The Professor walked down the nearly empty street. As with many of his workdays, he had left the university after the moon had risen. While Fillydelphia was a city know for having an active nightlife, the Professor's path took him nowhere near those areas of the city. For that he was most grateful, especially on this night. Having talked about the Changelings had brought up memories that the Professor had suppressed long ago.

The Professor's trip down Memory Lane was interrupted as a young filly came galloping up to him. Tears were running down her cheeks as she screamed, “Mister, you have to help me! It's my mom!”

Before the Professor could say anything, the filly turned and darted down the road. She then hooked a right into one of the city's many alleyways. With adrenaline pumping in his veins, the Professor galloped after the filly. When he turned into the alleyway, he found that he had lost sight of the small pony.

“Hello?” he called, walking into the alley with his eyes scanning for the filly.

“Over here! Hurry!”

The voice had originated from further down the alley, out of sight behind one of the dumpsters. As if in confirmation, the filly stuck her head into view and waved him on with her hoof.

“Hurry!”

Obliging, the Professor was by the filly's side in a couple seconds. He saw that there was indeed someone behind the dumpster but it was not the wounded mare he had been expecting. In the dark of the alley, he was only able to make out the red, feline eyes, the gray chitin vest, and the rows of teeth that were pulled back in a deceptively warm smile.

The stallion's higher cognitive processes shut down, leaving the primal sections of his brain to react to the situation before him. Said sections were quick in their decision to run and find the herd. When the stallion turned to beat a retreat, however, he was met with a wall of gray chitin. Letting out a yelp, he turned to charge out the other end of the alley and was met with two winged Drones hissing at him.

Shaking, he backed himself against the wall opposite of the Queen. To his left he had the hissing Drones, to his right was a Drone that was taller than it's siblings and had a bone-claw arching over it's head in a threatening manner, and in front of him was the Queen and the “filly”. Said “filly” dropped her disguise to reveal a Changeling that's appearance was the same as the Drones to his left but was about the size of a small dog rather than an adult pony.

“Do try to refrain from peeing yourself,” the Queen insisted, “this alley smells bad enough already.”

“Y-y-you...”

“I can see it in your eyes that you remember me. I'm sure you also remember what happens when somepony fails to cooperate.”

An image of a stallion being stabbed by bone-claws flashed through the Professor's mind before he nodded dumbly, glancing apprehensively at the large Drone to his right.

“H-h-” he swallowed and took a deep breath before trying again, “How did you find me?”

A chuckle emanated from the shrouded Queen, “Why Professor, I keep tabs on everypony that I have released.”

“Have you been the one killing us?” the stallion asked, his anger rising despite his situation, “You said-”

“I know what I said,” the Queen replied heatedly, “and I am not one to go back on my word. It had been another Queen, Saladrus,” the name was spoken with a hiss of malice, “who had silenced your fellows. They had made true in their promise and spoken of me. Sadly, that is what got them killed.”

The Professor gulped upon hearing of the exchange he had made all those years ago, “I-I would've spoken but I-I was afraid when the others started dying.”

“As you had every right being,” the Queen admitted, “and I am actually glad that you had remained silent. My Drones have made me aware of some unsettling things happening in your dear Equestria.”

“The invasion.”

“To name one of many, yes. There has been a great uprooting of many infiltrators of other Hives,” she explained.

“Upon revelation that the Changelings were real, the Princesses began to...” the Professor trailed off, trying to think of the right word. He was also trying to come to terms with how easy it was to speak to the Queen, though his life was in her hooves.

“Clean house?”

“Yes, exactly. According to the news, one of the Ambassadors had been hiding their Changeling identity, prompting the Sisters to have the Guard sniff out any other infiltrators.”

“Hmm,” the Queen hummed. Even through the blackness of night, the Professor could see the smile on the Queen's lips. From where he now sat next to the wall, he shifted slightly as his gaze passed over the smallest Changeling.

“Have some of yours been caught?”

“No,” she shook her head as she began to caress the head of the small Changeling, who was leaning into the Queen's chest as a pony foal might with their mother, “my infiltrators have been... adapted to disguise as children. So much freely given love. It would have been a crime not to take advantage of it.”

The Professor's eyes lit up with the spark of learning, “Really? If I may ask-”

“You may not,” she interrupted sternly, “Everything I have told you, or you have seen, of my children must not be repeated to your students or any other pony. With this new chaos, I have been able to slip into the shadows and I do not wish to leave them.” Yet.

“Oh. Alright,” he replied, genuinely saddened. His lowered gaze brought his forelegs into view, the white fur making them visible even in the dark alley.

“Professor, though I have enjoyed this small talk, I fear that my children grow restless and we have not even reached the main point of my... visit.”

“We haven't?”

Again, the Queen chuckled, “No. I wish for you to be my eyes and ears, Professor. With my brood always on the move, I find myself unable to keep track of the workings of the rest of the world. Normally, I would care for little but the continued survival of my children but... I see an interesting future, Professor. I need to know how my Hive will fit within it.”

“If you're always moving, how will I be able to inform you?”

The Queen flashed her teeth in a smile as her horn took on a red glow, “You simply need to look for the rose upon the burnt stem.”

“Wha-” a sleep induced blackness quickly enveloped the Professor's mind. When he woke hours later, he found a parchment in front of his face. Pictured on the parchment was a picture of a red rose with a black stem.

“Look for the rose upon the burnt stem,” mumbled the Professor with a smirk, snorting in amusement. Standing, he dusted himself off and looked to the night sky. Unable to see the moon with the buildings being so tightly clustered around him, he made for the alley's exit.

-_-_-_-_-

<My Queen, what if he tells the Guard about us? We should have insisted that a collector had gone with him. Played the part of his child.>

Viator looked at the Drone that walked beside her. He was almost as tall as she was, an effect of being one of her consorts. Only one of his two claws remained, the other now only half a foot long and ending in jagged bone. He had lost his other claw in a skirmish with the Diamond Dogs. This Digger had been the one that had allowed her entry into the Diamond Dog tunnel system on the day that set the Professor, Utonium was his name, free of his wardens.

<He won't speak, Renati.> He was also the only Drone to have a name, <His fear of death and pursuit of the academic will keep him from revealing us. And the sudden inclusion of a child in his life would have simply raised suspicion. He will do what I have asked.>

<And if, for some reason, he doesn't?>

The Queen stopped, Renati stepping two steps after her. He looked back, confused.

<If he betrays me,> Viator raised a hoof to caress the crippled Digger's cheek. The appendages on his back quivered in excitement as he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, <I will allow you a chance to bloody your claw once more.>

She lowered her hoof and continued walking down the tunnel, Renati quick to resume his place at her side. The two winged Drones that had been with them on the surface had already gone ahead of the two to resume previous duties while the collector had reapplied her disguise and disappeared into the city.

That did not mean they were alone. Far from it, in fact, for all around them were the Drones of Viator's Rogue Hive. They moved up and down a myriad of tunnels, to include some of the sewers of Fillydelphia, like ants moving about in their colony. Every surface space was taken up by one Drone or another. For their Queen and her consort, however, they parted in a manner akin to waves crashing into the prow of a ship.

Entering a chamber, the Queen allowed herself the chance to survey the organized chaos around her. There, in the center, Incubators were caring for the Nymphs charged to their care as the eggs on their backs grew ever closer to hatching. Over on one side of the chamber, she could see their love harvests being made ready for transit. On the other side of the chamber, she could see their physical rations also being prepped for transit.

Her eyes returned to the Incubators in the center. More specifically, she focused on the one that had no Nymphs beneath it. This Incubator was the only of it's kind and held only one egg. Within the vibrant red egg, Viator's eyes saw a future royal. Within her mind, Viator saw the future, one where her Hive and the Hive of her daughter would become so powerful as to be able to claim surface land as their own. They would be able to fend off all foes and grow ever stronger.

She saw a rebirth of the Changeling race. She saw herself as the Second Mother.

This future was close to Viator's grasp but was costing her dearly. Her population was small with many being of the foal-size collectors. All of her population was feeling the effects of the royal egg in their midst as they only ever had enough love to barely make it through the day. She knew that this would happen, however, and accepted it with a heavy heart. In order to bring about my future, sacrifices must be made.

<My Queen?>

Viator blinked before looking at the speaker, Renati. As she did, she came to the realization that she had stopped in the center of the chamber next to the special Incubator. She had been gazing blankly at the growing form within the egg. Renati, her most faithful Drone, stood at her side, as he had done from the day he hatched. Viator sometimes found herself wondering why he had done this. Perhaps there was a flaw with his egg?

<Worry not, Renati. I am merely planning for the future.>

<Of course, my Queen. The Hive awaits your command.>

Viator pondered for a mere moment. She needed more love for the egg. Though she wished to expand her hive's gene-pool, the welfare of a future Queen always came first. She, of course, had seen this coming and had already figured a plan on how to keep the egg fed without breaking the Hive's love supply.

<We move South, to the sewers of Manehatten. Our current stores will appease the egg for only so long.>

<At once, my Queen.>

As one, the tide of gray turned and began to funnel out of the chamber. They scattered to tunnels that ran toward their destination, tunnels already teeming with their brothers. However, gaps were made and quickly filled, allowing the exodus to be a smooth thing. The Nymphs remained under the Incubators, protected from the onslaught of hooves surrounding them. Scorplings stayed within or on the chitin of the Swarm Fathers. On the Drones that had wings or bone-claws, the appendages twitched in excitement. They were moving. They would hunt. They would expand.

They would survive.