The plan hadn't gone at all as expected. When we first came to Equestria years ago we had decided to start by invading. Take major roles in their society until we could figure out how their land worked and could be sure that we could take control without any struggle. It was a perfect home for us. Their love was so strong, so... delicious.
But it all started to unravel when one foolish drone got cocky and made an anonymous threat against Canterlot. Only about half of the swarm were properly disguised inside the city and I had only just arrived the day before, disguised as a mere common pony. The shield went up without warning and the other half of my swarm had to wait.
Originally we had planned to take out the stallion and control the princess, the one who created love from only her magic, but not even I could mimic the guards shield spell and we were not yet ready to reveal ourselves with needless suspicion, so again our plans had to change. We were to go along pretending until we had enough control to lower the shield. once we had him in a trance he could no longer perform his spell and the shield that was already up was weakening.
When the purple unicorn came she nearly revealed us, though nopony seemed to trust her and so she was easily disposed of. Or so I thought. Again I was forced to improvise as I realized that with the real Cadence back, anypony would be able to tell the real from my illusion and I was forced to reveal myself, using the hive-mind to signal the outside swarm to begin their attack while those who were already inside, being all but a hoof-full of the Canterlot guards, waited until the shield shattered. It was a little understood strategy, getting love by terrorizing ponies, but all the wisest know that love is strongest when those you love are in danger.
I had hoped to avoid battling Celestia so I was delighted to find that Shining Armors love gave me the power to defeat her head-on. I thought there was nopony who could defeat us then, but I was wrong. I had not thought that ponies could harness the great power of love. I had always assumed that power was unique to us and our kin. And that mistake cost the great Changeling race everything that day. But the one they call Luna only hurt us more.
Changelings raced too and fro, looking for any resources that could be found in the barren wasteland they had landed in while others tended to their raging queen. She could not have been more furious and they all knew she would take out her anger on them if they gave her a reason. They praised and comforted her, but murmured where she could not hear, upset at their queens failure but not sure what to do about it. Changelings always followed their queen without pause. It was how it had always been, they did not know anything else.
So they worked, though many were idle and confused without orders. They were the ones who noticed first when the low sun was blocked by a silhouette. The silhouette of a pony, but it was not until she got closer that they saw that it was not just anypony.
"Greetings, Queen Chrysalis," Immediately, hundreds of changelings turned towards the Equestrian princess.
"What do you want?" Scoffed the queen. Although Luna had not directly stopped her and her swarm, the alicorn was still a ruler of the enemy kingdom and the queen wanted nothing to do with her. The swarm buzzed with confusion and, a few, with hostility at her calm and regal disposition. Just her presence demanded attention, though it was dwarfed by their queens rage and grace. "I have come to speak with you, all of you. However I do not have much time before somepony notices I am gone,"
"Then perhaps you should get on with it!" Luna nodded, ignoring the queens snappy tone.
"Ponies in Equestria seen to believe that you were invading to destroy us, to... harm the citizens in some way," she began.
"Lies!" Chrysalis interrupted, though she had been glad to take over Canterlot, to prove that she could, "We came to feed. My swarm has starved, searching for food, and Equestria has plenty of love to spare. Nopony was to be truly harmed!" Luna held up her hoof for silence.
"I am aware of your true intentions and motivations," she looked around " That is why I am here. I am a ruler of Equestria, princess of the night. I look after my subjects, just as you do, but that does not mean I am blind to the plights of others,"
"What are you saying?" Interjected one hesitant drone, who then cowered from the glare of his queen.
"I, princess Luna of Equestria, am inviting any and all changelings to come live in my kingdom who wish to do so, under certain conditions. You may live lives as ponies, earning love instead of taking it. You may not reveal yourselves, for the ponies would panic and you would only be chased out again, but you could be happy and free," the swarm was buzzing with excitement over the offer and dissent over whether to except their chance at their own happiness, or loyalty to their queen.
"Why do you offer such things?" One drone called.
"Because it would be wrong to ignore anothers suffering, and because a lack of love can be the most terrible pain of all," she answered "Oh, and because Canterlot seems to be very short of guards as of late," she joked, knowingly.
The buzzing began again as the princess waited patiently for their decision. Of course Chrysalis wasn't worried, her swarm had always been loyal to her and she had no reason to think they would leave her now so she stood, looking very smugly at Luna. Then, one changeling, just one, flew to Luna out of the swarm.
"I accept your most gracious offer, dear princess," he bowed and stood behind her. Chrysalis was stunned. This drone had dared to abandon her? As more and more changelings joined the first the queen shook with fury and fear. Would they all leave her? Had their, no... her, failure caused such a loss of faith? Only when a changeling by the name of Synthesis spoke up did she return from despair to her former confidence.
"Traitors! How could you betray our queen?! She who has protected us for a thousand years!, Found us food, taught us everything! Morph! Quasi! You should be ashamed of yourselves! We shall rise again, the Vermilion hive shall conquer the many lands and then you shall regret your insolence!"
After this speech, no more moved to go with Luna, though none returned to their former queen either. Luna turned.
"I am sorry you feel this way," and with that she left, followed by nearly three fourths of the swarm. They left just as the sun set, and the changelings saw their new princess raise the moon.
Luna wasted no time helping the changelings find disguises and making sure they were aware of the rules. Many returned to their positions as guards, but those who didn't she sent to various towns and cities around Equestria. She worked quickly but was still not finished when she decided it was time to stop, but told the changelings to wait in an empty part of the castle near her chambers and promised them she would find them all homes the next night. As she flew away towards the party so as not to be missed, for she knew now that there were ponies who cared about her and would notice her absence, she remembered something one of the changelings had said. It stuck in her mind, a nagging thought. Queen Chrysalis had been their queen for a thousand years. The same year that Sombra had taken control of the Crystal Empire and had been defeated. The year of her own dreadful transformation into Nightmare Moon. What was it about that year that was so special? Why was it such an important and dark year? And what else could have happened then that they had yet to know about?
Two chapters in one day! Oh yeah! Anyway, I've spent countless hours of free time wondering about the changelings and I hope you'll all really enjoy the chapters to come. Things that no one seems to realize, though when I thought of it, it seemed like the only logical explenation. And no, I'm not going to tell you what it is yet, MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Anyway... fell free to leave a comment, I love getting them and I always work on this story afterwards.
P.S. Thank you all for reading this far, it means a lot to me. Special thanks to luv dove -10, Garrett Mr D, Snowdrop, and goodgirl275 for leaving comments, you guys are awesome!