POV: Queen Chrysalis

"Uh, sure," said the cyan Pegasus. Chrysalis didn't know her name, and frankly, she didn't care. All that mattered was that she was in the way. The Pegasus turned to the one called 'Twilight'. "Meet me outside when your done. Like I said, we'll go get some donuts." With that, she took off into the air and flew out the door.

She looked down at the sniveling Unicorn and considered what to do. Before she could come to a conclusion, the unicorn latched around her leg. Despite her slight alarm at the sudden movement, she still held her face in as sincere a smile as she could.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," said the unicorn. Huh, how pathetic,Thought the queen. She was above such behavior.
However, she had to act the part, and not blow it. She lit her horn, preparing a spell.

"It's ok. It's ok," she said in a honeyed voice, waiting for her horn to charge up the spell. While she had a lot of power from this unicorns brother, it still took some time to charge up such a powerful spell. "Everything, will be, Fine!"

She unleashed the spell, a quick green bolt sailing into the prone pony. She didn't even have time to cry out. She shuddered, convulsing on the ground until she stopped moving. If not for a faint rising and falling of her barrel, she could be mistaken for a corpse.

Chrysalis also shuddered. Mind Break was a powerful changeling spell, and one not easily cast. The spell required a lot of energy, a bit of charge time, and couldn't be cast in quick succession. It was only for getting rid of those who were close to discovering an infiltrator but were too well known or in such a position that they couldn't just disappear. This included her, as despite her family, mentor and other friends leaving her, one friend remained.

This pegasus would be a problem. She had stuck with the unicorn and likely would ask questions of her disappearance. There was no other way out of the room, and teleporting was loud, so she couldn't just say that she had left. The unicorn would be slightly, out of it, for lack of a better term; and would be easy to spot by her friend. She had to get rid of her. But how?

She pondered things, then came to a conclusion. Even if she could figure out how to get rid of either the Unicorn or the Pegasi, she wouldn't be able to remain in cover for very long after. One of them would get suspicious, and it would be both too much effort and too likely to fail to be worth it. She and the hive had to pull out, reevaluate, and redeploy. But, what to do about the pegasi.

She once again pondered this, then settled on simply letting the ponies deal with her. It would give her time to pull herself out of cover, as well as weaken the ponies while she was at it. She judged this pegasus to be rather impulsive and loyal; she was its element after all. Anyway, she could get two of her infiltrators to help stack the odds against her.

"Carapace! Antenna!", She barked over the Hivemind. All changelings were linked to it and could use it to talk to each other in close proximity. However, only the Queen could use it to communicate between individual 'lings over long distances. But she didn't need to use this range. The two infiltrators in question were right here; in the palace.

"Yes, your highness?", both replied almost at the same time.

"We were almost compromised. We're pulling out. However, you two have a special assignment first. I'll send it to you over the Hivemind shortly. In the meantime, get the captured Princess to her room. Make sure she is unconscious. I don't want any surprises."

"Yes, your highness." And with that, the two of them went silent.

Chrysalis turned back to the still Unicorn. She knew that the spell would take at least another twenty minutes to work. And that was what she was counting on. She straightened up, then walked over to the door where the Pegasi would be waiting. Let's get this show on the road.

POV: Infiltrator Carapace

Carapace was a loyal servant of the queen. Because of this loyalty, he had been selected to be one of a few drones to assist in his queen's infiltration of the castle. After the two ponies had left, he had been ordered to go back to his disguises routine. Now, that meant going to the castle's northern gate.

When she arrived, the other guard stood there in perfect stillness. This stallion, an earth pony named Poisoned Apple, was a bit of an oddity. He was a guard pony through and through; the mindset, the discipline, everything about him. And yet, some of his mannerisms were, to say the least, rustic. This was most evident in his accent, however, it also was somewhat so evident in the way he talked. Either way, he was a pleasant being to be around, for a pony anyway.

"Hey, Void Gazer. So, how was duty down at the edge of the Captains bubble?", Poisoned asked as the disguised ling took his post.

"Alright," he said. "Although if I'm being honest, I still think its a bit overboard. I mean, I don't even know half of the ponies on patrol and sentry duty, and I was in the reserves myself."

Poisoned shrugged his shoulders, an act that made his spear nearly fall over. Why do ponies use those things? It's not like most of them can even use it in a proper fight, so why do all of them have it? "Heh, not up to us," the pony said. "Although the Captain does seem to take all of this very seriously."

"Well," Carapace said. "It is his wedding. But the point you raised: does that mean you agree with me? About the sheer amount of guards?"

"Yeah," the stallion said. "Like you said, most of these guys are reserves, and even then I don't know very many of them. Anyway, let's get to business."

The two of them then went quiet, simply staring straight ahead. Carapace never understood the ponies soldiers. The standards were low, the equipment was outdated; he doubted they even did semi-regular drills. They were more for show, and he didn't get it. Sure, they were a bit of a hegemony, but it was still a bit pathetic.

After some time, Poisoned's shift was over. He left, saying that Wind Waker would be taking his place. Carapace remembered Wind Waker; from what he had heard, she was like a pegasi guard version of the element of laughter. She was so hyper, that it seemed that she always had a whole pot of coffee before going on duty. While it freaked him out, she exuded love energy like a faucet, so he couldn't complain too much.

Then, he saw two beings coming up toward the gate. One was the purple unicorn, the bride's sister if he recalled correctly. The second looked similar to Princess Mi Amore, yet was only a unicorn and had a crisscrossing pair of red streaks in her hair. He recognized the disguise his queen had told him she would be taking. They were on schedule.

When they arrived, he didn't say anything, but lifted up a hoof and tapped his horn twice, then touched his spear tip. The Mi Amore look-alike sighed, then said, 'Yes, yes, it's me. You remember what I told you.'

'Apologies, your highness,' he said. 'I'm just following procedure.'

'I know that. I made that procedure. Anyway, when is the other guard coming so you can go with her?' the queen said.

Carapace couldn't help but crack a small grin. 'In less than a minute, your highness.'

'Good,' she said, grinning wickedly. 'Stick to the plan.' With that, she vanished into the ground in a swirl of green fire.

Sure enough, in a few minutes, Wind Waker came down. The mare was grinning broadly, her spear running down over the length of her back while she whistled a random tune. She said as she got close, "Hey there, Void!" When she noticed the hypnotized unicorn mare, she said, "Hey, ain't cha the Capt'ns sis?"

"Yes, Waker," Carapace said. "She said something's going happen with Princess Cadenza. Probably nothing, but she's pretty insistent. I'll take her over to check it out. Mind takin' full duty for a few minutes?"

"Wait, 'ow are ya gonna get o'er to the Princesses room. Ain't it on the other side 'o the castle?"

Carapace face hoofed. He then looked back up at the jittery Pegasus, then pointed at his horn. "Oh, right? Stupid me, eh? Alright, I'll take care of it. See ya in a few!" Carapace then teleported the two of them to the outside of the Princesses room. Listening against the door, he heard a bunch of crashing. He smiled. Right on time.

"You," he said to the Purple mare, who stood at attention. "Head on out, go get the princess and your brother. Bring them here. Tell them what your 'dear friend Dashie' did." She nodded, and began to trudge off. "Oh, wait!", he called after her, causing her to turn around. 'Emerge from your shell, servant of the hive.'

Her eyes flared green for a second, then vanished, revealing her normal lavender ones. She then nodded, and galloped off. With that dealt with, he charged up his horn, and prepared to buck down the door.

POV: Infiltrator Antenna

Like Carapace, Antenna was a loyal servant of her queen. Unlike him, however, who had been in deep cover for a few years while the queen marshaled the hives armies, she had arrived much more recently. She had also not taken the form of a pony outside of Canterlot moving into the city like Carapaces form 'Void Gazer'. She, instead, had 'lingnapped an important pony for her to use as a cover. The Solar sovereigns aide: Raven Inkwell.

It had been so easy to do. The rooms of the palace staff, even the ones so close to the Princess like Inkwells, were far apart and had very thick walls. Probably worked wonders in the snowy winter of Equestria, but were also perfect sound proofers. As such, kidnapping her was a piece of cake. The walls were so thick, she didn't even put the unicorn in the crystal mines beneath the mountain. She just stuck some of her slime on her horn and mouth, then tossed her in the closet. That was all that was needed.

But, all that was irrelevant. The queen had ordered them to pull out, and that is what they were doing. She had been an infiltrator for years; she knew that things could go horribly wrong in this situation, and knew that a temporary famine would be easier to manage than a major defeat. She knew that the guard could be bested easily, but the sovereigns being aware would complicate matters. Either way, it was an unnecessary risk, one she knew.

She was currently posing as Raven, doing her job as aide to the sovereign. She was standing off to the side of the Princess, while the groom of the captured Princess stood off to her side, eating some dinner. It was slow, with him poking at the food. She knew this was another complication. Manipulation spells were potent, but took a lot of effort to maintain. Either the caster had to use a lot of effort to keep it up fully, or use a lot less effort, but have the spell be less effective. The result of the latter was generally the subject becoming lethargic, and eventually, catatonic. Evidently, the queen had let the spell slip, only as to keep the captain under her sway.

She levitated over some papers over to the solar sovereign, saying, "Well, we can probably move it to after dinner, if you all feel inclined to do it into the dark. If not, then maybe at five in the-" She was cut off by the door bursting open, and Twilight Sparkle running in. To herself, while all of the others were looking at her, Antenna smiled. Right on schedule.

Shining looked up from his soup, glaring at her with a glazed over look. "Twilie, I thought I told you to-"

Twilight interrupted him, wheezing out between breaths, "No, *huff*, t-time, BBF, *huff*, FF. Ra-rainbow Dash, *huff*, attacked Cadence. The guards taking her to the Hospital Wing."

That got the Captains and the Princess's attention. They sat up from their seats as the Princess shouted, "Twilight, Captain Armor, Raven; to me." All three of them huddled around the Princess, whose horn lit up. There was a loud crack, a bright light, and they were no longer in the dining hall.

She had never been in the hospital wing in her, admittedly, short time here, but this was it if she had to guess. The place wasn't the same marble as the rest of the palace, but was instead made of white ceramic tiles with a red line going down the center of the wall. Rooms jutted out from the hall, and the corridor split up ahead. The whole place had an aura of magic in the air, and smelt of anti-septic and disinfectant.

Celestia pulled over a doctor. "Where is my niece?"

He pointed down the hall. "Down the hall, turn right at the next junction, fourth door on the left. A pair of royal guards will be outside, your highness."

"Thank you, doctor," she said, before turning to the group that she had teleported in with. "Come."

Antenna followed behind the others towards the room, remembering her orders. She was to use a spell to manipulate the pony sovereign into turning on one of the Elements. She didn't remember the name, but she knew it was the Pegasus with the spectral colored mane. It shouldn't be too hard; the Manipulation was a pretty standard spell for an infiltrator. The main problem for her was to get the sovereign alone, or at least alone with the Captain and his sister. They, under the queen's sway, she could perform the spell around.

Sure enough, the room had a set of guards outside of it, who parted their spears to allow the group to enter. Inside, the room was filled with doctors who all checked machines and lit up their horns to perform tests. The princess herself (The real one, pulled out from the mines) lay on the bed, eyes shut and chest rising and lowering peacefully.

The princess began to talk with one of the doctors, but Antenna didn't really pay attention. Instead, she focused on the incapacitated Princess. She began to take in minor details of her condition. Light sweating around the base of her horn. Quivering nose, like it itched. Occasional twitching of the neck. She recognized the symptoms; a stun spell, followed shortly by a deep sleep spell and a mask presence spell. It made it hard to detect and hard to pinpoint a source. Carapace always did this part well.

Her attention was torn back to the present situation, as she heard the pony Princess say, "Leave us, please." All the doctors left the room, leaving only the Princess, the Captain, the captain's sister, and herself. Perfect.

'Emerge from your shell, servant of the hive,' she whispered. The two normal ponies' eyes glowed a light green, but this faded soon to simply having green eyes. The Princess didn't notice, as she was close to her niece. Perfect. She began her spell.

POV: Commander Pharynx

Unlike the other close officers of the queen, who were on standby outside of the magic shield with the rest of the swarm, Pharynx had been ordered to stay inside the mountain. He had a cave coming out of the mountain, over the dome so he could look down. And additional force of Changelings, mostly more experienced drones and the elite Swarm Guards, was in the cave with him.

He looked out over the city, watching the ponies go about their lives. He could feel the love radiating off of them like the stench off of carrion. He was too far away to taste it, but he felt enough to feed the hive 'til they all grow fat for at least a decade; maybe a century or two if properly rationed out. He couldn't wait.

Then, he heard the fizzle of the queens magic behind him. He turned around, spying the queen emerging from the ground...With all of the infiltrators.

He asked her, "Your highness. I'm glad to see you have returned, but shouldn't you be down in the pony city, preparing for the wedding?"

Not even looking at him directly, she said, "Commander, we're pulling out." Pharynx did a double-take. Before he could reply, she continued. "Pass this order along to your captains. We pull out just after the moon passes directly over the city. Understood, Commander?"

"B-but I don't understand! Why are we pulling out?"

She glared at him. Despite his fierce reputation and strict adherence to tradition, including an unquestioning obedience to the queen, he could never stand to make eye contact with her. "Are you questioning me, Commander?"

Straightening, he said, "No, your highness. Merely wishing to know why."

"There was a little complication. To stay would have risked discovery before the shield could've been weakened enough. So, we arranged a distraction to allow us to escape. We also leave with something almost as valuable."

"If I may be so bold, your highness," He said. "What Might that be?"

"Knowledge, Commander. Knowledge, that they are so cozy, and full themselves so secure in their hegemony, that they have grown complacent. Their guard is weak, their security light. They are also easily susceptible to infiltration. They are not careful enough to spot me, and a few mere tricks will have them chewing themselves to pieces. If they are all like this, we will be able not only to drain the love from this city, but maybe even conquer it."

"C-conquer, your highness?"

"Yes, Commander. Imagine it: a near-endless bounty of love for us. All ours. The hive fed for centuries to come. We need only to apply time and patience. We may starve in the short term, but in the long term, we will feast!"

As she said this, she burst in to laughter, and Pharynx stood there, watching her do it. He felt uneasy, wary of the change of tradition from the old ways. Yet, he had orders to follow. He turned to one of his lieutenants, ordering him to relay the message, then turned back to his view of the pony city. He felt uneasy about his queens plan; but more so, he felt a bit sorry for the ponies.

The wedding is left, the hive pulling out...for now. Equestria will have its peace, for in the shadows, the swarm waits. It watches, it infiltrates, it prepares for its coup de grace.

Also, yes, this Commander Pharynx is Thorax's brother from the show. This will become relevent later.