> The Hatchery
>  by Starry Nebulae
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> Chapter 1
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Stalliongrad’s famous cold bit at Princess Luna, causing frost upon her fur, and stiffening up her wings.Yet she continued flying. The Changelings had a major hatching ground in the city, and Chrysalis had attempted to convince Luna to be a guardian for them, and in return, Chrysalis would help her overthrow Celestia so night could rule. Luna, no longer wanting such a thing, got Chrysalis to believe she would become a guardian. She knew if she got there quick enough, she could destroy the nest.
Celestia, being busy with the various preparations that go along with aiding in a royal wedding, hadn’t payed attention to Luna’s warning, and barely noticed her departure. Luna couldn’t take any of the guards with her either, as any additional ponies would alert the Changeling queen of her plans. It was up to her alone to destroy the eggs. Changeling eggs were notoriously strong, so she knew destroying them wouldn’t be as easy as merely stomping them. Perhaps a fire might do it?
She descended upon the building which, according the the Queen, housed the hatchery. For once she was thankful for some of the darker aspects of magic. Ponies wouldn’t go into the building, as it had been enchanted, most likely by the Queen herself, to cause fear in the hearts of whomever gazed upon it.
Opening the door to it, she immediately noticed the smell. It smelled of decay and death. Not a light shone within the building, save for the sickly green glow of the changeling eggs. Fear gripped her heart like a vice as she saw them; hundreds, thousands of changeling eggs. Numbers like that were easily enough to overrun Stalliongrad.
A voice broke her thoughts, “Ah, if it isn’t our shadowy friend, Princess Luna. How honored I am to meet you. I assume our Queen has invited you here, seeing as the... enchantment upon the building wasn’t enough to deter you? What do you think of it, by the way? I find it to be one of my finer spells.”
She turned her head over to the source of the voice, not sure what to expect. Whatever it was, this creature was obviously not a drone. 4 razor sharp fangs hung from its mouth, shining against the dark face. Large, purple eyes adorned it’s face, and red, blood like veins snaked down its hole filled carapace. 
“Admiring my warpaint, I see? The other Changelings find it to be quite... enticing. Each streak was taken from a separate victim, you know. Oh the fear that went through their minds when they realized they were to die... delicious,” the Changeling said with a small smile.
Luna knew he was trying to bait her, trying to trip her up. To give him a reason to call his Queen. Since he clearly expected a response of some form, she tried to be as neutral as she could. “I thought you simply fed upon their emotions? Why kill the ponies?”
“Oh you foolish, foolish little... pony. We do feed upon their emotions only, but after awhile they get a bit... broken. Dead inside, you see. We have no need for useless mouths to feed, so we dispose of them.”
“What about their bodies? I’m fairly certain I don’t recall you creatures being carnivorous. And I see no ponies lying dead here.”
His smile seemed to reach his ears this time, and his white teeth glistened in the dark, “My most noble Princess, unlike you ponies, we prefer not to waste a single thing. We don’t have that luxury. And you’re correct, we are unable to feed upon meat. Ponies, however, have no real biological limitation against eating small portions of meat. And it’s spread throughout so many ponies, they hardly even notice the taste”.
“You... you monster!” She said, not able to keep quiet this time, “You force my little ponies to eat each other!”
He swooped into her, looking deep into her eyes, as if trying to see into her soul, “I thought you were on our side, my dearest pony. Besides, we’re not any worse than one who would kill nearly all creatures by denying them the sunlight they so desperately need”.
Realizing she had broken her cover, she quickly blurted out “I would never force cannibalism upon them, though”
Leaning even closer to her, this time towards her ears, the Changeling whispered “My Queen may trust you... pony, but I do not. Keep that in mind”. And, with that final threat, he walked off into the shadows.



Now alone, Luna had to figure out how to destroy the Changeling eggs. As far as she knew, no method for destroying the eggs had been found. Looking over her shoulder to ensure she was alone, she quickly grasped one of the eggs in her magic, and brought it closer to her for inspection. 
Luna thought it would be practical to inspect the egg in a... slightly more secluded area, so she went to the darkest place she could find and hid in the shadows. As she inspected the egg she discovered no obviously immediate weakness. It seemed unbreakable. She levitated it around, trying to find any cracks in the egg. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, she began some slightly more complex magical tests. She didn’t want that guardian, or whoever he was, to find out she was lying about her deal.
She began with channeling some raw magical power to the eggs, to see if they were hatched via magical means. Most eggs of magic creatures couldn’t be hatched with magical brute alone, but this wasn’t a normal egg, and she wasn’t a normal pony. She was Princess Luna, the Lunar Diarch, mover of the Moon. The egg would obey her, or she would show it her full wrath.
She tried to crush it, to destroy it. She brought down the full brunt of her magic upon the egg, yet it continued to defy her. Shutting down the brute magic, she began to levitate it once more, spinning it a bit. Maybe there was more to these eggs than met the eye



The Guardian crept around the building, walking to walk. His Queen had ordered this upon him, and so he would do it without question, but he could not deny it was mind numbingly boring. Eggs? What did eggs do? They lacked any way to entertain him. As a guard, he was constantly doing something. Wandering the hive, solving any disputes that may come up during drills, and generally keeping the peace in whatever form he needed to. As a scout, there was the thrill of it all. He had to constantly make sure he kept in character of whoever he was impersonating, or else he would surely be caught, and likely executed. Few things in existence could rival the pleasure of the first feeding session in the form of a new body. 
But, as a Guardian, he did nothing. Nothing really went on in either the eggs or the building itself. Nobody even really noticed it, due to the magic his Queen would put around it. He knew, of course, that she was right and it was for the best. He could hardly imagine the disaster that would ensue if somepony accidentally wandered in and was able to tell the guards of it. But all the logic in the world didn’t make up for the boredom.
Perhaps halfway through his circuit, he heard an odd rustling coming from a darker corner of the building. Quickly hiding in the shadows, he looked around and saw the source. The pony, Luna, was inspecting one of the eggs. She had it grasped in a telekinetic field, and would occasionally pulse some magic at it. While he didn’t know exactly what she was doing, it was safe to assume it was against the wishes of the Queen, and as all Changelings knew, Her will must be done.



Luna, not knowing of the Guardian’s discovery, gave up her effort to discern about how to destroy the egg itself, and instead looked around the area. Surely, they would have something detailing how exactly the eggs must be cared for. Unless, she reasoned, it was something every Changeling learned. However, if that were the case, then there was nothing that could be done about it.
As she walked close to a small room nestled away in a mostly hidden corner, she heard whispering. Not the kind of whispering that a pony might do, but a thousand voices whispering into her mind, promising power and control. They conjured up images of her, clad in regalia beautiful enough to rival her nights, with thousands of galaxies and supernovae and huge clouds of star dust, all swirling around in a beautiful symphony. Images of ponies bowing down to her, begging for a longer night, just so they could gaze upon her artfully crafted cosmos. Then, they would sleep throughout the day just so the night could come sooner.
Shaking her head of these treacherous thoughts, she entered the room, and saw an egg, different from all others. Made of gold which gleamed with purity, and a sea of diamonds and emeralds and rubies galore, all perfectly complimenting each other. It was a  thing of beauty, and the closer she got, the louder the voices would become. As she reached out to touch it, the voices screamed at her, to let them into her mind and give her everything she could desire.



From the shadows, a bolt of bright green changeling magic burst out, directly hitting the beautiful relic. The voices screamed in joyous victory, then stopped. Luna just stared at it, fearing what was to come. The sides of the egg slowly began to open up, and a wispy, light blue stream of magical energy began to flow out of it, and into the changeling eggs. Luna gasped as the eggs all started cracking simultaneously, and thousands of full grown changelings began to form right before her eyes. 
Changelings wasn’t really the right word; they were abominations. Bones jutted out of them, and their flesh bulged with muscles, they were muscle and bone essentially. Their blue eyes threatened to pop out of their face. Luna’s eyes widened as they all began to growl. It was a terrifying sight, the growl of an enraged animal. Blood filled, low, and entirely hateful. Luna threw up a magical shield just before they were able to tackle her, but they were still piling up. 
They all began to bash their heads upon the barrier, caring not for any personal harm. Some of them died, likely due to having their heads bashed in, but new ones just kept coming to replace the dead. They were endless.
Cracks formed in her shield, and a torrent of the monsters flooded her, and her barrier gave in completely. They tried to pound her into the ground, stomping her and bashing her with their heads. Useless horns stabbed at her body, and sharp fangs bit at her throat.
With a cry, she released a flow of pure magical energy, not even realizing she was doing it. It was similar to the magic of baby unicorns; no control was really possessing it. The magic shaped itself, and blasted all the changelings away before arcing to the now opened egg.
As soon as her magic hit the egg, the same kind of wispy energy began to flow out of the sides of it, but this time it was a much darker blue, matching her mane and fur. The energy once again arced, striking the changelings. Their skin began to boil and their eyes melted away. Their fangs turned into a powder, piling up on the ground. Their bones followed suit, and soon all that was left was a pile of white powder. And, as she watched it, even that began to fade away, this time just swirling up through the roof, going straight through any object that obstructed it’s path.
Luna turned to face the corner, where she heard sobs coming from. The guardian, or what was left of it, was sitting there, hooves covering his eyes. After the egg had struck him with the magic, his body began to morph. Unlike how Changelings normally transformed, no magic seemed to be visibly involved with this. The creature’s bones broke themselves, and corrected their placing. Any excess skin shed itself, and all that was left was a small, brown pony.
The former Changeling looked up at Luna, and whimpered. “Luna, your Majesty, how are you here, and… er… where is here, even? I thought I was in my home, but apparently…”
“Please, tell me, what is the last thing you remember?”
The pony scrunched up his face in effort, trying to see past a haze of foggy memories which made no sense. Eventually, he said “I… I remember dancing with my love, then… her eyes turned green? No, that cannot be right.”
Luna looked down thoughtfully, then said “I’m sorry, my little pony, but it’s completely right. You were taken control of by a Changeling, likely the Queen herself if you were turned into one of her minions.”
“And of my love?”
She paused, then said "Likely dead. Changelings don't tend to leave loose ends like that open".
He looked down and sniffled. Everything he knew was gone, and it was completely wrong. Luna was here, nothing like the legends of Nightmare Moon said she was. His wife was gone. His job, a humble wagon making company, was gone. His life was gone. All taken by the Changelings. There remained only one question.
“What now?”
And with that, Luna gently grabbed him in her magic, and they began their journey back to Canterlot.



A month later, Luna was able to witness the brown pony, who she now knew to be called Wheel Spinner, be knighted into Celestia’s Royal Guard. Had he met the qualifications, she would have gladly accepted him in, but her Guard emphasized more upon stealth and tactics than power alone. However, to see him knighted filled her heart with joy.
There had been some doubt at first; questions about his past and loyalties had to be answered, and they had to make sure he was completely at Chrysalis’s control throughout the whole ordeal, but eventually, they had learned that he really was just an unfortunate pony. While he didn’t immediately have the skills needed for Celestia’s Royal Guard, those were easy enough to teach a pony. She smiled once more, knowing his life had taken a positive turn.