Falling from Grace

by Diamond Sparkle

Chapter Three-Her New Home

As soon as she could get to her feet, Celestia stamped her foot in anger.

She stole my immortal life and my throne and left me trapped in this black shell of a body. But it's not as bad as it could be, I'm still alive, and I am still a Queen of the blood royal. I may not be able to rule my little ponies any longer, but I am in charge of the mighty Swarm Chrysalis. How many changelings are in this Swarm, looking up to me, probably worshipping me as much as my little ponies did? I may or may not be able to get my own immortal body back someday, but right now I have a Hive to rule. She first looked at her new throne, a beautiful thing of fine black ebony with silken cushions that made it very comfortable to sit on. The royal sceptre of ebony studded with diamonds was still there and she picked it up with her magic, which now glowed a soft green instead of the warm golden light that she was used to.

She thought of the Hive and in her minds eye she realised she could see everything perfectly. First there was the relatively small dome at the top, guarded by Changeling soldiers and tended against the wind, the rain and the sand by Changeling maintenance workers. It might not look as beautiful to her as the ornate towers and walls of Canterlot Castle, but she could sense the pride that her swarm had for it. The true beauty of the Hive was very rarely viewed by the eyes of non Changelings. She moved her mind's eye view lower and saw tunnel after twisting tunnel, some of them vertical so that they needed to be flown down as a defence against non-flying armies. There were changelings everywhere; in the fields, tending and harvesting the fungus crops that glowed with their own light, manning shops and market schools, on guard duty at the hive entrances or circling like vultures over the hive, looking after changeling grubs and teaching changeling foals, and a myriad of other jobs. There seemed to be near full employment, more so then in Equestria. She decided to scan her new memories for who her royal advisors were.

Two in particular stood out. There was General Mandible, a brave if by now rather elderly changeling general in charge of her army, dedicated to the defence of her Hive. And there was High Consigliore Ativan, her key advisor on topics that were non military in nature.

She walked out of her throne room and beckoned to a nearby guard, noting the slight differences between his armour and weaponry and those of the royal guards back in Canterlot. Her new guards carried not spears but halberds capable of both snagging flying foes and cracking open chitin, and their armour was covered with a black lacquer . As for their professionalism and love of their monarch, both things were unquestioned. "I want you to go and tell General Mandible and High Councillor Ativan to meet me in the throne room please." Soon enough both of them stood before her and bowed slightly.

"I'm in a mood for making policy but want to be reminded of things in general beforehand so I don't come out with something really stupid by mistake. Councillor, the other Changeling Hives, give me the basics."

Ativan looked at her rather oddly but did as she said. "In the Griffin Kingdom the Hive Meganeura under it's Queen Carapace specializes in extracting the fiery love of the Griffins. They are rather isolationist; they bother no Hive and no Hive bothers them. We trade with them once a year to gain Griffin love as a Hearth's Warming treat for the feast we have then. As long as what we do does not harm them, they won't care much what we do."

"In Western Equestria we have the Hive Formica under Queen Miasma, and she can often be a problem for us, as she and we do not agree exactly on the border between the territories of our Hives. There have been many nasty little struggles and changelings from both Hives have been known to die in such circumstances. She's the one we have to watch out for most of all, the one most likely to object at the yearly meetings of the Council of Queens."

"Queen Mysteria of the Lepidoptera Hive claims Cloudsdale and the other sky cities of the pegasui as her own, but we are free to prey upon pegasui upon the ground. To enter the sky-cities we need her permission first, but she doesn't really see what happens on the ground as her concern."

"Queen Crocodillia of Hive Digderidooia claims sovereignty over the Buffalo tribes, and in my personal opinion she is welcome to them. Buffalo love is so...chewy. Her changelings rarely leave the Appalosion plains, they don't need to, and are no threat to us or our interests."

"Queen Niagara of Hive Diptera claims Germaneigh as hers, she is too far away to come into conflict with us and is on friendly terms. Much the same is true of Queen Acari of Prance and her Hive Sicariidae, and Queen Melitia of Hive Theridiidae of Saddle Arabia."

"Thank you for reminding me of the international situation. How are things with the hive's love supply?"

"Not as good as it could be, we think there is a black market cell in the syphoning department and as much as twenty percent is being stolen before it reaches the central well. There is no danger of starvation but there are grumbles here and there amongst many of the drones about the love shortage. Don't worry about a rebellion, that won't happen. Only desperate changelings would want or indeed dare to rise up against their Queen."

"Equestria has enough love for a hundred hives. Enough to feed us and Miasma's lot until we can consume no more. And yet all we do is take it in drips and drops, when we could take it a whole city at a time."

"There is no way that the Council of Queens would sanction something of that kind. It goes against both Changeling Lore and Changeling Law. Even Changeling Queens are supposed to keep to the Masquerade and stay in the shadows. If you were to take your Hive and start attacking towns en clair in the short term you would have near total surprise; but then escapees would spread warnings and spells and other methods would be found to deal with the changeling menace, as Equestrians would see it." He paused. "It gets worse. All the other Hives, be they friends or foes, would be affected. Love sources would dry up and they too would be pushed into raiding for love. The other races, griffins most of all, would try and find the Hives and attack and destroy them. You and your Hive would be hated and despised by all the other Hives for the rest of time. Centuries later little changeling foals would be told by their parents of the evil Queen Chrysalis and how she brought death and destruction and hunger to all the Hives of the world. I advise you, your Majesty-do not nakedly attack Equestrian towns unless there is no choice and nothing to lose."

"Oh, buck the law, my Hive needs to be fed properly," Celestia said angrily. "I mean, Celestia knows we exist, she came on a state visit." Inwardly she cursed the spell that forced her to keep silent about who she really was.

Comments

[GIGA-XISBASS]

Well this won't end well for Celestia if she breaks that law.