Kit was always getting into trouble. It's not his fault! He's just scrawny and his interests weren't... normal for boys his age. He liked female shows and barbies. He especially got into "My Little Pony."
Now, since he always got into trouble, he's learned how to run. He was the fastest in the school and could jump higher than half his hight.
He's running right now. Away, faster and faster as someone was chasing him down, his father-well, foster father anyway, was drunk and in a car chasing after Kit.
Feeling slowly came to me as I awoke. Warmth was first, then the uncomfortable tightness. I was submerged in a warm liquid and packed tightly into a seemingly round and smooth object. I'm not an idiot, but I'll admit that the warmth was lulling me into an exhausted state, thus, it took a while for the thoughts to flow.
I was in an egg.
The thought didn't bring any sense of panic, or confusion that it should have, it appears I was too comfortable for that, however, the longer I stayed in here, the tighter it seemed to become, causing me to squirm slightly. This was the first time that I realized my body wasn't... right.
I had a tail of sorts instead of legs. My arms were still there but bent weirdly and I didn't have hands.
I couldn't think too much more about these facts before I drifted off into a comfortable sleep.
The next time I awoke, the egg was almost crushing me, and I was much more aware. It appears it's time to leave. With a jerk of my head in an instinctual manner, my head collided with the shell. Again and again, I did this. slowly, a crack formed. bigger and bigger it grew until a piece of the shell broke off and I could see outside.
It was dark and the wall I could see was a shiny black and warped strangely. I couldn't help but wonder where I was, but now isn't the time, I must leave this egg of mine.
With a dozen more nicks and scratches, a rather large piece of egg broke off. I lurched myself forward and the egg fell forward so I could crawl out and onto the shiny black ground. It was still warm, but it was also a dry warmth, it wasn't comfortable.
After a while of getting my breath back, I finally tuned into the senses I had. My hearing picked up hisses and scuttling, while my sense of smell was... strange. I smelled a sweet and fragrant scent, like fried cinnamon apples. I could innately tell that this cent was joy. Why could I smell emotions? That can't be right-
A crack interrupted my train of thought. Looking over, I saw a lot of eggs, some of which were hatching. A larva was already panting outside its egg. it was all white besides it's black face and legs a few dark spots also decorated it's back. It was... a Changeling Larva... No way.
The click of hooves made my head tilt up. I saw a drone changeling. It had an Equine structure with bug attributes, like it's wings and eyes. It was much bigger than I and its horn was lit up in a light blue as its magic carried a jar of... something behind it.
It felt like I should be panicking, and I was! but not nearly as much as I should be, at most, I was surprised. Perhaps this strange... rightness I feel could be the reason. I was safe in the hive. The Brood-ling would take care of the brood, of which I am a part of.
By now, the hatching had stopped, but so few were hatched compared to the eggs. Perhaps ten were alive and out of the eggs, while the other forty or so were... they didn't make it.
A strange feeling of sadness drifted through me. The feeling wasn't great, but rather vague. before I could think about it too much, the brood-ling sat in front of the tired larva, opening the jar.
Immediately, I smelled a sweet scent, like chocolate. It was coming from the jar. The smell was a diluted love. The blue haze that was the brood-ling's magic took hold of the gel-like substance and floated it over to one of the larvae.
Quickly, the baby started to eat, slurping it up almost all at once. Again, a ball of gel floated to a different larva. After two more times, it was my turn. Using the other children's method, I slurped up the gel quickly, and felt satisfied, but not full. It took a bit more time before all of the larvae were filled. They each started to squirm towards each other and climbed over one another into a pile and fell asleep.
I tilted my head slightly and crawled over, climbing the mountain of larvae and onto the top. I fell asleep.
The days passed slowly, or perhaps quickly? I couldn't tell what with there being no windows. We sleep and eat often, though, I'm never actually full. I learned that all the waste we accumulate is regurgitated as a paste. It's like cement in a way. It dries solid. This paste is what the hive is made of. Kinda gross, but also useful.
The larva "play" regularly. they headbutt and hiss, rolling around on the ground. They're cute, sure, but I'd rather not play like that if I can help it. The larva learned early on that I don't like their play; however, they stick close to me anyway. as a thank you, I often pet their head and hum songs from my old world. they seem to enjoy it.
I'll admit, the first few weeks were alright.
But then the alicorn came.
I knew her name, Celestia. She was depicted as a god, kind and giving in the show... but when she came, she came not with open arms, but with an army.
I had just made my cocoon when it happened. I was lying in my cocoon undergoing my change to the nymph stage when Celestia attacked. No-one was spared.
Seeing as I was the first of the Larvae to create a cocoon, the rest were unguarded on the floor when the guards came barging in and ended all of their lives. It was swift, but the stallion acted as though he wasn't killing literal babies. It was just a job for him. He left quickly after.
I watched as a heavily injured Drone limped in and immediately flew up to me. They were our Brood-ling, the one to take care of us and raise us like their own. She took me and ran. Faster and faster, she galloped out of the hive that I spent my entire life in and out into an unforgiving world. It was a desert, with no water for miles and even less plants.
The Brood-ling took me as far as she could go before, she collapsed. It took hours before she died.
I saw plenty of dead changelings as we ran, green blood was everywhere, but not a single pony was in the halls. It was a surprise attack, killing even the larvae.
The brood-ling siphoned the love from her storage before dying, so I'm full at the moment, but what about when I hatch? I'll only be an adolescent! I don't know how to shift or fly even!
I slept and awoke many times after watching my Brood-ling die. They laid partially in front of me as they decomposed, being pecked away by vultures and crows. Neither came near my cocoon.
It was perhaps the third day that I finally felt a feeling of rightness consume me, and I broke through my cocoon into the hot and dry air. As I left, a piece of my mind reached out to latch onto the rest of my hive yet caught nothing. That's it then, my hive has perished.
I sat there, consumed by grief. I hadn't known them for long, but they were Mine... In my last life, I had nothing, not a family, home, or even really my own clothes. I know this feeling well, but last time around, I didn't get to know where I came from, couldn't mourn for people I didn't know... But those Larva and Brood-ling? They were a part of one big family. My family.
After an hour or so or mourning and crying, I shakily stood. This was much different than my larva body. Sure, I had two front hooves then too, but now I have back hooves and a tail and wings which were covered in a purple elytra. Much of the first couple hours were me stumbling through the desert after tearfully parting with my Brood-ling.
The first sign of shelter from the harsh sun was a rocky outcropping, stretching up and to the side where another large boulder leaned on the first, creating a shelter from the heat. I had to guess that I was in the badlands, though, I have no clue what part of the timeline I'm in... I can't recall Celestia ever launching a sneak attack on queen Chrysalis's hive in the show, so before or after perhaps? I just have to wait for night to see if Nightmare Moon's in the moon or not. If she's in the moon I'm within the thousand years before the show, and if not? well... Either after the show or wayyyyy before.
Once I got to the outcropping, I immediately started to work on my transformations. I'm not part of a hive mind which I should have been due to the death of my hive, but I do have instincts to guide me. I pictured a light purple colt with a maroon mane and tail, a small horn coming from his head, for a cutie mark, there was a blank scroll with a quill.
After focusing on this image for a while, I felt a heat come from my horn, but I dared not open my eyes or lose concentration. The first try came out relatively well for a beginner, but my fangs were still there, and my eyes were the same slitted pupal. It took two more tries to get it perfect, and after all that, I was feeling very tired, and my horn was a little sore.
I crashed down against the rocks and let myself shift back. biting back a yawn, I curled up and tried to sleep. It was difficult as it was still very hot even under shade, and it was the first time not falling asleep not in a pile of my larva siblings. I managed to doze off eventually though, seeing as I woke up in the middle of the night. it was normal for me to wake up at inopportune moments, and my body had decided that I've had enough sleep.
The moon shined above the desert, glowing beautifully.
A pony's face was projected on the surface. So I know Nightmare moon is banished and Celestia is the sole ruling alicorn... The thought of the sun princess was... bitter. I used to have good memories of her and the ponies she ruled, but all I can think of now are my dead family...
I was still comfortably full of the last meal of love, so that wasn't an issue. With a sigh, I pushed myself to my hooves and looked toward the mountain in the distance. There should be some caves or something there I can build a new nest out of.
I pause. A new nest? I dig through my memories, finding nothing, before checking my instincts. I apparently wasn't born a royal but having no hive to connect to when you awake as a nymph makes you one. Neat.
My wings open at my command, fluttering slightly as I try to figure out how to work them. I worked the muscles as I started walking toward the mountain. after an hour, I lifted off the ground a couple feet and landed back down quickly. I repeated this for a while as I trotted.
Eventually, I came across a small oasis. There were a small group of trees and grass there. Warily, I took a sip of the water, soon drinking my fill before I collapsed underneath a tree.
My hooves felt like they would fall off, that's how much they ached, and my wing muscles were sore beyond belief. The chitin armor I wear felt like it was boiling me alive when the sun came up. Overall? I feel like shit.
What's worse is the fact that with all my physical movement, I need to consume more energy. Don't get me wrong, I'm nowhere near starving, or even hungry! It's just that my energy is draining faster than if I wasn't doing so much exercise. I would stop due to not knowing when or how I'll acquire my next meal, but to even get my next meal, I need to find it. It's not like a meal would just fall in front of my hooves.
Despite my thoughts, I look around anyway, flicking my long ears in case I might hear something. Alas, nothing. Something might come across the oasis as I rest though, so I keep an ear out.
Surprisingly, it took only a couple of hours before an emotion came into my range. It was a tired and cautious little thing, barely the size of my hoof, and as it moved over the sand toward the water, my eyes opened to see a lizard.
It was cute all things considered, but it didn't seem well. It dropped its tail not long ago and there was a small injury on its back right leg that seemed to be paining it. It was in a fight recently... or, more likely, it was prey that escaped.
It kept its gaze on me as it wandered over to the water, dipping its head down to drink after a few seconds of staring. The emotions rippled across my senses, fear, fatigue, hunger.
Tilting my head, I let my gaze wander across the grass. Insects don't feel emotion, but they do have instincts that give off something close. The difficulty of pinpointing a good-sized bug was large, and having to split my attention between that and the lizard made it take longer, but I eventually found a large spider hiding in the roots of a tree.
By the time I finished finding it, the lizard was done drinking, slowly making its way to shade. My tail flicked across the grass before I rose. The lizard froze as I made my way over to a tree, finding the spider quite easily and with a raised hoof, I used the surprisingly sharp tip and severed the head. The legs flailed for a second, twitching as they curled up.
The spider corpse was in my hoof, and I slowly made my way closer to the lizard. I stopped about five feet away before laying down. I tore off a leg and tossed it close to the lizard. It snapped its jaws and had it down it's throat.
Again and again, I did this, throwing it closer and closer to me until I held out a hoof with the legless body of the spider on top. The lizard hesitated for a moment, indecision clear to my senses before it slowly reached out and took the body. It ate it right there in front of me as I lay my head down.
The creatures in this world were much different than in my old one. This never would have worked then.
After a moment, a soft comfort emanated from the lizard. It was no love, but as I opened my mouth and inhaled, the mist tasted of slight cinnamon bread.
I dared not take much; in fact, I could barely tell the difference in my storage from before, but once I stopped, the lizard's emotion filled much faster than I expected.
It wandered over, taking rest against my chest. I knew I was not soft, my exoskeleton protected me, yes, but it would never be comfortable for others. It appeared, however, that the still heated surface served the same as a heated rock.
If the lizard was on my shoulder as I left the oasis, well... It was certainly a coincidence.
