Mother, why do you have us still train under those ponies? groaned Primo, relaxing into Chrysalis’ presence in the hive mind. We are ready! We ace every stupid ‘simulation’ they put us through! Shouldn’t we just gather our forces and attack?
For once, I agree with Primo, chimed in Wildstar, nestling her psyche next to her older brother’s. While it’s fun to play these games, I don’t think they can show us anything new. We’re ready, Mother. We have enough spark-bearers to comfortably spread the load of command.
Chrysalis physically smirked, concealing the emotion over the mind link. It was true that her… children, were ready. The ponies had long since stopped being useful, if not amusing in how hard they tried to impress her. The only thing holding back Chrysalis from giving the order to march out came up only recently, thanks to a changeling who was the most attentive observer of them all. After all, what else could one do while being trapped in a body controlled by another?
I think you’re missing a few key points here, spoke the repressed spark of Dagaal. Its presence was very weak in the link, hardly noticeable to the other siblings.
And what, pray tell, would that be? snarled Primo, looming over the flickering spark. He had half a mind to simply blow him away with his sheer presence, but he’d rather not risk the wrath of Mother over losing her favorite conversational partner.
The traitor, answered Dagaal. We have no idea how much he and the others have done during their time. We begun our training hardly a month ago, correct? The traitor had double that time and the resources and support of the Princesses. For all we know, this might be a very elaborate trap.
You worry more than Primo, brother, snarked Wildstar, toying around with a few lower tier drones’ minds. Even if he did something, anything, he and the softskins have no hope to stand against our sheer numbers.
And how can you be so sure of that, Wildstar? Were you there? Did we send out spies to gather information? Hmm?
Nooo, groaned the mare, slapping around her toy-drones in annoyance. But neither have you. Why do-
The first lesson our pony teachers made us to remember was ‘Never underestimate your enemy’, cut in Dagaal, doing his best to make his voice stand strong against that of his siblings. We didn’t send out anyling to probe the situation out because we can’t be sure what they do and what they don’t know. They have a traitor who can sense us, a changeling who studied magic more than we have. He’s stronger, faster, and most likely more fed on love than any of us gathered here.
A pang of hunger rippled through the hive. It was true, despite their greatest efforts the changelings couldn’t capture nearly enough ponies or gather any supplies. Most of the hive was starving and weak, the added labor of letting certain individuals grow straining the already thin supplies of food. Even the ponies had their rations cut down, their once toned bodies now undernourished and quivering.
That’s even more reason to strike now! insisted Wildstar, showing Dagaal away with the volume of her mental voice. We need to do it fast, or else all our preparations will be for naught! Our drones won’t be able to tackle a foal if we delay any further! Mother, can’t you see-
No
The deep baritone that echoed through the mind link startled everyling into silence. Even Chrysalis was impressed that her most balanced and silent ‘son’ decided to put his two bits into the discussion.
No what, Boulder? hissed Primo, focusing his attention on the changeling general. Despite his greatest efforts, he didn’t manage to make an impression on him. It was hard to be imposing onto a mental equivalent of a brick wall.
I agree with Dagaal, stated Boulder, his voice neutral and calm. We need to wait. Silverline will find a way to contact us and feed us information about pony activity. Charging in blindly would cost us many drones, especially in our current state. Our dwindling supplies are the prime reason why we must make one swift blow count. Otherwise, we might not recover, exposing ourselves and provoking the enemy into action.
Primo physically worked his jaw, clenching it in anger as he saw the truth in the tiny changeling’s words. Their biggest chance and largest fault were their sheer numbers. Granted, many drones died or were damaged beyond repair during exercises, but that still left hundreds of thousands to feed and control. Even if they flooded Equestria, a single well placed secret weapon or technique could bring their entire race to their knees.
And then there was the traitor. It was sickening to think that a changeling could betray his mother. Even now, as they worked their flanks off under their pony teachers, Primo felt disgusted at how weak the equines were. Their bodies were soft, with no wings or fangs - the ideal prey for the mighty predators that were changelings. How could anyling choose those chitinless maggots over the warmth and love of the hive?
Deep in his contempt, Primo blocked out Wildstar’s rant against Boulder’s point of view and disregarded Dagaal’s meek voice altogether. These quarrels were beginning to be irritably frequent, a poor sign of how restless they all grew from the lack of new stimuli. Primo slunk back into his body, rousing it and stretching his limbs. It was dark and quiet in the hole he lived in, a pleasant change from the heat and buzzing of a legion of changelings outside.
As far as the first amongst the generals was concerned, they were ready, traitor or not.
* * *
The siblings’ quarrel ended, as always, with Chrysalis having to remind them who made the decisions around here. Her word was law, and right now she agreed with Boulder and Dagaal that waiting would be the best course of action.
That did not stop Dagaal’s primary spark from disagreeing, though. Although it didn’t speak at all over the hive mind, it was evident that the massive behemoth craved nothing more than battle.
Dagaal always focused on himself. His needs, his power, his freedom. In his mind he lived a rather unhappy life, being forced to do things he didn’t want when he wanted them the least. They made him fly when he preferred to run, relishing in the power his abnormal muscles granted him. He was forced to perform intricate spells when expelling raw mana felt so much better on the horn, the curves and notches deliciously buzzing while he electrocuted drones for fun and to spite the others.
Still, nothing irritated Dagaal as much as the little voice that kept talking to him in the back of his head. He didn’t mind the hive link, that was easy to block out or ignore. What he couldn’t put a plug on was his second spark, that insistent little buzzer that screamed at him whenever he did what he pleased.
‘Dagaal, listen to the ponies’ this. ‘Dagaal, don’t rip that thing into shreds’ that. ‘FOR CHRYSALIS’ SAKE LET GO OF THAT PONY’S HEAD’ almost every time. All that on top of what the Queen wanted him to do, sometimes forcefully, drove the changeling mad. He wished for nothing more than to run, wild and free, roll around in the dirt or tackle a dozen or two drones in lethal combat. The concepts of conquest, serving Chrysalis or wanting to impress her were all lost on him. Only he mattered. Him and how caged he was!
* * *
Primo felt a vein throb under his neck plate as he observed Dagaal throw yet another fit in the training course. While it was fun to watch him chase around and snap at the panicking unicorns, it always ended in him having to overpower the wild changeling. He always hesitated going anywhere near that maelstrom of fury stuck under Dagaal’s thick skull, but it was his duty as the favorite son and first general to keep tabs on his siblings.
“Dagaal, enough,” hissed Primo through gritted teeth, wrapping the rampaging monster in telekinesis. “I swear, one of these days I’m going to accidentally snap your goddamn neck and feed you to the drones,” he muttered, flinching as he felt the Queen brush over his psyche threateningly. Of course she would be watching, she always did.
Helplessly flailing his hooves around, Dagaal shot a gaze soaked with hatred towards his older brother. He had a lot of frustration and anger to spare and very few outlets, all of which were of course forbidden. Why was it that only he got restrained? Even the slutty Wildstar got her way with one of the stallions, her pleasure making everyone in the link save for Chrysalis uncomfortable and disgusted.
That’s because you don’t listen, buzzed Dagaal’s other half. If you were a good changeling and listened to Mother, you would get all that you ever wanted! But no, you prefer to scream bloody murder and get us in trouble time and time again!
“YOUR SPINE BELONGS TO THE UNDERWORLD!” Dagaal roared at Primo, making his brother flinch.
Case in point. Eh, if you only made sense... maybe we could work something out. Why do you even bother spouting such-
“BLOOD CRUST PIE FOR EVERYLING!” continued the behemoth, struggling against the telekinetic grip with his own flimsy magic.
Heh. Now, if you payed attention, you’d have known how to break out of this. You don’t like floating, don’t you, you big oaf? snickered the small voice. You’re hampering your own freedom. You have to learn when to listen and when to-
“GHHRR, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!” bellowed Dagaal. Not only did he have to deal with the tiny annoying voice, but now Primo’s conscience snaked into his head, trying to subdue him with subtle commands not unlike those that Chrysalis used.
See, and now Primo’s here too. Why am I being punished so? Was I a bad drone in a previous lifetime? lamented the other Dagaal, skitting away from Primo’s imposing presence. Why couldn’t you be the retarded spark that flails about aimlessly?
Before Dagaal could think up an elaborate answer to that question, he felt his body shut down. Primo nimbly danced around his fury and wore him out mentally, taking control for just long enough to crank up the production of his natural sleep hormone. Within seconds, the mighty goliath fell unconscious, his troubled spark wrapped in uneasy sleep.
* * *
Of all the siblings, Wildstar was probably the most sympathetic towards Dagaal. Not the snarky and weak one, no. She admired the massive, masculine, powerfull changeling that bordered on defying the hive’s will more times than she cared to count. The attraction was so potent she couldn’t help but swoon every time the monster went berserk, chasing down the little pony soldiers.
Wildstar tried to convince Chrysalis to let her take care of Dagaal, let him ‘blow off some steam’ so to speak, but the Queen wouldn’t allow it. The general held a deep belief that all masculine power could be drained with the right amount of feminine charm, a theory she managed to test with success on one of the cute unicorns. Her mother disregarded her ‘research’, claiming it to be purely a pony thing and that changelings were above such petty physiology.
On his side, Dagaal didn’t mind the female changeling. She didn’t cross his path or try and restrain him when he had his giddy moments of freedom. In return he never had to scream obscenities at her or snap his jaws with the intention to taste her jugular. She was as indifferent to him as the other drones or stones that he liked to tackle and bash in with his head.
“You got a little something on your… everywhere,” giggled Wildstar, pointing at Dagaal.
A little?! You just headbutted that poor drone into a bloody pulp and rolled around in him! protested the small voice in Dagaal’s head.
To his credit, the behemoth had a method in his madness. Noling understood his motives mostly because of his unconventional approach. Like, for example, exploding a worthless drone and coating yourself in his cool liquid helped keep the scorching sun at bay, if only for a little while. With no water around, how was one supposed to suffer the heat under the thick carapace?
“How do you find this amusing?” snickered Primo, sparing his brother a disgusted look. He was mostly focused on directing a group of changelings through an intricate pattern of rock formations, at this point only trying to improve his already impressive time score. “If we’re sitting around doing basically nothing, we could at least try and select a better general. Dagaal is no good with command, and leaving him with even a hundred thousand drones would hamper the invasion.”
“I don’t know, Primo,” purred Wildstar, cautiously approaching her bull of a brother. “Imagine a wave of teeth and hooves a hundred thousand strong coming your way, their eyes clouded with a bloodlust that could chill a dragon’s heart.”
“I would simply outmaneuver them,” snapped Primo, finishing the exercise with a score on par with his best. “An enraged enemy can be easily guided, his power used against him.”
“It’s easy to say that when you’re a changeling, with the comfort of the hive mind and our Mother,” said Wildstar, taking a whiff of Dagaal’s aroma. Currently he smelled like burnt changeling, but somewhere under that was a thick layer of sweat and musk that drove her senses wild. “A pony though? Did you see how our teachers, the best of the best, scamper away from just one Dagaal? Terror is a weapon you underestimate, dear brother.”
Primo only huffed anxiously, repositioning his soldiers and starting the course again. It stung when anyling gave Dagaal credit for being… well, himself. The monster lacked any grace or even basic thought, yet Mother and the rest always gave him superficial credit for his ‘unbridled spirit’ and ‘inspiring dedication’. Dedication to what? Causing mayhem? Was that the kind of trait the Queen looked for in her generals?
His concentration faltered for just a fraction of a second, making a drone misstep and effectively lag behind the rest by just an inch.
“Curses!” barked Primo, stopping the drones dead in their tracks. The thoughts of that moronic behemoth drag me down. How am I to reach perfection if he keeps foiling my every attempt at impressing mother? thought the first general, glaring at Dagaal. I have to get rid of him. Mother is too attached to that damned abomination’s second spark to see the truth. It will be for the best. She can have as many Dagaals as she wants when we’ll be comfortably lounging in the towers of Canterlot. Right now, we need more Primos, more Boulders. Wildstar is tethering on the edge of usefulness as it is...
At moments like these Primo thanked fate that the Queen let them keep most of their thoughts to themselves. If she caught on to the plan that was slowly hatching in the general’s head, she would most likely detach that part of him from the rest of his body. Permanently.
4909916
No, it’s not. The first few chapters take place after all the so‐called character building and show none of the character built. Worse still, those first few chapters explicitly tell us what he’s feeling so you can’t try to chalk this up to me reading too far into things.
1. Krieg is best 'ling.
2. You misspelled Dagaals name on the last bit.
4946941
He's evolving and changing through the whole fic. The first few chapters span a few months, while the flashback is within a few weeks or so.
The reason he's more prone to changes of heart is the capacity for empathy. Maybe I didn't flesh it out properly, and sorry if I didn't, but Chrysalis' lack of trust in him and blunt hostility at one point didn't go unnoticed. A son can feel when his mother is wronging him.
It was easier for him to relate to ponies due to his spark and how (relatively) less hostile they were towards him than Chrysalis. Changelings being what they are, they adapt. They survive.
Or maybe I'm just making shit up, I don't know Anyway, sorry!
4946950
1. Of course. I had to look up in all sorts of dictionaries to find a substitute to the word. Dagaal is the closest I could find that sounded like a name in somalian.
2. Shhhh... you saw nothing *slips a pouch in your hoof and flies away*
4946962 richardlaw.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/94694_lhfievvxymq42bd.jpg
Hahahaha, I love those four. I can't wait to see what Primo's plan is. All that talk about Dagaal being entirely selfish is rather ironic considering that Primo, the "perfect" son, is the one that's about to endanger the entire invasion for the sake of boosting his own standing.
And that assumption about how well fed Chip is made me laugh. If they only knew that he was basically starving himself.......
4946941
In the beginning, when Chip was still training with Chrysalis, Chip really wasn't all that empathic. He was sympathetic towards the ponies because he saw them as equals. He craved, more than anything, knowledge and acceptance, and the ponies he met gave that and more to him freely. They were thinking, intelligent beings, just like him, and he couldn't bring himself to hurt them. Likewise, he accepted Chrysalis' abuse because she was his mother, the one being in the world that he truly loved above all others. Every moment she gave him attention, no matter how abusive, was a chance to be near the one person more important than any other to him.
When she betrayed him, his sense of loss was at the fact that he realised she didn't see him in the same light that he saw her. She was his whole world, but to her, he was expendable. On that same vein, as he traveled through the pony lands and met more of their kind, he really did begin to empathise with them. They became more than just people with a spark like he had, they became beings that he actually liked and wanted to protect, not because of what they could do for him or what he could learn from them, but just because they were.
He still has that insatiable curiosity and he still loves Chrysalis, but the way he expresses those emotions and the way he feels them has changed. He wants to stop Chrysalis as much because he loves her as he does because he wants to protect the ponies, and he wants to make every pony he meets into his friend as much as he wants to learn about their culture and habits.
4946997
quickmeme.com/img/c2/c263180fd10832bc6f41ef553353f70bbaf672ecb22ad1be953a3c63b7bcde0e.jpg
Tsk. The kitchen got Chrysalis' order wrong again.
She wanted Individuality, but she keeps getting those who are capable of thinking for themselves. Honestly, why is this so hard for everyone to understand? Its not like those 2 things are connected at all right?
Right?
4947013
Oh, hogwash! Changelings are different, they are above pony limitations!
i.imgur.com/nN8Buhml.jpg
So she'd rather fuck her way to victory?
4947113
Changelings deal with practical problems. If rutting Equestria into submission was a viable possibility, Chrysalis would be the pimpmaster of the world.
4947113 Yes.
4947114
Well, of course it is a viable solution. If there were more female changelings.
All i could think of while reading Dagaal's lines was: "I'm gonna have the shiniest meat bicycle!!!"
That's the second reference to some of my favorite games in two chapters now. I wonder if there will be one in the next one.
And dammit, thanks to wildstar, I now need to play Wildstar again. Good job, Wingy.
To be serious though, i like the chapter, and I like the changelings personalities so far. Keep up the good work^^
Dagaal's Berzerkers, the ultimate shock troops.
And if they really need to let off steam, why don't they try practice battles against each other? After all, training exercises can only teach so much. And with any luck it'll deepen the divide that's already starting to break them apart.
4947164
Dude, shapeshifters. Every changeling can be female if they have to be.
Though I don't see why they'd want that. Mares have needs too, ya know.
4947221
I tried Wildstar for a little, liked it but time restraints don't allow me to play more That and a particularly shallow wallet I have right now
4947226
To be honest:
- Primo is fine with himself and studying alone as it were. He knows he's the best, so what point was there in fighting someone beneath you?
- Boulder doesn't care. He's just a changeling with no wants or needs other than doing what he is told.
- Wildstar... I think she can take care of her own steam (and that of others with some luck )
- Dagaal. Yep. He's a steampunk enthusiast's wet dream. UNLIMITED STEAAAAAAM POWEEEER
4947226
That's it. Someone write a story where the changelings fucked their way into control of Equestria.
I'm looking at you Wing Dancer and Sir Hat. Write it please.
4947315
...
...
...
4947238 Dagaal and Wildstar will probably join Equestria after being betrayed by Promo, because Chrysalis doesn't really care about them. To Chrysalis all changelings even the pet projects, just pawns to her royal magnificence, so when Promo betrays the two. She will most likely ignore the situation and let it burn itself out and by the end she'll be down Two useless pawns (in her opinion.) and know which direction to take her changelings from there.
In a way Promo is a chip off the old block, like Chrysalis is going to give that up over something that actually would be useful, like say empathy?
4947318
Primo would gut you for getting his name wrong twice
Everything pretty much depends on what kind of devilish plan he's got in store for Dagaal. It's not like I'm writing about this at this very moment or anything though
4947340 Like I would care, Promo is pretty much disposable garbage, personality wise at the moment. I see no redeeming features for him. Considering he was the best taught of Chrysalis's brood, that really doesn't surprise me.
4947381
Remember the changeling assassin from way back when?
Don't make me reach for the antagonist feels again, man
4947393
Do it...do it now...
Or count it as my request for when you finish your current one. That would be an amazing thing to read.
4947393 That's okay, we always need more Trixie's to show up.
4947452
4947436
We'll see. For now enjoy the asshole Primo who wishes to keep Chrysalis only for himself
4947470 Oh, changed your cover image?
4947655
Yeppers! It needed a new fresh look since we're in the future now and all
4947661 Well, I suppose now's as good a time as any to start reading. I did promise on Steam awhile back.
4947669
I totally forgot It was 2 years after all
These chapters just make me anxious to see the actual battle. Whether that battle be between the changeings and ponies, or just among the changelings themselves (if you decided to go that direction).
We've got 77 chapters of build-up right now, and more to come... How fast can you write? Do you think it's possible to write faster?
4946829 Too true. Especially if he's stronger and more regal looking than the pony she already was eying up, eh?
4947841
I can only write as fast as my job, other projects and home duties allow me to
4947861
Meh, me too. If only we could just think stories and the text would just appear on our screens.
"Oh, I have an idea!" *BOOM!* *written*
They're gonna be their own downfall, I see. XD
And Wildstar's testing out causing men to lose all their masculinity, eh? Wonder if she could experiment further with that. After all, Changelings can change their own forms... what if, due to her curiosity with dominating stallions, she developed a way to turn them into mares by pushing the limits of the Changeling natural ability to change form? Though, no doubt, it'd require her to have physical contact so that the changing capabilities within her body can change someone that she is currently touching.
Oh, perhaps if you did what I had in mind, Wildstar could be wanting to make a stallion she bedded more mare-like, more weaker and timid... and while she's touching him, her own cells start to turn the one she's touching into what she's imagining. Realizing her power... she takes to going into pony villages with a little more abandon, studying books on pony anatomy, so that her goal to make them into weak mares to dominate can work both inside and out.
That's just a thought though.^^
4948034
Their shapeshifting does not work in a physical realm, as in their bodies don't change literally. It is really just a complex and arcane illusion spell that has the drawback of limiting the caster to the form he chose.
And you might have misunderstood the passage. By 'braining masculine power' she meant 'sexing them up so bad they were exhausted'
4948058 Ah. Thought it was different in this fic, since all the signs of how things were when Twilight was studying Chip seemed to point to it being an attribute of their own cells.
Another really good two chapters, I am curious to see whether Dagaal will turn out like chip. He seems as if he is fighting a losing battle with a better spark. Only time will tell I guess, unless the author has some words?
4948058 You've explained quite the contrary in the fic itself. The fic itself has shown time and again that in this timeline, it's an actual physical change, especially since no magic is detected. Sure, it's just an illusion in other fics, but all the details in your own fic have interpretted it as a physical adaptation. Why change that detail in a replied comment?*confused*
4948239
I remember writing a pasage about it, but apparently it got lost somewhere.
It isn't simple magic, it's like a strong suggestion - a bio-engineered mechanism that tricks the world around the user into believing that they are something else. With that comes the drawback of the world treating him/her like said object, hence being subject to physical limitations of that form.
Nowhere was it written that it involved the changing of cells.
4948236
The words are: Butts butts butts
4948278
There is something magical in abusing a protagonist with a golden heart. Shadenfreude
Lots of conflict in the ranks, just what you want to demoralise and depower an enemy.
4948307 And yet, there's a perverted way of showcasing the change slowly. Doesn't make sense.
4948409
What doesn't make sense? That the act of shapeshifting has been rigged in the changeling physiology as being pleasant? That a race so advanced that it evolved and subsequently decayed into a hive mind led by a single queen has some quirks not explicitly covered by the story?
Oh, the tragedy
4948786 lol It's just that so far, how you have developed them in this fic points to the ability being physical. Case in point, no matter what she did, there was no magic detected when she was researching and testing his transformation abilities.
Well I made it to the end. Well author I'll just leave you this
4948786 So basically changelings are the equivalent of the Youma-origin race in "Claymore": shape-shifting monstrous creatures who were once humans or human-like beings with immense power and irrepressible hunger for whom their transformation in akin to the sensation of orgasm?
OTAKU POWERS ATTACK!!
*in his secret lab, Alondro works on the anti-chernglerng bug bomb*