36 - On the Care and Feeding of Changelings
Luna struck her podium with a hoof, "Halt. We do not understand this. If Silver is willing to accept you as you are, why would you have your marriage annulled?"
Stand In raised a hoof, "I can answer that, at least biologically. We feed on love first, this makes relationships... tricky. While a drone, breeder, or even a leader could draw gently, the love of a Queen is more powerful. It will not be immediate, as your own Shining Armor can attest, but as Silver approaches Fast Change with love in his heart, he will feed her earnestly and deep every time they come together. Eventually, it will harm him. He will become confused, he will get migraines. Eventually, he will die. Because she loves him, she cannot allow him to love her."
Silver trembled in place, wondering if it wouldn't be worth it, to have his dear Fast Change.
Celestia shook her head, "I thought you were simply assuming the form?"
Fast Change gave a thin smile, "I can't be their mother if I don't take it to heart."
Luna let out a slow breath, "Be that as it may, it highlights another problem. How, Ambassador, do you propose to feed this new population?"
Silver shook himself out, "I have an idea for that! The changelings could pay ponies for their time."
Luna looked confused, "Go on?"
Silver nodded, "The changelings are great workers, and terrific at teamwork. They can earn bits working for ponies. In return, they can pay ponies bits to spend short amounts of time in their pods. Only willing ponies, only willing changelings. Assuming ponies are only allowed in for an hour or so at a time, everypony wins."
Celestia raised a brow, "Interesting... And what assurance do we have that only the willing would be used, and that no harm would befall them?"
Silver shrugged softly, "We must start with the assumption that our neighbors are good, or we can't have society. With... Fast Change as their queen, I can't imagine them being anything but... lovely." He wiped away the fresh tears on a fetlock, "Individuals who break the law should be punished, as with any assault."
Stand In spoke up again, "Ponies do not appear to suffer harm for approximately three hours. I would make it two, just in case a pony is sensitive. This would yield sufficient food, on average, for two drones or one leader." She looked to Fast Change. "Our queen, blessed be her chitin, may yet be fed with solid food, though she really should wean onto love, for the good of future eggs."
Celestia took her turn to take a deep breath, "You understand that you ask my people to be your food voluntarily. This does not sit well with me."
Silver tilted his head, "If a pony is born with thin blood and requires regular transfusions, is it a crime to give it to him?"
Celestia tilted her head, "I know of no such condition, but your comparison is valid. If I were to permit the building of a safe place for these changelings, how long would it take to construct these 'pods', and I trust you would not object to royal guards watching over them, for both of our safeties, lest rash ponies do you harm."
Silver felt somepony brush up behind him. He glanced and saw Night had taken up position behind him, and he felt a little better. He looked to Stand In, who replied, "Given our dire situation, we would be forced to cull a good portion of the drone populace to quickly create a bank of pods."
Fast's alien eyes went wide, "What? No! We musn't harm them. They are innocent." She stomped the ground with a hoof, "I won't stand for it."
Stand In smiled gently, "You will be a great Queen... But there is no way we can feed so many, so quickly. Some must die, so the rest may live..."
Fast sagged in place, "I should have left them behind..."
Silver snorted, "If you had, Chrysalis would be leading them to a far slower death. It's... uncomfortable to say the least, but we're doing the best we can."
Stand In nodded in agreement, "They will be remembered, their names engraved on the very pods they help construct. I would not suggest this if I knew another way."
Silver raised a hoof, "Would love make it easier?"
Stand In tilted his head, "Yes. It would require, if we are using those two hour segments as units, twelve segments per pod, or one full day. This could be taken more quickly in person, but that could harm the donor."
Silver shook his head, "I volunteer, but only if Fast Change takes it, and uses the magic."
Fast recoiled with a look of horror, "I don't want to hurt you!"
Silver smiled, "If it means I get to be with you again, I'll suffer it."
Night's fangs found his ear before she spoke, "Both of us will. We are your herd. Our stallion leads us ever to insanity, and I won't turn away now. We will feed you until the first pod is able to be made."
Stand In appeared to be doing math in her head, "That spares the lives of a hundred drones, but some will still need to perish."
Luna stomped a hoof, "Will this outsider, this ambassador of the human nation, outshine you all!? You, who call yourself the elite of Equestria?! Why is his herd the only to offer themselves wholly for the saving of lives, even as strange as a changeling?"
A guard stepped forward, "I have given my oath to protect the people of Equestria. If they will be our neighbors, that includes them. I offer myself to help them."
Another guard stepped forward, not to be outdone, followed by several more. A noble stood up, "If it can be assured that it's safe, I will personally give to the cause." The dam was broken. Soon nopony wanted to be the last volunteer, and most hooves were raised in solidarity.
Fast turned to face the audience, "You've done a great thing. Nopony deserves to die like that, even my little drones. I'll be sure to tell them how kind their new neighbors are." She bowed low before them.
Silver looked to Luna and Celestia, "Then we are in agreement?"
Celestia shook her head, "Your request for an embassy is denied."
Silver blinked softly, "What?"
Celestia gestured at Fast, "It will not be required. Fast Change, as a citizen of Equestria, I will charge you with the care, feeding, and education of these changelings. You will show them how to be model citizens, and you will report and help capture those who turn away from our laws."
Silver waved Fast over softly. When she drew closer, he spoke in a near whisper, "You know I do know a changeling queen, right?"
Fast snorted softly, "I bet they already have a life they wouldn't want to give up."
Silver grunted with frustration, "And you do?! Was I that terrible?"
Fast leaned in and kissed Silver. He felt power rush out through his lips and a throbbing sort of pleasure build within himself quickly. He never wanted to stop kissing her, but she drew away. "You were perfect." She smiled then to Night, and they exchanged a kiss as well. Silver could see Night's expression turn to shock, to pleasure, to disappointment as they broke apart. "I will miss sleeping next to you both." She turned and walked away, taking center stage again.
Night whispered in his ear, "It isn't fair."
Silver couldn't think of a good argument for it. He slumped back against Night. The discussion went on largely without his participation. They discussed location and hashed out laws about changeling feeding habits. Schedules were set, deals were finalized. Little of it felt like it mattered at all to Silver anymore. It all added up to him losing another wife. "Whoever said it is better to have love and lost is a damn jerk. It was a lot less painful just being alone."
Night wrapped her wings around him, and he buried his face into them, hiding from the world as the talks went on. He whispered back to her, "At least we're together. You'll never leave, right?"
Night smiled, baring her teeth, "They'll have to drag me away, and even then I'll find you again, you crazy stallion, father of my foals."
Silver rolled around in Night's comforting grip, nuzzling into her belly and thinking of the life he had put there. It seemed a warmer place to be than to consider the words of his past-wife, still talking firmly to the crowd.
He had done his best. At least someone was winning out of it.
~You can depart~ came the soft words of Luna. They had a curious inflection, and he realized she understood some of his pain. ~Go. You have done your part well.~
Silver slipped free of Night's wings and hopped to the ground, striding from the court quietly with Night following behind. The moment he got outside, bright flashes robbed him of vision. Ponies pressed in from all angles, asking questions in rapid-fire succession.
"Did you always know Fast Change was a changeling?"
"How can the ponies of the city rest well ever again?"
"Do they really drink blood?"
Silver growled softly before his horn lit up. Bright flashes of light escaped it before exploding into multi-colored spectacles of Trixie defeating the ursa major. "Enough!" He stomped a hoof, "The changelings are here. They won't hurt anypony, and they're not going away! Just... get used to it!"
Night's wings wrapped around him and lifted him from the ground easily, "He's had a very busy day, so please, we're leaving." She began to push through the crowd, casually tripping one stubborn reporter to the ground. Nopony was actually hurt, aside their pride, and Night escaped into the halls of the palace, trotting briskly towards their room. She gently set Silver to the ground, letting him walk on his own. "How do you feel?"
He moved to keep up with her, "Awful. Just... this feels odd to talk about with you..."
Night perked an ear, "Go on."
Silver shook his head, "She was the fire. She made me feel... alive. She forced me out of my shell, and I loved it. She warmed me when everything was cold."
Night smiled thinly, "Setting up a real camping trip? A nice solid bedrock to sit on, and a warm fire to be cozy beside?"
Silver shuddered, "It... kinda worked that way. I love you both." He slumped against a chair in the hallway, drawing in a snot-filled snort, "I don't know what to do."
Night moved up and nibbled his cheek, "I can be warm too... But I'll miss her. She wasn't just your fire." She flushed gently, "She... showed me how to love a mare, and a few things besides. She showed me how being... like that... didn't have to mean you were an unfaithful pony."
Silver crossed his forelegs, "She left us."
Night softly bonked Silver on the head, "That sounded like a pouty child."
Silver trembled, "What if I feel like a pouty child? What if I just want my mother to pick me up and tell me everything's going to be OK?"
Night suddenly snatched him up with her forelegs and squeezed him. "I'm not your mother, but it'll be OK."
It would have to do.
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5781890 It certainly did.
That sounds awful defeatist.
Here, I'll help:
Needs a period, not a comma.
And... wait... there are a lot of sentences where action tags are connected to dialogue with commas in this chapter, and in previous ones after a cursory glance. Is this an alternate standard for commas and action tags that I am not aware of?
Those filthy Winning typos
5781966 Tweaked!
Well crap. The sads were had aplenty.
Stand In "raised" a hoof.
There's no error here. I just wanted to mention my amusement at how much this sounded like Silver was suggesting that the changelings patronize Equestria's prostitution industry.
Again, not a real error, but...isn't the fact that she's pregnant something of a deal-breaker in this regard? I can't imagine that this would be good for the baby.
Given that Luna is phrasing this as a question as much as an exclamation, I'd end this sentence with "?!"
His snort was "snot-filled."
5782338 Fixed, not too many actual errors that time. I do hope the chapter put to rest some of those questions.
5782347 Yeah, that pretty well covered everything. I figured the point with Fast draining Silver's love was the weak link with regard to what I posted before, since there's actually only scant evidence (e.g. Chrysalis and Shining Armor) regarding how that works.
This chapter lacked the unexpected shock of Fast's announcement last chapter, but traded that in for the slow, painful confirmation that losing her was really happening, and there was no fix, no workaround, no rainbows to just make it all better. Perhaps even worse is the fact that everypony knows that this is for the greater good - there's far less to rage against when you know that this is a sacrifice that has to be made, and there's nothing that can be done about that.
That said, Silver and Night were right in that they've lost an integral part of their family's dynamic. Night is the superego, being concerned with practical matters and maintaining stability. Silver is the ego, trying to maintain the whole unit and figuring out how to navigate the problems they face. Fast was the id, bringing out their desires and emotions without worrying about consequence or formality. With her gone, the loss is gaping and irreducible.
I feel slightly cheated with regards to Night's saying what Fast meant to her, largely because this is the first time we've really gotten to see that. This isn't just prurience with regards to Fast and Night "being together" either. Other than some rare and oblique references to Fast "joining them" after Silver and Night were married, we were given very little exposition with regards to how the two of them interacted. This is something I see with a lot of harem fiction, in that we see how various women interact with the main character - the "spokes" of the proverbial wheel - while giving us very little with regards to the lateral relationships between the various wives. Because of that, Night's feelings over losing Fast don't have quite the emotional impact that Silver's do.
Hopefully the pain of losing Fast isn't something that either of them gets over quickly. Her absence should be notable, and something they'd habituate to only slowly. Silver, in particular, seems more likely to take this hard - all the more so for the fact that this is the second time he's lost a loved one (not to mention that his parents have moved away). I wonder if he'll try to stop by and see Fast at some point in the future, thinking that "just a little" would make it okay to try and steal some time with her. Of course, that'd only make it worse, for both of them, but it's the sort of mistake that's completely understandable, since it's biology (and some politics) that have snatched her away from him, rather than death.
This is also going to thrust Night back into the role of "the first wife expands the herd," which I imagine would be quite awkward for her. How soon is too soon to start looking for a new wife? Will her pregnancy impede her desire to do that, or heighten it (since, even with Celestia bringing in servants to help take care of their foal, that's not the same as having a second mother around)? Either way, I don't think that this would kill their desire to have a herd - quite the contrary, while losing Fast was painful, that pain is confirmation that their unusual family unit did work. Limping along with an incomplete herd should be something that both can clearly recognize isn't an acceptable long-term solution, even if it's too painful to repair right now.
One thing that's been bugging me for a little while is that Silver and Night are living in a guest wing at the palace...presumably one that's usually set aside for visiting dignitaries. Shouldn't that mean that Silver will, at some point, run into representatives of other nations? After all, the position of an ambassador isn't something that's left vacant for long periods of time (usually). Even if other countries have permanent embassies, they should be in the palace at some point - likewise, there'd be occasional visitors that would be running around in closer proximity for a shorter period of time.
That might be a fun bit of international, and personal, intrigue. Is that cute griffon asking to talk with Silver over dinner because she's interested in him, or is she trying to manipulate him for her country's gain? Or both?
But for now... "Silver Change" is over, and I'm very sad.
5782445 These last two chapters were quite rough to write, but felt 'right' to do so anyway. My fingers led me along to this point, and they carried me over the edge, cursing the entire way. Mind you, they do say it's not an instant thing at all. Silver could throw it all away and wither. It would take a few months before the headaches began, a few more for dizziness and weakness, and a few more to collapse.
It might be worth it, if it meant he wouldn't have to say goodbye again.
This feels like a very solid endcap on this arc and story in general, and I wonder if a timeskip/new story isn't in order.
5782459 You make a very good point with regards to wrapping this particular story up - this does indeed feel like a natural stopping point...though I wonder if one more chapter to summarize things settling into the "new normal" would be warranted. That'd be wrapping things up with getting the changelings settled in (particularly since it seems like Celestia's denial of an embassy sounded a lot like they're going to be Equestrian citizens), checking in on how Trixie and Rough are doing back in Rough's (nameless, I think) hometown...and maybe one last farewell scene with Fast. Whether Silver (and Night) ends it with her quickly and immediately or slow and lingering, her leaving them is where this story ends (barring any cameos - or major changes - in the future).
A time-skip might not be a bad idea, but there are two issues that I worry about. The first is that this will sit somewhat awkwardly with the forthcoming fifth season, in that events of large magnitude might end up being overlooked (though on the other hand, trying to have daily updates during the same time period as the fifth season is progressing weekly might be its own form of awkward). The second is that the issue of Silver and Night's - and Silver and Luna's - child/children will need to be dealt with somehow.
That last one is a problem because children tend to be a stabilizing influence on their parents' adventures. To put it another way, responsible parents put their children first, which tends to make them very conservative not just to danger, but to any major lifestyle disruptions as well. Anything and everything Silver does is going to be judged under the strict guideline of "is he not thinking about what this will do to his foal(s)?!" That doesn't make further adventures impossible, of course - most of Silver's antics have been things he got involved with involuntarily - but it will underlie every decision he makes from then on. Whether skipping forward to when they're older will make that issue easier or harder to deal with is debatable.
But either way, I'd say it's definitely time to wrap up everything here and move on to a new story in Silver's saga.
5782516 We have 11 months until they enter the scene, and the skip doesn't have to reach that far? The other option is to drift ahead an unspecified amount of time, which I kinda did before. Some things change, some things stay the same, and the new chapter unfolds.
I am really at a lose for words here so I will post something from the tory.
"Whoever said it is better to have love and lost is a damn jerk.
You'll never leave, right?"
Night smiled, baring her teeth, "They'll have to drag me away, and even then I'll find you again, you crazy stallion, father of my foals."
that is plural I will be holding you to that one.
Harts Fire
I feel there needs to be more positive things now that this happen because every time he tries to do or learn something, it always ends up getting him hurt after words most of the time.
In my opinion, I'm getting tired of seeing that happen to him and needs to get out of this awful pattern.
5782930 Heh, there is no victory there. The last time he enjoyed a few chapters of simple pleasure, there was outcry of it being boring and dull. No one likes sad Silver, no one likes happy Silver.
...uh...ok. That was kind of weird. Pay-per-suck is not the first solution I would have come up with, but I guess as long as it makes everyone happy...
5783521 Rare is the problem with with only one solution.
What's your idea?
5783523 I didn't have a specific idea, I just figured that integrating the changelings into pony society would probably be good enough, since ponies are pretty chummy. They could host a few parties, build an orphanage, help old ladies across the street and stuff like that to get things rolling.
5783623 They have a sizable population that needs food closer to now, rather than a very gradual ramping up of good will.
5783663 Well the pods have the same problem. The only short-term solution is a volunteer love drive like they did at the hearing. Long-term though, they can probably just become a fourth species and everything would be fine.
5783678 Fourth species?
5783692 Earth Pony, Unicorn, Pegasus, Changeling. It's much easier to form a friendship with "Bob the changeling" than it is to feel positive feelings toward "The Changeling Syndicate" or whatever it would be called. Your backstory for the changelings would mean they are genetically compatible with the ponies, so they could even intermarry for optimal efficiency.
5783708 Ah, possible, in the longterm. Their caste system does not work in their favor for this.
5783715 Well, you said that the changelings are descended from unicorns that got too deep into transformation magic and being liked. Therefore, the caste system must have come along later. The drones, although simple-minded and weak-willed, are capable of independent thought. If anything, their natural obedience and lack of ambition would make them very easy to get along with. They would just do better with someone like Fluttershy, who would treat them gently and not take advantage of them.
The leaders seem pretty normal, personality-wise, so they could act like normal ponies with just a little practice.
That just leaves Chrysalis and the breeders. They didn't defect, so they can go jump in a lake.
5783742 Heh, I more meant that the saps need to be integrated into society, learning they don't need a queen to make with the little changelings, and they can have families independently, and generally do things on their own.
5783756 They could bring Nicky in to coach them on it. She is the expert at getting drones to expand their horizons.
5783756 I'm getting a mental picture of a changeling stay-at-home dad with 14 or 15 kids, just staring dreamily into space with a dopey grin on his face while his kids destroy the house.
5783771 They said I'd never be more than tunnel sentry #62, but I sure showed them...
Alone is certainly better and much more satisfying.
5806783 TOO LATE
I feel Terrible after reading this chapter...
I mean... Fast Change the Changeling queen... just, no.
It really hurts
6205386 Silver also does not approve of this.
I'm growing to appreciate the highs and lows of this story. The frequency of the lows just makes the highs all the more potent.
6240708 Silver's life is not an easy one.
Night wrapped her wings around him, and he buried his face into them, hiding from the world as the talks went on. He whispered back to her, "At least we're together. You'll never leave, right?"
Night smiled, baring her teeth, "They'll have to drag me away, and even then I'll find you again, you crazy stallion, father of my foals."
That sentence made me think of this picture
pre10.deviantart.net/70ff/th/pre/i/2014/126/0/3/aurora_and_ri_bov_dis_2_by_genbulein-d7hd4br.jpg
Night suddenly snatched him up with her forelegs and squeezed him. "I'm not your mother, but it'll be OK."
*snort*
David?!?? Why do you kill all my ships?!? D:
7096152 The Text giveth and The Text taketh away.
My god, the very fact that you did that to him makes this story so much better, so many stories give perfect lives where everything goes right with minor exceptions to this. Griffon the griffon is an exception, as the story draws you in despite the lack of equestrian hardships and deaths. It's like the more I read the more I love silver lining and his life, he's kind and powerfull, can be a doormat but comes through when he needs to even if this means self sacrifice to do so, he cries but is always trying to be strong.
Silver himself is one of the most intriguing pieces that this story has to offer and the story itself has yet to dissapoint me, therefore, unlike a lot of fan fiction I read, I'm going to finish the lot of it. This story deserves every good thing that comes to it and you have earned a very faithful reader from me.
7433822
That is all well and good but you can only hope that there will be a replacement eventually
These aren't TEARS! My eyes are just sweating...
I'm going to miss that horny bish
This is such a more meaningful loss than Celine just vanishing. Wonderfully done!