They're EVERYWHERE!

CH: 7/13 - Rend

Chrysalis would have never thought that fighting a warrior queen inside her own head would result in physical wounds to her body but hey, even a centuries old changeling queen could occasionally learn something new about herself.

It took some serious effort to regain a moderate amount of energy from woodland animals and the three changelings had to pause their trip south for a few days but now they're back on track with Chrysalis lying on the cart pulled by 68 and 96 again.

"That clearing looks suitable," says Chrysalis out of nowhere, transmitting a flash of her own vision into the heads of her two subordinates, "Stop there."

68 and 96 know better than to argue so they simply maneuver the cart over the uneven forest floor into a shade of a tree which their queen marked. As warriors, they're significantly resistant to the elements but even they must admit that at this time of the year it's unpleasantly hot even under the tree canopies.

"68, stay on guard. 96, go find water. Wash up, cool down, bring some, then swap with 68. I'm going diving."

"Yes, Your Majesty," they salute.

With an appreciative nod, Chrysalis assumes a position of a meditating griffon monk and closes her eyes. It probably won't have any effect on her, or at least any positive one, but if she's learned anything from her previous dives, it's that the most successful queens were the ones who tried something new.

***

Chrysalis finds herself hovering low over what looks like homogenous woodland stretching as far as the eye can see. Nothing seems to be moving but if this place wasn't connected to the next queen shade inside her head, she wouldn't be here.

Too bad I can't sense the links of anyone other than the queen shades themselves.

Eventually, she does spot a movement in the sea of green underneath and flies closer.

A changeling patrol. So, if the memory is based here then the changelings lived here before taking over the south. Damn, I wish it was possible to talk to Mandible for longer. I'm kind of lost as to how they got from here to mostly peacefully ruling the entire south of Equestria.

"As far as I know, we were pushed here by force," says a voice from behind which makes Chrysalis straight up jump.

"How did you-?!" she immediately activates all her contingency transformations, her body welling up with love much to the visible amusement of the bigger and broader, amber-maned queen with black carapace tinted with red.

"You didn't think that warriors are only born to ram our faces into enemy shield walls, did you?" the other queen chuckles, waving her foreleg around, "Fighting in a forest has its specifics, quite a lot of which are stealth-based," she takes a step towards Chrysalis who is still lowered and tense in a combat stance, "which you will fully absorb once you get rid of me. To be honest, it hurts to see how much useful knowledge was lost over time just so that the bloated hive mind could keep us 'alive'."

"So, how do we do this?" asks Chrysalis, not easing up for a second. So far, she's managed to dig only slightly into the shade's head and pulled out her name, "Queen Rend."

"Hmmm," Rend taps her chin, "How about a quick chat and then we get to the exercise, hmm? Warrior survival instinct is quite something, considering our adaptability, so I can't exactly disappear for free even if I wanted to, unlike some other queens you've met already. Poor Venom. Mandible had the right idea to destroy the hive mind properly but she completely lacked the power to do so. Holes, I'm not sure even you can do it and we're only weak shades of the real thing."