Twilight Sparkle has been abandoned.

After an expedition into the badlands is torn to tatters by an unprecedented monster attack, Twilight finds herself stranded in a hostile environment with no safe way back home. With no supplies and no survival training, It all seems hopeless for the scholarly unicorn until she is discovered by a type of creature she has never seen before. A changeling named Thorax, a native of the badlands.

With Thorax's knowledge of the environment, he is Twilight's best chance of getting home safely. And by that same token, perhaps Twilight is the best chance the timid, pacifistic drone has of discovering something he has lived his entire life without.

Set well before the Season 2 Finale.

Cover art was drawn by me.

This is a spiritual successor to The Bug in The Herd, and The Bug in The Basement.

Edited by Mister Hypothetical.

Who would have thought it would be so hard finding shelter from a storm in a land known for being friendly and accepting?

Inspired by this comic I saw. To whoever made this comic, good job.

Three days have passed since the Great Change. Ironically, King Thorax is about to be the last bug in the Hive to learn an important truth.

The secret is something obvious he overlooked in his zeal for sharing love. It bears consequences for the entire Hive... and hard facts about who Thorax truly is.

Seeking to normalize cluster naps among the hive's excitable young, Thorax has invented a game. For five minutes he attempts to capture nymphs as they fly around the nursery hive. Upon capturing one, a swift hug and the phrase, 'squeeze the bug!' signals a countdown. The other nymphs have ten seconds to free their friend, lest Thorax get a point. Five points and Thorax wins.

Being a sentimental monarch is hard work, but tiring out little changelings so he can take naps with them - most especially with his favorite one of all - makes it all worthwhile for Thorax.

* Featured 11/19/19!
* Part of the Love Bug Continuity!
* A spiritual sequel of To Love as His Own.
* Cover artwork done by the awesome KamDrawings!
YouTube reading by Skijarama!

Limited Liability is a changeling with a very routine life. He works at a bank. He lives with a marefriend. He goes through every day making sure he isn't discovered.

At least, that is, until the day that the hive has planned to invade Canterlot. On that day, his love runs out, and his disguise fails. Trapped in public with a chitinous body for all of Equestria to see, Liability has to find a way not only to survive, but to avoid ruining an invasion years in the making. Along the way, he learns a very interesting lesson about the ponies around him.

Written for the Equestria Daily "Outside Insight" contest.

Cover Art by Ruirik.

Changelings are mighty hunters, capable of imitating anything they choose to perfection. Naturally stealthy, soft on their hooves, and cunning to a fault, there is no doubt that they sit on top of the food chain. Incognito is a proud changeling and looks down on his friends prey from his lofty spot above them all, confident that his spot at the pinnacle of the food chain is secure. After all, his race is without equal, their strength unquestionable ...

With the exception of a small, little nerve cluster at the tip of their snouts. It doesn't help that everypony in Ponyville knows about it, too.

'Nito really wishes they didn't.

Preread by Timaeus and Cynewulf. Thanks, guys.
Cover art by the one and only Rossby Waves.

They say that love knows no boundaries. This is the story of a pony in love. In love with a creature that, to most of ponykind, is nothing but a frightening, dangerous, deceptive, emotion-eating parasite. A creature that consumes love, and never returns it.

But what ponies say and what the truth is can be very different things. One pony makes the fateful decision to ignore the voices of society and family, and listen to the voice within...

Pinkamena "Pinkie" Diane Pie is Us. In crazy brilliance, We made Pinkie so strange that We would never be suspected, and it worked until the very end. An end that came about, not because We failed, but because of inescapable circumstance.

Now, We must run.

We do not want to think about what they will do to Us if they catch Us.

The depths of Luna's loneliness drive her to create a creature that never should have been. But the nature of her companion, and the dark methods used to create it, may lead Celestia to commit an unforgivable deed of her own...

Written for World-Building Alliance's January Writing Contest. Credit, as always, to NorsePony, for his wonderful editing work.

It is a common perspective among most species that changelings are, for the most part, fairly weak creatures. They don't have the strength of a diamond dog. They don't have the speed of a vampire. Only a few have even a hope of challenging the knowledge of a dragon. Numbers, disguises, and their Queen is what most hives rely on. This is true of course, and Chrysalis knows it. Changelings are a fragile race, and if one day their unity would fail, a fail-safe must be ready. A fail-safe that, alone, could stand against any threat. Any situation. Any obstacle. A hero, which all could look to when times were dark.

That had been a long time ago.