With a soft yawn and outstretching limbs, Pupa awoke from her slumber. So comfortable were her current surroundings that she just pulled her legs back in against her body and rolled over onto her other side. Her muzzle pressed into the gentle surface of a smooth fabric and her nostrils flared as she inhaled the familiar scent of her mother. A smile graced the nymph’s lips and she released a contented exhalation before snuggling deeper into the plush pillow she found herself on.
Then a faint hissing sound nearby caused one of her ears to perk up; and, like a tiny alert cobra, it began turning about to zero in on the source of the noise. The hissing grew closer, seemingly from multiple locations and the nymph cracked open a single eye before letting out a groan as she compelled herself to sit up.
Groggily taking stock of her present locale, Pupa found herself nestled in a small alcove inside an unfamiliar cavern of blueish purple stone. The chamber was reminiscently shaped like the inside of an enormous vase with only a single opening in the ceiling above. A faint shaft of light shone down from that entrance but it was the small glowing fungus along the walls that provided the main illumination for the room.
Several tiny figures crawled along the floor and she realized it was the larva once her vision began to focus and her mind shrugged off the remnants of sleep. Katydid and Lacewing were also present, softly talking to each other as they watched over the changeling young.
Before climbing out from the nest of a cushion, Pupa extended her wings and buzzed them for a moment to stretch their muscles. That simple little action resulted in drawing the nearest larva’s attention so that by the time the nymph touched her hooves to the floor, a half dozen of them were close enough to start crawling up her limbs.
The nymph stood very still, not wanting to unintentionally harm any of the larva while they settled down over the various surfaces of her chitin. Then, after they stilled, she made her way over to the two caretakers.
“Good morning your highness,” the sisters said together with a slight bow of their heads.
“Good morning,” repeated Pupa in response as she continued to study the area. “Where’s my mom and everyling else?”
“Her highness, along with some others, have gone out to gather love,” answered Lacewing.
“The rest are scouting for a safe location to build the new hive,” said Katydid.
“Except for Aphid who is in the chamber above keeping guard,” finished Lacewing
“How come she didn’t take me with her?” asked Pupa, frowning at being left behind by her mother. “Is she mad at me for biting the alicorn?”
“Please understand your highness, she didn’t leave you behind as punishment for anything,” reassured Lacewing.
“And she isn’t angry with you,” continued Katydid. “She only left you in our care because she could gather a larger amount of love more quickly by herself.”
“Oh,” Pupa chirped. “Okay…”
In the midst of the conversation the nymph failed to notice that the entirety of the hive’s larva had converged around her. A little squeak escaped from her as they began to join their peers who already clung to the young queen. Pupa staggered a few steps forward under their additional weight before settling down onto her belly. The larva were evidently so pleased with their new perch that they ceased their hissing.
“What should I do?” the nymph whispered up at the caretakers with her eyes wide.
“You don’t have to do anything your highness,” smiled Lacewing.
“They are content by just being around you,” said Katydid.
Frowning internally at feeling rooted to a single spot after having just awakened, Pupa tried to shift her body into a more comfortable position. She wanted to at least lay on her side and a group of larva prevented her from doing so; but after remembering she had a way to fix her predicament, her horn softly glowed and, one by one, she relocated them to her opposite flank.
“That’s better,” she said aloud, causing the two changeling sisters to titter.
She wasn’t sure why but she suddenly envisioned herself looking like a mother scorpion with her back covered in babies, sans pincers and sting.
“Don’t worry your highness,” Lacewing said, “some of the infiltrators will be back soon and we’ll be able to feed the larva.”
“They’ll release you then,” giggled Katydid, “and you can make good your escape.”
“But it is wonderful that they’ve taken to you so quickly,” added Lacewing.
“Oh yes,” nodded Katydid who used a bit of magic to brush Pupa’s mane from her face.
Apparently one of the larva had been clinging to that part of her mane and ended up slipping off of her. It tumbled down in front of her muzzle, righted itself, and turned around to look back at her with its solid blue eyes.
“That’s Mosquito’s larva,” Pupa said, though she was unsure of how she was able to tell it apart from the rest so quickly and with having only meet it once.
“It is,” confirmed Lacewing, settling down on her own belly near the nymph.
Taking extra care Pupa reached out with one of her front legs and pulled Mosquito’s larva closer. It gurgled at her and clung to her hoof with its little legs. She couldn’t help but compare the size of its limbs to her own, amazed at how tiny she herself must have been during that stage of life; relatively speaking as she was still dwarfed by the adult changelings.
“Hello,” she said to the larva, causing its nubby ears to perk up and focus on her.
After a moment of staring at her silently, Mosquito’s larva adjusted its position into one more agreeable before closing its eyes.
“See how good you are with them princess Pupa?” Katydid asked the nymph, sitting adjacent to her sister.
“Yes, you’re a natural,” complemented Lacewing with an approving smile.
A gentle ‘churring’ came from the blanket of larva and the sound reminded her of all the days when she would wake up surrounded by her siblings. Unfortunately this caused her to realize just how little time had passed since she wove her cocoon alongside them and a pang of sorrow pricked at her heart that they never got the chance to emerge…
“I’m back with some food!” a voice called out from up above, interrupting the nymph’s melancholy.
Weevil descended from the hole in the ceiling carrying a massive folded up green leaf in her front legs. She scanned over the floor, most likely for any wondering larva, before settling down on her hooves and unpacking her cargo.
“The forest at the base of the mountains was absolutely full of good treats,” the scout informed them as she finished unfolding the leaf. “Take a look at this haul.”
“Are those figs?” asked Lacewing as a miniature avalanche of green and purple spilled onto the floor.
“Oh, they are!” said Katydid while leaning over to smell the fragrant fruit. “I adore figs and these ones are perfectly ripe!”
“There was an entire grove of these,” Weevil said, “and they looked so good I couldn’t help myself and ate a hoof full on the way back.”
“Can I try one?” chirped Pupa as she eyed the enticing snack.
“What?” blinked Weevil before finally noticing the larva covered nymph. “OH! Absolutely your highness. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you under there.”
One of the figs levitated before the immobile nymph’s muzzle and she quickly snapped it up in her jaws. She let out a bliss filled moan as the fruit’s flesh burst between her teeth and a torrent of sweet juice washed over her taste buds.
“It’s delicious!” she squeaked.
Katydid and Lacewing giggled at Pupa’s reaction and then ate a couple themselves. They too had a similar reaction, though their moans came out more ‘breathy’.
“It’s a good thing I brought back so many,” smirked Weevil.
“There’s more?” asked Lacewing between bites.
“Yeah,” said the scout, nodding at the hole above. “I left them up with Aphid.”
“Mmmm, that was wonderful,” sighed Katydid, “now we just need someling to return with a little love and we can start feeding the larva.
‘That’s good’ thought Pupa, as she chewed up another ripe fig, ‘I think my rear leg is asleep…’
Oh, that's cute.
D'aaawww! Adorable, yet bittersweet chapter. Pupa's poor siblings.
I need a picture of a larva covered pupa stat
All things considered I’m surprised it took Pupa this long to think of them. Sufficient and pressing distractions I suppose.
Reminds me of chapter 1... or was it 3... All in all it was cute
Adorable
Totes adorbs. I can imagine a future scene when she tries to be properly regal to receive pony delegates (obviously Twiggles & cia) bit fails completely at looking anything but motherly when the hive's larvae refuse to let go of her. The meeting goes on with both parts trying to ignore how cute and relatable it makes Pupa look, but all they manage is to coo at the little ones and better the changeling-pony relations through greater understanding
And then Pupa bites Twilight, because that's a tradition that needs to become a thing
I wonder if changelings can try to infuse fruit and bugs with love? would it make it more nutritious and even more delicious for a growing ling?
Just wait until their teenagers then they wont be so cute.
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Dont you fear a heartattack with all the cuteness? But... Totaly worth it
9686127
PRICELESS
9686157
They mix both into a glob of pink. Perfect for the Larve
9686188
Sounds like a bet... Im on the opposition Its going to be magnificent
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and a whole new world for the changeling cooking books
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Pupa will always be cute but im not sure about the larve.
Not all of them at least.
9686346
That would be funny... Let her bake Pies with Pinkie Pie... Because the love they pour into it makes it 20% more Delicious
9686402
Ok that could be the case
A nice, adorable, wholesome respite from the seriousness of the last arc.
Hmmm she's already doing the pheromone thing? Interesting...
I got one question? If Chrysalis sees that Pupa is unhappy, will her motherly instincts kick in and she’ do something she’ll hate but do it to see her daughter happy?
met
This is still great.
But was the human origin plot will kick on again or not?
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media.tenor.com/images/c8a9de019beb80414085b52037bd1c6d/tenor.gif
9686127
That sounds way too adorable and far too constructive for moving along the plot-line.
I mean where's the part where the anti changeling faction of Las Pegasus shows up and ruins everything at the last minute; to make sure that the two factions are still at odds, and so that the story can continue forward still having a prevalent threat and therefor narrative drive and purpose to keep it going?
I like the pace of this story. A few bouts of action with slow burning overarching plots and just under too much fluff.
9686346
Things start at Nymph formular this cooking book if that the startingpoint
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If her time allows it. She is Queen first and mother second. Harvesting love, find & build a new hive. Finding potencial 'guests' so food harvest can be bolstered. I predict hobos... No one cares for em normaly and they probably have better healthcare in the cooconed stay in the hive since healthy loveguest are delicious ones
9688416
Probably kicks in here and there sporadic plus passiv mental development boost. Just imagen if you could skip 10-20 years of mental development and have there for a huge time advanced. Normaly one refers to em as ' protige or genius ' . Reminds me of the youtube anime series 'saga of tanya the evil' minus complet memory and there for personality.
9688458
'The boopening' is a AMAZING story with Chrysalis on this side with a dance and song that would fit ( song would need changing )
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Like the perfect muffin recepie
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Quite the disturbing thought really. Going to sleep with all your family around you knowing that you will be able to grow together. Then waking up and finding out they were all murderd in their sleep. And you only woke up because they wanted to use you to cause tension between your last family member and and someone that they had history with.
I’m starting to think that whole ordeal was a big distraction now to give the rogue changelings time.
9695122
Time is important... always
I still think Thorax's swarm isn't doomed due to the fact they have a steady sources of outside love, Chrysalis even said she abandoned other reformed drones, leaving a single member of the hive alone dooms them. But Thorax's hive have, well the whole hive and allies and will figure out passive feeding on non-changelings keeps them healthy. Also I could see an older reformed drone who fell in love with a pony and told them the truth still alive in secret with their pony family who is healthy.
9700350
Could be. At least it should buy em time
Huh. So presumably, once the hive is more established, and producing a lot more eggs, then when they all hatch at once, the nursery becomes a complex game of The Floor Is Made Of Larva.
( Not sorry)
This was a fun read, and definitely joining my favourites list. I always like 'villains' who are both reasonable and unapologetic. Though I have to wonder if the disease that Chrysalis was talking about turns out to be old age. I also wonder if there are some 'critical mass' effects/considerations depending on the number of changelings that go dayglow.
Look forwards to the next part of Pupa's secret life as an
eviladorable insect overlord.Larvae blanket!
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https://www.fimfiction.net/story/181310/my-secret-life-as-an-evil-insect-overlord
Love the story
Pupa is a sugar sweet treat to read about
Okay so I'm confused. What actually happened to all of the other larva that cocooned themselves? Did they just not survive or did someone kill them or were they stolen or what?
11484397
Their cocoons were all destroyed when Pupa was stolen. Presumably the plan was to ensure that Chrysalis was undergoing as much grief as possible when she learned that one child (Pupa) was alive and with Twilight.
Pupas larve armor is rated C for cuteness!
Not high enough?
Than its rated SC for super cute!!
Still not high enough?
Ok, it's rates SSC for sugar sweet cuteness!!!
Figs are indeed delicious.
Pupa covered in Larve... Their Chrysalis will be glorious