You’ve Been Stung

“Don’t give me any more excuses, young lad! You know you did it!”

Pharynx’s ears twitched at the sound of that sentence. He looked around the halls, hearing the voice echo through them. Deciding to see where the voice was coming from, he turned in the direction where it was the loudest.

“Pharynx?”

“Thorax,” he spoke. “Get behind me.”

Thorax blinked a few times, before nodding and doing as he was told. Pharynx headed towards the voice, hearing his brother following him.

That deep, angry voice was accompanied by a more timid and frightened one.

“I-I told you I have nothing to do with this!”

“Okay, what the heck is going on?” Pharynx muttered. “Stay close Thorax.” Thorax nodded and stuck close behind Pharynx. They continued walking towards the sounds of the voices.

The two of them eventually reached a corner, which they peered around to see two changelings. One of them was the average dark grey changeling. The other however...

“What the?” Pharynx squinted closely at the second changeling. The second changeling had a green carapace, green wings and eyes, and a… green mane?

He blinked. “How in?” He continued to watch the scene play out.

The green changeling whispered in fear. “B-But I didn’t do any—”

“Kid, shut it,” the one towering over him snapped. The green changeling tried to back up, clearly scared out of his life. Just how old was he? Pharynx’s best guess was either fourteen, fifteen or sixteen.

He heard Thorax whimpering from behind him. “P-Pharynx? Is he gonna-”

“Thorax, quiet, I can’t hear him.”

“I don’t understand! What did I even—”

“You know exactly what you did!”

Pharynx tilted his head. What did the changeling do for the other to yell like this?

“Hey, hey! What’s your deal?!”

Pharynx’s ears perked at the sound of a new voice. One that had a sharp and sassy tone. Another changeling walked out, stepping in front of the green themed one now whimpering.

This one also had a mane. A shiny blue mane, with matching blue eyes, blue wings, and a blue carapace.

“Come on, spill! Why are you yelling at my brother?!”

The angered changeling looked at him, scoffing. “What’s it to you, blueberry?”

The blue changeling growled at him, clutching his hoof. “You were saying something about some crime he committed…”

“Yeah, I was about to break him.”

“Break him, then I break you.” The blue-maned changeling growled. “And I’ll do it right now unless you tell me what happened.”

The changeling growled, before pointing a hoof at the cowering, green-schemed changeling. “That bug turned my bedroom into a bug kingdom!”

“Oh, really?” The blue-schemed changeling raised an eyebrow.

“Yes! My bed is full of ants, my closet is filled with moths, and my nightstand has a bucking scorpion in it!”

“Hm… Say, Cricket, what did happen?”

The green changeling poked his head out. “W-Well, I asked him if I could use his room, then he laughed and said ‘sure’.”

“Mhm… go on.”

“I-I then put some of my bugs in the room… I-In their containers.”

“In their containers? Then how’d they get out?” The changeling scratched a hoof through his mane.

“I-I don’t know… I made sure the lids were tightened and they had food and everything… I remember walking out for a moment, coming back to see the jars broken… and once he came back to see it, well, it took half an hour to regather them all.”

The blue changeling thought for a second, then snapped his head over to the other changeling. “Well Cricket, I think I know what happened.”

“W-What is it, Venom?”

“Well, I think this bug was trying to make something out of this. He’d probably make you work for him if your friends got loose. So he saw the opportunity and took it. Isn’t that right?”

“And what if it is? Your blueberry haired flank can’t do crap. Crawl back onto your bush, blueberry. Haha!”

Pharynx stared silently.

‘Venom’ as the green changeling called him, then lunged at the changeling, snarling. Pharynx covered Thorax’s eyes with a hoof.

“Hey, Pharynx! I can’t see!”

“Don’t,” he uttered.

Pharynx watched as “Venom” proceeded to attack the other changeling, continuously punching him in the torso.

“Ooh… Ah… Argh...” Pharynx winced.

“What? What is it?” Thorax asked.

“Probably best you don’t know. Or see,” the older brother remarked.

“But you hit me all time.”

“Not that hard. And besides, you’re hitting yourself.”

Pharynx waited until this “Venom” was finally done. Only then did he remove his foreleg from Thorax’s eyes, staring at the finished result.

‘Venom’ stood over the other changeling, who was now in tears and begging for mercy. “P-Please! S-Stop!”

“Why? After what you did, why should I stop?” Venom glowered at him.

“Please! Just stop! I won’t mess with you or your brother again! I promise!”

The blue changeling huffed, before taking Cricket by the foreleg and walking away with him. “That’s what I thought…”

The changeling ran off, still crying like a foal. Or in their case, a newly hatched grub.

“I-I’m not so sure about this ‘Venom’,” Thorax said, swallowing heavily.

Pharynx rolled his eyes. “Cut it out, Thorax… he’s like three or four years younger than you.”

“But you saw what he did… what if that happens to me?”

He blinked. “Please. You have me. Besides, judging by his hissy fit, just don’t mess with his family members.”

“I guess…”

Pharynx and Thorax casually walked through the hallways, watching their fellow changelings go about their day.

“Pharynx, I’m kinda bored…”

“What? You expect me to entertain you? The only plausible way I can do it is the ‘you know what’ game.”

Thorax’s ears lowered. “Can we play another game? One that doesn’t lower my self confidence?” he whined with a sigh.

“Like what? Patty-cake or something?”

“Uh, what kind of cake?”

Pharynx facehoofed. “You need to get out more…”

Just then, he felt another changeling collide right into him, knocking him right off his hooves and onto his purple carapace.

“Oof!” he grunted, before glaring at the culprit. “Hey! Watch where you’re—”

To his surprise, the culprit was the same blue changeling from earlier. He blinked at the changeling, who stared back before huffing and flipping his sapphire mane.

Pharynx finally opened his mouth. “Hey, aren’t you that changeling from earlier?”

“Which changeling from earlier? I don’t remember seeing you anywhere.”

“You uh… beat up some changeling up who messed with your brother I think,” he said, getting back onto his hooves.

The changeling blinked. “You mean, you saw me defend my brother from some bully?” He scratched his head and added, “Actually, ‘bully’ is far too light of a term to describe it. I think it would be better if we call him—”

“Okay, okay, point proven.”

“Anyway, you saw me? Lemme guess, you were straight-up watching me.”

Pharynx rolled his eyes. “Well, technically I was, I covered his eyes,” he said, nodding over to Thorax.

“...I’ll just take you supposedly stalking me as a compliment. I mean, hey, who wouldn’t wanna watch me kick some carapace?”

“I don’t even know your name, kid. Why would I want to watch you beat someling up?”

“I don’t know you, either, but I’m pretty sure you beat up everyone everywhere. Otherwise changelings would think you’re dead weight,” the blue-maned changeling said as he held back a snicker.

Pharynx snarled, baring his fangs. “You want to test that theory kid?”

“Pharyyyynx…” Thorax wrapped his forelegs around his brother.

Pharynx sighed. “Look, I’m not gonna kill him… yet. You’re lucky I don’t want my brother in the crossfire. Anyway… it was Venom, right?”

Venom nodded. “Mhm.”

“How old even are you?”

“I turned fifteen like, last week.”

“So you’re three years younger than my brother.”

“I guess, so-” Venom froze. “Wait… he’s eighteen, isn’t he?”

Pharynx rolled his eyes. “Do the math.”

Venom looked between them. “Sooo… he’s got a rank? In the bucking army?”

“...Rank?” He held back a snicker. “Well, no. Not really.”

Thorax ducked his head behind his brother in embarrassment. “Pharynx…”

“Why not? The rules of any changeling army say that it’s only for ‘those who are eighteen and older’.”

Pharynx really started snickering. “Oh please, he wouldn’t survive the entrance exams, let alone a drill sergeant in BT.”

Thorax hid behind Pharynx completely. “S-Stop it Pharynx…”

The older changeling turned around. “Or, you could prove me wrong and I could sign you up, Private Thorax.”

“N-No, please no…” he whimpered.

Pharynx nodded and turned back to the other changeling. “There. Point proven.”

Venom smirked and chuckled at the two brothers.

Pharynx looked at him, holding his head high. “I, on the other hoof, am currently working to be a Sergeant.”

“Sergeant?”

“Yeah, ya know. Comes after Private, then Private First Class, then Corporal, right before a few more upper Sergeant classes and then goes to the three Lieutenant classes which then transfer to Captain. Though, most like to call it ‘Head of Patrol’.”

Venom stared at him. “You’re… you’re Head of Patrol? Wait… what was your name again?”

“Pharynx. Why do you a—”

“You! Of course! Why didn’t I recognize you?!” Venom facehoofed in exasperation.

Pharynx and Thorax blinked. “And I thought only those weird fangirls liked you, Pharynx,” Thorax said, looking at his brother.

“S-Shut up, Thorax…” Pharynx mumbled.

“Oh, those weird fangirls?” Venom asked. “Eugh, I caught one of them smoldering my brother.”

“Let me guess… Cricket?” Pharynx asked.

“No, you doofus!” He spat. “My other brother. Scorch. If it were Cricket, he would just run away screaming.”

“I’m just repeating the name I heard earlier, kid. How am I supposed to know you have more than one brother? In fact, how many brothers do you have?”

Venom shrugged. “To answer your other question, three. I also have a sister.”

“Geez, and I thought just having one brother was a hoof-ful.”

“Whatever. Now if you excuse me, Head of Patrol… I, Venom Stinger, have places to be.”

And with that, Venom buzzed down the halls… well, not before pushing Pharynx out of his way.

Pharynx blinked. “The buck is his problem? Who does he think he is? Other than… well, himself? Which he is full of, by the way…”

Thorax rubbed his brother’s back. “Calm down Pharynx. Like you always said about your old drill sergeant. Maybe he was born with a giant stick up his—”

“Okay, I get it. I don’t need you of all changelings finishing that sentence. Now let’s go.”

“Aww, but you used to say it all the time…” Thorax whined.

“Shuddap…”

“Okay, so how do we play this again, Thorax?” Pharynx glanced around the area to make sure no one was watching.

“It’s easy! All you have to do is tag me after I tag you. Guess what it’s called?” Thorax giggled with a grin.

“I don’t think I have to.” Pharynx deadpanned.

“C’mon, just guess!”

“Fine… is it ‘tag’?”

“Yes! How’d you guess it on your first try?”

“Simple. I’m just not stupid.”

Thorax rolled his eyes and proceeded to tap his brother’s nose. “Tag!” he chirped, before running off.

“He’s got to be kidding me…” Pharynx mumbled dully, walking after him. Pharynx didn’t know what to think. Run after him and obviously catch him, or give him the benefit of the doubt and let him win. For once. Well, either way he’d look ridiculous ‘tagging’ his brother… he could only imagine what the other changelings would think of it. He did have a reputation to keep after all.

He listened to Thorax’s giggles and chitters. Pharynx rolled his eyes. Thorax was horrible at hiding…

That point was proven when Pharynx easily found, and tackled his brother with a very stealthy pounce.

“Ack! Pharynx, I said ‘tag’ not ‘tackle’!”

He snickered. “What’s the difference?”

Thorax pouted, struggling under his brother’s weight. “G-Get off!”

“Heh. Why? Serves you right for being so easy to find.”

“Dude! You’re heavy! Get the heck off of me!” Thorax whined, flailing his forehooves.

“You calling me fat, Thorax? ‘Cause you’re one to talk.”

“Sh-Shut up! Just get off, you’re crushing me like a boulder!”

Pharynx couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh please, bro, I’m not that heavy.”

“Y-You’re hurting me…”

Pharynx sighed. “Oh fine. Just don’t give me those puppy whimpers or whatever.”

He finally moved off the younger changeling, watching him curl up on the floor.

“What’s the matter? I got off you.”

Thorax looked over. “I thought I was gonna…”

“What? Suffocate?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Oh…” Pharynx sighed “Look, I’m—” he looked away. “I’m… sorry, okay?”

“What was that?” Thorax looked at him.

“I’m so—” Pharynx was cut off when…

“Hey!”

The two brothers looked over.

“Oh come on.” Pharynx muttered. “Him again? I’m was right in the middle of-”

They watched as a certain blue-maned changeling trotted over.

Pharynx sighed. “What do you want now?” he mumbled.

Venom looked at him. “Don’t think I didn’t see what you were doing to your brother.”

“Well, if you hadn’t interrupted me you would have heard me…”

“How could you do that to your own brother?”

“What do you mean ‘how can I do it to my own brother’?”

Venom narrowed his eyes. “He was clearly in pain.”

“And if you had let me finish-”

“I mean, I like to tussle with my siblings in a similar manner, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t make them suffer.”

“Will you shut up so I can finish apologizing?!” Pharynx rose onto his hind legs, rearing and glaring at Venom. He took a breath before turning to Thorax. “Thorax… I’m sorry… you may be annoying but I never meant to hurt you…”

Thorax smiled a bit, before wrapping his hooves around him.

A gagging noise was heard from Venom.

“Oh, what, so you’ll lecture me about not being a good brother without letting me finish apologizing, but the second I do you’ll act like it’s disgusting?” Pharynx stared at him.

“Because it is disgusting!” Venom spat.

“You sounded like you wanted me to apologize-which I was about to do anyway-and now you tell me you think it’s disgusting?” Pharynx facehoofed. “Mind explaining your logic?”

“I-I… uh…”

“Exactly. You told us you had four siblings, don’t tell me you’ve never had to apologize to them before.”

Venom stared at him, before huffing in defeat. Pharynx held his head high. Despite the fact Thorax was still clinging to him.

Pharynx chuckled a bit. “Thor, you can let go now. I don’t even see why you’re hanging onto me.”

“Because I love you, brother.”

“Yeah yeah, just let me go.”

“Aww, but you almost never let me hug you.”

“I’m not gonna let you do it in front of Blue Raspberry here,” Pharynx mumbled.

“Hey!”

Thorax sighed but nodded, letting go. Pharynx sighed and whispered, “look, tonight I’ll let you snuggle with me, just don’t go telling everyone about it.”

Thorax beamed and nodded.

“What was that?”

“Nothing that concerns you, Venom.”

Venom huffed again and crossed his forelegs, flipping his mane.

“So, why are you here again?” Pharynx asked, a yawn escaping his mouth. “Like, for real.”

“I saw what you were doing.”

“For crying out loud, there’s gotta be a more legitimate reason than family counseling,” Pharynx growled, glaring at him. “So what is it?”

“I er…” Venom shrugged. “Dunno.”

“You don’t know?” Pharynx facehoofed again. “How do you not know? What are you? Stupid?”

“Look, I was just walking by and I saw you two and… you know…”

Thorax noticed the tension and grabbed Pharynx’s hoof. “C’mon Phar. It’s not worth getting into a scuffle or worse.”

“Yeah, whatever…”

Thorax began pulling Pharynx in the opposite direction of Venom.

“You don’t have to pull me Thorax, I was going to suggest we leave anyway…”

That was the last thing Venom Stinger heard from the two departing brothers. He sighed heavily. He walked off, heading in his own direction.

“Aw, come on, Pharynx.” Thorax said as he and Pharynx walked into the nest area. “You promised…”

Pharynx groaned. “Do I have to…”

“Pleeeaaase?”

“Uggghhh… Fine,” Pharynx said. He knew there was no way out of this one.

“Yay! Thank you brother!”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.”

“Come on! Hurry up!”

Pharynx sighed, swallowed his pride, and walked over. “Whatever man…”

Thorax beamed at his brother as he slid into the nest beside him. “Well?”

The older changeling glowered, before stepping forward and laying down on his side. Thorax smiled and immediately nestled up beside him and wrapping his forelegs around him.

Pharynx rolled his eyes. “How long do I have to do this?”

“As long as it takes me to fall asleep.”

Pharynx sighed, but reached to rub his brother’s head gently, listening to him giggle.

“I still can’t believe I’m actually doing this…” Pharynx muttered, lowering his head and squeezing his eyes shut in irritation.

Thorax smiled. “But you know you love me anyway.”

“Do I?” Pharynx asked wearily, opening his lavender eyes to look at him.

“Yep. Why else would you be doing this?”

Pharynx sighed and chose not to respond, knowing there was only one answer. One he couldn’t bring himself to say.

There was another thing he had trouble saying. Thorax, however, didn’t have as much trouble.

“Love you, Pharynx…” he cuddled up against his brother, closing his eyes, apparently not needing Pharynx’s vocal assurance that he felt the same.

He grumbled, resting his head on Thorax’s and looking around the area. Thankfully, no one was around to see him in this awkward position. He sighed, closed his eyes, and pressed against Thorax.

“...I… I love you too, Thorax…” he whispered hesitantly.

Judging by Thorax’s ears perking and a small smile growing on his face, he had heard what Pharynx said.

“Don’t you ever tell anyone I said that…”

“Secret’s safe with me…”

Pharynx rolled his eyes, but put a hoof around his brother, pulling him close. Thorax smiled and cuddled against him.

The two lasted a few minutes of silence until…

POMF!

“Ow!”

Pharynx held his head as soon as something hard made a rough collision with it. He looked up. “What the? Thorax?”

Thorax was still asleep, although squirming a bit.

What hit him then? Pharynx rolled over slightly to see. He scanned the area.

Who did he see standing a few feet away from him?

Well… take a guess.

“Wh-What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing?”

Pharynx blinked, before realizing he was still huddled up against his little brother. “Uh… Nothing that concerns you,” he lied, albeit quite terribly.

“Yeah, like I believe that. Now where’s that thing I threw?”

“Wait, you threw that at me?!”

“Yeah, and I want it back.”

“You little-!” Pharynx snarled, but paused when he heard Thorax fussing or something along those lines. He took a breath. “Just… What did you even throw at me?” he asked, shifting slightly and trying not to disturb Thorax.

“Hey, chill out! Me and my siblings were just playing—”

“Kid… It’s like eight p.m.”

“So what? We usually stay up until midnight or later anyway.”

Pharynx growled, reaching for the object that bullseyed his head. He picked up a round, shiny white stone. “Here’s your stupid thing.” He chucked it at Venom like a baseball.

“Oof!” he grunted as it hit him in the side of the head.

“Well, you threw it at me. Fair’s fair.”

Venom snarled before picking the rock back up. “Fine. So, you want to talk about this?” he gestured to Thorax, who was still cuddled up next to Pharynx.

“As I said before, it doesn’t concern you.”

“Fine.” Venom grunted before turning around. “Have fun with your saccharine snuggling or whatever.”

“Oh I will— Wait.” The last thing Pharynx heard was Venom laughing as he walked out. “Grr… that kid…”

Why was this happening to him? He’d never even seen this ‘Venom’ and now he was messing with him.

“Pharynx…?” Thorax mumbled sleepily, clinging to his brother tighter than ever.

“Nothing. Just a… a moth that landed on my nose. Now go back to sleep.” Pharynx said, and Thorax pressed closer to him.

“If you say so… Night Pharynx.”

Pharynx sighed. “Night Thorax.”

He pulled his younger brother close to him, holding him tight. Thorax smiled in his sleep and nuzzled Pharynx subconsciously. The older changeling rolled his eyes, resting his head on the cold stone ground. Thorax pulled his brother’s head next to his.

Pharynx sighed, but didn’t pull away. At least he was a little more comfortable than he was on the floor.

“There you are, Venom. What took you so long?” Scorch asked as soon as his younger brother came trotting back to them.

Venom shrugged. “I just had a hard time trying to find the rock.”

“But you found it, right? Should we continue playing catch?” Flutterwings said.

He shook his head. “I’m too tired to do anything, actually.”

“Oh… you wanna go to bed already?” Cricket asked.

“You guys can keep playing. I’ll be in bed.” Venom made his way towards his rooms, before laying on his mattress and sighing to himself.

That dang Pharynx… he thought as he closed his eyes. He doesn’t even know how lucky he really is…