25- Remus
Thorax sat in a spare chair, leaned against a wall, staring at the ceiling while I finished up today’s paperwork.
“Y’know, when you said I was going to be a Praetorian, this isn’t what I imagined.”
“You said you don’t want training, right?” I answered without looking up. “That means you can’t even have guard duty– which, need I remind you, is even worse than sitting down and talking to me.”
“That’s fair… Then let’s talk.”
“What do you want to talk about.”
‘Don’t expect me to be a savant at socializing, Thorax. I’ve been alive for half a year, and the two changelings I talk to the most are Queen Chrysalis and Chamberlain Eucharis. Actually, Eucharis isn’t that bad.’
“If… If it were possible to avoid podding and instead work with ponies, would you?”
“Hmmm. There would be the issue of convincing Chrysalis, but maybe. It all depends on how much control the ponies would have over us. If our survival depended entirely on their cooperation, that’s quite the risk. They could simply start shackling us over time, with law after law, until we are utterly at their mercy.”
“And we could completely disrupt their entire civilization, their very way of life. Trust goes both ways, Phasma.”
I sighed and stared at Thorax. “I don’t need friendship lessons.”
That got him to laugh. “Friendship lessons? I get the feeling there are some changelings that definitely do need those.’
“Like Pharynx?”
“I mean... I know he’s rude and a loner, but he’s my brother, ya know?”
“No.”
‘Yes…’
Thorax started to explain how he loves his brother despite how cold Pharynx sometimes is, but I wasn’t listening.
‘Another person I’ll never see again. I wonder if I did see my family again, and when I was reincarnated all my memories of the afterlife were erased. A question that will never get answered, I suppose. The oldest question; what happens after life? This is after my life, and I still don’t know for sure.’
“–asma? Phasmaaa? Hellooo?”
Remembering to breathe, I took in a lungful of air and concentrated on Thorax to my side.
“Sorry, I was… elsewhere,” I spoke softly.
“You okay?”
I opened by mouth to answer but paused.
‘Should I– no, no one must know. There’s no telling how they’d react. Chrysalis especially, she might just off me for worries that someone with outside knowledge and morals is in a position of power here in the hive.’
Something brushed against my hoof, causing me to look down. Thorax had put his hoof on mine.
“Hey Phas, you can tell me anything. What’s going on?”
‘I wish that were true.’
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing my flank! We’re family– practically brothers– and you trust me, right?”
‘You even swear innocently. How the hell can I say no to that?’
“Of course.”
“Then tell me.”
Thorax looked at me with pleading eyes. At least, I think he did. Hard to express emotion with them when they are one solid color. It’s the eyebrows that have to do all the work.
“.... What do you and your brother do for fun? Together, I mean.”
Thorax smiled, removed his hoof, and started telling me about how they would often take flights together, eat every meal together, and sometimes just walk around the hive. During all of these, they would talk about their day, who they met, and their opinions on pretty much everything.
“I don’t know if Pharynx likes the fact that we eat together as much as I do. Any day where he’s too busy with guard duty to come back to our room, I feel… Like I’m missing part of me.”
“Missing part of you?”
I started at my desk, not looking at Thorax while he spoke his part.
“Yeah. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like…”
“Like you know they give you a headache sometimes, but you cherish the pain?”
“Uh, sure? I guess that makes sense.”
I brought a hoof up in front of my face.
‘How much of me is missing? Thorax is sitting over there with holes in his hooves, yet he’s more complete than I am.’
I heard a scrape as Thorax got out of his chair and moved closer to me. I turned and saw Thorax at eye level, now that he was standing and I was sitting.
“I forget how old you are often, Phas. I’m sure the entire Fang does. It’s hard to remember that you’re just a half a year old, with so little knowledge of who we changelings are–”
“I passed Chrysalis’s history exams with flying colors.”
“–or how you’re put under far more stress than any other ‘ling in the hive–”
I crossed my forelegs. “Someone’s gotta do something about our problems.”
“–or with no social life.”
“W-what?”
He sighed, “When was the last time you played with another nymph?”
“I’m an adult-”
“When was the last time you played sports? Or took a flight, just for fun, with no one watching? Or played cards with your friends?”
I blinked. “... I never got the chance to.”
Thorax pulled me into a hug, the chair I was sitting on clattered to the ground. Aside from my back hooves on the ground carrying some of my weight, I was limp in his grip as he supported me despite my larger frame.
“Thorax?”
“That’s not okay. None of this is okay, Phas. You want to change this, we all know. Please, let us help you.”
After a short while, I raised my hooves and hugged him back. We were quiet for a few minutes before I spoke again.
I sniffed, “A man can die but once.”
“What’s a man?” Thorax asked, his voice vibrating my chest.
I didn’t answer his question.
“I’ve seen many things, Thorax, despite never being more than a hundred hooves out from the hive. Tell not a soul,” my voice wavered, “and don’t let go. I don’t want to drown the world in flame, all I want is to save my people.”
“... You should take up poetry, Phas,” he whispered back.
“Stop ruining the moment.”
I rested my head on his shoulder.
“Now, we’re going to begin with shield spells. They are the mainstay spell of defensive tactics, and so have the most theory and tactics behind them.”
Officer Katydid’s voice bounced off the comparatively cavernous walls of our empty training room. We had chosen this reinforced room, specially designed for magic training, for our first lesson. Thorax stood off to the side, paying rapt attention. After all, defensive magic was fair game for the pacifist.
“First, cast a baseline all-purpose shield spell, My Prince.”
Recalling Chrysalis’s lessons on the different shield types, as well as Katydid’s own on practicing those, I summoned a basic shield matrix.
Katydid walked up to inspect the shield with a closer eye. He hummed to himself as he looked it over.
“Looks good, let’s see if it actually is good.”
He stepped back and casted a directed force spell.
I felt a twitch in my horn as he did so, the force upon my shield sending feedback to me.
“Still holding up, My Prince? Did you feel anything?”
“A slight twitch in my horn.”
“Normally you would feel a lot more drained from getting hit by that spell. Your mana pool must have deepened considerably over our training and your molting.”
“Convenient.”
“I’m casting again,” he warned me
Then, he flung an ice spear and a fireball at my shield. I felt a slight pulling on my horn, but no pain.
“Still good,” I called out.
“Great! Now let’s say you noticed that I have been favoring fire magic. Switch your shield matrix to counter accordingly.”
Katydid ran through different drills, and quickly switched over to not telling me what he was casting next, and instead left me to adapt accordingly.
As our lessons progressed– and as I got more tired and started looking for excuses to catch my breath– I motioned Thorax to come over.
“Hello, Prince Phasma,” Thorax said, using my full title now that we were not in private.
“Hey Thorax. You should participate in this. You know the material, yeah?”
“Mhmm.”
“Excellent. Hey, Officer Katydid!” I called out, “Praetorian Thorax is swapping out for me for a bit. Start from the basics and go from there.”
He spoke as he trotted over, “A Praetorian? I’m afraid my caliber of spells will not be of much practice for you, Praetorian.”
Thorax didn’t maintain eye contact, “Don’t be too sure about that.”
I came to his rescue as I started walking over to the closest wall to sit next to, “I recruited Thorax here from the general population of the hive, not the guard. I would like him to be at least proficient in defensive spells.”
I collapsed with a sigh against the wall, and watched on.
“Oh, I see. Nice to meet you, Praetorian Thorax. We’ll start at the base level, as His Highness says. A basic shield spell is usually the first defensive spell casted first, even though it’s not very effective. You then switch shield matrices when you figure out your opponents preference…”
I rubbed my horn, which was stinging from overuse after hours of quick casting.
Thorax, while not having a superb mana pool, had half decent reflexes and knowledge recall when it came to adjusting his defenses.
‘Not quick enough for the Praetorian guard, but he would make a fine officer. Not that I would ever force him to be one.’
I sat back and watched as Thorax was slowly worn down over the course of more than half an hour.
When I saw him wince when a particularly large acid surge hit his shield, I yelled over to Katydid.
“That’s enough for now, Officer!”
“I was thinking the same, My Prince!”
I made the effort to push myself off the cold, hard ground that was oh so comfortable and made my way over.
“You did well today. Both of you. I take it Praetorian Thorax will be joining in on our lessons from now on?”
“Just the defensive ones.”
“Yes, I would prefer avoiding the rest.”
Katydid sighed, “I’m actually relieved to hear that. I do not want Her Majesty breathing down my neck when she finds out that Phasma’s lessons were drastically cut due to accommodating another. Not that I don’t want to practice with you, Praetorian.”
“I understand,” Thorax said with a smile. “You don’t have to mince words with me, Katydid. This was fun, if a bit scary. Normally I’d leave this stuff to my brother, but,” he looked at me, “I guess I have to own up to my duties now.”
“I’m glad you find it fun, Thorax. These important lessons are often ignored and neglected by the common Swarm soldier. Now, My Prince, we shall begin the offensive lessons.”
“Yaaay,” I said with mock joy.
As Thorax moved to sit by the wall, began the lesson.
By the end, my horn was stinging something fierce.
“Must we go so long?”
Katydid frowned, “I’m afraid so, My Prince. We have so little time, we need every minute of practice you can get.”
I hesitantly raised a hoof to touch my aching horn, but withdrew it with a hiss after tapping it.
“That’s all for today, Thorax” I said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Alright, take care Phas. You too, Katydid.”
“Till next time, young Praetorian.”
As we watched him leave, I asked, “Young Praetorian?”
“Thorax is quite young for one, yes, My Prince. His mana well is shallower than almost every other Praetorian I’ve trained with.”
“His brother is a Praetorian, and I was under the impression that they were the same age.”
“Ah, his brother is Pharynx, then?” At my nod, he continued, “Pharynx is also very young for a Praetorian. Normally the Royal Guards, as you intimately know they used to be called, are veterans of the Swarm. Pharynx, on the other hoof, was elevated after taking down a Tatzelwurm single hoofedly. Quite the achievement, My Prince.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”
“You, uh… You two are close, My Prince?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because My Prince, he didn’t call you Prince Phasma. He called you Phas.”
“What? No he didn’t.”
Katydid squinted at me. “Yes, he did, My Prince.”
‘Did he really call me Phas? I don’t think I’ve ever been called by a nickname before…’
“We’ve known each other for some time now, right Katydid?”
“Yes, My Prince. Most of your life, at least.”
“Then you can call me Phasma. No titles between friends, eh?”
“I’m honored that you consider me a friend… Phasma.”
“Say Katydid, what Legion is picking you up?”
“I am to be the Colonel of the 503rd.”
“Ah, General Labrum selected you, then? I would have thought General Amphid of the Fourth would have taken you first chance she got.”
“Yes, Phasma. General Labrum was apparently impressed with my skills.”
“She’s got a good head on her shoulders, that’s why I picked her for that position after filling the Fourth. Should I start calling you Colonel, instead of Officer?”
“No titles between friends, you just said. The paperwork isn’t finalized, either. Apparently we’re waiting on a certain someone to sign everything.”
I groaned when I remembered the growing mountain of paper sitting on my desk.
‘How do we even have that much paper to spare? Chrysalis must be nabbing more from Equestria, if only to make my life more miserable.’
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And that's the problem with a monarchy that doesn't delegate. Constant nonstop paperwork
Kinda surprised the Changelings haven't figured out some sort of temporary writing surface, like a whiteboard or chalkboard. Maybe Phasma could apply some of that human ingenuity? We're not only just good at making stuff explode.
10571606
Ah yes vomit slates!
Phasma. You must understand, Delegation is the base of a nation. So start delegating.
10571606
Or use magic like illusion as a hologram.
- you could write on walls or any other surface like charboard ,without having to use chalk.
Writing would glow like this,etc
ae01.alicdn.com/kf/Hc29d2677836046978fae5de9da796d39I/Luminescent-Drawing-Board-Glow-In-Dark-Kids-Glowing-Magic-Graffiti-Painting-Writing-Educational-Toy-with-2.jpg_Q90.jpg_.webp
-copy and paste images from your mind the same way
Or you could then even use 3d ,holograms too for planning strategies,construction,etc
static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/5/5b/GeonosianWarRoom-AotC.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080218034133
Actually, now that I think about it ,why Phasma didn't try to create magic hands,for more precision and advantages?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/12/23/1916022.png
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/8/15/1511537.jpeg
"Remus"
Remus is one of the major home-worlds of the Romulan Star Empire. Often connected with its twin planet Romulus, it was an important dilithium source and site for heavy weapons constructio-
**Oop, wrong script**
*clears throat*
"Remus"
Remus is an important figure in Roman mythology. Raised with his brother Romulus by a she-wolf, Romulus and Remus were credited to being the founders of the city of Rome, and thus the beginnings of the great Roman Empire.
-------
Changelings
>Legions
>Praetors
>Roman myth hints
Equestrians
>Pegasus
>Golden armor
>Monsters of Greek myth within their borders
We're going to have a Roman-Greek War, aren't we?
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
10571707
10571606
I totally meant to have them have a temporary writing surface, specifically chalkboards, but got distracted and left it out.
I might go back and edit a few chapters to include mention of them. They'll probably be somewhat rare and only used in the Infiltrator program, for scribes, and for Phasma's learning (he would have a small chalkboard to write on, but too small to take notes on).
10571802
What about magic hands?
It could be useful in combat and in general use.
How would that be different,better from normal levitation?
Well, there should be a better grasp,feel, structure, focus of the hand in general compared to normal levitation.
Normal levitation in comparison would probably feel like blowing air from sides on a piece of paper or balloon for it to stay afloat.
Especially that hands would feel familiar to Phasma.
10571915
Phasma already uses "hands" as a template for levitation. Manifesting them would just be an over-engineered waste of mana, with no additional benefits.
I don't want to set the world on fire
I just want to start a flame in your heart
10571936
OK, that makes sense ...
Now I had another thought
What about illusion magic, like creating fake environment, surroundings and also creating sound
Why I'm asking?
In short, human horrors and everything else we created to scare ourselves because we were bored
Even some disguises alone could work.
There has to be a way for him to use this knowledge for his goals, for example, like against ponies to keep them in line.
I'm pretty sure that even moderate, mediocre horrors, jump scares(for us) would give both changelings and ponies heart attacks, but ponies would take it even worse
10572104
Pretty sure most ponies would wet themselves if confronted with an angry, hissing changeling. It's the paniced reaction that might backfire for the changeling, like getting swatted with a broom as any mare would when confronted with a "big ickky insect".
Unless the mare's cutiemark revolves around insects, then she'd probably fangirl at the now confused changeling.
10571936
Beauty and style is the greatest benefit of all.
So much stylish potential in summoning hands/tendrils of doom for all to see.
The Nightmare is quite the double edged sword, if the Elements fail to defeat her our young prince's accord must be upheld or the Changelings will be it's next target. If the Elements succeed our young prince must face three alicorns, the elements, and pull off his own Horus Heresy.
10572520
Ambitious, but as the saying goes; He who dares, wins.
Will other Changeling hives make an appearance or is Chrysalis' hive the only one in this setting?
Just caught up with this story, and It's really nice. Nice lore and world-building. Can't wait to see what else you cook up. This is quite unique, haven't seen another quite like it. Also appreciate the fast updates. Followed in anticipation for more and thank you for this wonderful story.
10572520
there's always the romance option, don't take that off the table. From what I'm reading, he seems like he has the skills to charm his way into her heart. This from the fact that as soon as she new she was speaking old English he decided to get on board with it.
10573883
That would only work if the Elements fail the stop her and he/they can kill of Chryssy. In the event that the Elements work and Luna can remember their interactions it would be 50/50 whether she'll try to help our young prince, or just let the others kill him for the "crime" of being a changeling.
10573897
forgot about mommy chryssy.
Fine humor and character development
I wonder what the main weapon for Changelings? Or are they morphing weapons like claws?
Poor Phasma... I wonder if he ever get a chance to experience any kind of peaceful childhood.
Even hugs of compasion from his friends are a luxuary good
10571720
Very fine lore
10572046
Dawww... camo.fimfiction.net/HGKOVNTrPh_dQIegq-4XQTTfq37sBPSPcGN3_7ZAMFg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fderpicdn.net%2Fimg%2Fview%2F2014%2F7%2F10%2F671941.gif
10572646
If he survives... In one piece...
10572977
Damn fine question
10573883
Hes less than a year old... Also immortal. No need to rush...
10573897
Dont think Equestrian are that speciest...
Dang, could have been an awesome reference.
Phasma...phasma....OOOOOH!
Thats what the name reminds me of! It was the name of that storm trooper lady from the newer star wars movies (captain phasma)
Phasmatodea needs more:
- Hugs
- Snuggels
- Cuddling
- Ice Cream
Only than will he have a healthy lifestyle
"I don't want to drown the world in flame, all I want is to save my people." I heard something similar somewhere, but what?! I could imagine it being spoken by Moses, though I know it's not him.
11358982
Well, I suppose there are two inspirations for this line.
1. "I don't want to set the world on fire, all I just want to start is a flame in your heart." From the song by the same name as the first half of the quote.
and
2. "The Seed of the Prophet will Sit the Throne, and Drown in flame the Mountains of Man" from Bioshock Infinite.
Damn good question. More importantly... do they give ice cream out for free in the afterlife?
Damn... What flavor would everyone go for if they have a eternity of ice cream to chose from...
Chocolate Mint would guarantee a fresh mint sent at least