Thorax awoke when the hissing grew louder and louder. He opened his his groggily, veering towards the entrance of the bedcave.
Pharynx was already up, frowning at the commotion down below. His wings seemed to slump along his back. With a yawn, Thorax steadily got out of his nest.
“What’s with all the noise?” he inquired as he approached his older brother.
Pharynx shrugged. “I have no idea, everyling is piled at the bottom of the nursery.”
Curious, the black changeling peered over the ledge. Sure enough, a swarm of changeling nymphs and larvae crowded at the bottom, blocking the exit.
There was an insistent feeling of both craving and bitterness that radiates for the pile, and Thorax felt a little sick. He tilted his head towards his brother.
“Do you wanna....leave now and ask questions later?”
Instead of answering, the discolored changeling prowled along the walls of the nursery hive. He clung to the surface, flattening his body.
“So that’s a ‘yes’,” Thorax muttered quietly, buzzing his wings. Placing a hoof to the wall, he let his grippers adhere to the surface. Slowly, he followed the older nymph, scaling the walls. Looking down, he saw the floor became smaller and smaller, the changelings at the bottom becoming a grey and blue blob.
“Keep your emotions down,” Pharynx hissed, catching Thorax’s attention. “You are going to attract attention.”
“Sorry,” Thorax shook himself, trying hard to shake the anxiety he felt. With his wings clasped against his carapace, he continued after Pharynx.
The discolored nymph looked around, his violet eyes scanning the room, before crawling into the entrance tunnel. Thorax was relieved as the hissing from nymphs and larvae faded, padding after his older brother.
“...I like being upside-down,” the black nymph commented out loud, making eager clicking noises.
Pharynx let out a chuckle. “Of course you do.”
“So where are we going? Since the nursery hive is busy...”
Pharynx stopped, looking down at the cave below him. “Hm...how about to Instructor Hex?”
“Ahaha....he’s really scary....”
“Pede?”
“Hates me.”
“...Elytra?”
“She told me to go drown in the underground spring yesterday...”
“What did you do-“
“I’ll tell you another time!” Thorax promptly shushed his question, smiling awkwardly. Pharynx face hoofed, shaking his head.
“Ok fine, who do you want to go to?”
Thorax tapped his chin. His eyes squinted at the floor, thinking.
“...Can we go to Healer Tymbal? She’s nice...”
Pharynx rolled his eyes, sighing. “Whatever. I heard she was watching a particular brood today...let’s go find her.”
“Yay!” Thorax cheered as he fluttered after Pharynx.
They came across a vast entryway. Well, vast for a nymph, it was probably normal for an adult drone.
Either way, the brothers peeked inside.
It was a fairly spacious room, lined with hanging green lanterns. It was a comforting glow that lit up the walls of the hive, casting its light upon an older drone and quite of few nymphs.
Tymbal laid across her belly, wrestling one of the nymphs to the floor. The nymph squirmed, bitting one of her forelegs with their underdeveloped fangs. She sighed, letting go, only to be attacked by yet another nymph. Shaking them off, she retreated to the other side of the cavern.
Thorax gazed sympathetically towards the drone. As Pharynx made a grand entrance- dropping from the sky and tackling the nearest changeling- Thorax quietly padded towards the tired-looking drone.
“Hi Tymbal,” he greeted, smiling up at her. Tymbal whipped around hissing, only to stop and give a closer look at the changeling in front of her.
“Oh, it’s just you. Why aren’t you in the nursery hive?”
“Everyone is acting weird, so Pharynx and I snuck out. Also, being upside down and sneaking around the hive is fun!”
The healer chuckled, the scarab necklace around her neck rattling. She affectionally stroked Thorax’s head with one chitinous hoof.
“Yes, of course,” she sighed, lowering her head into her front hooves. Tymbal yawned, her lower jaw splitting in half and clicking back together. “I’m sorry Thorax, but I’m exhausted. Go play with your brother, okay?”
The black nymph gave a disappointed chirp, clicking his jaw. He wanted to stay next to the healer, but the energy that was barely spouting off of Tymbal was tired and emotionally strained. Instead, he nodded his head, letting the healer nap.
He looked back at his brother. Pharynx was play fighting with one of the other nymphs, hissing. Over to the left, Thorax winced as he watched the other changelings tear up the dolls that the healers have crafted.
Retreating into the corner of the cave, he sat on his haunches. Pressing is back against the wall, he surveyed the cavern around him.
The walls were marbled with green and blue, swirling into pretty patterns that decorated the surface. Luminescent cocoons filled the very back of the room, containing larvae that would soon complete their metamorphosis. Across the ground, small carved rocks littered the floor. Thorax took notice that one of them looked like a changeling. It was hard to tell, but there were wings and fangs on it! The other one he picked up had the general stature of a dragon, with spikes and a tail.
Lighting his horn, he grasped them both in his cyan magic. Animating the rocks, he moved them back and forth across the floor. He didn’t exactly know what he was doing, but he was finding some entertainment a least.
He quickly stopped when a series of clicking hooves began to approach him. Looking up, Thorax stared straight at a trio of larger nymphs, their eyes burning into the younger changeling’s soul.
“Look what we have here,” one of them sneered. The other started to giggle and laugh as Thorax pressed himself against the wall, ear flattened. “The grub is playing with his dolls, how cute.”
His voice was taunting, and all three of them laughed as they approached Thorax. The little nymph let out a frightened whimper, through his hooves over his head.
“Step away from my brother,” Thorax heard Pharynx hissed. Daring to peak, his eye open into narrow slits, watching what was about to unfold.
Pharynx teeth we gritted, fangs clearly shown. A growl emitted from his throat as he lashed his crimson tail. His wings and frill stood on end, making the changeling look a lot larger than he was, though he was still smaller than the older nymphs.
The trio laughed, clearly not threatened by the younger nymph. “And what are you going to do, hiss us to death?”
Thorax pursed his lips, “Uh...I don’t know how to put his but-“
Pharynx interrupted Thorax’s attempt at reasoning, opting for one thing that he knew the other changeling wouldn’t be able to do.
Green fire arose from the ground, engulfing the discolored changeling with its glow. Left behind was a much larger, and quite frankly terrifying, moth-spider. It was only a second, but Thorax knew what was coming and braced himself.
He let out an banshee screech, rattling the cocoons the hung from the ceiling. Thorax covered his ears, fearing that his eardrums would burst. Pharynx had a way of making other changelings to back off, screech they til they leave or go deaf. Never mind the fact the the screeching instilled fear into anyone that heard them.
It must’ve done the trick because every changeling within the cavern was staring at them. The trio was speechless, Tymbal was startled awake, and if they could, the larvae pupating within their cocoons would also momentarily come out just to be gobsmacked.
The older nymphs began to slowly disband, one even going as far as running out of the cavern. The other two had a look of petrified fear, before running towards the healer on the opposite of the room.
Thorax, however, smiled. “T-thanks, Pharynx.”
The moth-spider let out a huff, reverting into the shape of a changeling. Pharynx’s glared with narrowed violet eyes, and the black nymph lowered his head. Welp, except his fate and live with brute comment.
“Seriously. Is this how it’s always going to be?” Pharynx questioned, his voice with a serious edge. “There is a reason why everyone else is right.”
Thorax didn’t want to look into his brother’s eyes. He could feel the disappointment radiate, and he knew it was well deserved. Clicking hoofsteps began to walk away, leaving Thorax to cower against the wall.
With a final look, Pharynx muttered something, and Thorax had to prick his ears to hear it.
“You’re going to need tougher skin.”