"Help! Help!"
Fifteen Years Earlier...
Young hatchling number 10301893 was in big trouble. He'd ducked into a side passage, and went deep into the changeling hive's cavern system, hoping to escape the other young hatchlings who bullied him mercilessly about how unnaturally tall and skinny he was. All he'd wanted was a few minutes of peace and quiet. However, he'd walked into the wrong tunnel: He'd witnessed a group of three adults who had pinned down a fourth... and were in the process of forcibly draining him dry.
He'd never fully understand why, but he had, without thinking, attacked the assailants, distracting them from their quarry. The older changeling had fled immediately, and that had left the young hatchling alone, being chased by three criminals desperate to keep their crimes undiscovered. While their initial victim had escaped, without a corroborating witness to support his claims, the three assailants could still potentially get away with their crimes.
And with the young hatchling having accidentally turned down a dead end tunnel, it was clear to him now that he was doomed. The four changelings began closing in...
Wait a minute... four? When did a fourth one show up? And who was he? The young hatchling would have remembered seeing a changeling so incredibly muscular before.
Suddenly, the muscular changeling grabbed two of the others and bashed their heads together with a resounding crack. As the two changelings fell, the third, their leader, turned and began to growl, taking a fighting stance. Criminal he may have been, but years of participating in invasions had refined this battle-scarred veteran's fighting instincts... and it was clear he wouldn't go do without a fight.
But now that the odds were a little more even...
The hatchling jumped onto the leader's back, and enclosed his neck in a sleeper hold. While the young hatchling's only redeeming qualities were his abnormal height (While he may have been 'skin and bones' as the ponies might put it, he was, at five years old, as tall as an adult... and still growing), he had an impressive grip strength to go with those long limbs. As the muscular changeling watched in amusement, the veteran tried, and failed, to dislodge the hatchling's hold. The leader, unable to escape the noose-like hold that the hatchling had, eventually passed out.
Chuckling, the muscular changeling said with a smile, "Well done. The changeling you saved flagged me down and told me what happened." Hefting the two that he'd knocked out and placing them onto his back, he then strode forward, seemingly without feeling their weight, then extended a hoof and said, "Atlas Beetle, at your service."
Taking the hoof nervously and shaking it, the hatchling said, "Pleased to meet you. Looking over at the unconscious changelings, he asked, "Ummm... what will happen to them?"
His expression stern, Atlas said, almost as if quoting something, "These are the laws of the changelings, as old and as true as the sky. The bug who would keep them may prosper, but the bug who would break them must die." At the hatchling's confused expression, the older changeling sighed and said, "Right, I forgot, you're a little young to have been taught the old laws. The meat of it is, there are laws in the hive. You break them, like these three were doing, and you pay for it. Odds are, they'll be extracted, then their immobile bodies will be put on display as a warning to others who might try to emulate them."
Yikes.
Seeming to notice his shocked expression, Atlas said, "They knew exactly what they were doing, and they knew it was wrong. They were stronger than most other changelings, so they decided that because they were so strong, the laws did not apply to them. They are going to see just how wrong they are." Hefting up the third, and placing the unconscious changeling atop the other two, he said, "Remember this, when you get big and strong: Strength does not give you license to go around hurting others. Strength exists to protect others who lack it." Smiling, he said, "Now, let's go see the queen. I'm sure she'll have some choice words for these three before she passes sentence... and a few kinder words for the youngster who helped me stop them. We'll see about getting you a name, and then I'll see if I can put some muscle on that rangy frame of yours."
That was the day that the changeling who would one day be known as Titan met his mentor, Atlas Beetle, Queen Monarch's personal bodyguard and one of the strongest changelings in the hive. In the years to follow, Titan would grow in strength, weight, and height. However, while Atlas' workout routine helped to form Titan's impressive physique, it was the words spoken that day which would eventually make Titan the changeling he would eventually become...
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Now...
"Actually, you may be just in... LOOK OUT!!!"
Jacquelynn watched, first in horror, then in surprise, as the Yuusha had launched an attack, his sword coming in a high arc fit to cut the giant in half. The massive, armored giant, with a seemingly seamless movement, stepped first back, cleanly evading the Yuusha's vicious swing, then forward. The giant's right hand snaked forward, faster than she would have believed possible, then gripped the Yuusha's wrist before the assassin could attempt a follow up swing.
"That was not a nice thing to try and do," the giant said, then tightened his grip. To the Yuusha's credit, while he grimaced in pain, he did not release his grip on the sword. Instead, his other hand reached towards the amulet at his neck. The Yuusha's eyes narrowed in anger, then he extended his hand to where it was an inch from the titan's face. A bright light flared, and a brilliant white flame erupted, directly in the giant's face... and continued going for a good ten seconds.
When the Yuusha's impersonation of a flamethrower ended, it seemed as if it might be the end of the giant: His head was clouded by smoke, making it impossible to see if he might still have one. And then...
Then his head whipped forward and slammed into the Yuusha's face, hard enough that Jacquelynn could hear the crunch of bone breaking. The Yuusha stumbled back, still clutching the hilt of his sword with one hand, and his face with the other.
The giant's voice was icy cold as he said, "Take Miss Glory someplace safe."
It took her a moment to realize that the giant was talking to her, and that Glory was the small child. As the Yuusha used his amulet to cast a healing spell upon himself, Jacquelynn asked, "What about you?"
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Titan had seen minotaurs fight, so he knew a bit about how to use 'arms', 'hands', 'fists', and 'fingers'. Carefully, he folded his fingers together, then outstretched his arms, cracking his knuckles so loudly that it might have been confused with a mountain collapsing into itself. Struggling to keep the anger out of his tone (And not realizing that the icy tone the came from his mouth was far more frightening), he said, "He launched an unprovoked attack on me with a potentially deadly weapon, then followed it up with a spell strong enough to kill someone. Both actions were performed while a child was within three strides of me. I'm going to teach him proper combat etiquette... after I've beating the ever-loving daylights out of him."
As the... whatever that thing was took Miss Glory by the hand and ran off, Titan raised his fists up into a defensive stance, then made a beckoning gesture. He then said a phrase he'd heard before, one that often preceded a fight between two individuals.
"Come at me, bro."