“The invasion of Equestria,” I interrupted Chrysalis’s lesson. “It goes against everything changelings stood by.”
We had returned to her study after visiting the pod room. Chrysalis began our normal lessons with magic theory, this time covering harmonic shield lattices. The chill from earlier had subsided, however it left behind a pain that ached and creaked like I had run a ten mile marathon. My head throbbed and my chest stung.
Chrysalis sneered at my interruption, “This is happening with or without your approval, Prince Phasma. I am the queen, you are the prince.”
“I would have recommended the invasion had you not ordered it, Mother. I am just remarking on the fact that you are going to break the Masquerade, which goes against all ingrained rules and traditions of our species.”
“I do hope that you’re not wasting my time by stating the obvious.”
“So why stop there? Surely there are alternatives to love collection. Why limit yourself to doing what your forebears did when you already disregard their rules and teachings?”
“This again? Prince Phasma, we harvest love from podded prey because it is the most efficient method we have at our disposal.”
The pain was making me frustrated, so I argued further, “But surely other methods tried in the past are viable now that the Masquerade has been discarded-”
Chrysalis shut me down fast, “Alternatives have been considered and they all have been rejected. Now, repeat back to me the available frequencies for shield lattices for defending against fire spells.”
I grunted in annoyance.
‘I’m getting nowhere fast. Chrysalis seems resolute, though at least she considered alternatives. Maybe once I get my hooves on more information, I can better prepare a case to change her mind. Throw that onto the pile of shit to deal with at a later time, I guess.’
Lessons continued as normal for the rest of the day. Well, not really.
The pains, while not even close to being as bad as the chest pain I had in the storage room, were more than distracting. I missed points here and there. I zoned out occasionally. Often, I found myself rubbing the base of my horn.
Eventually, it came time for magic practice. When Chrysalis finished the final lesson for the day, she stood up from behind her desk and said her goodbye to me.
“We are done for the day. Prince Phasma,” Chrysalis said, then she actually put a hoof on my shoulder, “you were distracted during our lessons. I do not have the time nor patience to repeat the material. You need to put the extraction lessons behind you and move on. Prince Phasma, you said it yourself; we are predators. The hunt is messy and is unpleasant to look at but this is for the survival of our species, you will move on.”
I thought of the bloody carcasses I saw on nature documentaries. Messy is an understatement.
‘If it’s truly the only way, what choice would I have? Would I inflict pain upon others to survive?’
I didn’t like it and I knew it would end horribly for us, but I knew the answer to that question.
‘What choice do we have? It’s us or them.’
Chrysalis let her hoof drop to the floor and walked past me.
“Better them than us…” I mumbled. She was already out of earshot. I stood up from the seat across from the desk and paced about the room. I had some time before Officer Katydid’s arrival for magic practice.
‘I don’t know enough about changelings to think of alternative methods for food sources by myself…’
I rubbed my head as I thought.
‘Maybe Thorax has a few ideas. This is why I wanted him in the Fang, after all. I’m sure he’s put no small amount of thought into this. Problem is, where is he? Phayrnx would know, but fuck Pharynx.’
I groaned and flopped onto the couch. I worked my jaw as I stared at the empty fireplace in front of me. My headache was really starting to sap my focus.
‘Does this pain have something to do with the fact that I extracted love myself? Shit, I didn’t think to ask Chrysalis. I’ll have to ask Katydid. Love extracting… Could I induct Katydid? Like Thorax, he’s got a good heart… No, he’s an officer and my subordinate now, but I can’t risk adding him to the First Fang. Because he has too much contact with both Chrysalis and Eucharis, the odds of him accidentally revealing the First Fang is too great.’
I flipped onto my back and stared at the ceiling.
‘Creating a less risky group within the military that I can seek ideas from is my best bet here. That, and the vault. It’s going to be a bit before I can start giving orders around with impunity, so no funny business until then. The vault is fair game, I just need to get Oestridae into the guard and on vault detail.’
'Oestridae would be returning with the infiltrator flunkies next week. That means I can get in contact with at least one of the First Fang, and we can start arranging things like secret meetings.’
I glared at the door.
‘Everything is moving so slow and yet so fast at the same time.’
Finally, the door opened as Officer Katydid arrived.
“Ah, I’m sorry My Prince. I had an unexpected conversation earlier…”
I grunted an acknowledgement, “It’s fine. We're doing shields today, too?”
He smiled. “Yes, My Prince. Nothing so advanced as what your material covers, I’ve been told, but it is important material. We’ll be working on the physical shaping of your shield spell.”
“Mmmm…”
“Is… everything alright, My Prince?”
I shut my eyes, covering them with a hoof. I could still taste the pegasus’ pain. Or maybe that was the pain at the top of my head, spreading down to my muzzle.
“Are there side effects of extracting love manually?” I asked, glancing at the changeling drone with a half-opened eye.
Katydid brought a hoof to his chin as he looked to the ceiling. “Nnnno? No. There shouldn’t be any sort of side effect, Prince Phasma.” He looked back down to me, still on my back on the couch. “What are your symptoms? I can fetch a nurse immediately.”
I gave a dismissive wave. “Just aches and pains. A bit everywhere, but mostly my head hurts.”
‘It’s like going through puberty all over again. Wait a second.’
“Katydid? Nymphs go through a series of molts, right?”
“That’s right. You believe you are approaching your first molt, My Prince?”
“Would it explain the pains I am feeling?”
He shook his head. “Symptoms of approaching a molt do not include strange pains, My Prince, just an uncomfortable feeling of tightness.”
I gave another groan at that, but Katydid continued.
“Though I’ve never heard anything about royal nymphs or accelerated growth cycles. Perhaps Your Highness is indeed approaching your first molt?”
I sat up, ignoring the pain.
“Maybe. Another question for Queen Chrysalis, I guess. Anyways, we’re doing shields?”
Katydid shuffled his hooves. “I… would be much more comfortable if I could fetch medical assistance, My Prince. I do not think you should be ignoring this. Queen Chrysalis might be busy, but a dedicated nurse can be here within minutes.”
“I don’t-” a jab of pain in my horn ended my protests. “Fuck, that stings. I’m six months old, and I spent a month as a-”
“Where did you learn to swear?” He asked me, not for the first time. I ignored him, not for the first time.
“-larva. Is that a normal ratio for changeling growth cycles?”
“Your first molt is expected in another month, following our observations on your biology. I’m fetching a nurse,” Katydid said after I hissed in pain.
I wanted to argue, but avoiding getting mysterious pain checked out sounds like a great way to die for no reason.
Nurse Obturator finished running a diagnostic spell on Prince Phasmatodea. From his near-polished hooves to his smooth, curved horn, the spell showed everything as fine. At least, as far as Obturator could tell.
“Where does it hurt the most?” Obturator asked.
“Again, my head,” the young Prince growled. “Keep asking that and your head’s gonna hurt, too.”
‘Like mother, like son. I’m surprised he made it this long without a threat, even if it isn’t a death threat.’
“When did this start?”
“This morning.”
“On a scale of-”
“A lot. It hurts a lot.”
“What were you doing when the pain started?”
“Extracting love.”
‘Utilizing the Thread of Change could exacerbate pre-existing conditions…’
“Have you done anything else of note in the past week?”
“Physically? No.”
“Well Prince Phasma, the scan is being… less than helpful. I do not have any experience with the morphology of changeling royals, My Prince. I believe Her Majesty should be notified immediately.”
Queen Chrysalis was inspecting a discovery made down in the Greencave, hence why she wasn’t here immediately. Prince Phasma at first denied Obturator from sending word to the Queen, but the nurse felt that he was out of his depth.
Prince Phasma hissed, “Fine. Go get her to do your job.”
Nurse Obturator nodded at Officer Katydid, who then left the room.
‘Well Queen Chrysalis, I warned you something like this could happen. Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long for symptoms to manifest.’
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he told the grouchy nymph. Obturator threw in a fanged smile to try to cheer Phasma up.
“I’m not imagining the pain.”
“Oh no, My Prince, I was not insinuating that.”
Phasma tapped his horn and grimaced. “Then, what where you– Gahh…! Insinuating?”
“Have you casted any complicated spells recently? Anything that might have to do with this pain?”
“If I did, I would have told you.” Phasma mumbled something under his breath. Obturator guessed that it was an insult.
“Have you been using your magic frequently?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have trouble performing?”
“W-What?! I’m a nymph, you overgrown, shit-eating dung beetle-”
“Spells! Performing spells!”
‘I don’t even want to know why Chrysalis had the crickets and the bees speech with a six-month-old nymph, by Panar!’
“O-Oh, that makes more sense. No, my spells have been fine.”
‘Conduits are okay, diagnostic confirms that. He rubs the base of his horn a lot, could it have to do with the horn structure?’
“When was the last time you casted a spell outside of levitation?”
“Four days ago, I think.”
“Anything of note that happened then?”
Phasma crossed his hooves, “Officer Katydid had me going over the changeling transformation spell.” He took in a long breath, “We were going over different surface-level changes.”
Obturator suppressed a sigh, ‘If we had access to pony alcohol in the hive, I would surely have died of liver-failure by now.’
“You don’t think changing your physiology counts as an important thing to tell me?”
“I’ve been busy!” Phasma threw his hooves in the air. “Shit happened!”
Obturator recalled the fates of three of his predecessors. One was not quick enough with a diagnosis. Another tried to overrule Queen Chrysalis when it came to treatment. A final gave bad news on a day that was already terrible for the changeling monarch.
‘Well, it’s not everyday the Queen invents a new position in charge of the entire Swarm. Not to mention Prince Phasma is only half a year old, so his skewed sense of importance is far above the worst case scenario. In fact, he’s only threatened me once, he’s answered every question, and he’s been as restrained as possible given the pain he’s in. I was wrong; compared to his mother, he’s practically a saint.’
Before he could apologize for being less than careful with treating the irritated royal who could order his execution, Phasma touched his horn one more time. He hissed in pain as it wobbled.
“That’s not supposed to do that,” Obturator helpfully pointed out.
…that’s not so good.
hoping he sneezes and his horn flys off and nails chrisalis in the leg
The thing about most predators is that they don't have sapience. That's an important fact that both Chrysalis and Phasma are overlooking.
With that selfawareness and ability to do long-term thinking, they should be doing exactly that. Neither of them are thinking about long-term sustainability for the hive. Great, you've overrun Equestria and podded the entire population. As the hive grows, where are they going to get more ponies now? They hunt their prey into veritable extinction and have nothing left to feed upon, so the whole hive starves again. The invasion is a short term solution that will make things worse in the long run.
They need to be thinking less in terms of predation, and more in terms of how they can make it symbiosis. Not easy, but it is the best choice for long term survival. So long as the ponies grow, so would the hive.
I wonder what's happening to Phasma? Seems like his horn is about to fall off. That can't be a good thing. Could he be growing? Could it be some other kind of mutation? The aftereffect of his contact with both the Weave and Nightmare Moon? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
O.o probably not a good sign
I suspect transplant rejection. If he ever suspects it, he's not telling anyone.
10551475
How many points would each hole be worth?
10551477
1.
I actually pointed it out in the previous chapter
10548617
2.
I have 2 ideas about this,either:
-His horn is growing and moulting its shell/exoskeleton, to grow a new one that has more room for a longer horn.
After the moulting ,the horn would probably be wobbly and soft and will need to harden, grow an exoskeleton around itself
-Or his horn is falling off and he will grow antlers like Thorax XD
derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/1/25/1640665.png
10551485
The problem with that latter one is that Thorax still has his horn in addition to his antlers. He never lost it.
10551497
Oh right I forgot about it ,it sometimes blends in because its of the same color as the main color of his head
10551484
1 for hitting her
5 for a shot that goes right through
10 for a shot that gets jammed in her leg
Birth defect that appears later in life? Weird poison kinda thing by Chrysalis for annoying her? Somehow got in contact with Poison Joke?
maybe using the weave to constantly mind read is bad
No!? Really?
10551544
Maybe he somehow synced with pony because felt sympathy, remorse or something.
Or this literal manifestation of internal conflict.
10551477
The commonly used term is sustainability. Everyone from hunters to paper manufacturers need to keep it in mind. And it’s far from a novel concept. The story of the golden goose has been around for ages after all.
10551665
Aw man.
10551756
And it shows Logan's personality perfectly. Just three words.
10551477
You do realize the Changelings can just breed them like what the machines to in the matrix right?
Just because we eat cows, it doesn't make them go extinct, simply because we are smart enough to breed them.
10551716
.... I did use the term sustainability....
See?
10551826
Cows are not sapient. You just throw a bull in with a bunch of cows, and you've got yourself a new generation of young. Ponies ARE sapient, and it may not work that easily. Also, how are you going to breed them if they're in PODS for emotion harvesting? And do you think taking them out of the pods and saying "screw each other's brains out until she's pregnant" is going to result in the positive-emotion dreams they need to harvest from when they are re-podded? No I don't think so. Podding the whole pony race is not sustainable long-term.
10551852
Yes it is.
As i said just do what the machines do in the matrix, which is pretty similar already if you replace virtual reality with dreams.
Also, you don't need them to be awake to breed them, be a little more creative. Humans in the Matrix are not awake after all.
10551863
The thing about the Matrix is that the machines have very advanced technology and can do things like In vitro fertilisation. The humans never even have to be woken up for it. The changelings do not have anything like that. Nevermind the fact also involves heavy use of invasive cybernetic implants into the brain. Another things the Changelings do not have.
So no, it is not long term sustainable. You cannot go "oh all they have is to do this" when said "this" involves highly advanced technology that they are likely centuries away from achieving, if they could at all. And don't use the cop-out answer of "oh they can just use magic". There is only one, ONE being we have seen capable of dream manipulation, that is Luna/Nightmare Moon. They've never shown any other being capable of manipulating dreams. Nor have they ever shown any indication that magic could somehow be used to ensure in-pod fertilization.
So no, your idea is not sustainable long term, however much you might like it to be.
Six month.
Reference to Vampire: The Masquerade. Break it too often and you start attracting vampire hunters.
10551833
Touché. It would seem I was being a dumb dumb.
10551923
S'alright. It happens to all of us from time to time.
10551902
¨There is only one, ONE being we have seen capable of dream manipulation, that is Luna/Nightmare Moon. They've never shown any other being capable of manipulating dreams. Nor have they ever shown any indication that magic could somehow be used to ensure in-pod fertilization.¨
In the story we see a changeling say ¨This one is ready for harvest¨. Surely they can influence their dreams, for i really don't think they are going ¨Oh let's just wait for us to be lucky enough for them to dream the right dreams!¨ If that was the case they'd have starved long ago.
¨The thing about the Matrix is that the machines have very advanced technology and can do things like In vitro fertilisation¨
And? Highly advanced tech is not necessary for it, the point still stands that they don't even need to be awake. If anything the Changelings could just brainwash a few males to breed the sleeping female population. (I can't remember if those mares in season 2 finale were brainwashed or disguised changelings, they were brainwashed right? Otherwise the flower trick woudn't make sense.)
Just because solutions are horrible for the ponies doesn't mean they are unsustainable to the Changelings.
10551936
Just because they can identify if someone is "ready to harvest" does NOT mean they can manipulate dreams. That is one heck of a leap of logic if ever I heard one. They are emotovores, so they can probably tell when someone is feeling good enough to harvest from. That does NOT imply dream manipulation. Not in the slightest.
ALSO, if they could manipulate dreams so they were always feeling good, and thus always ready to harvest from... the hive wouldn't be facing starvation, now would it?
Uhh.... High tech IS kinda necessary for in vitro fertilization. What world do you live in where it's not?
Brainwashing, Maybe. Though I'm guessing there are limits to what they will do. Thing about brain washing is it also muddles the mind from what we've seen. Be it the Bridesmaids, or Sombra's helmets. Those brainwashed aren't thinking/feeling clearly. If they're not thinking or feeling clearly, then there is likely some hindrance to harvesting emotions then, isn't there?
As for foals born from your drug/date rape method, there's problems there too. Foals kind of need interaction with adults to develop properly. IF children aren't given enough attention when they are infants, they don't develop properly mentally. If they're not properly developed mentally, they're not going to be putting out positive emotions like a fully sapient pony would, are they? If any old animal would do the changelings could've been harvesting from wildlife for years, but they haven't.
So if ponies are born and then promptly podded as infants, they'll get no interaction, no mental development, no happy thoughts are love...
So again, not sustainable.
This will be my last reply. I feel like I'm trying to talk sense into a brick wall, with the expected results.
10551965
It is written that she was dreaming (or at least phasma though so). If true then it is not such a leap to think changelings feed on them when they have nice dreams. And ¨Ready for Harvest¨ is a wording that does not makes me think the Changlings just wait around for it to happen.
No, we see how she became empty after he, a single Changeling, fed on her.
In a world where artificial fertilisation exists? You are complicating your own life here jumping at the most elaborate method.
Who cares about hindering the emotions of a select few stallions when the majority of the ponies are still sleeping in their pods?
There is a long road between hindered development and reverting back fo full animals. But at least that argument makes sense, who knows the effects such upbringing will have on the new ponies?
Narcissism much?
That... certainly doesn't sound normal...
-or pleasant.
But, by far, the worst experience is catching up to the updated chapter.
Has someone invented time-travel yet? Can I strike a deal with them to acquire future chapters?
10552047
I wish.
Will his horn fall off?
Is it me, or is the whole Nightmare Moon thing feel familiar? I remember another story similar to this. A human woke up and found he was the son of Chrysalis, he later grows up, the hive mind instantly figured out what happened(as soon as he learned to accept the hive mind), and later in his life, he found Nightmare moon in his dreams and they'd talk.
Oh yeah, and in that story, the human knew about mlp before he was transferred worlds. This story feels like a rewrite
Anyways, I've got other things to read, and I know I won't have to wait long for the next chapter considering the consistent uploading times .being only a couple of days/
10552121
Never heard of that story
10552131
Neither can I remember its name
I do remember that story never came to an end and just stopped, at least I get to read another story similar enough to it.
Well, its time for his big bug horn to grow in!
Oh dear...
Bruh imagine if the bones in your arm just start going flaccid that'd be neat
10552117
I hope not. That sounds kind of permanent.
10552743
Changelings. If it breaks or falls of it might grow back.
Ive been thinking this for a while now, but I'm like 90% sure he's half pony
10552754
Chrysalis opens a closet, revealing 90 spare horns
10552766
Tempest Shadow: "Give"
10552754
"Might".
I wouldn't be too eager to find out.
Well shit... Chrysalis pushed the Nymph so hard the body starts to fall apart?
Hope Horns regrow...
10552407
Bruh, that'd be awful.
Thank you Captain Obvious.
Heh, ever wonder why Chrissy's horn is so gnarled? 😇
HMMM GEE, I SEE. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT??
10579134
Have you seen the MLP Movie 2017? they don't
10705377
Pony horns don't. Changelings might work differently.