Attack of the Cuddle Bugs
Thorax shepherded the group into the cafeteria before a large thunderstorm could hit. After a while, he watched as a familiar gang of unreformed changelings scurried inside.
“Why are we going in here again?” one of them, Dagger, asked
“There’s a thunderstorm ya mook,” Pharynx said, looking over to the short changeling.
Dagger rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but why do we have to go in here?”
“Well, light rain, our wings can take, but this rain will make our wings useless,” another one, Blue Fang, said.
“But why do we, as in, us,” Dagger gestured to the rest of the Fang Gang, “Have to go in here? Why can’t we just stay in our rooms?”
“We’re Thorax’s friends,” the oldest one, Brokenwing, said. “It’s polite.”
“Still, it’s not like we’re scared of the storms or something.”
Bang!
“Eeek!” the nymph, Zenex, squealed, hopping onto his friend Hivehunter’s carapace.
“You were saying?” Hive asked, reaching and rubbing Zen’s head.
Dagger rolled his eyes. “C’mon. What are we gonna do in here anyway?”
“The chefs are making some food.” Pharynx replied
Dagger squinted and groaned. “Ugh.. You win this round…”
“You know what they’re making?” Zenex asked, poking his head up.
Pharynx thought for a second. “Just the usual dinners, pastries, and I believe a cake of some sorts.”
“Yay, cake!” Zenex brightened.
Hive chuckled. “Don’t get too excited. Knowing Thorax and Pharynx, they’ll probably argue over who gets cake and somehow end up escalating it further.”
“We will not!” Pharynx glared at him.
“Just wait and see…” Hive smirked at him.
“Please, have a bit more faith in us.” Pharynx rolled his eyes. “We can handle not fighting over a stupid cake…”
“I mean, me and Broken used to fight over small stuff,” Blue said.
“Used to?” Broken said, smirking. “More like still do.”
“Heheh…” Blue sheepishly scratched the back off his head. “Right…”
Pharynx led the way into the cafeteria, and Zen looked around for the cake. He blinked, not seeing the tasty pastry. “Hivey, I don’t see it.”
“They’re probably still making it,” Hive replied, rubbing his friend’s head.
“I do see one thing they are making,” Mitchell, another member of the Fangs, said, pointing to an overly large glass (which looked more like a bowl or heck, even a pool) of punch.
“Yeah.” Pharynx walked towards Thorax. “Ya mind explaining why we have the world’s largest punch bowl?”
“So no one gets thirsty, of course.” Thorax responded, leaning down to give Pharynx a quick nuzzle.
Pharynx looked around. “Aaand mind explaining why we have the world’s largest pillow supply?” he asked, pointing towards the overflowing amount of pillows.
“Well, Twilight had pillows and blankets given to us from Equestria, so I thought we might make some good use of them,” Thorax said.
Pharynx facehoofed. “Only you, Thorax…”
“You know you love me, bro.” Thorax rubbed his head.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He looked around at the many changelings snuggling up and building small pillow forts. “Great… we’re going to have to watch this all night…”
Thorax smiled. “C’mon Phar. It can’t be all bad.”
“Just wait until the nymphs see whatever cake the chefs are making.”
“Don’t worry, the cake’ll be big. It should have enough for all of us,” Thorax reassured him.
“Where is it?” Pharynx asked.
“They’re just putting the finishing touches on it.”
“Great,” Pharynx said with a sigh.
Thorax chuckled. “So, how are the others fitting in?” He gestured to the Fangs.
“They’re fine. Dagger’s complaining but the rest are okay.”
Thorax nodded. “That’s good. I wonder where Ocellus went.”
“I’m here!” Ocellus raced up, wearing a saddlebag. “I was collecting some books to read.”
Pharynx facehoofed again. “Only you, Ocellus…”
“Wait, why are we in here anyway? It’s just a storm.”
Pharynx turned to see Flutterwings, a member of the Change Gang, along with her brothers. “Where’d you guys come from?”
“Where else? We’ve been over there this whole time.” Flutterwings pointed to a nearby spot in the cafeteria.
Thorax blinked. “Oh.”
Pharynx facehoofed yet again. “Only you guys…”
“Anyone jotted down how many times he facehoofed?” Venom Stinger, a blue maned-changeling, turned to his comrades.
“Seriously, who else is gonna suddenly show up?” Pharynx asked, looking at each of them.
They only shrugged.
BANG!
Zenex yelped and ran to Thorax, hiding underneath him. “What was that?” Zen asked, shivering a bit.
“What? It’s just thunder,” Flutterwings answered.
“Sounded more like dynamite,” Pharynx chuckled.
“Not helping Pharynx.” Thorax said, rubbing Zen’s head.
The Change Gang couldn’t help but chuckle at Pharynx’s comment.
“Alright, be that way. Then Zenex can have your pieces of the cake,” Thorax said, a smirk growing on his face.
“Aw, come on, Thorax!” the Change Gang groaned in unison.
Zen blinked and poked his head out. “I don’t think that’s very fair Thorax…”
“You’re right… just as long as they don’t deliberately try to scare you guys with dynamite… or give Mitchell PTSD with it.”
“He uses a dynamite launcher though…” Spiny pointed out.
“Speaking of which,” Thorax turned to Zenex. “You didn’t bring your weapons, right?”
The nymph tilted his head. “Why would we?”
“Knowing Hive and Pharynx, it’s a good precaution to take.”
“Hey!” Pharynx and Hive snapped.
Flutterwings walked over to Hive. He looked over at her. “Heh. Hey Flutters.”
“Hi.”
He chuckled. “How’s it going?”
“Fine. I just don’t know why other nymphs are freaking out at the thunder.”
“You should’ve seen Zen, he jumped onto Hive’s back the second he heard thunder earlier,” Pharynx said.
“I will cut you, Pharynx,” Zen said, pouting.
Pharynx just smirked at him. “Try me.”
“Whaaaat? Are you calling him a coward?” Flutterwings asked Pharynx.
“I’m just saying.” He shrugged
Zen rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say Phary.”
“Shut up, Zenny Boy!” Pharynx said, blushing.
The others laughed a bit.
Venom sighed heavily. He turned to see a pink reformed changeling suddenly standing there. “Ah! Oh, hey Thistle.”
She smiled and chuckled. “Hey Venom.”
He smiled back. “How’s it going?”
“Good.”
Venom flipped his mane. “That’s good to hear.”
“Any idea how long this storm is going to last?” Thistle asked, looking at Thorax.
He simply shrugged. “Could be for a while.”
BANG!
“Ack!” Zenex yelped, clutching to Flutterwings, who stared in surprise and awkwardly tried to embrace him.
“Uh… there there?” she said.
He chuckled sheepishly. “Heheh… Sorry.” he blushed.
She blushed back.
He stepped back to give her space. He looked around. “Soooo…”
“Dunno. When’s the cake coming out?” Dagger asked, stomping his hooves like an impatient school foal.
“What kind of cake is it anyway?” Flutterwings asked.
“Just a simple chocolate cake,” Thorax said.
“Oooooh.”
“Yeah. I guess they’re just decorating it,” Hive pointed out.
“How much?” Flutterwings asked, her ears perking up.
“Icing, sprinkles, I guess anything that’ll make it tasty,” Hive listed.
“Huh.”
Dagger looked at the kitchen. “Come on, come on, come on, come on… Come on!” he pouted.
“It’ll come out soon.” Thorax assured him, rubbing his back.
“There’s gotta be something that’ll take your mind off of food,” Hive said.
“Hm… nope.”
Pharynx raised a hoof.
Smack!
“Only you, Dagger…”
“Is that it?” Zenex asked, pointing towards the kitchen.
They looked over to see a group of changelings holding a fairly large cake and setting it on a larger table.
“Dang…” Venom said, his eyes widening.
“Told you the cake would be big,” Thorax said.
“Oh wow…” Pharynx murmured, also in astonishment.
“Heh, I wonder if we’ll need tear gas for crowd control,” Hive joked, pointing to the other changelings, who eyed the cake.
“I don’t think we’ll need to go quite that far Hive,” Thorax said, forcing a smile.
“They look like they’re going to riot over cake,” Zen said, hiding behind Hive.
“Whatever, I get the first piece.” Pharynx said, rolling his eyes.
“Fine, fine, have it your way,” Venom muttered.
“No, I get the first piece,” Thorax countered Pharynx’s statement.
“Pft, you really want to fight me on this bro? I’d win anyway.” Pharynx held his head high, but it dropped at Thorax’s next statement.
“But I’m king. Don’t kings always get first piece?” Thorax asked and Pharynx held back a snicker.
He took a breath to stop his snickering. “You don’t even like us calling you 'your majesty'. Pretty sure that cancels that out.”
Thorax rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I get the first piece.”
“There’s an easy way to settle this.” Pharynx smirked “Whoever calls dibs. Dibs!”
“Come on, guys. What are you, six years old?” Venom rolled his eyes. “Does it really matter who gets the first piece?”
“Yes!” The two brothers said in unison.
“Pharynx, I’m getting the first piece.”
Venom groaned, pressing his head against the table. He seriously could believe how childish these 'adults' were acting.
“C’mon. There’s gotta be a way to settle this,” Thorax said, looking around.
“Wrestling match?” Pharynx suggested.
“No…” Thorax’s eyes then landed on a couple of pillows.
“Can’t we just—”
“Pillow fight!” Thorax exclaimed as he tossed one at Pharynx, who grunted.
“Oof! Hey! I wasn’t even ready!”
“Then assemble your team.” Thorax grinned. “Whichever team wins, gets the cake first!”
“Guys, we don’t have to do this!”
Too late. Thorax and Pharynx were rallying changelings to their cause and building their respective forts.
“Aaannd we’ve lost them.” Hive sighed “Well, I think we all know what to do now.”
Dagger shrugged. “It’s the only bit of action we’re getting. Soooo buck it.”
“Come on Zenny Boy,” Hive said, “I want that cake.”
“Uh… can I sit this one out?” Zen asked.
“Sure, if you want.” Hive rubbed his head before running to Pharynx’s side.
Flutterwings sighed and said, “I guess we have no choice.”
Ocellus smirked. “Well, I have an idea. It’ll take patience, but you’ll get the cake.”
“What?” Flutterwings looked over.
“Come on, let’s go over here so they don’t hear us.”
They walked over as the two brothers finished assembling both their forces and their (fairly large) forts. They’d rallied random changelings, as well Mitchell, Hive, Dagger, Scorch, Spiny, and Mantis had gone with Pharynx while Blue, Broken, Ky, Thistle, and Sting had gone with Thorax.
“So what’s the plan?” Zenex asked, turning to Ocellus.
“Well, we’ll let those two tire themselves out, then we swoop in and take the rest of them out, and we win!” Ocellus explained. “But we’ll need more than just three changelings.”
“Hm… maybe we can convince a few others to defect to us?” Zen asked.
“Actually, Venom was against the whole idea, you think he and Cricket are gonna come with us?” Flutterwings said.
“It’s worth a shot. Maybe we could also ask other nymphs if they wanna help us win,” Zenex suggested.
“Good ideas, both of you.” Ocellus smiled at them.
“Okay then. Should I get the other nymphs?” Zen asked, feeling more braver than usual.
“Go ahead.”
Zenex raced off, smiling. Ocellus looked at Flutterwings. “You wanna get Venom and Cricket?”
“On it.”
As the two left, Ocellus sat down and waited for them to return. She watched as the pillow fight between the two went on, analyzing it. She noted the patterns between the strikes, and the positions each changeling took. Then, she noticed Pharynx lining up his soldiers.
Ocellus’ ears perked up when she heard voices.
“Okay sis, you don’t have to drag us!”
“Heheh, sorry bros.”
Flutterwings was dragging Venom and Cricket over. Ocellus smiled at the three.
“Hey guys.”
The two looked over at the pillow fight. Then, to Ocellus. “So… Any reason for us being here?” Venom asked.
“We’re going to win this pillow fight.”
Venom groaned heavily.
Then, Zen and a large group of changelings walked over. “Uh... Will this do?”
“That’s perfect Zen!”
“Er… yeah, perfect,” Flutterwings chuckled. How did he-
Zen blushed and held his head low, still smiling. “Heheh… Thanks, I try my best.”
“Better than I did,” she mumbled.
Zen smiled at her. “You did good to, Flutters,” he said, wrapping a hoof around her.
She blushed and smiled. “Thanks.”
Ocellus looked at them. “So, now let’s talk strategy.”
Zen looked over to the battle. “Better think fast. Pharynx is setting up an artillery line. Aaaand there goes Thorax’s base.”
They looked up to see Thorax’s pillow fort collapse in on itself, burying all of its occupants.
“Ha! Got’em!” Pharynx boasted. Pharynx’s team began marching towards the ruined fort, some gloating about winning when the pillow hill began... shaking? “What the-”
POMF!
A pillow smacked Pharynx in the face.
“Surprise Pharynx!” Thorax leapt for his brother. The rest of his team also sprung up and charged Pharynx’s team, grabbing them and… Snuggling them?
Flutterwings blinked. “What are they-”
Thorax’s team began snuggling, cuddling, and, Chrysalis help them, nuzzling them.
“Ack! Th-Thorax!”
“We won! Take that Pharynx!” Thorax boasted.
“L-Let me go!” Pharynx said, holding back the urge to giggle.
Thorax smiled. “Heh. Maybe you shouldn’t have told me that story about Fort Hyaline and the Attack of the Dead Bugs.”
Pharynx’s eyes widened. “Th-That’s where you got it from?! Thorax! Why are-eee!”
“Yep! Except we’re not dead bugs! We’re cuddle bugs!” Thorax said, nuzzling Pharynx’s belly while running a forehoof against his hind hoof.
“Th-Thorax! Ahahaha! Let me gohohoho!”
“Surrender the cake!” Thorax said, sounding almost like the Celestia to Pharynx’s Luna.
“Should we go now while they’re distracted?” Zenex asked.
Ocellus nodded. “Okay.”
Pharynx squirmed and laughed. Thorax continued to nuzzle his stomach. “Thorax! Let me gohohoho you dohohohork!”
“Heh, if I’m a dork then you must be a gigglebug.” Thorax tickled his back hooves.
A cloud of pink filled Pharynx’s face. “Sh-Shut uhuhuhup!”
“Come on, relinquish the cake!”
“Okay! Okahahahay, just stohohohohop!” Pharynx squealed.
“Oh fine.” Thorax let his brother up. “But now we get the cake.”
“Whatev—” Pharynx paused and stared past his brother. “Uh… Thorax?”
“Heh, seems like you finally give in to your little brother.” Thorax continued, not hearing him.
Pharynx grabbed his brother’s head and turned it over, making him face a large group of changelings.
“Attack!” Ocellus yelled, at the head of the group, raising a few pillows in her aura.
And so they did.
Before the two teams knew it, they themselves were buried in a hill of pillows. Pharynx and Thorax broke free of the pillows, watching Ocellus. Her team had already started chowing down on pieces of the cake.
“Hey! What are you guys doing?!” Thorax asked, shocked.
“Great, it’s that snowball fight all over again.” Pharynx muttered
“Brains beats brawn,” Zenex said, giggling as Hive poked his head up beside him. “We got you Hivey!”
“Hmph.” Hive folded his forelegs. Or tried to. He was still buried under the pillows. “Can I at least get a taste?”
“What do you think Ocellus? Should we let them have tastes?” Zenex asked.
“Of cou-”
“Guys!” Spiny poked his head out the the large hill, then pulled himself out of it.
“Yeah?” Flutterwings asked.
“Why did you do that?” he asked, looking around as changelings poked their heads out like a wack-a-mole game.
“We wanted the cake.”
Zen shrugged. “Well, that. And the fact that it’s war. It could always be worse. i.e. pesticides, venom storms, war crimes.”
“I—” Spiny thought for a second. “Fair enough… still wish we won though.”
Zenex sighed. “I’m sorry, Spiny,” he said, patting the teal changeling’s carapace.
Hive climbed out of the pillow hill. “Don’t worry about it, kid.”
“Well, let’s just… eat, shall we?” Ocellus suggested.
“Okay, okay,” Zen raised a fork.
“Can we have some?” Thorax asked, watching Ocellus’ team eat their’s.
Ocellus giggled. “As that one Queen of Prance said, let them eat cake!”
“Yeah, yeah, I think we get it…” Venom sighed and chuckled.
BANG!
Zen turtleshelledTM in front of Hive’s hooves, screeching. Hive sighed, before picking him up and cradling him. Zen shapeshifted back and looked at Hive, snuggling close to him.
Some of the others snuggled close to each other as well.
Cricket ate his last bite of his cake slice. “I’m beat. I dunno about you guys, but I’m taking a nap.”
“I’m taking one too.” Flutterwings finished her own slice of cake, before yawning and curling up on the floor. Zenex slowly went to join her, warily looking out the window at the rain.
She wrapped a hoof around him. Zenex smiled and curled up beside her. Together, the nymphs fell asleep amidst the other changelings, some who were napping, others eating. The rain pounded outside but did not penetrate the peace within the cafeteria.
