Changing What Can't Be Changed

by PonyThunder

Chapter Two - Recall

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Thorax watched as hundreds of changelings rose to the air simultaneously, their bug-like wings sounding in unison creating an ominous chorus of buzzing as they dispersed, fueled only by the hunger and hatred within them. What had Chrysalis hoped to gain from fillynapping the princess, anyways? He shuddered to think about the horrible act of draining the energy from her like she displayed earlier. The act that was supposed to be unmentionable. It was one thing to drain the energy from tokens of affection, and another to do it from lower creatures, but on ponies? On Flurry Heart? The queen had once assumed the shape of Princess Cadence to feed off the love and affection she attracted, but she hadn't attempted to directly drain it from her directly.

The changelings were just as vile and full of hatred as their reputations had made them be perceived, but they did have their limits. It was something of an unspoken rule that a changeling wouldn't ever drain the life from another living, sentient creature. The exceptions for lower animals like bats and rodents was, at least when Thorax had previously lived in the hive, considered a sign of weakness more than anything. Any changeling who had to resort to such savagery couldn't be seen as anything but weak, as ironic as it sounded from a group of creatures who would so willingly deceive the masses for their own personal benefit. Or survival.

And yet, the crowd of changelings cheered at the idea. Draining the love straight from the source without a care, irreversibly and permanently. It wouldn't kill them, but it wouldn't make much of a difference either way. A creature drained completely of energy doesn't just become weak and feeble -- they lose everything. The will to stand up, the will to believe, and the will to live on. That was why such an act was forbidden to be used among changelings. In times of great need, they would resort to small creatures and animals, but anything beyond that was strictly forbidden.

Apparently, things were worse than Thorax could have imagined. He began to doubt his ability to change anything. He wanted to leave the hive and return back to the Crystal Empire where he was loved and cared for, but it was already too late. The queen was assembling a task force of a small group of changelings this very moment, who would infiltrate the kingdom in the dead of night and steal the princess. A stark contrast to their usual tactic of attacking with everything they had. She assigned the majority of changelings to stay at the hive, to await future orders when the young princess was successfully taken.

Thorax watched from a distance as the queen was instructing the group of her plan. He was alone in the open, and realized too late that he looked suspicious when the queen brought her gaze to him. Even from so far away, he could feel her eyes piercing into his soul.

"You!" Chrysalis shouted. "Come over here!"

Thorax felt his heartbeat increase, and forced himself to take a deep breath as he quickly flew over to Chrysalis and her small group of changelings. He wondered if he had already been figured out. Was there something about him that was painfully obvious he did not belong?

"You look as though you are strong," Chrysalis said to him, her tone surprisingly positive. "I want you in this task force as well. We need the strongest and most vigilant changelings if this plan is going to succeed."

Thorax gulped inconspicuously. He wanted nothing more to do with Chrysalis' horrible plan, but refusing her desires was a death wish. He complied, and listened in. Two other changelings stood out to Thorax from the otherwise small group. One was bigger, and had a considerably larger physique. He had a tattered, scratched exterior and large fangs. His name was Tarsus. The other changeling he recognized was Poison Fang, a smaller changeling with razor sharp fangs and an aggressively energetic demeanor.

He had spent time with them in the past, when the queen would send out groups of them to steal tokens of affection. If there was anything Thorax had that was closest to being friends, they were it.

"You three will infiltrate the castle and retrieve the child," said Chrysalis, gesturing to Thorax, Tarsus and Poison Fang. "The rest will linger nearby in case anything goes wrong."

Of course, that just meant if they were captured, there would be others nearby to retrieve the princess and continue on, leaving them behind. Upon further contemplation, it really wasn't much of a complicated plan. Chrysalis told them about the layout of the castle, where guards would be posted, and other various bits of information about the castle. Of course, Thorax already knew all about the Crystal Castle. He had spent a fair amount of time there, and quickly learned all that could really be known. If there was any changeling who could successfully steal Princess Flurry Heart, it was him.

Perhaps being a part of the invasion wasn't such a bad thing after all. He could act out the role of fillynapper, and when the time was right, he could find a way to sabotage everything.

"We leave now," Chrysalis shouted, making sure every changeling could hear her. Thorax rose to the air with the task force Chrysalis had selected and flew towards the opening to the hive. They filed out into the cold moonlit skies one by one, making their way to where Thorax had just returned from. As soon as he'd arrived, he was already heading back.

As they flew through the skies, their black silhouettes raced along the tops of the clouds. Thorax wondered if they had recognized who he was, but his thoughts were quickly answered.

"So where have you been all this time?" Tarsus asked in an accusative tone.

"I, uh..." Thorax replied. "I left the hive to search for more tokens."

It wasn't a complete lie, as that was why he left in the first place.

"You've been gone for a long time," Tarsus replied in a deadpan voice. He seemed much stronger than he had previously, and his voice was deep and airy.

"Yeah," replied Poison Fang as he took a jab at Thorax from the side as they flew in formation, "you been hidin' out, hording it all for yourself?"

"No, I just--"

"Don't even bother," Tarsus interrupted him, "we can tell you've gone solo, keeping all of the tokens to yourself. You were a skinny little twerp before you left."

Poison Fang added his bit. "Traitor."

Thorax didn't really have any idea how to respond. In a way, he did do exactly as they accused him of. He was a traitor. He had left the hive to fend for himself, and in the beginning he'd done exactly as they'd said. He sought out tokens of affection, stealing them from ponies in the dead of night so that he could survive another day or so with the intense hunger for affection he felt in the pit of his stomach. But after awhile, the pangs of guilt and sorrow cancelled out any nourishment he received. That was when he went to the Crystal Empire, to hide in the caves and barely stay alive from the immense feeling of love that emanated from the empire itself.

Thorax didn't reply.

"Fine," said Tarsus. "I don't care that you're a traitor, or why you decided to show your face here again. The queen may not have noticed you leaving, but I did. She didn't know you were a traitor when she selected you to go on this mission, but I did. But I don't care. Just stay out of my way."

"That goes for me too," said Poison Fang.

"Shut up, loser."

Poison Fang flew over Thorax and into Tarsus, taking a jab at his wing. At first, Thorax thought it was just a harmless response, but the scar that it left told a different story. Thorax watched as the two of them began fighting in the middle of the sky, using their fangs and horns to hurt each other. At first, that was all he saw, but he also saw something else. He'd seen something like it before, on a looting night long ago when he was still at the hive. They had sneaked into the house of a family of earth ponies late in the evening, but there were two brothers that fought in the room adjacent to him as he briefly rummaged through their belongings to take items of affection. He caught a glimpse of them fighting, wrestling on the floor of their small cottage. But they were smiling, seemingly enjoying the fight together. They weren't physically harming each other, at least not to the degree that Thorax was watching as Poison Fang and Tarsus continued to fight. They were having fun.

The fight ended, and Poison Fang and Tarsus continued to fly silently with Thorax as they continued towards the Crystal Kingdom. It wasn't until several minutes of flying that went by until Thorax realized something about their fighting. It was friendship, but in an extremely warped and sinister form. The changelings had the capability for love and affection, but the way in which it manifested wasn't exactly ideal or effective. But it was there. A glimmer of hope found its way into his mind as he flew between the two other changelings.

He just wondered how he was going to deal with everything else.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why make a reimagining and continuation of A Change In Changelings?

[PonyThunder]

7575708 People expressed interest in a sequel, and I decided I only wanted to do one if I could start from scratch and change things. This one will be longer, more fleshed out, and will explore various themes in detail. In particular I want to show the struggle of trying to resist changelings' biological urges, and to bring the dark-ness of everything up a couple notches. We'll see how much, though. For now, I'm leaving the "Dark" tag off.

[Orangeblossom1212]

UPDATE!!!!!!

[PonyThunder]

7612407

Thank you for the kick in the pants. I needed that