Two changeling gangs must put their differences aside and work together to infiltrate the Queen Chrysalis’ new hive.
The Fang Gang; a group of veterans and ex-outlaws. The Change Gang; a group of spies turned kidnappers turned reforms.
These two gangs are ordered by Pharynx and Thorax to infiltrate and make Chrysalis’ new hive reform. But on this journey, they discover that they’re more than strangers, but new friends.
Today, we got orders to assist in a hostage situation. Our plan is to have me, Mantis, Stinger, and Dagger repel down the building and meet up with Hivehunter, Zen, Brokenwing, Mitchell, and Kydra and secure the hostage.
—Blue Fang
Blue Fang looked down the side of the building, watching as ponies, both civilian and guard, watched them from the ground. He then looked over to some of his friends, who were also his comrades for this mission. He walked over to them. “Alright Stinger, are we ready?”
“It appears so.”
“Okay guys, let’s do this.”
Blue looked over to another and flashed his horn, and someone responded with horn flashes of their own. “Alright, Mantis is covering us, so let’s go.”
The three changelings set their hooks up and started repelling down the building. “Keep it up down there, Mantis!” Blue Fang called out.
Mantis nodded and continued lowering them down. Blue looked over to his friend, Dagger. “How you holding’ up Dag? Better than swimming?”
“Way better!”
“I hear you!” Stinger said, “you almost drowned over a typewriter!”
Dag shot an angry glare at him.
“Keep it together! No time for bantering!” Blue said. “Are your crossbows ready?”
“They were made ready!” Stinger answered.
“Alright! Mantis, stop!” Blue called out, and Mantis brought their ropes to a halt.
“Alright, we’re here. Mantis, you fly to that building over there; cover us with your scope.” Blue made a motion towards a nearby building facing opposite of them.
“Roger that!” Mantis flew to that exact building.
“You sure we can trust him?” Dagger asked. “We’re trusting Mant with our lives.”
“He’s a better shot than you,” Stinger replied, pulling out his cutter with a smirk.
“Screw off…” Dagger replied, pulling out his cutter as well, followed by Blue.
Soon, they began cutting circular holes into the glass. They then broke through the windows, drawing their weapons as they did.
They looked around inside. “Clear,” Blue whispered. “Let’s go. Hive and Zen will meet us at the power room.”
The changelings all began moving through the interior of the building, searching for the power room that their comrades were in. After a while, they stopped at a room, with the door being marked with a sign saying “high voltage!”
“Well, this must be it alright,” Blue said to the others.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Open it,” Stinger said, watching their rear.
With a strong hoof, Blue swung the door right open. On the other side stood a griffon, who tried drawing his crossbow, but was tackled by someone and thrown into a circuit breaker, both killing him, and knocking out the power. They looked up to see two changelings, one with a red carapace, wings, eyes, and a chipped horn, the other a nymph and with one green eye, the other blue.
“Hive! Zenex!” Blue rushed up to the duo.
“Heh. Told you we’d be here,” Hivehunter, the red changeling, chuckled.
The others stepped in with Blue and the others. “We almost shot your crazy flanks!” Dagger jokingly said.
“Says the one with a crazy flank.” Hive rolled his red eyes.
“Whatever…”
Blue chuckled before looking at the broken circuit breaker. “Owner of this place ain’t gone like that,” he said.
“It’s one circuit breaker in this giant buck-fest of a building! They won’t notice this one little thing.” He waved his hoof. “Anyway, here are the night vision goggles Mantis made for us.”
“Perfect! Thanks, guys.”
“Heh. No problem. Now let’s go find the others.” He and Zen flipped their goggles on.
“Alright then. Drop anyone who isn't friendly, and I mean anyone.” Blue said, also flipping his goggles down.
The rest of the group put the goggles on. Blue looked around the now green-lit room; the goggles would allow him to see things in the dark that his foes wouldn’t.
“Okay, where to now?” Dagger asked
“We work our way up this buck-fest. Three levels above us,” Blue said. “That means three levels of foes that we’re gonna have to drop.”
“Buck yeah!” Dagger whispered, while loading his crossbow.
“Alright now let’s move.”
They began making their way to the first floor. The first floor was filled with office cubicles. Mantis came on through their radios. ‘Alright, looks like we got six Tangos in that room.’
“Six of them ought to be easy enough.” Dagger grinned.
“Alright. Let’s bag these buckers,” Zenex whispered, getting his weapon ready.
They quietly opened the door. “Remember, we have the night vision, the darkness is our friend,” Blue said, looking around the room.
They crept through the cubicles. Blue found one looking around. He drew his knife and jumped his opponent.
“Axis? You alright?” Someone called out, referring to the griffon Blue had taken out.
Some of the others jumped a bit, especially Zenex, who clung to Hive. Don’t worry, I got him. Mantis said.
An arrow flew through the window and struck the griffon.
“Perfect timing, Mantis,” Hive said.
‘No problem. The others look spooked, take’em out before they find the ‘mess’.’
The changelings quickly took out the stragglers, who had no time to react, and then moved quickly onto the next floor. The next floor seemed to be a dining or break room or something. “Huh, interesting,” Blue complimented before seeing the group of ponies and griffins. “We got a group of’em. Probably coming to fix the circuit breaker.” He looked at Zen, then to a vent. He pulled out some sort of belt. “Zen, crawl into that vent and drop these strobe lights on them.”
“Okay!” Zen took the strobe lights and darted to that nearby vent and took the cover off. Because of his small size and the fact he was nymph made it easier to squeeze into the vent. He found the small space to be somewhat cozy. He crawled for a while until he found his enemies. He pressed one of the buttons and threw the timed flashing lights into the group.
The group of enemies looked at the lights in confusion for a moment, until…
Beep!
Before they could react, the lights became so bright and flashy that they couldn’t see anything.
Zen smirked. “Have a nice seizure.” He crawled back to the ground. “We’re ready!” He called out to the others.
“Great job, Zen!” Blue grinned.
The others nodded and congratulated him. Then they breached the room, successfully firing their arrows into the group. Once it was set and done, Blue looked up to Zen. “Hey Z! Can you crawl to the others?”
He nodded. “I think so!”
“Alright. If you can, tell Broken and the others we’ll be there!”
“On it!”
“Alright! We’ll meet you on the other side!”
Zen started crawling through the vent. Why is this so cozy? He thought
Blue looked at the others. “Alright everyone, let’s move.” They started making their way to the next room.
The third and final floor was their target destination. Now they just had to wait for the others.
Eventually, their other comrades, Brokenwing, Mitchell, and Kydra arrived. “We’re here,” Broken said.
Blue smiled. “Good to see you brother.” He looked over to Kydra. “You too Ky.” He smiled a bit.
Kydra walked over. “Hey Blue.” She nuzzled him a bit. He returned the greeting.
Broken glanced at the others, then back at Blue. “Are you ready?”
“As we’ll ever be.”
Zen emerged out of the vent. “There are about twenty six Tangos in there, including the boss,” he reported.
“Twenty six?!” Dagger exclaimed.
“Yep,” Zen replied. “We’re twenty six to nine, or twenty six to eight if you don’t include Mantis.”
Blue nodded. “Well, let’s cut’em down to nineteen. When I yell, ‘Checkmate’ we let loose. Until then, we take’em out silently.”
“Good plan, Blue,” Broken said.
Blue nodded. “Alright, let’s do this.”
They opened the doors and crept into the wide room. There sat the hostage, a mare by the looks of it.
“There she is,” Kydra said looking at her.
“Alright. Let’s get her before they hurt her,” Blue stated. Soon they all spread out, and began taking out anyone who stood in their path.
Zenex looked around the area and then took out a pony. After he discarded the trash, he noticed someone creeping up on Brokenwing. “Broken! Behind you!”
Broken turned around. “Crap!” he shouted, before knocking the figure in the head.
Dagger looked over. “Jigs up!” He rose up and fired.
“Checkmate!” Blue shouted, also rising up and firing.
“There it is!” Mitchell yelled. They all let loose and started attacking, satisfied with their new odds.
Dagger and Kydra took cover together, not realizing that their legs were exposed. Before they knew it, an arrow tore past their legs, taking off some skin, but not piercing them.
“Aargh!” They both shouted before stumbling down.
“Ky! Dagger!” Blue yelled before running over, quickly followed by Stinger.
“You two alright?!” Stinger looked at their injured legs.
“Yeah, we’re fine… augh.” Kydra hissed in pain.
Stinger stuck morphine needles into the legs and then carefully wrapped them up. “You’re both lucky it didn’t pierce your legs or bones entirely.”
“Obviously,” Dagger quipped.
“I’ll cover you!” Blue said, firing his crossbow.
After a while, Mitchell yelled, “Clear!”
Stinger helped the injured changelings up. “Come on, I’ll help you guys out of here. We gotta keep going.”
They helped over to the mare, who looked badly bruised. Broken got down beside her. “Hello miss. What’s your name?”
The mare looked up at him. “Who are you..?” she said weakly, recoiling at the sight of the changeling.
“Brokenwing.”
She looked at him some more. “You’re all… changelings… and not reformed…” she shuddered.
They looked at each other. “That doesn’t matter. We came here to help.” Broken untied her.
She smiled weakly. “Thank you… please, get me back to my family…”
Broken was about to say something else when…
BOOM!
They all turned around. They saw a griffon holding a detonator. They quickly dropped him, but it was too late.
‘Hey guys! You better get out of there! There’s one heckuva fireworks display going on beneath you!’
“You heard him, guys. Let’s move out. Fast,” Blue said.
Before they knew it, the building was leaning, turning the once solid ground into a slope. “Hold on!” Mitchell cried out. “We gotta get outta here!”
“We can’t fly through that smoke cloud! We’ll suffocate!” Stinger yelled. He looked around. “Grab the wounded!” Broken grabbed the mare while Stinger grabbed Dagger, and Hive grabbed Zen.
The changelings kept trying to grab onto something. Blue looked down at the edge that was growing ever closer. Then he got an idea. “Grapples! Now!”
“On it!” they replied.
They fired their hooks before they fell off the side, much like a few unlucky ponies and griffons, only they were actually able to have somewhat safer support.
Blue looked over to Broken, who was carrying the mare, then to Stinger, who had Dagger. “You four alright?”
“So far so good,” Broken replied.
“Where’s Ky?”
“Right here.”
He looked over to see a small spider on his shoulder. “Uh… okay.” She changed into her normal form and held onto him. “Guess that’s everyone.”
“Keep going!” Stinger said.
They continued to repel down the side of the building, watching for any obstacles.
‘Blue! Watch out!’
Blue looked up to see some debris falling towards him. He jumped out of the and nearly stumbled a bit, but he managed to regain his composure.
‘You alright?’
“Yeah, thanks for the call out. Missed me by an inch.”
‘No problem. Now get outta there before the building comes down on your heads.’
The repelling resumed. Mantis watched them as they made it down, calling out falling debris and directing them.
“We’re almost there, guys!” Mitchell called out, looking at the ground, which was getting closer.
‘Broken! Twelve o’clock high! Swing left!’
“Gah!” He swung away just as a huge chunk of metal and glass came pummeling down. He felt the mare tighten her grip on him. He looked back at her. “You alright?” She nodded. He nodded back. “Good call, Mantis! Thanks!”
‘Keep going! You’re almost there!’
They continued repelling down to the ground, where Shining Armor and the Royal Guard would be waiting. After a while, they’d finally reached the ground. They unhitched from their harnesses and walked over to the Royal Guards.
“We… did it,” Zen said in disbelief, while breathing heavily.
“Yes we bucking did,” Hive replied, chuckling. He playfully rubbed Zen’s head and let him off.
“Well done, you lot,” Shining said as he trotted up to them. He helped the mare off of Broken. “You really saved a life today.”
“And we took a lot in the process,” Dagger muttered jokingly.
The others chuckled at him. Blue looked at Shining. “Just doing our job. Right Fangs?”
“Hura!” they all cheered.
Broken took a glance at the mare, who was wrapped in a blanket. He trotted over to her. “So, I uh… never got your name.”
She smiled. “Rose Petal…”
“Heh. Rose Petal… I’m uh, glad you made it out alive.”
“I sincerely don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t have to.” He smiled. “I hope you’ll be alright after this.”
Rose put a hoof on his shoulder. “I think I will be.”
He chuckled. “Okay.”
The other Fangs smiled at the scene playing out. Dagger only rolled his eyes. “Psh. Get a room, you two.” The others looked at him. “Whaat?”
“Just let them have their moment,” Blue said. “Broken hasn’t been like this in a long time.”
“He’s never been like this. Or… has he?”
“Only time I’ve seen him like this was when he saw some mare in Canterlot. He was redder than a ruby.”
“You do know I can hear you two, right?” Broken glanced at Blue and Dagger.
“Hey man, he started it,” Dagger said.
Blue rolled his eyes. “Heheh… Sorry Broken, carry on.”
Broken chuckled. He looked back at Rose, who giggled shyly. “Sorry Rose, I just…”
She put a hoof back onto his shoulder.
He sighed. “I uh, don’t have the best luck with girls,” he admitted sadly. “I’ve tried going for other female changelings but um…” He sighed again. “Most don’t like me because of my right wing and the fact that I’m not reformed.”
“Aw, Broken…”
He looked down. “It’s okay. I understand if you’re not interested in me.”
“I am.”
He looked up. “Really?”
She nodded.
As the two continued talking, Mitchell looked to Blue. Blue looked back. “Hey Mitch. Do you need something?”
“You wanna head back to the reformed hive soon?”
He nodded. “I’ll get Broken; you get the others.”
Mitchell nodded and walked off. Blue walked over to Brokenwing and Rose. “Hey Broken?”
“Oh hey.”
Blue smiled. “We uh, gotta go. Say goodbye to Rose.”
Broken looked at her. “...Bye, I guess.”
She smiled. “Bye Broken.” She grabbed his hoof and softly kissed it.
Broken’s face went from its usual dark coal gray color to a bright red, almost as red as his fangs. “Tell you what. Meet me at the café tomorrow evening,” she said.
“Uh, I… okay,” he said, still blushing. She smiled before walking away.
Blue smiled. “Aww! Broken!”
“Heheh… Tease about it all you want, little bro,” he said, still watching Rose walk away.
“Nah, that’s Dag’s job. I’m happy for you! You finally found a girl!” He hugged his older brother.
“Heh. Thanks, little bro.”
“Yeah. But we should probably get home. You got a date to get ready for,” Blue said.
“Heh. You said it.”
The two brothers walked back to the other Fangs, who were ready to leave. “Alright guys, let’s go,” Broken said, smiling. The nine changelings trotted back to the train station, which would take them back to the hive.
As they waited there, Blue wondered aloud, “Say, I wonder how the brothers at home are holding up…”
They looked at him. “Why do you say that?” Kydra asked.
“Well…” he sighed, “Thorax was almost assassinated, and I’m just worried about him…” he looked down to the ground.
“Aw, Blue…” Broken wrapped a hoof around him. “We’ll hear more about it when we get there.”
“I guess… I just feel guilty about not being there to help. We were out robbing banks and trains and not worrying about our friends.”
“I know, buddy. I know,” Broken nuzzled up to his brother. “He’ll be okay.”
Blue nodded, still feeling guilty.
The changelings continued waiting for the train. After a while, it finally arrived. One by one, they boarded their ride home. I’m a few hours, they’d be home.
Blue looked out the window, at the passing scenery. He watched the many countryside houses and trees pass by.
He sighed. He still felt guilty about not being there for his friend. Well, at least I know he’s still alive… but that’s all I know. He smiled a bit. He had to be optimistic as best he could be.
He curled up in his seat, shutting his eyes. It wasn’t as comfortable as a bed, but it was better than nothing.
I’ll be home soon, Thorax and Pharynx… Blue thought as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
Broken smiled as he watched his brother fall asleep.
He then looked down to his hoof—the one that Rose had kissed—blushing. He still couldn’t believe that she’d ask him out for tomorrow. He looked over to his little brother.
He lied down next to Blue, stroking his head. He snuggled up to his little brother as the train rode on. Soon, both brothers were fast asleep in each other’s hooves.
Pharynx walked through the many halls of the hive, glancing around the area. He watched as the subjects continued their saccharine activities.
He rolled his eyes at their sappy joyfulness. He never liked the peacefulness of the hive, nor did he like the many activities Thorax had set up.
Nevermind that, he decided.
Today, his friends were returning from some mission in Manehattan. It was something about a hostage mare, with some ponies and griffons. He didn’t really know much about it, but he was glad they got the job done and that they would be returning sometime today.
Pharynx took a whiff of the midday fresh air. He was actually happy for the first time in a while. And nothing could ever change that.
“Gangway!”
“Hm?” He looked behind him, to see a large wagon speeding towards him. “What the-?!” He quickly jumped out of the way of the speeding vehicle.
CRASH!
“Figures…” he walked over down the hall. After a while of walking, he found the crashed vehicle, along with a bunch of reformed changelings.
One was a light blue changeling with a deep blue mane and blue eyes, and he eyed Pharynx. Double figures… he thought. He sighed. “First of all… how’d this even get in here? And second of all. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!”
“Uh… Venom did,” Scorchin’ Heat, a light red changeling with a deep red mane said.
“Triple figures…” Pharynx face-hoofed. Hard. He looked at each of the six reformed changelings. “Why did you guys do this?!”
“Well… um..” The green one, Cricket Cluster, tried to explain to him, adjusting his lighter green mane. “We-“
“How else are we supposed to carry our lush vegetation? Our hooves?!” the blue one asked.
“Of course, Venom.” He sighed. “You have to unload them from the wagon after you deliver it. And why didn’t one of you hitch yourselves to the wagon?”
The purple nymph, Flutterwings, tilted her head. “...What’s hitching?”
“It’s—” Pharynx face-hoofed even harder. “Oh, come on! I wish Mantis was here! At least he can drive better than you guys!”
“Who’s Mantis?” Flutterwings asked.
“He’s a friend of mine, Flutterwings,” Pharynx responded, “and they’re all going to arrive here at any possible time now.”
“Wait, who’s ‘they’?” the teal one, Spiny Spectacle, asked.
“They’re my friends. The FangGang.”
The six changelings all looked at each other.
“What?” Pharynx asked.
“Soooo, they’re a gang like us then, right?” a pink female changeling named Thistle Thorn asked.
“Pfft! They’re way different than you!” Pharynx said.
“How different?”
“Well, for one; they can actually drive a wagon correctly,” he said with a smirk. Venom rolled his eyes. “Anyway, they’re also war veterans, ex-outlaws, and now, a special operations team.”
“Ooooh,” they all said.
“Yeah, and they’re returning from a mission in Manehattan,” Pharynx said.
The teal changeling looked at the mess. “Looks like we got some cleaning up to do then.”
“You don’t say,” Pharynx grumbled.
“Yes you do,” Venom muttered back. “Let’s go guys… sheesh.”
Pharynx sighed. He looked over to the entrance, an unexpected smile suddenly forming on his face. The Change Gang stared in disbelief. “Uh… Pharynx?” Cricket asked.
“They came back!” Pharynx rushed to the entrance, leaving the Change Gang be.
Venom looked over. “Uh… do we just stay here or..?”
“Clean up, I guess,” Flutterwings said.
“Meh. I’m gonna take a stroll for a while,” Venom said as he walked off.
“Uh… okay, Venom,” Scorch said as he and the others looked at the wreckage.
<•>+<•>+<•>
Pharynx reached the hive entrance, where nine scarred form changelings trotted in. “Hey guys! You're back!”
They looked at him and smiled. “Hey Pharynx! How’s it going?” Blue asked.
“Could’ve been better.”
“What’s wrong?” Kydra asked curiously.
“You’ll see…”
The Fangs exchanged glances. “Okay?” Broken said. They walked down the hallways for a while, and then they reached the wagon. They stared in confusion, while Mantis stared in horror and shock.
“What kind of psycho would do such a thing?!” he rushed up to the damaged wagon.
As if to answer his question, five changelings poked their heads up out of the wreckage.
“Hey! You there!” Mantis shouted.
“Woah! Chill!” the tallest of the five said.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” Mantis picked you one of the wheels. “This’ll take weeks to rebuild!”
The green changeling of the five cowered behind the group. “Well?! Go!” Mantis yelled.
The red one tried to say something again, but was cut off by Mantis. “Go on! Get! Amscray!” Mantis picked up a wheel and threw it at them.
“Mantis, calm down!” Blue rushed up to the drama that was occurring. “We didn’t come here to attack anyone!” He grabbed the changeling. “Calm the buck down!”
Mantis looked at him. “Like you should say something! You’re always ticked off! Especially that Rage of yours!”
“Mantis!” Broken gasped. “Y’know you ain’t supposed to talk about… that!”
Blue looked down. He sighed. “It ain’t Mantis’ fault… it’s… his fault.”
Mantis looked at Blue again. “I-I...Sorry Blue… I didn’t mean to say that.”
The five changelings kept staring. “Y’know Mant, it’s them you should be apologizing to,” Blue said, pointing to the five changelings.
The green one ducked down again.
Mantis lowered his head in shame. “Sorry about yelling. I’m just stressed.”
Pharynx sighed. “Whatever, Mantis…”
Blue looked at Pharynx. “So uh… how’s Thorax?”
Pharynx looked at him. “He’s fine. Why?”
“...What exactly happened while me and my friends were gone?”
“...You mean when he got…”
Blue nodded silently.
Pharynx sighed heavily. “He… went into a coma…”
Blue’s eyes widened. “W-Wha…?”
Pharynx nodded again.
Blue couldn’t believe it.
“I…” Pharynx continued. “I wanted to save him! I did! I swear I did!”
“...I know you did…”
“I thought I’d lose him… I-I remember seeing him in bed at Canterlot… he was so lifeless,” Pharynx sniffled, his composure starting to crumble. “Without him on my side, I just… I just felt so… alone, for the first time in a while,” he said. “If my brother just never woke up, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
Blue tried to hold back tears of his own. “...I… I need to be alone…” He turned away from the others and ran away.
“Blue! Wait!” Kydra called out.
Broken put his hoof on her shoulder. “Just let him be… he wants to be alone.”
<•>+<•>+<•>
Blue continued running for a while, until he’d found a wall. He sat against the wall. “Why…” he muttered to himself. “Why wasn’t I there to prevent it?” His eyes started watering up. “I could have saved him!” His eyes started glowing a sharp blue. “BUCK!” he threw a punch into the wall, breaking a hole clean through the wall.
He breathed heavily.
Blue sat back down before looking back at his hoof, then back at the wall. “Buck…” he muttered, tearing up some more.
He then sat down against the wall and began to cry.
<•>+<•>+<•>
Venom walked through the hive, wondering why the Fang Gang was sent on the mission to Manehattan and not the Change Gang.
“I tell ya! I could’ve done as good as the ‘Fang Gang’!” He lamented. “I can just imagine it! ‘Venom Stinger: Hero of Manehattan’! Haha!”
“BUCK!”
Venom jumped as soon as he heard someone shouting, followed by the sound of stone crumbling. “What the?!” He quickly ran towards the sounds.
The closer he got, the more he heard the sound of crying.
He continued down the hall, looking for who or what made those sounds. He ran for a few more minutes until he found a hole big enough for him to crawl through.
Venom peered through the hole; the crying was obviously coming from the other side of it. He didn’t know what to do, but he strangely wanted to help.
He looked through the hole again, seeing a scarred-form changeling on the other side.
Okay, now he really wanted to talk to him. But first…
“Alright, Venom Stinger,” he spoke to himself. He backed up to get a running start, before darting towards the hole. “It’s time for a BARREL ROLL!”
Without thinking twice, he then jumped through the hole.
<•>+<•>+<•>
Blue sat against the wall, still crying audibly.
WHAM!
“What the-?!” He glanced around frantically.
“Ow…” a voice uttered.
He stared at the blue changeling who likely tried jumping through the hole he’d created in the wall.
The reformed changeling sat up and looked at the crying scarred-form changeling.
“Uhh… you alright?” Blue Fang asked, still staring at the changeling with surprise.
“I was gonna ask you that, actually,” he replied.
“I… uhh… I just…”
The reformed leaned toward him, a huge grin plastered on his face.
Blue just sat there. “I… okay, you ain’t makin’ me anymore comfortable with that look.”
Venom leaned back. “Okay then I have to admit. I haven’t seen any non-reforms in like, FOREVER.”
“Heheh, they all say that,” Blue chuckled weakly. He looked up to the reformed changeling.
“Can’t believe I didn’t make that barrel roll, though, and the collision. MAN it hurt,” the reform said.
“Er… should I get a nurse or something?”
“Nah, the only thing you should get is a mouthwash. I mean, what have you been eating? A gazillion blueberries?” the reform laughed.
Blue blushed. He was fully aware, and self conscious, about his blueberry tasting and smelling fangs. “Heh. Okay, I may be a blueberry, but at least I ain’t a walking blue raspberry,” he laughed back.
The reformed changeling rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Blueberry, can I at least ask why you were crying?”
Blue sighed again. “Y’know what happened to Thorax, right? With the… the poison?”
“Everyone has.”
“Well… I just wish I could’ve done something about it… like I could’a… prevented it…”
“Well, what do you think you could’ve done?”
“I know I would’ve taken the arrow for him. I should’ve been there.”
“Pharynx wishes that too.”
“I know…” Blue looked up at the reformed changeling; it was at that moment when he noticed his mane. “What the..? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I feel like we’ve talked before.” Blue tried to think. “Come on… where did I see you?” Then, it hit Blue like a train. “Is your name… Venom Stinger?”
The reform’s eyes widened, and then he smiled. “You got it!”
“Really?” Blue asked, tilting his head in confusion.
“Now it’s my turn: You’re Blue Fang!”
“How in? What-? H-How’d you-?” Blue stammered.
“Dude, the fangs.”
“That- … Fair enough. But… when did we meet?”
“I think it was um…”
Blue dug through his memory. “I… think it was after my fight with Hivehunter.”
“It was?” Venom lightly hit his own head a few times with a hoof, trying to think. “Oh yeah, it was!”
<•>+<•>+<•>
Thirteen year old Blue Fang chatted with his friends as they walked through the halls. It had been about a week or so since Blue’s fight with Hivehunter, one of the elite changelings, and he’d won said fight.
This was just one of those times where he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. While walking, he accidentally bumped into a smaller nymph, who seemed to be about ten or so. “Oof!”
The smaller nymph rubbed his head. “Ow.”
Blue looked down to the nymph. “Oops. Sorry.” Blue chuckled sheepishly.
The nymph got up, shaking his… mane?
Blue looked at him curiously. He’d never seen a changeling with a mane apart from Chrysalis herself. He carefully rubbed his mane, admiring the bright blue color.
It reminded him of a bright, shining sapphire.
“Wow. Your mane is… beautiful,” Blue complimented.
“Heh. Thanks. I usually get picked on for it.” The nymph looked down.
“Well, we got something in common,” Blue said, smiling. He then heard his friends whispering and muttering. He turned around. “Guys?”
His three main friends exchanged glances. “That wasn’t us. That was the very large crowd you have behind you,” Mantis said.
Blue listened to what the crowd was saying.
“Ugh. Doesn’t he know that that’s just some weird changeling in the hive?”
“Why’s he talking to him?”
“And why’s he complimenting his MANE of all things?”
Blue gritted his teeth. “Hey! Leave’im alone!”
They all looked at him. “Why? He’s just a—”
“Because I SAID SO!” He violently snapped, his eyes glowing a sharp blue.
The changelings that were trash-talking the nymph cowered. Some even passed out.
Blue growled. “Jerks,” he said in a low, distorted voice, still growling and snarling. He turned to the nymph “You okay?” Blue asked in his normal voice.
“...I guess.”
He walked over to the nymph. “Sorry about all of... that. It’s a… power or something. I can’t really describe it. Anyway, what’s your name?”
The nymph smiled and said, “Venom Stinger!”
Stinger looked over. “Huh.”
Blue chucked. “That’s a nice name. I’m Blue Fang.”
“Blue Fang? Why’s that?” Venom asked curiously.
“Take a wild guess.”
Venom looked at him. Then he noticed Blue Fang’s… well, blue fangs. “Ah. I get it.”
“Heheh. Yeah, these little fellers are special. Just like you.” He playfully booped Venom in the nose.
He giggled. “Hey!”
“Well, I gotta get going, Venom.”
“Where are you going?”
“Military Academy!”
“Military Academy?”
“See ya again sometime soon!”
Venom watched the four changelings run off. “Bye!” he called out. “Yeah… bye.”
<•>+<•>+<•>
Blue looked at Venom. “Wow. It’s been so long since we’ve talked… You’ve changed a lot since then, haven’t you? Literally.” Blue chuckled at his stupid attempt of humor.
“I guess I have… you still feel bad for your friend, though?” Venom asked.
“Kind of.”
“Don’t. None of us were able to help Thorax when he was put into a coma. What matters is that… the fact that you wanted to be there for him just shows how much you sincerely care about him.”
“Yeah.” Blue looked up. “Well, I guess I better get back to the others.” Blue got up and looked at Venom. “Thanks Venom,” he said, smiling a bit.
“No problem.”
Blue started to walk away, but then turned around. “Hey. You wanna come meet my gang?”
Venom gasped. “You mean it?”
“Yeah! I’m sure they’d love to meet you!”
“Then what are we waiting for?! I’ll race ya there, Blueberry!”
Blue watched as Venom took off ahead. He smirked. Good thing Dag taught me how to teleport. he thought. He concentrated and then imagined where he wanted to be. Then, he found himself ahead of Venom.
“Hey!” the reformed changeling called out.
Blue chuckled. “Heheh! Come on Venom! If I can do this, then you can too!” Blue called back.
“Don’t need to!” Venom charged up to him.
Blue chuckled, before speeding up. “Ha! Can’t beat me! Scarab trained me to do this!”
“I knew Scarab too, ya know!” Venom started flying.
“Well, one thing he didn’t teach us is this!” Blue teleported further ahead again.
“Oh come on!”
<•>+<•>+<•>
Blue finally reached the others. “Hey guys!” he said, smiling.
The other cheered and laughed. “That’s great Blue!” Kydra said, hugging him.
“So what happened when you were out there?” Mitchell asked.
“Well, an old friend of mine kinda cheered me up.”
“Who is your old friend?” Zenex asked.
Blue smiled. “His name is Venom Stinger,” he said.
Pharynx’s eyes widened once he heard those last two words.
The others looked at each other, especially the three originals. “You mean the changeling who wanted to be Head of Patrol?” Dagger asked.
“Yeah, the one we talked to years ago?” Mantis asked.
“The one you protected?” Stinger followed up. “And also the one who had that… last name?”
Blue nodded. “Yep! That’s the one!” he chirped happily.
“You seem oddly happy about… him,” Pharynx said.
“Of course I am! I haven’t seen him ever since the day we’d gotten our ranks!” Blue smiled.
“So where is he?” Zen looked around.
“He’s right— here..?” Blue looked around. “I don’t understand. He was right behind me!”
“I’m sure he was…” Pharynx grumbled.
“He was! Venom? Where are you?” Blue called out.
They saw a blue speck in the distance. Blue tilted his head. He squinted, and could just barely make out the outline of a blue reformed changeling, who waved and shouted something.
“What?! Speak louder!” Dagger called out.
The changeling started flying towards the group.
“Should we move towards him?” Hive asked. “Or should we wait?”
They continued watching as the changeling flew closer and closer.
The blue reformed changeling gasped for air as soon as he finally reached the group. “Whew.”
Blue chuckled sheepishly. “Heheh… maybe I teleported a bit too much.”
“You think?”
Blue chuckled again. “Sorry Venom.”
Dagger blinked. “This is Venom Stinger?!”
“Yeah! You look WAY different!” Mantis commented.
“Well, your name still hasn’t changed…” Stinger muttered.
“Dagger! Mantis! And… Stinger! Heheh.” Venom ran up to the three.
“Oh, this?” He lifted his leg. “I, uh… took an arrow to the leg.”
“Yeesh. Is it from that Manehattan mission?” Venom stared at the wound.
“How’d you know?” Dagger blinked.
“Pharynx told me,” Venom said with a grin.
“Huh. News travels fast,” Blue said. “Well, I guess Ky and Dag didn’t get their wounds from repelling down a collapsing and burning building.”
“Who’s Ky?”
Blue pointed over to her. “That’s her. She’s my girl.” He winked.
“Ohhh, I seeeee,” Venom chuckled, before glancing at Brokenwing’s red fangs. “Let me guess, you’re Blueberry’s brother, Strawberry.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” Broken muttered. “My name’s Brokenwing, but you can call me Broken.”
“Okay Strawberry, you’re broken,” Venom said.
Broken rolled his eyes. “You got me there,” he said, half-smiling.
Dagger was already laughing. “Haha! Oh sweet Chrysalis, why didn’t I think of that?” he said, still laughing.
Venom smiled at Dagger. Dagger smiled back. “Well, some things do change. You’re funnier now!” Dagger exclaimed.
“You think so?” Venom asked.
“Come on. It’s Dagger. I think we can agree that if you make HIM laugh, then you’re funnier than that pink pony,” Stinger said.
“I thought anyone could be funnier than that pink pony,” Venom muttered.
Blue chuckled. “Anyway. You’ve met Broken and Kydra,” he walked over to Zen and Hive. “This lil’ guy is Zenex. And this fella is Hivehunter.”
“The one that Blue knocked into the wall, huh?”
Hive rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever…”
Zen had his eye closed and shyly smiled. “My name is Zenex...” he said quietly.
Venom lifted Zen’s chin up. He smiled at him. “Hm. You look about my sister’s age. Kinda. Maybe a bit older.”
“I’m uhh, thirteen…” he said shyly.
“Oh, because she’s twelve.”
Dagger looked over and started smiling. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Hive. “If you ship them, I’m gonna ship you to the Frozen North.”
Venom looked at Mitchell. “What about you?”
“I’m Nightbi— I-I mean… Mitchell,” he stammered.
“Mitchell, huh?”
“Yeah, why?”
“What were you about to say the first time?”
“It’s… nothin’...” he said, looking at his wooden leg.
Soon, a bunch of other reformed changelings came. “There you are, Venom,” the tallest of the group said, “who are these guys?”
“Scorch! Flutterwings! Cricket! Spiny!”
The Fangs looked at the changelings. “Who are they?” Blue asked. “They the siblings you told me about?”
“Mhm!” Venom looked back at his siblings and asked, “Where’s Thistle?” He asked Scorch.
“She should be here in a few minutes,” he responded.
“Okay,” Venom said, looking back at the Fangs. “These are my siblings.”
The Fangs smiled and greeted the four reformed changeling changelings.
Scorch came up to Broken. “Hello, Mister,” Scorch greeted with a smile.
“Hello. Scorch was it?” Broken asked with a smile.
“Mhm.”
Broken nodded. “Brokenwing. Nice to meet you, Scorch.” Broken reached his hoof out for a hoof-shake.
Scorch shook it with a smile.
“Sorry about earlier. Y’know, with Mantis and the wagon,” Broken apologized.
“It’s okay, I guess.” Scorch chuckled.
Zenex peered from behind Hivehunter. He looked at the purple nymph. She looks so familiar. “Uhh, Hive?” he asked shyly, “can I go… talk to her?” he pointed to the nymph.
“Hm? Oh sure, she looks nice.”
“Okay… I’ll try.” He closed his green eye and slowly trotted over to her. “H-Hi…” he said.
She looked over to him. “Hi,” she greeted with a smile.
He sorta looked down. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Flutterwings.”
I know I’ve heard that name somewhere. Zen thought. “Uhh, my name is Zenex,” he said, quietly.
“Hi Zenex… uh, do you have something in your eye?”
He looked away. “I… I…” he quickly darted behind Hive. “I don’t think I’m ready yet…” he whimpered at him.
Hive smiled. “Let me try.” Hive trotted over to Flutterwings, with Zen closely behind him.
Flutterwings frowned. “Sorry, Zen… I-I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s okay, miss. He’s just a little shy,” Hive said with a smile.
Flutterwings eyed Hive, looking curious.
“My name’s Hivehunter; Hive for short,” he greeted.
“...Hi,” she said, starting to smile again.
“What’s your name?” Hive asked, smiling.
“Flutterwings.”
“That’s a nice name, miss Flutterwings,” Hive said.
“‘Miss?’” She tilted her head in a confused manner.
“Just being nice,” Hive said. He looked at Zen. “Well? Come on Zen, if I can do it, then you can too.”
Zen nodded and stepped up. “Sorry about running away like that…” he apologized.
“It’s… okay,” she said, adjusting her mane.
“Um… I think your mane is beautiful…” he said, softly.
“Thank you…”
Hive smiled at the sight. “See, you two’ll make great friends.”
Dagger snickered a bit. Hive glared at him. “Don’t you dare, Dagger.”
“Whatever.”
Hive looked at Flutters and Zen. Flutterwings was grinning at him.
“Uhh, kid? You alright?” Hive asked.
“Heh. I’m good.”
“Uhh, okay?”
Blue smiled. His gang was making new friends. He then looked over to a green changeling, who was nervously brushing a hoof on the ground. He smiled and walked over to the changeling. “Hello,” he greeted the nervous changeling.
“...Hi.”
“What’s your name?” Blue asked, smiling.
“Cricket Cluster.”
“That’s a nice name. I’m Blue Fang, nice to meet you,” Blue said smiling.
Cricket smiled softly.
“You’re a bit shy, huh?” Blue asked. “Zen is, too.”
Cricket looked up. “Zen?”
Blue nodded. “Yeah, he doesn’t talk much to anyone other than us.” Blue looked over to the nymph. “Now he seems to be getting along with your sister.”
Cricket looked over to Flutterwings and Zenex, who were talking to each other.
Soon enough, a tall green changeling came in, along with a pink reformed changeling. Blue looked over to them and ran over. “Thorax! I’m so sorry!” he said, hugging the tall changeling.
Thorax looked down in surprise. “Blue? What’s the matter?”
Blue looked up. “I’m sorry about not being there for you! I should’ve… should’ve…” he tried not to start crying again.
“Aw, Blue…” Thorax looked down and stroked his head. “It’s okay Blue.”
Blue looked up. “I… I… I just wish I could’ve been there for you… I made a promise to you… and I broke it…”
“I understand...” Thorax said reassuringly.
Blue nodded a bit and stepped back a bit, wiping his tears away. Thorax looked to the others. “What’s going on, guys?”
Venom Stinger confidently strode up to him. “Well, we met these guys right here,” he pointed to the other nine changelings. “You know them, right?”
Thorax nodded. “Of course! They’re the Fangs! We’re friends.”
“Since how long ago?”
“Well, ever since…” he looked at Blue, who nodded. “Well ever since Blue let me leave after the Canterlot invasion.”
Venom’s eyes bulged to the size of saucepans. “What?”
Blue nodded confidently. “Yep. I helped him leave the hive.”
“Why though?”
“We’re brothers. That’s what we do.”
“They let them go out into the world? Leaving them at the hooves of—” he gasped for a moment “—ponies?”
“Yep. Pretty much.” Blue looked at Broken, who smiled and nodded. “Oh, and speaking of ponies, guess who Broken scored a date with?”
Venom just froze there.
Thorax lit up. “Who?”
Blue smiled. “That mare we saved. Her name’s Rose Petal. And Broken got a date with her tomorrow!” Blue cheered.
Venom eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head. He never thought he’d hear a changeling, and one from a group of supposed “heroes” no less, dating a pony! A pony!
Not that he hasn’t heard of changeling and pony couples, but—
“Venom?”
He snapped out of his daze. “Y-Yeah?”
“Aren’t you proud?”
“Uhh… Yeah! Yeah… I-I guess..?” he lied.
“You’re not a very good liar, you know?”
Venom forced a grin. “Heh… heh.”
Blue smirked. “I’ve dealt with rats before, Venom. At least try to sound believable.”
He looked at him.
“What’s wrong with Broken being with Rose?”
“Did Thorax tell you about all the painful experiences he had with ponies? Especially the ones who called him evil?”
Blue nodded. “But he forgave them. And that was before he reformed.”
Venom raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, just look at me. Don’t I look just a bit creepy and evil?”
“...No.”
“Well, you’re also a changeling, so of course, I’m not creepy. But to ponies, I still get the whole ‘don’t eat my love and take my family’ thing.”
“Didn’t you see how gullible Shining Armor was at the wedding though?”
Pharynx blinked at Venom. “Dude! You weren’t even there!”
“The changelings who were there told me about it,” Venom said with a grin.
“Well, he ain’t wrong, though,” Mantis said. “While I was sneaking around in the castle before the wedding, I was literally able to get access to Cadence’s room by being a fake guard. And he believed me!”
Venom laughed.
“Yeah! And don’t get me started on how obvious it was that Cadence was actually Chrysalis! She gave some of the most obvious signs and he passed it up like it was a stray cat. So did those five other ponies!”
“Yeah, and so did princess Sun Mare!” Dagger brought up.
Broken listened to what everyone was saying. He wasn’t sure if he should scold them, or laugh with them. He was thinking about Rose…
He looked at the ground, his lower jaw trembling. He took a breath and looked at the others. Before walking away.
Blue looked over to his brother. Oh no. Did we… hurt his feelings? He followed his older brother. “Broken?”
The red-fanged changeling looked over. “Yeah..?”
“You okay?”
“I… I guess…” he murmured.
Blue sat down by his brother. “Did we… hurt you..?” he asked.
Broken looked at him. “A bit…” he admitted.
Blue looked down. “Was it… what we said?” Blue asked, shamefully.
Broken sighed heavily.
“Please… tell me,” Blue pleaded with his brother.
“Well, uh…”
“It’s Rose… isn’t it?”
“Mhm.
Blue looked at him. “You’re nervous about meeting her, aren’t you?” he asked.
“It’s just…”
“Yeah?” Blue waiter for his brother to speak.
“I kind of am, actually. I mean, ponies are one of the many creatures that have feared our species.”
“But, we’ve changed. And while we may not be reformed, it's what’s on the inside that matters. You’re a good bug, and an even greater brother. She’ll love you.” Blue rubbed his brother’s back.
“But Venom and the others—”
“Look. Not every pony’s the same. Sure, some ponies are… Y’know. But, maybe she’s different.”
Broken smiled. “Thanks Blue. I hope you’re right.” He embraced his brother.
Blue smiled back and returned the embrace. “No problem. Now, do you wanna go talk with the others?”
“Okay.”
<•>+<•>+<•>
The two brothers walked back to the others. Blue noticed that two certain changelings were gone. “Where are Pharynx and Hive?”
Thorax noticed Blue. He waved his hoof. “They’re in the sparring pit. Again…”
Blue rolled his eyes playfully. “Of course.”
Venom perked up. “Sparring pit?! Why didn’t tell us you had a sparring pit, Thorax?!”
“Well—”
“Pharynx vs Hive?! That I’ve got to go see!”
Blue chuckled. “Well, come on. Let’s go watch these two beat the crap outta each other for the fifteenth time this week.”
They ran to go and see.
They finally reached the pit just in time to see Pharynx get kicked into a wall. Hard.
Venom grinned.
Pharynx got up and lunged at his opponent, tackling him. The two struggled for a while.
“How long have they been at it for?” Venom asked.
Stinger looked over. “About fifteen minutes, a new record.” Stinger chuckled, writing something down on a nearby chalkboard.
They continued to watch the two go at it. Venom especially watched with wide eyes.
Soon, Hive suddenly used his back legs to kick Pharynx off of him, knocking him into a nearby wall. The latter got back up. They began going back at it, seeming to forget that they were simply sparring.
“Uh, guys?” Blue called out.
Broken looked at them. “Alright! Game! Hive wins!” he called out.
The two opponents stopped, breathing heavily. “Again?” Pharynx panted.
Hive chuckled. “That makes my victory total one hundred and thirty six! That’s fifteen more than you!”
Pharynx looked down, groaning in annoyance. “Yeah, yeah… I’ll beat ya next time.”
“Aw, don’t worry about it, Pharynx,” Blue said reassuringly. “Let me give you some advice. Don’t fight a battle you can’t win. And also,” he leaned to Pharynx’s ear. “Make sure you kick Hive into a wall,” he whispered.
“Heyyy!” Hive pouted.
“To be fair, you did YEET Pharynx over a table,” Dagger pointed out, much to Hive’s dismay.
Blue turned back to Pharynx. “I have to say, you were impressive.”
“Heh, thanks.” Pharynx scratched the back of his head.
Dagger nodded. “Yeah! Keep that up and you could catch up with Hive!” The others began to talk about Pharynx.
“I have to say, Pharynx, you were still a natural back there,” Broken said.
“Yeah!” Blue agreed. “Wouldn’t you say Venom?”
He turned around, only to see no sign of the reformed changeling. “Venom?”
The others looked around. “What’s wrong, Blue?” Broken asked.
Blue looked around. “Have you guys seem Venom?”
“He was just here, wasn’t he?” Hive scratched his head.
Blue shrugged. “Guess I’ll go look for him.”
Blue trotted off in search of the reformed changeling.
Venom continued walking alone. He sighed heavily as he continued walking. “Dang that Pharynx…” he muttered. “Always getting all the attention…”
He continued walking. After a few more steps, he stopped and looked around. No one else seemed to be in this particular area. Perfect.
Venom sat down at a nearby rock. He sighed again, laying back against it. “Why is it always about Pharynx? Whether he wins or loses he always gets some form of recognition.” He clutched his hoof in anger, growling quietly. He looked up, and tried to break the wall the same way Blue did.
Pain shot up his front hoof. “Gah! Dang it! Stupid piece of… Aargh!” He shook his hoof, teetering a bit. He stared at his hoof. “H-How did— gah!”
Venom fell backwards, landing smack onto his shiny blue carapace. He sighed angrily. How the buck does Blueberry even pull it off so dang well?
“...Venom?”
Speaking of which...
Venom looked up. He noticed a certain blue-fanged changeling standing over him.
He sighed and sat up. “What is it, Blueberry?”
“Very funny. I came to see how you were doing, Blue Raspberry.”
“I’m… fine.”
Blue sat next to him. “You sure? I mean, you just punched a wall out of anger.”
“And I nearly cracked a bone in the process. Everything’s dandy.”
Blue rolled his eyes, then tilted his head. “Hey… can I ask you a question?”
“...Yes?”
Blue cleared his throat. “Are you… jealous of Pharynx?”
Venom froze. “Uhh…” he didn’t know what to say. Was he to lie, or tell the truth? Why was he even debating about whether to tell him or not? “Uhh… no… no I’m not.”
Blue chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar, y’know that?”
The reformed changeling let out a huffy breath. “Whatever. So lemme guess, you’ve been watching me for the past five minutes? Why?!”
Blue nodded sheepishly. “Well… I was just… curious.”
“...Curious?”
“I mean, you did slip off unnoticed, that was bound to raise at least some suspicion,” Blue pointed out.
“Pfft. Really? I thought you’d be too busy praising Pharynx to notice.”
Blue tilted his head. “Sooo, you are jealous?”
“Isn’t it obvious, Blueberry?” Venom folded his arms.
“Isn’t there something you’re better than Pharynx at?”
“Well, I… uh…”
Blue waited for Venom. “Anything? Like… uhh… more siblings?” Blue said jokingly.
“...Does that even count?”
“Hey, it’s something you could beat him in.”
“Er…”
“What else are you good at? Besides being a walking raspberry.”
“I’m uh…” Venom thought for a second… which actually felt more like a minute. He was better than Pharynx at something, right? “I’m uh… a fighter?”
Blue smiled. “Well, why don’t you make a name for yourself with that?”
“A name?”
“Y’know… like... get famous for fighting?” He suggested.
“Dude, trust me; I tried that.”
“Oh?” Blue blinked.
Venom nodded. “I actually tried getting a Head of Patrol rank once.”
“Oh yeah. I remember that… In fact, I remember it like it was yesterday.” Blue chuckled. “Especially when I threw that rock at that General.”
“...You did that?”
“Yeah. I didn’t get a chance to see his reaction since I ran away before he saw me. But as you may know, ‘there’s no crime if you don’t get caught’.”
Venom chuckled, smiling a bit. He looked at Blue. “Hey, you wanna have a quick sparring match?”
Blue stared at the reformed changeling. He laughed a bit. “You can’t be serious, can you?”
“I am.”
“Prove it.” Blue smirked. “Or rather, bring it.”
The two began tussling. Venom started by quickly charging at Blue. Blue jumped out of the way and countered with a kick.
“Oof!”
“Come on, Venom! You can do better than—” he was cut off by a kick to his side. “Aargh!” He got up and dusted himself off. He watched as Venom kicked him again, this time sending him close to the wall.
The reformed changeling smirked at his opponent.
Blue then decided to try and jump at Venom, who attempted to dodge the attack. Blue didn’t land on him, but managed to get a swipe on him.
“Ack!” Venom glared at Blue, before jumping back at him, only for Blue to quickly roll out of the way. He growled threateningly.
Blue merely looked at him with a smirk. “Alright Venom… give up, I’m gonna—” he was kicked hard and was sent flying into a wall, which cracked on impact. He looked up to the wall. “Mantis ain’t gonna like that…”
“Like what?” Venom stopped for a moment.
Blue got up. “This crack in the wall…” He made a slight gesture with his hoof.
Then…
“Blue? What was that noise?”
Blue’s jaw and heart dropped. “Oh boy…” He looked at Venom with an apologetic gaze. “Can I tell you something before we die?”
“Er… what?” he asked.
Blue took a breath. “Well…” Blue took another breath. “...you’re on your own, kid!” With that, Blue quickly teleported away.
“What?! Wait, where are you—”
“Hey Venom? What was—” Mantis stared at the cracked wall. Then he glared at Venom. “WHAT HAPPENED?!”
“I… um…”
“Do you know how long this will take to rebuild?!” he yelled.
“It-it was… I—” Venom stuttered frantically.
“I don’t wanna hear it! You are going to stay here and help me fix this wall no matter how long it takes, Venom Stinger!”
“I-I’m sorry, okay?! It was an accident!”
“An accident?! How was it an accident?!” Mantis yelled.
“M-Me and Blue were sparring, a-and I-I—”
“So it was Blue?!”
“Um…”
“Oh that mother… BLUE FANG!” Mantis ran off, leaving Venom Stinger alone.
“Mantis, wait I—” He sighed, kicking a pebble with his hoof. He walked off, leaving behind the crack in the wall.
Venom stared at the ground as he slowly trotted through the hive as the sky began darkening. He looked up to him and his siblings' room… which had close to nothing, other than a couple of pillows, blankets, and mattresses. It also contained his four siblings and Thistle, of course.
Venom made his way towards his own mattress.
The others looked over. “Something wrong, Venom?” Scorch asked with concern.
The changeling merely buried his head in the pillow.
They walked over. “Venom?” Scorch repeated, kneeling down next to him. “What’s wrong? You can tell us.”
Venom looked up, biting his lower lip. He sighed. “Well, I got yelled at by Mantis after Blue abandoned me to my own devices.”
Spiny gasped. “He did what?! Why?!”
“Well, we were sparring and I kicked him into a wall, which cracked it.” Venom sighed. “I guess he didn’t want to take responsibility… then again, I kicked him into the wall,” he whimpered.
Some of them growled a bit. “Should we… uh… do something about him?” Cricket suggested quietly.
“Maybe later… should I tell Mantis that I kicked him into the wall though?”
“But Blue abandoned you! Let him face the consequences,” Scorch said, growling.
“Uh…”
Scorch sighed. “Sorry, I just… can’t believe that he’d abandon you like that…”
“I still kicked him into the wall though…”
“I guess…” Scorch sighed again.
The changeling pressed his face back into the pillow. The others sat next to him.
Thistle stared at Venom. She frowned a bit, reaching a hoof out to him. She slowly brushed his mane, causing him to look up, his eyes watering a tiny bit. “Venom?”
“...What?” he asked.
“Are… are you okay?”
“...What’s it look like?” he said, annoyed.
“Oh… okay… bad question then.”
“Oh ya think?” He buried his head back into the pillow.
Thistle sighed. She looked at the others, who stared silently. “Should I… let you guys take over?” she asked, sheepishly.
They shook their heads. “We’ll let you have a shot at it,” Flutterwings said.
“Uhh… okay.” She stared at Venom. “Hey Venom? Is there… anything I can do?” She asked.
Venom looked up. “What?” he grumbled.
“Well…” she sat next to him. His sapphire eyes looked into her bright magenta ones. She reached a hoof over, gently caressing his face.
Venom stared at her in disbelief, not saying anything. He tried to hide a blush when she wiped the tears out of his eyes. He blinked. “Uhh… thanks?” He attempted to smile. He sat up.
She smiled a bit. “Maybe we should get some shut eye,” Thistle suggested.
“Good idea. Maybe it’ll help you forget?” Spiny asked.
“I hope so.” Venom laid back and closed his eyes.
<•>+<•>+<•>
The Next Day…
“Mantis… is it done… we’ve been here since four in the mornin’...” Blue yawned.
Mantis stepped back. “Uhh… yeah, it’s done,” he said, satisfied with this job well done, yet he did absolutely nothing.
“Thank Chrysalis!” Blue fell back on his carapace, finally being able to rest.
“You’re free to go.” Mantis smiled
Blue smiled with less enthusiasm and began dragging himself to his room.
Venom Stinger came out of his room. He looked over to see Blue slugging himself across the ground. He thought about whether to say something or not. Why was he debating this? Blue abandoned him, but he himself was the one who knocked him into the wall. He sighed and walked over. “Blue?” he asked in a low voice.
Blue looked up. “Huh?” he said with drowsiness in his voice.
Venom sighed heavily. He didn’t know what to say. “I… I’m sorry I kicked you into that wall,” he blurted out quickly.
Blue smiled weakly. “And… I’m sorry I left you there…”
“Does Mantis even know I kicked you into the wall?”
“Well, I had to explain how it happened, so yeah…” Blue yawned. “But he let you off because apparently ‘it’s your fault for accepting the challenge, Blue Fang’...” Blue said, mimicking Mantis’ voice. He sighed and lazily plopped his head on the ground.
Venom sat down next to him. “What happened? What did he make you do?” he asked with slight concern.
“Well… we, or I, stayed up since four in the morning fixing the wall…” Blue said, yawning again.
“Geez…”
“Yeah… Mantis hates it when things get broken. Example, that wagon…”
Venom looked down.
“Something wrong, Venom?”
“Well, it’s…” he sighed. “Where is he anyway?”
“Probably in his room mapping out new gadgets and what not… something about a hoof-held automatic crossbow or something.”
The reformed changeling folded his forelegs.
“What?” Blue asked, tilting his head slightly.
“I… I don’t think I like him,” Venom admitted.
Blue shrugged. “Sorry about him… he has a heart… but he is sometimes easily angered…”
“Are you sure he has a heart? Because I don’t see it.”
Blue nodded. “He can be a great friend… he just… needs some time to get to know you guys…”
“Hmph.” Venom looked around. Some of the others were gathered nearby. He looked at Blue, who simply shrugged back at him.
“Go on. Don’t you have somewhere better to be than sit here and look at my sorry carapace?” Blue asked.
“...Okay then.” Venom stood up, walking towards everyone else. “Hey guys.” He forced a grin at them.
“Hey Venom,” Scorch greeted in return.
They looked over to Blue, who went back to shamefully dragging himself across the ground. They stared at him.
“What happened to him?” Flutterwings asked aloud.
“I was worked to death!” He called back.
“What?! Why?”
“Ask Mantis!” he called back again. “Or Venom!”
“Venom, what’s he going on about?” Spiny asked.
Venom smiled sheepishly. “Well I may or may not have kicked him into a wall, causing said to crack...”
They stared blankly.
He chuckled a bit. “Yeah…”
“Why?” Flutterwings asked.
“Well, we were um… sparring, and uh…” He ran a hoof through his mane. “Well… I guess we got a bit carried away. Like, really carried away.”
“We can see that,” Spiny said with a roll of his eyes.
“Uhh… is he gonna be okay?” Thistle asked.
“I dunno. I hope so.”
“Meh. He’ll walk it off,” Scorch quipped.
They stared at him.
“What?” he asked. “He will, won’t he?”
“I dunno. I mean, he did hit that wall pretty hard,” Venom replied. “I don’t even know where Mantis is.”
“Isn’t that him over there?” Cricket pointed somewhere.
They all looked in that direction, where they saw Mantis walking with Dagger, and Broken.
“Hmm…” Spiny scratched his head. “What is he holding?” he asked, pointing at the wrapped object Mantis was carrying.
Venom squinted. “No clue. Maybe we should just follow them and find out,” he suggested.
The others nodded a bit, and followed the three. “What do you guys think it is?” Flutterwings asked. “And why’s it wrapped like that?”
They looked at the cloth covering the object. “Dunno. But it must be important if it’s wrapped,” Thistle said.
The group kept walking for a while.
Then they found the three changelings, who met up with Hive and Zen. “Is that it Mantis?” Hive asked excitedly.
“...What’s ‘it’?” Flutterwings whispered.
“Let’s watch,” Venom replied.
Mantis unwrapped it, revealing a…
...wooden stick?
The six changelings’ jaws dropped.
Hive on the other hoof started hopping up and down like he had won the lottery. “Woohoo! It’s here! It’s finally here!” he picked it up and pointed it at a few bottles nearby.
Cricket blinked. “What in Equestria is he doing?”
Then, a few arrows rapidly flew from the ‘stick’. Okay, a lot of arrows flew from it, shattering each and every bottle.
“...Oh.”
They listened to what Mantis started saying.
“Iron, Night Vision and Thermal sights, light and maneuverable, holds up to fifty arrows, and you don’t even have to crank it like the old ones,” Mantis said, proudly.
Venom glared at Mantis, letting out a slight growl at him. The others stared at him. “Are you okay?” Flutterwings asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? You know you can tell us.”
“Well, I’m still pretty ticked off at him.”
“Oh. Is there anything we can do?” The nymph tilted her head.
“I… I don’t know.” Venom looked at them.
Mantis turned his head towards the group. “Oh. Hey guys,” he waved a hoof with a smile.
None of them said anything.
He tilted his head. “Uh… guys..? What’s up…?”
They stared at him. Especially Venom, who stepped away from him.
Cricket cowered behind Venom. “I’m scared,” he whispered.
Broken looked over, before making his way to the group. “What’s wrong, fellas?”
“Well uh, you see… Blue and I… well…” Venom stuttered.
“Lemme guess, you two were sparring, and you kicked Blue into a wall, causing it to crack?”
Venom sputtered. “Wha- did Mantis already tell you?”
“Oh, I have my ways.” Broken winked, before his eyes flashed yellow for a brief second.
The reformed changeling shook his head as soon as he saw that. “What the-?”
Broken smiled. “So let me guess, you’re holding a grudge against Mant, aren’t you?”
“Well… uhh…”
Broken looked at the others. “Well?”
Cricket shuddered slightly.
Broken held a hoof up. “Hold that thought.” His eyes flashed yellow again. “Hey, Cricket?”
“Y-Y-Yeah?”
“Would you mind stepping a few feet to the left?” Broken asked, calmly.
“Uh… okay.” Cricket stepped away.
A few apples and other fruits landed right where Cricket was originally standing.
Cricket jumped a bit. “Uh… What was that?”
They looked up to see Kydra flying; carrying a basket of fruit. “Oh! Sorry! Is anyone hurt?” she called out.
Broken waved. “No! We’re all good!”
“Okay! I’ll carry these to the nymphs' area!” Kydra said, flying away.
Cricket stared in awe. “What was that all about?”
“What? The falling fruit?” Broken asked, acting oblivious. “Or is it something else?”
“The fruit, obviously!”
Broken chuckled. “Heh. So, it’s not the fact that I just predicted the future?” he asked.
“Wait? You can do that?” Venom asked. “How?!”
“Yeah. For example, Dagger’s gonna trip over something right about…” he paused, and another flash of yellow came through his eyes. “...Now.”
“Ahh! Oof!”
“See?” Broken said.
“...” Venom glanced around frantically.
Broken chuckled. “It’s an old ability called ‘Foresight’, appropriately named by Captain Foresight. It allows the user to see into the future.”
“Er… You’re trying to change the subject, aren’t ya?”
“Heh. What do you mean?” Broken smirked.
“I don’t see what this has to do with Mantis.”
“Well, my Foresight already told me about your grudge. So, I wanted to try and help.”
“What do grudges have to do with the future?”
“Well, that’s what I don’t know… so I want to fix it before it gets worse.”
“...Don’t you have a date, Mister?”
“Oh buck!” Broken looked around frantically. “I forgot about my date with Rose! What time is it?!”
“Uh… about seven,” Spiny informed him.
Broken started panicking even more. “Oh shoot oh shoot oh shoot oh shoot oh shoot! I’m gonna be late!” He quickly ran off, heading towards his room.
They stared quietly. “Uhh… what was that?” Thistle asked. “Did time really pass by that fast?”
“I mean, you were stalking me all day!” Mantis called out.
Cricket recoiled. The others gulped a bit.
Hive walked over. “Calm down Mant. Take a chill pill.”
Mantis whirled around to face him. “Like you should be talking,” he snapped back.
Hive sighed and pulled out a syringe. “Alright Mant, you need some sleep.” With that, Hive stuck Mantis with the syringe.
“Wha—” Mantis started wobbling, before falling on his side, asleep.
“...Uhhh—”
Hive looked at the six changelings. “Don’t worry. He’ll be asleep for a few minutes or so. You’ll have alot of free time,” Hive chuckled.
The reformed changeling let out a huffy breath.
“What?” Hive asked.
“It’s… nothing.”
“Uhh… okay.” Hive began carrying the sleeping changeling to his room.
Venom stared as the pair of changelings departed. He sighed a bit, before turning the other direction and trotting slowly, the others closely behind him.
Meanwhile…
“Come on! Come on! Come on! Where is it?!” Broken continued going through drawers as Blue watched.
“Where’s what?” Blue asked, tilting his head.
“That ring I bought! Argh! I need it so badly!” Broken lifted Blue up, then sat him down.
Blue smiled. “You’re already wearing a suit, you don’t need to bring a ring.”
“But… but…”
“Broken. A ring won’t make a difference. If you try to buy love, you’ll never truly be happy.”
“...”
Blue walked over to his brother and rubbed his carapace. “She’ll be happy to see you, I’m sure of it. Maybe—”
“I found it!”
Blue facehoofed. “Dang it Broken…”
“Sorrygottaheadtothecafenowbye!” Broken called out, before running straight out of the room.
Blue looked at him. “Good luck?”
Broken continued running until…
“Hey Broken! What’s the rush?”
He stopped and sighed. “...Hey Mixer…” he groaned. “I… I can’t talk right now.”
“Where are you off to?”
“A date with someone beautiful.”
Mixer smirked. “Beautiful? Maybe I should pay her a visit.”
“Wait, what?!”
“You heard me,” Mixer snarled with a grin.
Broken stared at Mixer. Before punching him in the face. “Yeah! Take that Mixer!” Broken spit on the unconscious changeling. “Say something now!” He started to run off, but came back. “And I’ve seen how you park your wagons! You take up two slots! You park like a jerk!” He ran off again.
Broken ran until he found Dagger. “Hey, can you teleport me to the café In Manehattan?”
“Uhhh…”
“Please?!”
“Okay, okay, here.” He lit up his horn and teleported Broken to the café.
“Thanks!”
“No problem. Now, I’ll be getting back. I need to tell everyone Mantis got tranquilized.”
“What?!”
“Bye Broken! Good luck!” With that, Dagger teleported back.
Broken stared. “Thanks…” he turned to the entrance. He took a breath. Here goes nothing. He took a breath, opened the door and walked in.