EOcellus' Family
MLP: FiM
Slice of Life
After spending most of her life being taken care of by nurse bugs, Ocellus now faces being taken care of by changelings she wouldn't expect, her parents.
Changelings
Ocellus
Hammerhead · 6.7k words · 136 0 · 3.2k views

On Writing "Ocellus' Family" · 12:07am Jul 2nd, 2020

When I wrote this story, I honestly wasn't sure about finishing it or posting it. When I did on Sunday night, I just thought I'd just sleep on it and see what the reaction would be. I did not expect it to be featured the following Monday and Tuesday, nor did I expect it to end up being a forum discussion on Changeling headcanons, but thank you so much for the feedback and reception. It was nice to see some readers comment on errors and room for improvement, as well as say how much they liked it.

As far as MLP is concerned, I'm a changeling fan. I'll confess that I'm generally biased towards any episodes that feature or include Changelings, most of my favourite episodes involve them. They are one of the most developed non-pony creatures in the series, having a full arcing story over multiple seasons. The species was a brilliant antithesis to ponies when they were villains, a species that feasted on the love of others. Chrysalis is my favourite villain in the show and Thorax is my favourite supporting character. Pharynx may not have been that great in the show, but even in his episode had info about the reformed changelings that I enjoyed watching.

Then there is the Young Six, and namely the changeling member of the group Ocellus. She might not be my absolute favourite but the changeling bias definitely puts her second or third place. Maybe someday it would be worth delving into the Young Six on a much deeper level, but for now, Ocellus' initial shyness, passion for learning and fears of becoming evil once more are just examples of how much depth she has as a character.

So with the combination of a Young Six member and changelings, I'm not ashamed to acknowledge how much headcanon this story has. Speaking of which, Ocellus' Parents ARE HER PARENTS. As popular and supposedly well accepted as it is, I don't agree with the theory that Chrysalis is the "mother of all changelings", as the changelings' insect features are closely linked to beetles, younglings being part of the hive after Chrysalis' departure and even the long-term implications of the hive if the only known Queen left if it was true.

As I also pointed out in the comments of the story, I'm not a fan of the "Ocellus is the new Queen" headcanon. The reason why is less to do with it how plausible it is and more to do with my preference to the idea that the Young Six are ordinary teenagers who do great things because of their friendship (similar to the mane six), instead of them being predestined for greatness.

Since the episode Triple Threat pointed out that the changelings' transition into being fully reformed wasn't an immediate process, one of my headcanons was that Ocellus didn't reform straight away. With Chrysalis way of ruling, I feel she would enforce having the young raised separately from parents so they would be raised to her expectations and way of life. As such, I imagine Ocellus wouldn't have been raised by her parents her whole life, and when they were she wasn't keen or trusting on them at first.

There were bits I know I could have fleshed out, or possibly could have written better so I wouldn't have had to make several edits after submitting, but after spending four straight days writing it in furlough I'm glad I was able to get it done in a way I'm happy with. That's even including the fact that I had cut out a section of the story set at a feelings forum meeting and swap around two other sections because I felt the original order of events just didn't feel right from a narrative point of view.

Not sure when I'll do another story, I seem to have been consistent with getting them out monthly, but when I do, I'm considering another Young Six member.