Persona: Equestria

by scriptshatter

Chapter 1

“Hello? Can anyone hear me? My world… has been infected…”

“Is that a cry for help I hear? Whoever you are, you must have cried quite loudly for me to hear you.”

“Hello, it appears you, whoever you may be, have received my call. Please, whoever you are, help. A being of chaos has weaved its malevolent ways into the inhabitants of my home, and I require assistance in restoring proper harmony. I’m afraid The pony I’ve placed my hope in currently will only see the surface level threats that the world I inhabit has to offer, and thus the seeds that the creature of chaos has sown will continue to grow.”

“Hmm… that is quite unfortunate indeed! Distortion is a powerful weapon, and I fear for your world’s safety. I have something that may help, a tortured soul that deserves another life. A second chance. I shall send him over, along with another useful tool to guide him to overcoming the distortion that has plagued your world.”

“I am very grateful for your help. I shall not let this go to waste.”

“I am very pleased to hear that! Now, with the help of this soul, save your world from eternal distortion, before it’s too late.”

“Couldn’t you have made yourself just a bit larger?”

Was that really the best I could have done for parting words? Hmm... I can’t complain too much, I suppose, after all I did get lucky with the short amount of extra life I was granted. Though, it still doesn’t change the fact that I did not want to die, I merely had to for the sake of reality. But if I’m dead… why can I still hear my own thoughts?

I’m having trouble opening my eyes… assuming I AM alive and not stuck in some purgatory… which considering what I’ve done would be a… fair sentence. But, I doubt that’s the case, as I can feel a slimy substance around me, coating me in its strange, viscous nature. I can hear strange, muffled voices from an unknown source. The voices’ strangeness can be attributed to their almost… echoey nature. I can’t understand what they’re saying, although it almost sounds as if it were a type of English. However, although I have much practice in the subject, the voices being muffled makes their talk completely illegible to me.

I hear… steps receding away from my position. Inhuman steps. They sound like… two plastic tins hitting against each other, with the same rhythm as a trotting horse. One of the voices follows said steps, so it would be reasonable to assume someone is riding the potentially equine creature, whatever it may be.

Sitting in this vile substance won’t do me any good. And as much as I’d like to aimlessly attempt to eavesdrop while inside this mysterious goop, I must find out what’s going on. I must find out just why I’m still alive. And how.

And so, with all my effort I push my head up, trying to escape my viscous prison. With a disgusting squelch my head is set free, and it is only then I notice my lungs are devoid of air. I take a single gasp of air, before attempting to subdue my suffocation induced panic. After a brief moment, my gasps for air relax, and I am allowed clear thinking once again.

My lungs appear to have shrunken, either that or breathing has become harder due to whatever has apparently brought me back from fate. I can hear faint voices in my head that are not my own now, but I cannot seem to understand them. logic dictates that this is most likely some abnormal symptom of my concern, though it is strange nonetheless.

Beyond that, my hands feel as if they’ve lost much of their features, like they’re nothing but stubs. The same with my feet, which is mildly concerning, though I’m sure it’s just numbness from whatever happened. My whole body, on another note, just feels… wrong. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it… concerns me.

I will admit I’m afraid to open my eyes… but nothing will get done if I don’t. That is the whole reason I broke out of that thing, after all. I slowly open my eyes, blinking at the strange spectacle I’m greeted with. A room with black walls and green, insect-like eggs… almost like… no, not almost like, I’m curtain this is a hive. And a large one at that.

Now, I need to make sure I’m alright. My body feels strange, and I would hate it if my fingers were-...... That’s… new…. My fingers are gone, and my hands- hooves are black. I’m coming out of one of these strange eggs. It’s just dawned on me… If my theory’s correct, I had turned into some sort of bug. I have, in a horribly ironic twist of fate, become an insect.

I don’t move for a long, long time. Simply staring at my black, hoof-like appendages as I try to wrap my head around this… worrisome turn of events. At least I’m alive, and I can’t feel any pain so I assumed this body wasn’t injured.

I… I can’t think about that at the moment, I have to gather more information. I’m about to attempt to crawl out of my… egg, when I’m picked up in a lime glow, and carried to the face of a rather regal looking bug-horse. The holes in her legs leave me wondering if she’s injured, but based on the fact I have them as well, I’m going to assume that’s false. Her black chitin and slitted eyes put me on edge. If anyone’s ever looked so blatantly evil, it’s news to me. The crown-like fixture growing out of her head is… intriguing to say the least, and the mane made of a sort of silk also intrigues me, even if only a bit.

She’s looking at me inquisitively, almost as if she’s attempting to gauge something. Maybe I should try to say hello, see if I can gather any information. Worst case scenario, I die, and return back to my original fate. Considering my current situation, that doesn’t seem like the worst trade off. But, even so, if I really am a child, I highly doubt she’d even hurt me, which makes the possibility of dying because of something like that inconceivably low.

Rattle Rattle

I give quite the confused glare after spouting an insect-like noise instead of my words. The strange creature gives a soft smile, before speaking to me.

“Already up I see? And before your sister too. You must be very excited to serve your new queen.”

A hearty laugh escapes her, and I raise an eyebrow at her gesture. The way she said it was… strange. I don’t like the underlying meaning that could be there, hinting at me being an endlessly loyal subject to a life I don’t wish for, like my past. However, I decided I won’t be so quick to judge a book by a cover that I may have fabricated myself. After all, if it is true, it would spell doom for the rest of my potential life in this second body.

The regal insect put me down before muttering to herself. She said something about needing to check up on mushrooms, though I wasn’t all too sure given the odd effect on her speech. I wasn’t too concerned with not being fluent in English just yet. I already was ahead by a large margin compared to what I suspected I was supposed to be at.

One after another, the other insects hatched from their own vile prisons. They, or rather we, resembled a combination of a sort of grub and a horse, not too different from what the ‘queen’ looks like. Minus crown thing and silk mane. Their eyes are near pure blue, with faint dark pupils that I can barely see, and a wrapping of silk. The regal looking abomination put me down as she looked at another. I glared inwards at the world, cursing it for putting me in the very same situation I had worked so hard to escape.

My thoughts were interrupted as a significantly less regal-looking bug-horse took me to a different chamber with little in it. I could only assume this is where I would be staying until I had matured enough to be able to physically take care of myself. I decided to relax for a short while, closing my eyes, slipping into a short rest.

Nothing much happened for a while. I would wake up, and the… adult variations of whatever I had become would come and feed me a stream of a sweet, yet seemingly healthy pink mystery substance. During the times I was awake, some of the grub-like equine children, though rather babies I suppose is more apt here, would attempt to… “fight” me. Needless to say, it usually ended in my winning by simply rolling to the side.

Though, one sleep in particular was my longest. I don’t remember much of it, except for when I normally would have woken up, my body took control from my mind. I was forced to wrap myself in some sort of… cocoon. I figured this was a sort of maturing process for this body, and not wanting to mess anything up, I simply let it do its thing. I didn’t want to ruin this, I’ll be it strange, second chance of mine, after all.

---

I woke up with a start, falling out of the cocoon that I vaguely remember wrapping myself in before everything went dark. I managed to find my way out of my slimy, green prison easily, and I quickly worked on getting onto my hooves. After looking around briefly, I didn’t notice anything particularly interesting. As I wrapped up my visual investigation of my surroundings, an older one of my kind came up to me, and examined me for a moment, before saying, “Your name is Spiracle. You will be trained in… tsk tsk tsk lets see…” They pulled up some kind of list, examining.

“You’ve got the red eyes, which could mean blindness, then again it looks like you can see fine. Eh, I don’t make the rules. Farming. You’ll be placed in the training for the recently developed fungal department. Welcome to the hive life, young changeling. It doesn’t get much worse than this. You start in a week. For your sake, I hope you understood that.”

I sat in silence. That was it then? Had my worst fears been confirmed? Was I stuck doing the same tedious task for the rest of my life with no choice but to comply with unceremoniously cruel demands of my supposed queen? Alright, enough feeling sorry for myself. As fun as it is to dwell on doom and gloom, my best bet here is to find a silver lining. Maybe some sort of way to escape this fate or-

“H-hello?” I turned around to come face to face with another one of my kind, this time the same age as me. His very body language was enough to tell me how timid he was, on top of the clear stutter in his voice.

“I… um… noticed you got assigned to farming like I did. I was just wondering if you’d… like to be friends?” I blinked in slight shock. I mean, I suppose it wasn’t the craziest request I had heard, but that doesn’t change the fact it still took me by surprise with how most of these creatures had acted when we were grubs. However, this was not an unwelcome surprise. It would be nice to have a friend, a proper friend. Especially in a place like this.

“That sounds like a good idea. If I’m going to be doing the same thing for the rest of my life, a friend is something that I will very much welcome.” The other… What was it we are, changelings? The other changeling lit up like a lightbulb in a pitch black room, and zipped right on over to embrace me. I recoiled out of shock for a moment, but then accepted it. Maybe this world wouldn’t be so bad with a changeling like this as a friend.

“I’ve asked so many changelings, and none of them said yes… except for my brother. But… h-he’s my brother, so he kinda has to, I feel…”

“I see. Well, you can count on me to stay by you. I’m not going to betray you, unlike how others might.” I realize the irony of that statement, considering my past. But I’m being given another chance. Even if I’m under the rule of an apparent tyrant, I will not be their puppet.

“Betrayal? O-oh, I hadn’t even thought of that. I s-suppose that’d be a possibility, especially with the other changelings, besides you and my brother.” I raised an eyebrow at him trusting me that fast. He should be at least a little suspicious of me with how the rest of the changelings acted.

“Hmph. You shouldn’t be so quick to trust. Even if I have no intent on taking any harmful action toward you, that doesn’t change the fact that I could be lying.” I put my… hoof… around him, and looked him in the eyes.

“I don’t suspect you of being someone with bad intent, so I’ll be entirely honest with you. I’m not as good a person- changeling as you may like to believe. But I will try my best to be by your side when it counts, despite my shortcomings.” It may be stupid to trust someone so easily, but I want so badly to believe he’s a friend. Even if it means opening up the possibility of getting my back stabbed.

“O-oh, I didn’t expect you to be. But just the fact you even want to be my friend means so much. I feel like we should get our names out of the way before we have to go for now, don’t you?”

“Seems like a reasonable request. Very well, my name’s gor… My name’s Spiracle. I apologize for my second guessing, I suppose my head was in the clouds for a moment.” That appeared to make him laugh. I joined on… instinct, I suppose. It felt good to laugh, like experiencing something I had been missing for a long time.

“My name’s Thorax! It’s very nice to meet you, Spiracle! Though, I should probably head back to my room with my brother… Say, wanna come with me? I can introduce you!” I gave a brief inward smile at the idea. Some allies in a place like this could go a long way.

“That sounds like a fine plan. Lead the way, Thorax.” I said, as he led me into the winding paths of my new prison.

---

We eventually found ourselves at the room in which Thorax and his brother took residence. We had discussed on the way on what the hive was like. As it turns out, my new friend had a month on me in terms of age. I asked him why he was there, and he stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, that the reason he had been where I came out of my cocoon was because he was hoping to find a friend in one of the newly hatched. Which, to his credit, he had.

“So, you managed to ACTUALLY make a friend, huh?” His brother said, looking at me with a hint of suspicion.
“Yup! H-his name’s Spiracle! H-he’s one of the nicest changelings I’ve ever met too!” I mentally stopped for a moment. Nice? I mean, I suppose I had been nice enough thus far, but I wasn’t pretending to be someone I wasn’t at that moment. Personality wise, I mean. It did feel a tad strange calling myself “Spiracle”, but who was I to argue with a name like that? But that’s besides the point. I had been known by my… past friends that I was a ruthless sort of person. Though, I suppose I hadn’t shown much of that here.

“Hah, not as nice as you, I bet! Honestly, you’re so nice you could pass for a pony!” I found that analogy rather strange. I couldn’t tell if he meant to compare Thorax to the animal I knew, or if there were intelligent ponies in this world. I went with the latter, it seemed to make more sense given my circumstance.

Then a thought crossed my mind. I had heard of a sort of localized American pony show making the rounds in Japan briefly. I hadn’t seen much of it, just one episode where this orange pony overworked herself to the point of exhaustion. I found her tenacity quite admirable, even if she took it a bit far in the end (There’s also the fact she was a cowgirl). That was besides the point however. The point was what if I had been placed into that very world by some otherworldly force. It was a stretch, but I was also a talking equine bug who lived in a large nest, talking to two other equine bugs. Needless to say, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch at this point.

I laughed a little at the statement, regardless. We talked for a little, I learned The name of this new friend was “Pharynx”. However, it wasn’t long before I heard a call for my name. A call I had expected somewhere from the back of my mind, but the changeling who spoke it startled me.

“Hey! You’re Spiracle, right? Why’re you hanging around THAT loser?” I narrowed my eyes at the incomer. They were wearing a small set of purple armor, and holding an impromptu spear.

“I’ve only been around for a matter of hours, same as you, and I’ve already heard all about Thorax and his little ‘Friendship’ trips! That bug has no use for the hive, except maybe as a farmer. You may be one now, spiracle, but you CAN become a scout, or even a warrior if you stop hanging with that soft, good for nothing lo-” I couldn’t handle whoever this was spouting nonsense about someone they’d only heard rumors about. Especially someone I considered a friend.

“You’d better shut your trap before I remove your ability to speak.” That should shut them up, and teach them a lesson about-

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You? Win against me? I out class your combat rank! You see the purple? That means warrior, pal! You’re… red. Whatever that means. I think it means blind. Wait, so you might be blind, not only that your- BAHAHA! Alright, yea, let’s fight. I can’t wait to hear your begs for mercy!” It was like looking in a horrible mirror for a moment. Back when I was less… merciful.

Still, I staved off my fear and prepared myself. “You’re hardly a threat. Prepare to be annihilated.” After saying that, they rammed into me with their back chitin hoof, and kicked me against the wall, knocking the wind out of me. I couldn’t fight after that, as much as I wanted to, I was out of breath, and for a moment I swore I could taste what I could only assume what my blood..

“Had enough, Spiracle? Or do I need to teach you another lesson??” Not only were they taunting me- They were enjoying my pain and suffering. How can anything be so cruel? … Ok, that’s the pot calling the kettle black, but still… At least I was trying to defend an ally.

“You- I’ll cough… I’ll get back at you…”

“Oh, what is that? More? I’ll happily-”

“That’s enough, you two. What’s your name, anyway?” Pharynx defused the situation, looking at the changeling that had knocked me down with just one kick. As much as I’d like to give whoever is a piece of my mind, it’d be stupid to try and fight them now. Normally I’d consider something like this a crutch, but in this case, I think it’s something that’s very much needed.

“Humph, fine. I’m Tibia, the Queen’s daughter and her new personal apprentice! She set me in a room with… him… to see if he’s worth anything. We’re both her children, after all. Hopefully he inherited SOMETHINGuseful from our queen.” I inwardly scoffed. Does it matter if I’m born from the “queen”? Aren’t we all? This is some sort of hive, of course. And we are some sort of bug.

“Y-y-your the Queen’s SON???” Apparently it does matter, judging from Thoraxes reaction. It can be deducted that changelings do have different parents besides just the queen, so they’re more equine in that aspect. Regardless, I tried to pick myself up, only to fall back down again. To think I’d regress to such a sad weakling this easily. And then there was someone at my side…

“Oh-! Hold on, I got you! I-I don’t want you hurting yourself anymore because of me… I-I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help more. I’ve always been more of a runt.” Is Thorax timid? Yes. But the very fact he was willing to show kindness and compassion to me in my moment of weakness is a strength to be valued. Even if it means getting berated by his peers, he still chooses to do what’s right. I can get behind someone like that.

“Thank you for the help- but shut up. Grah- being kind is not the same as being a runt. Are you timid? Of course. Is that going to get you in trouble in a place like this? Of course. But you’re not a runt. Only a moron would mistake kindness for weakness.” Thorax looked at me with wide eyes, and the other two in the room raised an eyebrow at me. I raised an eyebrow back.

“What?” I followed up with, looking around with slight confusion

“That’s just… the nicest thing any changeling in the entire hive has ever said to me… noling’s ever complimented me for being nice…” Thorax said. I could see how much he wanted to smile, but he held it off… most likely because of the company.

“Wow… you really are a wimp. I mean, stupidly risking your life for a half-wit like Thorax is one thing, but actually saying kindness isn’t a weakness and implying Thorax is WORTH something because he’s a doormat? That’s low, that’s the lowest a changeling can ever go.” Tibia spat at me, sneering as she did.

“I never said he was a doormat. I will agree he needs to work on being assertive before he gets himself killed, but the very fact he was willing to risk his own social status, no matter how non-existent it may be, to help me is a strength you do not have.” I sneered back as I spat the words at my apparent sister

“Ugh, I swear. The Queen’s given me an impossible task, I swear. I’ve had enough of this. Spiracle, come with me. I’ll show you to my room.” Tibia said as she walked out in the direction our room apparently was. Or, sorry, HER room that I happen to be staying in. Tch, what a narcissist. I had no plans of following her, but Pharynx warned me that the punishment could be… not worth the disobeyment, we’ll say that, if I didn’t follow. So I did. Very, very reluctantly.

---

“Finally, back to my room.” My sister said, before I sneered “You mean ‘Our room’?” right at her.

“No, I meant MY room. You’re just staying in it. I would say our room, but you’re so focused on being ‘friends’ with losers that I don’t consider you anywhere near as good as me. And didn’t you get assigned to mushroom picking cause the nest drones thought you were blind?” I scoffed and rolled my eyes, before glaring at her.

“Oh. My. Gosh. You did get- BAHAHA! I can’t believe you- my own brother got assigned to mushroom picking. Oh you’ve…” She then extraordinarily close; too close for comfort, in fact.

“You’d better not mess up my reputation in the hive, you little rat. You may be a hopeless noling, but I’m Tibia, princess of the-” I couldn’t bear to hear her yabbering, so I interrupted her.

“Yea, ok. I don’t really care all that much.” My only goal is to make talking to me not worth it for her, so that she stops getting on my nerves. She’s starting to get real ear-grating.

“Ok then, mister “I’m too good to be Prince of the changelings (even though we don’t have a prince just a lead general and a general in training though I suppose you aren’t even that since you’re so much of a wimp)”, go do whatever it is that you-” I, again interrupted her. The whole ear grating thing, you see. It’s starting to get on my nerves.

“Will you stop with the wimp shit? It’s starting to get old.” Tibia went silent, and when I looked back her mouth was agape. I raised an eyebrow. Something as simple as that shocked her? What’d I say that did that to her, why’d she-

“WhaaaaaHHHHH! I- You- You said- You said a forbidden word- those words- they’ve been- wha- I wha- are you not tapped into the hive mind yet or something?? How do you not know not to- Huh???” She left me alone for the rest of the night after that. Turns out, I was unable to connect to this ‘hivemind’. I don’t mind, less avenues for becoming a puppet for someone else.

---

18 Years Later

I was walking down the halls of the hive with Thorax when he told me there was a meeting with the hive. Where, I had no idea, but I followed him to where we were supposed to go. I’m glad Thorax is my friend, he’s the only reason I’m still sane in this hell hole. Pharynx is… alright. I’m a friend of Thorax so that means he generally treats me neutral at worst, though he’s still just as cruel as the other changelings. Tibia is… well, I’m pretty sure she’s been eavesdropping whenever I tell Thorax about my… rather vocal disagreements with how the hive is run.

Occasionally, I would see Changelings making fun of ponies by turning into them, and making mocking voices. They’re brightly colored horses with ass tattoos that represent what they’re good for, along with their three variations; Unicorns, Pegasus, and Earth. I would eavesdrop, just so that if I ever got out of this place, I would be able to have basic knowledge of what goes on. I gave up on the dream of escaping long ago, though.

Regardless, we’re now here. Inside of the main throne room, while Queen Tyrant addresses her shit-brained subjects with the same loyalty crap. ‘Loyalty to the hive must be treasured, anyling who disagrees will be banished’. That’s the abridged version, at least. Not like I care, the entire hive’s a dictatorship, a machine, and I’m a reluctant cog in it. The spiel’s normally supposed to be over by now… I wonder what’s going on? I’ll listen in, if only because of absolute boredom.

“Now, I have received information from our Princess regarding her failure of a brother.” I’m not sure how to react to that. I mean, I’m the Tyrant’s son, doesn’t that mean anything? Then again, it didn’t mean anything to my father, so she’s probably gonna have me work double hours despite that. Maybe ban me from seeing Thorax ever again, if she’s feeling cruel.

“Information on the things he’s been saying behind my back. Things that go against the very thing we stand for in this hive.” You mean the tyranny that you enforce on your brain-dead subjects? Or how about the morally bankrupt punishments you induce on anyling that dares speak against your name? How about the clear favoritism that you display among your subjects? Maybe the never ending harassment that half of us face? Honestly, anything anyling says against her gets twisted into making her the victim and them the villain. It’s sickening.

“He says that we are mindless brutes who only work to state our pointless hunger. He cares not for the life he’s been given, the luxury that I’ve given to him; My own son!” Luxury my ass. And honestly, with the way she’s handling my clearly valid criticisms, she may as well be nothing but a brute. I would bitterly glare if I had the energy, but it’s not even worth it to glare. It won’t change anything.

“And everyling knows what happens to ungrateful fools who take my kindness for granted.” Kindness my ass. We both know that you’re only saying this so that the rest of you shit-headed subjects kiss your boot.

“And Thorax, no less, has been conversing with him!” Wait what? Don’t bring Thorax into this, he didn’t do shit! He just sat and listened! I swear, she better not do anything to him or I’ll… I’ll… I can’t do anything to her. But I’ll try and help Thorax any way I can if something terrible really is brought upon him. I’ll do whatever I can.

“Their punishment, for going against the hive, and their fellow subjects, is not just banishment, but death!” What!? No… She wouldn’t… but she did! Changelings are already dogpiling onto Thorax, the meatheads are already trying to slit his throat! There’s no way anyling could resist that kind of abuse for long, and Pharynx just left! What the hell? How could he just… leave his own brother like that?? If he won’t do something… then I have to. I have to try something, anything!

I look up at the horn atop my head. I’ve never really used it, besides for picking things up, but I’ve heard it can do more than just be a fill-in for the hands I once had long ago. M-maybe if I just focus, I can- GAHH! My head hurts, but looking to where Thorax is, I managed to blast away his assailants. I run up and hold him, nearly hugging him at this point.They’re closing back in on us. I have to do something… if I could get us out somehow, if we could be anywhere but here… then… TFFFT- AGH!

My eyes are closed. I’m trying to open them, but even that simple action causes immense pain. My head throbs, and I can’t think straight. I open my eyes for a brief moment, and through the blurry tears that are pouring out from my eyes, I can just barely make out orange, yellow, and brown blobs. I don’t care, the pain is too much. I try to stand up, but someling makes me lay back down. It’s Thorax, I can hear his voice. He’s telling me to lay down… and I’m not complaining. I think… I think I’ll relax, and take a nap.

Author's Note:

Next chapter will be told from thorax's perspective! Also the prologue will most likely be 3 chapters, cause the story really starts when Spiracle meets Zecora. Also, the making of this story was heavily inspired by not just persona 5, but also Rare Americans! The more you know.