The first part of our lunch passed by while I explained what happened in the world to Lacewing while she was imprisoned by Division-P. Most notably was my relationship with Luna; the moment Lace heard about that in passing, she wanted to know everything about it.
“... And that’s the entire story of Luna and I so far,” I finished.
I smiled at Luna, who leaned over and gave me a small kiss.
“That’s pretty romantic, Phasma,” Lacewing sighed, scooping a forkful of food from her plate.
“I agree,” Luna agreed. “I am certain that the tale of our love shall be told by the criers and romanticists from now till the day the sun sets for the very last time! Our tale– what do you mean, there are no criers anymore?” Luna broke off her dramatic speech when I managed to stop giggling and explained that fact to her.
“I’m sure ponies will enjoy your story once it gets told to them,” Cadence said from across the table. “Love triumphs over evil, and all that.”
“Hey Phas!” Thorax called from the far end of the table.
“Thorax?”
“Can I send a message to Double Diamond now?”
“Oh yeah, yeah. The Fifth Hive is done hiding now. You can tell all the ponies to come back, or whatever happened to them.” When Lace’s face scrunched up in confusion, I explained, “Thorax is in love with a pony. Yes, they are adorable together.”
The table broke off again into several smaller conversations. Coxa and Lacewing traded stories that accumulated in each other’s absence. Celestia and Luna talked shop about the fastest way to fix their torn kingdom. The puppy-love duo talked quietly with Thorax about him and his coltfriend, Diamond.
‘Coltfriend. Colt. Friend. Even the name sounds adorable. Colt. Coooolt.’
“Bit for your thoughts?” Luna asked, nudging me.
“Just thinking about things ‘n stuff,” I said.
“Ah yes, ‘things ‘n stuff,’” Celestia quoted me. “Truly, the mind of a stallion is a mystery.”
I huffed and rolled my eyes, “Alright fine. I was wondering why there were so few ponies here. If this peace summit is as important to you as it is to us, I would have thought there would have been more ponies present.”
“You’d be surprised how useless most ponies are in the signing of a peace treaty,” Celestia explained, taking a sip from her tall glass. “I prefer to get these things ironed out as soon as possible, with as few distractions as possible.”
“We took a break for lunch, though?”
Luna elbowed me, “Unlike changelings, we mortal ponies need physical foods.”
“Then maybe you should try consuming love. It really is the best tasting thing in the world.”
Luna whispered into my ear, “On that, we can agree.”
I suddenly found it near impossible to maintain eye contact with anyone in the room.
“Luna, are you teasing King Phasma?” Celestia asked while I studied the suddenly interesting wall ahead of me.
“Why Celestia, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Ah, so he just suddenly froze up due to something completely unrelated to whatever you whispered to him?”
“Yes.”
“See, Shiny?” Cadence asked, nodding towards me. Since I was staring at the wall behind her, I saw the motion as she talked to her fiance, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Aunt Luna has the fearsome Dread Prince on a tight leash.”
I groaned, “Are you going to be throwing as many innuendos at me as possible, Princess of Food?”
She winked, “Of course. This is far more fun than talking with those stuffy…. nobles… did you call me the Princess of Food?”
“Delicious, delicious food…” I muttered.
“I’m definitely going to remember that one,” Celestia chuckled as she down the last of her drink and nodded to a servant to have it refilled.
With the heat starting to leave my face, I turned back to Celestia, “I was sorta expecting to see Prince Blueblood here at least. He is a Prince, right? I never met the guy but he seems to have an important title.”
Celestia’s face remained neutral, but her emotions were tainted with frustration, “Prince Blueblood has not dined with us in years.”
“The colt’s preoccupied with his own social circle,” Cadence explained. “He’s become enraptured with the idea that he has a court of his own, and not to mention the fact that recently, Division-P has kept him busy.”
‘A socialite? Sounds like I’d hate him anyways.’
“Still, I would imagine that he would have at least leveraged his title to gain entry to this meeting,” I said.
“That would require him knowing about this meeting in the first place,” Celestia smiled mischievously.
“So Phasma,” Luna began, “you said you were going to tell your story to everypony here…”
“Oh yeah, you guys don’t know, do you?” Lacewing asked, grinning at the ponies after overhearing Luna. “It’s quite the story, though I don’t know if talking about it over lunch is the smartest idea–”
“Luna is talking about my story before I hatched,” I cut Lace off.
“Your what?” Lace froze.
“You were right, Celestia, I did learn from my past. But changelings fought no wars to learn from. At least, nothing remotely considered conventional warfare.”
“I suspected as much,” Celestia nodded to herself. “There would be too much evidence of your kind’s existence, otherwise.”
The ponies quieted, and the rest of the conversations fell away as the changelings turned towards me.
“What’re you talking about, Phas? What wars?” Thorax asked.
‘Everyone’s looking at me now. Which means I have to talk about my history. About my… life. Yep. Right now. Riiiight now. No way to worm my way out of this one.’
I sighed. With everyone’s eyes on me, I decided to be a bit theatric.
“... There are many forms of immortality. Agelessness of a royal or alicorn, immortality of whatever deities exist out there, reincarnation of phoenixes.” I tapped my hoof on the table idly, “Celestia. You, err, received the reports of the interrogations, right?” Celestia nodded. “Right. You asked the changelings about me, right? I assume you also asked them what my age was?”
“I did. They were all quite evasive when questioned about the basic facts about you. When asked for your birthday, or hatchday if you’d prefer, they would only give me the day and month, and never the year. Things only made sense in hindsight, given last night’s conversation.”
‘Oh hey, this is a good chance to learn that myself, since I totally didn’t keep track of that…’
“What was the date?” I asked.
“October Eleventh.”
“Ah. So that’s the day. Good to know.”
The ponies– save for Luna and Celestia– were confused.
“Did you not keep track of that, Phas?” Thorax asked, genuinely surprised.
I shrugged, “Lots of other important things were going on. Besides, I was a bit too preoccupied at the time to ask for the date.”
Celestia, helping out my theatrics, said, “And you revealed that you were born last year. October Eleventh, Nine-Ninety-Nine.”
“October Eleventh, Nine-Ninety-Nine,” I repeated.
Shining Armor blinked in surprise, “You’re one year old– no, you’re older than that?”
“Yeah. Queen Chrysalis was– or rather, still is, the greatest expert in genetics. Or fleshmancy. Whatever its name is. She genetically engineered my, uh, egg. That, coupled with a diet of pure love early on gave me a nymphhood that lasted all of three months or so. But that of course doesn’t explain why my mind was as developed as my body...”
I gave a nervous glance to the First Fang. They deserved to hear the truth first, but I preferred to get this over with as quickly as I could.
“I don’t have any control over it. I don’t know if it will happen again. I don’t remember if it ever happened before this. But I lived an entire life before my hatching on Nine-Ninety-Nine.”
The reaction was not as varied as I expected. The ponies were all surprised, and the changelings were all… mostly smug. Thorax and Coxa cheered and high-fived. Lacewing cursed quietly and shook her head, and the rest of the changelings, including Cricket, were a mix of shock, excitement, and interest.
“Haha! And Oest called me crazy!” Thorax cheered.
“You knew?” I asked, surprised.
“We all had our guesses,” Coxa said, coyly. “I mean, come on, did you really think none of us would at least try to guess why you were pretty much an adult right out of the egg? Reincarnation was the prevailing guess– and the biggest part of the betting pool.”
“Lucky guess,” Lace muttered.
“And what were the other theories?” I asked.
‘I am genuinely curious as to what they might have guessed.’
“Oest thought you were a golem,” Thorax giggled. “He thought he was on the money when the Ascension stuff came to light. You know, with the egg experiments and all…”
Coxa interrupted, “There’s divisions within the reincarnation theory, too. Since it was the largest share, we collectively decided to split it up.”
“How can you be so casual about this?” Cadence muttered, loud enough for us to hear. “Life and death… and how little we know about it all. This is a huge revelation, with wide sweeping implications…. Right?” Cadence looked to Celestia for reassurance.
Celestia shrugged, “There have been countless attempts to achieve immortality in the past, and none have succeeded. All stories of success share one common thread; we all seem to only achieve it through pure coincidence. Any willing attempt is doomed to fail. As you might suspect Cadence, this is a brand new form of immortality– if you don’t count phoenixes. Yet it continues that common thread.”
“What did you even bet?” I asked Coxa.
“Extra rations, small keepsakes, and so on. Uh…. Weevil was the main ling who kept track of everything…” Coxa muttered.
“And the partitions within this specific bet?” Celestia moved the conversation along, thankfully.
“Coxa thought Phas was a reincarnated royal,” Thorax said.
“And Thorax thought that Phasma was an alien from outer space,” Coxa joked.
“An alien from outer space?” I repeated.
“And I thought you were a drone!” Lace smiled. “You know, with the whole not-threatening-to-kill-us thing you have going on. A rare trait in royals. Everyone of them I’ve met before you loves to threaten to kill us.”
“That’s horrible!” Cadence gasped.
“Wouldn’t you have only met Chrysalis before?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“Oh. Well I met another royal, by the name of The Prophet. He’s a total asswipe.”
“Two for two, then! Oh mare, Coxa and Thorax, you two better be shaking! I am so winning this bet. Hey wait, where and when did you meet another royal?”
“In the Third Hive,” I sighed.
“Ah, of course. The Third Hive. The place none of us have ever seen. The place our species ran away from thousands of years ago. That Third Hive.”
“Yes. It was in the jungles in Southern Equestria.”
Thorax huffed, “Enough stalling Phas, tell us your past!”
‘Panar damned tinfoil-hat conspiracists. You got lucky, Thorax.’
I felt hooves around my right foreleg. Luna was giving me a reassuring hug and smile.
“The only way to move forward is to accept the past,” she said quietly.
I cringed, “I don’t want to accept the past. It’s bullshit.” Luna didn’t relent, only kept up her stare and the stream of love and happiness sent my way.
‘There’s no way out of this, is there? Fine then, better get it over with.’
“I was a human. The only sapient species on our world...” I announced quietly.
Thorax gasped “I was right?”
Lacewing gaped, “Thorax was right?”
Coxa groaned, “Thorax was right?!”
Cricket and the rest of the changelings gathered exchanged surprised looks and whispered to each other. Shining looked at Cadence, but she just returned the surprised look he gave her. I had not told her my past, so she was just as surprised.
“You’re actually an alien?” Shining Armor asked.
Curiously, while Cadence was a bit confused and apprehensive, Shining Armor seemed almost… eager to hear my story.
“Not anymore,” I grumbled, “but yes. I… I was.”
“Huh. And you just sided completely with the changelings?”
“They put me in a position of power, and I couldn’t exactly cling to my non-existent past anymore. So, I decided to throw my lot in with the ones that made me Prince. The copious amounts of propaganda, the short time frame, and constantly watching my own back out of paranoid fear left little room for anything else.”
Shining mulled the answer over, so I looked to the changelings to see how they were handling it.
Thorax excitedly clapped his hooves together and grinned, “Diamond’s gonna freak when he hears this. He didn’t believe my theories, either. But I was right!”
“How did you even think of that?!” Coxa exclaimed.
Thorax shrugged, “Things just… didn’t add up. Phasma’s not like any changelings I’ve ever met. Nor any pony. He’s a bit in between, I guess…”
“An excellent guess, if a bit far-fetched,” Celestia shook her head. “I am certain we are all on the edge of our seats for your story, Phasma. Please, continue.”
‘Oh, you’re all excited, are you? Well let me start off with why I don’t want to fucking talk about my past.’
I scowled, “I was born into a middle class, large loving family. I can’t complain too much about my life, save for how it ended. I was murdered in an alleyway for no reason at all. There you go, are you all satisfied? I never got to say goodbye. I was thrown right into the grinder when I woke up in the Hive. I had everything taken from me, and never had time to even breathe.”
I stood up abruptly and made for the exit. Luna scrambled after me.
“Phasma! Please stay, you are doing well.”
“I did well. I’m done talking now,” I growled
I heard the First Fang all get up to try to follow me as I pushed the doors open and brushed past the ponies standing sentry. Picking a direction at random, I walked down the hallway. I was looking for a way out, but I had no idea what the layout of the castle was.
“Phasma! At least tell me where you are going!” Luna called out from behind me.
“Out.”
“Then… take a left at the upcoming junction.”
I slowed down and frowned at her.
“If I cannot stop you, then at least I can help you,” Luna told me when she caught up.
“Damnit Luna, stop making me feel nice inside. I don’t want to, not right now.”
She grinned, “I am afraid I cannot do that, Phasma. You are stuck with me, sappy feelings and all.”
When we went through a doorway that Luna pointed out, we found ourselves on a wide sweeping balcony that connected off to one of the gardens on our right side. In front and on our left, several benches were arranged in front of a balcony. No doubt there were countless protective enchantments for anyone who wanted to sit and see the view. There were two maids on the balcony who quickly made themselves scarce through the garden’s connection when I, the giant changeling, exited the palace. I picked a bench and sat down on it, laying against the white stone railing, and putting my head on my hooves. The rest of the lunch party joined us after a few moments, and filed into the benches around us.
I saw the city beneath us. The gleaming city was, I had to admit, exceptionally beautiful. It was really designed to be beheld during the daytime, so this was the first time I could see it in all its splendor. Gleaming towers, opulent manors, bustling streets, ponies leisurely strolling through parks, and active market stalls made the city seem more alive than any other place I had seen. If I focused, I could see the hundreds of stories that were being told through the city.
A pony leaning out their window and pinning up clothes on a clothesline there. A pair of pegasi clearly yelling at each other over there, one now storming off in anger. I even saw families taking their foals to the parks and destinations across the city. Unlike Manehattan, whose highrises and packed streets gave the city a feel of fast-paced rushing, Canterlot had a more casual and well-off atmosphere. Ponies here walked because they could. Sure, there were some ponies rushing, but by far most I could see seemed content. Considering I had spent a lot of time in Hooferville pony-watching, I had gotten at least decent at reading emotions at a distance.
By the time I was tuning back into the world around me, the ponies had their lunch already brought out to them, and were enjoying their meals while idly chatting or admiring the view. The changelings were just as talkative, but were paying more attention to me. When I glanced at them, Thorax spoke up immediately.
“Phas! Hey, I’m sorry that we opened old wounds–”
“It’s fine,” I lied, waving him off.
“I suppose we can not expect you to be open about such pain immediately,” Luna conceded.
I realized that Luna was sitting up against me, and had wrapped a wing around me as we sat. I didn't even notice that.
‘That is quickly becoming a trend.’
“None of us can relate or understand your specific plight,” Luna continued, “as I think none of us have died before, though I can not know for certain. Just know that when you are ready to talk, we are all here for you.”
Celestia, who held a plate of some kind of stacked greens covered in an unidentified sauce, joked, “If you had a problem with the dining room, you simply should have said so. I have no problem mixing it up and eating outside while the weather is at least somewhat nice.”
The weather was indeed somewhat nice. There must have been heating enchantments that protected the balcony from the cold wind and autumn air. I barely felt a breeze, even up here, high above street level.
“One thing before I forget,” Celestia said, pushing around food with a fork. “Later today, there will be an announcement before Canterlot. We will tell the ponies that there will be peace between our species, and that Discord has been taken care of. I would also like to commend the efforts of the Element bearers, and of course, explain that I am not Daybreaker anymore.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, looking back over the city.
‘Guess I’ll be meeting them properly, too.’
Luna reached over and took one of my hooves into her own.
‘What did I do to deserve your unrelenting support, Luna? By all rights, you should be my enemy. Perhaps I will never come to reach your level of empathy. Don’t think I can, not after everything I’ve been through. But at least–’
I decided to voice my thoughts, “Thank you, Luna. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Much of the same, though far more miserably and with less success, I would imagine,” she replied.
“I’m going to be honest, Luna. I don’t think I’ll ever be as friendly and open as the rest of you. I don't think I can.”
“You’d be surprised. People can bounce back from some awful things. Just do not count yourself out, Phasma. You will get through any tunnel, no matter how dark it gets.”
“Well I don’t remember going towards a light at the end of the tunnel, so maybe I’m still in it,” I joked, despite my terrible mood.
“Ha! See what I mean? I didn’t pick you because you are all doom and gloom, Phasma. I believe I was filling that quota at first. However, I pulled through, thanks to your companionship, and the aid of my friends. You have done well in immediately securing yourself some loyal comrades right away.”
“Not all of them were loyal,” I pointed out.
“No. Not everything turns out well, or even how we expected. But overall, things trend for the better, do they not?”
“Hmph. I guess so.”