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None could tell how exactly it had happened.
Barely any-ling even had known about her beyond the abstract, let alone that she still existed, hidden away in a dark corner of some old research-facility.
She had broken free of her chrysalis, leaving destruction in her wake, spreading hatred and despair.
Within just a week, she had taken out several major love- and womb-factories, grinding love-production to a standstill.
The military was caught unprepared, not anticipating an attack from within.
The Queen herself tried to stop her, but had to be evacuated after nearly getting killed.
Rumors spread that the Queen might have to undergo rebirth.
The hive-mind was overwhelmed by the ensuing mass-panic, rendering all but short-range ling-to-ling communication impossible.
She didn't strike the cities directly. She didn't need to – infrastructure had already collapsed.
For the first time in well over a century, the changelings of Omnifaria knew hunger.
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~
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The six changelings slowly trotted deeper into the ruins of the love-factory.
Once brightly lit in fractals of green, infrared, and ultraviolet, the factory had gone dark. Only their horn-light revealed the path ahead... and the ghastly sight that greeted them.
Every single pod had been ripped open and emptied.
Gaping wounds in the hard-resin walls had long-since bled out, hardened ooze and other fluids splattered across the floor.
Dim chromatophore displays that had once proudly shown the status of energy-flow were frozen on their final, jumbled warning message requesting immediate maintenance that would never come.
The factory was dead. Murdered.
One of the six fell to her knees, crying.
They all stopped, for a moment.
Finding the one responsible wasn't difficult – just follow the hate.
Thoughtful Curiosity looked up at the monster. It didn't seem to notice them.
She swallowed.
“We... we have come to s-stop you!” She spoke out loud.
Silence.
That had sounded better in her head.
The monster dispassionately spared their little group a glance, then went back to cradling one of the love-batteries.
That one glance alone froze Thoughtful solid.
In that moment, Thoughtful Curiosity felt, like they were intruding on some important task, and how dare they take up its time with their own little unimportant problems.
They were small.
They were insignificant.
The Nightmare could kill them all with a thought. But why bother? They didn't matter.
As long as they didn't annoy her.
They should just turn around and leave.
“NO!” Thoughtful Curiosity broadcasted.
No, they couldn't just leave! Not after coming this far!
“Omnifaria depends on us!” The thought had come from another. It was all Thoughtful needed to remember that she wasn't alone. That this wasn't about her. This was about everyling! This was about saving Omnifaria!
A quick burst of reassurance shared between the group gave her courage to speak further.
“We will stop you – with these artifacts!”
All six of them stood up straight – even Gentle Caring's fear diminished slightly – and Thoughtful vocalized loud and with purpose:
“Faithful Bravery, a guard willing to lay down her life for her pod-mates without a moment's thought represents the aspect of… Loyalty!” The echo of her voice fractured across the hard-resin walls, giving it an otherworldly quality. “Laevigata, a hard-working drone who refused to betray her principles even at a great personal price represents the –“
The monster roared. The fresh wave of even stronger hatred made Thoughtful Curiosity physically recoil.
The pony-monster hissed and chattered angrily in a language Thoughtful could not understand.
One hoof raised to point at them – no, at the artifacts around their necks. More chattering in its strange dead language.
Its horn blazed.
Then Thoughtful was suddenly on the ground, pressing against the hard resin of the factory-floor, unable to move.
The telekinetic field was too strong. Thoughtful Curiosity could not so much as move a single muscle.
The monster growled. This time, she could have sworn she recognized, from her literature studies, the Equestrian word for “insect”. The utter disgust and loathing that accompanied the word was enough for her to guess the beast's meaning.
With dawning dread, she realized that the field was tightening, slowly exerting pressure on her chitin. Her mouth filled with the taste of ichor.
She had been so foolish... To hope the artifacts from pony-history could stop the monster, somehow? How had she even expected them to work for them, when they were made by ponies?
All she had accomplished was to get herself killed – worse yet, to drag the others down with her.
From around her, she could feel her hive-mates' fear and dismay.
“I'm sorry, I failed you all...”
But then she felt something different.
Defiance.
And, strangely enough, a form of love.
She managed to turn her head just enough to see the others.
Faithful Bravery gave her a cocky grin. The guard had ichor running from her mouth, but didn't seem to care she was about to be squashed.
Laevigata was simply too stubborn to act afraid – she just glared defiantly at the monster, showing it that changelings weren't cowed so easily.
Gentle Caring was scared, yet despite this, she didn't close her eyes to the world, but chose to look at those around her. Even now, as it was crushing her with its magic, her only feelings for the pony-creature were those of pity and sorrow.
Reassurance radiated what little love she had left at her companions still, and Thoughtful's heart went out to the drone who had already given them so much when she had had so little.
Boundless Cheer's unwavering positivity brushed against her thoughts, filling Thoughtful Curiosity with confidence, and she made sure to return the emotion in kind.
Thoughtful Curiosity considered each of the five changelings who had grown so close to her.
Even in the face of the monster that had wreaked havoc on all Omnifaria, even in the face of blind rage and indiscriminate hatred, even facing imminent death – they all held to each other.
No words needed to be spoken. Changelings didn't need to communicate verbally.
Thoughtful thought of each of her hive-mates. Her friends.
They reciprocated.
And together, they were one.
Thoughtful had no word for the emotion that filled her, them, and the air around them in a burst of unimaginable magical potential.
Perhaps it was kinship, camaraderie, love, and yes, friendship of course, but amplified to an unrecognizable degree by the Elements.
Nightmare Cadence did not even raise a shield. The taste of utter disbelief and shock was so strong, that, for a moment, it even tainted the all-encompassing emotion from the Elements.
There was a flash of color.
Then the nightmare was over.
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~~~
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Cadence jerked upright in bed.
“Oh Shiny, I had the most horrible nightmare...”
Her husband gently pressed a hoof on her cheek. “Don't worry about it, my love. It was only a bad dream.”
With slow, careful hoof-movements, Shining Armor expertly massaged her back. Cadence let out a sigh of contentment. Her Shiny knew exactly how to hit all the right pressure points.
Already, the details of the dream were starting to fade. Something about monsters stealing away her Shiny?
“Come now, Caddy, you don't want to miss breakfast with your aunts?”
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With an impish smile Celestia levitated the entire cake off the table, sneaking it past Luna right over the alicorn's head.
However, just as Celestia was about to take a bite from the pastry, a midnight-blue aura snatched it away in mid-air, and instead of tasting the delicious chocolaty goodness, an admonishing wing brushed over her face.
“Think of thy diet, sister dearest.” Luna pointed at the bowls of vegetables and fruit arranged on the table.
Celestia pouted. She said something to Luna.
A piece of cake hit the side of Celestia's head, splattering all over her face.
“Captain Armor, protect your princess!” Princess Celestia ordered, readying several carrot- and apple-projectiles.
One of the carrots hit Cadence.
For a moment, everypony paused.
Then Cadence grinned, and picked up a stack of pancakes.
It landed right on Celestia's horn, skewering the pancakes, and dripping honey all over the princess' face.
A watermelon cannon-ball was shot back in response, splattering harmlessly against Shining Armor's shield. The chaos was in full swing.
Cadence giggled. She was among family. She was happy.
She was practically radiating love.
Cadence never noticed the wavering outlines of two changelings standing off to the side.
Gentle Caring smiled sadly. “Thank you for showing me, my Queen.”
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looks like a buffee to me
8981688
A what?
8981696
my oc's speacies eats changleings so a nation of them is like saying McDonalds has half off on big macs
I'm very excited to see this finally up and running. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. Don't hesitate to ask for further prereading; I'll be happy to provide.
So was the first part actually a nightmare or something that really happened?
I am intrigued to see how this pans out. This becomes a study on something like “the ends justify the means.” If a utopia results from the obliteration of another species, it still took the obliteration of that species to accomplish...
Also, I was wondering if it was going to be a deformed Starlight Glimmer that was wreaking havoc. But this works too.
No. Changelings would NEVER be able to wield the Elements. That's just absurd.
8982946
But it was a dream right? No? Yes? WHAT"S GOING ON SIMPLIFIED EXPLANATION PLEASE!!
Came from FOME's blog! Awesome!
Yeah, thought it was Glimmer as well.
Wonder where Discord is...
And if there's a rebellion of some kind, somewhere we haven't seen.
...
Thinking that this might happen again, given that it happened once already...
8982275 It's also fiction... which means you could manage to write a story where Hitler winning and exterminating the Jews is a good thing that brings world peace and Hitler becomes God Emperor and is beloved by the cosmos, if you felt like it.
You can shove anything into a story. It doesn't mean it makes any sense, though.
8981878
No, what happened in the first part was the reality. The second part is Cadance stuck right back in her happy little pod dream world.
This just doesn't feel right. The Elements should not have aided a society founded on lies and betrayal, on love stolen, not generously given.
8982946
These Changelings shouldn't be able to, no. Loyalty, Laughter, Magic, and Kindness may answer to them, but Honesty and Generosity shouldn't.
In an alternate situation, perhaps a Changeling could. The elements shouldn't be bound to one species. But not there. Not for that purpose.
IDK if it's just me, but I LOVE how the darker elements of this are done, especially with the whole situation with cadence. Like, the way that you use her justifiable anger to paint her as the bad guy strikes a perfect middleground.
I know you don't like dark all that much, but there's so much potential here. I'd really love it if you explore Cadence's interaction with the changelings a lot more.
the more things change, the more they stay the same...
8983018
Yes but this isn't an instance with Hitler now is it? If the changelings can feel some sort of kindness or laughter or loyalty why shouldn't they be able to wield the elements? Because of their ruler or because their lives and emotions are built from feelings taken from others? Just because you don't know your history does not mean you are a bad person. Neither does not knowing where all the love you are getting comes from.
8983018
9338187
Do you people ever stop drawing parallels with real life events? I came here for a fantasy story not to be reminded how dumb yall are to compare real life monsters with a cartoon villain.
Stop trying to bring enforce your way of thinking by saying it "makes sense".
8982946
Based on what logic? You have none.
8987847
Not really. Your sense of morality and virtue changes when it has to do with a species like the changelings. You can't apply it the same way you apply it to ponies. A generous changeling could share all its love with their fellow lings. An honest changeling could be one that never chooses to transform. Your limited scope doesn't have to apply here.
Once this generation finds out the truth of what really happened... Yeah. Chrysalis, you are going down really hard.
It seems messed up, but they are the elements of "Harmony". She just wanted to save her kin, but Cadence was infected by the nightmare and tearing apart love factories, endangering the innocent populous.
Disrupting harmony.
Yeah, poor Cadence. I wanted her to have her roaring rampage of revenge too.