Amaryllis was bored. Sure, watching over her brothers and sisters was an honour and a joy, or at least that was what her mother had said. Still, it was not what she had hoped for in life. She was young but certainly not a hatchling anymore. She wanted to leave the hive to see what the world had to offer. But she couldn’t, not when her kin was so weak, not when her mother needed her. Torn between her thoughts, she sat on the throne from where she could oversee the main hall and watched the black figures doing their daily work.

Some swarmed out to renew parts of the hive while others were filled with freshly harvested love on their way to the brood chambers. One day, it would be her eggs they would nourish, others, her nymphs. But as of now, it was those of her mother, and they would stay that way for a long time. Changelings didn’t age like other beings; not the drones, not her, and not her mother. The drones lived as long as they had enough love, but without it, they would decay to dust. They literally dried out until only a chitin husk was left behind. Her mother had made her watch the process multiple times to show her how subjects should be treated if they were to fail.

For weeks she had had nightmares until her wet nurse had told her that she was different. She was her princess, the daughter of Queen Chrysalis. She and her mother could survive without love for quite some time. Only her powers would suffer. A queen was way more durable than a drone after all.

“My Princess.” A soldier had, without her noticing, entered the hall and bowed before her. “Queen Chrysalis wishes for you to join her in the landing bay. She says she has very good news for all changelings.” Curious of what good could happen in this wasteland, except that somebody got lost, she stood up.

“Bring me to my mother," she commanded her brother, even if it was more of a symbolic relation. Queens could give birth in two ways. One way was to create drones and soldiers. They could lay eggs, out of which larvae hatched, which would evolve into what she currently glared at. Then there was the option to reproduce like every other species, only that then a new queen would always emerge. However, they always led to problems since wanting to be the sole ruler was in their very nature. Thus it was more than just natural that she had begun to argue with her mother more frequently as time went on. It meant that her time was near. Either she would leave the hive with a few workers and build her own or kill her mother in a fight for control. Still, Amaryllis couldn’t see herself doing that. She wasn't her mother, and the bond to her was strong although Chrysalis had always seen this as a weakening side effect of her origin.

After a short walk through the comfortable dark halls, they reached the landing bay of the hive. The crack which created the path was not far from here, and everything that wanted to pass had to go through this chamber. This way, they ensured that threats wouldn’t enter unnoticed. “You called for me, my queen?” She bowed and looked in her mother’s eyes. Long gone was the time where she could address her as such.

The queen turned around with a satisfied grin on her face. “Ah, my daughter. My joy could hardly be any greater, and I want to share it with you.” She applied her horn to her daughter’s, and a tiny spark of love jumped from the queen. It was more than rare that she did so. Usually drones were the ones who distributed food.

“Thank you, my queen. To what do I owe the honour and your rather content temper?” For the last couple of weeks, she had been almost desperately trying to get as far away from Equestria as possible, and her temper showed so more than clearly. Changelings were very emphatically gifted, but reading the emotions of the queen was out of their ability. Only another real queen was able to do so.

“A glorious new era dawns, for a being that will help me regain our old strength walked into a trap of my soldiers.” Amaryllis only rolled her eyes as Chrysalis broke out into maniacal laughter. “A human is locked in one of our cells at this very moment,” she said after she recovered from her fit.

A human was one of the rarest creatures in Equestria. Precious little was known about them, but it was known that they were immune against the changelings' ability to drain love. Ponies had all kinds of tales about them, the most common being that they were dark creatures who had escaped Tartarus. However, her mother had told her how things really were. A human could be the best thing for a queen. Due to their immunity, they could be used as a long-term partner to boost the population. “A human? What do you plan to do with him?” The answer was obvious.

“Hmph, it should be obvious. I’ll use him to build an army, with whose help I’ll conquer a land and make it our home.” Once again, a gleeful smile crossed her face. “A land far away from those ponies and their disgusting magic of friendship. But first, dear daughter, I want you to show him his new home.” Amaryllis was a bit surprised, but it was better than sitting around all day and playing princess. “Show him the family he’ll spend the rest of his days with. Make him familiar with our kind and especially make him ready for me.”

Her mother's laughter was still ringing in her ears long after she had left the landing bay and the first crossings. It was a rare occasion to see her in such a good mood, but after some time, it had quickly become tiring. The laughter and the never ending talks about her plans didn’t only annoy her, but also her siblings. As usual, the drones had to endure it without complaint.

She turned onto the passage that led to the cells and asked one of the soldiers who guarded her, “What can you tell me about the human?” Neither of the two answered, unsure as to who had been addressed. As she looked to the right one, he stiffened, suddenly finding walking a challenge. “I ask again: what can you tell me about the human?”

The changeling seemed young, probably just out of training. “Uhm... General Switch found him with his unit in the desert and hexed the foal he had with him. He followed her right to our hive and fell down the cliff.” They again turned around a corner and finally reached the cells. “When his unit returned a bit later, the human seemed merely injured and defended himself with a staff and something like magic. He was able to put three soldiers out of combat.” Should a soldier lose in a fight, he was useless to the swarm. He had to prove himself again by offering something that would make him worthy again. Oftentimes, that translated into a lot of love or even a being they could feed off of for some time. So she lost three brothers; that didn’t really trouble her. What was more interesting was that the human had supposedly used magic. Never had her mother mentioned that they were capable of such. Had this one found a way to use it despite his natural disability? The day was quickly becoming increasingly interesting by the second.

The other soldier opened the door, and the cells became visible. They were also locked through the same chitin mechanism, the material their shells were made of. The workers learned to produce it and used it for the hive. Thus, most doors were made of this rather hard material. Still, Amaryllis never understood why this appealed to her siblings. Due to her origin, she was different. Not like her mother, but even more deviant. Oh, she had no doubt gotten her figure from her mother, but the rest of her appearance was clearly from her pony father. For starters, her black skin was covered by a just as dark hair, even if it was not that long. Also, she had none of the holes in her hooves like any of the other changelings. Finally, she lacked the crown. Every changeling queen grew one naturally, but she was an exception. If it wouldn’t be for her bent horn, the wings on her back, and the fangs in her mouth, she could be disguised as a pony even without any transformation. She wasn’t much taller than ponies, reaching just to her mother’s chin, whereas her siblings reached her chest.

Why she was like this was known by neither her nor her mother. Maybe Chrysalis had been too weak while she was pregnant, and her genes hadn’t really kicked in. Maybe it was because of the spell which threw her out of Canterlot. No sane changeling would ever mention it before the queen, and she had accepted her differences long ago.

Slowly, they approached the last cell. Before they reached it, they heard arguing. “... And is it my fault that your plan failed? The Great and Powerful Trixie makes no mistakes! It was obviously your bad plan since the...” The princess faced the soldiers questioningly. Didn’t they catch a male? The voice she had just heard from the cell clearly sounded like a female. That would enrage her mother and certainly cast a damper on her good mood, as such a find would be useless.

“Sorry, Princess,” the soldier said, “but all our cells were taken, and thus we had to house him with another prisoner.” Now that the confusion was solved, she signalled for him to open the door. Cautious, and probably a bit intimidated due to the yelling in the cell, the young soldier stepped up to the door and magicked it open. Immediately, he got hit in the face, fell to the ground, and remained there. Next to him was a piece of wood which probably belonged to one of the beds in the cell.

“Damn.” This time Amaryllis could clearly hear the masculine voice. “You can’t just dodge! I could have injured that poor changeling there.”

“Do you mean to say that you put a changeling's safety above that of the Great and Powerful Trixie's?!”

“Always! At least they don’t backstab you.” The princess was stunned, though not in a bad way. She had to suppress the urge to laugh. Curiously, she hopped over the unconscious guard and looked into the cell. The few pieces of furniture, comprising of a bed and a small table, were destroyed far beyond the point where they could be repaired. The empty plate that was also made of chitin had a dent, judging by the form, of a hoof it had blocked. In the middle of the chaos stood the human, a long orange cloak that was more like a cape around his neck. It also wore a brown robe and a pair of blue trousers that succeeded in concealing most of its strange body from her eyes. His right leg was on another bed post, just like the one the soldier just took to the face. He bent forward, pressing his nose against the snout of the mare. She had light blue fur, a nearly white mane, and a cape. Furthermore, she had a hat of the sort unicorns had worn a few hundred years ago. Amaryllis had found several illustrations of such in the books of her mother when she was younger.

“Trixie didn’t know you! How would Trixie have known that you wouldn’t sell her out? Humans don’t really have the best reputation,” she shot back and shoved her snout against his nose.

“You didn’t have problems trusting me when you didn’t know what I was.” He tapped a finger of his against her chest, whereupon she struck his hand away.

“Excuse me?” As entertaining as all this was, her mother had given her a task, and she wanted to execute it sooner rather than later.

“What!?” they yelled simultaneously and turned their angry faces on her. They looked at her and she stared back, a bit out of contempt. She didn’t know what to say since no one had ever spoken like that to her. In the seconds of awkward silence, one of the soldiers made his way into the cell. While doing so, he nearly tripped, as the larger Amaryllis used up most of the entrance space.

“Show some respect towards the Princess.” He pointed his spear at the inmates of the cell. “Or I’ll teach you some.” The human straightened and looked from the soldier and back to Amaryllis, who looked back with similar confusion.

“Great, first the Queen and now the Princess. Tell the king that my ass stays a virgin!”

Thiemo was done. His mangled leg throbbed in pain, he was imprisoned by bugs, Aura was god knows where, and it still wasn’t enough that a changeling queen wanted to use him as a slave for her perverted desires. No, her daughter seemed to want to jump right on the bandwagon. At least she looked more like a pony and less like an insect that would lay her eggs in his stomach.

“King? We have no king.” At least a part of him was safe, and so he made himself a promise. Should he get out of here, he would burn his magazines. Alone, the imagination of what must have happened down here was enough for a long time, and that didn’t account for his trauma.

But something else really bugged him right now. “But you have a father?" he asked the princess, and she nodded. “Thus you have something like a king if you are a princess.” A light growl came to his ears, and he looked to the soldier again who still had his spear targeted at them. He obviously didn’t like the way he spoke to his princess. Slowly, Thiemo moved the weapon with the tip of his finger toward the mare next to him.

“My mother is the only ruler. We are not known for having a partner for long since we feed off emotions. They usually don’t last very long.” Thiemo saw her sharp teeth as she spoke and thought of another reason they didn’t last very long. “Besides, queens search for males of other species to use their characteristics.” Great, regarding their ruler, they were Americans. Only one who was born a changeling could be a ruler. Well, and seemingly a queen. At least they were, unlike others in the room, not xenophobic.

With this new information in mind, he eyed the princess again. “Then I suppose your father was a pony?” She almost looked like an over-dimensional pony, or had just really grown tall, thus the assumption seemed likely.

“I, though, am not here to mate with you. I am not entitled that right. My mother only asked me to introduce our family and to also prepare you for what awaits you.” Seemingly they thought that he would just accept his fate, but since he had no plan yet, he had to play along.

“What’s with all this talk about mating?” Trixie asked, visibly confused.

“It seems the queen has fallen for my charms and elected me as her new partner.” Her jaw dropped wide open.

“It is rather the qualities of your species which—”

“Halt!” he interrupted the princess.

“What?”

“Let me have some fun.” He nodded over to Trixie who was still staring bug-eyed at the air in disbelief. Amaryllis sighed.

“Then follow me now, human; we still have a tour to do.” Walking with his aching leg didn’t really appeal to him, but at least he’d get out of the cell and be rid of Trixie. Maybe he could also find out how Aura was doing. Thiemo hobbled more than walked past the guard and stood up to the princess.

“Uhm... Ripley.” He reached out his hand.

“Hey!” And there it was again, the annoying, grating voice of Trixie that could cause any sane man to feel the need to strangle something. “You told the Great and Powerful Trixie your name is Baloo. Captain Baloo.” He had already forgotten about that. Back then, it was more or less of a joke to him, especially since he didn’t want to tell any of the smugglers his real name. Not much had changed since then.

“I have requested a change of name. I didn’t like the old one anymore,” he said dryly as he held his hand out to the princess.

“I am Princess Amaryllis,” she introduced herself. “I am happy to welcome a new member in the ranks of our family.” Thiemo didn’t know where or when he had signed, but he knew the exit. As soon as he had even a vague guess where Aura was, he would buzz off. Too bad that Chrysalis had taken away his talismans. Now it looked like he had to climb if he wanted to leave the cell again. Even with his leg, he was sure he would be able to do so.

The behaviour of the queen made it clear that she wouldn’t mate in his cell. The mere thought of that made him gulp. She would surely bring him into her chamber, especially since not much of the bed in the cell was left. If that happened, he only would need to get rid of the guards and free he would be. At least Trixie would not be there to witness his potential humiliation. Small comforts.

“Follow me...” The princess turned around and cleared the entrance. Thiemo did as asked and followed her into the hallway. At least these strange doors were big enough for him; they were probably made for their queen when she… visited her prisoners. “Not you.” He looked back and saw as she ordered the second guard to hold his distance. “Care for your brother and make sure he’s conscious when you leave the cells.” With that said, the door closed, and Amaryllis caught up to him.

“Why is he getting taken care of but not the other three I injured?” Somehow he had some sympathy for them. They had only executed their orders, and even Chrysalis, from what he had heard of her, didn’t seem bad per se. Maybe a bit self-opinionated, megalomaniacal, and a sex-hungry beast – literally - but vicious? That was rather a description for lesser beings or for gryphons.

The princess' horn glowed, soon being enveloped by the same pinkish-purple aura as her mane and eyes. Shortly, the door which led out of the cell wing opened. “Well,” she started as she stepped into the next hallway. Thiemo followed her, wondering why she would make such a long pause. When they crossed half the way, and the door behind them closed, she continued, “My mother acts without mercy. Those who fail her are banished or locked into a cell to dry out. Even if that was only an accident, he’d suffer the same fate as any other changeling. I wanted to spare him from that death.”

“Dry out?” Actually, he was busier studying the way than listening to her. Somewhere in here was Aura.

“We feed on love as I’ve said already. If a drone runs out of it, she dries out and dies. Mother guaranteed me that it is painful.” So he had signed three, nearly four changeling’s death sentences. Usually, violence didn’t disturb him as long as it wasn’t directed at him, but killing, even if indirectly, was sort of different. Killing just wasn’t his way. Although he had learned in his shaman training that death was a part of life, he felt uncomfortable. He was no religious man, but believed that he should treat others the way he wanted to be treated. In his defence, the gryphons always started the fights, and Trixie was Trixie. She deserved it, in his opinion. One more reason to regret missing her.

“Aha...” His view lowered to the mud-like ground. “On what are we walking on by the way?” Somehow, he refrained from touching it. The way it appeared made it seem almost alive.

Again her horn glowed, and the ground started radiating in a bright green. “Moss. It illuminates the hive in the darkness of the night.” It was disgusting and cool at the same time. What kid didn’t love playing with green slime? He just couldn’t remember the name of that stuff. Silently, they walked through the corridors. Most of his questions were answered. He knew where he was, at least roughly, what his hostage-takers wanted from him, which caused a shiver to run down his spine, and that he now was being introduced to his new family.

However, one thing had yet to be clarified. “How exactly do you feed on love? I mean do you suck it out or...?” Brain suckers from outer space up the ass; these came out of the earth, beneath the earth, or somewhere in between.

“Every being creates love for the ones they care for. We take the place of such a loved being. That way, the love is given to us, and so we absorb it, save it, and distribute it to our brothers and sisters.” He paused for a moment.

“I don’t want to sound mean or anything,” maybe a bit, but the last thing he needed was further injuries, “but you don’t really look like a changeling. Not that I am the best to judge since they all look the same to me, but still, the difference is there.”

Amaryllis only giggled and turned around another corner. For a moment, Thiemo was sure that she had just led him past the hall where he met Chrysalis. “We are very well aware of that fact. We change.” He only gave her an inquisitive look as she stopped. “Take a step back.” He did as she asked, and a second later, her figure was enclosed by green flames that radiated an uncomfortable heat. Quickly, he shielded his face and already began to think of how he could explain to her mother that spontaneous combustion was no myth. Then he asked himself whether sex with an alien wasn’t better than death through said alien.

As quickly as the flames came, however, they vanished again, and a young white mare with pink mane and tail took Amaryllis’ place. Thiemo gulped. They were shape shifters. In that same moment, he wanted to slap himself. Changelings - the name was more than explanatory. Like many in this world.

“As you can see, we know to disguise ourselves.” Her voice had changed a bit too. It was higher, making her sound as young as she looked. He waved about her head, only getting weird looks.

“Well, at least no mirrors.” Again Amaryllis giggled. “If you control magic, you surely have books about it, right?” He actually thought that only the queen could transform, but if others could, it was probably some kind of spell.

The princess nodded. “Sure, quite a few actually. Why?” Maybe a short stay wasn’t that bad. If only the sex-hungry queen wouldn’t be so… demanding.

He sighed. That was something he never thought he would mourn.

Author's Notes:

And act 3 has started.

As always thanks to faktopus for proofreading.
A second time edited by JBL. Thanks buddy!

I don't have much to say this time, so I hope you enjoyed.

tio aka truekry