//------------------------------//
// 0 - The Creation of a Rainbow 
// Story: A Rainbow Only Seen Once 
// by fare67t 
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Stolen, Empty, Sad.

Those would be the perfect words to describe what goes through the average pony's head after having their love drained from them, whether it be due to a particularly bad break-up, or a changeling attack. The annoyance of having something stolen from you by someone else, the emptiness that is left after they leave, and the perpetual sadness that creeps in to fill the void. Even without interacting with a changeling, these emotions can be felt in pretty much any creature's heart and soul at one point in time or another, festering and dragging them down with it. Similar to how someone dehydrated in the middle of a desert begins to hallucinate and see an oasis where there is none, give someone enough time to stew in their own emotions and sadness, and they too will start to see things that aren't really there, thing they so desperately wish were real. It is truly a sad sight, really: seeing someone start to talk to themselves and/or an inanimate object, pretending that its a loved one just so they don't have to lay alone at night and feel sad.

But what of the creatures that drain you? What of the very things that visit your home and begin the domino effect that leads to a downward spiral of misery and loneliness? What do they feel when they are alone at night, hmm? Up until just recently, no one in Equestria seemed to care about these questions; the Changelings were just considered another nuisance at best, a threat to Equestria at worst. No one stopped to think to themselves "Wait...what if these creatures have feelings just like us?"

Not that the changelings would be allowed to actually speak to anyone, however, Queen Chrysalis made sure of that. The power-hungry queen that came from Celestia-knows where wanted loyal, obedient subjects that would do her bidding without hesitation, without questioning why they were doing so. If any of her minions decided to stop and question her motives, they would find their queen incapable of providing mercy to those that talk balk, and they'd rather be sent to Tartarus then suffer her wrath again. For the longest time, that is how the queen was able to stay in control of her hive, keep them in check to prevent any potential uprisings. However, after the changeling army failed to take over Canterlot, expelled from the city of unicorns by the powerful love magic of Cadence and her husband, something changed. What used to be a cruel, ruthless tyrant of a queen that would through any means necessary to ensure she achieved what she wanted was now a constantly brooding crackpot. Not that any of her subjects had the gall to actually laugh at the once proud monarch, they wouldn't dare bring back the venom of yesteryear, but they definitely took note of their queen being on the edge of going crazy sometimes.



Perhaps it was due to the lack of love going around, or perhaps the magic produced when being expelled from the royal city infused into their bodies, but something recently has caused a few odd-ones-out to appear within the crowd of changelings; various minor mutations and the like. These small differences ranged from something as simple voices being lowered or raised, to more drastic changes such as one subject in particular finding out their tongue was now about ten times as long as it should be. All in all, the hive was no longer the proud unit of destruction of conquest that the queen had envisioned, it was much more disorganized and reliant on guerilla tactics to get the job done. This, as it should have, upset Chrysalis greatly. Besides the fact that she learned there were now basically mutants and outcasts amongst her ranks, coming back from an excursion in Baltimare empty-hooved certainly didn't do her mood any favors.

"Gah, those useless, useless drones!" spat the queen of the changelings as she stormed down the halls of her hive, her long hole-filled dark cerulean tail thrashing behind her as she moved. "I ask for one thing, the simplest of tasks even: distract the city guards while I swoop in and replace the mayor. It should have been easy...but no, those idiots can't even create a simple diversion without me holding their hooves apparently!"

Chrysalis huffed and punched a nearby wall as she walked past, the small pulsating hole in the dead end in front of her enlarging and opening up to form a new path, the alicorn sized changeling heading deeper into the confides of the hive. The small task force she had assigned to take over Baltimare failing to achieve the job she had set out for them sent her on a small rampage through the hive as she headed towards her throne room, any changelings that found their way into her line of sight or path were either snapped at, or thrown aside viciously by her magic; one changeling in particular bouncing off of an organic pillar with a loud thud, the others hidden behind cover cringing at the sound of chitin hitting faux-rock. Further down the ever-changing tunnel that lead to the royal throne room, Chrysalis caught her hoof on the lip of an uneven surface, tripping and falling face first to the ground, or would have had she not caught herself with her wings. This relatively minor inconvenience was the straw that broke the camels back, the changeling queen grinding her teeth together as she landed on the ground, her tail flicking wildly behind her. She scuffed her hoof against the ground in annoyance and closed her eyes, the grinding of her teeth intensifying ever so slightly; if one of the many drones that were lurking around were to poke their heads out from behind cover, they would all but see steam coming from their leader's ears. Finally, the changeling queen's boiling temper exploded, stomping her hoof on the ground and taking off into the air in a fit of rage.

"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?! COME HERE NOW!" Queen Chrysalis roared, her voice echoing down all of the halls of the hive. The explosion of emotions was met with a long awkward silence afterwards, none of the changeling drones brave enough to leave their various hidey-holes and shelters to face their queen's wrath. After a few moments of no one showing their faces to her, the changeling queen furrowed her brow in anger and hissed through a closed mouth, her long crooked horn lighting up with a brilliant green glow. She then made a rather intimidating roar and shot off a blast of magic in a random direction, the projectile hitting a nearby pulsating wall and exploding, the changeling drone hiding behind it letting out a squeal of fear and cowering. The uncovered drone caught the queen's attention, grabbing them with her magic and yanking the poor fear-filled worker down from their spot and right up to her face, opening her mouth to let out a hiss at point-blank sight range of her captive minion. The drone she had in her grasp all but fainted at the intimidating anger being scapegoated onto them; however, before their queen could do anything more to them, a smaller soft voice called out from down the hall

"...Um...it was m-me, your majesty..." From out of the shadows came the owner of the soft, somewhat weak female voice: yet another dime-a-dozen looking drone. However, the eyes of this drone seemed ever so slightly glossed over, and their neck-fin was shorter and more subdued in color then the average changeling. The drone slowly cantered forward, walking right up to the furious royal changeling and hangs their head low, inspecting the spot of which their queen tripped over with their single colored mono eyes. "When I came through here last...it seemed alright..."

Chrysalis simply stared at the offending drone below her, blinking a few times before suddenly dropping the changeling she had in her magical grasp; the drone landing with a small thud on their rear before quickly scooting off to hide once again. The changeling queen's face slowly twisted into a look of annoyance and anger as she leaned down slightly to better look at the changeling in front of her.

"Yes, well, it's not fine now is it? That means you have slacked off on your job, whelp!" Chrysalis grunted with some accent to her final words, getting closer to the drone as her eyebrow twitched.

"Slacked off...? I'm serious! It wasn't like that befo-" the weak voiced changeling was cut off by Chrysalis suddenly stepping on their back, pushing them down to the ground rather roughly

"You think I care about how it looked BEFORE?!" the queen seethed through closed teeth, grinding her hoof into the back of the downed changeling. "I give you a home, feed you love, let you live, and you disrespect my wishes by letting your queen trip over an uneven surface?! You should be glad I still have a use for you creatures, else you would be gone in a crater right now!"

The queen pushed her hoof down onto the back of the weakened drone one more for good measure before stepping back and huffing, blowing some of her tattered mane of of her face before whipping around and storming off in the direction of her throne once more. The downed changeling, now bruised on their back, groaned and whined as they just laid there on the ground, small streams of tears running down their chitinous snout. While they didn't cry or really show any emotion, it was clear that they were in a lot of pain, both physically and mentally from the encounter with their queen, the other drones that hid around the area wincing and simply watching them from afar. It was common for harsh punishments like this to be dealt out to the changelings by their queen, even over insignificant things such as the floor being uneven. At first, the drones attempted to help each other out behind the scenes once Chrysalis had left, getting their hurt brethren to a safe location within the hive and such. However, the alicorn sized changeling eventually found out about the "kindness and friendship" spreading throughout her hive, and to say she wasn't happy about it would be putting things lightly. Since then, the drones of the hive have stopped trying to help each other up after their queen's basically beat-downs, lest they incur her wrath further. The incapacitated changeling laying on the floor shakily brought a hoof to their face, attempting to wipe away their tears while inspecting their face for any further damage. However, as the changeling then waved its hoof in-front of its eyes for a moment, perhaps it was attempting to check to see if its vision had worsened rather then its face. The drone slowly closed its eyes and let out a weak, saddened groan

"...If I can't even see what color the hoof in-front of my face is...how could I possibly see a small bump in the ground...?"



An invasion of color, that would be the best way to describe what was going on in the changeling hive currently; an entire army of same-looking drones, being enveloped in bright, colorful cocoons as they willingly shared their love with their queen. A vast array of warm colored beams of light flowing from the once simple drones into the possession of the confused changeling monarch, who let out a hiss in confusion as her all of her minions at once gave her love, her eyes frantically darting back and forth between her subjects. Chrysalis simply stood there atop her throne, completely stunned as the magically induced cracks her seat grew wider and wider as more and more love flowed into it.

"...S-Stop...!" The monarch barely managed to squeak out before the entire room was enveloped in a bright pink glow, the rumbling noise of her throne breaking apart escalating to an absurd level; then, it happened. The magic-blocking throne exploded into hundreds of pieces, the gifted love that had been building up within it creating a massive shock wave that tore the entire roof and spire off of the hive. What was left of the top of the hive came collapsing down inward onto the ponies and changelings within, leaving behind a large cloud of dust and debris. Luckily however, the pinkish coated unicorn mare that was inside protected herself and a particularly large newly-reformed changeling within a magical bubble, the dust slowly clearing from the rubble of the former throne room. Soon after releasing the bubble, the mare known as Starlight Glimmer looked around the ruined hive to see if everyone was unharmed. Sure enough, the cocoons that once held all of her friends and mentors slowly cracked open, the ponies and creatures contained within seemingly fine aside from being ever-so-slightly out of it from being cocooned and fed off of. The rest of the "reformed" changelings were unharmed as well thankfully, the now colorful bug-ponies buzzing about the place and talking to one another in shock and surprise of their new forms. Some of the reformed changelings even assisted the once captive ponies in escaping from their prisons, pulling apart the broken cocoons and helping them out. Even if their queen would deny every creature's offers of friendship and forgiveness, the changelings all believed that they had made the right choice, that they were better off sharing their love with others rather then taking it.

However, not all of the changelings shared their love and reformed; there were some that still worshiped their queen, even fled from the hive when their new leader took over. These "rogue" changelings would prove to be a thorn in the side of King Thorax for ages to come, too stubborn to change their ways and reform, still clinging onto the old days like a grandma reminiscing about their golden years. Sooner or later, the soft mannered Thorax would have to confront them, show them the light of friendship and sharing love with one another. However at the moment, there were more pressing matters to attend to, such as ensuring all of Equestria knows that the changelings mean no harm anymore, with a little help from some new pony friends of course. Even through the toughest weather, through all the hate and judgment they were to inevitably receive from unknowing eyes, the new changeling king never gave up hope, for he knew that everything would turn out alright in the end, and his people believed him on that fact.

All of them but one that is...

During the rebellion and subsequent exile of Queen Chrysalis by the hooves of her own subjects, the changelings shared their love to reform and change into more caring creatures; but what of those that weren't even aware something was happening? What about those poor unfortunate changelings that drew the short end of the stick after the invasion of Canterlot, their forms mutating in various ways? Well, depending on where they were located, and what kind of condition they were in, they too were eventually shown the joys of reformation and kindness. However, what if one were to reform through other means? In the case of one particular changeling, they did not reform through sharing their love with someone else, but through an occurrence that would have even the greatest of magical scholars and historians scratching their heads. The little changeling drone, once bruised and beaten by their abusive queen over not being able to fix a bump in the hive, they saw something quite opposite from everyone else that day.

For you see, where everyone else saw an explosion of pink from the hive's throne exploding, the little blind drone?

She saw a Rainbow.






<+> A Rainbow Only Seen Once <+>