//------------------------------// // Feel Like Me // Story: Monster or Mother? // by Hivemind //------------------------------// “Enter.” On the queen’s word, a tall changeling, armored with shiny bug plating and robed with a red velvet cape as well as a helmet that bore him as a commander, stepped through the open doorway into her floriated bedchamber. Once inside, the entrance was sealed, closed off completely as an entanglement of thorny vines remade the gap into a patch of wall. The changeling commander lowered to its knees and bowed its head in respect. “My queen,” it spoke, keeping its head low to the ground. “You may rise,” Chrysalis hissed in reply. The changeling rose to its holed hooves, keeping its head held high in the presence of its insectoid mother. Chrysalis always admired the commander’s superb sense of loyalty, which is what lead to its promotion in the first place. She raised a hoof and waved it daintily, signaling the commander to speak. “My queen, I come bearing extraordinary news!” Chrysalis looked down at the ground in front of her, where her newborn lay fast asleep before her, curled up in a little ball. She frowned slightly, still deeply worried for the little one, but quickly regained her proper demeanor when she remembered hearing of the commander's report. “What is this news?” she asked with a modestly interested eyebrow raised. “I...as strange as it seems, I can barely describe it, my queen. When the feeling came to me, I was at a los for words all through the night! It was unreal, a feeling unlike any other!" "Go on..." "How could I, my queen? Such feelings do not come lightly, nor in such great force as this one has!" “Hurry up.” Chrysalis hasted, grunting, becoming more annoyed by the minute. “It’s…well, the newborn. It’s like…you are the only one out of all of us who seems to resemble—“ “Stop wasting my time!” shouted Chrysalis with the booming force of a titanic thundercloud. A frightened squeak was heard from below. Wide-eyed, Chrysalis looked down at the newborn, who was now shivering, hugging itself to try and stay warm or maybe to try and hide itself from whatever startled it so. Her prickled ears fell flat against her face. She frowned slightly, feeling downright terrible for what she had just done. Her strange, new, motherly instincts kicked in, moving her to gently lift the quivering infant and keep it held tight against her scaly, but surprisingly feather-soft chest, a surprise feature that arrived with Ditto’s birth. Maybe her frontal scales softened during her obscure gravidity. Within seconds, the little one ceased its distressed squirming and fell asleep once again, smiling as it did. Chrysalis smiled back, unknowingly allowing her new, caring emotions to wrap around her like a warm covering. “My…apologies,” Chrysalis sighed, not even realizing what she had just said, an addition to her original shrewd, forceful vocabulary that arrived in the same fashion as her new set of careful instincts. “You may continue.” The dumbstruck commander could hardly believe what it had just witnessed, but quickly shook its head to rid itself of distracting hysteria. “This little one--” “Ditto. I named this one Ditto…” The bold commander was struck with even more astonishment. It wanted to ask why, but questioning the will of the queen was a death sentence in itself. Only the highest ranking changelings are ever given real names. Generals, commanders, and other varieties of important changelings were all assigned their own unique form of identification, issued by the queen herself of course. Every other changeling, the drones, the workers, and the soldiers, were only given the pleasure of possessing a simple number code, which was then shared among the others, but such a system seemed highly inefficient, as nearly every changeling looked exactly the same, but as it had been for centuries, the inner workings of the natural changeling hive mind solved all of that and more. “Stop giving me that look, commander,” ordered Chrysalis to the openmouthed commander, who immediately snapped back to attention. “Now, quit your stalling and just let it out, short and simple.” “…Ditto, as I now know, is, I say once again, not like the others. Ditto is so unique in fact, that even the other children are beginning to act strange, as if they sense its presence within the hive!” “Are you saying you told them?!” Chrysalis flared her jagged horn with fluorescent green magic, displaying another one of her common, but often deadly outbursts of anger. “N-no, my queen! I did no such thing! I swear it!” “Then just tell me what’s wrong! What news have you brought before me that is so dramatically important that you see fit to drag it out for such long whiles and with such ear-piercing displeasure? Speak what must be spoken, or I will see you sent to the stars!” Ditto squeaked again, but was not awakened by the loud noises outside of its peaceful unconsciousness. Chrysalis backed down slightly, her angry expression remaining stagnant as she kept the little changeling pressed firmly against her upper chest. “My queen,” the commander started, taking a deep breath to calm itself. “Your newbo--…Ditto, is male." Her jaw could not have dropped any harder. With her eyes as wide as dinner plates, Chrysalis slowly lowered onto her stomach with a baffled, stupefied expression. She gasped quietly, releasing deep breaths soon after in silent, stunted wisps of disbelief. She looked down at the black, winged bundle in her hold as it slept soundly with a smile on his face and with his head resting against her chest. If there was an epitome for speechlessness, then Chrysalis has just struck it. “I do not know what to make of it, my queen,” spoke the commander. “But when I felt the presence of something other than pure, changeling blood in the hive, I knew the answer would be clear.” Chrysalis continued to stare down at the smiling bundle in her embrace with eyes filled to the brim and then some with masses of incredulity. “How…” she murmured, her emerald eyes quivering with several mixed variances of sadness and confusion. “Forgive me, my queen, but even to one such as I it remains unclear.” Chrysalis looked away from her…son, for a few moments as she continued to take it all in. Ever since her own mother before her, never before has there been born a changeling of a factual gender. A changeling being born straight from the queen herself was an occasion rare enough to have its own special day created in its honor, but a changeling not only born of the queen herself, but born with a true gender as well? It didn’t seem right. Was it a curse or a gift; an ill omen or a consecration? She was not sure, but whatever it was, she was sure of it that such a incredibly rare event possessed a divine importance of some kind. “Leave us,” spoke Chrysalis, turning her head back to keep an eye on her sleeping son. “Of course, my queen.” The changeling commander took a loyal bow before turning around and departing from the queen’s presence as soon as the magical wall of thorns gave way to an exit, his azure, buggy eyes still spread wide in disbelief. That night, Chrysalis lay still in her soft, verdant bed, her newly announced son's heart beating softly against her own as it slept in her warming hold. The bright moonlight shown down upon her slender form, making it shimmer beautifully like a polished black dress. What am I going to do? the disturbed queen thought, keeping her glinting eyes focused on the peaceful face of her somnolent son. A son…I can’t believe it. That means he will…feel things, just like me, and he will…know emotions, just like me…how did this happen? Why did this happen? Whatever the reason for her untimely, unprepared parenthood, Chrysalis was certainly not ready to take on the responsibilities of raising a changeling who could feel as she could feel. It only made things worse. The rest of her children, save the commander, had no idea of what had been brought into this world. If the others saw what their queen was hiding… Chrysalis shuddered in place as grim thoughts already began to fill her mind, but surprisingly, it wasn’t herself that she was concerned about for once. Her children mattered to her deeply, but this one was special to her, Ditto was special, and in many more ways than one, many of which she could not describe. The air of tranquility was suddenly broken by a low growl. Chrysalis could feel it in her gut. It had been nearly three days since she last fed, and she imagined that her new son must have been quite hungry as well, though his changeling senses have not fully developed yet. Oh well… thought Chrysalis as her eyelids became heavy. Tomorrow, she would have to find proper sustenance for both herself and her son. A simple dose of love, though hard to find, seemed like the proper meal for the average young changeling, but even she remembered her strange eating habits back when she was just a little one, where the sweet nectar of love wasn't always in the changeling diet. If Ditto was any more different, what was she to feed him, and how?