Chapters
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Harlequin had seen plenty of these bugs before, from afar. They came in small groups, ordering Hydrus and passing on the Queen’s commands. She hadn’t understood at the time why they even bothered, when everyone had the Swarm they could rely on. And before that, she could see some of these faces in her dimmest memories, when she’d barely been awake enough to lay down memories at all. Before she’d understood what she was, or where.Now they pressed up against the bars, not much above drones…-
102.0 K •
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Harlequin followed Hydrus’s instructions about her disguise, though she didn’t really need them. There was no way she would travel across Canterlot without making herself look like a pony first.She found the carriage parked beside the complex, and this time there was no missing the huge mark plastered along its side. It wasn’t the only one, either. She wondered briefly what had changed Blueblood’s mind about being seen, at least until she bothered to look down the street.There were hundreds of…
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102.0 K •
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Time passed in the secret swarm hidden beneath Canterlot. Harlequin couldn’t be sure exactly how long it was—time wasn’t something that bugs cared much about, even with the sun and the moon visible briefly through the crystals over her head.Every day she learned a little more about how to read and write—it wasn’t nearly as hard as she thought. Each letter just stood for a sound, one she could replace in her mind to figure out what the word was supposed to be. Learning how to write was much…
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102.0 K •
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Codex found her deep in the hive, several hours after Harlequin began. “I heard you were back. You didn’t even say hello?”Harlequin stopped, turning away from the construction bugs constantly rebuilding the support to the central tower. They had to, or the weight above would tear the building right off the rock. She noticed something else right then—there were dozens of drones all around her, a crowd of every one she’d fed and more that were hoping for food. It was a little like being back in the…
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102.0 K •
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It took hours, but Harlequin had never had a more attentive student. Actually, she’d never had any kind of student who actually cared about what she was teaching before. For everything Codex had been, full of resentment and anger at her for what she’d done, this pony was all gratitude. Silver Smith had no idea what was ahead of him—he’d given up more than drinking tea. But considering it was that or being dead, he seemed to think it was a worthwhile trade.It was only afternoon by the time she…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin didn’t tell Silver Smith everything, but she did tell him everything she thought mattered about being a changeling. What she knew about their powers, even those she’d seen from bugs who actually mattered, instead of a little drone like herself. She told him what she’d learned during the last few weeks living without the Swarm, a concept that clearly made no sense to him.Though Silver’s emotions were faded and washed-out, he clearly wasn’t angry with her anymore, wasn’t afraid. There…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin learned something that night. As it turned out, not everything she did had to be taught to her by the Swarm. She remembered this process, though the bug who had done it had been barely alive by her current understanding. Feeding on Codex and transforming him was something she never could’ve done without Hydrus.Every second she worked, she could hear Codex’s voice in the back of her mind, chastising her for how insane this was. You met him for five minutes. Why didn’t you let him die?…
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102.0 K •
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In the beginning, Harlequin’s infiltration plan worked perfectly.The Irongate guards let her past without resistance, looking more than a little confused as she went by. But they didn’t try to stop her, or even question what she was doing there.The same held true for the house steward, who seemed either like her boss in the house, or the one who she told what to do. Maybe both?After giving her contrived story of the sudden change of plans and feeling unwell, she was escorted to the lady’s chambers…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin stared at the strange pony, body completely frozen with horror. So far as she knew, she’d made the trip totally safely, without doing anything to reveal who and what she was.Yet here was a pony to show her just how wrong she was. Without any effort, this pony had known she was a changeling. And she still wanted to claim that she wasn’t here for some hostile reason? “What do you want?” Harlequin asked. It was the closest thing she dared to a denial. “First, to introduce myself,” she…
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102.0 K •
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Harlequin couldn’t leave that hidden vault fast enough for her liking. Even as she hurried up the service stairwell and out onto Canterlot’s streets, she imagined she could still feel the eyes of Prince Blueblood watching the back of her head, just daring her to make a mistake.If I can do this, I’ll be able to set the other bugs free. Or free to come back to us. They won’t have to starve.She didn’t need to be told to hurry, or to treat the mission as urgently as she could. She couldn’t imagine…
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102.0 K •
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