Twilight was getting used to the property destruction at this point.
"Celestia..." Twilight groans, setting down her planner and trotting over to the deep, greenish-blue changeling who just smashed her recently repainted, stained glass balcony window. As the alicorn approached, the changeling winced slightly, rubbing their head and shuddering at the sight of her.
"You alright?" Twilight cocks her head, frowning slightly.
"Y-Yeah..." A feminine voice rings out from the changeling. With her tongue flicking out, she gags slightly, shaking her head. "Jeez, Thorax was right." She mutters, brushing herself off.
"Huh?"
"Nevermind." The changeling sighs, standing up and clearing her throat. "My name's Buzz. Thorax has officially requested your presence. He'd like to meet you to discuss a new species that's been discovered in–"
That was about as far as she got before being cut off by excited squealing. "OOOOH!" Twilight crows with a huge grin, her horn igniting and levitating what looked like half of a library around her, scanning her texts. "Which one? Which one? Is it marines? Ooh, or maybe it's ponyzoids? I do have a good book on the caeli... and let's not forget about the caprine!" Chuckling and waving a hoof, she scans through several thick, dusty tomes, almost completely forgetting the changeling in front of her. "Although, it could be gemstone po-"
"Twilight!" Buzz interrupts, trotting up to her. "Maybe instead of looking through a bunch of dusty textbooks, you could come see for yourself? Like Da — I mean, Thorax is asking?" Tripping over her words slightly, the aqua changeling clears her throat, looking away.
Twilight nods, magically putting everything away and quietly laughing. "Right, right..." She starts to charge up her horn, preparing to teleport when another wince shudders out of Buzz.
"Wait, wait —" She quickly stumbles forward. "Maybe it, uhm, would be good for you to walk?"
Looking down at her with a surprised expression, the alicorn furrows her brow. "Why would I walk when I can just teleport us there? It'd be much faster."
"Because, uhm." Biting her lip, Buzz pauses and considers her words carefully. "I think taking a walk is a relaxing activity that could be considered enjoyable to most individuals."
"...Fair enough." Twilight shrugs, levitating a pair of saddlebags onto her back and nodding her head towards the broken stained-glass window as she flies through it.
Once Buzz follows her through, Twilight repairs the window with magic and takes her school planner out of her saddlebags. Landing on the ground gently, she buries her nose in the thick, meticulously organized binder and resumes deliberating over it.. "Now, let's see. Applejack could teach in room 4b, and we could put Fluttershy in room 4c, but what about..."
Buzz groans behind her, rubbing her temples and shuddering. Thorax was right about her...
"Wait, so you're saying they've been here the entire time!?"
Twilight’s quill furiously scribbles down on a notepad in her magical aura. A hearty laugh rings out from Thorax, the king of the changelings, his chitinous, multicolored hooves crossing over each other atop his wooden throne.
“Indeed,” he chuckles out, nodding lightly. "It seems they've been here since - well, before even Queen Chrysalis was in power. It's quite fortunate that she never discovered them. Who knows what would have happened."
While Twilight seems preoccupied, Thorax hears a voice in his head across the hive mind. “Thorax, you feel that, right?” Buzz chitters. Grimacing, he nods, silently responding. “I know, Buzz. That’s why we’re here.”
Breaking his train of thought, Twilight perks up from her notes. “Shouldn't someone have picked them up?" She shakes her head, wonder still sparkling in her eyes. She didn’t expect a new species to suddenly pop up from under their hooves, and she'd theorized about quite a few locations new ones could be. "Chrysalis was constantly scouting out new locations, and Celestia's construction workers are constantly expanding and building new locations. It's been thousands of years — shouldn't there be something? A story, a tale... anything?"
Thorax's grin widens a little bit, perhaps finding amusement in her curiosity. "It doesn't seem that way, does it? Regardless of the past, this is the situation now. We've already made contact — " He gestures towards the cave entrance dug out by a few changelings. " — and from what we've found, it seems they're harmless. Since we're changelings, it makes sense that we would get along with another bug species, but we'd like to see an interaction between a pony and one of them. You, specifically — since you're an alicorn."
Twilight cocks her head slightly. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing." Thorax innocently grins at her, tilting his own head. "You're tough. Better safe than sorry."
Swallowing, the lavender-furred alicorn nods, jotting down a few more things on her notepad before pausing. "What... are they called? Buzz never actually told me."
"Glowbugs." Thorax's expression didn't seem like it could get any more mischievous. "They're called glowbugs."
As Twilight trots off, Buzz crawls up into Thorax’s lap, nuzzling against him and plopping herself down against him.
"...And you're sure this is a good idea?" She frowns slightly at Thorax, content radiating off of him as she curls up in his hooves.
"Oh, absolutely." Thorax snickers. "Twilight, of all ponies? She'll be fine. This is just what she needs."
"If you say so." The changeling shrugs, before snuggling back into Thorax's chitin. He was always awfully comfy. Kind of like a dad. He was always there for them, listening to their problems and offering kind words of advice, as well as standing firm when anyone tried to hurt them. "Hey, uhm…" She tilts her head down slightly, biting her lip.
"Hm?" Thorax hmms out, shuffling into a slightly more comfortable position. "What's up, Buzzy?" He loved giving them affectionate little names. He had one for every single one of his changelings.
"...Thanks, dad." Buzz mumbles out, a bright pink hue spreading over her face. Her chitinous hooves clutch at him a little tighter, nestling closer into his smooth chitin.
Blinking, Thorax tilts his head. "For what, Buzzy?"
"Just... for being an awesome Dad." Buzz chitters after a moment's pause, working up the nerve to speak up. "You're funny, clever, sweet —" She pauses, rolling her eyes. "— you tell the lamest Dad jokes ever —"
Thorax cackles quietly, remembering a few instances he'd cracked some of his best jokes in front of her.
"— but no matter what you do, you do it to help others. I see it every day. Especially today." Buzz gazes up at him, her eyes sparkling and moist. "I don't know how you knew before she arrived, but the second Twilight walked in, I knew why you called her. I could feel the stress radiating off of her." She gags, her tongue flicking out in disgust. "This is just what she needs. Somebug to help her realize exactly what she's going through."
Pausing, Buzz buries her head back into Thorax's chest. "You're always there for everyone. You make us all feel loved. Wanted. Like we're not just cogs in a machine, but individuals being cared about. Which... which is why I'm glad you're our Dad." She murmurs the last part quietly, not quite used to expressing the amount of emotion she was feeling.
"...Of course, Buzzy." Thorax's hoof curls around Buzz's head and tugs her in a little closer, his hoof stroking down her back affectionately. "I'm always going to be here for everyone, Twilight included, but most importantly, I'm going to be here for you." He nuzzles into her ear softly, closing his eyes and breathing out slowly. "You're my little Buzzy. There won't be a day where I'm not worrying about if you feel loved enough. I just hope that I can be the kind of parent you deserve."
Thorax's chitin gets a little wet as Buzz starts trembling softly, prompting Thorax to wrap her up in an even tighter bughug. She didn't need to say anything. All she needed was comfort. Comfort that Thorax hoped Twilight was getting right about now.
Twilight was freezing.
"You've got to be kidding..." She mumbles with chattering teeth, her hooves clopping softly against the freezing cave floor. The cold wouldn't normally be a problem for the alicorn, but before sending her down into the deep, incredibly dark cave, Thorax gave her two ground rules — one of which was extremely annoying. She wasn't allowed to harm the glowbug — an extremely easy rule to follow, she supposed — and she wasn't allowed to use magic.
This was... a bit more of an annoyance than she'd realized. Not only was the cave freezing, but she couldn't see for the life of her. "Thanks a lot, Thorax." Twilight grumbles, adjusting the dim lantern the changeling so kindly provided her. "Oh, I'm Thorax! I'm going to give Twilight a really bad light source and send her into a frozen cave without any protection from the elements!" She huffs out exasperatedly.
Stumbling and almost tripping over the bumpy cave floor, Twilight gnashes her teeth and shakes her head, rubbing her temples with a hoof. "Right. Remember. New species! Time to be excited." She forces a grin, trying to persuade herself to be more enthusiastic. "Just..." her expression droops a little, unable to keep up the inauthenticity. "...How am I going to...?" She trails off, the thought wandering into a place that she didn't want to follow right now.
Twilight was a little lost in her head when reaching a fork in the cave, mumbling complaints to herself and turning left without even thinking about it. As she progressed, the cave drew narrower and narrower, closing in on itself. It was only when she slammed her horn on the ceiling did she snap out of whatever rabbit hole she was in. "Ow-!" Twilight yelps, ducking her head and rubbing her now throbbing horn. "Celestia, horseapples-!" She swears, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to ignore the splintering pain running through her skull. "This day just keeps getting better and better..." Groaning, Twilight blindly fumbles for her lantern —
It was smashed. She didn’t drop it, she knew that much. She remembered setting it down — and even if she did drop it, it wouldn't be in the condition it was now. The thing was absolutely pulverized. It was like someone... or something hated its existence to the point of making it unrecognizable.
She wasn't alone down here.
Nervously swallowing, Twilight squints and lowers her head enough to slip through the tightest part of the cave, entering an enormous cavern with glowing crystals absolutely everywhere. The cave was absolutely lit up, if you could even call it that. Still shivering, she trotted forward into the eerie ambience surrounding her, eyes flicking around in wonder. "This place is... beautiful." Twilight murmurs in awe, almost reaching for her notepad with her magic before catching herself. "Right, right. No magic. Stupid rule..."
Shaking her head, she fumbles with her hooves to reach for her saddle bag, pulling out her notes and jotting down a few things while mumbling aloud. "The cave environment is overwhelming in a few ways. Not only is it absolutely freezing down here, but the sights are simply spectacular."
Twilight pauses and picks up a crystal, examining it closely. "There seems to be a steady glow emitting from several unusual crystals around the cave." Odd. It wasn't one she recognized... aha! Twilight grins, the nerd in her peeking out of its bubble a little more. "It seems to be a different variant of a hyliate. While normally green, these crystals appear to be blue in color. They're also slightly radioactive! Not enough to be a danger, but it is fascinating."
Squinting a little closer, Twilight tilts her head slightly. "Odd. Hyliate normally only glows under UV light or natural light, neither of which is here. Will do more research — sample collected." Closing her book and tucking it away, she picks up one of the smaller crystals and tucks it into her bag. Exhaling, she wanders a little further forward. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all —
Twilight freezes, a sense of immediate dread filling her. Something wasn't right. Something wasn't right at all. Glancing around the cave and backing up slowly, she scans the dimly lit cave, tensing up and curling her tail instinctively. She was right earlier — something was watching her.
Two glowing eyes.
"Ack-!"
Crying out as she was promptly slammed against the ground by what felt like a Wonderbolt at top speed, Twilight's fores and hinds sprawl out and grab at whatever was pinning her down, trying to push it off of her to no avail. "Wh-!" She squeaks out, eyes frantically trying to absorb information.
Above her was an enormous, brightly glowing creature that kind of reminded her of a pegasus. Fluffy fur, soft looking wings, bright... glowing... eyes...
Maybe it didn't remind her of a pegasus after all. Its wings were abnormally shaped, curving into themselves and appearing slightly translucent, glowing the same aqua glow as the rest of its abnormally fluffy body. Two fluffy antennae rods poked out from its skull, leading up to two even brighter antennae heads. Spherical in nature and smooth, they rubbed against her face gently, as if analyzing her in a similar fashion.
"Get off of me!" Twilight protests, still struggling and squirming under its enormous body. The thing was larger than Thorax, or even Celestia!
Seeming to not notice her protestings, the creature curls its hooves around her delicate body and squeezes her gently, leaning over to nuzzle her face, prompting sputters from the lavender alicorn.
"S-Stop it!" Twilight stammers out, wings twitching fretfully. A tiny warmth blossomed like a flower across her face, although it certainly wasn't the only warmth flowing through her. The creature's body heat was like an oven — it was uncomfortably warm, filling the air and her lungs — and its form pressed down against her, fully engulfing her lavender fur. It seemed like the only part of her that wasn't being squeezed was her head, and that was being assaulted with affectionate, loving nuzzles.
With each passing second, Twilight's struggles grew less and less panicked, her eyes struggling to remain open. "I..." She murmurs out softly, shaking her head. "No, no... I need to find the..."
A deep rumble rolls out of the aqua, fluffy, soft creature as it nuzzles her, pausing momentarily to give her a little grin. Twilight's eyes widen slightly at the expression. It was one she recognized. One she remembered seeing on —
On Thorax.
"...It's you..." Twilight whispers out, trembling in its grip. "You're the glowbug, aren't you...?"
It nods at her in an amused manner, making a few pleased noises. Ones she didn't quite recognize. "I... I..." She tries to find her words, but they're nowhere to be found.
There was nowhere left to go. Nothing left to say. She couldn't even remember why she was down there. All she could think about was how tired she was. How stressed she was. She'd been so panicked over the last few months, trying to set up her School of Friendship and work out lessons, trying to plan out every last detail. There were so many sleepless nights. So much caffeine running through her systems, forcing her to stay awake for hours on end.
And she just... she couldn't anymore.
It all finally boiled over. Watery eyes turn into loud, messy sobbing, tears soaking into the glowbug's fur. Shaking its head gently, the glowbug softly starts nosing into the alicorn's head, wrapping its wings comfortingly around the crying Twilight. Waves of warmth flow through her, bringing her away from the cave. All that existed in that moment was Twilight and the glowbug — and that was all that needed to exist.
Something — not words — came from the glowbug. It was almost a question, but wasn't quite one. While it was mostly a tangible feeling of concern, it felt like words. It was like an emotion one could hear.
Twilight's hiccups, tears still pouring from her eyes. "W-Wh..." She tries to look up at the glowbug, but its lips don't move. What... What did it say? She didn't hear what it said, but... oddly enough, she felt it. She felt a semblance of a thought, an idea. "I-I'm... s-stressed..." Twilight mumbles into the fluffy, silky-soft glowbug, choking on the last word. She didn’t have any idea where the thought came from, but she knew, somehow, roughly what the glowbug was thinking.
Shaking its head, they nose into Twilight a little further, hinds curling around her form protectively. They exhale slowly, their enormous chest softening against Twilight's, and as she takes a breath in, her eyes start to droop a little more.
She was so, so tired. Of life. Of worrying. Of stressing over every little detail in her life. It was too much. Shuddering, Twilight curls up a little in the glowbug's hooves, whimpering quietly as they nuzzle her cheek back and forth, back and forth. She... all she needed was... a little...
...a little...
...
The glowbug furrows their brow in concern, tilting their head and gazing at the now sleeping, purple creature's face. Their antennae drooped down once more, taking in a plethora of information about the strange non-changeling. After their first encounter with the changeling king, they thought that all other creatures were like them. Soft and kind, perhaps a little curious. Glowbugs have emotions, but... this was unusual for this glowbug. They hadn't ever experienced or seen anyone with this emotion.
There was more to it than just the initial stress. There was something there deep inside — years of coiled up tenseness — and it would need to be removed slowly, like peeling an onion's thin layers and crying as each one was removed. Shuffling idly and curling a little further around the strange non-changeling creature, the glowbug sighs slowly, their warmth flowing into the lavender individual pinned below them.
They decided to dub the strange creature the rough equivalent of "Purple" in Ponish. "Purple" nuzzled softly into the glowbug's fluffy neck, prompting the glowbug to gently nomf down on her neck. As they did, warmth and affection slowly started swirling in a loop between the two, both creatures exhaling happily as they remained there on the now warm cave floor, snuggling and pulling each other as close as they could.
When Twilight finally woke up an hour and a half later after a full, absolutely wonderful sleep cycle, she found herself still pinned under the enormous, glowing glowbug, affection still clearly being fed into her. If she didn't know any better, she would say that the glowbug was awake the entire time, tending to her sleeping form. But... that couldn't be right....
...Right?
...Twilight couldn't remember the last time someone had given her the kind of emotional release she felt in that very moment. On occasion, she'd cried in front of her friends, and they'd comforted her… but this was a different kind of comfort. A kind of comfort that was beyond words. The glowbug didn't have any reservations about comforting her. It was a greedy kind of comfort, one where she could consume as much as she wanted without giving back.
Swallowing and trembling a little, she looks back up at the glowbug, confused. "W...Why-?" Twilight squeaks out in a quiet voice, shaking her head. "Why are you doing this? I-I'm... you just met me."
The glowbug shakes their head once more, giving her a sad little smile.
Shuddering, Twilight blinks in surprise. She... couldn't quite describe it, but... it was like she heard their voice in her head. Like certain thoughts and ideas made sense when connected to the glowbug's actions. "I... I really am a mess." She chuckles out softly, rolling her eyes. "But why? What do you get out of all this?"
A kind, sympathetic smile flows back into her along with the steady wave of warmth filling her body. Glowing, thick, noodly hooves squeeze her a little closer.
Twilight sighs, nodding into the glowbug's warm, fluffy fur. "Okay." She quietly whispers into their neck, closing her eyes. Maybe they didn't need to get anything. Maybe it was about her. She was the one who needed it. And wouldn't any of her friends do the same for her?
Twilight's tail twitches softly. Maybe when she got home, she'd ask her friends for a hug. Or two. Pinkie was always giving out hugs. Accepting them more often might not be such a bad idea after all. Just... "I've been so on edge." Twilight murmurs, squeezing her eyes tightly. "It's nice to be able to just... relax." Sighing, she untenses her entire body, going limp in the glowbug's hooves.
Receiving a few nuzzles and breathing quietly as the glowing bug radiates heat like a crackling fireplace on a cold winter day, Twilight slowly starts to fade into sleep once more, curled up happily in a position she never would have imagined herself in. There’s so much she has to do for her school. Lessons, teachers, students, negotiations with other species....
It could wait.