//------------------------------// // Dream #10: Ocellus // Story: 11 Short Dreams About Equestria // by FanficReader920 //------------------------------// Hunger. Ceaseless hunger. That was the birthright of the Changelings. Ocellus, though, had known that from a slightly earlier age than the average nymph. She'd always been a more introspective and observational type. However, when you lived in the changeling hive, having such traits usually led to feelings of bitterness and depression, because those changelings knew just how perilous the Hive's current state was. She would always scout out a good place at the entrance of the Hive whenever she heard a new batch of drones were returning, hopefully with a high love surplus that could be distributed among the rest of the Hive. After Queen Chrysalis took her portion, of course. The results were always the same: meager, at best. She could remember some changelings fighting tooth and hoof on multiple occasions just to get a little sliver. She was about a couple weeks old when she first remembered going to sleep with a pit in her stomach that would slowly become her companion. She'd laid on the dirt with the rest of her brood in their little niche of the Hive, forming something of a black blob in the sand. She had managed to scrounge up a few small rocks to support her head, and instead of sleep welcoming her with open arms, it had taken her hours, the pain eventually becoming too much for her conscious mind to bear. She was about a moon and a half old when she saw Queen Chrysalis for the first time, the moonlight partially illuminating the Hive as she was passionately rallying up her subjects for some kind of invasion. Of course, being a nymph, she couldn't participate. Yet, the overall feelings of her audience were quite easy to distinguish. There was another birthright if you were a Changeling: misery. Ocellus learned quickly not to have too much hope; it would only make the inevitable disappointments hurt less, but for the first time in her short existence, she'd finally had a little bit of hope. Once the army took over Canterlot, all of the love produced from the ponies would be theirs and maybe, just maybe, she'd finally remember what it was like to fall asleep with a good meal. How twisted was that? She'd realize many years later how twisted it was to actively wish such a heinous act be inflicted upon creatures that she'd never met, ones that never did anything to deserve that. It felt as though she was a spectator to her own life, yet she could still feel everything her younger self was feeling: the bloodlust, the hunger, the desperation. What does that say about you? she asked herself. Nothing. The Hive was a horrible... horrible place back then, but it's so much better now. Yet, you continue to dwell on it... The past has to be remembered in order to not repeat its mistakes in the future. But what's going to happen if that hunger ever returns? It won't. The Changelings don't need love anymore. Maybe not love, but they still need sustenance from somewhere. The Changelings have plenty of ways to get food now. Have you forgotten about those famines you've read about in Equestrian History? That was the past. There will be enough. That's what you said when you waited for the drones to get back to the Hive. You think that just because you managed to get into school that everything that made you who you are is just going to leave you? Reformed or not, you're always going to be a Changeling, and the birthrights of all changelings are hunger and misery. They may not show their faces now, but at some point, they will. They always will. And what will you do then? What are you going to do when the pit returns? It won't! It'd be foolish to think it will never happen again. Might as well figure out what your plan is. I wonder what you'd do to keep the pit away. Transform. No! Lie. No! Hurt. No! Kill! NO! We both know you're lying. You can say all you want from atop the mountain, but you know what it's like to be at the base. If it's not at the Hive, it's going to be somewhere else. Once that pit returns, you might not look the same, but deep down you know... you'll still go right back to that twisted mindset you've become oh so familiar with, because that is your birthright. "Not so, Ocellus!" a voice that said. "Wha?" Ocellus said, finally vocalizing her thoughts, all of her terrible, terrible thoughts. The moonlight that peeked into one of the Hive's central chambers flashed a sharp white, and a second after it returned to normal, a dark blue alicorn emerged from the caverns. "Princess Luna?" "Greetings, my little Changeling." The Princess of the Night couldn't get to say much more as the Changeling immediately charged towards her, burying herself in her flowing mane that looked like the very night sky itself. "I'm so sorry, Princess Luna, please don't make me leave! I promise I won't ever have thoughts like this again!" "One cannot always control the tracks the train of thought chooses, especially when it comes to one's own past." Ocellus removed herself from the alicorn's mane, "But... but what happens when it happens again?" "Equestria has had bountiful harvests a hundred times more than it hasn’t. The chance of your past ever being recreated here in Equestria are quite remote." "Remote doesn't mean impossible," the changeling rebutted, composing herself. "Tell me, Ocellus, what is different about what you had now, as opposed to what you had in your past?" "Three square meals a day?" "Besides that?" "A bed?" "What I'm referring to isn't anything material," Luna hinted. "Well sure, I have my friends, but I know what can happen if I ever sink that low again. If they ever saw me like that..." "Ocellus, you underestimate just how much your friends have the capacity to care," Luna explained. "If hard times truly befall Equestria, your friends will be able to stop you from being the monster you are afraid of becoming. You may not always be able to control your circumstances, but your friends will be able to help you through them. You no longer have to suffer alone." The Changeling wiped a little tear. "Thank you, Princess. I really needed to hear that. This is the last time I skip dinner before bed." "A wise choice, my little Changeling. Any recommendations of the dream you want me to leave you with?" Ocellus gave it a bit of thought. "Think I can reminisce on a few happier memories?" Luna's eyes softened. "Of course." The creases of the alicorn's horn flashed white first before the light consumed all of Ocellus' vision. When she was able to open her eyes again, she saw her first day at school, her first Hearth's Warming at the Hive, her second with her friends, and so many more memories that brought a smile to her face, including her own transformation, the day that her life began anew. Luna exited the dream with sympathy in her heart, not just for Ocellus specifically, but for all the creatures like her who were finally letting themselves be vulnerable. The mental strength to do that, especially when they had been living a life that discouraged it, was astounding, but it came with consequences. While she did not wish a nightmare on anypony, sometimes they were the only ways that they'd be able to face their demons they were meeting for the first time. It made her thankful that she had been blessed with the ability to assist them when they did. "One more dream should do it for tonight," Luna thought. She reached out with her magic to grab an orb ten feet to her right.