“Okay, let me get this straight,” Thistle put a hoof against her temple as she tried to rearrange her thoughts. “You’re basically saying that we...”

“Kidnap him?” Venom answered. “Why, of course that’s what I’m saying!” He gave her a hard nudge, making her grunt in annoyance. “I mean, this is Thorax we’re talking about! He’s a traitor for crying out loud!” He then mumbled, “Not to mention that brother of his is a total... he’s a total..” he verbally struggled to think of something that would describe the head of patrol. “Well, he’s a nitwit, okay?!”

“But Venom,” Spiny protested, “did Queen Chrysalis even say anything about having to kidnap the king of changelings?”

“No,” he answered. After a few moments, however, he quickly added, “which is why we should totally do it.”

“And you’re sure you don’t want to do this just to get back at Pharynx?” Thistle asked, skeptically glowering at the blue-schemed drone.

This time, a pause occurred before he answered. “No,” Venom merely repeated. “I want to do this because it’s purely a benefit.”

The other five changelings glanced at each other, before Scorch asked the next question. “How is it a benefit?” He scratched his head with a hoof.

“Seriously? Don’t you guys know what we could gain from this achievement?”

“The traitor that leads all other traitors?” Flutterwings guessed.

“...Okay, but other than that.”

“Uhhhh...” the five changelings struggled to think.

“We could get an actual role in the hive!” Venom clarified. “I mean, the hive has infiltrators! Scouts! Warriors! Guards! You name it! And we were sent as spies!” he emphasized. “But we could contribute by doing more than just retrieving information!” Venom grinned once he saw how intrigued his siblings were at his speech. “We could be...abductors!”

“The Change Gang abductors...” Spiny thought for a moment. “You know... I actually like that idea.”

“Yeah! I want to be an abductor, Venom!” Flutterwings bounced as she grinned.

“Great to hear. Because I haven’t even mentioned the best part yet,” Venom said as he walked closer. “Which is that we’ll do it... as a family.”

“Wait...family? You do know that I’m not related to you guys in any way, shape, or form, right?” Thistle pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah. Family, friends, they’re almost the same. Almost.” Venom shrugged. “Except one of them is actually important... And that, my friend, is family.”

“...Venom, whenever you say it like that, you sound like you’re telling anyone who’s not related to us that they don’t even matter,” Spiny said, discomforted.

“That’s the point, Spiny,” Venom merely responded. “I can’t trust any more ‘friends.’ Especially after—“

Thistle rolled her eyes, grabbed the two, and dragged them. “Let’s just get this whole thing over with. Shall we?”

“Okay, fine,” Venom whined. “But only like, five out of six of us are gonna get the role of abductors!”

After transforming back into spiders in order to lay low, the Change Gang began to lurk down a hallway that lead to the guest rooms. There, they saw a crack that was open in one of the doors, where a faint light was seeping through.

Venom chuckled. “Looks like Pharynx left the door open,” he said as he and the others crawled their way through the crack.

Inside the dimly lit room, Spiny spun his spider body around to glance at his surroundings, making sure no one else was around. “Coast is clear, alright.”

“Heh. Those stupid rainbow glitterbugs are gonna have to try harder to keep their ‘king’ properly secured.” Scorch grinned. “I mean, they can’t even lock a door? Pathetic!”

“Yeah! This will be easy!” Flutterwings agreed. “We’re the best abductors ever!”

“We’re the worst abductors ever,” Flutterwings croaked out as she was squished against the side that was part of the interior of the wooden cabinet the Change Gang was hiding in.

“Of course we’re bad abductors! I’m pretty sure real abductors don’t hide in the same darn cabinet!” Scorch snapped. “Now, we had to hide because some stupid doctors came in, but we’re just gonna get caught anyway since—“

“Scorch, we were doing just fine in the same cabinet; as spiders,” Venom started, “until you nearly crushed us to death with your butt when you changed back into your regular form!”

“It pretty much sums up why the rest of us had to change back as well,” Cricket added.

“Well, in my defense, I don’t think it made any difference,” Scorch proclaimed. “Because your butt is in my face right now, Venom!”

“Dude, I’m literally behind you.”

“Then whose butt is this?!” Scorch grunted as he struggled to twist and writhe into a slightly more comfortable position, straightening his body out a bit more. “Oh... It was mine.”

“Look guys, this isn’t getting us anywhere other than the brink of—“

“Insanity?” Thistle muttered out loud.

“I was gonna say, ‘the brink of both failure and eternal muscle pain,” Venom corrected her, “but the ‘brink of insanity’ seems to fit you better.”

“Are the doctors gone at least?” Cricket whimpered lowly. “I wanna get out of here.”

Pharynx stopped dead in his tracks when he heard noises coming from Thorax’s room. He recognized the voices of one of the doctors who checked on Thorax, but he could also tell that she was heavily scolding someone in the room.

“Please, can’t I at least stay with him for at least a little longer?”

Pharynx’s eyes widened as he realized who that soft, frail voice belonged to; Ocellus.

“He is very unwell, young lady,” the stern voice of a mare berated her. “And you shouldn’t be here.”

While the two were at it, Pharynx quietly creaked the door open to see a gray unicorn mare with her black mane in a ponytail, towering over the icy blue changeling. He watched as Ocellus slowly brushed her hoof against the checkered floor, while she kept her gaze averted. “I-I’m sorry. I-I just figured that Thorax would want me to be here—“ she attempted to say.

“Did I stutter?!” The doctor raised her voice at the innocent changeling, who slowly shrunk down while whimpering. “We may not be at the Ponyville hospital, but we have rules here!”

Alright, that’s it. Pharynx slowly made his way into the room, silently approaching the unicorn, who didn’t bother keeping her guard up to see who was behind her.

“Now, If you excuse me, I need to get back to work, while you stay outside that door until—“ the mare paused abruptly as soon as she saw the changeling prince glowering down at her, not even batting an eye.

“T-That goes for you too, Mister!” she said. “Let me guess, you’re here to take care of—“

“My brother? As a matter of fact I am,” Pharynx answered, “and that ‘young lady’ you were running your dirty mouth at was his personal protege!”

The mare’s eyes widened, and she swallowed heavily. “Sir, I—“

“So tell me, just what did you think she was?!” Pharynx cut her off. “Did you honestly think it was a good idea to try and pull her away from someone she loves?”

“...I—“

”Answer me!”

“...N-No.”

“That’s what I thought,” Pharynx growled, slowly sitting beside his unconscious brother.

“Sir... I-I’m sorry,” the mare gently offered after a moment.

Pharynx darted one last, cold glare at her, before letting out a heavy sigh. “Thorax would want me to forgive you,” he said. The doctor forced a warm smile at the response, which quickly faded away once Pharynx added, “At least I hope I can...”

“Wait,” Cricket quickly sat up—or at least tried to, anyway, given how cramped he and the others were. “Did you guys hear that?”

“My bad...”

“Not that, Scorch, I mean—” the green-schemed drone paused for a moment, taking the time to concentrate on exactly what he was hearing. “Just listen,” he said, not knowing how else to explain his point.

Dead silence. That was it.

“Does that mean they’re gone?” Spiny asked. “Anyone gonna take a look or something?”

“I’ll do it,” Venom grunted, using his bright blue to slowly creak open the wooden cabinet. He peered out the tiny crack, squinting his sapphire blue eyes and—

“...What the?” He blinked. Twice.

“What is it, Venom?” Flutterwings asked, not quite being able to see what her brother was seeing.

Venom didn’t answer. He was silently observing the changeling prince softly muttering something to the unconscious king. He just couldn’t hear what he was saying. Was he even saying anything at all? Actually, no, he isn’t, Venom realized. He was... humming? What song? Did he do this when no one else was around? Why? The questions never seemed to stop coming. They didn’t seem to have any answers to them. And, somehow, they didn’t seem to let Venom say anything about this matter.

“Venom? What do you see out there? Venom?”

Author's Note

I know, what you’re thinking. “Seriously, Bez? Another multipart chapter?” And yeah, I understand how you probably feel about that. Fortunately, this arc won’t be at least 3 parts long. At least I hope it won’t be.