Chapter 06
One thing he learned quickly was that life as a larva was boring. At the start of his day he would wake up somewhere in a pile with his fellow grubs and would have to wiggle his way out to freedom. Then he would look for a patch of moss off in a corner of the room to do his business.
The other grubs would wake soon after and start loudly hissing for food while they crawled around a caretaker. One of the smaller insect creatures, and their always seemed to be at least one in the room to watch the grubs, would begin the task of feeding them. Well, they would cater for the other grubs, but not him. He would have to wait a little while longer until the larger insect creature would return for his own meals. Only she would feed him.
After the grubs had eaten they would still crawl around and hiss at everything, but just not as loudly. They would explore the room, climb up and down the walls or have pushing contests with one another.
The contests were very straightforward. One grub would push its head against another and the first to be knocked over lost. He had been challenged every so often and had won by using a simple strategy of putting his opponent off balance by ducking his head to one side or another.
The other grub would start to push past him and then he would shove them from a new angle to sending them rolling onto their side. He had a feeling that because he was so victorious at these little scuffles, the other larva would gather around him when it was time to sleep.
Every few days one of the caretakers would bring in a couple buckets full of warm water and a stack of clean fluffy towels. One at a time, he and his fellow larva would be washed clean of any grime they picked up. He enjoyed the baths but some of the others despised it and would put up a struggle by trying to squirm away before they could be scooped up. Once washed and dried they would be let loose to transverse the chamber, free to let themselves get filthy all over again.
Later the grubs would all gather together and nap in a pile. Even when he wasn’t feeling tired, as soon as the others grouped up around him, the warmth would make him sleepy. After the nap it was feeding time again, followed by more crawling around and pushing contests until it was time for bed.
The only time he wasn’t bored was when the caretakers occasionally tested him. This was usually done by bringing in different items to see if he could figure out how to manipulate them.
He would build with colorful wooden blocks that would end up knocked over and sometimes stolen away by another larva. Return scattered figurines by putting them back into a small toy barrel which would end up being knocked over and sometimes stolen away by another larva. And stack circular rings from largest to smallest on a little platform that would end up knocked over and sometimes stolen away by another larva.
While it was annoying, the other grubs never seemed to be doing this out of any malice. It was just what they did.
This routine continued, day in and day out. As the time passed he would observe the caretakers, staying close to them and listening as they conversed with one another. Little by little he started to understand the sounds they made and without realizing it he was able to pick out words.
Simple words like food, hungry, yes and no. He also learned the names of the two caretakers that interacted with the larva the most, Lacewing and Katydid. Unfortunately when he tried to say anything, he could only hiss, gurgle or squeak.
One day things all changed however. After having just been fed he was scooped up in the magical glow of the larger creature and placed on her back. She spoke to the caretakers in the room, Lacewing and Katydid, and from what he could put together he was going to be staying with her throughout the day then returned to be with the other larva when it was time to sleep.
What she did each day differed. Usually she was accompanied by one of the smaller creatures. One that wore a helmet and another that did not. He learned the one with the helmet was called Phasmid and the one without a helmet was named Odonate. Odonate was slightly larger than most of the others creatures in the tunnels, and had a tattered purple fin that ran from the back of his head down to the end of his neck. The side of his head was also very badly scratched up.
On some days she traveled the tunnels, checking on the smaller creatures. He would just quietly observe, usually from on top of her head, clinging to her mane. Other days she stayed in a room behind a closed wooden door and looked over pieces of rolled up paper. Another day she brought him into a room with a small pool of water were she bathed, washing him also.
Another thing he noticed was whenever she crossed paths or interacted with any of the smaller creatures they always bowed to her. Customarily at the beginning of the exchange but other times they would do so at the end.
While at first she didn’t speak much directly to him, with each passing day she did more and more. He started to understand new words by listening to her. From what he could now piece together he knew her name was Chrysalis, and that he was part of a powerful species called changelings.
The sad part was that no matter how hard he tried to say something back to her, he just couldn’t get the words to properly form. The closest he could get was “hiisssaliisss,” but when he did manage to say that she was thrilled.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
744 users online
998,157 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Hisssalisss
I'm guessing he hasn't considered trying to write, or display mathematics by grouping things in ways that they added up. Say a group of two, and a group of three, followed by a group of five.
If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?
9410994
Hissssss
Thanks for the chapter!
I hope you do not abandon this without some type of notice!
Awww her grub's first (almost) word was her name how adorable.
9410994
Regular changelings don't really sound too different from ponies only Chrysalis has that weird reverb. Lacewing and Kaydid likely have very soft pleasant voices having played the part of flirty pegasus sisters so long it's a natural part of their personalities. Long-term infiltrators with a pony persona likely act the same in and out of disguise, out of familiarity and to better pass as ponies, so they talk like ponies.
just saw this story in the group Human in Equestria folder Human Turned Pony/Other is this right if so the story need a human tag if not then it need to be removed from the group
9411090
Sorry, but I didn’t put the story in there.
9411090
I put it in there. The character is a human so their shouldn't be any problems. The story is new so it doesn't have all its tags.
Taken under Chrysalis wing, fed only by her, being superior to all the other grubs in their dominance contexts... He's so getting groomed to be a new queen
9411249
Royal Jelly/love... what I suspected. I look forward to more chapters. This is a pretty fun story.
9411092
You caught my attention.
9411249
I don't think we even know his gender right now. Do Changelings change genders on environment like some animals? But yeah its obvious that he will become the next changeling prince/princess.
9411552
He might be male right now biologically, bit considering they're a species of magical shapechanging pony bugs, that's rather irrelevant. If he needs to become a she, that royal jelly will do the trick. Or magic.
But they seem to have genders, yes, as the caretakers are referred as females and the guard as a male, and we know the guard had a mother and a sister. Though it most likely only matters for reproduction.
That info also tells us that the queen is not the only one to lay eggs. That or they somehow form nuclear families with her eggs, what would be weird.
So cute...
9411183
Where did it say he was human? "Not from Equiis" sure, but that doesn't narrow it down much. Maybe he used to be a sentient crab from the Omicron Theta system.
Looking forward to more of this. I like the unique perspective here.
9411597
Yeah, it's not clear on how their society works. Based on the queens brood, you'd think Changelings have a pretty standard hive structure - one Queen who lays all the eggs. (But even in canon, if that were the case, Chrysalis wouldn't have -time- to go out conquering, because the survival or her hive would depend on her pushing out eggs every day.) Then the nursemaids flirt with and tease the guards - which would be weird if they were non-reproductive members and also siblings, then we get a flashback where one says they take more after their mother - an infiltrator. So whatever their social structure/reproductive habits are, it's not clear, and probably won't be easy to put into a story without an exposition wall.
My current working theory based on what's presented in this story - Queens can lay massive amounts of brood at a time, while non-queens are limited to one. Inbreeding is prevented by the Changelings being able to reproduce with Ponies. Initially a hives brood will all either be the Queens or have a Pony parent, but over time a well-established hive can be genetically diverse enough to be self propagating.
Interesting take on that type of HiE, I wonder what prevent those changeling form not joining Thorax's hive and not need to feed on ponies anymore? I will be paying attention to it story, looking forward to see what comes next.
Also if you are interested in getting your own cover art PM me if you have the change to discus it further. Here is the link to my DA gallery if you want to take a peek in the link bellow.
https://www.deviantart.com/amalgamzaku
9412091 I knew it... Crab People...
9412607
Will he bring the glory of the Crab God when he grows up?
static.zerochan.net/Demotivational.Poster.full.689132.jpg
This is pretty cool. Very nice actually. The childhood days are actually interesting, rather than just being overly cutesy or annoying. And the fact that you've left your MC with lingering maturity and smarter than any newborn should be, but didn't leave him with memories , or at least make the memories the focus if he does have some, gives it bit of a fresher feel to the fics similar to this I normally find.
Anyway, I'm loving this and looking forward to the next update.
9412687 My god ate your god at Red Lobster.
Delightful
9412838
I agree. Its really well done and leaves you wanting to see what happens next.
Incredibly adorable, and it even began publishing on my birthday! Looking forward to where this goes.
The story is great so far and I can't wait for the next chapter. Honestly even if the concept isn't new it's done well and with a little flair
9413157
👌
So glad to see another good changeling story. There are very few of them.
"feeling tied" is a typo, should be "feeling tired"
And he's promoted to Royal Vizier already!
I got a chuckle out of "hiisssaliisss"
Watch out dear reader! This story might cause addiction or Diabetes
But is totaly worth it 
Have text error, should be let loose.
Small grammatical error.
Stories about giant insects that infiltrate societies to feast on their love should not be this cute
I'm sensing a pattern, here.
Hisssalisss. Nice.
9719277
I disagree. The cuter the better.
Dawww...
Cutes nightmare cuddle monster is hissing.
Its super effectiv. Your heart just melted
~♡~
Never liked teh skittlebugs much, always prefered the classic changeling. Though do love idea of their being two different species of changelings. Make it more interesting. Like Light elves and dark elves.
10722316
My headcanon is Thorax really went full on traitor, conspired with the Cadance and her peers, roused the tired changeling masses, and did a full on makeover of their image to be colourful and all that in a staged coup d'etat. They never stopped eating love, never stopped being "hiveminded", but with their new image ponies are much more accepting of their existence, even loving.
Thorax played 5D chess with multiverse time travel against the ponies, and Chrysalis, and won. No one's going to change my mind.
I read this story 30+ times... This part always melts my heart in joy and 'dawww so cute'
10815248
Down with the traitor, only black is the true colors of changelings.
There
11149018
Change one word and that sentence becomes a bit dicey, change two, and well you can figure it out.
9410849
Simply:
camo.fimfiction.net/HGKOVNTrPh_dQIegq-4XQTTfq37sBPSPcGN3_7ZAMFg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2Fview%2F2014%2F7%2F10%2F671941.gif
Larve: "We can not defeat this one alone. Let's group up and snuggel him into submission!"
*Larve cuddle pile was made from this day on*
As always, an amazing chapter, too bad they are so short.