Author's Note

May 15th, 2021
Hey guys. If you’re reading this story for the very, very first time ever, and you’re starting at the first chapter here, please keep in mind that the earlier chapters (especially the one you’re about to read right now) are not as good in quality (in terms of grammar, phrasing, dialogue, story-telling, etc.) as my more recent chapters. This was my very first story upon joining Fimfiction, and I find that I’ve improved a lot since then, so that pretty much explains it.

If you’re perfectly okay with that and you’re still willing to read this from the ground up, that’s great.

That being said, enjoy the story.

Prelude: Mission Failed

On the silent, dreary train ride to Canterlot, Pharynx speechlessly watched through the window beside him as the nighttime scenery of Equestria’s locations moderately passed by. The train’s speed was fortunately not enough to jostle any of its passengers awake. As for noise, only the soft, quiet snoring that came from changeling drones accompanied the rattling of the train wheels swiftly pivoting against the steel rails. Some of them had simply fallen asleep during the train ride, but others had pretty much cried themselves to sleep, given the situation their leader was in.

While the changelings were silently riding, the carefree inhabitants of Ponyville had already started to disappear into their homes, preparing for both a good night’s rest and for dawn to bloom the very next morning. Either way, Pharynx could tell that none of them were aware of the fact that the changelings planned an emergency trip to Canterlot.

But it had been a while since he and the other changelings, nymphs, drones, and all, squeezed into their assigned passenger cars. It was rather surprising that there were enough seats for all of them, given the high population of changelings that the now reformed changeling kingdom, ruled over by newly crowned King Thorax, consisted of.

Speaking of which....

The dark cyan changeling turned to look at his younger brother, who had been lying next to him in a deep slumber since even before they climbed aboard the train. Pharynx wanted to focus on how cute he looked when he was sleeping silently, but he remembered the devastation of the swarm when he descended into this grave condition. He remembered the drones crowding around his little brother, wailing, begging him to wake up, pleading him not to leave them without a leader.

As Pharynx somberly listened to his brother coughing every few minutes while laying a hoof on his forehead now and then, he repetitively let his mind wander back to earlier. To what caused his brother to suffer like this. To that fateful accident back at the changeling hive.

To what was supposed to be a heartfelt celebration of the day the changelings were offered a fresh start...

The two changeling brothers jumped as they were abruptly greeted by the sounds of screaming that could practically be heard from miles away. However, it didn’t take long for them to realize that it was the sounds of innocent changeling drones’ lives in jeopardy. This was enough to send them frantically flying to their safe haven to see what was happening.

They managed to get close enough to the stony exterior of the hive, trying to catch their breath as they approached their home, but lost it once they finally gazed at the sight in front of them, their eyes widening.

In large groups, changelings of all ages were scurrying out of the hive in all directions. A sickly green, gaseous substance was rising through and from every hole in the hive’s exterior, destroying the plant life that accompanied the stone structure. The drones were doing anything to prevent themselves and their young from breathing in the poison, trying to get as much fresh air as possible upon emerging from the toxic gas.

Thorax immediately rushed to the very first group of changelings that caught his eye and interrogated a yellow drone. “Tibia! Are you okay? What happened? Where’s everyone else?!”

“They’re still trapped in there!” the yellow drone exclaimed, pointing directly to the gas-filled entrance. “And the nymphs are still in the nursery!”

“W-We tried to get them out,” a light blue drone stuttered, “but we—“

Thorax didn’t let him finish. He was already darting to the entrance of the hive. He would’ve made it more than half the distance, had Pharynx not stopped him.

“Thorax, no! Let me handle this!” the cyan changeling demanded sternly, trying to stall the taller brother.

“Pharynx, there’s no time for this! There are drones in there!” the younger changeling tried to pull away.

“You know what’ll happen if you just run in like that!”

“So I’m supposed to just stay out here and just let them get poisoned?!”

“Well, no, I—“ Pharynx didn’t want to get into another argument with his brother. Especially not at a time like this. “Just let me handle this, okay?!”

“Pharynx, please,” Thorax started again, still trying to pull out of his brother’s grasp. “I’ll be alright. You calm everyone down while I—“

“Thorax!” Pharynx shouted again suddenly, his expression turning solemn.

Both brothers looked silently into each other’s eyes as the cyan changeling continued. “You’re the only family I have left.” Pharynx’s lavender eyes went from shooting daggers to pleading for his brother to not risk his life. “I can’t lose you... Not again.. Please.”

Their expressions softened after that. Thorax broke the silence before Pharynx could argue again.

“There are drones in there,” Thorax said, repeating his sentence from earlier. “Someone has to help.”

And with that, Thorax finally hugged Pharynx tightly, but the former withdrew the embrace before the latter could return it. “If I don’t come back, take care of everyone for me...” he added, before finally continuing to run towards the hive’s entrance.

Pharynx and the drones fell silent. Seconds sprouted and grew into minutes as they gazed into the opening where Thorax disappeared into. For a while, there was no sign of him returning, nor were there any drones or nymphs.

The prince drone shut his eyes tightly. “Please, please, please, please, please...” He whispered repetitively.

As his pleas descended and were swallowed by yet another sea of silence, he looked up to see Thorax miraculously emerging from the hive, a nymph or two on his back, followed by another group of changelings.

The swarm suddenly cheered as the rescued drones celebrated their survival, and the nymphs ran to their families, and were wrapped in full-on embraces.

Pharynx finally smiled, not at the sappy sweetness of this kind of scenario, but at the fact that his brother was alright.

“King Thorax,” a female drone said, with tears in her eyes as her husband held her offspring, “how can we ever thank you?”

They all watched as Thorax opened his mouth to respond...

...Only to break out in fits of coughing as he clutched at his chest, before slowly descending to the ground.

His subjects gasped as this scene played out, and they swiftly rushed over and surrounded their savior, their expressions once again filled with fear, except this time they were mixed with sadness.

Pharynx’s heart stopped when he saw his brother’s now ailing state once he managed to push past the drones. Thorax had barely been able to keep his eyes open as Pharynx sat down next to him, carefully picked him up, and cradled him in his forelegs.

“Thorax...?”

No response.

“Thorax?!”

Silence.

“Thorax! Bro, can you hear me?! W-Wake up!!!”

Thorax remained unresponsive to his brother’s shouting. Pharynx overheard the sounds of changelings starting to weep behind him as they watched this scene play out. The cyan changeling tried shaking him lightly, but still got no response.

“No... Thorax...” Pharynx caressed his brother’s head... Before pulling away quickly. Thorax had already gotten a fever; and it was burning up fast. “He’s really sick,” the prince murmured.

Still hugging Thorax, Pharynx turned to the now sobbing drones, trying to retain his tough, demanding demeanor. “D-Don’t just stand there and cry! Do you want him to live or not?! Do something! Call a doctor! ANYTHING!” He screamed at the top of his lungs.

This only elicited what sounded like a choir of wails and sobs. Nymphs were burying their faces in their parents’ chests, while said parents cried along with them.

Pharynx, still somehow not in the same state as all the other drones, could only continue to embrace his little brother tightly as he shut his eyes, wishing he had actually returned the hug that Thorax gave him before he risked his life.

He never knew what would come after this. All he knew was that even though Thorax managed to save those drones, the elder sibling would still have to take care of everyone.

“So... Pharynx, right?”

Pharynx was snapped out of his current thoughts by the voice of a stallion. He turned to see the train conductor: a golden-eyed earth pony with a pale yellow coat and a light brown mane. He also sported a blue and white striped hat and a red bandanna. His cutie mark was a silvery gray train whistle.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Pharynx grumbled under his breath.

“And this is Thorax, right?”

“Who else would he be?”

The stallion chuckled nervously at the slightly bitter reply, before stepping closer to the unconscious changeling King. “How is he?”

“Not good,” Pharynx replied. “He’s gotten a high fever and he’s been—“ he was cut off by another groggy cough from his younger brother “—coughing ever since he fell into a coma. And they’ve been sounding like he’s not able to breathe.”

“Must’ve been from that toxic gas released in the hive, right?” the conductor asked.

“What do you think?”

The stallion winced again.

Pharynx sighed heavily. “Sorry, I just wish I was able to save him...”

“I understand that,” the earth pony responded. “It shouldn’t be long before we arrive to your destination, however.”

“Good. I’m probably gonna regret it, but I need to see if Princess Celestia could do something about this.” Pharynx softly rubbed Thorax’s head as he spoke.

“Well, why wouldn’t she?” The conductor tilted his head. He knew that the princess of Equestria would do anything for those who were in need. Even if those in need used to be love-draining creatures who put others’ lives in peril.

Pharynx was about to respond to his question, but the train suddenly came to a screeching halt before he could utter a word. The two looked out the window to see where they stopped at. They were just in front of a dark tunnel they went through, but the train had stopped a few inches away from it.

The conductor only shook his head. “This can’t be good...”

Pharynx tilted his head at him, not wanting to show any fear that could threaten his manner. “What happened?”

“Not sure. But I’ll try and take a look. It could be-“

“Steamer!” another male voice called out to the yellow earth pony from outside the train.

“All Aboard?! All Aboard?! Where are you?!” Steamer called back.

“What?! Who-“ Pharynx was baffled. He had forgotten how weird most pony names could be, even when they were being compared to most changeling names.

He looked to see another earth pony stallion rushing towards the train. One with glasses and a beard that was a very dark gray that matched his mane and tail, and a light bluish gray coat that was partly covered with a suit of red, white, and blue, as well as a matching cap. And on his flank was a cutie mark that was a golden pocket watch. His light yellow eyes showed panic and dread as Steamer let him onto the train. He was panting heavily, as if he had run a marathon. Or as if someone or something had been chasing him.

“What are you doing way out here?! A-Aren’t you supposed to be collecting tickets on your night shift?” Steamer was just as baffled as Pharynx was when the two earth ponies were calling out to each other.

“You have no idea! There’s something out there!”

“What was out there?”

The stallion pushed up his glasses, shuddering to his friend. “My best guess would be another changeling, b-but—“

Again? Pharynx couldn’t decide what he wanted more: to call this pony a liar or to slap him in the face to snap him out of whatever he had.

Steamer was almost as skeptical as the cyan changeling was. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I was. I truly do!”

“Can someone explain what’s going on here?!” Pharynx snapped. He was quickly running low on patience, and these two ponies knew it. “I mean, how could there still be hole-filled, love-sucking bug creatures out there?”

“Sorry, Pharynx. I wish we could explain it, but we have to see if we can get this train going again.” Steamer turned to All Aboard. “Tell me outside, while we see if we can fix her up.”

As the two stallions leaped out of the train, Steamer took one last look at the changeling prince. “Just get some sleep okay?” He advised him. ”We don’t know how long this’ll take...”

Pharynx only grumbled under his breath and nodded, curling up next to the unconscious Thorax as the two stallions investigated the situation outside. It was the only thing he could do other than silently pray that all would be well again, including his dear brother.

He put a foreleg around Thorax, feeling his forehead one last time before he drifted off into slumber; His fever still hadn’t gone down. His hot temperature hadn’t even dropped a single degree.

The two brothers slept in silence, and for a while, they paid no attention to the things that had begun to stir about outside.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Pharynx cracked an eyelid open when he heard a faint hammering coming from outside the vehicle he was dozing in.

He quietly assumed that Steamer and All Aboard were finally getting some work done on this broken-down train. He sat up and looked through the windows, searching for anything that could be he source of the noise. But soon, the prince realized that while his assumption was correct, the stallions had no tools on them, or at least no tools that could make a banging sound that loud.

In that case, Pharynx just shrugged it off, deciding to resume his peaceful sleep...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Pharynx snapped his eyes open again, his shrunken pupils darting around room he was in, searching for any silhouettes that could’ve somehow snuck into the room. He sat up, his head pivoting around to view his surroundings every couple of seconds, but still saw no sign of anypony, any creature, or anything hitting against the train car.

The changeling yawned, berating himself for uncharacteristically getting caught off guard by minor issues, like the nighttime sounds and the shadows on the wall, before letting his eyelids drape over his lavender eyes...

BANG! BANG! BANG!

That was it. Pharynx was wide awake now. He jumped out of his seat in the middle of the aisle that stretched from the back of the room to the front of it, between the arrangements of seats. “What do you want?! Show yourself!”

His only response was an ear piercing cry that only a certain drone could utter. Ocellus.

That scream alone was enough for Pharynx to realize that the drumming noises he had been hearing had been coming from outside the part that contained the compartments and not from the outside of the train car he was seated in. Upon breaking in, he took the time to observe what was going down.

A large changeling, obviously a male, was towering over Ocellus. His stature wasn’t even as tall as Pharynx, who was shorter than his own younger brother, but to Ocellus, he seemed massive, possibly due to his slightly muscular body structure. He had a scarlet, hole-filled mane while he still had the usual non-reformed changeling tail. He had to have somehow gotten through at least one of the doors. The changeling also seemed to have gotten a hold of Ocellus’ younger brother and sister, who were both crying in fright, with the icy blue drone trying to pull them out of his strong grasp.

“HEY!” Pharynx screamed, causing the changeling to turn his head, revealing his crimson, insect-like eyes.

The dark cyan changeling charged into the red one, punching him in the chest, which caused him to lose his hold on the tiny nymphs, who scurried to their older sister.

The red-schemed changeling hissed fiercely trying to ram back at Pharynx, mostly succeeding, only for Pharynx to dodge as he ended up hitting the wall. This gave Pharynx a chance to throw him out the back door that was next to the wall he hit, slamming the door and holding it shut.
The changeling continued to hiss repetitively, battering the door with his forelegs, trying to get it open like he did the first time. After a few moments, the blows died down once he realized his attempts were ineffective, grouchily flying off.

Pharynx exhaled at last. He watched Ocellus’ siblings curling up against the icy blue drone, while their older sister looked at him with a grateful smile, silently thanking him for saving them.

The mood was cut short when Pharynx heard more noises coming from outside the train: more hissing and more screaming. He turned to the other 3 changelings. “Stay inside,” the prince demanded. “Find your parents, and don’t make a sound.” The nymphs did as they were told as Pharynx rushed out the train.

Outside, he frantically looked around, searching for anything happening, or at least any other aggressive changelings that could be attacking.

It wasn’t long until he saw two more changelings: One had an emerald green mane that was draped over one of his bright green eyes. The other had a turquoise mane and aquamarine eyes, also sporting a pair of black-rimmed goggles on his head, ones that had light teal lenses. Like the red-schemed changeling Pharynx fought not long ago, these two each had holes in their mane.

The changelings were on the roof of the train cars, with Steamer and All Aboard trying to fight back at them. Pharynx was about to join the earth ponies to help, but he quickly noticed the green-schemed changeling clumsily stumbling off the roof and onto the ground, while the teal-schemed changeling had managed to pin down Steamer, punching him.

Pharynx kept looking back and forth from the green-schemed drone, who shyly cowered away from him while trying to shield himself, to the teal-schemed drone attacking Steamer. The green-schemed drone obviously reminded him of someone, so Pharynx spared him, but he eventually chose to help the light yellow earth pony, knocking the feisty changeling off him. The green-schemed stumbled as he scurried away, while the teal-schemed drone was now tackling Pharynx.

Pharynx eventually grunted heavily, ”Get OFF!” as he finally kicked off his perpetrator and sent him tumbling on the ground beneath them. The teal-schemed drone rubbed his head and checked his goggles, and eventually followed the green-schemed drone. Pharynx climbed to his hooves and helped Steamer to his own. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” The earth pony replied. He was about to say something else, until...

“Guys, look out!” All Aboard suddenly tackled the two to the ground. Pharynx was about to berate him, or at least ask him what his deal was, but he quickly scrapped that once he saw a fourth changeling drop down where he and Steamer were originally standing before they were pushed out of the way.

The fourth changeling jumped up as soon as she landed; this one was only a nymph. A nymph with bright purple eyes and violet, hole-filled mane, which was kept up in pigtails.

And she did NOT look happy.

The purple-schemed nymph charged at Pharynx, trying to continue her assault on him. Only for Pharynx to knock her back with ease every attempt she did. This then prompted her to gag and spit multiple blobs of some sort of purple, goopy substance at Pharynx. The male changeling was able to dodge all of these, due to their surprisingly slow speed.

Well, except for one that trapped his left back hoof in place, which he didn’t notice until he tried to fly at her.

The changeling warrior struggled to get his hoof free, bracing himself as the purple-schemed nymph prepared to leap and finish him off...

Only for said nymph to be sent flying off the train’s roof, screaming as she landed inside the pitch black darkness of tunnel that had been behind the train.

It turned out that Steamer had finished off the nymph, and that he and All Aboard had finally repaired the train completely.

“Hurry! Get in!” Steamer rushes to help Pharynx get his hoof free.

Soon, they quickly piled back into the train and started it as soon as they got in. As the cyan changeling looked behind him, he only saw the glowing eyes of all 4 of the defeated changelings, but the echoes of their hisses of anger bounced off the walls of the tunnel. After that, they all disappeared into the darkness as the train got farther away.

Pharynx, at last, settled down next to Thorax, who was luckily not harmed during his older brother’s absence. With a calm and warm smile on his face as he embraced the comatose changeling, he prince reassured the king, not caring about whether he got an appropriate response or not:

“I gotcha little bro.. We’re almost there.”

His smile faded as soon as it formed, however, when he remembered his little brother was likely unable to hear his voice, to see his smile, or to return it.

On their long trip back to Chrysalis’ hive, the changeling siblings vented their frustrations about their failure to successfully take on one of the most skilled warriors of the reformed changeling kingdom. Some of them scolded each other for their decisions that cause themselves to fail, others bragged about how long they lasted before going down. The thing they went over most of all, however, was their leader’s absence.

“I can’t believe we had to do it without Venom Stinger!” Scorchin’ Heat, the oldest of the bunch, groaned out loud, squinting his crimson eyes in frustration as he and his siblings navigated through the shimmering midnight sky. “He’d rather go shopping than take on those meek rainbow bugs?!”

The siblings knew how much Venom was about his looks: he kept his mane slick and moist with the same goopy substance that changelings usually used to trap their victims. He kept the empty spaces inside the holes in his hooves free of dirt, pebbles, or anything that could get caught inside them. And when he was out and about, he’d either go on about how sharp his fangs are, how tempting his azure blue eyes were, or both.

“Stealing. Not shopping,” Spiny Spectacle corrected his older brother as he adjusted his goggles, seeing if they got damaged during his fight with Prince Pharynx. Spiny was only the second youngest, and he was still blind to most sarcastic statements, even when the tone is obvious.

“It’s this new thing, it’s called ‘sarcasm,’” Scorch snapped back.

“Hmph. Well we still could’ve beaten that guy if someone actually did something affective.” Spiny looked at Cricket Cluster, who adjusted the mane covering his eye while looking down at the ground guiltily, even if said ground was more than twenty feet beneath them.

“Aw, leave Cricket out of this. We wouldn’t have gotten a role even if we did beat that guy,” the youngest of the bunch, Flutterwings, said in a raspy, but still recognizably child-like voice. “If anything, they’re gonna chew us out for making them think we joined those eyesore color-bugs.”

“Is that what they really think of us?” asked Cricket, his tone usually deep, but not enough to be completely inaudible.

“Let’s just hope Venom could do better than we did,” said Scorch. “Whatever he’s doing.”

“Final stop, Canterlot,” Steamer called out to the changelings.

One by one, the changeling drones woke up from their deep slumber that lasted most of the trip, as they climbed out in front of Canterlot. It had taken quite a while for the entire swarm to hop off the train, and the fact that the majority of them were still half asleep only made it difficult. But eventually, they managed to crowd outside, waiting for any others.

Pharynx was the last to exit the train; he had been wide awake ever since the encounter with the non-reformed changelings. That being said, he decided to let Steamer and All Aboard carefully put Thorax onto his back.

“Take care of him, okay?” All Aboard advised the prince changeling.

Pharynx thanked both of them for all their help, and finally met up with the changelings as the train descended from the city of Canterlot.

What came after that was a long walk through the slumbering city of Canterlot. They eventually reached the Castle of Canterlot, where Princess Celestia was just about to do her usual duties of raising the sun.

“Princess!” The white alicorn heard a deep voice call out to her. She expected it to be a Royal Guard, but once she turned around to see who needed her, she was greeted with the sight of the entire reformed changeling swarm pleading for her to save their leader. If possible, Celestia would’ve gotten pale, not from the sight of a million changelings in front of her, but the sight of their leader’s ailing condition.

“Please,” Pharynx looked up at her. “We need your help.”