The days of fear, torture and fierce opposition is over in the changeling hives. There is no longer the need for an elite, combat-ready military ready to eviscerate, pillage and destroy whatever they are ordered to kill. There is no longer a hive, only a hollow shell of pony lights, pony love, pony customs and the fading of changeling tradition. As each day passes, the old 'Chrysalis' ways are replaced by perverted versions of 'Celestia' and her subordinates' disgusting aesthetic.
Pharynx didn't think he'd be alone in his thinking. He didn't think he'd be the only one who stood defiant, fierce and intimidating to those around him. He didn't think that they wouldn't understand. They had to understand. They were his own kin! They turn their backs to him, ignorant to the years they've all spent as warriors and guards, in exchange for a life of comfort and ignorance.
He didn't think the entire hive would betray him. He didn't think the outcasting would be so unabashedly obvious. Is this what Thorax felt when he left the hive? Was this fate's sick karma of tormenting him until the day he dies?
You abandoned your brother. Now, they all abandon you.
This was no longer home.
Created as a pick-me-back-into-writing-again-write-as-I-go-kind-of-like-this challenge for myself. Can't say I am completely satisfied with how I conveyed the story, but it did get me inspired again.
Source Image: https://www.deviantart.com/inuhoshi-to-darkpen/art/No-Need-for-a-Soldier-702973099
oh, this is interesting!
9879216
It's shows how Pharynx was feeling and what he was thinking, why it took him so long to accept change, to adapt to it and find what he had to offer the hive. Keeping them from getting complacent, and weak. To remind the hive how valuable the freedom they got was, and how to keep it. But here we see him before it sunk in, before he realized what his new position in the hive was.
I’m confused. Pharynx hasn’t changed yet, but the whole Cozy Glow incident already happened?
Either I’m missing the point, or you’re missing an AU tag.
EDIT: Okay, so it is an AU. Thanks for the clarification!
:)
Hmmm
Well, if he wants, he'd probably find a group of likemind ponies who'd loved to be dominated by change(d)lings. It's not the same as before, but hey, at least both parties consent. I'd be interested in reading a sequel like that.
9879485
Completely confusing, even when I re-read it I was asking myself what plot line was I going for? Why was I meshing it all together? I contemplated removing the inconsistencies but decided against it. I was writing what Pharynx would feel as the thoughts went along- and some inconsistencies slipped in. Flaws of a human mind, I guess!
I came into this writing with one concept; Pharynx recapping, not accepting change and how bitter he was towards his kin for forsaking their past for this new life. Like in the show, he wasn't particularly angry that they changed- but for how they threw aside what they used to be and have basically insulted what they knew for their new forms. It's the age-old debate of tradition vs. progress. I have read over this a couple times now and shook my head re-reading the inconsistencies I have created. However, while confusing, I decided to keep it original for what it was rather than go back and edit any of it. I wanted to see where I could go with this, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how far I could convey this without, in my opinion, seeming drab. I did want to get this apology out to those who know the universe and how the show goes! Thank you for reading irregardless. Trust me, I was right there with you when I realized all of that. I should probably place an AU tag for that.
9879836
Mostly being tongue in cheek here, but for me the AU tag hit at:
I guess you can still fight for the 'Chrysalis is the parent of the all changelings' argument, even in the face of Ocellus having established parents, now, but it's become more than clear that Chrysalis never saw the changelings as anything past an extension of her will.
Thorax really is the loving leader they never had. 
Anyway, though it did get a little inconsistent at times, it's good for a return to writing.
I hope you dabble with changelings more in the future, all the main side races have so much lore to craft and explore.
I like this. Whilst Pharynx is admittedly holding onto the past a bit too hard here, I do see his point of view. Pharynx is not ashamed of his culture, for better and for worse. He feels that their culture, their history, and their traditions are not to be cast aside lightly.
As a man wit personally conservative leanings, I understand his thoughts. Whilst some traditions need to go for the betterment of the whole society (and Pharynx seems to have trouble rationalizing to himself which should go and which should stay) some need not be cast into forgottenness.
Mayhaps I've read too far into this, but this story resonates with me.
Good work!
9888849
Perhaps I meshed in a bit too much..
Is there going to be more?
9897521
you've left a blatant sequel hook here, is there going to be more?
based
10269462
And redpilled.
10219882
Oh, mi amigo, don't I have the treat for you!
Pharynx: the changeling threatened by change.
I'm a sucker for changeling stories. They have a lot of flexibility to adapt themselves to different topics, genres, and structures.
I like this. It's a nice little dive into Pharynx's head, fleshing him out as a social conservative who longs for the hive's glory days and feels threatened by the radical change that saw literally everyone but him embrace a completely different way of life, and the accompanying expectation that the things he valued his whole life as a "good changeling" ought to be discarded because they were wrong.
If you were to continue with this, I might suggest approaching it as dialog between Pharynx and Thorax in the form of a Hegelian Dialectic. I would eat that up.
*edit: silly me, you have continued it. I'll have to check up on that
Hrm
10491675
based
10381295
I did have that as a plan, but I am also a sucker for expository, loose-fitting stories if they're going to be more than 2 chapters. I actually had an idea somewhere back in 2021 to introduce that as a separate story, but chose to try and finish my original idea. Not really working out too well, seeing as I am almost in Year 3 and failing miserably.