Chapter 6 - The Princess and the Queen
Flitter
Chapter Six
The Princess and the Queen
Princess Celestia immediately stopped and turned. "About you?" she asked, sharply. "How so?"
Flitter froze. The Princess had been pleasant and understanding in the Library, but the news about the changeling army had changed her demeanor completely. She was quite scary when she was serious.
"Um, you see..." he said, hesitantly. "We visited the Hive, and told the Queen about the events in Canterlot. She was rather upset about it."
"She didn't want him to leave," Morning Rain explained. "She said it was too dangerous out here, if changelings are seen as enemies."
The Princess frowned. "And now there's an army at her doorstep. She must think you betrayed her."
Flitter nodded. "Or at least, got the information tortured out of us."
Celestia looked baffled. "Tortured? I would never..."
"Oh, I know!" Flitter said hastily. "But she doesn't, you see."
Twilight Sparkle looked at Celestia. "Surely this can all be solved by making the Guards leave?"
Celestia shook her head. "It's not that simple, Twilight. The presence of the Hive there is an issue, no matter how we look at it. I won't lie to my ponies to protect these creatures, nor do I have any reason to."
She glanced at Twilight's notes, which still floated beside her. "Well, they might not mean us harm... but even so, they're scared, and might lash out. Simply breaking up the encampment won't solve that... not now we know they're here. It'll probably just serve to make them suspicious about why they'd leave. For all they know, the Royal Guard might just be regrouping with a larger force to do something else, like surrounding the whole forest. Making them paranoid won't do us much good right now."
"The forest is far too large for that," Twilight said. She looked at the Princess, whose face didn't reveal any emotion. "Right?" she added, hesitantly.
"This is just the Royal Guard," Celestia said. "It's not even a tenth of the full Equestrian Guard. Luna is waiting in Canterlot, ready to move in the full force if necessary. If the situation called for it, we could destroy them all within a day."
Twilight, Morning Rain and Flitter all gave her a horrified look. "You... wouldn't, would you?" Morning Rain asked.
The Princess gave them a sad smile. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Without saying another word, she turned back to the road and walked on, reading on in Twilight's notes.
The others quickly followed behind her, realizing fully well that yes, she would. She wouldn't allow any outside force to hurt her little ponies.
* * *
A short walk later, the group reached the camp. The rest of Twilight's friends had already gathered there.
"Oh, Twilight!" Fluttershy said, running towards them. She skidded to a halt when she noticed the changeling. "Oh," she said, simply, apparently completely unsure what to make of to Flitter's presence.
Rainbow Dash had no such problem. "Haha! You captured one! Go Princess!"
The Princess gave a nearby guard captain a stern look. "Captain Steel Sword. I hope you followed my instructions strictly?"
The unicorn stood to attention. "Yes, Princess! We managed to do the identity check without upsetting Fluttershy."
Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. "And the rabbit?"
"Unharmed, Princess." Steel Sword slumped down a bit. "I wish I could say the same about the poor fellow who ran into him."
Celestia smirked. "I did warn you to let Fluttershy handle him."
"But... Princess, she really didn't look the type to—"
Celestia raised a hoof to cut him off. "No permanent damage, I hope?"
"The doctor said he'll need a few days to recover. I've never seen anything like—"
Celestia shook her head. "He brought it upon himself." She looked at the forest. "So what's happening, Captain?"
Steel Sword looked at the edge of the forest. "More changelings seem to be appearing all the time. At first, it was one large group, but now, more and more seem to trickle in."
"She's called everyone back," Flitter said.
Steel Sword frowned when the one Rainbow Dash so brashly identified as a prisoner cut into the conversation. He glanced at the Princess, who just seemed to take the changeling's statement with a pensive look. He wisely decided to follow her example.
"The Queen?" Celestia asked.
Flitter nodded. "I gave her twenty years of love, you see," he continued. "Everything I'd gathered during my marriage. She said she'd use it to call her people back, and wait it all out. You forced her hoof."
"What?" Twilight Sparkle said, looking slightly pale. "That must be hundreds of times stronger than what the one in Canterlot had!"
The Princess gave the two a concerned look. "That's... distressing news. I had no idea the situation was that delicate. She could take on the entire Royal Guard with that amount of power."
Flitter blinked. He had never even considered the possibility that Morphosai would use that power for attacking ponies. It would go against everything the Old Way stood for. Then again, so did the Hive's current show of force.
Celestia looked at the forest in the distance. "We need to send a diplomat to meet her."
"Can't say I didn't see that coming," Flitter said. "Right. I'll go calm her down."
"No, not you," Celestia said. She looked at Morning Rain, and smiled. "You."
Flitter and Morning Rain briefly looked each other in the eyes, before giving Celestia a baffled look.
"Her?" Flitter blurted out.
"Me?" Morning Rain asked, at exactly the same time.
"You have met this Queen, haven't you?" Celestia asked Morning Rain.
"W-well, yes," Morning Rain stammered, "b-but she just seemed to see me as, well, Flitter's convenient permanent food source, or something."
"Why not me?" Flitter insisted.
"I don't want to risk separating you two. That's why she's going alone, while you stay here."
The whole group, including the Captain, gave her a confused frown.
"I'm not sure the Queen would let you go a second time, Flitter," Celestia explained. "Especially after you managed to get the whole Royal Guard after you. But she has no attachment to Morning Rain, nor any reason to keep her from you."
"Except for the whole potential betrayal thing," Flitter muttered.
"I'm sure she can clear that up," Celestia said. "Besides, I can hardly send the Queen one of her own subjects as ambassador for ponykind."
Morning Rain nervously looked at Celestia. "But what should I say? She's quite intimidating!"
Princess Celestia smiled at her. "Just tell her this is all a misunderstanding, and that I want to talk to her personally. Explain the whole situation if you need to; I'm not planning on keeping any secrets."
"Uh, excuse me, Princess," Steel Sword asked, "but what exactly is the situation?"
"They're not enemies, Captain," Celestia said. "They're just defending their territory."
"With all due respect, your majesty, this is Equestrian territory, and they're changelings!" Steel Sword said, straightening his chest.
Flitter groaned. "Is everypony going to keep saying that as if it's a real argument?"
"I'm a dragon!" Spike piped up, trying to be helpful.
Celestia didn't say anything. She tilted her head slightly, and looked at Steel Sword expectingly.
The captain slumped down. "Oh. Sorry."
"As I was saying," Celestia said, "they're not the enemy, and if what Flitter has told Twilight is true, they probably bear us no ill will." She looked at the forest. "Besides, I haven't laid any particular claim on this place for about a thousand years. I should hardly be surprised someone else did."
"So, wait," Steel Sword asked, glancing at Flitter. "Is the changeling male or female?"
* * *
After successfully performing her first act as diplomat, which was apparently preventing Flitter from starting the whole war right away by throttling Captain Steel Sword, Morning Rain nervously walked out into the No Pony's Land that had spontaneously been formed between the Everfree Forest and the Royal Guard.
"Don't worry," Flitter called after her. "They'll remember you."
Hundreds of blue eyes watched her every move as she walked closer to the forest. More and more of the changelings started hissing as she came too close to their territory.
She briefly considered glancing back, but decided against it. She was on their territory now, and any inattentiveness could be seen as weakness.
Be strong, she thought as she walked on. Finally, she reached the path leading into the Everfree Forest. She didn't have Flitter to guide her this time, though, and had no way to know where Queen Morphosai was. She had hoped the changelings would bring her there, but all they seemed to do was hiss.
As Morning Rain walked deeper into the forest, she noticed a change in the atmosphere around her. A few chittering voices seemed to break through the suffocating blanket of angry hissing. More and more seemed to join the excited babble, leaving the few hissing ones to fade out in confusion.
Suddenly, about half a dozen copies of herself popped out of the bushes, and greeted her with her own best smile.
Morning Rain let out a relieved sigh as the copies started excitedly pushing and pulling her in one direction. Flitter had been right; they remembered her. They'd seen her in their hive, they had read her aura and mimicked her form, and had even tasted her emotions. They hadn't forgotten about her.
"Come!" one of them said in her voice, apparently having picked up the basics of pony speech from her mind. "Come to Mother!"
Morning Rain nodded, and followed them. 'Mother' seemed like an odd word for the Queen, but she remembered Morphosai referring to herself as "Queen and Mother" of the Hive. Flitter never used the word to refer to her, though. Morning Rain could see why, especially after that... intimate affair. The very thought of mating with one you call a Mother felt pretty wrong to ponies.
They found the changeling Queen sitting in a tree, peering through the canopy at the army of pony guards. She gracefully flew down, her insect wings buzzing loudly as she descended. She looked at the copies around Morning Rain.
"My changelings seem to like you," she said, without looking at her guest. The Queen's voice sounded oddly distant, and Morning Rain could see that below her usual smooth demeanor, she was nervous. Morning Rain looked at the majestic figure, unsure what to say.
Morphosai let out a tired sigh, and turned towards her. "So. One little pony, coming here all alone. They took him, did they not? They took him, and now they are coming for the rest of us. But why are you here?"
"Your Highness," Morning Rain said. "It's not like that. It's all one big misunderstan—"
"Why is he not here, then?" Morphosai cut her off. The Queen's voice sounded stressed.
Morning Rain was starting to lose what little courage she had. "The Princess thought it would be better if I went," she said, fully realizing that that would do nothing to alleviate Morphosai's fears.
"Did he tell them about us? Did you tell them about us?"
"No!" Morning Rain cried out. "We didn't tell them anything about the Hive! Well, Twilight figured it out on her own, but—"
"But what?" Morphosai asked immediately, her face moving right in front of Morning's in a fluid, almost snakelike movement. "There is an army right outside the forest! What 'but' could change that fact?"
"She wasn't even surprised about it," Morning Rain said, trying her best to keep her voice steady. "To us ponies, the Everfree stands for everything wild, untamed, and dangerous."
"That still changes nothing," Morphosai said, bitterness in her voice.
"Your Highness, if you would let me finish, it changes everything!" Morning Rain yelled in desperation. Morphosai blinked, clearly not used to being called out on her way to keep control of a conversation. She sighed, and gave Morning Rain a short nod.
"Twilight Sparkle is the Princess' personal protégée," Morning Rain said, finally regaining some of her courage. "And she didn't just figure out where you are, she also found out where the invading hive came from. They know it wasn't you, and Flitter told her about your Old Ways. Nopony still sees you as an enemy. The Princess even wants to talk with you."
"Explain the army, then," Morphosai said, coldly.
"The Princess didn't know what Twilight Sparkle found out," Morning Rain said. "Somepony overreacted and alerted the Princess when Flitter showed up, she overreacted and sent her guards, and then you overreacted and sent out your hive."
A look of doubt broke through Morphosai's facade of control. "But... why are they still there, then?"
"Well... one of the reasons is Flitter's gift," Morning Rain said. "You may not be an enemy, but you're definitely dangerous. You have far more power than that invading Queen had. They're afraid that you could do the same as her, and actually succeed. That's what the Princess wants to talk about."
Morphosai's eyes widened. Like Flitter, she hadn't even considered that particular application of her power. She looked at Morning Rain, and this time it wasn't the look of a majestic Queen, or even the kind grandmotherly look she had in the Hive. She just looked old, and tired. "That power was his gift to the Hive. Power he got from you... from being with you. I would not use it to hurt ponies." She slowly shook her head. "It goes against everything the Old Ways stand for."
Morning Rain gave her a nervous smile. "That may be part of the problem, actually. The way I see it, your Old Ways are mostly meant to prevent ponies from realizing there are changelings. But everypony knows about them now."
Morphosai nodded. "You are right. This changes a lot. I will go with you, to meet your Princess."
Morning Rain frowned. "You'd just... come out there? To her army?"
The changeling Queen smirked, suddenly looking completely like her old smooth regal self again. "The gift Flitter brought me apparently puts me at a huge advantage. It would be unfair to ask her to come meet me here."
* * *
"She's coming out!" Steel Sword shouted. Flitter immediately flew a bit higher to look over the guards, and saw Morning Rain emerge from the forest, followed by...
Another Morning Rain. And another, and another. The guard captain blinked. "Um. Never mind. I think."
Flitter landed next to him and smiled. "She's in there all right. Can't miss her. She's the only one not grinning like she just opened her Hearth's Warming Eve presents."
The real Morning Rain waved a hoof. She looked tired, but relieved. Behind her, the majestic figure of Queen Morphosai walked out of the woods. She gave a short buzzing command to the Morning Rain copies, which made them all promptly move back into the woods.
Princess Celestia gave the captain a short nod. Steel Sword nodded back, and stepped forward to perform the identity spell on Morning Rain. Flitter considered telling him not to bother, but he knew they'd ignore him and do it anyway.
Steel Sword performed the spell, and gave a short nod at the Princess to confirm the result. Morning Rain ran towards Flitter, and hugged him.
"Everything all right?" Flitter asked.
"That depends on them, I guess," Morning Rain said, looking at the two royals, now looking eye to eye.
"We have much to discuss," Morphosai said to Celestia. She looked around to the army of Royal Guards. "But I would prefer somewhere more... private."
Celestia nodded. "Very well," she said. She pointed a wing at a nearby tent set up by the Royal Guard. "Will that do?"
Morphosai nodded. "Yes, it will."
Flitter and Morning Rain looked at the two rulers as they walked into the tent.
"Do you think they'll work it out?" Flitter asked.
"How would I know?" Morning Rain said. "Morphosai is one of the most unfathomable persons I've ever met."
"She looked like she had some ideas to get out of this mess, though," Flitter said.
"Well, she didn't share them, if that's what you're asking."
Twilight joined the conversation. "It's diamond cut diamond with these two, it seems," she said. "Celestia can be quite cunning underneath her friendly appearance."
"Yeah. That makes two of them," Flitter said. He glanced at Twilight's friends, who were standing a bit further, looking quite unsure whether to join the conversation or not. "I suppose you told them the short version?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah." She glanced back at them. "It feels kinda wrong, though, knowing we're kept ready here as, well, a weapon."
"Well, at least they're talking," Morning Rain said. "I doubt we'll need the Elements for anything at this point."
"Yo," Rainbow Dash said, hovering above them. She looked at Flitter. "So, you're not a prisoner, then?"
"At this point, I honestly have no idea," Flitter said with a smirk.
"Oh my gosh!" Morning Rain said. "You did that sonic rainboom at the wedding, didn't you?"
Flitter rubbed his forehead with a hoof. "Seriously? Royals off to discuss the future of both our races, and then you notice Rainbow Dash is here?"
Morning Rain smiled. "Shush you," she said. "I went along to your Queen. Now it's my turn."
"That doesn't even..." Flitter started, before shaking his head. "Ah, forget it."
"Are you really a weather pony?" Morning Rain asked.
"Oh yeah!" Rainbow Dash replied. "Head weather manager of Ponyville!"
"Wow... a whole village! I just oversee the waterfalls in Canterlot."
Having found common ground, Morning Rain and Rainbow Dash started excitingly comparing notes on air humidity, cloud management, air speed velocity of local and foreign birds, and the specifics of sonic rainbooms, leaving Flitter bored out of his mind, and Twilight in an uncomfortable silence.
"Ugh. Weather pony talk," Flitter said to Twilight. "She can go on about that for hours." He looked at the tent. "I wonder what they're talking about."
Suddenly, Celestia's voice rang over the encampment, immediately stopping any and all conversations.
"You want what?!" she yelled.
Flitter winced. "Well, that doesn't sound good."
Morning Rain looked back to Flitter. "What do you suppose she wants?" she asked.
"Clearly something Celestia never expected."
Twilight looked at the tent, a pensive look on her face. "Still... it must be reasonable enough that her asking upsets the Princess."
"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Flitter said, pointing a hoof at the tent. The tent flaps were pulled aside with a glow of golden magic, and the Princess walked out, a tired look on her face.
"Go tell your people about this, Morphosai," she said to the changeling Queen following behind her. "We will continue this tomorrow."
Morphosai smiled somewhat smugly as she walked out of the tent. "I shall," she said. "Take good care of them." She gave a friendly nod to Flitter and Morning Rain, and flew into the forest.
Whatever the two royals had discussed in the tent, Celestia was clearly annoyed at the outcome.
"Captain Steel Sword!" she called out. The unicorn immediately galloped towards her.
"Your majesty?"
"Break up the camp. Send them all back, and tell my sister the situation is... handled." She clenched her teeth as she said the last word. "Keep a guard of four here, and leave the tent we used for the negotiations. I'll stay in the village for the night." The captain gave a short nod, and started barking orders to the guards.
Celestia walked towards Twilight and her friends. "Let's go to Sugarcube Corner," she said, with a tired look on her face. "I could really use some cake."
* * *
A while later, all of them were comfortably seated around a big table in the back room of Sugarcube Corner, each with some sort of pastry treat in front of them. Twilight had managed to talk Pinkie out of a "successful negotiations party". Judging from Celestia's mood, nopony was even sure how successful it had really been.
"So, what happened?" Twilight finally asked Celestia.
The Princess slumped down in a most un-princess-like fashion, and let her head rest on the table next to her plate of cake. "She gave me her hive," she said, nearly grumbling.
Flitter did a double take. "She what?" he yelled.
Celestia took a bite from her cake, chewed it thoroughly, and swallowed. "She gave me her hive," she repeated, this time sounding more mellow. "Her only condition was that she could stay as local regent."
Understanding dawned on Flitter's face. "Oooh!" To the others' surprise, he burst out laughing. "Haha! She gave you the hive! Of course!"
Morning Rain gave the Princess a baffled look. "So wait... you just annexed it? I don't think that's how negotiations like these should go!"
Twilight groaned as she realized what Flitter already had. "Oh. Of course. «Take good care of them» indeed. She wasn't just talking about Flitter and Morning Rain."
Celestia nodded, and regained some of her regal composure. "Congratulations, Flitter. You, and all your kin in the forest, are now officially Equestrian citizens."
Flitter grinned, and looked at Morning Rain. "Since the Old Ways were made obsolete, Queen Morphosai just found another way to keep her people alive." He looked at Celestia. "After all, it's the Princess' job to take care of her citizens. The hive's food supply and happiness are her problem now."
Celestia gave him a sad smile, and nodded. "She claimed that the Hive being in Equestrian territory would make them either illegal settlers, or Equestrian citizens."
"Ouch," Twilight said. "The 'illegal settlers' option would pretty much be a declaration of war."
"Indeed," Celestia said. "So it was either that, or bluntly telling a fellow sapient being, with good intentions and of equal intelligence, that she and all of her race were 'monsters'."
Twilight nodded, a pensive look on her face. "Check and mate," she said. The cupcake in front of her on the table was still untouched.
"That's going to be quite a change, for both the Hive and the ponies," Morning Rain said.
Flitter smiled to his wife. "Change is what we do best, you know."
Pinkie stuck out her tongue at him. "No it's not! You wouldn't even change into me!"
"I'm... not a particularly good example," Flitter admitted. "All things considered, I don't think too much will change for me, though."
Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Oh, don't be too sure about that," she said. "Your hive is a mountain of problems for me, and I need someone who can easily see both sides of these problems."
As Flitter's face fell, she calmly levitated up another piece of her cake, and ate it.
A smile crept around her mouth. "After all, as you said... this is all about you."
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The final chapter! After this, there will still be two epilogue chapters, each displaying a scene an unspecified (but quite guessable) time later, giving some insight into how the world and the characters are dealing with the fallout from all this
1626709
Hehehe, brilliant.
Also:
"...air speed velocity of local and foreign birds..."
African or European?
1626746
This story has very few direct references, but I totally couldn't resist that one
1626751
It was skillfully executed.
YESTESYEWTESTESTATEYEJAJDBTEYSYESYESYESUESASDDGASFLASSFDASDFASDFQWERTPASSWORDYESYESYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYYYYYYYY
She...annexed the Changelings...Morphosai brilliant brilliant...something you.
As far as plausible outcomes that aren't war...this one seems highly plausible. Kudos.
Can't wait for the epilogues...I'm betting one of them will be ~12 months later when Flitter's family grows a bit.
1626709
ARGH
I was totally writing a fic where a recalcitrant Chrysalis does that exact same thing!!!
I explained it as the changelings being lied to by Discord (no they aren't discorded flutterponies), and once arriving in equestria had no choice but to go through their plans after discovering the sentience of the Ponies...
But still. ARGH.
Also, sequel?
I can say this Chrysalis is going to be so jealous. O and you go queen Metamorphosai.
1626803 still Do it i'd like to see your version.
cheers
Nicely played, Morphosai, nicelly played.
Pony-bugs hybrid, with magic, wings and disguises.
That is a brilliant solution. With full legal rights no pony can touch them without being taken to court. Queen Morphosai is much smarter than Chrysalis.
1626803
Doubtful. This kinda already was a sequel, to the original short.
1626819
I just love coming up with unexpected and yet totally logical twists
1626709 Final chapter you say? Hm... something reeks of sequel.
Love the story but i have one problem with it. Didn't Flitter and Morning Rain get booted from Canterlot before the Sonic Rainboom??
1626824 *Heavily notes the* 'logical twists part' I like your way of thinking keep at your story's bro.
Ultra
yay, a story where diplomacy actually works! so rare.
Celestia, you vengeful bastard...
Oh, very well, this will be interesting.
wow! very good story
1626841
Yes. But chapter two shows that they saw the wedding fireworks, and the Sonic Rainboom, from where they ended up. The ravine was quite close to Canterlot (just, really far below), otherwise Morning would never have been able to actually catch Flitter.
1626877
...vengeful? huh?
1626709 Final?? Final???? No, it can't be!!!! I won't allow it!!!! You WILL write more to this!!!!
1626948
That's what the Epilogue chapters are for
Ooooooh. Well played, Morphosai. This just got infinitely more interesting... The implications of the effects on pony society fill me with amusement.
Ok, that was a great move for Queen Morphosai. It really shows how much she cares about her hive, and it made her character about ten times more interesting.
Oh... Wow. Flitter got totally screwed!
1626751
I just finished watching that movie again
1626709 Will the Crystal Ponies drown in Changelings?
1627112 Ain't no crystal pones here. This was all written out before S3 anyway.
Between all those "He's a changeling!", "Yes, what's your point?" and "I'm a dragon." lines I really missed a "Hi, I'm Pinky Pie, I'm a pony!".
I wonder if Cadence and Shining Armor will be pissed that the welcome-party for the hive will be bigger than their wedding.
And then all the other hives will also ask to join Equestria and after half a year of constant welcome-parties the economy will collapse.
Then Chrysalis hive will march and they'll be the cockroaches on the smoking ruins.
Literally.
Mah boi, this story is what all true writers strive for.
check and mate indeed, Celestia. Check and mate indeed.
1626746
Damn, you beat me to it
1626824
If not a sequel from you, would you be open to a collaborations with someone else, so that they'll stay true to your characters, even though they'd be supplying their own plot?
This changeling queen is *much* smarter than the other one. "Congrats Princess Celestia, now we need to look over some serious problems in your government, in particular the lack of minority representation in Parliament, the Royal Guard, and such."
1627205
I'm sorry... I don't really feel comfortable lending out my characters... also, as I said, there's the epilogue to consider, which shows a look into the rather far future.
After that... well, we'll see. I know I have the annoying tendency to keep thinking about my characters, so you never know. Heck, I never even expected to write this when publishing the original short story.
1627323
I know, I know. I'm just sayin that I'll miss this, 'cause it's so good
Hahah, i love that lovely little twist you put in there. A simple act, yet to use the virtue of a ruler to ensure safety of your people, is a marvelous act of statesmanship. Bravo in a right amazing twist there.
1627258
Facehoof for Red Tape.
Excellent end to a nice story. Quite a brilliant political move by Queen Morphosai. I wonder if this now makes the hive a new township?
1627258
Actually, seeing as changelings sense emotions, that may give them the ability to see through changeling disguises without needing spells... so adding some to the guard may be a smart move anyway
Did Morphasia just... troll Celestia... HARD???
Approval meter goes up by 20%
1626746 Unladen or laden?
And I think in this case... Equestrian or Zebraican.
You really must show Chrysalis's reaction to all this.
1627396
Zebrican or Equestrian indeed
1627408 Seen this?
1627432
Oooh, that is just absolutely perfect
Awwwww... the final chapter? That kinda makes me sad... I was really enjoying looking forward to updates on this story, then reading it... and then having to wait for the next update... sigh. Well... I'll be looking out for more works... I've had a recent "gimme changeling stories!" binge and this has been a rather good one so I'm sorry to see it end.
You know, that move (of Metamorphsi') was actually quite brilliant... They Had a WWI (like) scenario going on there and the two successfully defused it. She reminds me of Bismark just a little!
Very nice chapter good sir, here's a stache.
I am somewhat saddened that this is the end - if you don't count the epilogue(s)...
1627519
Still two updates to go, though
This was definitely a novel way to resolve the conflict, and one that I think actually fits in well with the canon themes of the show. I have to feel for Flitter, though. I don't know what sort of job he held down under his old disguise, but this "promotion" will certainly be several orders of magnitude tougher to deal with, though he is the one uniquely suited to the task that the Princess has given him.
I'll definitely be looking forward to the epilogues, and I hope that your Muse decides that there might be another story lurking in the wings later on on this timeline. Keep up the good work.
1627097 I know it's magic! But I want to STUDY it! I must know how it works!
Well, the females in the hive end up strengthened... (I suspect the pony mares, at least, eat their mates. it would explain why there are so few stallions...
*
1627552 But it's basically over!