Twilight couldn't believe her eyes.
The young princess had quickly combed through the library, at Chrysalis' prompting, her eyes dancing across the backs of countless books. Old books, new books, large and small, books from across every possible genre, Twilight had found herself struck by just how eclectic the literary collection was turning out to be. On some of the shelves were novels that had been penned within the last few years, with some even newer than that, sitting beside works that were older than some countries. And it wasn't just the literary classics that were present, but even oddly obscure titles, whose ages she could only estimate by their antiquated writing styles.
Which was not to say the library was poorly organized. While she might have gone about organizing some sections a bit differently, it had turned out to be a rather simple matter for Twilight to adapt to the changeling system.
There was just so much variety.
There were novels, reference books, journals, plays, textbooks and very nearly every other kind of written work conceivable. From the mainstays of any literary pony's collection to obscure works that failed to even gather attention in their own times, the changelings hadn't been especially choosy...
She was sure the 'Treatise on the Impact of Donkey Culture on Griffonian Poetry' was quite an interesting read for...someone.
Even more amazing was the care and attention the books here clearly garnered.
The creased spines and general wear of the books showed that most had been read more than once in their time here. There were also signs that some of them had been restored at one point or another, and many older books had newer transcribed copies sitting beside them on the shelves.
The Golden Oaks Library got so little traffic, that on more than one occasion Spike had been able to sneak off the whole day, with nopony the wiser.
Well, almost nopony.
Even now, at a time when Twilight would suspect that many changelings would be far too anxious to pay a visit too their library, she had encountered nearly a dozen different changelings going about the library.
Twilight felt the term 'encountered' was more apt than any other at the moment. She couldn't very well say that she had 'met' nearly a dozen different changelings, as they had all quickly made themselves scarce when they spotted her.
She felt a bit guilty about that...
Though only a bit, as she was still very busy perusing the library's contents. Again, there was an almost unparalleled variety of written works in this collection, and not just of pony works. More than a few griffon works sat alongside books written by ponies. There was a scattering, here and there, of Zebrican and Donkey works, as well. Twilight had done a double-take when she had caught sight of Diamond Dog glyphs adorning one tome, almost not believing her eyes. With the isolated and territorial Diamond Dogs, ponies had little more than a cursory knowledge of their written language, with some doubting that the brutish subterranean canines even had literature. It almost struck Twilight as whimsical that such a rare find was sitting on the same shelf as the collected works of A.K. Yearling.
Twilight's mind had practically shut down when she caught sight of the draconic runes adorning a particularly large tome's cover.
Which was a bit unfortunate, as she had been flying at the time.
But a few bruises were hardly going to register in her mind for very long, after what she had just seen. Rainbow Dash would have been proud to see how quickly Twilight had brushed herself off and gotten back into the air, even as she teased her for the reasons behind her quick recovery.
A moment later, she was hovering in front of the book in question, reconfirming what she had seen. During her years under Princess Celestia's tutelage, Twilight had been exposed to a wide breadth of knowledge, including what was known of draconic culture. Which wasn't especially much. She only barely understood the rudiments of the draconic language; enough to know it was largely unpronounceable by your typical pony. She also knew that the draconic tongue's written form rarely got much usage, with there being more examples of the written draconic tongue penned by ponies, than by actual dragons.
Using her magic, she slowly slid the weighty book from the shelf, before turning it to show the front cover.
Along the front was a fairly long series of the draconic symbols. Twilight had to wrack her brain for a moment, on the long untouched knowledge she possessed pertaining to dragons, in order to decipher their meaning. It seemed to be a short poem, but she quickly recalled some tidbits of what she knew of draconic naming conventions. Most dragons would begin to adopt long, descriptive titles of their deeds as names, in lieu of their, usually much simpler, birth names, as they grew older. This row of symbols seemed in line with what would be expected of the name for a fairly old dragon, with Twilight recognizing the words 'Storm', 'Destroyed', 'Darkness', and...
“...Crystal Mountain?” Twilight said to herself, in consideration. There actually was an old story involving a dragon and a Crystal Mountain, which quite naturally hailed from the region occupied by the Crystal Empire. A story that explained why there wasn't a Crystal Mountain anymore...
This book may very well have been penned by an actual dragon.
...What in Celestia's name was it doing in the Romance section?
She set down upon the floor once more, the book floating down with her, as the purple princess began to use her magic to crack open it's covers...
“Find something interesting?” The highly refined voice of a stallion called from her side, startling Twilight and causing her magical hold on the heavy book to loosen.
A moment before the large tome could collide with the ground, a second magical aura wrapped around it, arresting it's fall.
Twilight turned to see Prince Blueblood standing to the side, his horn alight, as he covered any strain the weighty book may have been causing him with carefully perfected poise.
“Oh! Prince Blueblood, I didn't see you there.” Twilight exclaimed.
“Yes, I gathered as much.” Blueblood pointed out, as he cantered closer, lifting the heavy book through the air to it's former resting place. It was fairly easy to find it's spot, as it was the only space on the shelf large enough to accommodate it.
A small amount of disappointment, at the sight of the intriguing book being put away, was steadily replaced with growing anxiety, as Twilight realized why the stallion had followed her.
“I'm guessing you would like to finish our earlier conversation?” Twilight broached.
“If it isn't too much of a burden for you, yes. There seems to-” Blueblood began, before drawing to a sudden stop, as something on the shelves caught his eye. Twilight found herself tilting her head, as she observed a conflicted expression cross the stallion's face “Uhm...is something wrong?”
“What? Yes- I mean, no...it's an unrelated matter, and-” Blueblood began.
“Princess Purple Prose?” Twilight quietly said to herself, as she observed the name along the backs of the novels that had caught Blueblood's gaze. It was a fairly large number of novels, all under the same author, as Twilight could see more than one copy of some of the works in the section. There were also quite a few signs that this collection had seen more than a few changelings perusing it's contents over the years.
“I don't think I've ever heard of her before...” Twilight observed “...she seems to be popular, though.”
“...Yes, well, I assure you that any popularity this writer has earned is completely unwarranted. These stories are all quite trite and cliché...I'm rather disappointed to find them here.” Blueblood explained, in a forcibly dismissive tone.
“Have you read many of her works?” Twilight asked, curious about Blueblood's rather severe reaction to the sight of these novels.
“...I think we're getting too far away from the more pressing matters at hoof.” Blueblood said, after a few moments of hesitation.
“Oh, right...” Twilight conceded.
“...Would you care to start?” Prince Blueblood asked, after several moments of silence between the two of them.
“Maybe you should start...” Twilight suggested, unsure exactly where to begin.
“Very well...were you attacked earlier?” Blueblood asked, opening with the obvious question.
“...Yes.” Twilight admitted, turning her gaze to the floor as she did so.
“By Queen Chrysalis' mother? This...Manti?” Blueblood continued, with a displeased expression crossing his face.
Twilight nodded, causing Blueblood to turn his own gaze to the side, in clear agitation.
“And just how did she go about doing this? Mind magic?” Blueblood asked, pushing forward in to the conversation.
Twilight was a bit startled that Blueblood had managed to so quickly guess correctly “Uhm, yes, actually...how did you...?”
“I am well aware of the fact that changelings have cultivated such magical talents. Now, why did you feel the need to obscure the facts? Were you worried that Queen Chrysalis might...?” Blueblood trailed off, though it was fairly evident to Twilight that he suspected that Chrysalis was somehow behind her mother's actions.
“I...don't think Chrysalis had anything to do with what happened.” Before recent events, the purple princess wouldn't have put it past the Changeling Queen to use her mother in such a way. But, after hearing the vitriol and bitterness that came from Manti, concerning Chrysalis' ties to Princess Celestia...it was hard to believe that so much hatred could be faked. Manti believed that her daughter was too close to Princess Celestia, and had taken action to try to stop it. If Chrysalis had truly been interested in allowing her mother to...do what she wanted do to Twilight, she doubted the Changeling Queen would have come running, as she did.
“So, you believe Queen Chrysalis had no idea what her mother intended on doing?” Blueblood continued, breaking Twilight from her thoughts.
“Yes, that's right...” Twilight agreed, before another thought struck her, from her encounter with Manti. Her mind had been rather...preoccupied at the time, and Twilight was only just now going over her conversation with Chrysalis' mother with a clear head “Actually...I think Chrysalis may have been worried that her mother was going to try something...”
Blueblood raised an eyebrow at this, prompting Twilight to continue.
“When Manti was...gloating, she made it sound like Chrysalis had been trying to keep our plans from her.” Twilight recalled.
“I see...and you're sure she wasn't trying to mislead you?” Blueblood asked, as he considered this.
“...at that point, I don't think she was worried about keeping anything from me. She-...” Twilight found herself coming up short, as she recalled what the elderly queen had planned to do to her. Even after what Manti had attempted, the only evidence she had to show of Manti's tinkering with her mind was a slightly sore throat and a sweaty coat. She couldn't feel anything off about her thoughts. She didn't feel anxious or tired or pained by what had happened. There didn't seem to be any tangible traces of Manti's brainwashing...
But, Twilight objectively knew what had happened, that Manti had effectively tried to drive her mad with terror.
The fact that she felt absolutely fine, now, actually made the whole experience even more terrifying. The total lack of any lingering after effects, just made it...
“Are you alright?” Blueblood asked with clear concern, as he leaned in to look into Twilight's eyes.
“What?...Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that.” Twilight said, trying to allay the stallion's concerns.
Prince Blueblood didn't seem convinced.
“Are you suffering any lingering effects, perhaps? From Manti's attack.” Blueblood asked.
“No, I don't think so. I feel fine and Chrysalis seemed to think I was fine...I was just bothered a bit by the whole thing.” Twilight explained.
“Chrysalis?...You're willing to trust her word on this?” Blueblood asked a bit skeptically.
“I...think so...” Twilight admitted slowly. She felt like it made sense, to trust Chrysalis' word, in this instance. If the Changeling Queen intended on...altering Twilight's mind, there wouldn't have been any need to go through so much effort. Manti had been willing to drive herself to death, for the sake of putting a stop to their efforts, efforts that would benefit the changelings in Chrysalis' care. And at this point she couldn't believe that Chrysalis didn't want to help her subjects or that she would throw the life of her mother away for such a goal...
Twilight really, really, didn't want to believe that Princess Celestia could be that wrong about Chrysalis.
The young princess had seen Chrysalis from a different perspective, and couldn't reconcile what she had seen, with her previous conceptions of the Changeling Queen as a heartless monster.
A misguided and generally irritable individual, that happened to delight in picking at others, but not a heartless monster.
“Do you-...do you think I'm right to trust her on this?” Twilight eventually asked of Blueblood.
“I'm sorry?” The stallion asked, with a confused tilt of his head.
“You seemed to have already known about the situation with the changelings, before all of...this.” Twilight explained, gesturing around them as she did so “I don't think Chrysalis would risk everything, just to...mess around with my head. That sounds right, doesn't it?”
“I'm afraid that...I don't really know the Changeling Queen so well, as to guess at such things.” Blueblood admitted.
“But, what about that expedition? You must have spoken with her before, when she and Princess Celestia had to...bring you into the fold?” Twilight asked, surprised at the stallion's inability to provide any input.
“Yes, well...that all occurred somewhat after I had been returned to Canterlot. Auntie's really the one that explained the whole situation to me.” Blueblood explained.
“But...you have been here, to the hive, right? You must have, at least, met Chrysalis before, right?” Twilight pressed the stallion.
“Oh, of course, that much is absolutely true.” Blueblood agreed.
“...But?” Twilight prompted.
“But...my first encounter with Chrysalis' subjects may have...been a bit lacking in the poise and dignity, that I implied.” Blueblood hesitantly admitted.
“Lacking how?” Twilight asked with mild annoyance.
“Well, while a stallion possessed with the skills that I have rarely stumbles into any situation, they do occasionally...fall in through the roof.” Blueblood explained.
“You what?” Twilight blurted out.
“I may have fallen into the hive, where one of their tunnels came a bit too close to the surface. Which, I dare say, could have happened to anypony...” Blueblood defended, before again turning to the side “Though...admittedly, my first reaction upon seeing the changelings was...less than eloquent....there may have been some unnecessary screaming and running...It was all very surprising for everyone involved.”
Twilight had to stare at the stallion for a couple of moments, unsure how to react.
“In any event, my only real encounter with Queen Chrysalis during that time, was when she came to the cell I had been thrown into.” Blueblood finished.
“And just how well did that go?” Twilight asked sarcastically.
“Quite well, if you must know. She believed me when I told her who I was, and I was able to convince her to speak with Auntie before rearranging my memories.” Blueblood said, oddly proud of that fairly minor accomplishment.
“Thank goodness for that...” Twilight snarked, while looking off to the side “So, I guess that you don't really know that much about what kind of po-...individual Chrysalis is, then...”
“I'm afraid not...though, I suppose she could have taken advantage of my position then, if she had wished to. Regardless, I don't really believe that my lack of insight on our host will be too much of an impediment to our mission.” Blueblood continued easily.
“Uhm, it kind of is, actually.” Twilight denied, having been in need of a second opinion, that the stallion apparently couldn't provide.
“Actually, it's not. And, I dare say, you have a more than fair grasp on Queen Chrysalis yourself. I rather doubt you need any input from myself, to come to a proper decision.” Blueblood countered, earning a surprised look from the mare. It took a moment for him to realize that he would need to clarify himself “This is your mission, Twilight Sparkle.”
“I don't-” Twilight began, still not understanding.
“You do understand that Princess Celestia is entrusting you with this task? That while you may have your friends and my support, it is you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who's decision shall decide our course?” Prince Blueblood asked of the increasingly bewildered alicorn.
“It truly does not matter what I, or your friends, believe about the changelings, Twilight. Whether we push on or not, is up to you.” Blueblood summed up for the princess.
“B-but, I can't make a decision like that on my own.” Twilight objected, overwhelmed by what the stallion was trying to tell her.
“Actually, you can. And if I know Auntie Celestia, which I do, you may very well be the best pony to make such a decision.” Blueblood continued, with more certainty than Twilight felt.
“But...how can you think that? I'm not-...” Twilight began.
“Are you not the pony that she has mentored these long years? And I understand you've been spending these last few years actually studying how to form ties with others, and that is what we are trying to do here.” He asked, pressing Twilight to try to deny those facts “And if you, of all ponies, can look past what the changelings have done, and decide that they need our help, not many could truly argue against your choice.”
Twilight couldn't really say anything against his claims about her.
“And...if none of that can convince you, then I suggest that you should trust in Auntie's decision to trust in your decision, Twilight. And I've rarely known Aunt Celestia to be wrong about somepony.” Blueblood finished.
“...It's my decision?” Twilight asked, a bit in awe at the thought.
Twilight had to stare at the stallion for a few moments. As daunting as it all sounded to her, the way he said it...made sense. She actually found herself believing the stallion's claims...
Including the claims he made concerning his previous 'date' with her friend, Rarity.
There was no way a stallion could say something like that, yet act like that much of an inconsiderate boob at the Grand Galloping Gala, without actively trying to be a fool.
Still, it would have been nice if he could have just explained to her friend that he wasn't interested in dating her, rather than sending her running for the hills with his little act...
“So, if you don't mind my asking, has this...encounter of yours with Queen Chrysalis' mother, helped you reach a decision about the changelings?” Blueblood asked.
It took a few moments for Twilight to grasp the question, and realize that, yes, she had come to a decision about the changelings.
Really, she had made her decision sometime ago, without even realizing it. Well before she knew that her decision carried so much weight in this endeavor.
“I think so...” Twilight quietly said, as it came to her.
She'd barely even spoken to any of the regular changelings, since she had arrived. And Chrysalis' mother had hardly made a positive impression upon Twilight. But still, she was fairly certain that she had seen enough.
The changelings weren't violent monsters, by any stretch, and knowing that alone could have been enough for the young princess.
But, more than that, the changelings were afraid.
Of Twilight. Of her friends. Of ponies in general.
Skittish. Paranoid. Worried. From what she had seen, the changelings were constantly in fear of what might happen, if they ever let down there guard.
The same could be said for Chrysalis, even if the Changeling Queen hid it better.
It could even be said for Chrysalis' nutjob of a mother.
Twilight could only guess at why the changelings could look upon ponies with such fear. Probably for some of the same reasons ponies were so afraid of changelings. She suspected that neither ponies or changelings could remember that far back, but as of right now...nopony or changeling, that she knew of, wanted to hurt anyone...
...Apart from Manti. But changelings were hardly the only species to have a few evil nutcases lying around, so it was only fair to let them have a bit of a pass on that one.
Regardless, she couldn't just let changelings and ponies keep living in fear of one another, if she could help it.
“...And that decision would be?” Blueblood prompted, after watching Twilight stare into space for a few too many seconds.
“What?” Twilight blurted out, not expecting the question.
It took a moment for Twilight to note the expectant look on the stallion's face, as he waited for her answer.
Really, if this had been some sort of play, this should have been the moment where the whole audience could have guessed at Twilight's decision, without being told.
“I...think we should help them.” Twilight replied, while giving the prince a look that suggested it should have obvious.
“Ah...well. Good choice then. As I said, I think we can all believe in your judgment, Princess Twilight.” Blueblood said with a nod.
“Thank you...uhm, did you really mean all of that?” Twilight asked, eliciting a confused look from the stallion “I mean, the things you said about me, and how you and everyone...trusts my judgment with all of this?”
“Of course. After all, this isn't the first time I've had to explain to a young princess just how capable and ready she really is. And, personally, I don't think Cadance would mind her big brother reusing a few lines of wisdom for your benefit, Twilight.” Blueblood explained.
“So, wait...you had to tell Cadance something similar? I thought-” Twilight asked, somewhat surprised by this revelation. She had never known Cadance to be anything other than the very picture of relaxed confidence, before now.
“Trust me, on this one, Twilight. My sweet sister is not always as confident as she appears, and sometimes needs to be reminded of why that's absolutely ridiculous...Try not to make a habit of doing that yourself, if you please. I've had my hooves full with her on more than one occasion, I can tell you.” Blueblood replied.
“I'll...try to remember that. Thank you.” Twilight hesitantly agreed.
“Well, honesty certainly does feel good, doesn't it?...Now that we have that out of the way, there remains one more answer that I would like from you.” Blueblood said, after a brief silence.
Twilight simply tilted her head towards Blueblood, not terribly worried about what questions might remain for her to answer. It seemed like they had already tackled all of the really tough ones.
“Do you plan on mentioning any of this to your friend?” Blueblood asked.
“Rainbow Dash?...I suppose I should, shouldn't I?” Twilight admitted, reminded of her earlier misgivings about leaving her friend out of the loop.
“...Eh, that is one option you could go with...” Blueblood hedged, while looking off to the side. Seeing the confused expression Twilight was sending his way, the prince tried to shrug away his discomfort “Well, I mean, honestly certainly does feel good...but the Lady Rainbow Dash does seem to be a bit...rash.”
“Seriously?” Twilight asked, in apparent annoyance.
“Now, I know what you're going to say-” Blueblood began.
“That it's wildly hypocritical to demand answers of me, while suggesting that I withhold answers from my friend?” Twilight suggested.
“Exactly. Took the words right out of my mouth.” Blueblood proclaimed cheerfully.
“...Seriously?!” Twilight asked again.
“...No. Actually, I think it probably would be best to explain the situation now, before she figures it out on her own.” Blueblood said matter-of-factly, eliciting a confused stare from Twilight.
“Were you...wait, are you messing with me?” Twilight asked.
“Just a bit.” Blueblood admitted with a chuckle, before noticing the perturbed look the mare was giving him “It seemed a bit more amusing in my head...In any event, your friend is more than a bit confrontational, and one should probably keep that in mind for the future, but I'm fairly sure she'll listen to you.”
Noticing that the Princess was still staring at him, Blueblood began to rub a hoof along the back of his neck awkwardly.
“...You actually thought that was funny?” Twilight asked, with genuine curiosity.
“Well...comedy isn't exactly my specialty.” Blueblood admitted.
Twilight eventually just shook her head, deciding not to hold his 'joke' against him; the rest of his advice had been rather spot on, in any event.
Nopony could be perfect.
Twilight sighed, before sending a glance back towards the bookshelf “I guess, we should probably go find Rainbow Dash then...”
“Find me for what?” The eponymous pegasus asked, just a short distance away.
“Rainbow Dash! I didn't see you there...” Twilight admitted, as she and Blueblood turned towards her swiftly approaching friend.
Twilight was quick to note Chrysalis just a short distance behind her friend, the two changelings scouts still trailing along.
She was even quicker to note the book the pegasus had in her hooves.
“Oh, you found a book too?” Twilight asked, zeroing in on that topic, rather than the...weightier matters she still needed to bring up.
“Huh? Yeah! Check it out!” Rainbow Dash confirmed enthusiastically, before holding up the book she had grabbed up.
“...Daring Do and the Featherscale Jungle?” Twilight read the title aloud, recognizing it as the latest release in A.K. Yearling most well-known series.
“Right!? Can you believe it? They actually have Daring Do books here!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly, before hugging the book to her chest “And it's the newest one too! I thought it would be weeks before I got to read it!”
“And you thought correctly.” Chrysalis suddenly interjected.
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash cleverly asked.
“You do understand that you aren't just going to canter off with that book, don't you?” The Changeling Queen pointedly asked.
“Certainly no changelings would ever think of just cantering off with a book.” Blueblood dryly observed, eliciting a brief glance from Chrysalis.
“No, a changeling would put a bit of effort into making sure they got away with the book, without being detected.” Chrysalis remarked, before focusing back on the pegasus “Now, unless you intend on staying here to read that book, which I sincerely hope is not the case, I'd appreciate it if you would return it to it's shelf.”
“But, I- The Daring and- Awwww, come on!?” Rainbow Dash sputtered out, distraught at the thought of missing out on the latest Daring Do story.
“Dash...you know I have it on order back at the library, right?” Twilight pointed out to her friend.
“Yeah, but that could take weeks!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“...Actually, it'll take about one week.” Twilight dryly corrected.
“But- But-...” Rainbow Dash began, as she turned back to Chrysalis plaintively.
“...What? Do you honestly think begging me for the book, will change my mind?” Chrysalis asked, before pausing a moment to put some thought into that prospect “But, by all means, don't let me stop you.”
“...That is so weak...fine.” Rainbow Dash relented, as she sat down on the floor, looking sadly at the book in her hooves. A moment later she pushed it away dramatically “Just take it away! Before I do something I'll regret...”
Both Twilight and Chrysalis rolled their eyes at the pegasus' antics.
“Well, now that we have that settled...” Blueblood remarked, sending a pointed glance towards Twilight, as he did so.
“...Right. Uhm...Dash? I need to talk to you about something.” Twilight hesitantly began, as she cantered over towards her friend.
“Huh? What about?” Rainbow Dash asked, shaken from her disappointment by Twilight's anxious approach.
“...You remember everything I said, when you guys found me earlier?” Twilight began, earning Chrysalis' attention, in addition to Rainbow Dash's.
“...Yeah?” Rainbow Dash confirmed.
“I...actually, I was attacked earlier, Dash.” Twilight admitted.
“What?!” Rainbow Dash blurted out.
“Chrysalis' mother-” Twilight began.
“I knew it!” The pegasus exclaimed, before pointing a hoof towards the bemused Changeling Queen “I knew you-”
“Dash! Chrysalis had nothing to do with it!” Twilight shouted, preventing Rainbow Dash from gaining any momentum.
It seemed to work, as Rainbow Dash paused mid-accusation, before glancing between Chrysalis and Twilight “...Uh, seriously?”
“Seriously, Dash...Manti, that's Chrysalis' mother, attacked me on her own. Against Chrysalis' wishes.” Twilight elaborated for her friend.
“Oh...so, I mean...are you sure about that?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she eyed the Changeling Queen.
“Pretty sure.” Twilight confirmed “Manti was trying to sabotage things, because she disagreed with what Chrysalis wanted to do. I'm fairly certain of that.”
“Well, wait, if Chrysalis didn't want you to get attacked, how could it have happened, unless she let it happen? I mean, this is her place, right?” Rainbow Dash pointed out, still reluctant to give in.
“Well, Chrysalis was keeping an eye on me if you recall, Dash.” Twilight pointed out “Right up until she became...distracted.”
“Distracted? What could have distracted her from protecting you from her crazy mom?” The pegasus asked.
“Uhm, well...” Twilight hesitated, before glancing towards her friend pointedly.
“...Oh.” Rainbow Dash said, as she realized what Twilight may have been getting at.
“Indeed.” Blueblood quietly agreed.
For Chrysalis' part, the Changeling Queen seemed content to watch impassively from the sideline.
“Listen, I'm really sorry for misleading you, Dash. I wasn't really in my right mind and I was worried that-” Twilight began, in an apologetic tone.
“No, no...I get it.” Rainbow Dash interjected, waving her hoof to stop the purple princess from attempting to apologize. A moment later, she glanced towards the Changeling Queen, before focusing back on Twilight “So...she really is on the up-and-up then?”
“...Yes, I think so.” Twilight confirmed.
“And when she was rushing to find you earlier, she was trying to protect you, I guess?” Rainbow Dash slowly ventured.
“That would appear to be the case, Lady Rainbow Dash.” Blueblood answered for Twilight.
"Huh." After hearing that, Rainbow Dash turned her gaze towards the floor "Sorry about that, Twi...”
“S-sorry? Sorry for what, Dash?” Twilight asked, genuinely thrown by her friend trying to apologize to her, rather than the other way around.
“I-...guess that means I've been-...” Rainbow Dash tried to begin, before glancing towards the two twins still hovering behind Chrysalis “...I know I've been making this a lot harder than it needed to be, Twi. I just-...”
“Dash...” Twilight called, as she cantered alongside her friend “I know you were just trying to protect me.”
“Well, yeah, but-” Rainbow Dash began.
“I mean, I was pretty worried about Chrysalis trying something too.” Twilight admitted, to which the Changeling Queen only raised an eyebrow without comment “And, I'm glad that you were willing to go so far to protect me...And I really should have trusted you more with the truth earlier. So, I'm the one that's sorry, Dash.”
“Eh...it was probably the right call...if you had told me then, I probably would have socked that old prune in the jaw.” Rainbow Dash admitted with a chuckle.
“That...that could have could have caused some problems, I'll admit.” Twilight conceded with a smile.
“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash chuckled as she stood up, before hesitantly glancing towards Chrysalis once more.
Swallowing down a bit of anxiety, Rainbow Dash found herself fidgeting a bit, as she considered the Changeling Queen “Right, so...I-”
“You can have the book, if you'll spare me this conversation.” Chrysalis interjected, as she held up a hoof to forestall the pegasus' words.
“Uhm, w-what? Really?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she took a moment to process the Changeling Queen's words.
“Yes.” Chrysalis simply answered.
“...Ok. Cool, I guess.” Rainbow Dash agreed after a couple of moments thought.
“Marvelous.” Chrysalis said in a bland tone, before her magical aura pushed the Daring Do novel back towards the pegasus.
Twilight had to stare a bit, as Chrysalis handily avoided a potentially conciliatory conversation with her friend so easily. For a moment there, the princess had hoped that the two might have been ready to come to some sort of mutual understanding with one another...
“Huh.” Rainbow Dash said aloud, as she collected her book, before shrugging “Well, that was easier than I thought it was gonna be.”
I think they did, Twi. The fastest way to 's heart is through Daring Do.
Hug her
oh god i just love those references especially blueblood and That dragon book
Uhm, this story is now going down the route of 'the cherngelerngs are super-cultured and brilliant and ponies are backwoods hicks... but somehow Chrysalis was momentarily stricken with complete brain death which is how she managed to lose in "Canterlot Wedding" despite being a super-genius'.
Seriously, the library with all the books of everything... kinda shattering internal plausibility there.
Also, dragons don't even show any trace of a higher culture in the show. They're migratory and when not migrating seem pretty much solitary as adults. The notion that these same dragons wrote a book doesn't make sense.
It's becoming a case where the changelings and other races are being artificially propped up by headcannon-based exaggeration of their accomplishments while the ponies are gradually dragged down.
See, that right there is what I mean. Re-watch "Canterlot Wedding" part 2. What exactly about the changelings in there was NOT violent and monstrous? And this is coming off the fact that Manti clearly IS a violent monster! And given that she was the queen... given the snippet of their history and how they lived... this sudden reversal severely conflicts. We have two very harshly contrasting pictures of the changelings within the story, and BOTH are being presented by the changelings themselves.
The story is clearly 'pro-changeling', but it's not presenting and legitimate reasons for us to like them. Instead, we're being inundated with artificial details intended to them look better, even when those details are rather dripping with incredulity.
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The author did over-sell it a bit, but Chrysalis isn't really that smart in this series (otherwise she would have done a much better job preventing her mother from attacking Twilight or at many of the other things she's managed to blunder her way through in this) if a bit smarter than canon and the Changelings aren't that cultured. They use the library more than Ponyville but Ponyville is a backwater hick town by pony standards, not just Changeling. The Changelings have a huge library, but they stole rather than wrote most of the books and it's the national library, not the town library or even the city library. They just have the one, where ponies have one in every town and city.
5098378 I'm sorry if that's how it came off. I was actually trying to go for more the route that the changelings are simply grabbing up books without any particular intent. Twilight noticed those unusual cases, the Diamond Dog and Draconic books, because they were unusual. They aren't particular, grabbing up everything from basket weaving handbooks to the popular works of literature that would see a lot of reprinting. And they've been snagging them up in fairly large numbers for around a thousand years.
And actually, the changelings, as I'm trying to portray them, are not super-cultured or exceptionally intelligent. I intended on bringing in these points in the next chapter or as a blog post expanding on it, but for one thing, Twilight didn't see any changeling literature in the library. If anything the changelings are culturally and creatively stagnated by their enforced isolation. They fear trying to write anything of their own for the fear that it might get out and reveal them. They focus so much on the seeing to practical issues, that they have an almost casual disregard for artistic endeavors. Probos, who is in reality possessed with a creative drive, has the only outlet for that talent being tunnel-building.
Ponies have as many different jobs and paths available to them as there are different needs and talents. For changelings, it's builder, guard, caretaker, scribe, scouts and infiltrators, with a few more outliers here and there. Changelings don't have the freedom to do anything unnecessary, so they disregard things outside of necessity out of hand.
They are paranoid, fearful, and for the most part fairly ignorant of pony society, to the point where they can't even realize how off their perceptions are.
Even when it comes to fighting most changelings, in my mind, are terrible at it. Outside of ambush tactics and similar strategies, which is essentially what the whole Invasion was, they are not only lacking in experience but are psychologically ill-equipped for physical confrontations. Changelings, as I'm portraying them, are extremely risk-averse. So much so that most changelings don't even know their full-capabilities, because they are afraid to waste energy trying to practice those skills. They rarely do anything that they don't know works.
As far as Chrysalis goes, I am writing her as being fairly intelligent. In my stories, she's been around for a thousand years, and before that was specifically raised to serve as a leader to the changelings. And she is also deeply screwed up, with a number of crippling emotional issues regularly compromising her own morals and good judgment. And it bears mentioning that she was defeated at the Canterlot Invasion by what amounted to Deus Ex Machina. Not to say that I didn't enjoy the episodes immensely, but up until the love-bubble popped up, she did have the heroes basically dead to rights.
And much of my characterization for Chrysalis was spawned from the question of why she didn't slay Celestia when she had the change...in-universe. We all know the show wouldn't have had her kill anyone. And I'd love to go more into my reasoning for her characterization, but I suspect this response is going to be quite long as it is.
As far as the dragons thing goes, they have, explicitly, been shown to be sapient in the show. We have seen the not particularly bright snoring dragon, the extremely violent and territorial dragon, and we've seen the pack of 'teenage' dragons, who while not particularly bright weren't really gaping morons either.
And let us not discount the greatest dragon outlier of them all, Spike. And while he was raised by Celestia and Twilight, demonstrates that dragons are perfectly capable of above average intelligence and eloquence. And that's as a baby.
It doesn't seem too far-fetched that one or two dragons in the history of the setting would have picked up writing as a hobby.
As for any other perceived propping up of the changelings, I would point out that most of these instances were from Twilight's perspective. Rainbow Dash has spent most of the story not being particularly impressed by the changelings, Pinkie Pie is treating them like she treats everyone else, and Blueblood has mostly been keeping his thoughts to himself.
Twilight, is an enthusiastically curious individual, to put it mildly. And many times in the show we have seen her become absolutely fascinated with things that most other characters don't pay much mind to. She's going to be excited about every little thing she finds out about a race that was believed to be folklore until recently, and has not yet had an opportunity to see their faults.
Well, that was a pile of text. But I do hope that I've provided some sense to some of my writing choices here, and I hope it helps your opinion of the story.
EDIT: As to the line about the Changelings not being "Violent Monsters" how many ponies did we see get seriously hurt, during the invasion? Again, I know it's a kids show, but that's part of what I'm trying to reconcile with my version of the changelings. We see a couple of guards tied up with ropes, ponies running away, and the mane6 subdued without much roughing up.
And Twilight explicitly acknowledges that Manti is terrible, and even Chrysalis hasn't been able to really argue against those claims. We've also seen Princess Luna go nuts and try to end the world. We've seen King Sombra as well, one of the most evil characters in the show, who seemed to be a pony. One possessed with dark magic and a twisted appearance, but a pony.
Manti is an example of a bygone era, she ruled over a thousand years ago. In the time since then Chrysalis has been ruling, and while she started out not much better than Manti, she has spent a lot of those thousand years being influenced by Celestia. Subsequently, most of her changelings have been indirectly influenced as well, seeing the wildly differing perspectives between typical changelings and the bitter Manti.
And as ForSpite has pointed out, I don't think I've over-done it with Chrysalis' protrayal. She is quite smart in some ways, quite foolish in others. Much like most characters.
EDIT. EDIT: One more point, I'm probably still going to be editing this latest chapter a bit over the couple of days. Correcting errors and possibly changing the wording at different points, as well. There are probably going to be a few points where I go "Hm, I should tone that back a bit or show a more neutral outlook on the changelings".
This is not because I'm trying to skimp on quality, but because it's basically finished and I hate keeping readers waiting. So, I tend to post my chapters, knowing that I'm going to be doing some minor editing after the fact.
5098544 But that's what's implied by the changelings seeming to go out of their way to get so many books, even going so far as to get the latest "Daring Do" weeks before its release date.
Why would they do that unless books were important to them? Or at the very least, useful in gathering information on the societies they invade. But in that case, what would then be the point in hanging onto ancient books whose subjects were irrelevant to their needs as infiltrators? No civilization collects literature unless it's a central part of their culture.
The gigantic library comes across as an entirely arbitrary detail out of place with changeling culture, completely pointless for the changelings to have made in the first place.
The point of the dragons is that if only 'one or two' became 'civilized' enough to write is that they'd have adopted equine or another already-existing written language. It would not have made sense for these handful of dragons to write in a language they made up themselves when neither the other 'uncultured' dragons nor any of the other races would be able to read what they wrote.
5098612 Actually, one of the reasons they do collect so many book is because they often use them as a way to study other races. i think I made a point of mentioning that in the previous chapter.
Also, it bears keeping in mind...the changelings don't have a lot to do when they're not working in the hive. They are too fearful to spend much time outside. They don't exactly have a lot of pets. Gathering material for artistic pursuits is difficult for them, as is acquiring large amounts of any kind of material. The changelings have almost no industrial capacity, so they don't have any finer crafts to make their lives more pleasant. They don't have many celebrations, to avoid wasting their resources. They very little need for food stuffs, so there is not a lot of point to cooking good food for themselves.
Books are fairly easy to transport, and can be acquired without raising much suspicion and they keep pretty easily, in their cool dry tunnels.
They basically have singing, storytelling and reading as things to do when they aren't working. And at least with reading, they can view it as being a productive use of their time as well, learning about the other races. I mean, they have a fairly substantial 'Romance' section or a reason, and it's not because they are especially enamored with love stories.
So, yes, for Chrysalis' swarm at least, the library is kind of big thing to them.
As far as the dragons things goes, we have very little to actually go on as far as dragons go. We've seen three major instances of dragons in the show, aside from Spike. There is very little actual 'canon' as for as dragons are concerned. They are apparently sapient, they like hoarding things and have some sort of society...Pretty much anything else we can say about them is extrapolation and speculation. So, yes, I am expanding them a bit, and filling in the gaps with some of my own ideas. Which is kind of what a lot of fanfiction does.
5098683 I am very leery of introducing rather massive amounts of headcanon into any source material when the information given, even when limited, gives absolutely no indications of something being true.
We have seen dragons other than Spike 3 times, the 3rd time showing us quite a large number of them and the gist of their activities during their migration; and through all that there is no trace of culture or organized society, rather the opposite in fact.
We could say that the minotaurs have society given that Iron Will is clearly a business person, and thus it's plausible that minotaurs as a whole are civilized.
5098724 I don't really know what to tell you then. We seem to both agree that there is very little concrete canon information to go on for dragons, but that's about it. I would argue that we can see evidence of society amongst the dragons; the migration it self for example, as well as the 'teenage' dragons activities. But, it might just be that you see one thing, and I see another. Which is fine.
I enjoy world-building, making the setting feel fuller and more alive, and I often get future story ideas from doing that. I've offered my reasoning for most of my writing decisions here, and I plan on taking what you've said into consideration. But as far as the dragon thing goes, I think this is simply where we diverge on personal preference.
Now, I do plan on going over this latest chapter a couple of more times, fine-tuning things. And if there are some particular lines that you feel need my attention, by all means, list them.
That really goes for everyone here.
There are some things I'm not budging on, or at least, I won't be budging a lot on. Others I'd be happy to tweak.
You are a great writer.
You made me like Blueblood in this story. ( and it is a big thing because I realy hate him)
Keep up the good work.
Hah! Discretion is the better part of valor, you know.
I'm not particularly bothered by the amount of civilization we're seeing out of the changelings, because on the whole we really aren't seeing that much. It's not like the library was full of great works of fiction and non-fiction written by changelings, after all, what it was full of is simply what they've stolen over time.
5102368 Indeed, as I mentioned in that wall of text from earlier, the changelings are culturally and creatively stagnated as a result of their isolation and their intense prioritizing of necessity over frivolity. The library, while large, contains mostly just written works they've acquired from others. Their society is mostly centered around secrecy and pragmatism, and not much else.
The changelings do have an oral tradition, for their stories and history, but their pretty paranoid about writing anything down.
5098750 Migration is hardly evidence of society.
Monarch butterflies migrate. As do many many other non-sapient animals.
It's my training in science showing. I need to see solid evidence of a claim that cannot be explained by something far simpler and which does not conflict with existing fact.
5103640 Eh, as I said, we already see plenty evidence of dragon sapience, as well as examples that show that dragons can be just as civilized as the other races in the series. The teenage dragons actually went about hazing Spike in the dragon migration episode, and actually seemed concerned with a form of social hierarchy. I am not suggesting that dragons are particularly cultured, or that their ways jive well with other species, but there aren't any indications that they are particularly barbaric either. They do interact with one another to some degree.
Really, canon seems to be undecided on the issue. And I've decided to write my stories with dragons falling on one side of that issue, while you seeming to prefer the other side.
A lot of fanfiction is about filling in the holes in a fictional work's world. Expanding on parts of the world and characters we don't get to see in the canon material. I choose to envision the dragons having their own, very different, society, because I find that more interesting. I enjoy thinking about those things, and others seem to enjoy reading my ideas. I don't know if people will enjoy all of my ideas on dragons if I choose to write more about dragons in MLP:FIM, but I still might share them, if I have an interesting story idea to show them in.
I think I've already explained my own reasoning for why I don't think the ideas I've already presented conflict with the canon material, and you're free to disagree with it. But if we were to go with the simplest explanations for everything we see in this show that we all presumably enjoy, I imagine our collective fanfiction would be pretty boring.
Simple explanations work great when you're looking for solutions to a problem or trying to understand the world. On the other hand, keeping things simple doesn't really make for interesting stories and settings.
So, I'm taking the creative licenses I'm afforded to make things interesting.
5103758 Well, when I do expand an idea in a given world, I tend to make sure it doesn't stretch plausibility too greatly.
For an extreme example, I think we would both agree that claiming the dragons have a gigantic space ship empire orbiting Equestria with a God Dragon ruling over it is somehow possible in the canon FiM world would be patently absurd.
Now, your story might reasonably suggest that the dragons did have a more advanced society long ago, but somehow greed took over so much of their nature that all their higher qualities degenerated, and now most adult dragons were hoarding, selfish beasts who all eventually lose much of the intelligence they still display during adolescence.
We can postulate this because the red dragon's speech and mannerisms were quite child-like, and the green one almost entirely bestial. The teenage dragons certainly did show human-like intelligence for the most part... however, NONE of the adult dragons around them did.
One can reasonably use these facts to make the case for maturity-related cognitive decline in the dragon species.
One might compare it to the sort of 'de-evolution' of tunicates as they mature and lose the 'advanced' physical characteristics of cephalization and notochord formation they display in larval stages.
In contrast to two very commonly used fanon tropes, we can reasonably conclude that the griffons and minotaurs are not, and likely have not been, at any way in conflict with Equestria for quite some time given that the appearance of both species in Ponyville did not result in a terrified stampede or at the very least fearful glances. Given the ponies' propensity for persistent paranoia, had they been at war with either species within living memory, there would certainly still be a lingering dread.
With ponies, one can say accurately that familiarity breeds complacency. Since Gilda hardly turned any ponies' heads, and Iron Will only attracted attention because of his business, we can assume there is no significant contrition between any of those 3 species.
The same cannot be said for poor Zecora. But in her case, it was quickly cleared up in the episode that the vast majority of the town didn't even know of her species at all.
Note that this does NOT preclude an ancient war with either griffons or minotaurs; either so long ago most have forgotten it ever took place, or several hundred years ago and once over with, so much effort went into befriending them that the idea of ever going to war with each other again is instantly regarded as preposterous.
Look how quickly this happened between the United States, Britain, Germany, and Japan.
I like to tweak the canon where facts are completely lacking, such as the origin of the changelings. That's something completely open-ended... to a point! Any hypothetical origin must take into account that none of the ponies, not even Celestia and Luna, seemed to know of them before the wedding.
And so, in crafting an idea for a hypothetical, I must take into account both what facts are given, and the more difficult task of determining what is NOT given. There is as much importance in knowing what's missing as what's present. Sometimes those missing elements provide the best evidence of all! For instance, I used missing elements to guess with 100% accuracy the entire story to "Gone Girl" with nothing but the preview and a few first act pieces of information. I did something similar years ago in high school to decipher the crafty trick Camus pulled on his readers in his book "L'Etranger". The title is the single biggest clue in that case.
Anyway, it's my science training again! That's a bit of a summary of how I analyze things. I dissect everything into factoids and examine them to put together a 'big picture' from which I can draw conclusions, even in those times when my primary goal is simply to troll! I'm like... Troll Mr. Spock or something.
5103996 And that's all fine by me. I'm not suggesting that dragons have ever had a particularly advanced society, or one that isn't based on greed and violence. But, I mean even if the first episode featuring a dragon other than Spike, Celestia seemed to not consider it too much to ask of Twilight and her friends to go and ask a sleeping dragon to move. Which does suggest that Celestia at least expected them to be able to reason with the dragon without much issue.
I don't really have the time to go into detail on some of my ideas, which, as you might have guessed, I would love to discuss and refine. But it doesn't seem like it stretches things too far to believe that dragons have a reasonable range of intelligence, depending on how one goes about raising them.
As far as the adult dragons at the dragon migration, we can't really say much about their intelligence apart from the fact that they keeping maybe half-an-eye on the younger dragons, but were otherwise content to lounge about.
I even made a point of showing that Twilight was flatly surprised at the prospect of a dragon writing anything down other than a warning sign to other dragons.
But, like I said, I don't have the time right now to discuss any dragon ideas further right now, though I certainly wouldn't mind doing so with you, when I have more time.
5104898 To be fair, Celestia and Luna did kinda throw them at Sombra too. And he had dark evil smoke powers and mind-warping doorways!
Aaaaaand, Celestia also kinda released Discord and was like, "Lol yeah, I need his powers for... something... eventually. Anyway, you guys handle it, I'm busy with meetings... in the Bahamas.. trololo!" and flew off.
So Celestia's record has unfortunately leaned to the side of her just tossing the Mane 6 at every problem that comes up, regardless of their expertise.
Which I attribute to severely truncated story-time having to omit common sense to fit the whole plot into a single episode. It's why I wish they'd expand stories for the show when the plot clearly needs it to prevent plot holes and lapses in basic common knowledge.
5106608 Mm, a lot of those strange narrative choices are things I'm trying to address with my writing as well.
As a viewer of the show, I know they choose certain paths to take based on their ability to fit their story within the show's runtime, or they go a certain way because, hey, it's still a kid's show and there are some things they would be able to get away with. And sometimes they dispense with common sense for the sake of actually having an episode. I mean some episodes could mostly be ended the moment somepony went "Hey, wait a minute..."
It makes for an interesting challenge reconciling these moments with common sense.
Might be my personal feelings on the matter blindsiding me, but honestly, I could see this Blueblood work out with Twilight as well as Rainbow Dash. Which is amusing, seeing as how little they've actually interacted as of now. I don't know, maybe it's the potential for sexual and romantic tension that this version of Blueblood could create that makes it such an attractive option; this Blueblood is smart enough and a smartass enough to engage in some serious snark-to-snark combat with Rainbow, nevermind that his more cautious approach complements her own brash nature well.
Also, this:derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/8/31/711702__safe_rainbow+dash_shipping_straight_prince+blueblood_annoyed_ear+bite_artist-colon-silcy_bluedash.jpeg
5106928 Well, I was thinking about future stories in my continuity involving Twilight admitting to some uncertainty with dating Blueblood. Who knows what's in the cards?
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No one died.
Now I love your Twilight too, she's willing to look past what happened during the invasion both in terms of changelings as a whole and Chryssie.
Yes, a library, the ultimate Twilight pacifier.
L-library, not organized......
i think i read somewhere that "Princess Purple Prose" is actually a pen name for...Prince Blueblood!
they ever let down there guard <--their