“The invasion of Equestria,” I interrupted Chrysalis’s lesson. “It goes against everything changelings stood by.”
We had returned to her study after visiting the pod room. Chrysalis began our normal lessons with magic theory, this time covering harmonic shield lattices. The chill from earlier had subsided, however it left behind a pain that ached and creaked like I had run a ten mile marathon. My head throbbed and my chest stung.
Chrysalis sneered at my interruption, “This is happening with or without your approval, Prince Phasma. I am the queen, you are the prince.”
“I would have recommended the invasion had you not ordered it, Mother. I am just remarking on the fact that you are going to break the Masquerade, which goes against all ingrained rules and traditions of our species.”
“I do hope that you’re not wasting my time by stating the obvious.”
“So why stop there? Surely there are alternatives to love collection. Why limit yourself to doing what your forebears did when you already disregard their rules and teachings?”
“This again? Prince Phasma, we harvest love from podded prey because it is the most efficient method we have at our disposal.”
The pain was making me frustrated, so I argued further, “But surely other methods tried in the past are viable now that the Masquerade has been discarded-”
Chrysalis shut me down fast, “Alternatives have been considered and they all have been rejected. Now, repeat back to me the available frequencies for shield lattices for defending against fire spells.”
I grunted in annoyance.
‘I’m getting nowhere fast. Chrysalis seems resolute, though at least she considered alternatives. Maybe once I get my hooves on more information, I can better prepare a case to change her mind. Throw that onto the pile of shit to deal with at a later time, I guess.’
Lessons continued as normal for the rest of the day. Well, not really.
The pains, while not even close to being as bad as the chest pain I had in the storage room, were more than distracting. I missed points here and there. I zoned out occasionally. Often, I found myself rubbing the base of my horn.
Eventually, it came time for magic practice. When Chrysalis finished the final lesson for the day, she stood up from behind her desk and said her goodbye to me.
“We are done for the day. Prince Phasma,” Chrysalis said, then she actually put a hoof on my shoulder, “you were distracted during our lessons. I do not have the time nor patience to repeat the material. You need to put the extraction lessons behind you and move on. Prince Phasma, you said it yourself; we are predators. The hunt is messy and is unpleasant to look at but this is for the survival of our species, you will move on.”
I thought of the bloody carcasses I saw on nature documentaries. Messy is an understatement.
‘If it’s truly the only way, what choice would I have? Would I inflict pain upon others to survive?’
I didn’t like it and I knew it would end horribly for us, but I knew the answer to that question.
‘What choice do we have? It’s us or them.’
Chrysalis let her hoof drop to the floor and walked past me.
“Better them than us…” I mumbled. She was already out of earshot. I stood up from the seat across from the desk and paced about the room. I had some time before Officer Katydid’s arrival for magic practice.
‘I don’t know enough about changelings to think of alternative methods for food sources by myself…’
I rubbed my head as I thought.
‘Maybe Thorax has a few ideas. This is why I wanted him in the Fang, after all. I’m sure he’s put no small amount of thought into this. Problem is, where is he? Phayrnx would know, but fuck Pharynx.’
I groaned and flopped onto the couch. I worked my jaw as I stared at the empty fireplace in front of me. My headache was really starting to sap my focus.
‘Does this pain have something to do with the fact that I extracted love myself? Shit, I didn’t think to ask Chrysalis. I’ll have to ask Katydid. Love extracting… Could I induct Katydid? Like Thorax, he’s got a good heart… No, he’s an officer and my subordinate now, but I can’t risk adding him to the First Fang. Because he has too much contact with both Chrysalis and Eucharis, the odds of him accidentally revealing the First Fang is too great.’
I flipped onto my back and stared at the ceiling.
‘Creating a less risky group within the military that I can seek ideas from is my best bet here. That, and the vault. It’s going to be a bit before I can start giving orders around with impunity, so no funny business until then. The vault is fair game, I just need to get Oestridae into the guard and on vault detail.’
'Oestridae would be returning with the infiltrator flunkies next week. That means I can get in contact with at least one of the First Fang, and we can start arranging things like secret meetings.’
I glared at the door.
‘Everything is moving so slow and yet so fast at the same time.’
Finally, the door opened as Officer Katydid arrived.
“Ah, I’m sorry My Prince. I had an unexpected conversation earlier…”
I grunted an acknowledgement, “It’s fine. We're doing shields today, too?”
He smiled. “Yes, My Prince. Nothing so advanced as what your material covers, I’ve been told, but it is important material. We’ll be working on the physical shaping of your shield spell.”
“Mmmm…”
“Is… everything alright, My Prince?”
I shut my eyes, covering them with a hoof. I could still taste the pegasus’ pain. Or maybe that was the pain at the top of my head, spreading down to my muzzle.
“Are there side effects of extracting love manually?” I asked, glancing at the changeling drone with a half-opened eye.
Katydid brought a hoof to his chin as he looked to the ceiling. “Nnnno? No. There shouldn’t be any sort of side effect, Prince Phasma.” He looked back down to me, still on my back on the couch. “What are your symptoms? I can fetch a nurse immediately.”
I gave a dismissive wave. “Just aches and pains. A bit everywhere, but mostly my head hurts.”
‘It’s like going through puberty all over again. Wait a second.’
“Katydid? Nymphs go through a series of molts, right?”
“That’s right. You believe you are approaching your first molt, My Prince?”
“Would it explain the pains I am feeling?”
He shook his head. “Symptoms of approaching a molt do not include strange pains, My Prince, just an uncomfortable feeling of tightness.”
I gave another groan at that, but Katydid continued.
“Though I’ve never heard anything about royal nymphs or accelerated growth cycles. Perhaps Your Highness is indeed approaching your first molt?”
I sat up, ignoring the pain.
“Maybe. Another question for Queen Chrysalis, I guess. Anyways, we’re doing shields?”
Katydid shuffled his hooves. “I… would be much more comfortable if I could fetch medical assistance, My Prince. I do not think you should be ignoring this. Queen Chrysalis might be busy, but a dedicated nurse can be here within minutes.”
“I don’t-” a jab of pain in my horn ended my protests. “Fuck, that stings. I’m six months old, and I spent a month as a-”
“Where did you learn to swear?” He asked me, not for the first time. I ignored him, not for the first time.
“-larva. Is that a normal ratio for changeling growth cycles?”
“Your first molt is expected in another month, following our observations on your biology. I’m fetching a nurse,” Katydid said after I hissed in pain.
I wanted to argue, but avoiding getting mysterious pain checked out sounds like a great way to die for no reason.
Nurse Obturator finished running a diagnostic spell on Prince Phasmatodea. From his near-polished hooves to his smooth, curved horn, the spell showed everything as fine. At least, as far as Obturator could tell.
“Where does it hurt the most?” Obturator asked.
“Again, my head,” the young Prince growled. “Keep asking that and your head’s gonna hurt, too.”
‘Like mother, like son. I’m surprised he made it this long without a threat, even if it isn’t a death threat.’
“When did this start?”
“This morning.”
“On a scale of-”
“A lot. It hurts a lot.”
“What were you doing when the pain started?”
“Extracting love.”
‘Utilizing the Thread of Change could exacerbate pre-existing conditions…’
“Have you done anything else of note in the past week?”
“Physically? No.”
“Well Prince Phasma, the scan is being… less than helpful. I do not have any experience with the morphology of changeling royals, My Prince. I believe Her Majesty should be notified immediately.”
Queen Chrysalis was inspecting a discovery made down in the Greencave, hence why she wasn’t here immediately. Prince Phasma at first denied Obturator from sending word to the Queen, but the nurse felt that he was out of his depth.
Prince Phasma hissed, “Fine. Go get her to do your job.”
Nurse Obturator nodded at Officer Katydid, who then left the room.
‘Well Queen Chrysalis, I warned you something like this could happen. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long for symptoms to manifest.’
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he told the grouchy nymph. Obturator threw in a fanged smile to try to cheer Phasma up.
“I’m not imagining the pain.”
“Oh no, My Prince, I was not insinuating that.”
Phasma tapped his horn and grimaced. “Then, what where you– Gahh…! Insinuating?”
“Have you casted any complicated spells recently? Anything that might have to do with this pain?”
“If I did, I would have told you.” Phasma mumbled something under his breath. Obturator guessed that it was an insult.
“Have you been using your magic frequently?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have trouble performing?”
“W-What?! I’m a nymph, you overgrown, shit-eating dung beetle-”
“Spells! Performing spells!”
‘I don’t even want to know why Chrysalis had the crickets and the bees speech with a six-month-old nymph, by Panar!’
“O-Oh, that makes more sense. No, my spells have been fine.”
‘Conduits are okay, diagnostic confirms that. He rubs the base of his horn a lot, could it have to do with the horn structure?’
“When was the last time you casted a spell outside of levitation?”
“Four days ago, I think.”
“Anything of note that happened then?”
Phasma crossed his hooves, “Officer Katydid had me going over the changeling transformation spell.” He took in a long breath, “We were going over different surface-level changes.”
Obturator suppressed a sigh, ‘If we had access to pony alcohol in the hive, I would surely have died of liver-failure by now.’
“You don’t think changing your physiology counts as an important thing to tell me?”
“I’ve been busy!” Phasma threw his hooves in the air. “Shit happened!”
Obturator recalled the fates of three of his predecessors. One was not quick enough with a diagnosis. Another tried to overrule Queen Chrysalis when it came to treatment. A final gave bad news on a day that was already terrible for the changeling monarch.
‘Well, it’s not everyday the Queen invents a new position in charge of the entire Swarm. Not to mention Prince Phasma is only half a year old, so his skewed sense of importance is far above the worst case scenario. In fact, he’s only threatened me once, he’s answered every question, and he’s been as restrained as possible given the pain he’s in. I was wrong; compared to his mother, he’s practically a saint.’
Before he could apologize for being less than careful with treating the irritated royal who could order his execution, Phasma touched his horn one more time. He hissed in pain as it wobbled.
“That’s not supposed to do that,” Obturator helpfully pointed out.