The Changelings are in rough shape, ArchQueen Chrysalis has been taking over the other Hives and purging their Royals, with the intention of becoming the sole ruler of the Changelings and eventually taking over the world.
While she has successfully wiped out most of the Royals, she doesn't know she missed one, a young Royal Stallion, hidden away by his mother and father to challenge Chrysalis for the right to rule the Changelings.
Now this young Royal, with the help of his trusted friends and allies, must build his own Hive for the eventual confrontation.
Story starts a few years before Nightmare Moon's return and goes from there.
Will add or change tags if needed and may change the cover art.
Chapters (27)
Interesting premise! I look forward to seeing what you can make of this.
9964338
I've got a number of ideas for this, hope you enjoy.
Changelings aren't ponies. You should call the changeling prince something else, and not a stallion.
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Well I'm not sure what else I would call him, you have any ideas? I don't mean that in a sarcastic way or anything like that, I'm just using stallion as it's something I'm use too and Changelings (at least for me) are pretty close to Ponies so I think it counts.
Someone plays a lot of RTS games. Not like I'm complaining.
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RTS games were actually the first game genre I ever played, so I'm trying to catch that with this story.
Hope you enjoy.
Ok, so you're somehow running off of Starcraft 2 logic with Dragonfly's hive fitting in somewhere between the Zerg and Terran Tech Trees. Makes sense in a very interesting way. Now here's hoping they manage to befriend Ponyville and the Mane 6 to the point of being able to fully integrate with Ponyville and eventually Equestria openly. After all, it teases that non-changelings can be added to the hivemind which would be a great boon.
oops and ouch.
I can't wait to read more. Here's hoping someone can figure out how to stop laying eggs. After all it sounds like they are a type of pony given interbreeding is possible and the fact most drones are fertile.
I was wondering when someone would notice that.
As for Ponyville, the tea shop will be a major help towards that as I have a few plans to expand its business in the future, for fully integrating we'll just have to wait and see. With the Hivemind, I can could fully see Twilight being added, temporarily or maybe permanently, to learn more about.
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For both Dragonfly and Seeker. Thankfully for Dragonfly only the very first lay is painful, though if I was Dragonfly I would be quite angry with Seeker as well.
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Happy to see you're enjoying it.
As for the egg laying and "expanding" the Hive, that will be explained in more detail in an up-coming chapter.
woo! New Chapter. And I suppose it makes sense Pinkie knew.
Princess WHO?... it would be JUST like video game to pull this BS... well done. This reminds me EXACTLY like a game.
I want this video game. Unreal Engine... NOW!
Just kidding... but seriously tho...
Yep I'm still going off of you've somehow managed to put Starcraft 2's mechanics into FIM sorta with the Protag's "country" basically being the Terrans with shades of Zerg and Protoss thrown in.
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Funny how it turned out that way, I was originally just using that as a base and it just turned into what it is now.
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Oh believe me, I would love to have this as a video game. Sadly I don't have the knowledge on that sort of thing, plus some other problems, but yes, this would be awesome as a video game.
Unreal Engine would be an interesting choice, if we're going with highly detailed graphics, seeing Changelings, Ponies and whatnot as realistic creatures. I think it would be be quite cool to see.
If you're interested, I could tell you how the game would play if I could make it.
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Thanks, funny enough that was actually unintentional. Out of curiosity, which game(s) does this remind you of?
Just wondering, are you referring to Platinum or Luna here?
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Platinum being in stone reminded me of Dark Souls 2's NPC's Frozen in stone.
Platinum, I'm referring to good old ps2 games, and the odd events that would take place for convenience.
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I choose unreal for its stability and ability to portray non humans well.
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I haven't really played Dark Souls 2 but I do know what you're talking about, truth be told I was quite surprised at the unintentional reference when I took a look. Still, glad you like it.
I do agree with you on the unreal engine, both for the stability and ability to portray non humans well along with what I've seen people make with it.
Sorry I forgot to comment last time but this is coming along nicely.
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it's alright, I know that happens sometimes. Either way I'm glad you are enjoying it.
Out of curiosity, which one of the Soldier Variants would you have picked?
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Combat rig
Nope. Wasn't expecting that last part. Then again I can't say much as one of my stories has Celestia as one of Harry Potter's godparents.
Probably very scary. Nice new chapters and I can't wait to read part 3.
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Thanks.
Not sure when part three will be out as this month and the next do get a bit crazy for me helping my family out with things, but hopefully the wait wouldn't be too long.
Key word being hopefully.
I'm getting Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Vibes from this story
I like it
"Design must be simple. Elegant. Implementation, less so. Sequences must change. Intent static, product fluid. Always can improve. Stressors reveal flaws. Flaws reveal potential. Always improving. Good."
- Abathur
Hey when did Star Wars Empire At War Forces of Corruption get here.
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While writing this I actually pictured the mission briefing scene being almost the same as the one from Heart of the Swarm, just Changeling instead of Zerg.
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I do honestly wonder what Abathur would say in regards to the various breeds of Changelings and the variants for those that have them. Note that we haven't seen the full list yet.
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I was wondering when someone would comment that reference, for one of my favorite missions in the game. There will be small references for various RTS games throughout the story but even I don't know when they will appear.
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More Empire at War and Empire at War Forces of Corruption Refences More I say pls
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I'll see what I can do.
Ok skipper
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Rhino is similar to Skipper in someways, just with more actual experience.
Tf2 the heavy.
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Yep, Equestria's got a team of Royal Knights with each based off the TF2 classes.
Sounds like a combination of Civilization and Age of Empires, with an MLP skin.
You know, if someone actually made this video game I would play it.
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Believe me I'd love to see this as a game.
Reminds me very much of video games, with the tutorial like dialogue, the mission objectives and the introduction of various things like Hive Lore Cucoons and drones.
Still, the characters definitely make it fun; from Dragonfly and Seeker's banter to Rhino's stellar introduction; I really like these characters, and would be interested to see where they go from here.
Thanks for sharing.
10970738
That's what I was going for, funny enough I actually pictured the mission briefing scene being almost the same as the one from Heart of the Swarm, just Changeling instead of Zerg.
I'm curious, what do you like about the characters we've seen so far?
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Definitely the crack about Rhino's nickname 'Fartillery.' The whole scene where they talk about him immediately endeared them to me, just because it felt so relatable; talking about some eccentricity a friend had, and sharing stories. Sharing stories has always been the way I connected with others, so seeing others connect through tales of their friends or the past really help me relate more to them.
And, of course, Rhino himself making his debut with a bang also helped endear him to me; I was already curious about him considering the stories Dragonfly and Seeker shared, but then he appears, and he reveals himself to be quite the badass, destroying several timber wolves with what I'm guessing was some sort of grenade launcher. Yeah, Rhino's probably my favorite so far.
But, we'll see if that changes when I get to the other chapters. Until then, thanks for sharing.
10971632
I was trying to show that our main cast here are close friends, and I think I did that pretty well. And Rhino is a veteran soldier, having actually served in the Germane (the Story's counterpart to Germany) army and in Nebula's Hive before.
Looking forward to your comment for the next chapter.
Hello Silver,
You mentioned this one was work, and I can tell. You put so much effort and detail into not only the mechanics but the hive itself that it was very easy for me to picture where they were at. Excellent work with the location and settings.
The 'video game' aspect is still a little odd for me, since this is meant to be a written story, and not a video game itself. Though I will admit, the mechanics do sound rather intriguing. I'm curious how they're going to be utilized in the chapters to come. Like, will Dragonfly run the risk of his changelings turning on him with the discontent bar filling? Feels like it could be a great cliffhanger.
Well, I guess I'll find out when I get to them. Until then, thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, and what can I say: I'm a world builder.
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I'm not really sure, as they're just breeds, and you don't seem to have any specific characters assigned to them. I'm a character guy; I'm a bit more attached to personalities that reflect abilities. And while the Lurkers and the Impaler sound interesting, there's no named characters for them, so all it feels I'm being given is a rap sheet for a possible character. It's cool, but I feel it'd be better if there were characters assigned to these breeds who utilized their abilities in different ways.
For example; in one of my standalone fantasy stories, I have different classes of dragons: ignis-drakes, aqua-drakes, so on. But I don't 'just' have the names and abilities of the breeds; I have characters who utilized the breed's skills and attributes, and have personalities developed around each one. For example, Bang is an ignis-drake. As an ignis-drake, he can use fire, and as a result, he's flamboyant and loves to make fireworks to accentuate himself. Or, for a bit of contrast, Kira is an aqua-drake. As an aqua-drake, she can control water, which she uses to control the water in blood, because she likes vampires and wants to emulate them.
See what I mean? Abilities are cool, but when I don't know a lot about the person using them, they just aren't as interesting to me.
Dragonfly reminds me a lot of Skippy from Howlite Howler 2; a changeling who infiltrated Shiva's hive and became her best friend and advisor. I definitely think Shiva and Dragonfly would get along marvelously.
I did consider the idea of Shiva and Skippy being an item before I stuck with Luke, so I could also see some romantic tension between Shiva and Dragonfly, though they'd have to ignore it or work past it due to Shiva already being married. I'd also like to believe they'd handle it better than most love triangles are handled in media, but I'm biased because they're my characters.
Does Dragonfly have a special somepony in his life? Or will he get a special somepony?
Just realized this wasn't linked as a reply.
I can understand that.
Indeed, I have no doubt they'd be good friends at the very least.
He does, he gets not one, but two later on.
