Poor Alveolus. He wants to be good, he really does! He would do anything to get the admiring stares and delicious affection that seemed to never leave his fathers. Shining Armor is the Captain of the Royal Guard, and his adoring husband earned his own lot of approval from other ponies. Their child, the big and lumbering Iron Gauntlet, even he got more love than Alveolus did!
Perhaps that was because Alveolus wasn’t part of the family. He wasn’t a pony. He was a disgusting, insectoid changeling, and not even one of those pretty ones that could walk down the street without attracting nasty glares. He was grey, spiky, he had holes in his body as well as his heart. He just wanted to be loved.