A dark, dark place for a young - and - good changeling.
A darkened cave nursery stirs with the cracking of tiny bug eggs.
Except, these eggs aren't just any bug eggs, they are bug-pony eggs. This is a changeling hive, and a changeling nurse is waking up to the sound of the eggs hatching. She then lights her magic to see who is entering the insect world next.
The tiny larva are now growling and squealing as they escape from their cold, but comfortable egg 'prisons.' The nurse soon scoops them up and hugs them, only to realize that the smallest one hasn't hatched yet.
"Um...", Nurse started, "Hello little egg...I see that you're the only one that hasn't hatched yet...maybe I should cool you down, or even warm you up."
She walks over to the unhatched egg, and even though Nurse had thought that the other changelings (who were still clinging on to her legs) were not strong enough to be latched on, they stayed attached like glue on paper anyway. All of them tumbled off like an open chrysalis falling off of a butterfly.
Nurse looked at the little egg and hugged it. Even though she was cold-blooded, the warmth of her love made the egg wobble; the little one is ready to hatch. Nurse then put down the hatching egg, and all of the other little changelings now crowd around the smallest one that is hatching.
An eye peeped through a hole in the egg, scanning the area.
Then, Nurse exclaimed, "Hello little one; there are others here to meet you! Here are your adopted brothers and sisters!"
The shy baby changeling came out of the egg cautiously. The other babies then buzzed angrily, and the newborn baby hid back into his egg. Nurse then told the others to calm down, as she patted the half-hatched egg as a signal for the newborn little guy to come out.
"You seem mighty shy," She said with a lot of love in her voice,
"Don't worry, little Shy Guy; I'll be your temporary mother, and you don't have to worry about your siblings. They won't hurt you, and you're so cute and delicate! I guess I'll call you by a fragile body part...how about I name you...Thorax?"
Thorax buzzed his wings happily and came out of the egg, hugging his Nurse Mother.
"Oh, you're just a little cutie, aren't you?" Nurse asks.
However, the happy moment was interrupted, as Queen Chrysalis walked in to check on the babies, and Nurse dropped Thorax out of surprise, fear, and annoyance at this interruption.
Thorax then landed on the slimy cave floor with a ‘thud’ and an “Eep!”
"Ooohhhh....these little ones will do wonders for my army,"
The Queen explained, picking one up with her magic, and holding him with her big hoof. He looked up at her with an evil grin, and the Queen put him down and picked up another - Thorax's older brother. He hisses angrily; he did not want to be colt-handled. This amused Chrysalis and told the little whelp to "calm down little fighter." The irritated foal teleported onto the Queen's hair and slept, as she picked out another newborn to inspect.
The new baby in question was Thorax, who looked at her with a worried look on her face. Thorax's expression seemed as if he thought he was about to die, but Nurse's oblivious face is jovial.
She's very excited because she could see how many cute babies were crawling on and around Chrysalis's body - refusing to come off. After putting the shivering larva down, Chrysalis picked up a few more, and after finishing (and putting the little ones down gently), gestured to Thorax. She moved her hoof to make sure Nurse knew which changeling baby she was talking about.
"This one seems a bit scared...the little one needs to be toughened up. I'll leave him in your care until he is old enough to be in the army!"
"Thank you milady," Nurse answers, then courtesies, "I'll make sure that he will be strong enough for your pleasure. He will be like my son..."
"Yes...well", The Queen scrunched up her nose, and protested,
"Make sure that you remember that all of these babies are MY children, no matter WHAT."
The Queen then pushed her face in front of Nurses for dramatic effect.
Afterwards, she flew out of the room, using her magic to pull the awoken and irked welp from her hair down to the ground safely; naming him (brother's name.) Once the Queen left, Thorax and Nurse cuddled each other.
"Well...", Nurse whispered, "He's technically my child for now!"
As the other changeling babies played rough-and-tumble games with each other, Thorax cuddled with his temporary mother, since he is not ready for harshness yet. He then snuggled deeper into Nurse’s chest and whispered,
"I love you, mummy..."
"Oooh! You said your first words!" Nurse cooed, "I love you too, my son...Thorax."
The years with Nurse were beautiful for young Thorax.
For a changeling, he had a very love-filled and wonderfully kind life, though of course, it wouldn't be entirely perfect, just close to it. ;) Nurse Wingspan took care of him as if he was her own child.
The night that he was given as a foster foal to her, Nurse had scooped the larva up in her gigantic, protective wings, then took off to her bedchambers. She then sent a magical buzzing signal to alert another nurse that some-buggy needs to watch over the babies. As the duo leaves, Thorax can hear the hissing of his siblings in the distance.
Out of the 100 baby changelings she usually watches over, Thorax was Nurse's favorite. Well, this breeding season, Thorax is an addition, so there are really 101 baby changelings that Nurse has to look after. Even though a changeling nurse usually looks after 1,000 babies, this nurse, the lead one, typically looks after a lower baby load since she is the eldest of all the changeling nurses and nannies.
Out of the full group of eggs - a million each breeding season - only about half of that set die each time. Some are squashed, cracked, or even eaten - mostly by accident, or because the baby was too weak.
This is especially bad for the drones, which have to endure mental and physical hardships, especially for the ones who are the strongest males of the group - even if they are not guards. Yes, Thorax was the weakest in her pod- but Nurse was going to make sure he is the strongest!
“Waaaaaaaa!”
However, first, it was Thorax's feeding time! ;D Nurse attached the fussy baby Thorax to her one of her many teats and let the larva suck the slimy but creamy substance out until he was full.
After Nurse gave suck, it was time to let the little one rest.
Even though she was one of the eldest changelings, (being over 300,000 years old), she could still breastfeed, and it felt like every single one of the babies in the hive - whether they liked it or not - were temporarily her own children.
Years ago, she had asked Chrysalis is she could have her own children, though the favor was declined. The male she loves and has married is a guard, though sadly, they are forbidden to have any children, no matter what.
Since there are so many babies to look after, Nurse asked if she could have kids after her retirement. Sadly, it seems like Nurse is such a good babysitter-like 'mother' to all 56 million changelings in the 36 hives, that Chrysalis thought she might be ‘overworked’ until her passing.
However, for at least for another 200,000 years, she should still be alive and kicking; with only her husband to love her. During her job, Nurse WingSpan has to fill up her slimy milk in 100-1,000 bottles in the midnights, so that all of the babies she looks after will have food, and some will still be able to latch onto her teats.
'Boy, babies do drink a lot! It'll take at least another 50 years for them to eat wormy apples and moldy leaves, and finally be able to suck love.'
Even though it is a busy job, Nurse loves caring for 'her' little ones!
Thorax was the closest any changeling baby had ever been to nurse, and she was afraid of losing him. She knew that Chrysalis, High Queen of the changelings, was going to rip her away from her baby someday; to die, or be defeated on the battlefield of another attempt at taking over, (or even destroying) Equestria. It irked Nurse to know that she might lose her little Thorax, but she had to be strong for him! She still decided on whether or not to tell Thorax that she was not Thorax's mother, though, as well as the fact that he is an even closer child to the Queen than he thinks....
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Thorax’s Bug-Foal life
Continuing with Thorax's life, the foal drone was allowed to play and enjoy life longer than any other changeling. It caused the jealous bullies of the hive - both young and old - to tease or hurt poor Thorax. They would exclaim, "Nurse's pet!" This would happen every time he walked past them; if he completed his hive school-work well and his guard training quickly. They would also say that the boy was a spoiled young ‘prince.'
Thorax didn't know what every-buggy was talking about...he thought that most, if not, ALL of the changelings in the society were children of queen chrysalis...weren't they ALL royalty?!
When Thorax had almost grown from being foal sized, he was finally able to be fed love. At first, the romantic substance had to be extracted from other changelings as a test to see how robust he was, and then they could move onto other creatures’ love supplies. Since most changelings do not emit much love, (or emit the selfish kind), it is easy for (in pony years) five-year-old changelings to drain one another's love magic.
The creatures that are used for feeding time are mainly the “Lovey-Dovey Smoochy Land” inhabitants called the LoveCats. These magical kittens can only emit love and kindness – the poor things are a perfect meal for changelings.
Thorax, of course, protested to this meal but was forced to eat their love to stay alive. Because of that, anything else that was filled with love; (especially small creatures and the non-cute and non-innocent ones), had to be fed to Thorax since he did not want to drain such a vital part of a creature’s survival and to be.
Thorax's brother, (name,) started to defend his younger sibling from bullies, which Thorax was eternally grateful for, but he was rough during playtime and teased little Thor. Thorax did not sometimes mind, mainly because (brother name) may have treated his little bro as a subordinate, but always taught him about life and helped him train and survive whenever Nurse wasn't around.
Except for (brother's name), the other changeling pupa were mean to Thorax and Nurse, and Thorax was the only one who called her 'mom,' or 'Mama Nurse.' At least (brother's name) called Nurse Mrs. Nurse, or Miss Caretaker. At least HE has respect for her like Thorax does.
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Whenever he is stressed out, Thorax always puts on any the foal clothes that Nurse made, so he looks rather snazzy all the time.
OOF!
...Even if some of the clothes made for when he gets older - (as well as a particular fedora), were too big.
"Mmf! Mama da cwloads fll un mi agin!" Thorax called under the big and bulky pile of clothing.
"Whoops! That's the fifteenth time this week!” Nurse called from her library and put down her book. “Ok, maybe some love from Mother 'Auntie' Nurse will help you feel better again!"
Nurse then started to trot towards her adopted son, but more sounds of Thorax struggling through his thick and dense pile of snow-like clothing, pressed her on to make her want to fly to Thorax faster.
However, she knew that after many of the 'changeling escape' regimens Thorax had to complete, he was getting a lot faster at escaping from the mountainous piles of clothes each time they covered him.
"Coming little one!" She cried as she reached the room, just as Thorax’s head was popping out of the mountainous clothing heap.
Upon seeing each other, the two changelings tackled one another and rolled around on the floor laughing. The clothes rolled around with the duo and made them look rather silly. If any of Thorax's 'siblings' trotted past Nurse's room if they needed a boo-boo fixed, or if they needed some questions answered, the children would laugh haughtily upon seeing the merriment inside.
The changelings would then trot away and tell others of what they saw later. Once they arrived back to their rooms, the bug-foals then whispered to each other about the 'silly-billies.' However, the mentioned two changelings didn't mind, even when they found out about it; they were used to being teased since Thorax was born!
Whenever Thorax did his schoolwork, he would ace it. Thorax always turned in his work first and got 100℅ scores. He made everyone think that A++'s look like the lowest grades! Somehow, he could even help improve takeover plans (by adding how to make friends with other creatures of course) - and teaching about friendship comes naturally to him!
Technically, every-changey is jealous at the shy, but bright Thorax in one way or another. However, unless it is pointed out or mentioned directly; Thorax usually doesn't notice and has been gaining a lot of new friends. Recently, he's even learned to make friends with a few bullies!
Not all good things last forever though, and Thorax knew that his time in the Changeling wars would come; see his kind either try or succeed in destroying pony lives by sucking their prey's love... And finally, if Chrysalis wants revenge so badly, Thorax will see pony and changeling kind alike - rip each other limb from limb. He was not looking forward to that day; he felt almost like he was a pony, or had the magic of friendship inside of him...it felt like creating a Civil war among his other race. But for now, he could be happy...with his mama Nurse! ;)
Thorax always had fun playing with his 'mother', and any other changeling who thought it would be nice to be friends with him. Thorax had fun until more bullies were around the hive – and they keep telling him that he’s a 'special' changeling and pick on Thorax even more. However, Thorax didn't realize how deep it would get until he hit adolescence...and was eligible to be drafted into the next Changeling war....
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The evil Hive and War day!
The hive is a dark, dark place for a young and good changeling! No wonder some of them leave the hive early to be trained how to become tough! Some of them have adventures with other changelings in the land they have around the hive, as well as visit friends from other colonies when they are at the right age.
That is usually where changeling kindness ends. Since they are controlled by the Queen and the Hive Mind, they do what the Queen wants – complete dominance; revenge against Celestia and Equestria, as well as drain love and magic from powerful creatures and ponies such Princess Twilight Sparkle. It’s only because the Queen controls changelings that most of the hives have an extreme thirst for power and dominance, as well why they are usually such scary and violent creatures.
"No! I don't want to go!" Thorax yelled as his life was about to be shattered by the next Changing War Day.
His pleas for Queen Chrysalis to not send him out into battle and to save the ponies of Equestria instead were in vain.
Thorax then thought of all of the terrible things that will come from this well-planned Canterlot attack.
He knew that he would be hurt for a selfish cause, and give most ponies another reason to hate changelings. Also, if Thorax didn’t try to do anything to subdue the ponies, the bullies might report to the Queen (or even just each other), and get his kind riled up to be against him. Now that he knew just how poorly the bullies treat him now, he wonders what they will do to him on the battlefield.
He still thought about how all of the changelings - even with their hierarchies - must all be princes and princesses of Queen Chrysalis. He also assumed that because it seemed that the Queen has a stronger government over the changelings than Princess Celestia has over the ponies; so he can't be a prince all on his own. Thorax did not understand how wrong he was with his statement.
Thorax now begins to race home from his studies every morning; the bullies might realize just how much of a friendship-loving and cowardly changeling he really is.
Thorax also thought that the changelings might even succeed in taking over somewhere when Thorax just wants to show love. The ponies might not believe him if he says that ‘he will not hurt them; he only fights for friendship’; and this would cause even more rifts between the pony and changeling kinds! Another reality that Thorax thought was that Nurse might be worrying about whether her ‘son’ will be back alive to see his next birthday.
"You'll have fun -I'll protect you my little ‘prince’!"
The sickeningly sweet - not to mention, fake - consolidation from the Queen did not calm down the tiny changeling before her; mainly because she smiled slyly. Thorax thought that he could change the world by sharing love and joy everywhere.
Of course, he was not the only changeling who thought that, but due to his relations with the Queen...he was the only one able to keep his own mind, and now, he had a stronger mind than any changeling in the hive. Today, he is dressed in guard amour and is now forced to serve the Queen. He is one of the youngest trainees that need to learn their strengths in becoming part of Equestria’s enemies.
"I'm sorry Thor," Nurse cried, though she masked most of her fear and sadness by not letting the tears run for long.
"You have to do this, sob- go to war, the Hive and I will be proud of you! Fight and win…hic - I love you!! Sniff...and don't forget to...sob…listen to the queen!"
"Ok..." Thorax responded with tears of fear in his own eyes. He then flew off and teleported after seeing the Queen's horn light up as a signal for him to get going quickly.
"Yes...listen to your mother..." The Queen whispered.
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Back in his room, Thorax is sobbing heavily, his body's vibrations shaking his cocoon bed slightly. While lying over half of the side of his favorite sleeping place, his eyes shimmer.
He notices a picture of his closest siblings, including (brother's name.) Thorax levitates the photo off of his desk and stares at it closely, his eyes glimmering with tears. As Thorax's tears start to wash over the photograph, he thinks of all the fond memories of playing 'changelings and ponies' with his family.
He remembered how he and his brother stayed as changelings, while their other brothers and sisters transformed into ponies and were chased around the room. The changelings always won - despite Thorax's way of winning - acting cute, so the 'ponies' would trust him, and his brother attacking them unexpectedly without Thorax's approval. Most of the time, (brother's name) roughhoused with Thorax and the others. The bug whelps play-fought together and had a great time while being with each other.
The siblings all went on their separate ways, however, breaking the happy reunion. A quarter of the siblings were cadets-in-training, the next quarter worked in bug-like food gathering jobs, and the last sibling quarter is now scouters. The only other siblings that Thorax knows the fate of are the two closest brothers - Thorax and (brother's name,) both guards on a new mission to take over Equestria.
Thorax smiles and grabs his military knapsack. He was the only one who has one...especially one with such a cute design. The design had a picture of changeling foals printed on it, with pink-and-purple polka-dotted holes in their legs. Thorax uses his magic to mask the image, then resolves to pack for the battlefield quickly, before the Queen finds him.
He gets in his guard uniform in record time, grabs a few necessities and puts them into his knapsack. His essentials include his sword, his coat, an orange V-shaped scarf from Nurse, some water, a piece of his cocoon bed. He then levitates a few of his pony and changeling doll toys (he had made them out of rock himself - the only toys for changeling are mainly weapons;) and finally, his book on friendship during wars. He had acquired it from an ex-prey pony skull on his desk - a place where he keeps the unwanted pony treasures hidden to save them from being thrown away after an invasion. Thorac slowly drops everything in his magic into his knapsack, finally closing it.
"More haste, less speed," Thorax thinks.
He did need to hurry while getting dressed and packed, but he did not want to destroy anything in his worry while in this big and unexpected rush. No-changey told him that most warrior guards and guard trainees are picked out due to how they would fare in battle.
He had assumed that the drones had chosen to go to war - that's what they made it look like to everyone else - especially the young whelps. Maybe the drones were not supposed to explain how they were drafted, and Thorax has been in on the drafting list for some time now; the guard captain must have sensed great strength or resilience in him, even though until now, Thorax refused to fight, even when being forced to.
However, a creature would have to threaten Thorax, or move his body around to cause him to fight; he will absolutely NOT do it if instructed. That was one of the mane things Thorax got in trouble for during his cadet training - but he continued showing his loyalty to friendship, love, and kindness. Despite all that, though, Thorax is still going into this war...whether he likes it or not, even if he refuses to fight.
Thorax sucked in a deep breath, and exhaled; guard uniform on, a filled backpack, erm...knapsack on his back, sword in his hoof he looked like a handsome and fierce warrior. He looked like he was about to face a huge monster, and Thorax was secretly afraid in spite of his mask of a serious attitude that was his guard helmet, which had long fang-like tusks on the outside of the mouthpiece, which had been left open by default to show Thorax's glistening fangs.
Thorax gulped, and trotted over to his door, ready to fly through the guard tunnel and to get prepared to fight. He feels very intimidated about the task at hoof, and scoops up his bed's cocoon sample from his sack and places it next to his cheek underneath his uniform.
Thorax flies through the tunnel to the outside world, where the rest of the guards, old ones talking together and new ones finishing up their induction training. Everyone needs to be ready to receive orders from the queen at 150 (fifteen hundred) hours sharp.
Thorax has an hour to wait, so he hides in his favorite secret cave and opens his book on wars and friendship, sitting down happily. The darkness around him is dispersed by his glowing eyes just enough for him to read the story, but not noticeable to others from the outside of the cave. Thorax relaxes and sits down, enjoying his last moment of pure elation and solitude. He is also waiting to see his brother, sisters, and other brothers. He wants to see where their position is so that he can sneak up and join them while Chrysalis gives her long speech and revenge plan against Celestia and the rest of Equestria's demise. He sighs, thinking about the terrible war to come.
"After this war, my life will never be the same." Thorax thought.
He does not realize how correct he is in that hunch.
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*In the Throne room*
The Queen is now glaring a hole through Nurse, and Nurse Wingspan returns her own worried eyes. She knows what was coming next….
"Have you told him yet? That he is MY son, and that he is a DIRECT relation to me?!" The Queen bellowed.
"Um...no....your Majesty, I’ve…b-been meaning to t-tell him at...at the right time! I will tell him s-ssoon, though...s-sorry...m-milady....", Nurse answered sheepishly and while shaking in fear.
"Well....” The Queen responded, “If he survives these wars and battles, you had BETTER tell him...otherwise…I hope you understand and won’t take this personally…” The Queen smiled for a second before continuing.
“But… it WILL be…OFF with your head!!!"
The sound of Chrysalis's yell filled the drone war exit room.
Nurse quickly curtsied and bowed her head. Finally having enough courage to speak to the Queen coherently, she apologized ten more times, and lastly, ran off to her bedchamber to cry about her potential loss of her son.
After a while of lying on the silk webbing covers on her bed, she also thought about the traumatizing thought that Queen Chrysalis would once again suck away her love as a punishment; and this time was going to chop off her head after that if she did not tell Thorax the family news. Her mind was clouded as she thought:
"Yes ma'am...I'll HAVE to tell him soon...especially since I don't want to die, or let Thorax die heartbroken...."
As her servant sobbed, Queen Chrysalis, (who was now back on her high throne), used the hive mind to here what Nurse Wingspan had just thought.
She becomes distracted and grabs her sorted speech papers and reminds herself of everything she needs to tell the guards for the first of a series of wars against Equestria - the first one with the unknowingly powerful Thorax. If he survives the battle, Thorax is soon to be elevated to becoming one of the higher-ranking guards. Knowing Celestia, if the Queen's takeover plan fails, Equestria is defeated or if Equestria retreats; the ponies would probably swear not to be violent while fighting unless a dangerous enemy was almost to destroy Equestria. The Queen would humor the Princess by pretending to do the same thing; then she will strike back mercilessly.
Queen Chrysalis then remembered nurses cries and answered her telepathically, and even her thoughts had a steely cold and angry tone to them.
"You'd better tell him...or my name is not high QUEEN Chrysalis...."