than that, they were evolving, as a culture and as a race.

Chrysalis still didn't trust them. But the prospect of a Hive right beneath Canterlot, and food when their current love production was so miserably low and her people were starving... it was too much of an opportunity to pass up. And considering she had already been humiliated by her Changelings slowly deserting her, by the Diamond Dogs being paid to leave by Equestria, by the diplomats and soldiers and engineers who were constantly coming and going, marching all over her Hive, disturbing everything from the clipped to the exterior of her royal quarters...

What choice did they leave her with? But she was stubborn, proud, and a little vain, and so Celestia did a bit of personal maneuvering: she visited Chrysalis herself, and asked, as humbly as she could, for a personal favor: for Chrysalis to come and spend some time in the Hive her Changelings had created for her beneath Canterlot. She didn't promise peace or prosperity: she knew those things wouldn't work with Chrysalis. Instead, she confided in this mother of hundreds that her children missed her, and were lonely without her guidance, and Celestia needed her help because there was absolutely nothing that even she, the mighty Princess of the Sun, could do for those Changelings without her.

Chrysalis wasn't stupid, but that was precisely why she took Celestia's offer: she knew that Celestia was giving her a chance to keep her pride, just as well as she knew they were doomed without help. It was still nearly impossible to get her to agree, and Celestia had to go far above and beyond her own terms to cajole Chrysalis out of hiding, but all the same, the Changeling Queen finally escaped the gilded prison she had crafted for herself, and emerged into daylight for the first time in... who knew how long, really?

Had it been months? Years? She didn't remember. The feeling of the sun on her body had almost hurt. But she had heard the voice, really heard the voice for the Hive, for the first time in even longer than she had been locked away beneath the earth, whispering to her, telling her to keep going when she wanted only to turn back.

But the Voice was there, and it was like an old friend had come back, the only friend she had ever been able to trust. So she went on, with her Changeling escort, to the new Hive, and she was amazed by the work they had put into it, by the health of her Changelings, and most of all, by the reassurance from the Voice of the Hive that this was as it was meant to be.

The Changelings had changed. But that wasn't a bad thing. And they welcomed her and looked to her for counsel, and maybe they didn't need her as much as they once had, but maybe that, too, was a good thing. Maybe she was going to have a chance to watch her children grow up: maybe she could finally be the mother she had never had a chance to be, for all the years she had spent giving birth to armies and droves of Changelings.

Now Chrysalis had to change, too, and that was frightening: but so many of these changes were changes back, maybe, to the way they had been before. Even if they were going to try and maintain some kind of alliance with these ponies, that didn't mean they were going to stop being Changelings: but they were a different sort of creature now, they had the potential to evolve, to be... symbiotic, instead of predatory.

Oh, there was so much lost love in Equestria!

And the ponies were naive. Good-hearted and kind and terribly naive.

She didn't have to conquer them, though. She wanted her Changelings to prosper, and maybe that meant playing along with the ponies for now, rebuilding, forging new alliances... what were a hundred years or so of playing nice for a culture like hers, though? Changelings could change, evolve, grow. She had been reminded of that, and she wasn't going to let herself forget it again.

Chrysalis meditated on this as she sipped absently at a drink, her eyes wandering around the restaurant she was in. She was seated up on the second floor, where she could look down at all the ponies below, just the way she liked, with her Queensguard on either side of her. She was sure they put her up here in the private, fancy section because she and her entourage were probably bad for business, but... she couldn't really pretend she minded at all.

She liked looking down on ponies. She liked the sense of superiority. She liked the deference. And maybe she liked it when she saw the ponies trying to sneak looks up at her, here on her balcony, with awe and curiosity.

They had gone from fearing her to admiring her in the space of a week. Naive, stupid even! Well, they were lucky she had no plans to take over Equestria anymore. Out of pity, really... and what would she even do with ponies? They were worse than cattle. Let Celestia deal with all that nonsense; all the better that way, really. She could stay in the shadows, and keep her people fed without the ponies ever being the wiser.

She sighed, then glanced up as a Changeling approached her. A drone, but very distinct to her, and not just because of his prosthetic limbs. He was a Changeling who had caused her a lot of trouble, after all. Sure, everything apart from those robotic legs looked the same these days, from his insect-like blue eyes to his standard drone carapace and unremarkable features, but Chrysalis knew all of her drones, but all the same, he was different from the other Changelings. He had done something different, something more, which she had to be grudgingly thankful for.

Very grudgingly.

Chrysalis watched as the drone approached, and he sat down across from her with an awkward smile, bowing his head.

“Marina, Marina.” Chrysalis said wryly.

“Ankaru.” the drone corrected awkwardly.

“Yes. Ankaru now, I know.” Chrysalis shrugged, straightening and eyeing the drone for a few moments in silence.

“You were... right, I guess. I was hiding from myself. But you were right for the wrong reasons.” Ankaru said quietly, looking up with an awkward, small smile, hesitant and nervous, but... yes, there was still a conviction there. It was just that he had changed, too: he had been through a lot of confusion, and... “I was always me. I didn't have to be a mare to still be... me. I didn't have to stop being a Changeling to not be... me. I... well, I don't know.”

“Of course you don't. You're a drone.” Chrysalis stopped, looked away, then sighed as she tapped a hoof against the table, adding grudgingly without returning her eyes to Ankaru: “But you didn't need to know, either, did you? You did what was best for the Hive. You showed these ponies what we Changelings are... and that we can change. And that we are... not as different from them as I would like to believe.”

Chrysalis sighed, turning her eyes back to the drone as she muttered: “But I suppose that's my fault. I should have raised you all better.”

Ankaru smiled awkwardly at this, and then he lowered his head and murmured: “I'm really grateful that you decided to give us a chance, though. That you-”

“Enough.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes, raising a hoof before she dropped it on the table and said finally: “I didn't do it for you and the ponies. I didn't do it because I want things to change, either. But... you were right that we are Changelings, and we can change. That we must evolve.”

Chrysalis stopped, sized Ankaru up with one eye, then added: “But I was right about everything else. About you. About the ponies wanting to control us and keep us under them. About the fact you all still need me. I was just... right in other ways than I thought I was. I told you it would end up like this, Ankaru.”

The Changeling drone couldn't help but smile a bit, rubbing at one of his prosthetic legs as he glanced down before he answered: “I know. I'm still not sure who I am, or even what I am. Everyone else seems to know the answer to that more than I do, though, and they're all... willing to help. That means a lot. It means a lot to all of us that you're willing to... um...”

“Relax.” Chrysalis said, for lack of a better word, even as she scowled a little. But it was true: she had promised them, silently, that she would no longer resort to clipping or other methods to exert control and influence over her Changelings. She would... allow them to evolve. To change. To grow. And at times, to rebel a little, to make waves. To make mistakes.

They were interrupted for a brief moment by a waitress who came and asked if they would like anything to eat: Ankaru deferred to the Queen, who shrugged but ordered for them both. Some small treats: nothing fancy. She found pony food was still a little rich for her tastes.

The waitress left, and they sat for a while, surveying each other. Chrysalis could read Ankaru's emotions: hesitance, uncertainly, instinctive affection, worry, and ah, was that a touch of pride? She thought it was.

She studied Ankaru for a few moments, then asked: “How are the clipped doing?”

She knew the answer, but it filled the silence, and Ankaru gave a big awkward smile as he looked up and said: “Very well. They're adjusting to their new lives inside and outside the Hive. They're... waking up a little, I think.”

Chrysalis allowed herself to smile briefly before she asked: “How is your... relationship?”

It made her uncomfortable to ask that. And while she would say it was because of the laws of the Hive, because Changelings could not love, because of a thousand other reasons, the truth was that it made her feel strange to acknowledge the fact that maybe some Changelings were finding 'love,' whatever that was, and it meant they were moving away from needing her, and needing the Hive.

She didn't like that thought very much.

Ankaru laughed awkwardly and blushed, then he confessed: “It's difficult. I mean... Moonbeam doesn't like Changelings at all. And going from me being a mare to me being... not a mare... it's been a lot of adjustment for her.”

“Then why adjust? Why not move on?” asked Chrysalis, honestly curious.

Ankaru chewed on his lip for a few moments as he lowered his head, before he said finally: “I don't know. She... loves me. She seems to really honestly love me. And that gives me the strength to carry on. It's hard sometimes, and we have to take things slow and all, but-”

“Why don't you move on?” Chrysalis interjected.

“Because I love her.” Ankaru answered without hesitation.

There was silence for a few moments, and then Chrysalis shook her head before she said softly: “Changelings are supposed to feed off love... not be slaves to it. I don't know if I should be pleased or if I should be frustrated that in spite of everything I've done for you, everything I've taught you, it's still all come down to this. Love. What are you, a pony?”

Ankaru shrank a bit under the scolding, but then he bit his lip before he rose his head a little and answered: “I don't know what I am. I just... know what I feel. And it makes me stronger.”

Chrysalis thought about this for a moment, taking it as more than just some metaphor or nonsense. Love. What if it did make them stronger, when it was given willingly, not stolen or siphoned through subterfuge or savagery?

Chrysalis mused on this, then she glanced up at Ankaru, who was looking at her as if waiting for some kind of answer. But the Queen of Changelings only shrugged before she said: “This is your story now. You have to find the answers for yourself.”

“But... what about you? What will you do?” Ankaru fretted, looking at her with something like worry. And Chrysalis smiled at this despite herself: this, the only Changeling in a century to dare to raise a hoof against her, let alone strike her,and here he was, concerned about her well-being. Worried about what she was going to do with herself.

“As it so happens, I can change too.” Queen Chrysalis answered, as the waitress returned with their food, and Chrysalis waved a hoof as she dismissed: “Enough. Eat your meal. I didn't call you here to be nice or hear about your life, I just wanted an update on the clipped.”

Ankaru, once Marina, smiled despite himself at this, nodding a little and bowing his head politely. But they had said more than enough to each other, he thought, and he was glad for it. It helped him feel like he had done something good, if not exactly right.

But whatever happened, he knew they would survive: they were Changelings. Changelings could change to survive the outside world, no matter how harsh or different it became. But no matter how they evolved or grew or transformed, Ankaru thought, it was all to protect themselves and those they cared about, and so that all the important things, everything that made up the core of who they really were, would never have to change.

Changelings could change.

But inside, he was just fine, the way he was.