She did not want to be found and did not want to be seen. Being a changeling, a shapeshifting equine-like insect, she could change her appearance to anything she could imagine. However, being a young changeling, spending all of her life down in what was called the nursery chambers for so long that she could hide as one of the very few things she could imagine in what limited environment she had, a rock.
She could have tried hiding as another changeling, or any smaller insect that crawled through the chambers, but she worried they might have been too obvious, that she could easily be spotted. At least with a rock, she could blend in with other rocks in hopes that she would not be found, so she could stay in the chambers with all the other changelings her age.
“Ocellus!” a voice could be heard echoing through the chambers, she found the voice familiar. Any guesses would be confirmed once a pink coloured changeling appeared in view, looking around trying to find her. This was one of the nurse changelings who looked after all the young changelings in the chambers, they were approaching one of the several holes in the wall that made up the burrows at the other side of the chamber.
“Come on out Ocellus, they’re outside waiting for you!” The nurse changeling looked inside one of the burrows where Ocellus would usually sleep, only to find it empty. Other burrows had a couple glowing eyes and the sounds of chitters of other young changelings inside, and the nurse could not recognise her inside any of them.
The young bug disguised as a craggy lump of rock had hopes that she wouldn’t be spotted, but all it took was one look in her direction, a sigh, and glare, and she knew she had been. “Come on now, you should know to stay in your own form.”
The nurse approached the rock and placed a hoof the top of it. What looked like a bug caressing a stone was stroking the head of the young Ocellus to calm her down.
“It’s gonna be okay” the nurse spoke calming and reassuringly. “I know change is difficult, every changeling in the hive is going through changes and there are two nice changelings who look forward to taking you to a new home. The very least you can do is greet them as yourself, so can you do that for me?”
After a silent moment, a green flare surrounded the rock, and emerging from it was Ocellus in her natural form: a small scrawny charred changeling with holes on her hooves, a red webbed mane, and dark blue eyes.
“There we go! A lovely little changeling” the nurse remarked with a smile. “Is there anything in your burrow you want to take with you?”
Ocellus shook her head, knowing that her burrow was mostly empty anyway. The pair made their way towards the entrance of the chambers, the nurse confidently out in front while Ocellus felt resigned as she slowly followed behind.
Around the corner were two changelings sitting by the stairs up to the higher grounds of the hive. One having chitin of a light shade of blue with a carapace of an equally light shade of green, featuring a horn, and scarlet eyes. The other’s chitin was a slightly different shade of blue with a bright yellow carapace, this one with dark purple eyes but no horn. They both stood upon noticing the nurse approaching towards them, Ocellus stayed behind and avoided their line of sight.
The nurse greeted the two, all the while Ocellus remained in hiding behind them. “Hello Scarab, hello Tansy! Sorry for the wait, she’s just feeling a little nervous.”
One step to the side revealed Ocellus to the two changelings. Although they maintained smiles on their faces, the slight unease in their eyes was enough indication that they didn’t anticipate her appearance to much contrast from their own.
“O-oh, look at that Scarab, her eyes are the same colour yours used to be!” remarked Tansy.
Scarab, in turn, tried to picture what Tansy and himself looked like before they metamorphosed into their more colourful forms. “O-oh yeah! You definitely had a striking red mane like hers in the early days!”
Ocellus remained quiet, trying to avoid looking directly at the pair in front of them. The four stood quietly as chitters could still be heard distantly in the background, with the nurse trying to avoid forcing a situation while the other three weren’t sure what to do or say.
It was Tansy who tried to make a move, calmly approaching the young changeling. “It’s so nice to finally see you Ocellus. You must be looking forward to your new ho-“
The moment Ocellus felt Tansy was getting to close, she scuttered backwards and gave a small hiss. Tansy took a few steps back in surprise and started to feel down as if she said something wrong. It was only then that the nurse calmly intervened, ending Ocellus’ act of hostility by resting a hoof on her back.
“Ocellus, please. These are your parents, they don’t mean any harm” the nurse calmly ordered, the hissing immediately stopping as Ocellus looked up towards the nurse, nerves building up at the thought she might be in trouble. “This move has been prepared for; all you need to do is give it a go. I’ll come over in a few days to check on you, okay?”
The nurse gave a confident smile, even after they changed, the nurses all understood Ocellus. All she could do was trust them that this could work, so she nodded and slowly walked towards her parents in a silent sulk. Scarab and Tansy looked at each other with uncertainty, but they both were willing to bring their daughter home. If she was willing to try, despite being clearly reluctant, they should too.
“Okay, kiddo… let’s go home.”
Going up the stairs, through the emerging and closing holes in the rocky walls, and across the open walls, Ocellus arrived at her new home. Its higher location in the hive meant the chamber was bright inside, even as the sun outside was starting to set. This also meant that there was a thin layer of moss on rocks and plants starting to grow in some places to give it some colour.
By contrast, the nursery did not have any colour before the nurses started looking different. The most colourful thing she remembered finding in that place was a butterfly that found its way in, she could only look at its vibrant wings for a few minutes before another young changeling crushed it with a rock. It did not matter much to her, she thought it should not have rested where it did if it did not want to get hurt.
“I hope you like the place, kiddo!” Scarab remarked, Ocellus didn’t say anything, but her grumpy attitude made it appear like she was trying not to. “The neighbours here are very friendly. We’ve been spending time getting the place ready for you, such as preparing a garden and areas where we could eat or play games, oh but here’s where we worked on the most!”
The parents directed Ocellus to two large faintly glowing holes within the walls, they were the only things that felt like the nursery from the outside. Tansy pointed Ocellus to the slightly smaller of the two on the right. “Since you’re a little bigger, we figured you’d like your own space, so we had a burrow made just for you!”
The intrigue started to set in, Ocellus was used to sharing a burrow with four or five young changelings in the past. As she made her way inside, she could picture six young ones like herself huddled up trying to fight for room, and yet this was all hers. Well, all hers as well as the light sourced from a tiny lamp and leaves that made up bedding.
“I think she likes it!” Tansy happily and quietly remarked to Scarab, seeing Ocellus wondering around and inspecting the place. Upon tapping the lamp, the light went out, leaving the burrow dark with Ocellus only being possible to make out in silhouette.
Scarab steps into the entrance of the burrow to call out to Ocellus. “So kiddo, if you want to come out we can get to know each other bet- “
His offer was cut short at the sight of glowing eyes and the sound of hissing coming from within, Ocellus firmly staying at the far end of the burrow. Both Scarab and Tansy took this with surprise.
“O-or we’ll let you get comfortable, I’m sure it’s been a long day!” The pair uncomfortably tried to hold their smiles. “If you need anything, our burrow is right next to yours. Goodnight kiddo!”
After seeing the two walks out of view, she curled up and laid down on the leaves. As much as she did not want to be there, she was feeling comfy. It did not take much longer before she could close her eyes and go to sleep.
After some calm persuasion, and a bit of luring out of the burrow, Tansy and Ocellus spent the following day at an arts & crafts session, while Scarab stayed behind to do housework. While Tansy fluttered her way to the top of the hive humming with glee, Ocellus followed behind feeling very grumpy at being forced out into the light.
“Come on Ocellus, you’ll love this! King Thorax has made a lot of fun things to do up here.” Once at the top of the hive, there were plenty of activities being carried out such as dancing, theatre and culinary. Ocellus found it all confusing, she remembered being told the top of the hive was the throne room for a Queen, not some activity centre where changelings had fun.
The area of the arts & crafts section had an array of stone tables, each with wheel turntables on them. There were already a few colourful grownup changelings sitting ready, and Tansy quickly took a seat at one of the tables and started talking to a yellow changeling. “Hello Gizzard!” she called.
Gizzard quickly took notice, “Tansy! How are things?” the two seemed to beam like they’ve been long-time friends.
Tansy answered with “Oh, you know, I just thought I’d bring my daughter along so we can have some quality time together.”
Both Gizzard’s eyes and grin grew wider as a result. “Ooooh she’s finally here?!” he was getting a bit more excitement at the moment. “Where is she?” he asked, looking around the table for a small changeling.
Just like perfect timing, Ocellus got up on the seat next to Tansy and witnessed the same surprise her parents had upon first meeting the day before. Tansy rested a hoof on Ocellus’ back and calmly introduced her friend. “Ocellus, this is a good friend of mine from work, Gizzard.” Ocellus was not keen on Gizzard’s nervous expression, so she just scowled at his direction and shifted closer to Tansy, who in turn could only give an apologetic smile.
“O-oh, I can see the resemblance!” He remarked with an uncomfortable laugh, an attempt to try and lighten the tone.
The session started with everyone being given a lump of clay and water, and everyone got underway with spinning the turntables and forming vases. Everyone that is, except for Ocellus, who was more preoccupied with letting the lump spin on its own and glaring at it.
Tansy could not help but notice Ocellus’ lack of involvement, Gizzard was too preoccupied his own flowerpot to provide support either. Looking around at the other changelings happily chatting with each other, she figured maybe having some communication would help.
“So, Ocellus, do you want to know why I enjoy going to these sessions?” she asked. Ocellus didn't react, but Tansy persevered. “Back in the early days, your father and I worked in the scouts, the faction that specialised in studying and investigating our ene-... I mean other creatures.” She almost forgot that changelings like herself had to get past certain outdated terms, fortunately, no one around her took notice, so she continued.
“We both worked as researchers and would often travel together to study how other creatures lived and behaved. Your father had an interest in how creatures took care of their young, while I had an interest in art.” Tansy began work on her vase, getting her hooves wet and carefully pressed the middle and side of the clay to form its concave shape.
“Other changelings thought it was strange, they would say either something has to be practical or not exist at all. Why even bother making anything pretty and special?” In Ocellus’ mind, it felt like a good point, she did not see a reason to make an oversized flowerpot, especially since their home is filled with flowers anyway.
“Well, I find some creatures do it to express either who they are, what they think, what they feel or where they live. Any detail, whether by purpose or by accident, can be used to mean something. Practical or not, it’s something that was made by some creature to make it special, and maybe personal.” As she was giving her lecture, she carefully moved her hooves to make the vase form a wavy pattern, being careful to avoid it breaking. Ocellus, starting to pay attention, had her eyes follow the pattern as Tansy’s hooves were moving up the clay.
She turned to look at her spinning clump of clay and thought to herself that she could give making a vase a go to her own liking. After dipping her hooves in the water, she tried pushing down on her lump of clay. Unlike the attempts happening around her, she quickly lost control of the spinning clay and bits ended up spraying onto her face.
Tansy watched and tried to hold her laughter, as Ocellus looked annoyed at how dirty she looked, “Well, it doesn’t hurt to get things wrong at first, and get some help…” After getting the clay back on the turntable, Ocellus tried again, this time with Tansy providing a helping hoof. Although it was a bit of a simpler shape, Ocellus had her first vase almost ready.
All the ready vases were warmed and dried into a solid structure, and paints were provided to make it colourful. Tansy’s finished vase was painted cyan with bright yellow waves around it, everyone at the session admired it with applause. Before Ocellus finished hers, she sneakily poked holes around the sides of it before it was dried and coloured it out with black paint. She presented it to the rest of the changelings, but the reactions were not as positive as she hoped.
“What happened to that vase?” one changeling remarked. “How can you keep the soil inside of it when it’s full of holes?”
Ocellus had her smile quickly wiped off her face at the sight every other changeling reacting to her work like it was some bizarre and in-practical piece.
“Out of all the colours we have, why even paint it all black?”
It did not help that Tansy and Gizzard only responded with discomforting smiles, neither willing to stand up, object or even find praise in the creation.
In response, Ocellus pushed the vase with such force that it flew off the table. Gizzard was quick to catch it before it smashed on the ground, but Ocellus lost interest and started to storm off. When Tansy tried to stop her, Ocellus just hissed at her and flew off. Tansy looked around at the other changelings at the session who all looked unsure or uncomfortable after what happened, before taking Ocellus’ vase from Gizzard’s hooves and excusing herself, leaving her own vase behind.
Ocellus made her own way back home, and despite Scarab trying to greet her, she made a beeline towards her burrow without saying a word. Tansy arrived home moments later, still carrying Ocellus’ black vase. A confused Scarab was ready to ask what happened, but all it took was a look to tell their time together did not end well.
Tansy approached the entrance of Ocellus’ burrow, were like the night before was dark. “Ocellus…” she softly called, “I’m sorry for what they said about your vase. I think it looks lovely, it reminds me of you, and it makes me think of how special you really are.”
Unfortunately for Tansy, there was no response from inside the burrow. She placed the vase near the entrance, filled it with soil and emerging from it were a few flowers, pink and bright blue in colour.
Ocellus remained in her burrow the following morning, despite her parents trying to lure her out to have breakfast. The closest they were able to manage was getting her halfway from the entrance to eat, so their meals together were quiet around the burrows. Even then, once Ocellus had finished her plate, she pushed it out of the burrow and receded back into the darkness.
“Well, it looks like I need to head to work.” Tansy said with a sigh, she called out “Love you, I’ll see you later” to Ocellus from the entrance of the burrow before turning to Scarab.
“See if you can spend some time with her outside, okay?” she whispered, looking between Scarab and the dark burrow where Ocellus could be made out resting on her leaves. Scarab reassured her that he would, and after a peck on the cheek, she made her way to work.
Now there was only Scarab and Ocellus in the home, with Scarab unsure where he could start. His usual routine was to tidy the living area or gather food supplies, but now he did not want to leave Ocellus on her own or feel left out. It was now his turn to call into the burrow. “Hey Kiddo, what do you want to do today?”
There was no sound or movement. “We could play a game, or I can show you how we take care of the garden.” No response. Scarab glanced over to his own burrow next door and quickly got an idea he knew he should have tried first. “You know… we never got to introduce you to the rest of the family, did we?”
Ocellus lifted her head and turned it towards Scarab in a state of confusion. There were other members of the family? She stood up and turned fully towards the exit of the burrow, much to the eagerness that Scarab displayed in reaction. “I’ll go get them so you can say hello!”
As Scarab flew into his own burrow, Ocellus started making a move out of her own. Although hesitant to place a hoof out of the shadow and into a light, being closer to the exit meant she could hear Scarab cooing. “Hey little ones, Daddy’s got you! You’re gonna see someone special today~” It was enough encouragement to step further out of the burrow, and by the time she was outside, she could see Scarab slowly fluttering a few inches off the ground, holding something in both of his front hooves.
As he landed safely on the ground and Ocellus got closer, she could see there were two eggs, green and ovoid in shape with spiral patterns on them. “Ocellus, these are your younger siblings.” He lowered himself to the point where his carapace rested firmly on the ground, and gently placed the eggs on the surface. “Someday they’ll hatch, and you’ll be their big sister.”
Curiosity urged Ocellus to move closer to the eggs and inspect them, and Scarab gently pushed the eggs towards her to encourage that curiosity. She pressed her nose against one of them to sniff it, its scent was enough to recognise that a little grub was inside. She lied down in front of them, eyes widened and staring intently before something remarkable happened.
"Hello"
She spoke with a soft and faint voice. Scarab could not believe his ears, hearing his daughter’s voice for the first time. The eggs likely heard it too, rattling in response, an action that caused Ocellus to jump back slightly.
“I think they are also saying hello,” Scarab replied with a smile and a chuckle to himself. Ocellus started to warm up more to the eggs, even being caught smiling herself as she started holding onto the eggs herself and feeling them move around inside their shells. She could imagine playing with them to hunt after they hatched and either running or flying around as smaller changelings, she always found teaching little changelings to hunt fun in the nursery. The thought of it popped a question in her head.
“When are they going to go to the nursery?”
Scarab was a little confused at the question, “What do you mean, kiddo?” as far as he knew, all the kids were staying in the home together.
“All eggs go to the nursery” she answered. “I was told it was a rule.”
In that very moment, Scarab was brought back to a memory of his past. He appeared all charred, as was the changeling sitting alongside him, the red webbed mane immediately reminded him of Tansy. All the chamber walls had no colour, apart from the dirt on the ground. They were not alone, another charred changeling was standing directly in front of them, judgingly staring at the two.
“Okay, you know the rules” the judging changeling spoke. “All eggs go to the chambers where the nurse bugs are, so hoof it over.” Scarab looked down, in his hooves was a single egg. “It’s their jobs to take care of the young ones, not a pair of scout bugs.”
The changeling pulled the egg from Scarab’s hooves and smirked. “If you have a problem with that, you can tell the Queen, but we all know it’s for the good of the hive.”
Scarab could only look as the changeling in front of him started moving away, Tansy just sitting beside him looking sad. Anxiety started building as he could feel himself breathing harder, until without thinking he lunged forward to pull the egg back.
“No, we won’t let any eggs go away to that nursery!” he snapped. “They’re our young ones, we should be taking care of them, not give them up! Who would do such a thing?!”
Everything went back to the present at that moment, Scarab could see the plants, the moss, two eggs held close to his chest and in front of him, a little frightened Ocellus. Scarab quickly realised what he had done and felt the guilt rush through him as he stared into her eyes and saw tears starting to form. “Kiddo… I'm sorry, I did not mean to…”
Before he could finish, Ocellus’ expression quickly turned to anger and returned with a chilling tone. “You did…”
She stormed back into her burrow, Scarab carefully placed the eggs back on the ground and tried to plead with her. “Ocellus! Kiddo! Please, I didn’t mean to frighten yo-“ In response, Ocellus hissed back at him from the back of the burrow, her crossed blue eyes glowing from the darkness and fangs in full view.
Scarab was no longer taken back by the hissing anymore, instead, he just looked back in despair. “I’m sorry, I really am…”
He turned back to the two eggs, trying to move on their own. He carefully picked them up and held them to his carapace. “Okay you two, let’s get you back to the burrow.”
Ocellus remained in that same burrow, she moved around occasionally to exercise but would avoid approaching the lights. If she could hear a changeling approaching, she would hurry back to the end and wait for them to go away. To her, it was not ignoring anyone, it was waiting, waiting for…
“Ocellus, your father and I are heading off to a feelings forum meeting.” She could hear Tansy hearing from the entrance. “The neighbours will be around if you need anything…” Ocellus did not respond.
She could tell that Scarab was with her, she heard a despondent voice saying “We love you, kiddo…” before the sound of hoof steps echoed quieter and quieter until things were silent. Ocellus looked back towards the entrance of the burrow; it was all empty.
She got up and cautiously made her way towards the light, peaking out to see if any changeling was still out there. It was confirmed, definitely empty. Upon stepping out of her burrow, she wanted to do one thing, she turned right into the burrow of Scarab and Tansy.
The inside of this burrow was a bit larger, makes sense for a burrow meant for two changelings instead of one, but it was filled with papers with little drawings and lines that she could not make out. There were also a lot of objects that were strange to her, sculptures, and toys on either side. None of these was what she was looking for, but she did find one thing that could help: a lamp.
One tap of the lamp and the whole burrow lit up. Right next to the lamp, was two eggs resting on a bundle of leaves. “Hello, it’s me!” she whispered.
The eggs moved in response, she smiled and laid down in front of them. “I wanted to make sure you’re still here, just in case…” There was a moment of pause, she recalled what happened with Scarab, but she shook it off. “What am I saying? Of course, you’d still be here.”
She looked behind her towards the entrance, and the coast was still clear. “I’m thinking of going away, somewhere I can be myself.” The eggs moved forwards towards her, almost as if to tell her not to go. She smiled “It’ll be okay, you’ll have your Mom and Dad. When you hatch, you will be happy. I’m just not sure I’ll find something that’ll make me happy being here.”
Suddenly the sound of a loud thud emerged behind Ocellus, causing her to jump and hiss loudly behind her on instinct. No one was there, but she noticed something on the burrow floor that was not there before. She cautiously approached it, sniffing it did not yield the result of anything living, touching it gave the impression of paper or thick card.
It was a book if she knew what one was. At the very least she could figure out that she could be opened, and that the individual papers inside could be turned. Each page had a lot more of those strange lines she could not understand, but what intrigued her were pictures of insects and bugs: ants, worms, spiders and butterflies, some she’s seen around the nursery and some she’s never seen before.
Being enamoured with the illustrations caused time to pass, so when Scarab and Tansy returned, they were intrigued at the sight of Ocellus standing inside their burrow. Looking at each other, they knew they had to be careful, so they approached slowly.
“Hey Kiddo…” Scarab spoke warily, standing at her daughter’s side, with Tansy standing on her other side. “Whatcha doing?” Ocellus continued looking at the pages of the book, distracted by the pictures.
Tansy recognised the book almost immediately “Oh, it’s that Entomology book we… acquired from that bookstore in Canterlot.”
Scarab did not recall it quite so similarly. “Acquired? I thought we sto-“ Tansy punched his arm before he could finish.
“What’s En-Toe-Moll-O-Jee?” asked Ocellus, her eyes remained fixed on the page.
Tansy provided the answer “Entomology, it’s the study of bugs like us.” She became curious as Ocellus remained fixated on the pages. “Do you enjoy reading?”
Ocellus tilted her head. “Reading? I like looking at the pictures.”
Tansy and Scarab looked at each other, neither considered whether she could read. Being Scouts, it was part of their training, and being researchers, it was part of their work. “Well reading the words makes the book more interesting.”
Scarab turns the book to near the beginning and points to the top of the page. “See, this page is about ants. It says here that ants are incredibly tiny but can be found all around the world and can live for over thirty years!”
Ocellus could not help but agree, it was interesting, she had seen ants as little bugs that walk along the rocks. She started to lay down, along listening as Scarab read aloud the words on the page. Scarab and Tansy continued to read through the book, page by page until it started getting dark outside and Ocellus would dose off. By that time, they had only finished the A section.
Ocellus changed remarkably the next day, leaving her own burrow to join her parents for breakfast, and was willing to go to the next arts & craft session, not making a fuss. It became obvious as to why she was behaving this way when she was asked what she would like to do.
“Can you read me more of that book?” she answered.
Since they had the time, they obliged. They read through the B section of the book, describing birdwings and beetles. Scarab and Tansy would take turns reading through a page, this time it was Tansy’s turn to read about bookworms. “The Bookworm is a general name for any insect that is said to bore through books. The damage to books that are commonly attributed to "bookworms" is, in truth, not caused by any species of worm.”
She would have continued trying to read further, but both started hearing another voice reading along with her. “Often, the larvae of various types of insects including beetles, moths, and cockroaches, which may bore or chew through books seeking food, are responsible. Some such…” The two looked down at Ocellus, almost astonished at how calmly she was able to read through on her own. She did look up to them both whenever she got to a word she struggled to pronounce or understood, but she was learning fast.
From that point, they simply let her read through each page by herself. They even got through the start of the C section of the book until Ocellus stopped, looking gloomy at the page with “Changeling” as its heading. The only pictures the page had was the head of a dark changeling scowling with its fangs and serpent-like tongue in full view, and a menacing illustration of a Queen Changeling. Its description was brief but by no means favourable or kind.
Changelings are large arthropod creatures with the size and statures of ponies with the features of beetles. They are unique in their ability to change their appearance to any creature they can picture and imitate them to detail. Working and living in packs, lead by a Queen, they hunt and capture creatures to invade territories and feed off their love.
If anypony encounters a changeling, the best course of action is to flee and hide. Alert authorities to ensure that changelings are found and defeated as soon as possible.
Scarab and Tansy could only look on with concern, Ocellus feeling guilt over the page. “Kiddo, this is an old book. We’re not like this anymore…” with a hoof resting on her back, Scarab was trying his best to reassure her, but she didn’t seem convinced.
She instead pointed at the picture of the scowling changeling, “That looks like me…” she uttered sullenly.
Tansy placed her own hoof on Ocellus, knowing they could not provide any more reassurance. “We all used to look like that…”
Tansy pointed to the Queen Changeling picture. “We used to follow orders from her, doing what she said because it was the only way to live. Because we were always hungry, we didn’t have much choice.”
“She always made us work.” Scarab chimed in. “To work one kind of way, day in and day out. You weren’t allowed to do things differently, without facing her.” Ocellus could see the two starting to feel uneasy the thought of the Changeling Queen. She only saw the Queen once or twice when at the nursery, and she only seemed scary because of how large she was compared to any nurse, along with her piercing eyes and a menacing grin.
“But… there was one changeling who was different, who found another way to live and drove the Queen out, with the help of his friends. That changeling is our King, he is kind, open and caring. He added the feelings forum, the activities, and changed the rules so we didn’t have to work so much and do things we couldn’t do before like…”
Ocellus asked, “…have families?” almost finishing his point.
Scarab and Tansy looked at each other and sighed deeply. “Yes. King Thorax said we could take care of young changelings, and we already had the two little ones so… we wanted to get you back.”
The young changeling looked to her parents at her side, before closing the book and standing up. “Can we go to the arts & crafts?”
She was quiet on her way up to the top of the hive, and yet somehow, she was strangely eager to get up. Tansy could catch up to her but only by picking up enough pace to do so. At the top, Changelings were all gathering for activities, and Ocellus made a beeline for the arts & crafts area.
The pair took a seat at the same table that Gizzard was sitting at, the yellow changeling was almost bug-eyed when Ocellus was the one who politely said "hello". Gizzard glanced towards Tansy for an explanation, who could only respond with a shrug and an equally confused look.
“Oh, hello Ocellus!” Gizzard replied, nervous but keeping a smile. “H-how are things?”
Ocellus smiled “I'm good, I want to make something special today.”
The activity for the day was drawing, papers were laid out in front all of them along with several rocks of differing colours. The group was demonstrated how rubbing the rocks onto the paper could create lines on it, which could create drawings.
Each table had potted plants and flowers to draw from, each changeling went underway with using the rocks to draw the plants in front of them. Strangely the one changeling who was eager to take part was suddenly being secretive. If Ocellus noticed Tansy or Gizzard glancing over at her paper, she would try to cover it from them. She also held onto the darkest colour rock for most of the time drawing.
When it came time for everyone to present their work, each changeling showed their drawings of colourful potted plants and flowers. When it was Ocellus’ turn, all the changelings were quiet and cautious, aware of what happened last time they judged her work. Instead of showing everyone, Ocellus walked up to Tansy with her paper in hoof and gave it to her.
Tansy looked at it, and to her surprise, it clearly was not a potted plant. In the top left corner was a small crude drawing of three changelings, two matching the colours of Scarab and herself, one was dark with blue eyes and a red mane, as well as two small green dots beside them. The rest of the paper was not of any image or drawing, but paragraphs of words. Tansy read them in her head:
Changelings are large arthropod creatures with the size and statures of ponies with the features of beetles. They used to do bad things, but now they are trying to be nice, caring, and creative.
If you see a changeling, try to be nice to them. They might want to be your friend.
Tansy looked at Ocellus and saw two open eyes, awaiting what Tansy would say to the paper in front of her. Unsure what was on the paper, the other changelings looked on and all witnessed Tansy returning a smile.
“Ocellus, this is beautiful,” she told her before bringing her in for a hug. Ocellus was not sure what Tansy was doing, but there were no objections, Tansy was happy, and the embrace was warm.
A few days later, the nurse was on their way to visit Ocellus’ home. They had confidence that new parents would get along with the young ones, but they always had a little worry about how long it would take. Was one week enough time for a changeling like Ocellus to get adjusted? That was what the visit was for.
“Hello? Is anyone home?” the nurse called out, the home appearing empty. If it were not for a light emerging from a burrow, it would have appeared like no changeling was present. Fortunately, Scarab and Tansy emerged from the burrow, curious to see who was calling, happy to see it was the nurse bug.
“Oh hello! So good to see you!” Scarab called. “Can we get you anything?”
The nurse in response was surprised to see the optimism. “That’s kind but no thank you, I was wondering how you two and Ocellus were doing?”
Scarab and Tansy looked at each other and smiled. “Well, things were difficult at first but…”
The pair directed the nurse into the lit burrow, where the three witnessed a pleasant scene of Ocellus reading through the Entomology book, with her two siblings resting near her in their eggs. She was going through the page on Changelings, except this time there was a sheet of paper stuck on that page.
“You see?” Ocellus said to her siblings, pointing at the page. “When you two hatch, you’re gonna be nice and be loved by changelings and other creatures!”
She then looked up and saw the nurse. “Hello! Nice to see you!” she said.
The nurse smiled back. “Well, it’s nice to see you too. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing great!” Ocellus answered gleefully. “I’m doing a lot of reading and I enjoying the arts & crafts activities!”
The nurse could see why her parents were happy. “Happy to hear, it looks like you’re getting healthier too.” the nurse remarked, observing Ocellus appearing more fuller, with a shinier pair of wings. Ocellus smiled back and returned to the book.
The nurse looked back at Scarab and Tansy. “Well I wish I could stay longer, but I need to get back to the nursery. I’ll see you three later!” After a friendly wave to Ocellus and shaking hooves, the nurse made her departure.
Scarab and Tansy went back to approach Ocellus, who returned to reading through the Entomology book. “You know Ocellus, you really seem to enjoy reading that book,” Tansy remarked. “You’ve already read it through once before.”
“I know, it’s my favourite book!” Ocellus replied. “It’s better now that I’ve… updated it, and it helped me find something that makes me happy!”
Scarab and Tansy looked at each other, both recognising that the other had the same idea, nodding in agreement as confirmation. “Well, in that case, this book can be yours to keep,” Scarab suggested, pushing the book slightly towards Ocellus, but she was not sure what he meant. “You can keep it in your burrow, take care of it and read it as much as you like without asking us.”
Ocellus’ eyes grew wider at the thought, her own book. “I’d love that!” Her wings fluttered with glee; she flew over to hug her parents. “Thanks Mom! Thanks Dad!”
“You’re welcome, kiddo.” Scarab whispered as the hearts of both parents warmed up upon hearing those words, tears almost forming from their eyes. In the three’s embrace, they were not aware of the light shining around them so bright it could easily be seen from outside the burrow. When the light faded away, Scarab and Tansy discovered their daughter was no longer charred, but a pale blue changeling with bright blue eyes and a pink flowing mane, she had changed.
