Wings of Change

Ocellus’s legs still ached as she approached the entrance to the hive. Imagining meeting Gallus again tomorrow, she giggled into her hoof before making her way towards the entrance chamber. “He makes me so full…”

Glancing at the guard stationed by the gate, she raised a hoof and called, “Hey, Arista!”

The guard raised his spear and began charging his horn. “Who are you!? How do you know my name?”

Ocellus raised her hooves and took a step back. “It’s me, Ocellus! I say hi to you almost every day when I come back to the hive.”

The guard lowered his weapons and resumed his sentry post. Giving her a dismissal wave, he ordered, “You know where the storage room is, Drone. Deposit your quota and return to your pod immediately.”

Sighing at yet another day of being ignored, Ocellus plodded towards the harvesting pod. As she passed by other changelings, several other drones stopped to stare at her with some even licking their lips as they tasted the virtual ocean of love she had stored within her carapace.

Cringing at the unwanted attention, she hastened to join the queue of hunters depositing their quotas. Just as she managed to find a spot, a regiment of three guards surrounded her as their leader shouted, “Halt! You’ve been summoned by order of Queen Chrysalis. Follow us to her chamber immediately.”

Everyling in the room froze. A wave of dread flooded through her as her knees began to tremble, frantically searching for any reason she'd be singled out. Taking an instinctual step back, she did her best to hide her fear and stammered, "A-Are you sure the Queen wants to see me?"

The guards' expressions hardened as they closed in around her, blocking her way to the exit. Seeing no other choice, Ocellus reluctantly fell in line as she was marched away from the other hunters. The moment they were out of sight, a loud buzzing emanated as the others began predicting what horrible fate lay in store for the Queen’s latest victim.

Every changeling knew what awaited those that received a personal summons from their ruler. Each hoof step rang out like a death bell, signaling one less breath she had before inevitably meeting her maker.

Glancing at the guards herding her towards her doom, she stammered, “Do you know why I’m being summoned?” None of the soldiers bothered responding, instead quickening their pace to ensure they did not upset their Queen by being late.

As the Queen’s throne came into view, Ocellus couldn’t help shrinking back from the large, imposing black stone, even though it didn’t affect her own magic. Kneeling before her ruler, she bowed her head in submission and quavered, “Y-You summoned me, my Queen?”

Queen Chrysalis peered down at her with cold, calculating eyes. Without saying a word, the Queen lit her horn, and Ocellus felt the familiar sensation of being drained of her stored love. As her personal stores grew smaller, the gnawing pains in her abdomen returned, even surpassing the normal hunger of a changeling her size.

Just as her legs were about to collapse from under her, the Queen relented, ending her feeding session with barely any love to spare. Peering down with narrowed eyes, Queen Chrysalis hissed, “Where does a meager drone like you find so much love? Not once, but twice have you outperformed hunters many times your senior. Your Queen does not tolerate secrets.”

Ocellus trembled under the Queen’s intense stare, hoping desperately that her emotional concealment lessons had paid off. “No secrets, m-my Queen! I have been training hard under the command of my pod leader and have managed to drain two bears of their love.”

“Training?” Queen Chrysalis pressed, unconvinced of her explanation, “What training could a grub like you have done to take down creatures that normally require an entire squadron of guards?”

A bead of sweat ran down Ocellus’s cheek as she frantically searched for an excuse. Deciding it was best to tell a half-truth, she revealed, “Well, I waited to strike for when the bear was mating with another bear and siphoned off enough love while it was preoccupied.”

Queen Chrysalis’s eyes narrowed even further, straining to find the slightest hint of deception. After an eternity of tense silence, she stood from her throne and hissed, “You are lying! Concealing secrets and deceiving your queen are both crimes punishable by death. Guards, take her!”

Ocellus’s eyes widened in terror as a swarm of guards decended on her position. Seeing the mass of wings, spears, and horns primed to rip her apart, her flight instincts shapeshifted her into a tiny mouse as she beelined for the exit.

“Fools!” Queen Chrysalis shouted, firing a blast powerful enough to knock out a few guards caught in the splash radius. “Do not let her escape, or it’s your heads!”

Sprinting through the underground labyrinth, Ocellus bobbed and weaved through the constantly shifting corridors, desperate to keep ahead of the small army hot on her tail. Outlining the fastest path to the exit, she dove through a closing passageway and into the entrance chamber where a battalion was already waiting for her.

“Don’t move, prisoner!” The captain shouted, horn primed and ready for combat. The entire line of guards stood firm, spears poised to strike at any moment. As they waited, the gate behind them began sealing shut to prevent her escape.

Feeling her strength waning, Ocellus made a last ditch breakout attempt and transformed into a buzz bear before charging straight at the changeling line. Most of the guards had the sense to get out of her way, but the captain held his ground and fired a bolt of magic, hitting her square in the leg.

A surge of pain ripped through her like a hot knife through butter. Losing control of her transformation, Ocellus reverted back to her normal form, just barely outside of the font gate. Before the guards had time to regroup, she staggered to her hooves and took flight, fleeing to the only other place she knew to find help.

Gallus stared into the night as he finished off another apple. Readjusting himself in the treetop he called home, he tossed the apple core into the woods with a satisfied smile. “Delicious.”

As his eyelids began to droop, the craziness of the last few days finally settled in his mind. A week ago, he’d never have believed any creature would come to his aid when he needed help, but now he did, and a changeling nonetheless!

Turning over to better sleep, he imagined how it would feel to never struggle just to scrape by, never feel completely lost and alone in the world, wrap his wings around her cute, little frame and hum into her ear. He could almost hear her now–

“Heeeeelp!”

Gallus’s eyes shot open as a familiar voice broke through the silence. Whipping around for its source, he scanned the forest floor as a flash of magic cut through the air like a lightning bolt.

Reeling back from the blast, he flew towards the source of the scream, terror painted across his normally cool features. As he traced his path into the woods, he noticed several familiar landmarks along the way, all leading to one specific spot. The clearing.

Broken trees and snapped branches lay scattered about the ground as scorched craters left by magic blasts marred the once beautiful forest. Before he could mourn the destruction of his meeting spot, a harsh voice rang out, “Give up, prisoner! There’s nowhere to run! You will comply with our orders or be exterminated!”

Ocellus staggered from a nearby bush covered in deep gashes and bruises. Before she could react, another magical blast brought her to her knees as three more changelings emerged, each sporting an arsenal of weapons, armor, and magic. “Yield now, prisoner! We are under orders to bring you back dead or alive. Choose wisely.”

Gallus’s talons clenched on the branch he was hiding on. Sizing up the soldiers, he knew he stood no chance against three professionally trained and equipped changelings, even if he did get the drop on them.

As the patrol surrounded Ocellus and prepared her restraints, she peered directly into the treetop he was hiding in and whispered, “Help me, Gallus…”

He froze.

Every reasonable, rational, intelligent fiber in his body screamed for him to ignore her cry for help. His griffon instinct urged him to think about his self-preservation and how stupid it would be to pick a fight he knew he couldn’t win. For Grover’s sake, he’d only known her for a few days! Why should he risk his neck just because she’s having issues with her hive?

Gallus felt his claws slacken their grip around the branch, his wings spread wide to take flight, the rush of wind as he took to the sky…

And the crunch of metal as he bulldozed one of the guards.

He didn’t know what made him do it, but one moment he’d been flying away from the clearing, and the next he was on top of an unconscious changeling with two more glaring at him. “You dare attack a member of the hive guard, griffon!?”

A blast of magic took another guard out of commission as Ocellus appeared behind them, somehow still standing after her viscous wounds. Realizing he was now outnumbered, the final guard let out a frustrated hiss before transforming into a bird and taking off into the night.

The two of them panted for a moment before Ocellus collapsed, completely exhausted after being hunted all night. Glancing up at his concerned face, she mumbled, “I wasn’t sure you would come back for me…”

“Neither was I,” Gallus admitted, remembering how close he was to running. “Something just made me want to help you, like I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving you behind. Something like…”

But he didn’t need to finish his sentence. As he spoke, something warm, sweet, and delicious flowed from his body, practically begging to be consumed by a hungry changeling.

Ocellus smiled as she latched on to his offered love. She knew they were still a long way from anything serious, but they both finally found someone that cared about the real them, and maybe that was enough for now.