Awakened (species)

The Awakened return in Equestrian Civil Warfare with few alterations, but many of their powers have been enhanced since their last appearance in the Dimensional Warfare storyline.

Remaining a largely neutral, but not peaceful, species in the years leading up to the war, the Midnight Coalition was unsure if Harbinger would aid them in the war. At first, very few Awakened joined the fray and those that did aided the Midnight uniquely.

After the Changelings were enhanced by Twilight Sparkle using pure Magic to transform them into "Metamorphosed," an ear-splitting shriek flooded Equestria's underground and disoriented those above. This occured in the middle of the Battle for Canterbury, leaving most organic units stunned but mechanical units were unimpeded and thus the Midnight easily won the battle with their superior automated systems. Shortly after, Metamorphosed Queen Chrysalis attended the Equestrian Council and was cascaded with confusing slurs from the usually-silent Harbinger. Though most of it was hard to follow, Harbinger somehow communicated words such as "fool," "doomed," and "false path" into the heads of observers as it ranted at Chrysalis with insect-like noises accompanying it's movements. CALVIN confirmed that Harbinger was under massive distress and was actively angry, a state CALVIN had not seen Harbinger in before, shortly before Harbinger left the Equestrian Council and returned to the Awakened Hive.

Shortly thereafter the Midnight began getting reports of what sounded like battles below the soil, leaving Apex Firebug and Apex Firefly to investigate with their Titans underground. They went straight to the Awakened Hive to find it empty, but not abandoned as a few Seekers still flew around in it, and a tunnel that had always been guarded but now was without life. The investigators didn't have to try hard to find the Awakened, as they only had to follow a route of utter brutality passing many deceased species that were obviously slaughtered by Awakened soldiers. Since there were no black ashes or makeshift memorials along the path, it was safe to assumed the Awakened had not lost a single unit. The pair of followers even found a solitary Midnight soldier who had apparently gotten lost down in the caves earlier sitting on the floor and rolling back and forth, unharmed but clearly traumatised by watching the Awakened at work.

When Firebug and Firefly finally came across the Awakened, they were watching Harbinger as it had Metamorphosed Queen Chrysalis in front of it, simply staring as she stared back. Deceased Metamorphosed lined the entire network of caves that made up the Metamorphosed Hive. Harbinger looked at the crowd and back at Chrysalis, pointing at her with one of it's fingers and verbally saying "false path" before using Dark Channel on Metamorphosed Queen Chrysalis and mercilessly killing her. The Awakened silently stood up and walked back to their own hive, with the two Midnight units following, and entered a state of mourning for their own kind as they knew despite their victory and the destruction of the Metamorphosed, what they considered the "false path of evolution" for Changeling kind, they had also culled their own species indirectly as no more unaltered Changelings remained. They re-entered the war soon afterwards.

Come the Last Lights, every single Awakened was present in Canterlot for the battle, including Harbinger itself. As the nukes burned the world over, the Awakened's sturdy chitin hides were not able to resist the nuclear fires and they all perished in the flames, their bodies turning to black ashes quickly as per their natural way of death. All except Harbinger, who survived and returned to the Awakened Hive remaining there indefinately, mourning all of it's fallen kind.