In the distance, he heard the faint hoofsteps and buzzing of wings as the recently reformed changelings worked tirelessly to rebuild their broken hive. He ignored all of this though as he sat down on his bed thinking, with two of his new colorful and holeless legs that dangle off the edge.
It had been a couple of weeks since Qu… Chrysalis’s final invasion of Equestria and the ascension of King Thorax to the throne. Of course with the help of the Equestrians.
Unfortunately, after the Chrysalis was dethroned the hive was… completely ruined, with many parts of the hive collapsed or unlivable. Thankfully, the Equestrians, again, helped the hive as they brought ponies and supplies to help rebuild the hive. Large parts of the hive have already been excavated and reconstruction was in full swing. But all of this wasn't on the changeling’s mind.
He slowly lifted one of his forelegs and stared at it with a newfound… conflicted look. It was almost alien to him, instead of tough black chitin and holes he was familiar with it was replaced with smooth uninterrupted forget green chitin. He let out a sigh as he dropped his forearm and looked across his room, directly at the mirror on the opposite of his bed.
Similar to his forearm the rest of his body was now covered in a forest green chitin, with the only differences being different shades of green in areas around his body. His tail and head fin were also now ocean blue, they also looked sorta… sparkly. His back plate meanwhile was spotted with different shades of green and was smooth to the touch, it also helped cover his delicate wings. But what confused him the most from the change was a strange white… pearl? That was attached to the center of his chest. He still wasn't entirely sure what it was or what it was supposed to do.
He then looked at his face. He had two thin straight ears, not too different from his old form. In between, there was a smooth pointed curved horn. While his eyes were similar to his old form they looked much… softer and glossy. Almost like some of those Equestrian dolls, he saw a few times.
Once he finished he looked away from the mirror as no matter how much he tried he couldn't forget what happened earlier. He couldn't stop thinking about what he said… he was so excited to see him again after so long… but he couldn't get that… that expression out of his head… he couldn't forget the way his brother looked at him.
-{<()>}-
By the Hive, I can’t wait to see him again! He thought as he ran down one of the destroyed halls of the hive. As he ran he passed a plethora of different changelings all of which were helping rebuild the hive. Suddenly, behind him, he heard a changeling yell out to him.
“Chitter! Where are you running!” The newly named Chitter turned around with a massive smile as he looked at the confused changeling.
“My brother’s finally coming back home! I’m going to see Ember again!” Chitter happily yelled out as he continued down the hall toward the hive entrance.
His brother was an infiltrator, the best in the hive! Unfortunately, because of this, he was gone… quite a bit. Which was the worst because he was the best brother ever! He always got him things on his missions.
Before the old queen was dethroned she sent her brother out on some infiltration mission which is why he was so worried about him, at least until now. He heard through the hivemind that a red rouge changeling, which was a term they created to mean any unreformed changeling, was spotted headed toward the hive. He knew at that moment it had to be his brother so he dropped what he was doing and ran toward the entrance.
As he began to reach the entrance of the hive he started to get lost in his thoughts. He and Ember had always been close, they played together, worked in the hive together, and even slept together as pod mates. When they were little and he was picked on by the other lings Ember always was there for him. He was always strong and knew what to do, which is why he’s the best big brother ever.
He finished that thought as he began to see light at the end of the hall. So he sped up his pace and practically launched out of the hive.
Once he landed he immediately began to look around the sky for his brother. It didn't take him long as he soon saw a small red dot quickly approaching. Chitter smiled as he unfurrowed his wings and hovered a little above the ground while his horn glowed brightly as he tried to get his brother's attention.
“Hey, Ember! Over here!” He yelled into the sky as his brother stopped mid-air and began to land a little bit away.
Chitter ran toward him but stopped when he saw Ember point his horn toward him with a mixture of confusion and suspicion.
Chitter meanwhile was quite confused and a little worried as he stared at his brother. He then began to look over his unreformed brother.
His brother still had the typical features of an unreformed changeling black chitin with those awful holes in his legs, torn-up wings, and sharp fangs. But those were all of the similarities as his brother was definitely more than the average ling. Firstly he was slightly taller and stronger than the average ling, he could probably beat most changeling’s in the hive. He also had an extremely rare red tail, head fin, and eyes.
Red was an extremely rare color for a changeling to have and if he remembered correctly there were only maybe one or two lings that also had red. Ever since he was little, Chitter always wanted to be just like Ember.
Chitter snapped out of it as he realized that he had gotten distracted and focused back on this somewhat tense situation. It was at that moment that he realized why his brother was so suspicious, his new body. He was so caught up in the excitement of his brother’s return that he never told him he was his brother. So he gave his weary brother a disarming smile as he took a step back.
“Don’t worry it’s me, Chitter. I know I look a lot uh… different, to say the least. But it’s still me, your brother, and I’m so so happy to see you again. I was starting to get a little worried about you. Heh,” Chitter said as he tried to calm down his brother.
But it seemed to not have had the desired effect as Ember began to look even more confused and even a little angry.
Before Chitter could do or say anything his brother spoke first, “You're kidding right? You really expect me to believe your Chitter. You don’t even look like him for hive’s sake. Even a nymph could do better than this horrendous attempt,” Ember harshly stated as his horn began to power up with his red magic.
Chitter began to sweat as he tried to convince his brother, “Wait! I’m your brother, Ember! I can prove it!” all Chitter got in response was an impatient look from Ember. “Uh… let’s see. Oh! Remember when we were just nymphs and we managed to escape our chamber pods and sneak around the hive? And then we somehow were able to get into the love chambers and eat a couple of days of love… and had to clean the love vats for the next three weeks,” Chitter whispered the last part to himself as he remembered how long it took to take that love off the walls.
Unfortunately, when he looked over at his brother he still had his horn pointed at him. On the plus side, he at least seemed like he was listening, so he decided to continue.
“Or how I was being bullied by Haze and you punched him so hard that we didn't see him for nearly a month,” Ember began to look a little more unsure as his horn began to dim.
Chitter began to get a little more hopeful so he smiled and continued.
“Let’s see. Oh! There’s the time you went out with his really nice changeling. What was her name… Oh yeah! Amylede. Do you remember when you asked her out and how she was initially hesitant but eventually decided to go out with you. Then when you two were having dinner every possible thing went wrong and by the end of it she said she never wanted to see you again or if she did she would-” but Chitter was stopped when he felt his brother’s red magic shut his muzzle before he could finish.
“Stop. Please don’t continue. I don’t want to remember that,” his brother silently told himself as he removed his spell and deactivated his horn.
He then looked up at him with a worried and… less suspicious look, “You really are Chitter aren’t you?” Ember asked almost as if he couldn't believe it himself.
Chitter nodded, “Yep. Though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by your reaction. I do look quite uh… different,” he sheepishly answered as he looked out toward the once badlands.
His brother continued to look at him before he began to look more worried, “What in the hive happened to you and our home? It almost looks like someling invaded it,” Ember asked as he looked around at the former badlands and their damaged hive.
Chitter smiled as he answered his brother, “That’s a long story. But when Q- ugh, Chrysalis was invading Equestria a group of ponies, a weird mishmash creature that looked like a ling’s first attempt at transforming, and a changeling named Thorax arrived at the hive. After some fighting Thorax showed us that we can live without taking love from others and can share it between ourselves instead. After he taught us this we all began to transform into new changelings, like a metamorphosis. The transformation also may have caused the hive to… blow up a bit, but we can fix that,” Chitter said sheepishly.
“Anyways, after our metamorphosis. Thorax became our new king when the old queen rejected the new love and fled. Ever since then we’ve made peace with the Equestrians and begun rebuilding the hive. The ponies have even been generous enough to give us new supplies,” Chitter finished before his smile grew. “And now that you're back everything’s perfect! It’s so good to see you again, Ember!” Chitter excitedly said as he was overjoyed that his brother would join him in the new hive.
But instead of an excited or enthusiastic expression that he expected he was instead met with a barely contained look of… anger. Chitter’s smile vanished as he began to worry when he felt the hate and anger that radiated off his brother, he took a steep back instinctively.
But before he could ask his brother what was wrong his pissed-off brother spoke first.
“You did what? Why… why in the hive would you work with are pray, Ponies! How could you allow them to corrupt you with their magic? As well as place a traitor onto Queen Chrysalis’s rightful throne!” - As Ember continued he slowly walked toward Chitter which forced Chitter to backpedal - “Thorax has no right to rule the hive!” Ember fulminated against Chitter who was now sweating profusely as he tried to regain his confidence.
“But b-brother. Thorax and the ponies are trying to help us,” Chitter replied with the best confidence he could muster.
But Ember laughed dryly as he took another step forward, “Help us? They don’t even see us as sentient creatures, only mindless beasts that have to be controlled for our “own good”. Why do you think they choose Thorax to rule over us? He’s weak, easily controllable, and has no spine. Besides, didn't the courageous king abandon us and run off to the ponies in the Crystal Empire to be their puppet? They don’t care about us, only about resources and their security. It’s what they’ve done to the hippogriffs, griffon, dragons, by the hive they even did it to their own kind in the Crystal Empire, where one of the princesses of Equestria rules it!” Ember yelled as he began to pace back and forth which Chitter used to finally get some space.
At this point, Chitter started to be a little afraid of his brother, even if he hated to admit it, but he tried to calm Ember down, “B-Brother, I know you don’t have the… greatest opinion of the Equestrian princesses or what happened. And that we may have some bad recent history with them. But I’ve met a few Equestrians myself. I think they really do want to help. They’ve already given us supplies and ponies that know how to help us rebuild. I think if they wanted to use us as you say then why would they put so much effort into helping us?” Chitter tried to reason with his brother.
But his words seemed to have little effect on Ember as he turned to face him.
“You know, Chitter. We tried to ask for help from them a long time ago. Do you know how that went? They attacked us for no reason and called us “creatures of the night”. They hunted us down whenever we tried to get love and started to do “Changed One’s Hunts”. That’s why we have to stay hidden from them. They’d rather hunt us down than talk to us. All this is, is a change of strategy. Instead of hunting us down to extinction they now see us as possible puppets to do their bidding. They haven’t changed in that time they are still the same xenophobic, hypocritical, and arrogant ponies they’ve always been,” his brother bitterly said as he looked toward the ruined home.
But as Ember looked back he saw Chitter back up a bit as he began to look at his brother in fear. Ember apparently noticed this as he looked worried, took a step back, and calmed down.
The silence grew between the two brothers as the tension between their differing views clashed for the first time.
But Ember ended the palpable tension as he turned to Chitter, “We need to get as far away as possible from the hive,” Chitter was caught off guard by the suddenness of the statement that he nearly stumbled.
“What?! What do you mean we have to leave?” Chitter asked, incredibly confused.
Ember frowned slightly as he repeated himself before he began to look around, “I said we need to get out of here. The hive isn't safe anymore. I’m not going to have my brother be some puppet for the Equestrians. Besides, we need to fix… this,” his brother waved a hoof at him.
Chitter was again surprised but this time more defiant, “What?! I’m not leaving the hive and there’s nothing wrong with me. Ember, please stop this… this madness! I know that we have a disagreement about Equestria but now we can finally stop constantly fighting for survival. We can finally be free from the horrible hunger,” Chitter admitted but his brother refused to give us an inch of territory.
“This. This is what you call freedom, Chitter. You just traded one master for another. Look at what the ponies did to our home for hive’s sake -” Ember then looked at him with almost pity “- What you call “freedom” I call servitude and I’d much rather be hungry and free then… this,” Chitter frowned a bit as he looked toward their hive and conceded that it would have been nice if they hadn't… destroyed their hive.
But Chitter wouldn't be swayed that easily as he looked back toward his brother, “Well, yes. The hive is damaged. But it was to stop that old queen. She never really cared about us, Thorax does though,” even as Chitter said this though he began to question himself after hearing some of his brother’s points.
“Really? And how many changelings died during this coup? How many innocent changelings died for Thorax to claim the throne?” Chitter was silenced as those words stung more than anything his brother said.
If he was honest he never thought about that and didn't have a response for his brother as he began to doubt himself.
Not that he would be able to respond even if he wanted to as the brothers began to hear the distinctive sound of changeling wings buzzing. Ember looked toward the noise with a look of concern before he stood next to Chitter.
“We can talk about this later, Chitter. We need to get out of here! Now!” Before Chitter could do anything they were suddenly surprised when a squad of lightly armored reformed changelings flew out of the hive.
Chitter suddenly felt himself be pushed over before he hit the ground. As he lay on the ground he heard his brother.
“Run, Chitter! Get out of here! Run as far away as you can!” Ember yelled as he moved into a defensive stance.
The armored changelings responded as they landed around Ember before their leader spoke up, “So you're the rogue changeling we heard about. Stand down and come with us,” he ordered as he lowered his horn.
Ember glared at the captain with intense anger, “I don’t listen to filthy traitors,” he simply replied before he charged the guards.
The guards quickly reacted and attempted to subdue Ember, while also trying to avoid hurting him, but his brother wouldn't go down that easily.
Chitter meanwhile was paralyzed in shock and fear as his brother and the guardlings began to battle each other. Until he finally snapped out of his shock and tried to stop the changelings.
“Ember! Please stop! NO! You're going to hurt him! Please don’t hurt my brother!” Chitter shouted to both of the groups.
But neither side heard Chitter as they were locked in combat. Ember swung his hoof into an unprotected part of the traitor changeling’s face before he felt another traitor strike at his torso. Ember couldn't do much but take the blows until he managed to grab a particularly sharp piece of rock and stabbed it through a thin part of one of the guard’s armor, which caused him to begin bleeding.
The captain of the squad had enough and powered up his horn before he sent out a bright blue bolt. Once it hit Ember he began to feel numb, he quickly realized that it was a paralyzer spell and quickly shook it off. But before he could do anything else he felt another and then another and soon the entire squad was sending a barrage of blue bolts toward him. Even though he was trained in how to deal with this spell, even he wasn't able to deal with this many at once.
He soon found himself overwhelmed and collapsed onto the ground. Shortly after the squad nearly dogpiled him and began to chain him up, excluding the bleeding guard.
Chitter meanwhile was worried about Ember and once the fighting stopped he ran toward his brother. But before he could reach him one of the guards stopped him.
“Stop right there! Don’t go near him,” the guard ordered as Chitter was forced to stop, Chitter tried to look past the guardlings to see how hurt his brother was.
“Please! He’s my brother! I want to make sure he’s alright,” Before the guard could respond a subdued and chained-up Ember coughed before he responded.
“I’m fine, Chitter,” Ember wheezed as he glared at the guards before one of the guards hit him.
“Stop hurting him!” Chitter yelled out as they began to drag his brother away, with Chitter right next to them.
Then Ember said something that struck Chitter, “The Equestrians don’t care about us, Chitter,” Chitter saw his brother look defeated.
Something was different this time, before when Ember said these things he said it with fire, passion, and anger. But now it sounded… hollow and cold. Chitter hated hearing his strong brother like this.
“Look at what they’ve done to us. We're fighting each other instead of being brothers and sisters of a united hive. Making us fight each other instead of them. What they did to us was wrong. What they did to YOU was wrong. I’m sorry, Chitter. I’m so sorry I failed you,” Ember barely finished before he looked away from him in… shame.
That broke Chitter. For the first time in Chitter’s life, he saw his once strong seemingly invincible brother… broken. He looked like a shell of his former self. Chitter couldn't get his brother’s look out of his eyes.
With newly found tears in his eyes, Chitter ran back into the hive. Behind him, Chitter vaguely heard the shouts of guards, but he paid them no mind as he was fixated on running away.
He passed countless changelings as he ran toward one of the only places he felt safe in…
-{<()>}-
His room. It was one of the only places in the hive he felt… safe. If he could be safe in the hive. Though today his room felt more like a prison than anything. Especially, after what his brother said… and that look.
A part of him was annoyed at Ember. How could he say that about the Equestrians? They helped the hive find another source of love and made it so they never had to hurt another creature. They wouldn’t really use them… would they?
But no matter how many times he tried to say this he couldn't help but second guess himself. What if… what if they really were just using them? What if Thorax was just a puppet they put on the throne to control them?
Chitter was incredibly conflicted as he curled up into a ball on his bed. He then looked up toward his mirror and brought up his chitin green hoof. He stared at it for a moment before it was enveloped in green changeling magic and was replaced with his old holed black hoof. He then stared at himself in the mirror and asked.
“Did… Did we do the right thing?” He asked out loud.
Unfortunately, he didn't get an answer, only the conflicted expression on his face.