//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: A Love Bug's Life // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// A Love Bugs’ Life Prologue ___________________________________________________________ “...life itself was a dream, then. Time was not a cruel metronome, always ticking at the same remorseless tempo. It ebbed and flowed around you like the tide, rushing fast and oozing slow, with its own heartbeat, as organic as moss consuming a log. Alive, dying, yet eternal.” I lean back into my pillow, letting the smooth voice of Illya Leonov roll over me, letting my mind drift into the world of the fic he is reading. I’ve been sick since Thursday last week. It started out as just a nasty cough, and I mean nasty. I was hacking and coughing so much my throat was sore and so was my chest. It actually hurts my stomach now whenever I cough, it’s that bad. However, we thought it wouldn’t be so bad by Monday, so I went back to work. Boy, what a stupid ass move that was. Monday went fine, but Tuesday? Hell, no. By 3pm that day, I had a huge amount of gunk in my right eye. At first I thought I’d just somehow gotten phlegm in my eye and just did my best to get it out with my fingers, after washing them off course. But, an hour later, there was more gunk and even a smaller amount in my other eye. I went home and my mum told me it was conjunctivitis. So, we used salt water to try and stop the gunk from building up and it sort of worked. The day after, we went to our local GP so I could get the eye drops to fix it. We’ve been using them since and I should be fine conjunctivitis-wise this time next week, meaning I should be able to return to work. At the very least, I’ve been able to use up some of my long overdue sick leave. Seriously, before this I had over a hundred and sixty hours. Anyway, whilst my conjunctivitis is pretty much not a problem anymore, it doesn’t mean the main bug I’ve had since last week isn’t. I honestly feel like crap. My body aches and my head is pounding from a lack of sleep for three nights in a row thanks to my coughing keeping up. That and a fear that I could die in my sleep. What am I referring too? Well, three days ago, during one coughing fit, I literally became unable to breathe due to how the phlegm had lodged itself in my throat on the way up, and that fear has kept me up since then. The reason for the fear is simple: I had to work fast to get my airways clear again and it took a lot of effort and concentration. If I were asleep and that happened? Being yanked from sleep is hard enough to come to terms with, but when you can’t even breathe? So, yeah, been up three days straight with no proper sleep. I think I’ve zoned out a few times, but never actually gone unconscious. Listening to Illya, though, I’m thinking I might actually get some sleep soon. Now, I’m not saying he puts me to sleep. Far from it. When he reads a fic, you can’t not listen. I mean, once this whole reading is finished, I’ll probably finally sleep. And with three days til July and my still being sick, it's nice that I can have some enjoyment, despite still being sick. As I let his voice carry me into the fic as he mentions Changelings in the Everfree, I feel a sudden tightness in my chest. Before I can figure out if I’m about to go into another coughing fit again, I feel as if I’ve been jerked out of bed, before feeling like my body’s aching as if it’s been slammed into the ground. On top of that it feels like I’ve been sitting under the Australian summer sun, whilst wearing my warmest clothing, wrapped in a woolen blanket. And it burns, but doesn’t burn at a same time. “Wh-what’s happening to me?!” I call out, my voice sounding rather more feminine than I last remember. Must have started hacking something up and it’s messing with the sound of my voice again. I’ve got to find a way to stop the burning, yet not burning feeling. Suddenly, I feel something inside me shifting. It’s around my abdomen. Good lord, I must really need to shit. How’d I go days without feeling that? As I push, a notice some of the weird burning, not burning feeling is directing itself towards the shit I’m trying to push out. Good. Maybe that’s what’s causing this hot feeling and once I’ve shat it out, I’ll feel better. Sorry that I’m gonna be taking a massive dump in my pjs, mum, but I can’t take the time to get to the loo right now. For several moments I lay where I am, straining, until I feel what I think is poo squeeze out of me and plop by my rear. I sigh with relief, followed by an annoyed groan. The burning, not burning feeling has lessened, but I can still feel it and it’s still all over my body. After sitting for several long moments, I become aware of a sound I wasn’t expecting. Cracking. Upon furthering thinking, I can confirm it’s the cracking of an eggshell. Frowning in confusion, I lift my head to see what it is. It’s coming from close by, around my midsection. If there’s a hatching egg near there, sure hope my crap didn’t fall on it. That’s no way for a new life to enter the world. My vision is pretty fuzzy and I feel really light-headed, more so than before that weird feeling, anyway, so it takes a few seconds for my brain to process what I’m seeing. It’s a green egg, way bigger than I’d have expected an egg to be. It’s bigger than an emu egg. Pushing out of it is something black. I can see a pointed horn pushing through the top. As I try to figure out what it is, the thoughts clogging through my brain like there’s molasses in keeping everything from moving fast enough, I feel a... I’m not sure what I’d call it. A presence, maybe. Whatever it is, I can feel something on the edge of my mind, calling to me. It has fear in it, of that I can tell. It’s scared. Of what, I have no idea, but it’s calling to me for help of some kind. I groan, trying to think clearer. It wants... it wants... reassurance? Yes. Yes, that’s it. It wants reassurance. It thinks something’s wrong and it want me to reassure it everything’s fine. Now, if I weren’t so light-headed right now, I would probably seriously be questioning this. But, for the moment, I’m just going with it, so I send out... I dunno, comforting thoughts, I guess? Letting the... presence, know that it’s okay. It doesn’t have to worry. This seems to calm it as I can somehow feel it feels better. I don’t know how I know this, I just do. Man, why can’t I think straight. I frowning, trying to clear my thoughts, get things back in focus. As I do, however, something becomes apparent to me. I am not lying in my bed. In fact, I’m laying on grassy ground. My frown deepening, I try to stand and find I can only push myself to stand on all fours. Growling at how slow this is, I try to somehow make my focus faster. The result is not what I expected. I feel a sudden rush flow through me, making the burning, not burning feeling distil a bit. I have to gasp for breathe as all my senses hit me in a way they never have before. Smells seem odd and stronger and different than how smells should be. Shaking my head I few times, I manage to finally get a feeling for my body beyond the burning, not burning feeling... and what I feel sends a cold shiver down my spine that is lost to the hot feelings. I’m not a human anymore. I can tell. I can feel no hair on my head, nor anywhere on my body at all. I can feel what is clearly a horn on my forehead. Licking my lips, I can tell I’ve a forked tongue and I feel it going over a pair of fangs pointing out from my upper lip. I just stand where I am, my brain trying to wrap itself around this impossible situation. Okay, yeah, I’ve written fanfics where a human gets sent into Equestria and turned into one of the characters, but I didn’t think that could actually happen. And of all the characters I could become, I end up a Changeling? Are you freakin’ kidding me? Why don’t I just paint a bullseye on my chest, whilst carrying around a neon sign saying “Hey, I’m one of the things you’ll want to kill for trying to take over your kingdom. Kill me now, why don’t you?” I probably would rage further, but the sound of an egg cracking again causes me to turn back to where I saw that egg from before... and my eyes widen in horror as it hits me. I’m a Changeling! A Changeling! And there is a large green egg where what I thought was a shit I was pushing out should be! I laid an egg! I laid a fucking egg! I may be transgender, but God. I didn’t expect to somehow end up doing something only females can. Hell, I haven’t even gotten around to starting the hormone therapy yet, but I’ve just gone and pushed out something containing a new life?! I watched in a mixture of shock, horror and intrigue as parts of the egg are pushed away, until sitting in the bottom half of the eggshell is a small Changeling. It kinda looks like a foal, only more like Flurry Heart than any of the other foals seen in the show. By this I mean it’s a bit bigger than I’d have expected and its eyes look more normal. That takes another second to work its way through my brain before it clicks. This little Changeling has pupils. But... but that would mean... it’s a Royal Changeling, wouldn’t it? Oh, crap! Have I turned into Chrysalis?! Glancing around, I see a small pond and hurry over and check out my reflection. Looking back at me is one of the Changelings from the invasion, but not Chrysalis. My eyes a pure green, with no signs of pupils at all. I’m met with an odd mixture of relief an annoyance at this. I mean, I’m glad I didn’t end up the queen who tried to enslave all of pony kind and is probably N.1 on Equestria’s most wanted list, but at the same time... I’m just a normal Changeling? That’s kinda a kick in the pants, if you ask me. I’m not given time to dwell on this though, as I feel that presence in my mind again and it’s scared again. Glancing around, my eyes fall on the newly hatched Changeling. It’s looking at me with an expression I recognize from when Flurry Heart was taken away from Pinkie Pie, right before Flurry used the Royal Canterlot Voice in a wail and managed to destroy the Crystal Heart. Not wanting the little thing to cry, partly because it’s never nice seeing a baby cry, but namely because we’re in the Everfree Forest and I don’t want it bringing creatures that are more likely to eat me the second they see me, I hurry back over and, not really knowing what else to do, lean down and nuzzle it. This seems to do the job as I feel that presence in my mind calm down again. It even feels... happy. I blink, before lifting my head back and giving the baby Changeling a questioning look. Is it what I’m sensing? Could this be the Hive Mind? As if answering my unasked question, I feel what I can only describe as what it sounds like what a baby coos. I blink again, before setting myself down, looking over the little creature covered in chitin. “So, you can hear my thoughts?” I have to pause as the sound of my voice reaches my ears. It sounds... female. With it not being distorted like Chrysalis' was, it’s really easy to tell. Huh. Guess that theory that Changelings are generally genderless unless they focus on it has just been disproven. If I’m honest... I kinda sound like Veronica Taylor, specifically as Ash Ketchum’s mum, Delia Ketchum. Yes, Veronica voiced both Ash and his mother. Not only that, she was also the original voice for May in Pokemon Advanced, so, before 4kidz lost the dubbing rights to Pokemon, if May, Ash and his mother had a scene together, it was basically just Veronica having a three way conversation with herself. A look of confusion passes over the infant’s face, pulling me from my train of thought, reminding me of the present. I almost hit myself in the head. Of course. Seeing as none of the other Changelings save Chrysalis ever spoke, there’s a good chance they don’t actually talk to each other via words. Hell, when you think about it, it makes a lot more sense. If you could talk with your mind alone, think how fast your conversations would go. it would make sense that, if Changelings do have a Hive Mind, they wouldn’t bother talking to each other verbally unless really necessary. A tiny pressure on my mind causes me to look down again and see the little Changeling looking up at me with an adorable expression. I cock my head to the side, wondering just what it wants. I guess, even with the Hive Mind, babies are still hard to understand. After a few moments, it crawls past me until it’s towards my lower area, where I starts nudging me, as if trying to make me roll over. Curious, I start to do so, until I’m on my side, my lower area, which kinda just looks blank exposed. However, my eyes and mind bulge as I feel something growing out from my body down there, until what look like a pair of teats has formed. Without giving my mind a chance to fully process this, the little ling chirps, before latching onto the lower one and I feel something flowing from within my body and down through my newly formed milkers. However, after a few seconds, I’m able to snap out from those thoughts as I realize something. That burning, not burning feeling is lessening a little more. It’s still there, but it’s nowhere near as intense to the put it was like a neon sign saying “You’re in Weird Pain”. It takes a few seconds more for my form and the possibilities to make themselves known. I’m a Changeling, a creature that feeds on emotions. Maybe, what I’m feeding this baby isn’t milk, but love. Though why the bloody hell I’m feeding it love like a mother would feed a baby, I do not understand. I thought Changelings just transferred love to one another, not feed like a normal creature. Oh, God! Do all Changelings get fed this way? That’s some nightmare inducing images right there. Suddenly, as my head feels much better as the, well, nymph I guess would be the best term for it, continues to eat the love within my body and I question where exactly I got all this love, something comes racing from the back of my mind. “Until this invasion is finished, you will guard my egg with your very life,” Chrysalis says, looking me right in the eyes and I feel a shiver of fear travel down my body. “Once Canterlot is completely under my control you will come to me and I will awaken my heir with the love I will have gained from all these pitiful ponies.” I feel my neck moving into a bowing position. “Now,” she says as I lift me head again to see a sinister smile on her face, “go and hide. I will call for you when the time is right.” I gasp as the... well, memory, I guess, ends and I shake my head. I stay still for a moment as the little one continues to feed, going over what I’d just seen. So, whomever Changeling I somehow ended up in was tasked with watching over Chrysalis’ heir. Glancing down at the nymph and remembering her eyes, I can assume this is her. But, if that’s the case, why the heck has the nymph hatched? If Chrysalis was meant to wake her, how come she’s awake now? And... wait. Glancing around, I frown. This forest. It looks... it looks an awful look like the Everfree Forest? But how...? Wait. Didn’t it look like some Changelings were flung into forests in the season 2 finale? At once I feel something else racing from the back of my mind again. This time though, I brace for it. “Bring my heir to me!” Chrysalis’ voice calls out over the air. “The time has come to awaken her.” I’m currently cornering a trio of ponies, but the moment I hear those words I feel my body go stiff, turn around and fly up towards Canterlot Castle. I can’t help wondering why this wasn’t seen in the show, until I sense something that reminds me of what I’m feeding the nymph. It’s the same feeling, only way more powerful. A blinding pink light expands from the castle, exactly where I’m heading. With my current momentum, there’s no time or chance of turning away. As it slams into me, for the briefest of moments I feel a blissfulness pass over me as a warmth flows into me. but then, less than a second later, that warmth feels hot, than burns, then is scorching, all the while I feel myself being tossed through the air like a rag doll. I gasp as my senses return to me once again. I’m shaking slightly. I sit in silence for several moments, going over what I saw and my current situation. Okay, if I’ve got it right, that warmth and burning feeling was love, however it burned because when Cadance and Shining Armour sent it out in that shield form and blasted all the Changelings out of Canterlot, it was more love than a Changeling body is actually meant to take. This also explains why Chrysalis’ child hatched when Chrysalis hadn’t given it the love it needed. This body, which is now mine apparently, was and still kinda is, overflowing with love, more love than it should be able to take. And, if that feeling in my abdomen was any indication, the egg was being kept safe inside this body. Makes sense, I guess. I can feel this chitin is pretty damn tough. Best shield for an egg, if you ask me. Soft and cosy on the inside, near impenetrable armour on the outside. However, with all that love coursing through me, it makes sense that the egg hatched so soon. With the amount of love inside me, it gained more than enough to hatch. So, with all that figured out, it just leaves one question left unanswered. Well, okay, there’s still more, but one I’m focusing on at the moment. Why the hell did I grow Changeling titties when I’m sure that’s not how Changelings normally feed? But, with my mind a bit clearer, now, I think I actually have a good theory. I’m a mammal, or was until recently, anyway, and I know how mammals feed their young. It is quite possible that, subconsciously, I was thinking about this when looking down at my lower area, what with having an infant down there. Plus, there’s a chance that, whilst inside me and absorbing the love, the little ling subconsciously learned about mammalian feeding. Well, whatever the case, I think I’ll try figuring out how Changelings normally transfer love. This is way too awkward for me right now. A nudging on my mind makes me look down to see the nymph has finished eating. I watch in morbid curiosity as my Changeling titties sink into me and vanish. That’s a weird image I’m not getting out of my head any time soon. The little one and I just watch each other for a few moments, not really doing anything else. After a short time, I decide to get up. At once I feel an anxiousness probing my mind and levitate the little ling up onto my back. I pay no mend to the relief and contented feelings coming from it, however, as my eyes have darted up to my horn. How the hell did I just use magic like that? I quickly shake it off and look around, trying to figure out which way to go. Smells feel so weird in this new Changeling nose. I’m smelling feelings more so than scents. Shaking my head, I start off into the forest, praying to whatever counts as God in this world that we won’t get attacked. I’ve no idea where in the forest we are, but I want to find somewhere we can rest and I can actually think up a plan of action.