<<But your Highness, that could get us all killed! And it’s so blatant! That plan is against our purpose as Silencers,>> Mirage, one of the changelings who had accompanied me, said. The thirteen of us were currently literal flies on the wall in Selene’s hospital room.

Addressing her, I said, <<Look, I’m well aware of that fact.>> Then to everyone, I added, <<Let’s go ahead and start the observation portion of the plan; we can do nothing without information. If anyone can think of anything better before we start the actual rescue, I’m all ears,>> I said.

With no alternatives suggested, I dismissed them to their assigned tasks. Each of them flew out of the hospital room where they were keeping Selene. I personally stayed behind in order to keep an eye on the unconscious girl.

I thought in to Change.lng and ordered him to produce twelve additional copies of himself, one for each of us on this mission, and empower them. I winced, feeling the hive’s net love levels practically stop increasing due to the magic drain. The moment we actually start the rescue mission, we’ll start incurring a net loss of energy. ‘We’ll have enough,’ I assured myself, ‘but I hate dipping into the reserve.’

Ginny dipped in her flight as she felt her magic surge and then felt the hive mind start reorganizing itself to accommodate twelve new minds. The woman felt one of those minds move directly under her in the mental hierarchy; it was a copy of Change.lng for her use. The digital replica moved into the hospital’s Wi-Fi network, ready to answer her call.

Spotting a soldier who was walking down the hallway, away from the room she had just left, she settled on the shoulder of his radiation suit. After a few minutes of walking, he exited the restricted area and took off the radiation helmet. Ginny had to dodge his hands in order to not be brushed off. Passenger unnoticed by the man, he continued walking and descended a flight of stairs.

Eventually, he made his way outside to a tent that had been set up outside as a base for the soldiers and scientists so that they would not disrupt hospital functioning. Ginny took off from her perch and buzzed around the make-shift office. Landing behind a laptop that was being used by someone she assumed to be the head scientist, she lit up her antenna with magic and channeled it into the machine, granting delta_Change.lng awareness of the device. It quickly entered and began sifting through the files, looking for anything of importance. Meanwhile, Ginny settled in to eavesdrop on the people around her.

Klika had left the building straight away. The moment she was out of sight, she shed her insect form for a larger bird form. Flying swiftly, she navigated towards the business sector of the city. She landed and, after ducking behind a dumpster and checking for observers, turned into a 75 year old man whose face was the lovechild of two random pedestrians. Satisfied that she was well disguised, she walked out into the light.

Klika called out to her beta_Change.lng, <<Find me the nearest ATM, then a nearby store that sells dresses, and a store that sells large carrying bags.>>

<<//beta_Change.lng: Affirmative, Mistress. One moment… Here are your results,//>> Beta said before sharing the results with the young changeling princess. Destinations in mind, Klika started walking as fast as her currently decrepit form would allow.

Luckily, the ATM machine was not far. However, she encountered a second problem; she had no identification to use to withdraw the money. Beta suggested that he could force the machine to dispense cash. Klika smiled; her father and adoptive uncle were chronic bank robbers and now she would be following in the family business. Granted, Klika did not consider being handed a few hundred bucks by a possessed machine to be as glorious as stealing a few million from a sealed bank vault, but it was something.

‘Transaction’ completed, Klika walked to her second destination. Midway there, she ducked out of sight again and transformed into a woman who closely matched Selene’s new size, about 5’11” in height. The now giant child now stood taller than girls twice her age, possibly taller than most fully grown women.

Klika eventually entered the small dress shop and began searching for what they would need for Selene. Taking a few at a time, she tried them on in the changing room. For those dresses without backs, Klika sprouted feathered wings to see if they would chafe. Eventually, Klika settled on a pair of red, backless dresses and a pair of modest green ones that would need slits cut for Selene’s wings.

After paying for her purchases, Klika dashed to the final store on her list. She found the bag she needed almost as soon as she walked in the door. It was a large bag, possibly designed to carry a long-board or something similar. After paying for it, she started walking towards the airport, the agreed upon rendezvous point.

On her way there, she stopped in a small restaurant. Her purpose there was twofold; first, she had no idea how long it had been since Selene had last eaten, and she’d grown a lot since then. The kid would obviously be hungry when she woke up. The other reason Klika stopped there was so she could have a place to work. Setting the large bag down on the table, she discretely a tiny blade made of light on the tip of her finger. In seconds, she had cut away the fabric that would be against the wearer’s back, leaving only the straps.

Nearly satisfied, she took the bag into the restroom. In the privacy of a stall, she once again sprouted feathered wings and tested her modified bag. Now convinced that they would hide Selene’s wings, Klika dispelled her own.

As she left the restaurant, Klika called out to Beta and ordered it to purchase three tickets to Atlanta the same way prime_Change.lng had done it for the original trip.

<<Aww, come on! That’s my job! You go do your own task, you annoying asshole of a zealot,>> the sixteen year old Slagteri mentally said to Taruke. The duo was currently memorizing the layout of the hospital for the runners in the active part of the rescue plan. As they flew up and down the halls, an argument had broken out between them over who was to do what in the final plan.

<<I will guard them in the escape. I do not trust you to defend anyone, let alone our rightful King, the Duke, or the new Moon,>> Taruke responded.

The enraged Slagteri roared, <<But I wanted to kill humans! You know I got royally screwed over by those fuckers in my last life. This is my chance for bloody, gore-filled vengeance!>>

Exasperated, Taruke said, <<Which is exactly why I do not want you guarding the royal family or their precious guest. Why our glorious King decided to recruit a brute like you, I will never know. However, as a simple drone, it is not my place to judge his great wisdom.>>

The beetle that was Slagteri stopped in mid-flight and hovered in place. <<…The fuck are you smoking? Do you even hear yourself talk? Glorious King? Great wisdom? Dude, he’s less than half your age and just as fucked up as the rest of the people on this shitty planet!>> he screamed. Resuming his forward flight, he hurried to catch up to Taruke, who had flown ahead. <<Besides, if you trust his oh-so-great wisdom so much, then you will recall that he said YOU will be on impersonation duty and I will be on guard duty,>> Slagteri ended smugly.

<<Ah, but he also said that if anyone could come up with a better plan, then they were to inform him. Maggot, I strongly believe that switching our positions would be to our magnificent King’s benefit.>> Taruke replied, feeling it was his turn to be the smug one.

Slagteri spluttered in rage. <<And why the fuck do you think the King will listen to you over me, asshole? Answer me that, you fucking zealot!>>

Though Taruke’s beetle form could not smile, Slagteri knew full well that the elder changeling was doing just that. <<One, I am higher ranked than you. Two, I have a convincing argument for his safety. Three, I am over three times your true age and have been a changeling for six time as long as you; I was his third ever conversion. Four, our King is a pacifist. He would not want blood spilt if it can be avoided. Five, you can barely control your temper. Six, I just don’t like you, maggot.>>

<<You’re pulling rank on me? Well, fuck you too, asshole,>> the bloodthirsty teen changeling said, but conceded defeat regardless.

It was at this point that Taruke’s little rant turned downright cruel. Ignoring Slagteri’s surrender, the zealot decided to say his last, insulting point, <<Now, the big number seven, I am more valuable than you. In your four months as a changeling, you have contributed a grand total of $57 to the hive fund and barely make minimum wage. It’s a wonder that you can even afford your apartment in the Bee Hive.

<<On the other hand, I, as head investor, have brought in over $200,000 a year on top of my contributions from my day job. Furthermore, I have a loving wife that I can feed upon at my leisure; you are stuck rutting whomever you can pick up at the Eye, which, from what I hear, is not much. I’m honestly amazed that you have kept your heart beating for as long as you have, let alone turned a profit. >>

<<FUCKING ASSHOLE! I’M GONNA KILL YOU! RIP YOU APART! EAT YOUR CORPSE! AND->> Slagteri shouted, before abruptly cutting off. <<No… That would prove you right. I’m going to wait. I hope you sleep well at night, ‘cause one day, I’m gonna slip into your room and slit your throat while you sleep. Ha! Sweet dreams, you ass~>> he ended with a sing-song tone.

Three hours later, the twelve changelings left in the hospital gathered back together in Selene’s radiation proof hospital room. Each of us stood in insect form. Outside, the sky had frozen in place. Though the sun should have set by now, it had been locked in place since about 11:30 local time, with its position being just before noon in the eastern part of the sky. Since there had been no reports or evidence of a solar entity appearing, we could only conclude that Selene had halted the sun by blocking its progress with her night. Of course, the truth of the matter was that we had no clue what was going on and physics textbooks were now completely outdated.

Matters of the sky aside, I asked my changelings for their findings, to which they obliged. Then I asked, <<Are there any changes to the plan that you suggest?>>

<<I have one,>> Taruke replied, <<however, Slagteri here disagrees.>> The aforementioned changeling just growled. I raised an eyebrow; the emotions I felt pass between them through the hive mind are strangely aggressive.

Slipping into business mode, I said, <<Alright, let’s have a speed court. I want all of your input. Taruke, give me your idea and why in as few words as possible. Go.>>

<<Swap my role with Slagteri’s. I want guard duty. Increased protection for you, less loss of human resources,>> he said, his eyes darting to his opponent in the debate.

Turning to Slagteri, I said, <<He has valid points. You?>>

<<Keep everything the same. Taruke keeps impostor duty. I’m adequate protection, rip feeding doesn’t waste, and I can satisfy my own desires on the side. Last is impossible in impostor duty,>> the youngest changeling present said.

<<Also valid. Let’s vote: Yay for swapping the roles, Nay for maintaining the plan…>> I paused to count the votes. << 5 to 4, in favor. Is that correct? Yes, good. I consent; the motion carries,>> I declared. Ten of them bowed, which was odd looking, considering that they were small insects at the time. Slagteri, however, stood there with his wings buzzing with barely-contained rage. <<However,>> I said, <<Slagteri brought up a point that I had forgotten about. Guards, you will be using rip-feeding blades as your primary melee attack.>>

Now I had a conflict of interests to solve. Do I keep my promise to myself, or to my changelings? Hesitantly, I said, <<As for you, Slagteri,… I… offer a compromise: though you are not permitted to go out of your way to do so, you may kill any humans who directly oppose your escape or would otherwise comprise the secrecy of the changelings. Does this satisfy you?>>

<<Yes, my king,>> he reluctantly agreed.

<<Good. Now, the guard changes in forty-five minutes, with the doctor shift changing ten minutes after that. Hopefully, the scientists will be packing up for the night as they planned. The time period after that will be the longest stretch of time that we have to arouse Selene without interruption. Change.lng programs alpha, gamma, delta, and theta, are ready to incapacitate the security systems and wipe all record of Selene on my cue. Let’s get in positions, people,>> I ordered, all trace of humor gone from my voice. From that point on, I was no longer a young man named Rex; I was the Hive King.

<<Go.>>

A nurse stopped by the door of room 3354, her right side facing the guards. Though she was covered head to toe in a radiation suit, the guards at the door could tell that she had really had to squeeze tightly to fit her assets inside. Distracted by her appearance, the guards did not see the cup full of amber liquid in her left hand, nor did they see the four flashes of green light, two by her left hand and one in each of their hearts. They did, however, notice when she dropped an empty plastic cup.

Ignoring the fallen container, she turned to the men. “Sleeping on the job? How shameful. What worries me is how your mothers are going to take this.” She raised her hands, both of which were glowing a sickly green color. The glow was similar enough to the radioactive glow surrounding the hands of the girl inside that both guards were instantly alert.

“What are you doing?” the guard on the left said.

“Illusion.” A sphere of green expanded out before stopping two yards to either side of the door. When it stopped, the air seemed to ripple in place at the boundary. “Silence.” An identical sphere expanded out. When it hit the guards, they swore that they had gone deaf. One second later, the left guard collapsed to the ground, paralyzed by changeling venom. The second guard followed, not a second later. <<Mimic them.>> Mirage said mentally, for she could not speak within the silence spell.

The door to the room opened and the unconscious men were dragged inside and set next to the body of their comrade, who had fallen in a similar way while guarding the inside of the room. Two changelings exited the room while wearing the faces of the fallen guards. A real nurse lay propped up against the wall on the other side of the room. Canceling the silencing spell and the illusion that had obscured her actions, Mirage asked, “Do we feed?”

“Give two of them to Eraser. You can have the other two,” I said to Mirage. “Kill them and take everything they have. While we are waiting for Selene to be revived, this room needs to be undetectable and impenetrable. We require all the energy we can get, and this is a necessary sacrifice. Go.”

The two changelings pounced, disguises burning away in the process. They each straddled one of the human bodies and bit into their necks; the sight made the other changelings in the room, me included, very hungry. Only seconds later, their victims had had all of their emotion and life force drained, aging them to death in the process. In a flash, they each pounced on their second victim, repeating the process.

When they were done, both stood and walked to the door. “Not as good as a dick up the ass, but it’ll do,” Eraser commented.

“Agreed,” Mirage added. Mirage lit her hands up, three layers of over-glow hovering around each limb. Pressing her hands against the lead-lined door, she said, “Notice-Me-Not, Remember-Me-Not.” Immediately, every pair of eyes in the room, except for hers, looked away from that spot and, as hard as we tried, we could not bring ourselves to see the… something that we knew just had to be there. Panting, she pulled her hands away from… something. I could see a thin trail of magic connecting her hands to that same… something. “Wow, that takes a lot out of a girl. Eraser, you’re up.”

“Umm… I can’t see where I’m supposed to put the shield,” she said.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, come here, girl. Stretch your hands out and walk forwards until you hit something,” Mirage replied.

“Ok… and… What exactly am I touching?” Eraser asked.

“The door.”

“Oh, what door? Wait, no, never mind. Ok, here’s the shield.” Two layers of over-glow surrounded her hands as Eraser cast the strongest shield in Earth changeling history. Something… fully barricaded, Nick pulled the anesthetic IV line out of Selene. Taruke disconnected the other machinery. The others hid the bodies so that Selene would not see them upon waking.

While that was happening, I transformed into the form she had last seen me in, the winged, crowned, male version of herself. This time, however, I aged myself up to twenty years old. “Hey, change into your normal faces, but keep your wings. Fill the holes in them so they don’t look scary. Remember, I told her that we were good fairies, so act the part,” I instructed. The ten changelings in the windowless room did so.

After twenty agonizingly long minutes, Selene began to stir. It took another five before she opened her eyes. The way we were posed, she could see all of us at once, but her eyes were drawn to where I sat at the foot of her bed. Smiling warmly at her, I cooed, “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. I told you that I’d come and visit.”

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have a chapter!

Selene is awake for the first time since before her transformation. Yay!

For those of you that are having trouble keeping track, there are 13 changelings in Arizona. Klika is at the airport, waiting for them to come. Two unnamed changelings are outside, guarding the door. Rex, Nick, Taruke, Slagteri, Ginny, Mirage, Eraser, and three other unnamed changelings are in the room. I know it's a lot of character, but honestly, Mirage and Eraser are probably never going to be seen again. Taruke and Slagteri may make more appearances later.

FYI: Taruke and Slagteri's interactions are slightly inspired by Hidan and Kakuzu, though I don't know much about them since I haven't watched much of Naruto Shippuden. However, from what I do know, they are quite similar. The funny thing is, if you swap some of Hidan (Bloodthirsty, foul-mouthed, religious zealot) and Kakuzu's (Miserly, aggressive, atheist) traits with each other, you get Slagteri (Bloodthirsty, foul-mouthed, atheist) and Taruke (Miserly, aggressive, changeling zealot).

Also, Slagteri is the Danish word for slaughterhouse (via Google Translate). I really think that he has issues. You know, I imagine that he has this really tragic past (the sort that only happens in fiction) that makes you just want to run up to him and hug him... then he opens his mouth. At least he has some acting skill.

Mirage quoted Nurse Ratched. Just thought you'd like to know.

Oh, and for any Doctor Who fans (specifically for Matt Smith), remember the Bells of Saint John? THERE'S SOMETHING LIVING IN THE WI-FI! Granted, it's just a changeling, but...

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In this chapter, Rex mentioned two promises. The one to himself is his no/minimal violence pledge. The one to his changelings is that he will not invade their unconscious minds without consent or probable cause. He was considering altering Slagteri in order to stop him from harming the humans. In the end, Rex broke his promise to himself and consented to letting the killer changeling satisfy his urges so that he didn't have to break his promise to his people.

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This is probably my last chapter before the new semester starts for me. I hope to keep putting out 1-2 chapters per week, if I can. I think that I will have more free time this semester as compared to last. *shrug* I'll see.

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Cutie Mark Crusaders: Trivia Announcers, YAY!

-- Changeling hives have a mental Hierarchy, shaped like a tree (see below). Level 1 is the King/Queen. Level 2 are the Royals (Nick, Klika, Klika's future siblings) Level three are the division heads (Ginny, Sally-Anne, other division heads), level 4+ are the changelings within each division. Changelings have authority over anyone further down their branch and can reorganize the branch how they see fit. This has the effect of increasing efficiency within the hive as not every issue needs to be addressed by the king/queen.

-- Unlike their counterparts, Earth changelings name themselves. Names range from things traditional to their birth culture to Equestrian style names, names common to Chrysalis's hive, words of other languages, or the random syllables of the changeling language given meaning.

-- Since physical and magical strength is meaningless, changelings use hive rank, love and money contributions, birth method, and age - in that order - in shows of dominance. Hatched changelings tend to boss around converts, claiming to be less pony/human and therefore more "pure." Individuals who have been converted/hatched earlier tend to dominate the younger ones, citing more experience; even though there is a full high-school education saved within the shared memory, worldly experience is a valuable currency because not every memory is shared.

-- Deities are ex-mortal souls that have bound themselves to the universe as manifestations of a physical or abstract aspect of the world. Though their bodies are flesh and are vulnerable to damage and external influence, any deities's soul can reconstruct it's body even if it is 100% annihilated.

-- Divine souls exist outside of time. The moment they become divine, history changes so that they always were and always will be divine; though everyone still remembers the ascension and the time before it, deities are immune to being erased by time paradox.

-- Chaos and Harmony are not deities.

-- Rex is mortal, but has eternal youth and a very powerful defense mechanism.

-- Changeling aging is dependent on their magic levels; more magic slows the aging process. The average age for Chrysalis's hive is 65 years (1 Equestrian year = 1 Earth year.)

-- The Notice-Me-Not spell is considered by Unicorn scholars to be the polar opposite of the Want-It, Need-It spell. Instead of being alluring, the Notice-Me-Not spell forces the attention of nearby ponies/people away from the object it is cast upon, with only the caster being immune. Increasing the power put into the spell increases the strength. The Remember-Me-Not spell temporarily erases knowledge about the existence of its target from all minds besides the caster's, and keeps erasing it should they re-discover the object. However, it is possible to indirectly re-learn about something protected by the spell even while the spell is active (such as with a map). However, when the spell ceases to be powered, all knowledge is returned. These two spells, the Notice-Me-Not and the Remember-Me-Not spells have both a synergistic and antagonistic relationship; one dramatically increases the potency of the other, but at the same time, casting them both on the same object multiplies the total cost by a factor of 7.

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In this chapter, it has become nearly impossible to find the door, even though knowledge of the room itself remains. If people attempt to bust through the 'wall' where the room should be, they will encounter a tremendously powerful force-field blocking the way. Also, there are two 'guards' outside, protecting the occupants from any humans. Literally, for the time it takes to wake her up, that room is the safest room in the entire world. Too bad that spell combination, at that strength, takes up four entire human lives and only will last another 20 minutes at best.

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Changeling population: 337 (259 converted, 64 hatched, 1 permanent digital, 12 temporary digital clones.)
Changeling owned businesses: 6
Funds: $52.6 million cash + $128.9 million raw materials + $60.1 million in businesses. (Total wealth: $241.6 million, or $0.74 million per changeling.)

Changeling divisions:
-Finances (those who make money for the hive)
-Love collectors (those who make love for the hive)
-Research & Development (those who make toys for the hive)
-Silencers (those who make you shut up about the hive)
-Infiltrators (those who infest other organizations for the hive)
-Saboteurs (those who break things for the hive, subdivision of infiltrators)
-Trappers (those who hunt for the hive, aid the king in catching people alone so that they can be converted. Most are also Silencers.)
-Soldiers & Assassins (those who kill for the hive, not yet established)

Changeling properties:
-The Bee Hive (low-cost housing, south side of Atlanta)
-The Eye of the Beholder (bar/night club, near Atlantic Station)
-The Ore Mine
-Individual houses/apartments of the converts

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I have no editor for this story; everything I write, I edit myself. It's harder to catch your own mistakes that it is to catch others. So, if you ever see any mistake, please, let me know! Also, if you want to be an editor for me, let me know. (I've never had an editor before, so I have no idea how this works.)