1- Aenid
Act One: As A Hive On A Hill
The steady and droning tick-tock of the office’s clock was the only sound audible as I stared her down.
The overdressed mare was sitting on a well-upholstered chair, one with real gold filigree. The green tie she wore matched her green eyes, which in turn matched the unicorn’s green magic. Despite the tension, she did her best to appear at ease.
As a changeling, I had the unfortunate confirmation that she really was at ease, and either was ignorant of the awkwardness, or was quite skilled at ignoring it completely.
Really, the awkward silence was entirely her fault.
“So….” the mare broke the silence, “where would you like to start?”
“I’d rather sit here and pout,” I grunted. “There’re a million and one things I’d rather be doing. There’s twelve million more that I have to be doing. Yet I am here. With you. For two. Whole. Hours.”
“Then we’d best make the most of our time together, yes?”
“No, we’d best make this our last meeting and never see each other again,” I pouted.
The therapist glared at me and shook her head, “It isn’t my place to give orders. But the Princesses have ordered you to attend these sessions. And, in my opinion, you do need them.”
“What I need is a cold–”
“Your Majesty, please,” The mare pleaded, “take this seriously. I know you don’t want to be here, but surely you understand that you have to be here? You’re a smart stallion. You wouldn't be here if you were anything else…”
All I could do in response was glare at her, cross my hooves, and mutter swears under my breath. We had wasted twenty minutes already in silence and stilted conversation. I was hoping to at least reach thirty minutes.
“Self-righteous, over-inflated egotistical pompous– fine! Fine. I’ll…. talk. I’ll try to take this seriously. Might as well get this over with.”
The mare smiled, “Thank you, all I ask is that you try. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d rather begin again. Hello, my name is Dr. Sweet Dream. I am a psychiatrist, and a good friend of the Princesses. Princess Celestia has asked me to meet and speak with you.”
I rolled my eyes, “... I am Phasma. King Phasmatodea, if you’d prefer the full title and name. I am the King of The Fifth Hive and the Pontiff of the Hive Eternal. I rule over all of the changelings that are still alive. Princess Celestia has ordered that I attend these therapy sessions. She’s afraid that I’ll go postal or something.”
“What does that mean, ‘go postal?’” The therapist asked and picked up her pen and pad of paper using telekinesis.
“You don’t have to…” I trailed off. “If I have to explain all the references I make, we’ll be here all day.”
She smiled at me, “Please?”
‘Well, if I get to finally explain my references to someone who actually listens to them, then maybe there’s a silver lining to this…’
I sighed, “It means to go crazy. Specifically, in a homicidal rage.”
Her quill dipped into an ink pot as she quickly wrote down some notes.
“Oh my. I hardly think that the Princess fears you so much,” Sweet Dream said.
“It was a joke,” I said in a monotone voice.
“Was it?”
My ear flicked in annoyance, “.... Look, I don’t know. It’s probably a fear in the back of her mind. If she’s smart, that is.”
“Do you think there’s a danger of you going out and hurting ponies, or changelings, in rage?”
I almost told her to screw off. Something held me back.
‘Oh yes, I said I would try.’
“Sure,” I grunted. “You’d be surprised how easily someone can die. And now I have the magical strength to rip cold-rolled steel in half without breaking a sweat. A hu– a pony or changeling body would need a fraction of that strength to rip apart, not counting the natural magical resistance…”
More notes, “I’d like to discuss this later, if you don’t mind. For now, I would like to hear your story. So I have to ask again, where would you like to start?”
The question was not a simple one. We both knew that. I knew it because I lived it. She knew it because Celestia had filled her in on the basics of me before we first met today and gave her some important things to work over.
Normally, Celestia would have done this clandestinely. However, in the hopes of bridging the lack of trust between us, Celestia was forthcoming with her private conversation, as well as filling me in on a bunch of other secrets that concerned me or my changeling subjects. In return, I had told her that I would not make a fuss about attending.
But the question of where to start was already putting me off again.
‘Do I start my story with my birth, or my death? Oh, who am I kidding? It’s not like I’m going to tell her anything about who I was.’
“I hatched over a year ago,” I began, “in the Fourth Hive. The old hive was out in the Badlands, where only Changelings lived on the surface. Anyways, I awoke inside of an egg and broke out… It was weird. I was surrounded by more eggs and strange four-legged creatures that resembled a cross between ponies and insects. Changelings. I was one, too. A larva.
“But… This was not the beginning of my story. Before I hatched, I lived a life as something else. I was… a human. I had a family, a life, a future. It was taken from me. Violently. So then I found myself as this… thing. This changeling royal. More than just a mere drone, I am biologically superior to most life forms. A half-immortal demigod. So essentially, I get to watch everyone else grow old and die while I enjoy eternal youth, and in return, they all saddle me with the burdens of leading the nation. Forever. Celestia and Luna call it a half-curse. I know that in time, I will too. But for now, I can’t help but feel that I’ve achieved what I always wanted. What was denied to me… life.
“Anyways. Changelings: they’re weird. They don’t eat physical foods. They didn’t really have writing at the time– no paper to write on. They didn’t have freedoms, only a totalitarian military state. That’s what you get from over ten thousand years of slow extinction. There were around twenty to thirty thousand of us then. I was taken out of the nursery by my mother, Queen Chrysalis. She personally tutored me, despite my age, and fed me a diet of pure love. Changelings feed on emotions, you know this. Love is…”
I trailed off as I recalled my first taste of the sublime emotion. I had to manually close my mouth and swallow, lest I drool over the Palace’s plush furniture.
“The Greek gods dined on the best food in existence. In their halls of gold and marble on Mount Olympus, they called it ambrosia. It is said to grant immortality to those who consume it. The things humans would do for just a taste… Immortality and the greatest food in existence. I now know what ambrosia tasted like. It was love, without a doubt. Pure love, love freely given and freely received. Once you taste a single wisp of it, nothing else tastes as sweet.”
“That sounds lovely,” Sweet Dream remarked as she continued to write. “Oh, pun not intended. You’re making my stomach rumble, if I may be honest. So, Chrysalis took you from the nursery and tutored you?”
I nodded, “She taught me everything she could spare the time for. I met new friends: Oestridae, Thorax, Lacewing, Coxa, and Tarsus. Chamberlain Eucharis became more involved in my training and learning. Makes sense in hindsight: he was my father. I think around this time I had also met Princess Luna for the first time. Though, of course, she was Nightmare Moon then.
“Chrysalis gave me freedom in exchange for running the entire invasion. Unfortunately for her, I discovered the skeletons she kept in the closet: my brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles that she had lobotomized and entombed within their own bodies. Up till recently, I thought she planned to do the same to me. When the invasion happened– and I had to banish Thorax to appear loyal– it went as planned. We even got to Canterlot and took down the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony. Shame Nightmare Moon bit the dust, she was going to help me kill Chrysalis. But… the rebellion failed. When it started, I killed Chamberlain Eucharis out of anger. I… there’s very little I can say about that. He refused to listen to me, and in my anger I murdered him. Tarsus betrayed me and told Chrysalis about the revolution. A lot of lings died in the resulting ambush. Oestridae was one of them. He sacrificed himself to hold the line while I went to face off against Chrysalis personally. We fought. I lost. In the last second, I teleported away– losing a foreleg as a result. Afterwards… well, you know the rest…”
Sweet Dream shook her head, “We will cover future events in detail, but for posterity, if you would quickly go over the large points?”
I gave a long sigh, “Very well. The invasion failed. Celestia-turned-Daybreaker was quite pissed. My rebellion failed. People were dead or captured. The changelings were pushed out of Equestria by Daybreaker. In the retreat, they took a lot of ponies with them. I found myself in the town of Hooferville and was nursed back to health by the ponies there. In exchange, I briefly joined the guard. It was mostly boring if I’m being honest. I made some friends. I learned what it was like to be crippled. I watched from a distance as the changeling Swarm fled farther and farther away… One thing led to another and Thorax found me. After saving the town from a rat infestation, I joined up with the escaped revolutionaries and formed the Fifth Hive.
“We went to ground in Manehattan and grew from there. After a long period of coordinating with Princess Luna, gathering survivors, and growing the Fifth Hive, we stumbled across an old changeling Hive. The Third Hive, to be exact. In that Goddess-forsaken ruin was a Nightmare possessed changeling king, The Prophet. I had to detonate the sunken city’s artificial sun to kill him. I made it out alive. Surprising, I know, but… something came with me. That Nightmare got a ling killed. More than one person had died to prevent that singular Nightmare from wreaking havoc. We’re going to need the Thestrals’ expertise if we want to win the upcoming war…
“Then came the Gala. Daybreaker died, Discord was freed by me, and the day was saved by the Elements of Harmony. Peace became official between the Fifth Hive and Equestria. Shortly after, the First Hive was found, Nisir. In it, we found some answers; the Nightmares were led by Epitaph. Epitaph, or rather King Sombra, was behind the near-extinction of the changelings and the fall of the Hives.
“After coming home from Nisir, the Princesses and I found an unwanted guest in Canterlot: Chrysalis. Together, we defeated her and the remaining changelings. It was a bloodbath… You know all about that, I’m sure… In the final fight, Thorax and his brother Pharynx ascended to Princedom and Chrysalis was captured. That… mostly brings us to now. There’s some other things, but I don’t exactly want to talk about them.”
“There’s certainly a lot of other things to talk about,” Sweet Dream remarked. “Of everything that happened, what do you believe is the most important to cover?”
I sighed, “Aside from the whole dying thing? ‘Cause that’s really important. Ever since I was murdered, I have found myself to be a lot more brutal when it comes to… well, everything. I was never one to shy away from a fight and now I’ve found myself a lot less reserved when it comes to killing. Also, vices. If something is enjoyable, I see no reason to avoid it. Drinking, gambling, procrastinating– as long as it doesn’t have any long-term adverse effects, why not? I’ve already lost so many opportunities…
“Another thing I should talk about is the whole Ascension thing. I don’t mean what happened to Thorax and Pharynx; I mean what almost happened to me. The lobotomization… Shortly after the failure of the invasion, a Nightmare nearly possessed me. It was bad. Very bad. The thing tormented me with being trapped in my own body, just as I feared. Only a last-second intervention by Luna saved my life. Just being in that damned tank…
“Which brings us to Eucharis. A lack of internal hesitation to murder and a fear of locked-in syndrome. He was just trying to save my life and I killed him dead. I don’t… When I think of the word ‘dad,’ he’s not the first person to come to mind. He never would have been. But I can’t help feel like he was a missed opportunity. Someone who wanted to help me…”
Sweet Dreams cleared her throat, “Perhaps it would be easiest if we started with Eucharis, then. We can work our way back to these two core concepts you have identified. Now, when did you first meet Eucharis?”
I sighed again as I recalled the changeling drone and began to retell his tale.
With a wide sideways sweep of my hind legs, I aimed to topple Pharynx over. Normally, the close-quarters move wouldn’t work against a quadruped, but my legs were long and covered in rock-hard chitin. At the very least, I could hook around one or two forelegs and pull them out from my foe.
Pharynx swore as I forced him to dodge backwards. Narrowly missing my outstretched hooves, the Prince tripped over his own legs and tumbled to the ground with even more cursing than before. He groaned as he punched the packed dirt next to him.
With his stumble, the score for our training duel was twelve to five in his favor. With Katydid busy reorganizing and retraining an entire army, I was taking any sparring partner I could get. Tonight, Pharynx had joined me in the Palace’s courtyard that was used by the Royal Guards for physical training.
I slowly trotted over and offered a hoof, pulling him back up to his hooves.
“These damn legs,” he complained as he looked up at me. “I’m already half a head taller than I was a month ago and I’m only going to get taller?! How the hell do you get used to this?”
“I’ve had to get used to a lot more than just long legs,” I laughed.
Pharynx scowled and looked away, “Hmph. Guess so, but that doesn’t mean I gotta like this. I was at the top of my game! You couldn’t hit me for shit when we fought during the second invasion! Now look at me…. Tripping over my own hooves like a nymph!”
“Relax, Pharynx,” I tried to reassure him. “You’ll get used to it.”
He turned and stomped a hoof, “Not before it gets worse! If I even get close to being as tall as you, then I’ll have to retrain how to fight hoof-to-hoof! I’ll be as bad as you are!”
I frowned, “I’m not that bad, am I?”
“.... No,” he admitted as he studied me. “You’re half as bad as you were when we fought. Training without that big lump of metal is doing wonders in getting you to actually work on your coordination. Where did you learn to move like that? All that twirling and kicking is pretty over the top and inefficient– but it could become something real and dangerous if you refine it… I’d say in a few years, you might have a halfway-decent fighting style.”
Clearing my throat, I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly, “Uh, well, you see, I’m kinda emulating a sort of… let’s call him a cyborg warrior who was feared for his skill with a blade and his ferocity. Let’s call him that and not a fictional character used in movies.”
“What the hell is a cyborg?”
“He had to replace most of his body with metal.”
Pharynx’s eyebrows raised, “That sounds like an upgrade.”
“For fighting,” I snorted.
He nodded, “Right. Anyways, where is that hammer of yours? And why are you training more and more without it, now that I think about it?”
I shrugged, “Back in my room. Luna’s room, whatever. I’m training without it because… well…” I cast a glance around, but all the other changelings and ponies training in the large courtyard were out of hearing range. “I may have to get used to not fighting with it. With Princess Procho inside of it, Luna figures that God-Splitter might have to be shattered to free that half of her soul. When we’re ready, of course. We still need to track down the other half and figure out what to do with both halves. Combining them is pretty far ahead of where we are when it comes to Soulmancy.”
“Figures. That’s for the best, anyways; without magic you’re about as fearsome as a falling tree branch.”
“Those kill people, you know!” I jabbed him with a hoof.
He brushed my deadly attack aside, “Uh huh. Unfortunately for you, you won’t be fighting people. Malwaurfs, Nightmares, Dire Wolves, and… what else have you fought this year? Point is, you won’t always have your magic– and it’s then that you need to be at your A-game.”
“Easier said than done,” I muttered quietly. “So. You’re back in Canterlot but not for long?”
“You would know, Mr. ‘Shipping-Pharynx-off-to-the-farthest-corner-of-Equus.’”
I grinned, “Hey! Don’t make fun of my name, it’s a very sensitive topic.”
Pharynx rolled his eyes, “If we’re done here, I’ve got a meeting to go to.”
I sighed and started my stretches to wind down for the evening, “Yeah. Go see your brother.”
“... ‘Suppose it’s not exactly hard to guess who I’m seeing. Hey… King Phasma?”
I frowned, paused my stretches, and stared at him.
“... What…. Agh, nevermind,” he shook his head.
“Ask.”
“.... What was it like to die?”
My gaze dropped to the dirt beneath me, “... I guess I’ll have to get used to that question, now that it’s public knowledge. It was surprising at first. I was… It was over too quickly for the pain to kick in. I was terrified. I was angry. There’s… there’s no way to describe what it felt like. It’s about the same thing as explaining color to a blind person. Does that answer your question?”
Pharynx scuffed the dirt idly, “Guess so. Uh… What…. Whatever. Thanks, Phasma.”
“What brought this question on?” I asked him, only to look up and see that he was walking away.
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I will be aiming for weekly releases, with the occasional delay when real life rears its ugly, non-pony head.
Good chapter. Guess you still had some cleanups. I’m curious how this story is going to go as it still hasn’t really started yet. It’s mostly just planning so far.
Here's hoping my boy still retains his brutality despite the therapy, he'll need it.
My Boi don't got issues. He has subscriptions... all the semi-demigods do. That poor therapist is gonna need therapy to
Again, it is not meant to be a spoiler that Pharynx is fated to die.
11363935
What am I supposed to say to this? I explicitly told you, the readers, what I wanted to tell you.
Edit: didn't see your previous comment.
Be careful Phasma
imageproxy.ifunny.co/resize:320x,crop:x800,quality:90x75/images/1e88bd0b68a12dc0fc2e896e3730bb4fc50b4f5f2ac670135f75bbbaf6b9f73a_3.jpg
Damn deep chapter. The road to restore somecreature mental health is very long and difficult. You can fix a broken bone easyer than a broken self image.
I wonder if Pharynx will focus on dying or rather making his death meaningful.
With Soulmancy they can bring Proco and if later needed Oest and Pharynx back
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Stay strong, it can't rain every day
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Planning, training, hoping, fear the unstoppable and avoid the inevitable...
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In combat or verbal war
Maybe vs Blueblood to
11363905
Exacly my thoughts when I started reading Phasmatodea explaining his life's story.
So, no shit - there I was...
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Meh... He's a demigod, a mortal mind can't comprehend its horrors...
O crap... Pinkie Pie got to my coffee supply
11363923
So thorax was ascended to save the current day and phyranx for a future day doesn't mean he has to die just that he has a larger part to play then that of a drone to save everyone. Still it does seem likely he would/will take a bullet for his bro.
I keep thinking about that scene where that traitor dude thought they were going to kill him from hearing some incomplete statement, and I don't remember if that's resolved yet.
11363923
Pharynx had a vision of himself dead, that is true.
However the enemy have proven to be rather good with spells that affect the mind, enough that his vision shouldn't be regarded as being set in stone even if its an ascension induced one.
11364056
Again, it showed him his death and the narration showed us. He's resolved to fight his fate, but the Norse term for it is nonetheless better at getting my point across: doom.
What a nice present to come back to after school. The first chapter of the CE sequel!
Never seen a therapy session be used for exposition before. Really creative way to sum up the events of the last story.
11364109
The vision Pharynx saw during his ascension is strongly implied to have been selected specifically by Panar for a purpose, possibly as a warning, or perhaps it contained a clue that he has yet to realize the importance of; or maybe it is intended to nudge him in a specific way so that his future actions will facilitate a victory in the end (even if costly).
It is also entirely possible that this vision only becomes a portent of doom, if he fails to eventually get over his own pride; and actually tell the others what he saw.
11364088
Pretty sure that matter has not been resolved. As far as we know, Pharynx still thinks that Tarsus received a death sentence; since he cut the call to the trial before Phasma could finish.
And given the still rather harsh nature of Tarsus' actual punishment, and the specific attached connotations of being exiled, stripped of his name, and blinded; it is unlikely that anyone will ever correct Pharynx' misunderstanding, unless he actually asks about it. Since Pharynx thinks he already knows the answer, he is unlikely to ever ask.
Nice
11363923
I dunno, dude. That's a strong statement about something that really that's still pretty ambiguous. And even if it is, as you say, set in stone, then Pharynx trying to "fight fate" will probably see along the same path as Oedipus Rex. Or Cronus/Saturn. Or King Creosus.
Just say no to prophecy.
Don't care! Still called for!
My opinion is that if it feels good and nobody else gets hurt... Go Wild!
11364088
11364181
As I said at the time, from a cultural standpoint death would be a lighter sentence than what actually happened. And Phasma did that on purpose as a form of malicious compliance.
So do falling Jackfruit.
Though, to be fair, Jackfruit are ENORMOUS.
More like trying to explain it to something with no eyes.
It will be extremely funny if that therapist hasn't heard of Phasma's past so all she's thinking is
"He's Coo-Coo. Coco in the loco!"
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You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!
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"Hey Luna, did you know...
Sometimes a parrot talks."
*commences shmoovin*
Good chapter! Also yay for weekly releases!
A yes I see phasmas sass is still going strong
11364421
Which is why Celestia shared what she knew; this is all stuff we already knew, but it sounds completely insane.
Dun dun dun! Good chapter.
Though that last bit was extremely ominous.
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Fortunately, the epilogue of the previous story already told us pretty much exactly what it's an omen of. Dramatic irony, ho!
I'm shocked that no one has done this yet.
Would you like to know more?
11369270
Similarly, Genesis is the first book of the Bible, detailing the creation of Earth, the creation of Man, and the creation of Woman. Which happened in that order, because it'd be a long time before we realized which gender was the actual biological default.
Though really, if prepared well enough, who's to say they can't capture his soul at the point of egress and save it into a new host machine?
Hmmm. Don't know the guy. Silver Samurai from Marvel? No, he's a mutant. Cyborg from DC doesn't have a blade. Nor does Robocop. Help?
11364056
Indeed, also who is to say his vision don't show event a few millenia into the future?
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Indeed, also sometimes things are not like they seem. After all, they are Shapeshifters and illusion and missguiding once enemy is 101 in warfare.
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That or/and addressing unresolved points of the story.
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I like the hidden message part. Reminds me of One Piece where a Tattoo on the arm was a secret mission to not meet in days but in years!
11364181
Tarsus will probably screw them over and Pharynx will be like:
Pharynx: "Didn't you kill that Bug?"
Phasma: "Nooo, but i regret it ever since..."
Pharynx: "Well lets go and we do it together this time."
Phasma: "Did we just become best friends?"
Pharynx: "That would tickel the ponys, that friendship is based on killing a common foe..."
Phasma: "We should totally make a friendship lesson out of it"
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darth vader perhaps?
11364022
Don't forget, there are ways to ensure immortals are kept in the padded cell.
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Luna: I have always found such to be very therapeutic. I have been telling Celie for centuries, but she won't fucking listen.
Ever played a tactical games where someone throws units at the enemy just to stall them?
This is what is coming from the rulership of any nation, but this will be real people and no matter if they be the best tactician in the world or not...
There will be rivers of blood and mountains of corpses to dispose of once the war is finally won.
11384292
General Grievous?
11794422
That's right. And the 2007 Grievous, the cool one.
Aaand one more short clip of his fighting style. So damn good.
Instead of wasting his time the doomed prince should do what he can to enjoy his time.
I vote for at least 50 eggs
Spread the royal bloodline
11608372
Friendship is murder~friendship is blood murder~aaaa