While Gypsy’s method was the fastest and most efficient way to allow me to drop everything, such drastic action would presumably have some rather odd consequences down the road.

Shaun seemed to understand that I was in a situation, and easily told me to go and do what I needed to do. Thanking him, Gypsy and I made our way to Book’s office, explaining to him that I had a family emergency. He understood, and gave me a day off, though knowing him, he’d be concerned enough to inquire about it when I returned. I would probably need a solid story by the time everything settled down.

Leaving Keeper’s Tomes (and leaving behind a somewhat annoyed Silverfly, who still had to maintain her cover), we quickly covered ground, almost galloping towards our destination.

“Did she come personally?” I asked Gypsy, a little worried, as we finally took a turn at the last corner, the entrance of the Cluster in view.

“No, just a messenger,” the Den Mother replied. I blinked, but before I could say anything, Gypsy added, “Odd, I know. We aren’t unprepared, however. I’ve taken the usual precautions. New sections of the Cluster have been sealed off, and the messenger is always with an escort. If there’s anything the Queen can use against you, it won’t be coming from her representative.”

I nodded, slightly put off by what was happening. I mean, there I was, building up our potentially first human asset to help alleviate the hunger we’ve been having, and dear old Mother chose that specific time to involve herself in my life again. A paranoid part of me wondered if the old monster had me under surveillance, and just out of spite, wanted to ruin my chances of obtaining a much-needed asset.

At first, the thought seems silly, but then again, there was no reason to discount the possibility. Maybe I could get Gypsy to put a few feelers out there and see if we were being spied upon by our own Hive Cluster.

Once we entered the Cluster, I spotted an increased number of guards, even more than we should have. Maybe Gypsy had some gatherers disguise themselves, which was a good move. The croach also glowed with a brighter intensity than before.

I saw the messenger, quite a healthy-looking, if overtly so, specimen, just outside the enclosed Feeding Chamber. Leave it to dear old mother to try and show me up, but Gypsy seemed to have matched that showing with her own. The central orb of the feeding chamber glowed brightly with Love, and with everything going on, it would give any changeling the impression that this Cluster wasn’t starving at all. Lessons of never showing weakness and always displaying strengths came to mind.

Still, the mere presence of mother’s messenger was definitely a problem. The sooner this was settled, the sooner we could get on with our lives. However, that still begged the question: why was the Queen suddenly getting me involved? We hadn’t been in speaking terms since she drafted my infiltrators two years ago.

“Lady Luminous,” the messenger greeted, his head bowing down just enough to be respectful. “Our Queen sends her greetings.”

I nodded, half-thinking what to say that wouldn’t sound overtly hostile. Quite difficult. “We welcome you to our Cluster, and accept our Queen’s greetings. Forgive me for being blunt, however, but your arrival is a little irregular.”

“I realize it’s a little inconvenient,” the messenger replied, but I cut him off quickly.

“We’re in the middle of a working week, during the day, even. I’d say this is a more than just being a little inconvenient.”

“I understand, Lady Luminous,” he said, in a forced neutrality you’d normally find in any changeling messenger. “But our Queen has called for your presence back in the Hive Cluster.”

I didn’t need to look at Gypsy to know she was finding that as suspicious as I did. And even if I wasn’t, having me, the only active infiltrator in the city, take a day off while we already had a limited amount of Love left was unacceptable.

“Unfortunately,” I began slowly, but firmly, “with the situation of my Cluster, a trip towards the Hive Cluster isn’t feasible for today. Or this week, for the matter.”

“The Queen understands your situation, Lady Luminous, and has generously provided a Gateway Gem for your convenience,” the messenger replied.

My eyes narrowed. Gateway spells were notoriously magic-heavy. This could be a gambit of hers, to show my Cluster that their Queen had enough energy to give such types of spell gems freely. However, I knew her well enough to realize that she wouldn’t spend that amount of magic frivolously.

She needed my presence. Badly.

“What is this about, really?” I asked.

“Things are in motion,” the messenger replied mysteriously. “All I know is that our Queen is in need of your services.”

“I need to consult my Den Mother,” I said, earning a nod from him. Signalling Gypsy to follow, we left the messenger and moved a little bit away from the area, towards a hall extension. The guards immediately positioned themselves to block anyone from following us, and once I was confident we wouldn’t be overheard, I asked her, “Well?”

“I can’t fully say,” Gypsy replied, looking towards the hall. “Things must be desperate if she is offering a Gateway. I can see two things going on: it’s as the messenger says, that your services are needed; or she needs you out of the Cluster for some reason.”

I blinked, realizing what she meant by the second option. “Has the Queen rebuilt her forces strong enough to push for a direct conflict?”

Gypsy shook her head. “We don’t know, actually. Our intelligence on that end hasn’t come up with anything. And even if she hasn’t, this is the Queen we’re talking about. She didn’t survive her tenure by being obvious.” Gypsy said, frowning. “She probably has a few gambits in play.”

“We can worry about those unknowns once they become more obvious,” I replied. “However, let us say it is the latter, then what are her options?”

“I believe we impressed the messenger that attacking us would be costly,” Gypsy said. “If she tries to move in force against us, that could signal to the other Hives that she is being diverted, thus giving them an invitation to take advantage of the situation. Knowing the Queen, we can most likely rule out a direct attack. While subterfuge can still be in play, there haven’t been any anomalies in travelers coming in or out.”

Okay, so maybe no one was spying on us. Yet. Shaking my head, I said, “So that leaves us with the first option.” I sighed. “I don’t know what’s scarier.”

“Consider the cost of bringing you to her Hive Cluster,” Gypsy said. “The possibility that she is out to harm you is minimal.”

“That much is obvious,” I muttered. “However, she isn’t exactly… stable in mind.”

“She isn’t stupid, either,” she countered. “Remember the lesson I gave you about gambits?”

“Yeah. You’re not the only one doing it,” I repeated the lesson.

“Exactly,” Gypsy said. “We have no idea what the Queen plans. Not completely. But it goes both ways. She has no idea what we’re planning to counteract her.”

I nodded. If I had to analyze my options, the best move was to accept the invitation and gather more information on what was going on. If the Queen did need my services, then there was a chance I could make arrangements to ensure some additional help in supporting my Cluster.

If she didn’t… well, safe to say I would have at least gathered enough information to better prepare myself against her. That was if I could bluff my way out again like last time.

“I’m going,” I said to Gypsy. She nodded, understanding.

“I’ll keep the Cluster running and safe, then,” she replied, though worry wormed around her. I couldn’t give her an assuring smile without feeling disingenuous. We both knew the inherent risk of facing the Queen.

There wasn’t really much to say. After that little meeting, I told the messenger that I agreed to the Queen’s request, and thus he handed me the Gateway Gem. I didn’t use it inside the Cluster, though. Gems could be used to hide another spell, most common being an Anchor spell that would basically create a backdoor without my knowledge.

I might have offended the messenger when I activated the Gem on top of a random building. While taking precautions were practical, acting like this towards your own Hive gave the impression that you didn’t trust them. If he was naive enough to believe that I did, then he didn’t know my history with the Queen. No skin off my snout.

Activating the gem bathed both of us in green light. I felt the tug as the spell pulled me towards a destination. Colors changed around me, mixing and mingling until everything was an imploding sphere of sky-blue, brown-earth, and green-leaves. There was a rush of sounds, like singing birds and chattering ponies, except they all mixed together in a cocktail of chaos. It lasted a second, before it all faded.

I found myself standing around muted brown colors, with the heat of the place prickling my coat. The wind picked up, kicking up dust that had my snout twitching and my eyes watering. The new surroundings irritated me well enough to make me cough a few times before I finally adjusted.

Beyond Equestria’s borders, south of Appleloosa, the Badlands was an untamed land extending hundreds of miles. There were a few settlement towns, rare and far apart from each other, and independently governed, usually under spartan rules. Barring those, there were creatures which made their homes in these wild lands, more cunning and infinitely more dangerous than those that settled in the Everfree Forest. Weather ran freely, and the ecology was a mish-mash of dense jungles, wild plains, and unforgiving deserts. That’s where Queen Chrysalis’ Hive Cluster was located—in the driest and most hostile part of the desert region, surrounded by nests of giant scorpions that acted as a natural defense to keep the Hive Cluster safe.

Yeah. The Badlands was not a place you wanted to drop into unexpectedly, especially if you had gotten used to the civilized life of Equestria.

Not really wanting to face the sharp end of one of their stingers, we made our way towards a pure black onyx boulder sitting alone at the bottom of a tall dune. After making sure no one was around, both of us touched the stone with our hooves, and in a few seconds, we were whisked away towards the Hive’s cavernous entrance.

It was as I remembered—a long dark hallway with carved dark-green stone pillars between the two walls, glowing slightly because of the croach. The light intensity was nowhere near as bright as the one back at my Cluster, lending it a more sinister and eerie environment. It didn’t help that in the middle of those pillars were healthy- and menacing-looking, guards, still and unmoving. I kept my eyes on them, watching for any suspicious action as the messenger led me forward.

Nothing happened as the hallway gave way to a large set of stairs. Fire Gem torches were placed in a fanning pattern, as if to welcome me back into the fold, while lighting the area in almost glaring white-yellow light. They gave the ground some color—white-brown, like the desert sands above—which contrasted against the oppressive black and green environment. Climbing up the steps, we came upon the enormous silver-colored gate that was surprisingly left open, though only small enough to allow me and the messenger through.

I half-wondered if it was going to slam shut behind me once I walked through.

Past the gate, there was another smaller hallway traveling perpendicularly to the one outside. This area was also lit with more torches, finally showing off the meticulously designed walls with silver symbols and cut gemstones that sparkled with reflected light. I remembered this area a bit fondly. This was where Gypsy first taught me the changeling ideology, giving me objectives, which mostly consisted of trying to sneak into a certain area as she had a few guards try and find me. When I first got caught so easily, I had asked her what I did wrong.

“Attitude,” she had replied. “Remember, changelings don’t conceal themselves. Instead, they walk among others as though they belonged.”

More memories of my previous lessons came afterwards, making me smile as I took towards the left, knowing that it would lead towards the stairway to the first level. However, I didn’t take even ten steps when the messenger called me back, leading me towards a doorway. That was new.

“Where does that lead?” I asked.

“The Gateway Room,” the messenger replied. Seeing my confused look, he continued, “We’ve been working to improve travel efficiency throughout the Hive Cluster.”

Opening the doorway, he showed me a modestly-sized room with five gems placed in five pillars situated in the middle part of the room. The center one glowed brightly.

“What is this?” I asked.

“We’ve been working on a local Gateway spell,” the messenger said, proudly. “Each gemstone corresponds to a level in the Hive Cluster. From the left, the first and the second pillar should lead you towards the first and second level respectively. The glowing center will bring you to the Throne Wing. And the two beside it should lead you towards the third and fourth level.”

Huh. That was a pretty good idea. “How come the central one is the only thing that’s glowing?”

“We’re still deciding on where on the other levels we should anchor the spell to.”

I nodded. “So, is this a recent development?”

The messenger shook his head. “We’ve been working on this for a year.”

I gave him a look, wondering once more if he was really that naive, but said nothing as I stared at the glowing pillar. Maintaining an active Gateway spell wasn’t exactly energy-cheap, and having five running simultaneously would be almost mind boggling.

While some could say that delaying activating the rest of the gateway spell was a smart way to keep the magical cost down, I knew my mother. I wouldn’t be surprised if she only added the other stones to maintain her little facade of being a fair and wise leader. I wouldn’t be surprised if activating the rest of the gems were delayed by more years until conveniently forgotten. And, yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only gemstone active in any transportation room would be the one that would lead to the throne room.

What mother wanted, mother got. Long live the Queen.

We both approached the glowing gemstone, and I let the messenger place his hoof on it first. He did so, readily. I waited for a few seconds before following the motion, and felt the tug of the Gateway spell as the messenger activated it. Before I could consciously be aware of any time passing, I found myself sprawled in the Throne Room, somewhat violently.

“Sorry about that,” the messenger said, also prone beside me. “It usually isn’t that strong.”

I snorted. Would it be paranoid to say mother had something to do with that?

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I looked around me. The Throne Room was everything the entrance hall were not. Thick croach was lathered generously on the walls, glowing brightly enough to leak some energy out. So wasteful, I thought, as Love began to flow around us, energizing and satisfying, yet… cold.

Still, not one to waste any given Love so freely given, I took just enough to not be rude or greedy, and continued to study my surroundings. There were more guards placed, definitely looking satisfied with the energy so abundant in the room. Their chitin shone like smooth cut obsidian, deep black that reflected just a slight tinge of green. They were also much larger than the guards back in the entrance, probably because they had Love readily available for them here.

I looked at the messenger, who took a moment to absorb some Love for himself, smiling rather happily afterwards, and giving me a nod. “The Queen is quite generous to share in her bounty.”

“As you say,” I replied neutrally before he started leading me towards the entrance of Inner Throne Chambers, a golden door with a stylized and intimidating dragon head, its teeth shining with diamonds and its eyes glowing red with rubies.

I waited for the messenger to open the door, but he bowed at me. “The Queen awaits,” he said.

I stared at him. “I am to go alone, then?”

“The Queen wishes to speak with you alone,” he replied.

Well, that doesn’t worry me. Not at all. Glaring at the doorway, I slowly decided that, thematically at least, it was appropriate. Into the dragon’s mouth, I enter. Still, I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me intimidated. Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself as I placed my hoof over the door, pushing forward, and strode in confidently.

I tried not to swivel my head, looking for hidden danger so obviously. Instead, I let my eyes roam around, spotting pillars of different sized pods, glowing brightly green, that surrounded the area. I could see a few Equestrians, earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi trapped inside moderately-sized pods, floating serenely, their faces quivering, smiling in ecstasy. I could see larger pods with writhing diamond dogs almost whimpering, while minotaurs growled softly. Then, I saw small pods, imprisoning cats, each of them sleeping peacefully in bliss.

The last one was new.

All the pods were connected by glowing lines. Some of them led towards the walls, spreading into the croach, feeding it. Most of them, though, connected towards a blooming orb situated at the far end of the room, above a black throne elevated in a platform. The left and right ear formed two large dragon heads, maws open, while the manchettes were designed as dragon arms that ended with open claws. The short, almost crouching, cabriole legs followed the same design, starting with the knees, to the spiked feet.

Occupying the throne was none other than the supreme ruler of the Hive Cluster, sitting in a confident pose of easy, yet dangerous grace. Her sharp eyes narrowed as she saw me, her smile growing more dangerous. She spread her glowing wings wide, and with the light behind her, cast a harsh shadow that fell over me as I approached.

“Luminous,” she called, almost purring.

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to squash down any emotion, before staring back at Queen Chrysalis.

I uttered one simple word: “Mother.”

Author's Notes:

As Chapter 9 ends, I give my usual thanks to coandco, shira, Permanent Temporary, Ponyboy245, TownCrier, Jack-Pony, and Denim_Blue.

Enjoy guys!