The group of ponies from the farm swelled the total count that the hive held by nearly double. To say the new ponies were not pleased was an understatement but they were confused by the new arrangements. "Ya mean we just gotta keep farmin'?" One mare, who Apple Stew had recognized as kin, gestured to the farm around them.

"Exactly. You farm, we protect you, you feed us." Queen Fangs had the most wicked of smiles. "You belong to my hive now, but know that we are not harsh owners. You are prized possessions."

Sally didn't like this. She had never worked for any human traffickers back where she was from, and this stank of it.

"Well, to be fair'n'all, we didn't rightly leave the farm all that much anyway… I don't like this whole ownership thang, or whatever you mean by 'feed you'." The mare made air quotes with her hooves. "What is it like?"

The queen pushed Sally forward, the human suddenly trying to support herself on a bad leg. She decided discretion was the better part of valor and fell carefully, rolling to her side. "One is much like the other. We feed off our slaves in two ways. We can put you in a pod, where you will be forced to think wonderful, happy thoughts as we feed on them. Or like this…"

Sally couldn't brace against the queen, not when her species had spent exactly zero years evolving for magic defense. The grip came on her and she tried to focus on something nice, anything. "See how this creature is useless? She can't find a happy thing to feed me." Fangs leaned down, her real fangs brushing against Sally's cheek. "But she fights, she fights so hard to come up with anything she can to feed me." And Sally did. Clear Skies was the best she could think of but then something else flickered and the queen drank at her.

The human remembered the fight. How everything came together just how she planned.

"A sweet taste, little bug, you keep feeding me this and I may just tether you up as a pet." The queen kept lightly sipping at her and Sally trembled in place. It felt alien, terrible. But at the same time the fangs holding her emotions tight kept her from focusing on anything but that sensation, that happiness. She wept as the queen stood above her.

The ponies were now, all of them, up at the farm. It hadn't taken much effort to persuade them all that working in the sun was better than being kept down in the hive. Pods had moved up there too, though most of the new farmers seemed to prefer to let the changelings feed from them while they worked.

"Our deal has expired, has it not?" Sally was wearing an actual collar now, one the queen had made for her from crystal and… Sally wished it was just slime. It felt like the same kind of stuff that had been in the pod and she was worried it was manufactured by the changelings in an 'internal' manner.

The woman sighed and leaned against the throne the queen sat on, slumping down to sit beside it. "You know it has." Knowing that Stockholm Syndrome existed, knowing that you were experiencing it, didn't make it any easier to break from.

A hoof reached over the side of the throne and stroked her head. She didn't even flinch from it. "Then you will serve me without a deal now?"

Sally railed at this. "No. But the deal will be our last."

The queen's attention was fully on her and Sally looked up to have Queen Fangs looking down at her. "The last? It will be a big one then."

"Nope. It will be simple for both of us." Her words had the queen's full attention and the changeling leaned down so her mouth was beside Sally's ear.

"What do you want so much?"

The chill in that voice traveled all the way to the base of the human's spine and back up. "No more ponies." She had to focus on that. The softly glowing collar reminded her of how deep she was in this, but she didn't want to drag any more down with what she would offer.

"That is a tall order. I am already honoring the previous agreement to your satisfaction?" The breath on her neck threatened to break Sally's nerve.

"You… have. The drones seem quite happy to take me up to see them, I know why."

"Because you taste nice when you see a happy thing." Sally could feel her, pushing around within her head, sniffing for any hint of happiness.

Sally closed her eyes and thought of how happy Clear Skies had seemed up there. The drones let him fly around because of how good he tasted again.

"Good filly." Sally centered herself, focusing on ignoring the feel of the queen as she teased at her emotions.

"You stop capturing any ponies and I will be exactly what you want me to be."

The drinking stopped, dead. It was like the queen had been jerked free by a mental yank. "You would? That is a big offer, I appreciate what you are giving me, trust that I am." The hoof returned to her head and damn it if Sally didn't lean into it. "A good deal indeed. There is no duration on this?"

Sally shook her head, feeling the hoof rub a little to one side.

"Good, you will be my clever little drone. You will do everything I ask and push more to make sure your hive-mates are safe and happy." Sally felt a little odd at this. This wasn't really the demands she had been expecting.

"I… you know I like fighting, I like to plan and see my plan carried out."

The queen made a soft sound of agreement.

"If I dedicate myself to this, I must know you will honor the one thing I ask in return."

Her head was forcefully tilted back, the hoof guiding her to look up, deep into the queen's eyes. "You have my word and the honor of my hive. No new pony slaves, I will even keep these ones as they are, happy. They work well."

Sally closed her eyes, hating the thought of how her first 'bargain' had ended up with ponies losing their freedom. "If you agree to that, then I will do as you wish, and as I wish."

The kiss on her lips shocked Sally and she looked up, blushing as the changeling gently pressed only her lips to the human's. It lasted a moment but Sally was blushing after it.

"Done, sealed. My little drone, relax, I will free you of your… restriction." The queen's eyes glowed green and Sally felt that sensation of magic flowing directly into her. It tingled and prickled but something about the mare's eyes intrigued her.

Something relaxed, a tension in the woman's head she had forgotten was even there. "Thank you."

"Thank you, what?"

"My queen."

Sally was warm for the first time since Clear had gone up to the farm. She was warm but she was also on edge. It sounded like there were crickets all around her and she had worked out that changelings bedding down together, rubbing their carapaces against each other, chirped.

She tried to turn over to find a pair of big blue eyes gazing at her. The dim light of her collar meant that she always had a little light, a double edged sword of a gift though it was. "You can't sleep?" The voice was feminine, reminding Sally of the queen a little.

"Nope. Is it always this loud?" The changeling nodded slowly, blinking a few times.

"It is a soft lullaby, it is what all good changelings hear when they sleep." They sounded much more… well, Sally didn't want to say smart, but she certainly thought it. "I can help you, make you sleep."

The woman thought about this. Her first day of training was tomorrow. She didn't want to be tired for it and without the dark savior that was coffee she found herself nodding.

"It is not a weakness to admit a problem. Sleep, you will grow used to our song eventually." The glow of the changeling's horn filled Sally's senses and then the pony-creature spoke a single word. "Sleep."

It was impossible to fight that gentle command.

The next day, well, the next time Sally was awake, she discovered she would be looking into those eyes a lot.

"You aren't a drone." It was a statement, Sally was eating a bowl of the more substantial porridge that had started coming since the farm had been taken over.

The changeling shrugged and kept watching her. Sally had not felt her touch at all and was wondering if it were some game.

"Okay, so you aren't a drone, what are you?"

"More, halfway between drone and queen. Smarter, better, but not stupid enough to fight Fangs." The changeling looked at the odd creature. They wore cloth to cover them, well, most of them. They got so cold that they actually needed to be kept warm at nights. "My turn. What are you? You don't seem… to fit."

Sally barked a laugh, gulping down some more of the thick rolled oats. "Human is what we are called. Don't know if any others are here, in this world I mean."

"Haven't seen one like you. You are training us today?"

"Yeah I am. Queen Fangs told me I was to choose a group of changelings, to train them, then help them train others."

"You have your first then. Sharp Mind." She gave a little bow to Sally. "You want strong, smart, or a bit of both?"

Sally raised an eyebrow. This changeling was bold. "Both, in good measure. What attributes should I be looking at?" Sally grabbed up the last of the oats with the wooden spoon she had fashioned and gulped it down. The two apples beside her were lunch.

"You have smart, you have strong." Sharp tapped her head with a hoof for the first, then tapped her neck for the second. "Then you have magic, drones… not as bad as ponies, but you will want others like me, if you want good with that."

Sally just nodded.

"Most are same at flying, some get a little better. We are limited by our wings."

"And your bite… the… drinking? Feeding?" Sally had to fish for the words.

Sharp grinned, showing off every white fang she owned. "We can use that as a weapon, you are observant."

"Would you want to learn what I have to teach, if I wasn't?" Sally felt herself warming up to the changeling.

"No, I would eat you down to nothing and leave you for dead. If you aren't smart, human, and you aren't strong, then you are nothing but food." The words chilled Sally, anew, but they were true and she saw, in a twisted way, how it was a compliment to her intelligence.

"That was something I needed to talk to someone about. I need a brace… something to hold my knee steady." Sally pointed at her damaged knee. The problem was slightly visible, she was missing a good chunk of the cartilage of the knee cap.

"What happened to it?" Sharp Mind leaned in and inspected the ruined joint.

Sally held up her fingers, about an inch apart. "Imagine something about this big, made of metal."

The changeling nodded.

"Now imagine it moving so fast you can't see it. Now imagine it moving a lot faster than that." The description was the best she could do and the changeling nodded.

"Hurts?"

"Only when I move it." Sally bit off any more she might say as green magic flowed around the limb, bending it as it should move. It hurt like hell.

"I have an idea."

Author's Notes:

Well, we have new guests, I would suggest welcoming them in but I don't think it would be fun.