Red Hooved
It was the day after Thorax promised Twilight he would come back with a meal, and the time had come to carry through on his promise. He had not slept particularly well, anxiety at the prospect of being caught tearing away at the edges of his mind like a pack of wild animals. He did his best to hide his anxiety when he got up, and thankfully, the other drones were too busy focusing on their tasks to pay him much attention.
Once the various morning drills and exercises had been completed, Pharynx called the assembled drones to attention and began to dish out orders for the day. The clouds still hung heavy over the badlands, and so patrols were to remain increased. In a way, this was a good thing for Thorax. It meant that the vast majority of the drones that would be lounging in the Hive on a normal day would be preoccupied scouting out the wasteland.
“Alright, you’re all dismissed!” Pharynx’s voice barked through the warrior’s nest, snapping Thorax out of his thoughts. The towering chamber erupting into motion as the assembled drones flew up into the air to go about their duty, filling the air with the near-deafening buzz of their wings.
Thorax flew up and away from the others, passing out of the warrior’s nest and into the rest of the Hive. His direction was unlikely to draw anything more than a passing glance. The Badlands was a big place, and seeing as the Hive could shift and change to allow any drone to fly in a straight line without any obstructions from one end to the other, he was free to leave in any direction he saw fit to get outside.
Of course, this time, he was not heading outside just yet. He had a stop to make, first.
Thorax passed through a few more walls before coming to a landing in an empty tunnel that connected the nursery hive to the largest chamber of the Hive: The Queen’s Spire, where the Queen herself and all of her most trusted drones and advisors made their home. Thorax would need to get below that to reach the storage chambers and the food he planned to bring to Twilight.
“Okay, Thorax, you can do this. You’ve done it before,” he mumbled to himself before turning and looking down at the floor. A tunnel emerged from the stone, sloping down at a sharp angle. Thorax took a deep breath before hopping in and closing his entrance behind him. The world was plunged into darkness, but the glow of his eyes lit the way well enough.
The corridor was cramped, barely allowing him to walk upright. This was by design, of course. He didn’t want to make his tunnel too large and draw attention. The smaller it was, the less noise it would make, and the harder it would be to notice or accidentally spill into the tunnel formed by another drone.
This was always the easy part. Without being able to see him directly, most drones he would pass would be inclined to dismiss the sound of grinding stone as just some drone going about their business, not one of their own slinking his way to steal from them.
The hard part would be once he reached the bottom level. The deepest bowels of the Hive did not shift for just any changeling. Only the Queen and those with the proper permissions could effectively shape the stone down there, meaning that once he reached that level, Thorax would have to sneak through the old fashioned way.
He had done it before, of course. He was small, scrawny, and knew how to be quiet. Better still, he could just turn into a fly or a spider or something. Of course, then the danger of being seen and stepped on came up. He couldn’t help but shudder at the prospect of being squished in such a small form before snapping back to his true self. It would be agonizing for him and more than a little alarming and confusing for the poor drone who decided to go on pest control.
But so far, nothing like that had transpired, meaning he had no reason to think this time would be any different.
Eventually, his senses of the stone ahead of him began to grow hazy and muddled, a surefire indication that he was approaching the lower levels. He gulped heavily and came to a stop, keeping himself isolated in a small chamber that could barely fit his size. He scanned around, slowly spreading out his room to look for another one to step into. The process was slow, and as confined as he was, all he could hear was his own breathing and the subtle scrape of stone against stone.
Finally, a small stream of emerald light filtered into the chamber as his hole opened up into what appeared to be a standard tunnel. He immediately stopped expanding his chamber and perked his ears up, listening intently. He could hear the sound of hooves somewhere nearby.
Thorax held his breath, waiting until the hoof steps faded into silence. He stayed still for several seconds to ensure the patrol was not coming back before slipping into the tunnel, closing his chamber up behind him. With a flicker of green flames, he transformed into a black-colored moth, about three inches from one wingtip to the other.
Satisfied, Thorax fluttered up to the roof, blending into the shadows, and began to slowly work his way through the tunnels for the storage chambers. This one area of the Hive was typically left unchanged, and even when it did shift, there was always at least one path leading where he needed to go. Emergency supplies were stored there, and sometimes the Hive couldn’t afford to wait for a drone with the proper credentials to come and open a path.
Thorax heard hoofsteps again. If he had vocal cords, he might have sworn under his breath. Instead, he simply alighted upon a spike jutting down from the roof and held still. A patrol of three drones entered the corridor a moment later, chattering quietly amongst themselves. A minute later, the patrol passed, and Thorax continued on his way, his tiny insect heart hammering just a little harder than it had been before.
After a few more minutes of searching, he finally found his entrance. The tunnel he had been navigating opened up into a larger one heading both left and right. To the left, the tunnel curved up for the rest of the Hive, while to the right, Thorax could see the healthy green glow of the illumination pods that were kept in the storage room. Two changeling drones were stationed outside the cave, their eyes glaring forward. They were wearing the dark blue armor of the Queen’s Stingers, the most elite warriors in the Hive.
“They increased the defenses down here,” Thorax thought to himself. For a moment, he entertained the notion of abandoning his little heist. This was getting dangerous, a lot more than it had been before. If he was caught now, he was a dead drone, and he was of no help to Twilight if that happened.
But then he thought of the sound her growling stomach made, and his own twisted in sympathy. He could already see her disappointed face on learning that he hadn’t been able to bring her the meal he had promised, hear the resignation in her voice as she tried to assure him that it was fine.
He heard her stomach rumbling in his head again, like an earthquake bringing the whole world down on his head. He shook himself and pressed on. Twilight was his only friend, and he had made her a promise. He was not going to back down now. If it meant making one of the most important creatures in his life happy for a change, then he was willing to run the risk.
He moved slowly along the roof, shrinking his size down to be less conspicuous. The Stingers swept their eyes about from time to time, but much to Thorax’s relief, they never bothered to look up. He passed them by and slipped into the storage room without incident, his fake eyes looking around.
The storage chamber he had entered was only one of many, but it was no less impressive. A bundle of spikey, green resin hung from the ceiling like a chandelier, emitting emerald light that illuminated the whole room. It was circular in shape, with shelves etched into the walls in irregular patterns. Each one was stuffed and loaded with a wide range of supplies, from medicinal herbs to materials used to support an unstable tunnel, to magically conductive stones.
Thorax slowly fluttered up to the roof of the chamber to get a bird’s-eye view, assuring he was alone. Once he was satisfied that he was the room’s sole occupant, he snapped back into his true form in a rush of flame. “Okay, I gotta move fast.”
Moving swiftly, Thorax descended down to the food shelves, his eyes passing over all of them intently. His resin saddlebags felt oddly heavy on his sides as he scanned the shelves. No doubt he was anticipating the load he was about to walk out of here with.
“Okay, okay… Twilight’s an herbivore, and I know that she likes these,” he thought to himself as he plucked a few bundles of greens off of one shelf and stuffing them into his bags. “But she’s had these already. I’m gonna need more…”
He picked his way through, pausing every so often to listen for any sign that he was being followed. Every time, he was met with silence, and he renewed his search with vigor. He acquired a bundle of fruits, a small satchel of nuts, and finally, a few herbs that he knew could be ground up into a fine powder to act as a sort of spice. He dared not take anything else, though. For every item he nicked, his own feelings of guilt grew more intense.
“Okay… okay, that should be everything,” he whispered to himself. All he had to do now was get out of here and get outside before anyone-
“Is that so?”
Thorax froze as he came face to face with another drone, a male.
“W-wha… I…”
The drone’s lips curled up into a monstrous grin, and his forked tongue slithered out to lick at his lips. “Oh-ho, I see… so you’re the thief, huh? Makes sense. Can’t get any food normally, so you resort to stealing.”
“N-no, please, you have it all wrong,” Thorax stammered out, backing away until his rear-end pressed into the shelves he had just been stealing from. Where had this drone even come from?! Thorax had been alone in here! “I’m not s-stealing anything, I swear! I was told to come get these!”
“By who?”
Thorax opened his mouth to throw out a name, any name, but the words caught in his throat. He mouthed uselessly like a fish for several seconds.
The other drone scowled. “Thought not,” he snarled. He lunged forward, letting out a loud hiss that the guards outside no doubt heard.
Thorax cried out as the drone’s hooves plowed into his chest, forcing him to stand up on his hind legs with his back pinned to the wall. A moment later, the air was driven from his lungs when the drone lifted up and drove both of his hind legs into Thorax’s belly. He let out a breathless wheeze before toppling forward and crashing to the ground. Stars exploded across his vision as white-hot pain filled his skull. He tried to stand, but it was hard to get his hooves under him with the world spinning like this.
A hoof kicked him into the side, rolling him over onto his back before his hooves were pinned to the ground. His eyes refocused long enough to see the drone glaring back down at him. “You’re coming with me, whelp,” he growled in disgust, causing Thorax to whimper and cower into the floor. “The queen would like a few words with you…”
Thorax’s eyes flew as wide as saucers, his heart pounding with such force he feared it might burst out of his chest and run off without him. “N-no, please, wait!” he cried desperately, his eyes searching for a way out.
A glob of resin splattered across his muzzle, silencing his cries. His eyes stared pleadingly into those of his captor, silently pleading with him to reconsider.
The drone turned his eyes back down to Thorax’s prone body before leaning down. Thorax shuddered in revulsion and panic when he felt the unmistakable numbing sensation of changeling mucus pouring over his body. He thrashed and squirmed, trying in vain to get free, but his efforts were to no avail. In a matter of seconds, his entire body, save for his face, was ensnared in a tight, paralyzing cocoon.
“Ha. Too easy,” the drone chuckled to himself before turning and heading for the exit, dragging Thorax along the ground.
The whole way, Thorax was powerless to do anything but scream at cry through his gag, tears streaming down his cheeks as he was dragged mercilessly into the darkness.
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Saw that coming a mile off... Damn it Thorax you and your kind buggy heart...
nice work
The moral of the story is 'don't make stupid promises', I guess.
Its power of Love.
Maybe we will get lucky and it will beam Chyssi in the face.
10106985
a grate chapter and yep i saw this also.
10107206
Or my favorite saying, “ Play stupid games, Win stupid prizes”.
Well, we all knew this was coming.
The questions to ask now...will Thorax get out of it? How? And what happens to Twilight in either case?
If Thorax is smart, he'll try to say nothing about Twilight--explaining the truth may seem like it might spare him, but it'll only bring Twilight down with him, and her chances of escaping this alive will be higher if the hive continues to remain unaware that she's out there.
Do they actually glow, though?
Ah ****. If it was Pharynx, he might have had a chance, but he's a dead bug if Chrysalis gets a hold of him.
Which means that Pharynx is gonna intervene somehow!
I hope.
He should totally sell out Twilight to save himself!
That's the PROPER human way!
(But he's a changeling...)
Eh, close enough.
10110982
not trying to be a dick but you seem to have some problems mate, what's with all the wishing torture and death on the characters? And now hating on humans?
10111978 Given how many stories already torture and kill the characters... and somehow have thousands of likes... yeah.
As for humans, it's kinda split. Some stories absurdly over-power them, some try to exterminate them... and some just have sexx0rz with everything.
I'm just playing along at this point. I would venture into the Doctor Who fandom again FOR MEGA-TROLLING... but holy hell, what a mess that's become! I don't need to do anything but watch it burn!
10111978
Eh, that's just Alondro for you. He's a strange, strange fellow. Sort of like with Pinkie Pie, I've found it's better to just not question it.
Wooo~ time to dive into another "The Bug In The" story!
Before I start reading, and yes this suggestion is personal bias for the story types I like... but "The Bug in the Mirror" would be a great title for a future entry in this series of spiritual successors.
10134238
I had 'The Bug in The Future' rolling around in my skull, personally, but I like the way Mirror rolls off the tongue... Hm. We'll see. Gotta finish Cave first.
Too easy indeed.
The question is...
How the heck did he planned taking herbs away from there?
He can transform, but only he himself.
Never did he thought that others can transform for an ambush too.
Dang it thorax you're so kind but something tells me you're going to get in trouble
“Okay… okay, that should be everything,” he whispered to himself. All he had to do now was get out of here and get outside before anyone-
“Is that so?”
Thorax froze as he came face to face with another drone, a male.
Dang it thorax got caught I knew it was going to happen
Oh dear that's not good thorax got caught and this is what happens when you tempt it faith dang it thorax
Twilight wouldn't want him to take such risks and she made clear that she didn't want him to get into trouble over it. Thorax really should have given up when he noticed the extra defences.
Thorax, you fool. You should`ve just settled for scavenging.
This is getting intense.