After the defeat of Queen Chrysalis by the hooves of Starlight Glimmer and friends, a once depressed and sightless changeling suddenly finds herself thrust into a world of color and vivid imagery, even if no one else believes that she can see it.
Queen Chrysalis had returned, though not for long as a group of "secondary characters" as Discord would put it teamed up to defeat her, a former minion of the Queen's breaking the cycle by sharing love instead of taking it. The remaining changelings all followed the example of their comrade, reforming themselves and destroying the maddened queen's throne in the process. Isolated and effectively exiled from her own hive, the changeling queen fled, swearing vengeance upon the very pony that caused her isolation.
While the day had been saved, another mystery would soon uncover itself within the confides of the hive, one that could very well change the way the reformed changelings view the world as they know it, cause them to question what is real and what isn't.
All of this, because of a singular changeling mare, claiming she can see life itself.
Takes place during / after the Season 6 finale
((This is my first real attempt at writing a pony-based fanfiction, so any critique / help proofreading and such would be well appreciated~))
Those would be the perfect words to describe what goes through the average pony's head after having their love drained from them, whether it be due to a particularly bad break-up, or a changeling attack. The annoyance of having something stolen from you by someone else, the emptiness that is left after they leave, and the perpetual sadness that creeps in to fill the void. Even without interacting with a changeling, these emotions can be felt in pretty much any creature's heart and soul at one point in time or another, festering and dragging them down with it. Similar to how someone dehydrated in the middle of a desert begins to hallucinate and see an oasis where there is none, give someone enough time to stew in their own emotions and sadness, and they too will start to see things that aren't really there, thing they so desperately wish were real. It is truly a sad sight, really: seeing someone start to talk to themselves and/or an inanimate object, pretending that its a loved one just so they don't have to lay alone at night and feel sad.
But what of the creatures that drain you? What of the very things that visit your home and begin the domino effect that leads to a downward spiral of misery and loneliness? What do they feel when they are alone at night, hmm? Up until just recently, no one in Equestria seemed to care about these questions; the Changelings were just considered another nuisance at best, a threat to Equestria at worst. No one stopped to think to themselves "Wait...what if these creatures have feelings just like us?"
Not that the changelings would be allowed to actually speak to anyone, however, Queen Chrysalis made sure of that. The power-hungry queen that came from Celestia-knows where wanted loyal, obedient subjects that would do her bidding without hesitation, without questioning why they were doing so. If any of her minions decided to stop and question her motives, they would find their queen incapable of providing mercy to those that talk balk, and they'd rather be sent to Tartarus then suffer her wrath again. For the longest time, that is how the queen was able to stay in control of her hive, keep them in check to prevent any potential uprisings. However, after the changeling army failed to take over Canterlot, expelled from the city of unicorns by the powerful love magic of Cadence and her husband, something changed. What used to be a cruel, ruthless tyrant of a queen that would through any means necessary to ensure she achieved what she wanted was now a constantly brooding crackpot. Not that any of her subjects had the gall to actually laugh at the once proud monarch, they wouldn't dare bring back the venom of yesteryear, but they definitely took note of their queen being on the edge of going crazy sometimes.
Perhaps it was due to the lack of love going around, or perhaps the magic produced when being expelled from the royal city infused into their bodies, but something recently has caused a few odd-ones-out to appear within the crowd of changelings; various minor mutations and the like. These small differences ranged from something as simple voices being lowered or raised, to more drastic changes such as one subject in particular finding out their tongue was now about ten times as long as it should be. All in all, the hive was no longer the proud unit of destruction of conquest that the queen had envisioned, it was much more disorganized and reliant on guerilla tactics to get the job done. This, as it should have, upset Chrysalis greatly. Besides the fact that she learned there were now basically mutants and outcasts amongst her ranks, coming back from an excursion in Baltimare empty-hooved certainly didn't do her mood any favors.
"Gah, those useless, useless drones!" spat the queen of the changelings as she stormed down the halls of her hive, her long hole-filled dark cerulean tail thrashing behind her as she moved. "I ask for one thing, the simplest of tasks even: distract the city guards while I swoop in and replace the mayor. It should have been easy...but no, those idiots can't even create a simple diversion without me holding their hooves apparently!"
Chrysalis huffed and punched a nearby wall as she walked past, the small pulsating hole in the dead end in front of her enlarging and opening up to form a new path, the alicorn sized changeling heading deeper into the confides of the hive. The small task force she had assigned to take over Baltimare failing to achieve the job she had set out for them sent her on a small rampage through the hive as she headed towards her throne room, any changelings that found their way into her line of sight or path were either snapped at, or thrown aside viciously by her magic; one changeling in particular bouncing off of an organic pillar with a loud thud, the others hidden behind cover cringing at the sound of chitin hitting faux-rock. Further down the ever-changing tunnel that lead to the royal throne room, Chrysalis caught her hoof on the lip of an uneven surface, tripping and falling face first to the ground, or would have had she not caught herself with her wings. This relatively minor inconvenience was the straw that broke the camels back, the changeling queen grinding her teeth together as she landed on the ground, her tail flicking wildly behind her. She scuffed her hoof against the ground in annoyance and closed her eyes, the grinding of her teeth intensifying ever so slightly; if one of the many drones that were lurking around were to poke their heads out from behind cover, they would all but see steam coming from their leader's ears. Finally, the changeling queen's boiling temper exploded, stomping her hoof on the ground and taking off into the air in a fit of rage.
"WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?! COME HERE NOW!" Queen Chrysalis roared, her voice echoing down all of the halls of the hive. The explosion of emotions was met with a long awkward silence afterwards, none of the changeling drones brave enough to leave their various hidey-holes and shelters to face their queen's wrath. After a few moments of no one showing their faces to her, the changeling queen furrowed her brow in anger and hissed through a closed mouth, her long crooked horn lighting up with a brilliant green glow. She then made a rather intimidating roar and shot off a blast of magic in a random direction, the projectile hitting a nearby pulsating wall and exploding, the changeling drone hiding behind it letting out a squeal of fear and cowering. The uncovered drone caught the queen's attention, grabbing them with her magic and yanking the poor fear-filled worker down from their spot and right up to her face, opening her mouth to let out a hiss at point-blank sight range of her captive minion. The drone she had in her grasp all but fainted at the intimidating anger being scapegoated onto them; however, before their queen could do anything more to them, a smaller soft voice called out from down the hall
"...Um...it was m-me, your majesty..." From out of the shadows came the owner of the soft, somewhat weak female voice: yet another dime-a-dozen looking drone. However, the eyes of this drone seemed ever so slightly glossed over, and their neck-fin was shorter and more subdued in color then the average changeling. The drone slowly cantered forward, walking right up to the furious royal changeling and hangs their head low, inspecting the spot of which their queen tripped over with their single colored mono eyes. "When I came through here last...it seemed alright..."
Chrysalis simply stared at the offending drone below her, blinking a few times before suddenly dropping the changeling she had in her magical grasp; the drone landing with a small thud on their rear before quickly scooting off to hide once again. The changeling queen's face slowly twisted into a look of annoyance and anger as she leaned down slightly to better look at the changeling in front of her.
"Yes, well, it's not fine now is it? That means you have slacked off on your job, whelp!" Chrysalis grunted with some accent to her final words, getting closer to the drone as her eyebrow twitched.
"Slacked off...? I'm serious! It wasn't like that befo-" the weak voiced changeling was cut off by Chrysalis suddenly stepping on their back, pushing them down to the ground rather roughly
"You think I care about how it looked BEFORE?!" the queen seethed through closed teeth, grinding her hoof into the back of the downed changeling. "I give you a home, feed you love, let you live, and you disrespect my wishes by letting your queen trip over an uneven surface?! You should be glad I still have a use for you creatures, else you would be gone in a crater right now!"
The queen pushed her hoof down onto the back of the weakened drone one more for good measure before stepping back and huffing, blowing some of her tattered mane of of her face before whipping around and storming off in the direction of her throne once more. The downed changeling, now bruised on their back, groaned and whined as they just laid there on the ground, small streams of tears running down their chitinous snout. While they didn't cry or really show any emotion, it was clear that they were in a lot of pain, both physically and mentally from the encounter with their queen, the other drones that hid around the area wincing and simply watching them from afar. It was common for harsh punishments like this to be dealt out to the changelings by their queen, even over insignificant things such as the floor being uneven. At first, the drones attempted to help each other out behind the scenes once Chrysalis had left, getting their hurt brethren to a safe location within the hive and such. However, the alicorn sized changeling eventually found out about the "kindness and friendship" spreading throughout her hive, and to say she wasn't happy about it would be putting things lightly. Since then, the drones of the hive have stopped trying to help each other up after their queen's basically beat-downs, lest they incur her wrath further. The incapacitated changeling laying on the floor shakily brought a hoof to their face, attempting to wipe away their tears while inspecting their face for any further damage. However, as the changeling then waved its hoof in-front of its eyes for a moment, perhaps it was attempting to check to see if its vision had worsened rather then its face. The drone slowly closed its eyes and let out a weak, saddened groan
"...If I can't even see what color the hoof in-front of my face is...how could I possibly see a small bump in the ground...?"
An invasion of color, that would be the best way to describe what was going on in the changeling hive currently; an entire army of same-looking drones, being enveloped in bright, colorful cocoons as they willingly shared their love with their queen. A vast array of warm colored beams of light flowing from the once simple drones into the possession of the confused changeling monarch, who let out a hiss in confusion as her all of her minions at once gave her love, her eyes frantically darting back and forth between her subjects. Chrysalis simply stood there atop her throne, completely stunned as the magically induced cracks her seat grew wider and wider as more and more love flowed into it.
"...S-Stop...!" The monarch barely managed to squeak out before the entire room was enveloped in a bright pink glow, the rumbling noise of her throne breaking apart escalating to an absurd level; then, it happened. The magic-blocking throne exploded into hundreds of pieces, the gifted love that had been building up within it creating a massive shock wave that tore the entire roof and spire off of the hive. What was left of the top of the hive came collapsing down inward onto the ponies and changelings within, leaving behind a large cloud of dust and debris. Luckily however, the pinkish coated unicorn mare that was inside protected herself and a particularly large newly-reformed changeling within a magical bubble, the dust slowly clearing from the rubble of the former throne room. Soon after releasing the bubble, the mare known as Starlight Glimmer looked around the ruined hive to see if everyone was unharmed. Sure enough, the cocoons that once held all of her friends and mentors slowly cracked open, the ponies and creatures contained within seemingly fine aside from being ever-so-slightly out of it from being cocooned and fed off of. The rest of the "reformed" changelings were unharmed as well thankfully, the now colorful bug-ponies buzzing about the place and talking to one another in shock and surprise of their new forms. Some of the reformed changelings even assisted the once captive ponies in escaping from their prisons, pulling apart the broken cocoons and helping them out. Even if their queen would deny every creature's offers of friendship and forgiveness, the changelings all believed that they had made the right choice, that they were better off sharing their love with others rather then taking it.
However, not all of the changelings shared their love and reformed; there were some that still worshiped their queen, even fled from the hive when their new leader took over. These "rogue" changelings would prove to be a thorn in the side of King Thorax for ages to come, too stubborn to change their ways and reform, still clinging onto the old days like a grandma reminiscing about their golden years. Sooner or later, the soft mannered Thorax would have to confront them, show them the light of friendship and sharing love with one another. However at the moment, there were more pressing matters to attend to, such as ensuring all of Equestria knows that the changelings mean no harm anymore, with a little help from some new pony friends of course. Even through the toughest weather, through all the hate and judgment they were to inevitably receive from unknowing eyes, the new changeling king never gave up hope, for he knew that everything would turn out alright in the end, and his people believed him on that fact.
All of them but one that is...
During the rebellion and subsequent exile of Queen Chrysalis by the hooves of her own subjects, the changelings shared their love to reform and change into more caring creatures; but what of those that weren't even aware something was happening? What about those poor unfortunate changelings that drew the short end of the stick after the invasion of Canterlot, their forms mutating in various ways? Well, depending on where they were located, and what kind of condition they were in, they too were eventually shown the joys of reformation and kindness. However, what if one were to reform through other means? In the case of one particular changeling, they did not reform through sharing their love with someone else, but through an occurrence that would have even the greatest of magical scholars and historians scratching their heads. The little changeling drone, once bruised and beaten by their abusive queen over not being able to fix a bump in the hive, they saw something quite opposite from everyone else that day.
For you see, where everyone else saw an explosion of pink from the hive's throne exploding, the little blind drone?
To call the occurrence the young changeling drone saw an "Explosion of colors" would be quite the understatement. In a very similar fashion to the ever-so legendary "Sonic Rainboom" that the Element of Loyalty's bearer could pull off, the changeling saw a rather bright assortment of warm and cool colors explode out from the top of the hive in all directions, forming a veritable ring in the air. The drone's slightly glossed over opal eyes were filled with all sorts of wonder and amazement, the colors they saw streaking across their vision left their mouth agape. Then, for the first time ever, or for as long as anyone can remember, the drone smiled. The changeling sat there on their haunches, watching the seemingly phantom rainbow explode outward like a little filly watching their first ever fireworks display, totally engrossed in every little detail they were seeing; after all, this is the first time they've seen in color. As they sat there, their mind filling with all sorts of feelings and emotions for the first time ever, they failed to notice their eyes becoming a rainbow suddenly.
All at once, the changeling's body began to slightly glow a bright green color, the process of which made them feel tingly and warm. Letting out a soft meep, the drone shivered at the feeling of their carapace tingling and shifting a little, the glow growing brighter by the second. Despite all the strange tingles and feelings they were feeling at the moment, the changeling's smile only increased in size, the supposed rainbow growing brighter and more vivid in their eyes. The strange glow surrounding the changeling grew brighter and brighter, slowly enveloping their entire body in a white light, the drone's smile growing more adorable as they basked in the sudden array of colors. However, when the blinding white light started to blind them as well, their smile quickly changed into a frown of confusion, frantically looking down at themselves as the parts of their body encased in light began to seemingly harden and grow stiff.
"...W-Wha...? What is h-happening to me...?!" the changeling squeaked out quite loudly, perhaps in an attempt to call for help. Not a moment later however, they were quickly silenced as the open-air room was assaulted with a bright flash of colorful light. Once the semi-natural flashbang faded, where the changeling once stood (or sat, rather) now existed a brightly glowing cocoon of sorts similar to the ones the reformed changelings were wrapped up in before they changed. However, unlike the generically glowing white chrysalises of the average color bug, the cocoon the young drone found themselves entrapped in shined a rather pearlescent light, a multitude of colors shimmering across the woven threads. The unnaturally colored cocoon pulsed softly for a few moments, the fate of the changeling contained within unknown as everything was dead silent, not even the sounds of the throne room above crumbling could be heard. Then however, a rather soft whining noise was heard from within the confides of the woven changeling silk, akin to that of the hum one would hear with a tuning fork. The glowing colors slowly drained from the cocoon, being seemingly transmitted to the creature caught within as a very distinct changeling-shaped object became visible via luminescence.
Just as a certain dark chitinous monarch dived down the side of the hide, flying off into parts unknown as high speeds, the small changeling cocoon suddenly burst open in a blinding flash of light, a rather differently shaped changeling silhouette seen through the flash. Once the light died down, a rather colorful looking lump-of-a creature could be seen laying on the ground where the cocoon was. The "lump" let out a rather tired sounding groan, slowly shifting its position to roll onto its stomach and sit up, wobbling and almost falling over for a moment.
"Ugh...w-what...what happened...?" the changeling said through a groan, blinking a few times before clamping a hoof to their mouth in surprise. "w-w-wait, is this...my voice...?"
To the drone's surprise, the voice coming out of their mouth was not the somewhat soft, droning voice they were used to, but instead a rather cheerful feminine sounding one. They blinked once again, holding one of their front legs out in front of their eyes, their face slowly paling as they no longer saw a black, hole filled chitinous surface, but rather a smooth, somewhat fuzzy green colored one. The changeling meeped and quickly looked over the rest of themselves, seeing the smooth slightly-fuzzy exterior was commonplace on their body now, even their Elytra. They blinked a couple dozen times more, their eyes growing wider in shock upon seeing their old translucent blueish colored changeling wings no longer be there, instead replaced with a shimmering smooth green shell / elytra that held their actual wings. Just as they were about to open up their shell and inspect their wings, the sounds of some other changelings approaching made them meep and try their hardest to get up and go hide. The drone managed to wobble over into a conveniently placed nearby bush, flopping into it to hide from whoever was coming. Out of the darkness of the hive's tunnels came two more changelings, both surprisingly un-reformed: one dressed in the armor of a Hive Guard, the other, a dark gray colored eye patch over their left eye.
"Sounds like it came from ovah here," the one with the eye patch said in a rather strained voice "you don't think there's a little lass hidin' over here somewhere, do ya?"
"Nah, there's no way some mare would even think of coming close to the hive," the other one spoke, their tone of voice somewhat soft, yet equally loud at the same time "you should know this already, Rostrum." the armored changeling rolled their eyes, turning back around to walk into the hive once more.
"Well I don't know anymore, aight? It very well could be, what with all them clown-colored bugs up there buzzin 'bout." harrumphed 'Rostrum', shrugging their shoulders and following the other one back inside. "besides, its not like dumb old Nim would be able to protect the west wall anyway, what with her puttin' about blindly and all that~"
Both of the changelings laughed rather heartily as they vanished back into the hive, their almost bully-like personas soon gone from sight and hearing. Sensing that it was safe to come out now, the effeminate-voiced drone slowly walked out of the bushes, managing to keep "her" balance now. They sighed and flattened her ears against her head somewhat, seemingly depressed from what the two changelings from before were talking about. The reformed drone slowly walked away with their head down, scuffing their hooves as they headed down the small slope that lead to a lower part of the hive. As they continued down the path, the changeling passed by a rather large chunk of the hive wall that had broken off, unveiling a super reflective surface underneath. Blinking a few times, the changeling stopped and turned to look at the "mirror", slowly approaching it with caution, as if worried for what they were about to see in the reflection.
Upon seeing themselves in the makeshift mirror of sorts, their suspicions and worries were proven true somewhat: the young changeling drone had indeed reformed, their entire black chitinous form fully replaced with the smooth coat of a reformed-ling. The drone blinked a few times once more, staring at their face in particular in the "mirror"; their facial shape had changed to be softer and less threatening looking, and upon opening their mouth, confirmed that they no longer had fangs either. What made the changeling confused however was how their eyes looked: it was weird enough that they now had eyelashes befitting a mare, but now their eyes were a solid shade of pink, their "pupils" a barely noticeable lighter shade as well. Upon further inspection of their body in the reflection, and what little they remembered of the two changelings from before when compared to how they looked now, the drone saw their body was more lithe and smooth then before. Which, when combined with the rather embarrassing knowledge and feeling that "something else" was different about them, confirmed their possible suspicions that they both sounded and looked like a female now; which she shrugged off somewhat, the drone had always had a softer more girly personality anyway.
The thing that made her truly stop and stare at herself however was what her neck-fin and tail had become. Where a dime-a-dozen black neck-fine once was now harbored a full head of hair, naturally styled and arranged in a fashion similar to a buffalo chief's headdress; and her once blueish slightly-torn looking changeling tail was now replaced with a somewhat bushy and naturally "dread-locked" tail. What truly caught creature's eyes when they looked at her mane / tail however was how they were colored, a splash of color weaved into each and every strand that came from her head and rear, forming a veritable rainbow over her body (even if it was a few colors short of an actual rainbow). The changeling mare raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head from side to side, moving her rump a little to get a better look at herself.
"Huh...that's...probably not normal...?" she said as she gave her body one final look in the make-shift mirror, blinking and standing up straight as she remembered something. "Oh right, wings...gotta see if those still exist~"
The slightly gradient-tinted green Elytra on her back softly opened up, a pair of semi-transparent wings now peeking out gently. Then, as if excited by something, both of her wings shoot out of her back into flying position with a sort-of "pomf". The moment her wings hit full mast in the air, the changeling's vision was suddenly assaulted with a rainbow of colors and gradients, almost as if the bug had stumbled onto some hallucinogenic plants. The drone meeped and quickly closed her wings, tucking them back inside of their shell before lurching over onto the ground, clamping her eyes shut and pressing her hooves against them to try and block out the colors. A few moments later, she slowly opened her eyes and blinked rapidly, her vision normalizing finally. Letting out a sigh of relief, she plopped back onto her haunches and shook her head.
"Oh thank goodness..." she said, softly chuckling under her breath at her vision returning to normal.
" 'EY! THERE YOU ARE!"
The changeling was snapped out of her soft happy trance by a loud shout, quickly looking up to see the eye-patched drone pointing towards her. The other changeling's face slowly curled up into a devious smirk, lowering their hoof before starting to walk over to her.
"I knew there was a little ole' lass hanging about out here, I just needed to catch 'er in the act," they said, starting to speed up their approach towards the mare. "and oh boy did I catch 'er~"
The changeling mare slowly tilted her head to the side, staring at the other drone as they approached with wide eyes. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the other side, giving her "pursuer" a confused and curious look
"Huh...so that's what I used to look like...neat" she said under her breath, giggling softly. she sat up straight once more as her cute giggling expression slowly faded, pointing to the changeling like they once did to her; or rather, to the air beside them.
"So uh...what's that next to you...?" the mare questioned out loud this time as she gestured to the other drone's side. The eye-patched changeling stopped their advance and blinked, looking over their shoulder to where the fem-ling was pointing.
"...I don't see nothin...you gotten into the 'shrooms or somethin, lass?" they questioned back, seeming rather confused. While the roughed-up changeling couldn't see anything, the mare certainly could, and she was very confused by what she saw.
Besides her vision slightly slipping back into the rather vivid color pallet from before, she also saw a cloudy-looking apparition beside the eye-patched changeling; or to be more specific:
The sight of some form of skull floating around, even if it may not even be there, certainly didn't set the changeling mare's mind at ease, nor did the unease she felt upon gazing at it. The almost smoke-like apparition she saw floated around, its shape pulsing and shifting while still retaining the general shape of a skull. However, other then it moving around a little, it didn't really do much of anything that she could see, which only further increased the changeling's uneasiness. Every time the colorfully painted drone blinked, the smokey phantom seemed to inch slightly closer to the eye-patch wearing old-ling, as if the general malice of the other drone were pulling it in. Deciding that she was probably just seeing things and/or not used to her newly reformed eyeballs, the changeling gently shrugged it off and stood up, preparing to run away from the rather mean sounding old-ling in case they decided to spring at her. However, as the eye sockets of the apparent "skull" apparition started to gently glow a rather foreboding red, the drone could ignore it no longer.
"...U-Um...I'm being serious here, there is actually something there..." the mare drone said, nudging her hoof in the air to indicate the apparition slowly drawing closer to the old-ling. Despite her sensing the malice her apparent attacker was giving off, she still felt a strange need to help them out and/or warn them of potential ethereal danger. Perhaps it was a symptom of her recent basically forced reformation, or perhaps she was just a kind soul deep down, but she definitely didn't want to see some creature potentially get hurt and/or die in-front of her. "Even if you don't see it, you should still get away from it..."
The eye patch wearing drone blinks, once more looking behind him as he whipped around 180 in a rather swift motion, the pair of keys attached to hip via a strap jingling softly. The roughed up drone's eye twitched in annoyance at having his time wasted, as he once more saw nothing in the direction the colorful changeling pointed at. The old-ling bit their lip and grumbled to themselves, trying their best to not turn around and explode on the mare in-front of them, instead somewhat gripping onto a miscellaneous rock that was under their right front hoof.
"So then missy, if this 'ting of yours really does exist, then wot exactly does it look like, eh?" the worn out looking changeling asked of the colorful drone, not even turning around to face her. The colorful drone perked up slightly, her chance of potentially saving the rough changeling finally showing itself she thought to herself.
"Um w-well...It kinda looks like a sort of...skull...cloud...? It's hard to explain, but its some kind of strange misty...thing that looks like a skull, and it's heading towards you...I think" she replied, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes as if to focus in on the apparition with her vision.
"Ah, I see..." the eye patch drone replied back, his more serious tone of voice making the colorful mare perk up slightly. A smile slowly grew on her face as she began to slowly canter towards the other changeling, her tail swaying behind her in apparent hope. She raised a hoof in the air as if to reach out and touch / comfort the old-ling.
"So then...you believe m-"
She was cut off suddenly by the eye patch wearing drone spontaneously bursting into a fit of laughter, the colorful changeling putting her hoof down and blinking in surprise. The old-ling tipped over to the side, falling onto the hard ground as they clutched their barrel, their guts wrapped up in hysterics as they continued to laugh intensely. The more and more the eye patch wearing old-ling continued to laugh, the less and less confident and happy the colorful drone felt, her hopes of her fellow changeling understanding her worries dashed from her. Eventually, the old-ling stopped their excessive laughter, taking a few moments to catch their breath once more before letting out one final soft chuckle and shaking their head.
"Hehehe...A floatin' skull, eh? Ye sure that's not jus' you seeing yer future there, Nim?" Then, without any real warning, the eye patch wearing old-ling whipped around and leaped at her, the sudden movement causing their keys to fly off of their hip and over into the rocks nearby. Despite basically being blind before, if there's anything that "Nim" could call her special skill, it's having a good reaction time. She managed to dodge to the side at the last second, causing the old-ling to go flying past and headbutt the rock directly behind her at high speeds. Thinking that perhaps their encounter was over, the colorful drone simply stood there and watched the other changeling slam into the rock, letting out a tiny giggle as they did so. Just as she was about to clamp her hooves to her mouth in surprise of hearing herself giggle, the old-ling sat up and rubbed their head as if nothing had ever happened, causing her face to drain of color.
"Ye think a little ole rock is gonna keep me from givin ya what you deserve, eh?" The old-ling stood up and turned their head to look at her, gritting their teeth in obvious pain from hitting the boulder combined with anger. They dug their hooves into the dirt and bent down slightly, signaling they were about to try and strike again. Seeing this somewhat telegraphed motion, the drone referred to by the old-ling as Nim started to slowly turn around, preparing to do the probably very smart thing and run away, especially when she saw the eye patched drone pull a chitinous knife out of their waist holster. "...c'mmere you little...!"
Grasping the almost naturally formed knife in their mouth, the blackened changeling leaped at her once more, arcs being carved into the air as they swung at her, the green-shelled changeling barely managing to avoid being cut by their blade. As the changeling swung their weapon at her, the colorful drone noticed that every charge at her, their blade came closer and closer to grazing her underside, which made her eyes dart around a little bit in worry. She continued to jump left and right, keeping away from the imminent danger being thrust and swung at her, meeping under her breath at every near-miss. Just when she thought she was gaining some headway in escaping, her newly reformed bug wings suddenly spazzed out of her Elytra, causing her to veer to the side in midair and smack into the outer wall. The colorful drone slumped to the ground in a lump of pain, gritting her teeth and squirming trying to get up once more. The eye patch wearing old-ling smirked as they saw her crumble to the ground, slowly cantering over while spinning the chitinous knife around in their mouth to have the blade point forward.
"ehehe...looks like yer not going anywhere soon, missy~" The old-ling loomed over the colorful drone, stepping on her back legs with one of their hooves to ensure she couldn't get up easily, letting out a slightly muffled devious chuckle as they reared their head back and puffed out their wings, preparing to lunge forward and stab the weakened bug.
The colorful drone squirmed more under the hoof of her attacker, shutting her eyes tightly and preparing for the inevitable pain should she fail to break free from his hold. The eye patched old-ling thrust their natural weapon downward, fully intent on puncturing the color bug beneath them and/or possibly killing them. However, just before the sharpened tip of the chitinous blade made contact with her slightly furred side, the old-ling was tackled at high speeds off of her, the sound of which was heard quite audibly to anyone nearby. The vibrant changeling's ear twitched as she heard the sounds of her attacker being tackled off of her, feeling the weight and pressure of their hoof leaving her legs. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around quite frantically, sitting up to get a better view of her potential savior.
"...H-Huh, wha...?" the drone says in a daze, blinking her eyes a few times and shaking her head to fix her vision. While she didn't really see who it was that saved her, she did manage to catch a glimpse of them fleeing / flying back into the hive via one of the various open holes; a flash of black, red, and purple catching her eye as it withdrew into the walls. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but upon looking over in-front of her and seeing the eye patched old-ling starting to get up, she decided to just take the stranger's random act of kindness and flee. Upon turning tail and running away, the drone practically tripped over the discarded pair of keys laying to the side next to where she was. Without even really giving it a second though, she picked them up and hung the key-ring around her horn rather comically, quickly sprinting off and around the corner / out of sight before the old-ling had a change to get up and see her fleeing. Just as she ran around the corner leading to another portion of the hive's exterior, another old-ling walked out of the hole she just passed by, blinking and looking in her direction just in time to see her vanish. The blackened drone raised an eyebrow and simply stared at the air in which the vivid changeling used to be for a moment, blinking and quickly whipping around upon hearing the groans of their downed eye patched comrade.
"A-Are you okay boss?! Should we go after h-" They were cut off rather abruptly by a hole-filled hoof being firmly pressed into their muzzle, the gruff old-ling standing up and grumbling in anger to themselves.
"Bah, let her go fer now...we'll get her eventually..." The eye patched drone squinted in annoyance in the direction the colorful drone fleed in, their eyes teeming with an unseen fire as they huffed and whipped around, storming off into the hive in a fit of rage. The other black changeling drone blinked and meeped as they were being left behind, quickly buzzing over to the eye patched one to catch up, vanishing into the hive with them as they tried to calm the gruff old-ling down.
The rather vibrant colored changeling slowed their gallop to a halt, panting rather heavily and looking over their shoulder to see if she was being followed at all. Upon seeing no one, she decided that she was sufficiently far enough away from her attacker to rest and relax, walking over to the rather steep wall that lined the outside of the hive and slumping down onto the ground against it. Finally, she had some peace and quiet to fully recuperate from suddenly being transformed into something else, even if what little she has seen of herself, she liked. Letting her head tilt back and rest against the wall, she looked up into the sky to watch the clouds, her pink colored mono-eyes taking in all the wonders of the daytime sky while she rested. Being able to see things so clearly is a privilege that most ponies up and forget about, as they were born able to see in color and from far away. However, to some creature like a changeling, being able to see in full color or beyond is one of the greatest gifts you could have given, especially to one that was 100% blind to colors and possibly depth such as this one. As the clouds slowly rolled by in the rather blue sky, she simply gazed upwards in slight awe, her cheeks flushed a little as a smile slowly formed on her face. All the relaxation and comfort of finally being able to see the sky for what it is caused the colorful drone to very slowly nod off, her eyelids fluttering a little as they slowly began to close.
However, just before the changeling could truly fall asleep in bliss, her newly reformed wings fluttered open for a split second, what was left of the sky in her sleep-filled vision now appearing much different in her eyes. Just before her eyelids fully closed, she meeped and quickly opened her eyes, staring up at the sky with a look of both confusion and wonder. In her vision currently, the sky was exactly the same color as she had seen previously; however there now existed what appeared to be several multi-colored lines / stems of sorts in streaking across the sky, or as she put it in her head: bunch of cracks in the clouds. The veins pulsed different colors as some form of light flowed through them, some of them appearing to leave the badlands where the hive was situated with a less bright light, others returning back / flowing towards the hive with a more vibrant glow. She noticed that one of the lines that left the hive for the other parts of the world had a very pink tint to its color, perhaps overflowing with all the love that was released by the changelings reforming prior.
The colorful drone blinked and tilted her head to the side, very much so confused by the sudden sight she was seeing. Deciding that she probably wouldn't ever figure out what they were, she sighed and shook her head, her wings buzzing behind her for a moment. As her wings buzzed, she blinked and looked down to her side, a small patch of grass and a flower suddenly sprouting under her barrel. The changeling meeped and jumped up, careful not to step on the growing plants, looking at the flower as it sprouted slowly. After the little flower finished growing, a small green mist seemingly floated up from the end up it, flying through the air up towards one of the lines running through the sky. This only served to confuse the drone even further then she already was, raising an "eyebrow" and tilting her head all the way to one side. She simply stood there, lost in deep thought as she tried to process what she was seeing, her multi-colored tail swaying behind her slowly. Then, it hit her: what if these strange lines she was seeing in the sky weren't just a fancy display of lights and colors? What if they had a much deeper meaning, as the flower basically gave part of its essence to them?
What if, she was somehow seeing the life force of the planet itself, and all its inhabitants?