The Bug in The Cave

by Skijarama


Fit For a Thief

Thorax took a step back, fighting to repress a terrified whimper. His eyes darted around, looking for some way out, some means of escaping them. To his growing dread, there was none. He was completely cornered, his back literally up against the wall.

Not like it mattered, he remembered. Even if he was able to get away and start running, there would still be the matter of the Tatzlwurms. Besides, Scorpion and Mandible were significantly faster than him even at his best. Drained by Chrysalis and now wounded by a Tatzlwurm, there was no chance of escape, barring a miracle.

“You’ve been shown leniency for long enough…” Scorpion snarled, his expression morphing from sadistic enjoyment to murderous contempt. “Any other drone would have died a dozen times over. But you’ve scraped by at every turn because of your brother. Chrysalis won’t dispose of a liability like you…”

“And so it falls to her loyal servants to recognize that error and correct it,” Mandible added, licking his lips. “And deliver a punishment fit for the worthless thief you are.”

Thorax tried to back up again, only for his shell to meet the jagged edge of the rock formation. He risked a look back at it before lighting up his horn. Adrenaline flooded his veins, as he focused on the smallest form he could think of. A tiny desert mouse. His body was consumed in a swirl of green flames as he kicked back, trying to lose himself amid the spikes of stone.

As the flames dispersed, however, Thorax realized with a horrified squeal that he was now floating in mid-air, ensnared in an emerald glow. He twisted and turned, reaching out for the only heaven he had, forced to watch as he was tugged away from it in Scorpion’s magic. He was sharply twisted to one side, his small form flaring with pain, and came face-to-face with Scorpion. 

The colossal changeling grinned down at him, his fangs catching what little light there was in a way that set Thorax’s mind into complete and total panic. “Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to run away this time!”

The world blurred. Thorax’s stomach lurched to the side, and an odd sensation of vertigo filled him. He barely had time to realize he had been launched at the ground before something struck the side of his entire body. A sickening crack went through his small form, immediately causing it to disperse as every one of his fake bones splintered at once. 

Thorax screamed as he snapped back to his true form, a new series of cracks having appeared along the side of his barrel. He rolled once before coming to a rest, face-down in the mud. An odd numbness blossomed out from his side, filling his body with cold lead. It was strange. Was his body trying to ignore the pain? Or had he simply gone into shock?

“No one is coming to save you this time,” Scorpion hissed before spitting on the back of Thorax’s head. That alone served to awaken the broken drone’s senses. With a shrill cry, he went to run, only for a hoof to drive itself into the back of his head, pinning him to the earth. “Not the queen’s misplaced mercy, not some hero, no wild animals, and certainly not your brother.”

Thorax kicked and thrashed, trying in vain to get out from under Scorpion’s hoof. His screams devolved into agonized coughs and wheezes as his face was pushed even harder into the mud, causing drenched sand and muddy water to invade his mouth and throat. His lungs burned, his eyes watered, his head screamed for mercy.

A hoof struck him in the side where his chitin had cracked. More pain, beyond description, clawed at his senses. It was hard to think through the endless assault on his senses. The mocking jeers of his murderers invaded his ears just as pain invaded his nerves, and mudwater invaded his lungs. Yet through that mindless cacophony of torture, one string of thoughts managed to be heard above all others.

Escape. Survival. He had to escape. He had to get away, or fight back, or something! He couldn’t let it end like this! How would Pharynx take it if his little brother, the only family he had ever known, was taken from him like this? How would Twilight take it if her only friend in this horrible, detestable, wretched wasteland of a landscape perished in the rain, never to see her again?

He could barely make out her voice. A phantom sensation at the very edges of his disoriented hearing. He focused on the sound, trying to make out what she was saying. His heart all but stopped when he realized that she was not speaking… she was crying. Just like when she had received that letter from her friends, only now, her tears were for Thorax…

“No!”

A surge of adrenaline pumped through Thorax’s broken body. Pushing a loud, guttural scream past his cut lips, he forced himself to rise, successfully shoving an unsuspecting Scorpion and Mandible off of him. His mind kicked into overdrive, running through the calculations in a heartbeat as his horn lit up with magic.

Scorpion cackled. “Oh? You have some bite this time?!”

Thorax turned to him with blazing eyes and bared fangs. “SHUT UP!” he bellowed before angling his horn and firing off his spell. Scorpion effortlessly leaped to one side, scoffing as the sphere of light went streaking past him and up into the sky.

“Make me!” Scorpion shot back, his own horn charging.

Before he could let loose any spells, however, the sopping scene was abruptly bathed in emerald green light coming from the heavens, followed by a muffled crack of sound. All eyes turned to look up at the sky, and for a moment, Thorax’s heart soared with nostalgia as his signal fire spell went off without a hitch. The light could be seen for miles in every direction, and as if in answer to his magic call for help, the rains seemed to weaken, if only for a second.


It was hard for Pharynx to concentrate on what he was doing. His mind felt torn, pulled in three separate directions between the roar of the rain, the cries of the Tatzlwurms, and his own raging thoughts. He couldn’t stop thinking about Thorax’s injury, and how sickly he had started looking. Really, he should have taken Thorax back to the hive for immediate medical attention.

But Pharynx was needed out here. If he brought Thorax home, he’d have to head right back out into the rain, leaving his little brother all alone with those spiteful savages in the hive. And there was not a chance in the world that Pharynx was letting that happen. Not while he had any say in the matter.

His lips peeled back into an ugly snarl as he recalled how much Thorax had been ganged up on as of late. Sure, he had brought it on himself by stealing from the hive, but that didn’t make it any easier. If anything, it made it worse. His regret over that incident was so obvious it made Pharynx almost feel sorry for him every time he looked into those soft, shining eyes.

Almost.

What did drive him to feel sorry for Thorax, though, was how small he was. He was tiny, weak, and passive. How many times had Pharynx leaped to his aid to fight off bigger, stronger changelings who took some perverse form of pleasure out of beating up on him? How many times had he been forced to sit there and let his brother embarrass both of them by crying into his shell when they were younger, in view for all to see? How many times had Thorax apologized to him for holding him back or slowing him down when all he was doing was looking out for the only part of his family Chrysalis had ever allowed him to know?!

Pharynx was unable to keep it in. He stopped in mid-air and turned back in the general direction of the hive. With a twitch in his eye, he leaned forward and loosed a long, enraged scream into the howling winds of the storm, knowing that nothing could hear it. A scream of anger, of indignation, of humiliation, and of warning. A warning to any and all who might dare to lay a hoof on his little brother.

His throat burned by the time the scream ended. The vestigial echoes rang in his ears, even as thunder boomed overhead, rattling his shell at the seams. He stayed still, taking a moment to catch his breath and stare out into the rain.

He had not expected anything to answer his scream. It had been a moment of weakness, only allowed due to his isolation and distance from his home. It was supposed to be a moment lost to the rain, never to be noticed by any. And it wasn’t.

And yet it was answered.

Pharynx’s eyes widened as a spark of green light rose up into the air, far in the distance. He squinted through the rain, trying to make it out. It looked like changeling magic, but he had never seen a spell like it before.

Suddenly, the spark rapidly expanded, blossoming out to fill the sky with dozens more of them, forcing him to squint. A few seconds later, a faint, muffled boom reached his ears. He watched in confusion as the sparks drifted back down to the ground, slowly dwindling away and fading into nothing.

“That explosion came from where I left Thorax…” he realized. A pit began to form in Pharynx’s heart. Something was wrong.

Without hesitation, he immediately doubled back for his brother, pumping everything he had into his wings, causing them to burn at the base as they sped him along.


Twilight’s eyes remained focused on the falling stars of emerald light from the mouth of her cave. She blinked several times, her jaw hanging open in shock. “That was the signal fire spell…” she realized, her heart starting to beat a little harder with excitement. There was only one creature out here who could possibly know that spell.

Her excitement gave way to dread, her ears drooping. Only one creature out here knew that spell, and there was only ever one reason he would use it.

“Thorax…” she breathed. Twilight hesitated for a moment, the echoing screams of the Tatzlwurms sending a shiver down her spine. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to deal with them again. Two had been bad enough when she had gotten here.

But if she didn’t go, there was a chance that something might happen to her friend. And that was not something she was willing to allow.

Twilight put her hoof to her chest and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. When she let it out, she opened her eyes and stared defiantly out into the rain. “Hang on, Thorax!” she declared before breaking into a mad sprint from the cave, feeling the rain on her fur for the first time since she had gotten to this wasteland. “I’m coming!”


“Did… did Thorax make an explosion like that?!” Mandible asked in surprise.

Scorpion snorted. “Looks like it. Not surprising, really…” he turned back to Thorax, his grin returning. When next he spoke, his voice was trembling with an ominous thrill. “Any animal gets dangerous when backed into a corner… isn’t that right, grub?”

“I said, SHUT UP!” Thorax shouted, lighting his horn for another shot. Sadly, he didn’t get the chance. Mandible shot in and kicked him in his broken side before he had a chance to react. White-hot pain stabbed him in the gut, stealing the air from his lungs and sending him sprawling to the ground with a breathless wheeze. Scorpion took the chance and leaped on him, pinning him down.

“Nice try,” Scorpion cackled, leaning in close, so he was right in Thorax’s face. “But do you think we’re dumb enough to let you bite us?”

Thorax snarled back up at him, throwing his inhibitions to the wind in the face of the drone he hated above all else. “You’re dumb enough to be doing this instead of your job!” he spat back, struggling against Scorpion’s grip to no avail. “Pharynx was right. You two are a disgrace to the hive!”

Mandible let out a low whistle. “Huh. I think that is the closest thing to damage he’s done since we got here.”

Scorpion growled, lifting himself back up to his full height. “Yeah… cause now he’s gone and made me mad!”

Thorax’s eyes widened when he felt the constricting force of magic wrapping around his body. He barely had time to rasp out a shout of alarm before he was hauled off the ground the then thrown back into it with significant force. A splash of mud and water was kicked up, the wind flying from his lungs all over again. 

He went to stand, but the hooves came again. Scorpion laid into him, pounding his shell and pushing him into the mud. He squirmed and tried to resist, to fight back, but the blows just kept coming, each one jarring his senses more and more into confusion and delirium.

Finally, Scorpion kicked him in the side of the head one last time before backing off. Thorax’s vision swam. His head felt foggy and unfocused. He gave off a few, barely audible whimpers while trying to look around. The world was a blur. Something wet was falling all over his chitin, rinsing away the mud and warmth that clung to him.

A voice reached his ears. Mandible. “I think we’re done here…”

“Yeah…” Scorpion answered. Thorax became keenly aware of a thick haze of green light entering his vision. “Let’s put this matter to bed.”

Thorax blinked, and at last, his vision focused. Scorpion and Mandible had their heads lowered, pointing their horns at him, and charging them with magic. Thorax’s heart leaped into his throat as he realized what they were doing. Gasping, he went to stand and fly away, but it was too late.

The spells were released.

Thorax screwed his eyes shut to await the end.

“NO!”

Thorax gasped when he was suddenly yanked up into the air by yet more magic, but this time it felt different. He opened his eyes and was met with the view of a green explosion going off where he had been. Steam and heatwaves rolled up to meet him, and he knew, then and there, that the blast would have incinerated him if it had hit him.

But it hadn’t. Why? And what was he doing so high up in the air?

“Enough is enough.”

Thorax looked up. There, hovering in the air over the two drones that had tried to snatch away Thorax’s life, was Pharynx. His horn was glowing with magic, and his purple eyes were narrowed with a sort of calmness that set off every red flag in Thorax’s mind.

“Uh oh…” Mandible breathed, taking a step back.

“Pharynx…” Thorax murmured, his voice a weak and strangled whisper.

“Don’t say a word,” Pharynx cut him off in a surprisingly gentle fashion. He began to drift down to the ground, pulling Thorax carefully along with him. When he landed, Pharynx set Thorax down in the mud behind him. “Just stay put. I’ll deal with this.”

“Pharynx…” Mandible began, his ears folding back. “...Please stand aside, sir. We’re trying to get rid of a liability. It’s our duty.”

Pharynx didn’t say a word. Instead, he simply lit his horn with magic.

Mandible never stood a chance.

A small, needle-thin beam of magic shot from Pharynx’s horn, hitting Mandible in the chest. His eyes widened, and he fell to the soaking earth in a limp heap. Scorpion cried out in alarm, taking a few steps back, fear and panic overriding his contempt.

“W-wait!” he tried, his wings twitching on his back. “S-sir, I surrender! Please, show me mercy! Just… J-just let it be! W-we’ll-”

“Did you?” Pharynx cut him off, his voice low and even.

Scorpion blinked. “S-sir…?”

Pharynx took a step forward. “Did you ever once, in all of the years you’ve tortured him, shown any mercy, any at all, to my little brother?” he asked again, an edge of impatience in his voice.

Scorpion swallowed heavily. “I… I…”

Pharynx’s horn glowed. “Exactly.”

Another needle of magic. Scorpion let out a dry gasp before joining his partner in crime in the mud.

Overhead, a bolt of lightning split the sky in half, filling the heavens with a crack of thunder.