Void Crawler

Title(s): The Second Hoof

Species: Changeling

Other Species: Old-Ling

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Residence: Treehouse On The Outside Of The Everfree

Hometown: Hive Geissler, Las Pegasus

Occupation: Former Geissler Hive Second Hoof. Currently A Helping Hoof Taking Odd Jobs For Pay.

Backstory:

Geissler Hive Life:

(This segment focuses on the Geissler Hive and their queen, read to the next portion of text highlighted by magenta titles if you want to learn about Void rather than the Hive he came from)
Hive Geissler is a strange oddity within Equestria, they have refused reformation thanks to their greed and hubris and the secrecy of them as a hive has resulted in few knowing of their existence, those that do are usually envoys from other hives. The hive itself is situated within large caverns deep below the city of Las Pegasus. The way such an odd hive operates through complete covertness is equal parts genius as it is evil.

When a new brood of Hatchlings is born in the caverns below Las Pegasus, they are trained from a young age to hone their ability to shape-shift and steal the forms of most species that could be sighted within Equestria, through these efforts even as Younglings to the Hive they gained an exceptional level of Changeling Magical Aptitude as the generations passed. With this shape-shifting potency they have highly adapted their skill at taking the forms of other beings for extremely long periods of time without emotional sustenance. The reason for such a strict improvement on the normal shape-shifting is how the insectoid conglomerate functions as a society. They have integrated in secret into the pony society of Las Pegasus, many having situated themselves in high up positions of the elite society of the city, either through aggressive 'replacement' of the original pony, or simply through gaining admiration within their workplace as exceptionally hard workers and being promoted, however once a single Geissler Hiveling has itself situated in a comfortably high position of any workplace a mass takeover will swiftly begin, many ponies are either fired and replaced with new Changelings in disguise, or just removed entirely from the city through 'special means', the latter option is the common route of choice to deal with ponies who outrank the newly situated high up Hiveling. Eventually leading to entire work forces becoming Changeling inside a singular building and then said workplace building that was took over will operate as a hub for the hive and often has tunnels that lead straight from the building into the deep caverns below Las Pegasus. During and after the takeover however the building will continue to operate as it did with a pony work force as to avoid suspicion from the public. They will have workers caring for the new broods in the caverns below the Hub building when required and due to this, those workers will not be required above ground within Las Pegasus and will focus on the true hive below the concrete jungle of neon lights.

The takeover itself is an exceptionally rare event in the Geissler Hive timeline as most workplace takeovers last many years as a Hub, usually the business failing is a result in the collapse of the Geissler Hub building and thus the takeover cycle starts anew. Post takeover the Changelings will then worm their way into the elite society further, situating themselves within it and using their influence over the city for their own benefit, such as increasing holiday maker traffic to the city to allow for more consistent feeding sources. The hive feeds in a manner similar to a mosquito, they will use their magic as they pass the streets, sapping love from ponies as they walk by, not enough to be noticeable and just enough to keep themselves sustained happily. Some however take feeding further, and will steal the place of a pony within a family, and abuse that family's love for their original relative.

The Queen of the hive will always take the highest elite position the hive has to offer, often allowing her Hivelings to do all the work and then taking the Hiveling that is highest on the social ladders position for herself, sending that drone to find a new replacement, the hives numbers almost never exceed that of 150 however this varies based on the current Hub of the hive within the city and how many ponies it takes to operate it effectively.

Void's Early Hive Life:

Void was hatched into the Geissler Hive through Queen Argoniss and even from a young age he showed unyielding loyalty to his kin and his queen when he went through the transformation training as a youngling. Through his training his ability to keep the rabble in check either through false threats or going as far as to simply inform the queen herself, this led to him being note worthy to Queen Argoniss but he lacked any friends thanks to his 'tattling' and he chose to keep his emotions steering towards the hives success rather than his own personal life. As he aged his training was well put, he was, as all Geissler Hivelings were, gifted at holding a form of another for extended periods of time without the sustenance of emotions. Eventually his consistency to upholding the hive allowed him to take on a new role above a simple drone and that was as the appointed Second Hoof of Argoniss, he was her general informant and was used in keeping the hivelings in check effectively thanks to his passion for the queen. This is when he was gifted his dark magenta armour from Argoniss to wear as a status symbol of sorts, not only for his work inside the hive but outside it too as he would always try and keep the presence of Geissler as secret as possible while disguised, he would send questioning ponies away on wild goose chases or use varying different forms to trick them into leaving the Hub building alone.

Void's Later Hive Life:

Geissler would use envoys to communicate with other hives around Equestria, including what most of the Changeling Queens referred to as The Queen of Queens, whom was Chrysalis.
Some months of back and forth between messengers led to Argoniss agreeing to helping The Queen of Queens in an assault on Canterlot. Chrysalis was taking in hivelings from other hives with promises of love to feed them all as long as the attack proved successful, and to improve the odds of success a larger army was required. On the weeks prior to the attack several of Argoniss' more loyal brood were tasked with assisting the far larger hive of Chrysalis, one of them being Void. Through this Void was sent with several of his pink kin to group up with Chrysalis' blue spawn outside of Canterlot and begin chipping away at the weakening protection spell covering the city.

Void and his own brothers decided to protect the Geissler hives image and uphold their secrecy, taking on the appearance of the blue Changelings around them to avoid standing out during the siege and risking exposure of their own. Once the shield was broken and the Changelings were running rampant inside the city combating the royal guard of Equestria, it became apparent that these blue Changelings methods were far more aggressive than their own, as they took to the skies, blasting bolts of fiery magic below into the streets. It was uncommon for a Geissler broodling to resort to the natural pyromagics their species possessed and watching it used with such force seemingly struck a cord with Void for a brief moment. However the moment came, Chrysalis was defeated and blasted out the city along with every Changeling inside, including Void, who was sent as far as the Everfree forest, crashing through the tree canopy into the dark bowels of darkness. He was injured on his way down as he hit several branches, his right side was split open and his surface shell was cracked with a wound. 

Void's Post Hive Life:

Void was injured and without his hive. Lost within a forest he knew nothing about, his emotions frazzled as he was confused, disoriented even, he used some large leaves to temporarily cover his wound and stop the bleeding and continued simply ambling. Until he set his sights upon Ponyville after a brief walk away from the forest once he exited it. Even with his gash across his right side he found himself comforted just watching how the ponies went about their lives so freely and with such joy from a safe distance and hidden within some bushes. His watching from a distance was cut short when his laceration throbbed at his head reminding him that watching ponies from the outside of Ponyville was not the best thing to be doing currently, and as he feebly stood and began walking away from the town, this was when a single pony had spotted him on the horizon thanks to his stumbling and almost drunken behaviour and odd shape of his body which led them to follow with haste after the weird almost pony like silhouette of Void.

Of course this was just directly after the Canterlot attack many ponies had no idea Changelings even existed and thus when this single curious soul finally caught up to the shambling and weak mess of an insectoid, Void was too weak to even fight and assumed the worst, however this pony shocked him and not only decided to take him into their home, but nurse him to health in secret as he requested it. Through this process of healing he discussed many things with the pony, who he now had learned was a gem miner mare named Radiant Alloy from Canterlot who moved to Ponyville at some point. The fact of this mares home that he had recently attacked then tied in with how this one pony decided to help an injured creature she knew nothing about was a defining moment for him. He even broke his oath to the Geissler Hive and discussed hive life with the mare, going as far as to tell her what he ate. Including his diet of emotions of other beings. Radiant going above and beyond with his recovery and allowing him to feed off of her emotions in small amounts at a time every so often. Void was dumbfounded, he was raised to believe ponies were simply another food source and yet this one mare was allowing him to feed consensually and didn't seem scared of his appearance or how heinously his hive operated in Las Pegasus. Why did Changelings need to be so forceful, so aggressive in their search for love or other emotional food sources? It was a question that he found himself asking constantly as he spoke with Radiant.

Towards the end of his healing, the mare offered to take him back to his hive once all was said and done. His own response concerned him as he spoke without thinking, he simply said no. He wanted to know more about Equestria beyond his hive, he wanted to meet all kinds of beings, he wanted to help others and redeem his past thanks to this one mare. It was at this moment he changed, his aspirations were to be better... His curiosity and internal struggle had bettered his inner hiveling. The time came where he was fully healed, albeit scarred, he put his armour back on and thanked the mare, it was a thanks he couldn't say with just words and so he told her to keep an eye on him, let his actions speak.

He left Radiant's home, and trotted outside Ponyville towards the edge of the Everfree forest, he looked for a large tree to make his own. He found a tree on the opposing side of the Everfree to Ponyville, at first he used his natural Changeling secretions and goo to create a makeshift home between the branches. He would speak with Radiant frequently after this, and eventually became comfortable enough to walk in plain sight, albeit in a disguised form thanks to how on edge ponies now were after Canterlot. He would then utilise his magic and take odd jobs all around Equestria. Thanks to his ability to shape-shift it was convenient to find work, sometimes for bits, sometimes simply to help. He used his bits to improve his home once he learned of the value of them as currency. As time passed he created a naturalistic tree house atop his large tree outside the Everfree. A real home to call his own and not his hives as he tried to redeem himself in his own eyes for his past.

(This is simply the first draft of Voids NEW backstory AND the first draft of the Geissler Hive he was born in, chances are this will be minorly adjusted as time goes on!)
(The picture shown is Void and his pony disguise form that he takes)

Personality:

Void as a hiveling was sly, conniving and tricky to read, he would always uphold the morals of Geissler and keep to the code, being as two-dimensional as possible while disguised as a pony and was always loyal to Queen Argoniss thanks to his upbringing and was exceptionally devoted to serving his queen.

Once he was separated from the hive after Canterlots attack and realised the error of his ways, he became what he currently is, a goofy, happy-go-lucky Changeling who will always hold others opinions of him in high regards as he seeks approval from anyone he meets. He is also exceptionally curious about other species. This resulted in him desiring more from his relationships with others not of his kind and why he always aspires to make anyone he meets laugh, or feel some sort of joy. This personality change likely came through his guilt for his past actions and his willpower to become something better than he was. 

Physical Description:

Void is constantly donning his magenta themed carapace armour and due to this it rarely receives repairs, thus the armour is burned, singed and damaged from his past interactions as a Hiveling.
He is kind of short, being slightly shorter than the average mare but his overall physical appearance is similar to that of any Geissler Hive Changeling, his rear shell hidden under his magenta armour is a similar vibrant pink to his eyes, his hot pink wings are somewhat short on comparison to the usual old Changeling too. His leg holes are spaced out but varying in shapes and sizes matching that of any old Changeling as well. His magical aura is a deep and vibrant pink and thus his Changeling pyromagic takes on the same pink colour.
Void has a scar spanning the right side of his body thanks to his crash landing in the Everfree after being blasted from Canterlot, he hides it under his armour.

Likes: Enjoys practising his natural fire magics and transformation magics, pulling pranks using his transformation magics, feeding on envy to not only sustain himself but rid others of their negative emotion, making others laugh, meeting new species, enjoys debates with friends. A stiff drink is an easy way to persuade this Changeling to do something too. He enjoys his alcohol.

Dislikes: Being wrong in debates, failing his friends, being told what to do, anyone with no sense of humour relative to his own. Having his history brought up as he avoids talking about it. Having to take his armour off as it makes him feel 'exposed'.

Magic Spells: Changeling Fire Magic And Transformation Magic.

Magic Spells: Simple Telekinesis

Friends: Back Slash, Swag Slash, Duskshy, Fuschia Dewdrop, Vespidrome, Syannax, Radiant Alloy.

Rivals: Back Slash (Friendly Rivalry), Duskshy (Friendly Rivalry).