> The Dragon Changeling
>  by L Drkheart
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> Welcome to the Family
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Chrysalis cursed her luck, her life, her enemies, her need for love and most of all, she cursed the name of Celestia. That pony princess had once again butted in on her conquest, halting it before it could even begin. The sun monarch would cross any border and assist any race for the chance of destroying the Changeling race. No matter who they managed to overcome, Celestia and her army would be near to ruin everything and tear down anything that Chrysalis builds. 
The defeated queen sighed as she looked back at her hive, those who managed to survive this time at least. Every battle with Equestria and its allies would end up the same, with retreat and Chrysalis ending up with fewer Changelings then when she started.  Her race’s survival depended much on her lead and especially since at the moment she was one of the very very few females. Chrysalis had once questioned why this was and discovered that while their creation was made from many factors, one stood out among the rest. The Changelings were made with the blood of a unicorn, one of immense magical power which was gifted to them but the unicorn had been male so in turn most of the Changelings would follow. 
‘This isn’t fair… they didn’t choose to be born into this… this death cycle. We exist to eat the love of others, not by choice but need. I refuse to allow my children to rot away and suffer starvation for the benefit of those other creatures. I will ensure that my hive never goes hungry again, no matter what.’

	The queen’s vow was interrupted when she came across voices. She had her Changelings turn into royal guards and she turned herself into Celestia.
‘They’ve come farther than I thought they would in such a short time…” She approached the voices she believed to be royal guards but then found the enormous corpses of dragons. One had blue scales and dark green spikes while the other had been purple with lime-green spikes. They seemed to have been taken off guard, maybe while they were asleep. Huge spears made of some kind of metal were deep in the dragons’ backs and nearby were several ponies and griffons harvesting the Dragon scales. 
‘Dragon Slayers. Fools will soon be facing Celestia’s wrath when the guards find them unless…’ Chrysalis smirked and licked her lips as she approached the hunters who were basking in their victory. 
“Now what do we have here? Some pathetic worms who take the life of two dragons who didn’t even have the chance to defend themselves?” The group immediately pulled out weapons but upon seeing who it was and the tens of royal guards that she had by her side, they surrendered and begged to be let free. Celestia chuckled darkly and held up a hoof. “Ten seconds, five for each dragon. That’s how long you have to run.” The hunters all shared a confused glance as they heard that Celestia has no mercy for hunters. “Oh don’t worry, you all will be caught regardless.”
She dropped her disguise with the other Changelings who hissed and she pointed at them. “Not taking the chance? I thought this would be a bit of fun for my boys, oh well. Enjoy your lunch.” The Changelings struck together and soon enough each hunter fell, their weapons made more for combat against large dragons, not small speedy bug ponies. Chrysalis grinned out of pride as she watched the light fade from the hunters’ eyes and patted one of the Changelings as she walked by. They deserved this meal. 
She examined the dragons closer, they seemed young maybe around a thousand years old? She couldn’t be sure but one thing was sure, they shouldn’t have been killed. Or rather they should have put up much more of a fight. 
“I’m missing something here…” She whispered and realized the dragons were leaning on each other. “This pose… they knew they were being attacked so why?” She used her magic to move the bodies a bit and blinked in shock. A nest of dragon eggs, or rather the remains of one. They must have been trying to hide and protect the eggs from the hunters but the attack left all but one of the eggs destroyed. The last one was light purple with dark purple spots. It was cracked and seemed smaller than the rest. 
‘How strange… Dragons are known for being heartless creatures with little to no love in their hearts. Greed and anger take up most of the space in there, but I don’t feel that. The parents bodies radiate just a tiny bit of love, but to have even a bit after death is impressive. Then there is this thing… so weak and pathetic. I should just show mercy and crush it.’ As Chrysalis trotted closer to the nearly dead egg, she rose a leg only for the egg to shake. She was shocked for the second time as the creature inside moved. It should have been dead or very close yet it struggled for it’s life. 
“Maybe you’re stronger than I gave you credit for…” She knew that the guards were still coming and she glanced at the egg before taking it. “Hmm, I wonder just how strong you’ll be… having a dragon may just be the break we needed.” She smirked looking down at the egg before joining the others. “Welcome to your new family little one.” She took a moment to stop before the parents’ bodies. “And thank you, I’ll raise him as I would one of my own.” She laughed loudly as she walked away. 
.   .   .
Back at the Hive, Chrysalis ordered the guards to increase their defenses and to ensure no fools had discovered their location. Her throne may keep out magic users but being found out would still be a pain and as powerful as her throne may be, even Chrysalis doubted it would protect her from the full might of the merciless sun.
She walked into the nursery while holding the egg in her magical grip and being careful of the little ones that crawled across the ground and on her legs. She placed the egg in the center of the room and began to think of how to hatch the egg. Using a full-powered blast would no doubt turn it into dust but one too weak and the magic may not reach the child. She sat down on the ground and began to power up her horn. She needed a single concentrated beam.
Just as she was powering up her horn, a lone Changeling hatchling had been sitting off by himself as he was making something out of the goo from his egg. He didn’t much care for trying to get his mother as the others usually just kicked him away. His eyes did get drawn to the strange new item that their mother and queen brought in. While he heard some of the others saying they wanted to smash it, Thorax wanted to protect it. To see what secrets the weird item held. He crawled to the item and just got near it when Chrysalis struck the item with magic. 
All of the hatchlings stared in awe at how the egg absorbed the magic before finally beginning to shake and a claw erupted from the shell. Thorax gasped and shivered until the claw retracted and the egg exploded leaving a green and purple… thing floating before he was magically put down and he began to suck on his tail while looking around. 
“Smaller than I expected and he seemed to have absorbed my magic into his body. I’ll need to do studying on this.” Chrysalis sighed as she stood to leave but remembered that Dragons are useless in this state. She would have to take care of the child with a much more motherly hoof and couldn’t leave it in the nursery until it was smart enough to not get itself eaten. 
“You best be grateful little dragon. If not for me you would be dead.” The baby tilted his head before laughing and grabbing at her nose. Chrysalis shook her head and sighed as she ran a hoof over the infant, thinking of a name for it.
“Welcome to the family indeed… Spike.”
> The Prince and his Brothers
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“Faster! You all are the soldiers of our queen are you not?! Then I want to see you strike harder! The ponies of Equestria have flight, strength, and magic at their control but we have all three! No matter their numbers, we’ll win if you train and follow the plan of our queen!” Pharynx shouted as he watched the changelings below spar. 
The training grounds were the largest section of the Changeling Hive and he observed most using their physical strength to try and overpower each other with some choice ones actually using their heads and dive-bombing on others. He looked over them and noticed his count was off by two. He cursed and shook his head before grumbling.
“Thorax.”
.   .   .
Chrysalis frowned as she stood on top of the Hive and looked over her land. The dead barren territory she ruled over, the only place they could keep hidden from Celestia. It had been too long since they had a real meal but soon this will change. It took years but she has finally seen the chance to take Canterlot itself, and the best part? Celestia herself will be part of her undoing. She had nearly lost hope when she heard the Elements of Harmony had returned but after the Discord Awakening, she knew how to ensure they wouldn’t be a threat.
“Mi Amore Cadenza… the Princess of Love. You shall be my weapon and my future. We could feed the whole hive on her alone. I never believed that much love lived in one pony but she proved me wrong.” A small purple speck below caught her eye and she watched as it ran with one of her children. “And she isn’t the only one.”
Spike. The little dragon was an anomaly of his race and Chrysalis knew she had only herself to blame. He was smaller than any dragon his age, perhaps due to the crack in his egg from the hunters. His desires and weaknesses however are results of her own upbringing. As much as she hated to admit it, the very thought nearly making her hiss, she had grown to care for the little lizard. Ever since he was young she ensured that he knew that he owed her his life and she had the power to take it away but no fear came from this threat.
Instead, the boy was driven to become more. He wished to become a warrior like his brothers, to strike back at the ponies that had angered his mother but after time Chrysalis realized he wasn’t growing.  After sending some spies to the Dragon Lands, she learned that dragons needed a hoard to grow. So commanded her changelings to disguise themselves as ponies and attacked the Diamond Dogs for their gems, enjoying the chance to make Celestia’s life that tiny bit harder. This turned out to be a mistake as Spike accepted the gems and soon became overcome by greed.
The incident left the Changeling Hive in shambles and succeeded in killing any remaining life near the Hive. Her throne did nothing against raw dragon strength, causing Chrysalis to see how Spike could be used as a weapon against them. From that day on, Chrysalis had to figure out a way to limit his growth. She used sentiment against the boy, giving him a few gifts and a title of Changeling Prince. This enabled him to grow but at a far slower rate than she liked. After the greed incident, she was forced to send all the warrior changelings to hibernate so they wouldn’t grow weak and leaving her with only her spies.
It was only months later when her spies reported back on some new happenings in Canterlot, was Chrysalis confident enough to reawaken her army and prepare for an invasion. Ever since seeing the danger that Spike posed, she limited his fighting time and watched him more closely. These limitations only seemed to push the dragon to want to see the world more. 
“Then there is the strange bond growing in his heart…  I can’t seem to crush it or… is it that I wish not to…” She questioned herself and if she had gotten too close to the drake. Her attention was pulled away as a soldier gave her a report. “I see, bring me my top lieutenants. We have much to discuss.”
.   .   .
“Umm Spike… we’re gonna be late for-”
“We’ll just take a minute, I want to see Equestria!” Thorax glanced back at the hive before sighing and following his brother, accepting the fact that Pharynx was not gonna be happy with them when they arrived at training. They climbed one of the spires that surrounded the Hive and far in the distance they could see the green plains of Equestria. Spike stared longingly at them and wondered how it must feel like to walk there. Thorax often told him stories of Equestria, of the ponies that lived there, and of the love that surrounded them. Spike was often confused by the ponies, as Thorax told him that they were beings of love and kindness but Pharynx told the stories of their darker sides.
Greed, anger, betrayal, and their own egos have plagued Ponykind throughout their history according to his brother. Their evil rivals and surpasses all the other races. Mother said that the ponies were nothing, mere mindless ants under the rule of their own queen. A sadistic alicorn who believed she had a rule to the world. 
“Spike I really think we should-”
“Thorax do you like it out there? Is it… good?” The changeling looked back at the land and let a small smile grace his lips as he thought of his experiences out there. 
“It’s not perfect… no place can be I think but… it’s good enough. It’s too bad though. What must happen if we are to live…” Spike nodded and sighed before he heard a hiss and they turned to see an angry Pharynx hovering with a glare. “Uh oh…”
“B-brother!”
“Spike. Thorax. Do you know what time it is?” Spike glanced at the sun.
“It’s around three-” Thorax quickly put his hoof in Spike’s mouth before Pharynx charged them. 
“Training time!” Pharynx shouted as he smashed the ground in front of them and both were blasted back. “Now seeing that you two insist on disobeying me, I’ll be your training partner! Now fight!” He didn’t give Thorax or Spike a break as he rushed at Thorax, biting on one of his back hooves and threw him into Spike who was charging at him. “Come on you two are supposed to be better than this!”
“We are?”
“We’ll show you! Let’s team up on him Thorax!” Spike helped Thorax up and the two split up with Spike using his fire to try and keep Pharynx focused on him while Thorax snuck behind him. Pharynx shot magic beams at Spike, forcing him to roll and slide to avoid being hit. 
“You’re still too slow! Switch between your paces, keep your form despite attacks! You are the Prince of the Changelings and you won’t always have a guard to protect you, now show me what you intend to do!” Spike growled as he got angry and got on all fours, scratching at the ground before running at Pharynx, blowing fire and covering himself in flames as Pharynx shot several beams at him but he just kept running. Thorax hissed and jumped at his brother’s back, putting his hooves together and trying to spike his brother on the head. Pharynx turned himself into a breezie, causing both his brothers to try and stop their attacks from hitting each other. Pharynx turned himself into a large dragon and slammed Thorax and Spike into each other and let them fall to the ground. 
“Now you know to not try and skip training.” Pharynx turned back into himself and for a moment felt bad as he watched his brothers groan on the ground but he hissed and lightly kicked them. “Oh stop your moaning, I could have turned into something bigger. He was about to continue berating them when he saw a soldier approach them and gave him a look. “I see. Thorax, get up, our Queen needs us.”
“I need a doctor…” Pharynx rolled his eyes and helped his brother up before the two started off towards the Hive. Spike forced himself to his feet.
“W-wait I wanna-”
“No Spike, you know the rules.”
“But-”
“No. Rest up, you need to improve if you ever want to leave here.” Spike grumbled and nodded, watching them leave. He stretched and looked back at Equestria before shaking his head and running back to the Hive. He was never allowed to attend the high meetings but he also wasn’t going to just stand by. He had his mother’s magic in him and the Hive changed to his design. He went to his mother’s room and opened a small hole in her wall, one right behind her throne. He slipped in and listened as they seemed to be in the middle of one of his mother’s speeches.
“Something has happened to put all that work into jeopardy. A few of our spies inside Canterlot Castle had the mission of finding the Elements of Harmony and have not returned. If the Elements are in the possession of the bearers when our plan begins then it will fail.” The Changelings all whispered to each other before Chrysalis rose a hoof and all was silent. “Now I need three spies to go to Canterlot and find the lost Changelings, find the elements, and do reconnaissance on Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. I would go but shall I be discovered then it would all be over before it begins.”
Spike bit his lip as he thought of sending more Changelings out there after some have already disappeared. “Please not him. Please not him...” Chrysalis called two spies to her before calling out Thorax.
Thorax gulped but was pushed by his brother and went to the queen to receive his mission. After that, Spike ran out of the room to reach Thorax before he could leave.
.   .   .
He caught his brother just as he was looking over at Equestria. “Thorax!!” Thorax sighed and smiled seeing Spike running up to him. 
“You were spying again huh? You know Mother will be mad when she finds you out.”
“Which mission were you given?”
“Spike I-”
“Which one?!”
“I am to find the lost Changelings.” Both were silent for a moment and Spike looked down. If they were captured then Thorax may just be heading into a trap. He wanted to keep him here but he couldn’t expose that he had been spying on them. Thorax raised his chin and gave his little brother a smile. “I’ll be fine. I promise.” 
“B-but!”
“I promise.” He repeated and Spike nodded slowly before hugging Thorax for a moment and then letting go, saluting him. Thorax laughed and took off.
“Please be careful…”