Hidden Wings: Flashbacks And Side Stories
(15 years before the return of Nightmare Moon)
Anisoptera silently trotted through the halls of the Ponyville Hive, the only sounds to be heard were her hoof steps and the constant buzzing coming from her companion. Anisoptera wasn't exactly in a talking mood, and it's not like her companion could talk either, so she saw no point in starting a conversation.
The two did pass a few of Anisoptera's siblings on their way to their destination, usually around the same or similar age to her though there was a group of younger lings as well. Every time they saw each other, however, words were rarely spoken when they passed, instead they usually gave a courteous nod to Anisoptera as they passed, which she returned in kind.
Eventually, the two reached their destination, stopping in front of a large, ornately carved wooden door, featuring intricately carved depictions of changelings with serene smiles surrounded by vines of ivy that had several different species of flowers growing from them, such as poppies, morning glories, lilacs, rosemary, and many more.
After a small moment of deliberation, Anisoptera pushed open the door, which creaked and moaned as it moved. "Come on Tank." She said to her pet, who was still hovering beside her with the aid of a quadcopter harness that had been strapped to him. The two then made their way inside a hexagonal room, like many of the rooms of the hive, however, this one was not as wide as the others were, though it was still incredibly tall. The room also had one long, continuous spiral ramp that went all the way from the ceiling to the base of the room, following the spiral, several holes had been carved into the rock, each one being large enough for Anisoptera to crawl into and lie down comfortably.
The two made their way down the spiral ramp and after a few minutes, the two had finally found who they were looking for. "Hey Costalis. How've you been?" Anisoptera said, though she didn't leave any time for a response before she spoke again. "I've been good, a lot of crazy stuff has happened, so I wanted to come down and talk with you about some of them." Anisoptera said as she sat down beside her sister, with Tank following suit and landing on Anisoptera's lap.
Anisoptera began to idly scratch Tank's shell as she spoke. "Guess I'll start with the boring stuff. I took over for mom when she couldn't make it for the new grubs to hatch, you're probably wondering why she couldn't make it right? Well she was off in the Dragon lands for a meeting with Coleoptera, I didn't go because Phero was joining the dragon migration, and I don't really know any of her siblings, so I would've been bored out of my mind!" Anisoptera said this last part in a tone of anguish at the thought of being stuck with nothing to do. "Anyway, some volcanos erupted and mom decided to take the long way around just to be safe. So now I'm going to have those guys stuck to my flank for a while until their old enough to realise I'm not actually their mom." Anisoptera chuckled. "You know, it all reminded me about the stories of when I hatched that you and mom would tell me."
(84 years before the return of Nightmare Moon)
Costalis held her breath as she peeked around the side of the piler, she knew that her mother was the only one supposed to be in the room but the idea of being the first of her siblings to meet their new royal sibling was too good to pass up, the bragging rights alone would make this worth it. Unfortunately for Costalis, it seems that her excitement got the better of her as she let out an involuntary squeal of excitement.
Costalis shoved her hoof into her mouth as soon as she had realised what she had done and remained as still as a statue for a long moment, hoping against hope that she somehow went unheard.
"Whoever's here can come out now." Meganeura said in an 'I'm not angry, just disappointed' tone of voice, sending a chill down Costalis' back.
Costalis' mind raced as she searched for a way out. 'Ok maybe I can just-'
"Don't think about running away, there is no possible way for you to get out of here without me seeing you." Meganeura said immediately making Costalis realise that she was right, there was no cover between where she was now and the entrance she was closest to, and making a brake for any of the other entrances wouldn't lead to better results.
After a moment, Costalis let out a resigned sigh as she stepped out from behind the pillar, a look of dejection on her face.
As soon as she reviled herself Meganeura released her own sigh, although this one was very much one of frustration. "Hello Costalis, let me guess, here to see your new sibling?" Meganeura said, to which, Costalis meekly nodded her head. Meganeura then sighed again, although this one was dragged out much longer than her previous one, almost to comical proportions, and seemed to show much less frustration. "Alright, come over here and lay down, they'll be coming out soon." She said before turning back to the egg.
Costalis was stunned for a moment but quickly did as her mother said, rushing up besides her and laying down. "Am... Am I not in trouble." She tentatively asked.
Meganeura chuckled. "No you definitely are, I'm just not all that mad, basically every clutch has one changeling who tries to break the 'only the ruler is allowed to be around hatching eggs' rule." Meganeura then scratched her chin with her hoof. "Always when they're ten too... hmm." A look of deep thought appeared on her face.
"Well... I mean we were never really told why we couldn't so..." Costalis said as she fidgeted with her hooves.
Meganeura was taken aback upon hearing this. "What? You should've been taught this in... school." Realisation dawned on Meganeura's face. "Ah... You're only in your sixth year right?" Costalis nodded to this, prompting Meganeura to face hoof. "Ok I see the problem now, you get taught this stuff in your seventh year, that would explain why none of the older nymphs have tried this."
Costalis chuckled nervously. "So does that mean I'm off the hook because I didn't know what I was getting into?" She asked hopefully.
Meganeura placed a hoof on her daughter's back and looked into her eyes, a soft and warm expression on her face. "Nope." She said succinctly.
"Oh come on mom please!" Costalis begged. "They haven't even hatched yet, I can just get out of here and it'll be like nothing happened."
"Sorry but you've got to learn to follow the rules, even if you don't know why they're there. You've just gotta trust that whoever put them up has your best interest at heart." Meganeura said.
Costalis let out a humph and crossed her forelegs as she realised that she was getting nowhere, causing Meganeura to chuckle. "Oh come on it won't be that ba-" However before she could continue she heired a slight scratching sound coming from the egg.
Both of them shifted their attention to the egg, and it was only now that Costalis began to properly examine it. The egg looked like most of the other changeling eggs she had seen in the nursery, a pinkish-red shell covered with several grooves that moved in a spiral formation which she was told were thinner areas to make it easier for a grub to break out. There were, however, a few differences, the first being the size, this egg was around twice the size of a regular egg, even bigger than the goliath eggs she had seen, it was definitely bigger than Nannophya's was, that's for sure. The second difference between this egg and a regular changeling egg was the apparent material the shell was made of, normal changeling eggs only had a slightly glossy look to them, on the other hoof this one looked like it had been made out of polished metal, it was so shiny that Costalis could see her own reflection clear as day on the surface of the egg.
There was another scratching sound and with it the egg rocked slightly, causing Costalis to flinch backwards slightly and for her mother to do the opposite and inch forward. Meganeura beamed with delight as the egg continued to rock back and forth. "Come on, you can do it." She said in a soft and tender tone, which seemingly had the desired effect as the rocking increased before suddenly a crack appeared along a thinner section of the egg.
The crack grew and grew as the egg continued to rock at a feverish pace, it was going so fast that Meganeura began to get a bit worried. "Woah woah, calm down sweety there's no need to rush, take your time." She said as she place a hoof on the side of the egg. The royal grub inside, however, took this as a challenge, and stabbed their horn through one of the cracks.
This came as a shock to the changelings in the room as they both leapt back in shock, but the little grub was not done, as they seemingly began to move up and down within their egg in an attempt to pry the top off with their horn. Meganeura tried to stop this, fearing the damage the young royal could cause to themselves, but before she could do anything the top of the egg broke away and all was still for a moment.
Costalis watched the egg carefully. 'There has to be more to this.' She thought, she was made to watch the hatching as a punishment, but nothing aside from a slight scare with the horn had really stood out to her as being a punishment.
She saw one hoof reach out of the egg, followed swiftly by another. Then both hooves clasped the edge of the broken egg and the young royal tried to pull themselves out. However, the shift in weight caused the egg to tip forward, sending the grub out and tumbling onto the floor.
Meganeura darted forward, hoisting the grub into the air with her magic, and began to look them over for injuries. Thankfully none were found, made especially evident when the grub burst into a fit of giggles from the sudden floatiness they were now experiencing.
Now that Costalis could get a good look at the grub she became incredibly confused. How in any way could this be a punishment? The grub looked entirely within what one would expect to see in a royal grub, a bit bigger than a normal grub, stubby horn and wings, a mane and tail, and mammalian eyes, so How could her being her be a punishment.
Costalis was ripped from her thoughts upon hearing some incoherent babbling being directed towards her. She looked over to her mother and new sibling to see the grub stretching out their hooves towards her. "I thing they want you to hold them." Meganeura said with a chuckle.
Reacting without thinking, Costalis walked up to her mother, sat down beside her and held out her hooves.
Unfortunately for Costalis, as soon as the young royal was placed in her hooves they immediately leapt at her face and began to examine it in detail, especially with their mouth. "Ow, OW! Stop! Mercy!" She screamed as she tried to pry the grub off of her face, all the while her mother was laughing at her in the corner.
Eventually though, Costalis did manage to pry the grub off of her and hold them out in front of her with a gentle but secure grip. "Ok...ok, I think I served my punishment now, I promise I won't do this again. Can I please go now?" She asked her mother, who had only just recovered from her laughing fit.
Meganeura nearly broke into another laugh when she heard this but managed to compose herself. "Oh, honey. That wasn't the punishment." She said as a devilish grin spread across her face. "Grubs imprint on any older creature they see within an hour after they hatch. This means that little Anisoptera there sees both of us as their mothers, meaning that she will naturally feel safe around me and you." A look of dawning horror began to creep onto Costalis' face. "That makes you the perfect changeling to grub sit for me when I can't look after them myself."
Costalis turned form her mother to her new sibling, horror and dread still stuck on her face. Anisoptera, on the over hoof, was none the wiser and was currently examining the holes in their hoof... and by that I, of course mean sticking their tongue through them.
Anisoptera chuckled lightly as she retold herself the story in her mind. "It is kinda crazy to think that we might not have been so close if you decided to not sneak a peak of me hatching, but I'm glad you did... Also, I'm sorry for biting you so many times."
After a moment of silence, Anisoptera began to move onto other topics that had happened over the past year, from things that she and her friends had gotten up to, to Tank's birthday, And even making the decision to Finally visit Sweet Apple Acres again after the breakup. Eventually though, there was one last topic for her to discuss.
"So you know how you were the only one who could do a demi-rainboom right? Well, a couple of the guys in the guard managed to figure out what spell would make them fast enough to do them as well and they're thinking about incorporating into their training." Anisoptera paused for a moment as she thought about her next words. "But that's not the... Most important Rainboom news though. The most important thing is that I actually manage to do one, yeah you heard me right." Anisoptera flew up into the air. "I manage to to a true sonic rainboom! It was awesome there were so many colours, and when I actually broke the barrier I started going way faster than the boost that a demi-rainboom would give! I..." Her voice began to sound strained, as if she were holding back tears. "I..." She landed next to where she had been sitting and placed her hoof on some of the stones that were plugging the nook in the wall, next to which was an ornate bronze plaque. "I wish you could have seen it." She said as she placed her head on the stones, tears beginning to to flow from her eyes.
Tank flew onto Anisoptera's back and nuzzled against her neck. The two stayed there for what felt like hours, until Anisoptera finally manage to regain her composure. "Thanks bud." She said to the tortoise as she pulled herself away from the wall.
"We should probably get going. See you later sis." Anisoptera said as she began to make her way back the way she came, although not before stealing one look at the plaque.
Here lies Costalis. 906-94
Creator of the Rainboom theory, but more importantly, a loving mother to some and a loving sister to so many more.
Taken from us too soon, but her memory will live on through us.
May she rest in peace.