I wake up.
No one is around? Why?
Dizzy, I get off of the bed. No one in the bedroom, no one in the living room-
“Eight? Three?”
-no one in the hall or the kitchen.
Only two green, bioluminescent cocoons are hanging from the ceiling of the cellar.
“Oh, wait… why am I panicking?”
I’m still not sure if changelings can sweat, but I wipe my forehead off nonetheless. Everything is fine, I’m just nervous what with being in the middle of enemy territory and so on. With that in mind, I return to the living room, careful not to venture too close to any windows. All the curtains are drawn, but caution is a must in a situation like this,
Alright, rewind, and focus.
The light is dimming outside, which means Eight and Three are likely finishing off their police duties, Ten must be either waking up or getting a ‘snack’ in a bar before Slipstream’s night shift, and I’m here inside Truncheon’s house just like in the past four days, alone...
...and kinda bored now that the waking panic has worn off.
“What to do? What to do?”
I’ve got just enough love not to be hungry. After the last time the hive mind drained me completely, I decided to keep both Eight and Three primed and filled as much as possible. Three was easy, actually, and after two days of Ten and Eight hunting in both Wet Soil bars he had so much love he could burst. Eight, though, was a bottomless hole as far as I could sense. Ten… he was actually a good reference point as an average changeling infiltrator and showed me how foolish my idea really was. What meant ‘topped off’ for Three and ‘rather full’ for myself, also meant ‘a barely sustaining meal’ for a normal changeling like him, and 'narrowly avoiding starvation’ for someone like Eight.
I thought my new body was made for storing love, but clearly that either isn’t the case, or it’s got waaaaays to go still. I just don’t know enough. Eight said I had queen-like, or king-like abilities, but I don’t feel like it whatsoever. Aside from the mind-sharing thing or hijacking a changeling’s eyes and ears I feel… like a drone. I don’t know how to fight and I can’t shapeshift. All I can do is carry stuff like I used to.
“If only the damn hive mind was useful for something more than insane screaming and sucking me dry,” I shake my head and lie down on the couch, “Maybe I could learn something. But noooo, it’s always BREED, COCOON PONIES, FIGHT, AND FEAST! If that’s the combined experience and will of changelings long gone then I’m not surprised the others settled for a drone who had a revolutionary idea that sticking together, listening to others, and not dying to be their leader.”
Anyway… since the best I can do right now is have a look at the others, let’s go for it. Connecting with Eight is the easiest, and when I open ‘my’ eyes again, I’m somewhere completely different.
The door to the police station slams open, and a breathless earthpony stumbles inside.
“The adventurers are causing trouble in the bar. You have to come help!” he gasps.
“Changeling hunters?” asks Eight and gives a sideways glance to Three who quickly backs off behind a corner leading to the office with a stack of papers he’s carrying.
“I don’t know, just some armed ponies. Come on, fast! They’re drunk and they’re breaking stuff.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Eight turns her head, “Glowstick, get behind the desk and if somepony comes tell them where I am.”
Three trots out from his cover, hops onto the receptionist desk chair, puts the stack of papers down, and salutes.
“Will do!”
“Which bar?” barks Eight at the pony.
“The Swamp Mug.”
“Right, out of the way,” she whizzes past the pony and into the evening streets of Wet Soil.
She’s lightning fast. I’ve never noticed, but whenever she can gallop in a straight line, she can clear a whole street within seconds. What’s more interesting is that while when I go a bit faster everything is blurry, she sees her surroundings with complete clarity.
Warriors, seriously. Next time I should examine how Ten sees the world a bit more in detail.
In less than five minutes, she’s on the other side of town, kicking the door open, and drawing the official truncheon with her mouth.
The crack of wood against the inside wall stops the commotion in the bar, every head turning towards her.
“Whuh gnng on hrr?” she spits the truncheon out and grabs it with her fetlock, “What’s going on here?”
“T-t-the b-bartender refused to serve them more b-beer- EEK!” explains a shaky waitress hiding behind an upturned table close to the entrance. She hides again as one of the armed ponies shoots her a glance.
“Heeeeeey,” starts one of the five ponies in light armors, “You’re the policepony here, right? We’re here to bring the captured changeling to Canterlot for bounty.”
They fan out around Eight, stepping over the broken tables and chairs as carefully as their drunk asses can. Eight examines each one, trying to buy some time to figure out her next step.
“On whose authority? The changeling is already in the hooves of the local peacekeeping force.”
“You?” a grey pegasus bounty hunter in leather vest pokes Eight’s chest, “In what shape does the bug have to be to stay locked up by YOU, heh.”
Eight grabs his foreleg.
“Assaulting a police officer, property damage, and,” she looks behind him at several earthponies bleeding from their muzzles, “attacking civilians or whatever that crime is called. Are you going to let yourself get arrested willingly?”
“Hey, this guy thinks he’s in the big league. Let’s show him-”
Eight flicks her fetlock holding the pegasus’.
CRUNCH!
“-ah aaaaaaah?”
The pegasus pales, stumbling backwards in shock while looking at his fetlock clearly attached only by tendons to this foreleg at this point.
In the background, hiding at the corner table, the Mayor hugging his wife facehoofs.
The biggest earthpony, brown and wearing a chainmail, bares his teeth.
“You messed with the wrong-”
One punch. Broken muzzle. Teeth rattling on the floor.
Eight doesn’t stop there, lunging behind the earthpony. It makes sense in the next second when something invisible hits the wounded bounty hunter from the side. Eight drops onto the floor, then slides under the collapsing earthpony’s legs, pouncing forward at the unicorn member of the group, his horn still glowing after the cast spell.
Eight rears on her hind legs, her foreleg flashes green, and I see the growing horror in the unicorn’s eyes.
The right hook connects with the unicorn’s horn.
Everyone watches the sharp bone bounce away from the wall. The last two bounty hunters realize they aren’t drunk enough to try to challenge the whirlwind of pain and crippling wounds that’s Eight, and drop their weapons.
“I want you out of the town within an hour. I don’t care if you have to CRAWL through the swamp or leave a bloody trail all the way back to Canterlot, but I’ll take one extra patrol tonight, and if I see you again… I’ll stomp your balls to paste.”
I can feel her tense up as the two untouched, at least physically, bounty hunters help the other three up, and carefully shuffle past Eight and out through the door.
“Don’t you DARE touch somepony unable to fight back ever again, filth.”
A random pony cautiously claps his hooves together.
More clapping, this time from multiple sources.
Thunderous clapping and stomping.
Eight smiles as the sudden wave of adoration and some added lust from the shocked mares crashes against her.
So this is a real top ranked warrior…
...she’s only rank eight, and without that much love.
Note to self - don’t make her mad.
Hive mind kinda sounds like a Winter Mantle at this point, all those predatory impulses rolled up into one pretty little package of UNLIMITED POWAH, with the cost of your immortal soul and sanity. No refunds.
Also note to self, kill Eight from range, preferrably a super-sonic bullet from at least a mile away so she can't hear the noise or sense the killing intent before it's way too late.
8617157
Hive mind will indeed be a problem to deal with. As for Eight... why would you want to get rid of such lovely and loyal minion, even if there's a chance her loyalty isn't to you?
Also, there is no deadlier weapon than a hug from Three. Status effects include: Instant charm, confusion, type-Q diabetes, and an irresistible desire to boop vigorously.
8617171
Be Polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
I mean yeah, I just adapted the Dresden Files how to kill a Wizard, Kincaid Style, plan, but it's a good plan. It works several times, and Kincaid's still kicking about, doing the mercenary bodyguard/assassin thing without being the victim of several hundred Death Curses by this point, so obviously he's doing something right.
And, Eight did all of this chapter while apparantly barely avoiding starvation (at least that's how it was presented), she permanently crippled one pony, and probably disfigured another (unless healing magic can fix the Earth Pony's muzzle), while running on fumes. She's terrifying. And Badass. And probably pretty hot by changeling standards, we don't know she hasn't physically described. But mostly terrifying.
8617186
Be Polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
Funny, that's exactly Eight's thought process.
Note to self - do a more detailed description of Eight.
8617190
Does this mean she also throws jars of piss at people?
8936295
Definitely not. Acidic spit does the job.
Quick thing i want to clarify that dude you said had his leg only holding on by the tendons did that mean she basically ripped his leg off or just broke it to the extreme
9186257
The "basically broke it off" kind.
That would be conducive to your survival, yes. Makes me wonder, how powerful would a 2 or a 1 be in proper condition? We saw Chrysalis was able to barely overpower a (probably) holding back Celestia in a Beam Struggle when overflowing with love and was at least physically strong enough to match her in a horn lock without being immediately pushed back but also making Celestia have to actually try, so, she's probably pretty strong when she's not busy being cocoo bananas. Because let's be real, as fun a villain as she was, and she was, she's, kinda lost it at this point. Then again, if she had to deal with the Hive Mind the same way King does, I am not surprised she went mad.
8936324
That sounds incredibly painful.
9344087
I think I answered that in a comment before, with analysis and proper explanation. I don't want to go into detail again in case I contradict something I estabilished earlier. Plus, Eight does lock horns with Sunbutt and Moopie eventually, and fights even with both of them as long as love lasts (thought Eight is a little special - explained much later). Generally it's high ranks are more about love efficiency and specialization of skills rather than raw power.
In theory, a changeling queen with enough constant access to love is more powerful than alicorns due to the sheer amount of raw energy, but alicorns have far more experience due to their age, and access to knowledge/libraries/magical research. Chryssie would not overpower them, but tire them out more like under very specific circumstances, unless they destroyed her instantly, which they could. (I take Chryssie defeating Sunbutt in the show more a situation of Tia's divine power of the Sun being so enormously destructive that if she went all out she would cause immense collateral damage, basically incinerating whole Canterlot)
TLDR: Most answers are already in the comments or later in the story.
Eight is playing a dangerous game, altering the populace perception of her guise.
Oh I'm sure there's ways that are quite easy for you to keep her very happy