Escape From the Hive

  Changelings were considered savages. Creatures of deception and evil. I agree with the stereotype. Sure, it's was insulting my own species, but who cares? I'd never admit it though, then Mother would have a reason to kill me. She wants to kill me, she really wants to kill me, but she can't until I've had done something she could kill me for. Cursing my own race? Close enough to blasphemy for a cut through my neck.

  Prince Larva is my full title, though the only ones who ever use the term 'prince' are the ponies. As a changeling, I am simply the son of the queen. The heir to the throne, but no one important enough for a specific title. I'm not the only heir, of course. Who ever heard of only having one heir? No, I have sisters. Oh great merciful Vavatonem, do I have sisters. Buzzing, chirping, flittering around and making a great ruckus about the Royal Hive. I hate them almost as much as Mother loves them, and she loves them almost as much as she hates me. I don't mind them for the most part actually, except for the part where they decide to become interested in me for a day and not give me a moment's peace. Yeah...that gets really annoying really fast.

  I'm sour tempered, I won't deny that. What I would deny is having the temper of a normal changeling. Granted, they're sour. Angry, hissing, burning sour. But what the others aren't is traitorous. Some of them might not like the Queen, some of them may want to kill her after the failed Canterlot siege, but they never would. The others are too brainwashed by the hive mind to even consider turning their back on the Queen. As a royal changeling, and free of the hive mind, I am not. I hate her, as I've said many times before, and would kill her if I could. I can't of course, due to the fact that she possesses double my strength and speed on both the ground and in the air. No, I can't kill her. Plus, if I did then that would break the hive mind. She has to pass power onto me, which she wouldn't do in a million years. She'll most likely pass on power to one of my biting, scratching, mammal-brained sisters.

  If you haven't gotten it yet, my life sucks.

  "And as our species evolved from grubs on the ground, we gained superiority to the nearby pony race through our possession of both horns and wings..." The droning voice of my tutor made thinking about assassination incredibly hard, and that's the only thing that kept me sane these days.

  "But some of the drones don't have wings!" one of my sisters squeaked, raising a swiss cheese hoof in the air.

  "That is true. They are the building drones. They build the hives and..." My eye twitched and I put my hooves over my ears, unable to handle the blathering anymore. I knew everything that was being taught by now, but Mother made me take the same course over and over again until all of my sister's understood, which would never happen. In fact, I could remember the exact same wings question being asked just last week.

  With the tutor's voice reduced to a hum by my hooves, I allowed myself to sink into his thoughts. How good it would feel cracking Mother's exoskeleton under my hooves, tearing the three spikes off her head to resemble de-crowning her, tearing her wings off slowly and painfully. My neon green tongue flicked out to lick my lips as I thought and my hooves slowly fell from his ears. I was too deep in thought to care.

Larva...

  Using my fangs to cut through her neck, the delicious snapping of the black shell...

Larva...

  Conquering Equestria with my army. Not failing like Mother had...

Larva...!

  It would be amazing...

LARVA!

  My eyes snapped open and I looked around wildly. A guard glared at me, a deep growl echoing from his throat. I quickly stood as I noticed that I was alone in the room besides the guard.

  "Y-yes?" I stammered, nervous under the guard's gaze.

  "The Queen has called for you and your sisters to stand in her presence in the Royal Court," the guard hissed, his voice deeper than most changelings'.

  "A-alright." I tried to push past the guard, but since I only reached the guard's chest I couldn't. The guard gave a cold chuckle which sent shivers up my spine and moved out of the way, allowing me to pass. I hurried on, my wings buzzing with embarrassment. I'm small, another downfall of my life. Almost every changeling is bigger than I, leaving me barely taller than a filly in pony standards. The changelings couldn't have a king that short. I mean, it's not like I care what they think now. Once the hive mind is linked to me they won't have a damn choice.

  The Royal Court isn't far from where I had been, so it only took a few minutes for me to reach it. It's pretty regal I suppose, though nothing in comparison to the ponies' Royal Court I had heard soldiers talking about after the siege. The walls of the court are black, like every other wall in the Royal Hive, with green ovals sticking out like gems here and there. It's always filled with the buzzing of wings and clack of hooves against ground as Mother's personal drones hurry about. Today it was filled with my sisters' hissing as they gathered in the center of the room. Mother looked pleased as she gazed at them, but her expression changed to a scowl as I entered the room. Pretty easy to tell who she favored.

  "Finally," Mother hissed, as I made my way to join my sisters. "You must work on being more punctual."

  "Yes Mother," I said. I've had years of practice with hiding my hatred, so it was easy to make it sound as if I adored Mother. I don't, as I'm sure you know by now.

  "Now that you are all here," Mother began, moving her head so she couldn't see me at the edge of the group. "It is time to address the approaching tests." We all knew what she was talking about, the tests to see who would become ruler. She expected me to lose, and was probably rigging the tests to make sure I did. "We will be changing them slightly, to make them more fair." Oh, what was this? The tests were an ancient practice, going back as far as any changeling could remember, changing them was something new. "You will all take them based on your age, oldest first." Her eyes flashed to me and I stared into them. So, I was right. This would make it easier for her to rig them, since it used to be that we would take them all at once.

  Mother proceeded to speak more about the test, as if we hadn't heard it too many times from our tutor. Different sections, some having to do with form changing, some having to do with speed and strength, all of them necessary for a ruler. My sisters wouldn't survive the first. Well, unless my mother had anything to say about it (which she probably would).