• To Where and Back Again . 1 Moon after the Episode .

"KILL ME!" Thorax screamed as he laid in the hospital wing.

His elder brood mate rolled his eyes. Pharynx never was good with the whole "Emotional Support" thing. The biggest problem is that he was secure in his jerkiness.

Pharynx still hadn't embraced the changes to the hive but... Thorax was grateful for him staying. Most of the unreformed changelings, had left to find Chrysalis, but a few had stayed, including Pharynx...

Why Thorax wasn't sure. Thorax liked to think it was his brother's way of saying "I Love You", staying by his side even though he disagreed with him... but who knows what was really going on inside the captain of the changelings' head.

"For Mother's sake," Pharynx scuffed, "All you've done is laid a few eggs. It can't be THAT bad."

"YOU TRY IT!" Thorax screamed.

This was Thorax first time laying eggs. It was exhausting and painful and just HORRIBLE! And he would have to do this once a moon after this! His body had finally reached maturity and for Queen Changelings that meant their bodies started asexually manufacturing eggs.

The Changeling nurse did a quick scan of him with 'her' horn. Truthfully she was just a drone and had no gender but Changelings call themselves by whatever gender they identified with. Only Queens had a gender and they were all asexual females.

"That's it, take deep breaths," The nurse insisted, "In... and... Out..."

Thorax obeyed as he pushed the last egg out... they were so small. Only the size of his hoof. How did they hurt so much!?

"There we go," the nurse smiled as she cleaned the final egg and put it on the cart with the others. "All done."

Pharynx yelled, "That can't be it! He only laid 7 eggs so far! Chrysalis laid dozens of eggs at a time!"

The nurse waved off, "This is perfectly normal. Thorax is a young queen."

"King," Thorax insisted. He spent his entire life identifying as a boy. Just because his body ascended into a female when he took over the hive doesn't mean he didn't still see himself that way.

Truthfully there were no male changelings. Only genderless drones and asexual Queens.

The nurse rolled her eyes, not seeing the hypocrisy in that, "My point is. Thorax is young. His body is barely physically mature enough to have offspring. He won't be able to produce as many eggs as Chrysalis, for at least a thousand years. We'll be long dead by the time Thorax reaches full maturity."

Thorax hung his head. He didn't like being reminded that all his friends, siblings, and even the children he had just laid, would all die in just a few hundred years.

Changelings, and nearly everything else on Equus, lived about as long as ponies, but Queens? Changeling Queens were cursed with longevity. They could still die... just not of old age. He could very well be in his prime longer then their planet lived.

Pharynx showed a rare look of sympathy, "Get some rest," he ordered his brother.

"But..." Thorax tried to find the words as he looked over at his eggs.

They were still transparent, due to being so newly laid, but they would harden and develop white spotted shells within another moon... but for now... he could see inside them... see the bodies of his still developing children. They were the first naturally born reformed changelings. The first in recorded history... born without sin... and would never know what it was to be hungry... They were his first children... suddenly all the pain he endured had become worth it. He wanted to be a better parent then Chrysalis. He would actually know their names, and raise them with all the love they could ever want.

"The nanny clutch will look after them with the other nymphs," Pharynx assured, "You can snuggle them after you wake up, but for now you're no good to anyone. Even Chrysalis needed rest after laying her eggs. And we both know she is a thousand times tougher then you."

"So you suddenly believe me it hurt." Thorax eyed suspiciously.

Pharynx glared and gave their new King a wack upside his head.

"OWIE!" Thorax exclaimed, with royal dignity fitting his station.

"Quit being a whiny wimp and go to sleep," Pharynx ordered before looking at the nurse, "Escort the eggs to the hatchery and put them under heating lamps."

The nurse rolled her eyes, "I've been a nurse for nearly 400 years. I know what to do with eggs." She insisted before she began pushing the cart out.

"Don't!" Thorax ordered and the nurse sent a puzzled look at him, "Bring some equipment in here and put them under the lamps. I want to keep them close."

Pharynx rolled his eyes, "They're safer in the hatchery."

"You can move them there once I'm out of recovery," Thorax insisted, "For now I want them near me."

"They need the humid air of the Hatchery," Explained the nurse.

"Then make it more humid in here?" Thorax ordered, "A few mist spells would do the trick."

The nurse sighed, "As you command, your majesty."

Thorax gave one last longing look at his eggs, but had to agree with his brother. He was tired... he needed... rest...

It was only a few hours later, when Thorax was woken with a start. He had heard something crash and looking around he screamed when he saw the source.

On the floor, in the fog, was a broken vial, and standing over it... was Chrysalis. She was caressing his eggs! They were all floating around her as she touched them.

"Get away from them!" Thorax screamed but he couldn't get up. The restraints on the bed had been fastened over him in his sleep. Even his horn had a magic suppressor on it. The way Chrysalis was standing over him with the eggs floating around her suggested she dropped the vial on purpose, to wake him.

Looking around frantically Thorax saw it was well into the night. He was alone.

"Can't a mother stop by to visit her grandchildren," Chrysalis smirked as she examined the eggs. "Despite appearances you actually do have good genes as a Queen," Chrysalis commented. "3 out of 7 eggs are warriors instead of common worker drones. Not bad for your first birthing."

Chrysalis smiled, remembering her own first litter of eggs. Her very first brood. "You'll cherish the memories of these little ones for the rest of your life... and grieve like no other creature can comprehend when you outlive them."

"Don't hurt them," Thorax begged.

Chrysalis flew into a rage, striking the young King across the face before getting control of herself. She glared menacingly and spoke in a grave whisper, "Don't you dare think that of me. Whatever else I am. Whatever else I have done. I have NEVER been anything but an excellent mother. Everything I did was for you and your ungrateful siblings. I would never hurt an innocent egg!"

Thorax wasn't sure if he believed her.

Chrysalis sighed, "I came to offer you peace. You are just an ignorant grub and obviously don't realize what you are leading your hive to."

"There is nothing wrong with sharing love," Thorax glared.

"Besides the fact it is disgusting," Chrysalis grumbled. "Your feeding off your own siblings, you beastly grub!"

Thorax glared, "It's better then hunting for food, just to bring it back to YOU."

"That went to feed the entire hive," Chrysalis insisted.

"We were miserable before! Constantly hungry and in a constant state of fear, OF YOU,"

Chrysalis scuffed, "So I am, admittedly, a little strict. However most of your siblings appreciate a firm hoof."

"Firm hoof? You killed anyone who crossed you! Your own children!"

Chrysalis just scuffed, "I did not come here to be lectured by a grub. I came to offer you a chance. I am rallying the remaining hives. The other Queens will follow me. I will take this one back by force if I have to... but believe it or not, I don't want things to come to that. You are just misguided in your ignorance.

"I will allow you to maintain your indecent lifestyle, even keep this hive for yourself, it's a security issue now that the ponies know where it is. All I ask is you obey my rule and stop all these ridiculous plans you have for building relations with the other species."

Thorax glared, "I'll pass."

Chrysalis roared, "You don't understand what you're doing! Just what you are opening up your siblings and even your own children to! Don't you know anything of our history! The other races can't be trusted. All they are good for is food!"

Thorax glared, "That was a thousand years ago. Ponies have changed, just like you have. I remember our history. How you were once a just and benevolent Queen. I don't know if that's just propaganda or if the millenniums really did change you, but you clearly aren't like that anymore!

"I don't care if you offer us the moon itself I will NEVER go back to bowing before you! The Hive was never a home under you! We lived in fear and misery. You claim to be a good mother but did you even know my name until I left the hive! I won't doom my siblings back to that. And I won't leave the other hives to your mercy. I will save each and every hive FROM you."

Chrysalis looked strangely... proud? "You have more ambition then I ever gave you credit, Grub."

"It's not ambition!" Thorax glared in response. "I never wanted any of this. You forced me to take the throne! All I wanted was to make the Hive an actual home! I tried reasoning with you, even pleading with you. Everything that happens from here is on YOU... I will save my family."

Chrysalis glared, "You can't begin to understand what you're doing. There hasn't been a Changeling civil war in ten thousand years. Would you doom all our hives to that?"

"All I wanted was for you to show compassion," Thorax glared. "You long since proved you're incapable of that."

Chrysalis shook her head, "Then there is nothing else to say." She gently put the eggs back under the lamp by Thorax bed. "I had hoped you would see reason but it seems your dead set on taking everything from me. Congratulations grub, if it's war you want, it's war you'll get. I won't go quietly," with that she teleported away.